Transcript

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 15-16 HCSB

Podcast Introduction

his the Poetry Thursday, and it’s Thanksgiving in the US. I hope everyone in the Lifespring family has a wonderful time today. Today we’re going to  read Job 15-16. I’m calling today’s episode “The Stern Father.”

Comments on Job 15

Eliphaz is quite a friend, isn’t he? Well, maybe he is. At least he leaves no doubt as to what he thinks of Job. I guess the best kind of friend is one who tells it like he sees it. Except in this case, we know that he sees it wrong.

Eliphaz thinks that Job is full of hot air, that he’s talking like a fool, that it’s his sin that is talking. I guess Job’s life, previous to all of these attacks by the enemy, holds no weight with Eliphaz. Remember, Job was a good man. God said of him, “No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.”

It seems that perhaps Eliphaz and Job’s other friends might have taken some perverse pleasure in seeing what they perceived as Job’s fall. Job was successful in every area of his life. He had financial wealth, he had health, and he had a large family.

Sad to say, but in many cases, the more successful you are, the more people want to see you fall, even your supposed friends. 

Job’s response was perfect. “You are all miserable friends.” The poor guy feels like his friends are against him, his own body is against him, and worst of all, that God is against him.

Have you ever felt that way? My guess is, probably. It’s part of the human experience. Life is hard sometimes. As a matter of fact, I remember in some of my hardest times, I have used the exact phrase that Job used in today’s reading. In talking about how God was treating him, Job said, “He seized me by the scruff of the neck…” I have felt that way a few times in my life. The difference is, in Job’s case, he didn’t deserve it. In my case, I did. I was in a state of rebellion, and I felt as if God was holding me by the scruff of the neck over a chasm. Not a good feeling, but boy did it get my attention! God is a good and loving God, and I’m thankful that He is sometimes a stern Father. He caused me to return to him like the prodigal son, and He graciously and lovingly took me back, as he promises to do in 1 John 1:9…If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Have you ever felt God dealing with you as a stern Father? How did you respond?

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Transcript

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Job 15-26: The Stern Father (LSFAB S13E054)

[TEASER – 0:00]
I felt as if God was holding me by the scruff of the neck over a chasm.

[INTRO S13 E054 – 0:12]
This is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible coming to you from Riverside, California, and podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we’ll read through the entire Bible in a year. The website is lifespringmedia.com, and this is Poetry Thursday, and it’s Thanksgiving in the US. I hope everyone in the Lifespring family has a wonderful time today.

Although there probably will be many of you who may not listen to this episode until after today, listen, I would love for you to send family pics in to include in the next newsletter. How does that sound? And for those of you who are outside the US not celebrating Thanksgiving Day, it would be great to have family pics of you, too. Send ’em in! We can have a sort of a family photo album, what do you say? Send pics to st***@*************ia.com with the subject line “Family album”. I think that would be so cool. Now listen, when you send your pics in, we’ll put all of them in the newsletter. And if it’s okay with you, I’ll make a special family album page on the website. So when you send your picture in, please let me know if it’s okay to publish it in both places. If you prefer not to have it in either place. Let me know that too. I will of course respect your wishes.

Okay, today we’re going to read Job 15 and 16 and I’m calling today’s episode “The Stern Father”. But before we read, let’s pray.

Our heavenly Father, we do worship you and we thank you for your Word. We thank you so much for the lessons we learn in Job and what we learn about you and what we learn about how we should react when things don’t go as we would like. Bless our time together around your Word today. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Okay, let’s get started.

[Job 15 (HCSB) – 1:59]
Job, chapter 15.

(1) Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

(2) Does a wise man answer with empty counsel
or fill himself with the hot east wind?
(3) Should he argue with useless talk
or with words that serve no good purpose?
(4) But you even undermine the fear of God
and hinder meditation before Him.
(5) Your iniquity teaches you what to say,
and you choose the language of the crafty.
(6) Your own mouth condemns you, not I;
your own lips testify against you.
(7) Were you the first person ever born,
or were you brought forth before the hills?
(8) Do you listen in on the council of God,
or have a monopoly on wisdom?
(9) What do you know that we don’t?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
(10) Both the gray-haired and the elderly are with us,
men older than your father.
(11) Are God’s consolations not enough for you,
even the words that deal gently with you?
(12) Why has your heart misled you,
and why do your eyes flash
(13) as you turn your anger against God
and allow such words to leave your mouth?
(14) What is man, that he should be pure,
or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
(15) If God puts no trust in His holy ones
and the heavens are not pure in His sight,
(16) how much less one who is revolting and corrupt,
who drinks injustice like water?
(17) Listen to me and I will inform you.
I will describe what I have seen,
(18) what was declared by wise men
and was not suppressed by their ancestors,
(19) the land was given to them alone
when no foreigner passed among them.
(20) A wicked man writhes in pain all his days;
only a few years are reserved for the ruthless.
(21) Dreadful sounds fill his ears;
when he is at peace, a robber attacks him.
(22) He doesn’t believe he will return from darkness;
he is destined for the sword.
(23) He wanders about for food, saying, “Where is it? ”
He knows the days of darkness is at hand.
(24) Trouble and distress terrify him,
overwhelming him like a king prepared for battle.
(25) For he has stretched out his hand against God
and has arrogantly opposed the Almighty.
(26) He rushes headlong at Him
with his thick, studded shields.
(27) Though his face is covered with fat
and his waistline bulges with it,
(28) he will dwell in ruined cities,
in abandoned houses destined to become piles of rubble.
(29) He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure.
His possessions will not increase in the land.
(30) He will not escape from the darkness;
flames will wither his shoots,
and by the breath of God’s mouth, he will depart.
(31) Let him not put trust in worthless things, being led astray,
for what he gets in exchange will prove worthless.
(32) It will be accomplished before his time,
and his branch will not flourish.
(33) He will be like a vine that drops its unripe grapes
and like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms.
(34) For the company of the godless will have no children,
and fire will consume the tents of those who offer bribes.
(35) They conceive trouble and give birth to evil;
their womb prepares deception.

[Job 16 (HCSB) – 5:08]
Job, chapter 16.

(1) Then Job answered:

(2) I have heard many things like these.
You are all miserable comforters.
(3) Is there no end to your empty words?
What provokes you that you continue testifying?
(4) If you were in my place I could also talk like you.
I could string words together against you
and shake my head at you.
(5) Instead, I would encourage you with my mouth,
and the consolation from my lips would bring relief.
(6) Even if I speak, my suffering is not relieved,
and if I hold back, what have I lost?
(7) Surely He has now exhausted me.
You have devastated my entire family.
(8) You have shriveled me up — it has become a witness;
My frailty rises up against me and testifies to my face.
(9) His anger tears at me, and He harasses me.
He gnashes His teeth at me.
My enemy pierces me with His eyes.
(10) They open their mouths against me
and strike my cheeks with contempt;
they join themselves together against me.
(11) God hands me over to unjust men;
He throws me into the hands of the wicked.
(12) I was at ease, but He shattered me;
He seized me by the scruff of the neck
and smashed me to pieces.
He set me up as His target;
(13) His archers surround me.
He pierces my kidneys without mercy
and pours my bile on the ground.
(14) He breaks through my defenses again and again;
He charges at me like a warrior.
(15) I have sewn sackcloth over my skin;
I have buried my strength in the dust.
(16) My face has grown red with weeping,
and darkness covers my eyes,
(17) although my hands are free from violence
and my prayer is pure.
(18) Earth, do not cover my blood;
may my cry for help find no resting place.
(19) Even now my witness is in heaven,
and my advocate is in the heights!
(20) My friends scoff at me
as I weep before God.
(21) I wish that someone might arbitrate
between a man and God
just as a man pleads for his friend.
(22) For only a few years will pass
before I go the way of no return.

[COMMENTARY – 7:21]
Eliphaz is quite a friend, isn’t he? Well, maybe he is. At least he leaves no doubt as to what he thinks of Job. I guess the best kind of friend is one who tells it like he sees it. Of course, in this case, we know that he sees it wrong.

Eliphaz thinks the Job is full of hot air that he’s talking like a fool, that it’s his sin that is talking. I guess Job’s life previous to all these attacks by the enemy holds no weight with Eliphaz. Remember, Job was a good man. God said of him when he was talking to Satan, “No one else on Earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.” I guess all of that was lost on Eliphaz.

It seems that perhaps Eliphaz and Job’s other friends might have taken some perverse pleasure in seeing what they perceived as Job’s fall. Job was successful in every area of his life. He had financial wealth, he had health, and he had a large family. He had everything a guy could want. And then all of a sudden, one day it’s all gone.

And sad to say, in many cases, the more successful you are, the more people want to see you fall, even your supposed friends.

Well, Job’s response to Eliphaz was perfect. He said, “You are all miserable friends.” The poor guy feels like his friends are against him, his own body’s against him, and worst of all, that God is against him.

Have you ever felt that way? My guess is probably. It’s part of the human experience, I think. Life is hard sometimes. As a matter of fact, I remember in some of my hardest times, I’ve used the exact same phrase that Job used in today’s reading. In talking about how God was treating him, Job said, “He seized me by the scruff of the neck…” I felt that way a few times in my life. The difference is in Job’s case, he didn’t deserve it. In my case, to my shame, I did. I was in a state of rebellion. And I felt as if God was holding me by the scruff of the neck over a chasm. Not a good feeling, but boy did it get my attention. God is a good and loving God. And I’m thankful that he sometimes is a stern father. He caused me to turn back to him like the prodigal son. And he graciously and lovingly took me back as he promises to do in I John 1:9, which says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

[LIFESPRING FAMILY HOTLINE – 9:56]
Have you ever felt God dealing with you as a stern father? How did you respond? Tell me about it. Call the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511. You can also comment at comment.lifespringmedia.com, or you can email me at st***@*************ia.com. I’d love to read your comment or play your voicemail right here on the show.

Tomorrow is Prophecy Friday. We’ll read Isaiah 40 through 44.

[SEND IN YOUR PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISE REPORTS – 10:23]
And if there’s something you’d like to share with the Lifespring family, our next prayer request and praises day is Sunday. So if you have a prayer request or praise, go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com, and tell me about it. And if you want to remain anonymous, you can tell me that there.

[THE CHOSEN, SEASON 3 – 10:45]
Hey, I’m sorry that yesterday’s episode was a bit late being published. I had it recorded by about 5:30 pm my time but the Lovely Lady LeeAnn and I went to our local movie theater to see episodes one and two of “The Chosen” on the big screen. And when we got home afterward, I still had to edit the show and put all the pieces together then do the artwork. And by the time I was able to publish it, it was about an hour and a half late. Sorry about that. Most of you in the US probably didn’t notice because you were probably in bed. But many of you in Europe or Australia, were probably saying, Hey, where’s the show? I really try hard to publish every day at the same time, 10 pm Pacific, and I thought you deserved to know why it was late yesterday.

Now with that said, let me say that seeing “The Chosen” on the big screen was really fantastic. I give it a 10 out of 10. And if you haven’t seen the first two seasons (it’s better if you watch them before you see season three, episodes one and two) it really is a tremendous series. I highly recommend it and I endorse it. So if you haven’t seen “The Chosen” yet, get the app and watch it. And it’s free!

[FAMILY THANKSGIVING PHOTOS – 12:01]
Remember to send in your family pictures, Thanksgiving or not. Send them to st***@*************ia.com with the subject line “Family album” and let me know if it’s okay to put them in the newsletter and website or only one or the other. Also, send in your Christmas questions. Somebody’s going to win a signed copy of “Webb’s Easy Bible Names Pronunciation Guide”. There’s a good chance it’ll be you. Send your questions to st***@*************ia.com with the subject line “Christmas question” and James Cooper, the Christmas expert, will answer your question on the show in December.

I want to thank Sister Kirsty who does the newsletter, Brother Sean of San Pedro who does the chapters and, by the way, he just sent me a bunch of them because he was taking some time off with the birth of little Howie, but he’s getting caught up now. And I want to thank Sister Denise who corrects the transcripts. I am so thankful for their donation of their time and their talent. God bless you, guys.

You can comment on today’s show by calling the Lifespring Family Hotline at +1-951-732-8511 or by going to comment.lifespringmedia.com or by emailing me at st***@*************ia.com.

If you find the Lifespring Family Audio Bible to be a blessing in your life, would you be willing to support it? Think about what the show adds to your life then head on over to lifespringmedia.com/support. I’ll thank you and I think God’ll bless you.

Send in your prayer requests and praises at prayer.lifespringmedia.com or email me.

Hey, enjoy your Thanksgiving. No matter where you are. I know that I’m so thankful for you, Beloved. Thank you for being a part of the Lifespring family. It would not be the same without you.

Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. Thank you for inviting me into your day. My name is Steve Webb. It’s time for me to go have some turkey now. Talk to you tomorrow. Bye.

[OUTRO S13E054 – 13:56]
All the programs in the Lifespring Media family are made possible by the generous gifts of people like you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Transcript corrected by Denise