Psalm 87

Psalm 87 celebrates Zion as the city God uniquely loves and has chosen as His dwelling place. Surprisingly, God speaks of people from foreign and even enemy nations as belonging to Zion, portraying His kingdom as one that welcomes people from every nation. The psalm ends with joyful celebration because the people recognize that their true source of life is found in God.

Our deepest identity is not ultimately found in where we were born, what we have accomplished, or what gr

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Romans 11:25-36

Paul reveals that Israel’s present hardening is partial and temporary, and that God is still working out His redemptive purposes for both Jews and Gentiles. He emphasizes that God’s gifts and calling are irrevocable and that God has used human disobedience as an opportunity to display mercy. Paul concludes by worshiping God for the unfathomable depth of His wisdom, knowledge, and sovereign ways.

We will not always understand what God is doing, but we can trust the wisdom of

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Romans 11:1-24

Paul explains that God has not rejected Israel, pointing to himself and a faithful remnant as evidence of God’s continuing grace. Israel’s stumbling has opened the way for salvation to spread to the Gentiles, yet Paul warns Gentile believers against pride because they stand only by faith. Using the picture of an olive tree, he teaches that God can both remove branches through unbelief and graft them back in through faith.

God’s grace should produce humility, never superiori

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Job 42

“For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has” (v8).  Job’s complaints, questions, and despair didn’t turn God against him; instead, God criticized Job’s three bombastic friends who pretended to know all the answers (v7).  The mysterious Elihu (ch 36) isn’t mentioned at all.  Job didn’t nobly and quietly endure suffering; he raged and wept, and yet he remained close to the Lord.  In the end, he was rewarded by the awesome, personal voice of God Himsel

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Job 41

“Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine” (v11). God explained to Job that even the wild creatures belonged to Him; the things that defied human control were tame for the Lord. "Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord?” (v1). Leviathan (either a crocodile, v15, or a fire-breathing dragon, v19) symbolized the chaotic, unsubdued forces of the world.  While humans struggled against

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Job 40

“Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?” (v9).  Job realized that all his questions were nothing compared to God’s majesty, and he was struck speechless.  “I lay my hand upon my mouth … I will proceed no further” (v4-5).  Though Job’s life didn’t make sense from a human viewpoint, in God’s presence he realized that the Creator of all had limitless power and an eternal perspective. Job’s life mattered, but he accepted his humble role in God’s k

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Job 39

"Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south? Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?” (v26-27).  Job worried that his sufferings were a terrible mistake, that perhaps God had miscalculated Job’s life.  God’s answer was to show Job all the intricate, delicate, powerful mechanisms of life on earth.  We work hard to grasp the edge of knowledge about plants, animals, stars, and all creation, but God

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Psalm 86

“Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy” (v1).  David, warrior and king, prayed with the self-understanding that he was truly “poor and needy.”  He unashamedly called on God for all kinds of help: “to You I cry all the day” (v3).  With God, David did not have to be a strong leader with all the answers; instead, in times of trouble or fear, he could lift up his soul to the One who always answers (v4, 7).

“For great is your steadfast love toward me”

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Romans 10

“For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (v2).  Paul desperately wanted more of his Jewish brethren to be saved (v1).  He saw that their problem was that they were pursuing God’s righteousness on their own terms, rather than accepting what God Himself freely offered (v3). They thought they owned their religion and its rules (v5-9), and so they were offended by “the word of faith” (v8) that simply declares “Jesus is Lord.”

“Ever

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Roman 9

“They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises …” (v4).  Paul anguished over the fact that his fellow Jews, receivers of a great spiritual inheritance, rejected God’s Messiah.  However, God’s word, His gifts and promises had not failed (v6), because “not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel … it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children

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Job 36-38

“If they listen and serve him, they complete their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasantness” (36:11). It’s tempting to believe, like Elihu and Job’s other friends believed, that earthly prosperity is the mark of God’s favor. People who are financially stable and have high-status jobs must be “doing something right.”   While there are benefits to following God’s ways (deep peace and a clean conscience, for example), the truth is that the righteous experience trou

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Job 35

“If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him? … If you are righteous, what do you give to him?” (v6-7). Trying to defend God, Elihu gets it exactly wrong. Job’s story opened with a demonstration of how much God cared about Job’s righteousness. Job’s loyalty to God was a frustration to Satan; Job’s troubles were a test to see if Job would walk away from God when his life fell apart. Far from being detached, God cared deeply about Job’s life.

 Like Job, we are ofte

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Job 34

“For according to the work of a man he will repay him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him” (v11). In many other situations, Elihu’s theory works very well, as the proverbs teach us. Our actions have consequences, both earthly and spiritual. However, Job’s life didn’t follow that pattern (at least not all the time), and therefore he questioned the point of serving God, which made Elihu furious (v9). Job’s questions were honest, and so was Elihu’s exasperat

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Job 33

“Behold, God does all these … to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be lighted with the light of life” (v29-30). Well-intentioned Elihu declared many truths to Job, though none spoke to the heart of Job’s situation. God may speak to us through dreams and circumstances to warn us when we stray from His path (v15), but Job had not been falling into sin when disaster struck. Elihu was sincere, but he missed the point.

“God is greater than man” (v12). Even good peopl

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Job 32

“But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand …” (v8). After listening to Job’s three friends give speeches that went nowhere, Elihu “burned with anger.”  He knew the answer to why Job was suffering: “Listen to me; let me also declare my opinion” (v10). Yet his opinion turned out to be similar to that of Job’s friends; he was sure that Job was being punished for sin (ch 33). Like the others, Elihu’s “wisdom” was limited by his human vi

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