This is a small group that was following the plan to read through the Bible one chapter at a time with Good Morning Girls. Good Morning Girls is on an indefinite break. But will we continue reading through the Bible.
Each Monday go to the Weekly Reading Plan or the Bible Study Thread for our current book to see the introductory post for the week and the weekly reading passages, discussion questions, and memory verse.
Be sure to come here each day to see what the members of the group are sharing. Try to participate in the discussion with a post at least once each week to share with us what God is teaching you. Posting on the forum helps motivate all of us to keep reading by seeing the others persevering and it provides additional insight and learning.
Each Friday we will attempt to share a Friday Devotional that addresses some of the topics we have read that week.
Please also take time to read the Group Overview post that provides some ideas on how to get the most out of your study here! You can find this post in the the "Bible Study" section of the board.
- LoriMI
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Re: Job
TBG wrote:
So, my mantra when people disappoint me is, not everything is about me and maybe this has nothing to do with me.
Yes! This.
Happy you're back 
- LoriMI
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Re: Job
In verse 3 Job tells his friends that they’ve reproached him 10 times and are not ashamed to treat him as if he’s a stranger. In light of how they keep blaming Job for the trials he’s undergoing, I can certainly understand his response. But then...
Job begins to blame God. Not once, not twice, not 10 times like his friends, but 12 times in this chapter alone - possibly more depending on how you count it! Not only does he blame God, but some of the things he says make it sound as if God – ALL of who He really is: a father, loving, just, longsuffering, merciful, gracious, all powerful, etc -- is a total stranger to him.
He did to God the very thing his friends did to him. And he probably didn’t even realize it.
“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” Matthew 7:3
Oh how easy it is to see the speck in our brothers eye and not the beam in our own!
I am definitely guilty.
The crazy thing to me is that in seeking to place the blame, both the friends and Job were wrong! Job was not guilty of anything to deserve his trials. And God wasn’t the one who caused them.
Makes me realize I need to be very careful when I try to figure out the ‘whys’ and decide to place blame...
Then in v. 23-24, Job says he wishes his words were printed in a book and kept forever – something I’m guessing he’d later regret. He’d probably cringe and just feel sick inside to actually see the words in print this many years later. He’d even probably wish he’d never spoken them.
And there will come a day for us when we too will wish we had never spoken some of our words...
“But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” Matthew 12:36
Oh how careful we should be with our words!
Heavenly Father, thank you so very much for Job, for recording his words, so that we can examine our own lives and be willing to change and grow in the image of Your Son – to be like Him. To be like You. Please help us to control our tongues; cleanse our hearts, for out of the heart, we speak. In that day of judgment, where we must give an account, please be merciful and see us and Job through the blood of your Son.
- TBG
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Re: Job
Job 18
18:2 “When will you end these speeches? Be sensible, and then we can talk.
This reminds me of a time I am going to share below. But, Job’s friends are still trying to get him to see things their way instead of just trying to understand, and listen, and let him vent. Even if Job is wrong, this is not the time to correct him.
Optional GMG Discussion Question: Bildad originally started out trying to be an encouragement (Job 8). However, he has lost his patience and has become yet another discouragement. Name a time when you stumbled at encouraging someone and instead became a discouragement.
I was trying too much to “fix” my friend and solve her problem instead of just being compassionate and hearing her heart. So it just felt to her like more pressure and more criticism instead of help.
Even if the advice is correct and she should be doing certain things, when you are that emotionally overwhelmed sometimes you just don’t have the energy to tackle all the things you should do and you just need someone to hold you, love you, and cry with you first. And when you are little stronger and nurtured you can start examining the things you should do.
So, lesson learned. She is a kind and loving friend and we are still close, but I realize I botched that situation when she needed my support. I still have to catch myself that I always first want to solve before I just mourn with the person or validate their heart.
I think that is because that is my personality. When I share a problem if someone says “that must be really upsetting” or “I can see you are hurting,” that actually annoys me, I am like yes, obviously! That seems so silly to me I am like that is fine I don’t need a counselor I was looking for specific action to resolve this. But most people are not like that, that just want someone to understand their hurt.
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Thread Starter- TBG
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Job 19
19:13-14 "He has put my brothers far from me, and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me. My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me.
19:25-27 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!
Wow! He says God has done all these horrible things to destroy him, yet he still says that God will ultimately redeem him and he ultimately hopes in his future relationship with God.
He feels all have abandoned him and even God pursues him, yet he still trust in God.
As my friend pointed out, we can look at this as a painful book or be inspired and awed by that type of faithfulness.
That is a hard lesson. When we greatly struggle, we can get bitter and resent that God allows it to happen and resent that God does not intervene.
But, Job lost far more than I think most anyone could image and was suffering far greater than I think I could bear. He did not even trust God to protect him and he thought God was the source of his torment and yet still he chose to cling to the faith that he would one day be redeemed from this and be united with God. And he allowed that faith to provide hope.
Optional GMG Discussion Question: Even though Job is discouraged, he takes comfort in the fact that his redeemer lives. How does remembering this bring you comfort in your own day to day struggles?
I always post on that, my only source of hope in life in anything is that God lives in me and is working to ultimately unite me with Him someday. It makes me think of a gospel song that had the lyrics, “someday, I’ll see my Savior face to face, and we’ll be all right, we’ll be all right.”
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Thread Starter- LoriMI
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Re: Job
I was trying too much to “fix” my friend and solve her problem instead of just being compassionate and hearing her heart. So it just felt to her like more pressure and more criticism instead of help.
Even if the advice is correct and she should be doing certain things, when you are that emotionally overwhelmed sometimes you just don’t have the energy to tackle all the things you should do and you just need someone to hold you, love you, and cry with you first. And when you are little stronger and nurtured you can start examining the things you should do.
So, lesson learned. She is a kind and loving friend and we are still close, but I realize I botched that situation when she needed my support. I still have to catch myself that I always first want to solve before I just mourn with the person or validate their heart.
I think that is because that is my personality. When I share a problem if someone says “that must be really upsetting” or “I can see you are hurting,” that actually annoys me, I am like yes, obviously! That seems so silly to me I am like that is fine I don’t need a counselor I was looking for specific action to resolve this. But most people are not like that, that just want someone to understand their hurt.
Very well said!
I've botched it too when thinking, wrongly, that my friend came to me for fixing. She didn't. As you said, she just wanted someone to understand her hurt.
God is showing me over and over again to just be there and truly hear what the person is saying. He'll do the fixing - and He may or may not use my words/thoughts in that process.
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Makes me realize I need to be very careful when I try to figure out the ‘whys’ and decide to place blame...
This so ties into what I was sharing with my discussion question below about trying to "fix" my friend's problem. So true. We just need to wait, listen and encourage and prayerfully wait for God's guidance if we think there is something that needs to be changed. And just make real sure it is God's guidance about sharing that and the Holy Spirit's leading into how and when to share it.
“But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” Matthew 12:36
Oh how careful we should be with our words!
Yes, it is easy to speak out of our frustration.
As some may know my husband and I have been dabbling in the foster parenting. Our case worker wants to talk to us about another child and I really resent how things unfolded with the last placement. But I realize if I am accusatory and blaming in my conversation with her, it is only going to make her defensive and make it even more challenging to communicate and work collaboratively.
So, I am really being prayerful about my attitude and choosing to speak specifically, because things really are going to have to be done differently, but appropriately, graciously and being willing to first listen to her and hear her and not jump to conclusions or accuse her. And to share my issues as concerns, not ultimatums, and hear her response.
So, I guess a good verse for me would be Proverbs 25:11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold In settings of silver.
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Thread Starter- TBG
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Re: Job
Job 20
What cruel things to say to a friend. Even if someone has made poor choices, even evil choices, that have resulted in their misery, we should be trying to restore them to repent and turn back to God not just revel in the destruction that will come to their lives. We should not be people who delight in the evil and delight in the fact that God will judge the wicked.
When Jesus dealt with the woman in adultery, He was kind, gentle and gracious. He did tell her to stop sinning, but not by berating her, demeaning her and humiliating her.
We should have hearts for them and long for them to repent and come to God – God so loved the world that He gave His Son that the world through Him might be saved. That is God’s desire and should be ours to save others.
20:5 that the mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.
Again, these passages are not teaching passages, just the statements of Job’s friends, but there is truth in this statement.
We have to remember this about this world. The pleasures of this world are brief, but the joys of walking with God are eternal.
20:12-14 “Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue, though he cannot bear to let it go and lets it linger in his mouth, yet his food will turn sour in his stomach; it will become the venom of serpents within him.
Sin is sweet for a season but it ultimately will turn to bitterness, destruction, and death our lives.
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Thread Starter- LoriMI
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Re: Job
Yes, it is easy to speak out of our frustration.
As some may know my husband and I have been dabbling in the foster parenting. Our case worker wants to talk to us about another child and I really resent how things unfolded with the last placement. But I realize if I am accusatory and blaming in my conversation with her, it is only going to make her defensive and make it even more challenging to communicate and work collaboratively.
So, I am really being prayerful about my attitude and choosing to speak specifically, because things really are going to have to be done differently, but appropriately, graciously and being willing to first listen to her and hear her and not jump to conclusions or accuse her. And to share my issues as concerns, not ultimatums, and hear her response.
So, I guess a good verse for me would be Proverbs 25:11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold In settings of silver.
Sounds like you're on the right track!
- LoriMI
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Re: Job
Job 20
What cruel things to say to a friend. Even if someone has made poor choices, even evil choices, that have resulted in their misery, we should be trying to restore them to repent and turn back to God not just revel in the destruction that will come to their lives. We should not be people who delight in the evil and delight in the fact that God will judge the wicked.
When Jesus dealt with the woman in adultery, He was kind, gentle and gracious. He did tell her to stop sinning, but not by berating her, demeaning her and humiliating her.
We should have hearts for them and long for them to repent and come to God – God so loved the world that He gave His Son that the world through Him might be saved. That is God’s desire and should be ours to save others.
Well said!
What really struck me this morning is that Zophar said that God would send his wrath on the wicked while they were eating (v23). Did he not remember that Job's children died while eating? In his haste to speak (v2) did he forget? Or were his words intentional? Either way, they would have cut Job like a knife.
May God help us to always be mindful of how our words may be received by others - that we not speak in haste, but that we think. think. think. before speaking.
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Re: Job
Week of February 1, 2016
This Week’s Reading Assignment
S.O.A.K. any verse of your choosing.
Don't forget to check the introduction on Mondays and the devotional on Friday at Good Morning Girls.
Monday
Reading: Job 21
Verse of the Day: Job 21:22
Optional GMG Discussion Question: Sometimes it is easy to get discouraged when you feel as though the wicked are prospering. In what ways can you remain focused on God instead of on how others are
benefiting from wrongful actions?
Tuesday
Reading: Job 22
Verse of the Day: Job 22:23
Optional GMG Discussion Question: Have you ever been in the midst of a spiritual battle and had friends make accusations about your relationship with God being the issue? If so, how did you respond to the accusations?
Wednesday
Reading: Job 23
Verse of the Day: Job 23:10
Optional GMG Discussion Question: Job knew that God was working on him through these trials, he did not doubt God. When you're faced with trials, how do you keep your faith strong and remain close to the Lord?
Thursday
Reading: Job 24
Verse of the Day: Job 24:13
Optional GMG Discussion Question: Job's friends tried to say he was being punished because he was being wicked, but Job's response reminds them that God's judgments aren't always seen. How have you seen this to be true throughout your life?
Friday
Reading: Job 25-26
Verse of the Day: Job 25:2, Job 26:7
Optional GMG Discussion Question: God is so much more than we could ever imagine and we can never compare to Him. How do you keep in mind the holiness of God vs. the sinful, human nature of yourself? God's ways most certainly are higher than our ways. What power of God have you seen in your life that left you speechless and in awe of Him?
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