Today's Reading June 24

Good morning.
Today we change direction a bit, and begin in the book of Job. Job is interesting, one of my favorite books of the Bible. There are those who believe it may have been written down before any of the others, I have no idea of the correctness of that belief. The theme is an important one: why do the innocent suffer while the wicked flourish? Who among us has not asked that question? I have, certainly in the trials of the last few years. And yet, through it all, Job never, and I do mean never, loses his faith. He questions the circumstances, he doesn't like the situation, he is confused, but he never condemns God nor does he reject Him. Indeed, he clings ever tighter. A good lesson in itself. When his wealth was taken from him, and all of his children died in a disaster,

20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

When sickness came upon him personally, and his own wife urged him to give up his faith,

9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

At most, he tells his friends,

25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

But he still held to the Lord. What else is there to do?

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Our New Testament portion continues in the Acts, chapter 7, verses 1 through 19. Steven, one of the first deacons, is on trial before the religious authorities of the day. He responds with a sermon, really, that begins with a recitation of the marvelous things that the Lord has done for his people, the leading and guiding, the very Presence in their nation and their nation's history. They knew this history of course, but Steven is going somewhere with it. They knew the history, and yet they did not truly understand it. They weren't the last to make that mistake.