Insightful Musings on the Scripturesby
Ray Sparre, NU class of '67
Ray has a wealth of experience as a Husband, Father, Pastor, Missionary, and student of the Word. He believes and practices his faith where the rubber meets the road. You'll find his writings to be practical, insightful, and grounded in a truly Christ-centered world view.
Below are links to a printable daily Bible reading guide which Ray has followed, and an archive of all his daily devotional writings for 2010 and 2011.
| Sparre Home Page | Daily Reading Guide | 2011 Devotion Archives | 2010 Devotion Archives |
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26 Oct. 11
Good morning, dear ones.
Yes indeed…rising at 3am allows one to get a lot more done than rising at 5am. What an idea! But I keep coming up with more volume than I prefer or intend. I guess I’ll just let it be.
All I have are some rough ideas on how the day will flow. After sending this off I’ll try to select some priorities from my huge list and formulate my plan of attack. There’s really more volume there than I prefer too.
Little Nicholas is trying to climb into my lap. I guess I’ll sign off and take him on.
Blessings. Love—Dad/Ray
26 October 2011
Job 5
Focus: “But if it were I, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him.” Job 5:8.
I have this to say to Eliphaz this morning. “OK, Ellie, I’m going to do my best to back off and give you more slack. I said some rather unbecoming things about you yesterday that were pretty critical and condemnatory. I confess that I have a strong tendency to write people off who don’t agree with my views (Just like you). I learned a long time ago that the safest way to judge people is at the heart level of motivation—not so much by things they say or do. The problem is that I keep forgetting what I learned a long time ago—and have to keep relearning it. I’m reminded that this approach has a Biblical basis, for “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). If that is God’s standard for judgment, should I not strive to make it mine? Therefore, I’m willing to accept you as a good man at heart level with good intentions, however, to be very blunt, you are just plain ignorant of some facts—you are hammering Job without knowing some things you can’t know—bulldozing on him in an attempt to get him to comply with your rigid set of preconceptions.”
Oh, my!—here I was trying to nice to Eliphaz—and now it sounds so much like I’m beating him up! How do I do this?!
How many times have you heard people say, “If I were you, I would…” That is exactly what Eliphaz does in verse 8 and following—“But if it were I, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him.” The simplistic advice he gives is PRAY. While prayer is definitely a good and important exercise of the soul, it is not a panacea—a cure-all. I think that Eliphaz is implying this: “Come on, Job—get it straight—if you really prayed proper like I do, God would surely form you into being just like me!” Now wouldn’t that be wonderful!
There are some very good things said in Eliphaz’s eloquent discourse, but one statement strikes me as just plain STUPID. “You will come to the grave in full vigor, like sheaves gathered in season” (v. 26). What?! You expect a truly righteous person to die healthy?! How does that happen? Maybe you think that when a good person reaches a ripe old age, God just plucks them peacefully from the vine of life while they are sleeping and in perfect health? No pain—no suffering. What a nice idea! Well you can theorize and name it and claim it all you want, but however you slice it, one fact remains extremely stubborn—DYING AIN’T HEALTHY!
The last thing Eliphaz says is also disturbing. It seems he is claiming that he and his other friends are successful professionals as demonstrated by the fact that they are on a roll and Job isn’t. And they have taken it upon themselves to investigate and discuss everything about Job’s case and have now come to a consensus of authoritative opinion. So apparently everything Eliphaz says is consistent with that opinion. It’s clearly an attempt to intimidate and manipulate Job into conformity to their ideology. After all it’s three against one. But to be sure, righteousness is not established by majority’s rule—and godliness is not achieved by democratic process.
The basic premise these guys use is a seriously flawed one—that the righteous are always rescued and protected from serious trouble. For one thing, it flies in the face of the great FAITH CHAPTER of the Bible—Hebrews 11. “Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned ; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground” (Hebrews 11:35-38).
“Philosophic argument, especially that drawn from the vastness of the universe, in comparison with the apparent insignificance of this globe, has sometimes shaken my reason for the faith that is in me; but my heart has always assured and reassured me that the gospel of Jesus Christ must be Divine Reality. The Sermon on the Mount cannot be a mere human production. This belief enters into the very depth of my conscience. The whole history of man proves it.” - Daniel Webster