WEBVTT 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:01.200 Who can bear the thought? 00:00:03.340 --> 00:00:05.680 This is the LifeSpring One-Year Bible Rewind, 00:00:05.800 --> 00:00:07.620 and coming to you from Riverside, California, 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:09.820 podcasting since 2004, 00:00:10.360 --> 00:00:12.260 I'm Steve Webb, your OG Godcaster. 00:00:12.700 --> 00:00:14.580 This is the podcast that comes to you every day, 00:00:14.740 --> 00:00:16.980 and we're reading the entire Bible together in a year. 00:00:17.220 --> 00:00:18.120 I'm so glad you're here. 00:00:18.240 --> 00:00:18.880 It's good to see you. 00:00:19.110 --> 00:00:19.220 Welcome. 00:00:19.660 --> 00:00:21.660 The website is lifespringmedia.com. 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:24.000 It's National Bubble Bath Day. 00:00:24.580 --> 00:00:26.220 Beloved, remember, rest is biblical. 00:00:26.680 --> 00:00:27.400 Bubbles are optional. 00:00:27.840 --> 00:00:33.260 When I was a kid, my mom bought Mr. Bubble for me. How about you? Today, I'm mostly a shower guy, 00:00:33.460 --> 00:00:38.600 but as an old man with creaky bones, sometimes I need a hot soak in the tub. But instead of Mr. 00:00:38.820 --> 00:00:44.780 Bubble, more often than not, I just use Epsom salts. Today is Poetry Thursday. We'll read Job 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:50.860 23 and 24, and we'll have an on this date in church history. Let's begin. Our Heavenly Father, 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:55.240 we thank you so much for our time together. We thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, 00:00:55.320 --> 00:00:59.960 for what we learn from it. And today I pray that you would touch our hearts and teach us. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:02.260 We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:12.080 Job chapter 23. Job answered, Today my complaint is again bitter. My strength is weighed down 00:01:12.260 --> 00:01:17.200 because of my groaning. Oh, that I could know how to find him, come to his dwelling place. 00:01:17.700 --> 00:01:23.119 I would lay out my case before him, fill my mouth with arguments, know the words with which he would 00:01:23.140 --> 00:01:29.320 answer, understand what he would say to me. Would he contend with me through brute force? No, he 00:01:29.330 --> 00:01:35.220 would surely listen to me. There, those who do the right thing can argue with him. I could escape 00:01:35.310 --> 00:01:43.020 from my judge forever. Look, I go east, he's not there. West, and I don't discover him. North in 00:01:43.020 --> 00:01:49.640 his activity, and I don't grasp him. He turns south, and I don't see. Surely he knows my way. 00:01:50.280 --> 00:01:52.620 When he tests me, I will emerge as gold. 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:55.300 My feet have stayed right in his tracks. 00:01:56.020 --> 00:01:57.940 I have kept his way and not left it, 00:01:58.440 --> 00:02:01.080 kept the commandments from his lips and not departed, 00:02:01.700 --> 00:02:04.600 valued the words from his mouth more than my food. 00:02:05.800 --> 00:02:08.200 He is of one mind, who can reverse it? 00:02:08.679 --> 00:02:10.259 What he desires, he does. 00:02:10.920 --> 00:02:15.240 He carries out what is decreed for me and can do many similar things with me. 00:02:15.900 --> 00:02:17.920 Therefore, I am scared by his presence. 00:02:18.820 --> 00:02:20.480 I think and become afraid of him. 00:02:21.200 --> 00:02:22.700 God has weakened my mind. 00:02:23.110 --> 00:02:24.560 The Almighty has frightened me. 00:02:25.320 --> 00:02:27.180 Still I am not annihilated by darkness. 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:29.820 He has hidden deep darkness from me. 00:02:30.540 --> 00:02:31.960 Job chapter 24 00:02:33.480 --> 00:02:36.220 Why are times not appointed by the Almighty? 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:39.980 Why do those who know him not see his days? 00:02:41.200 --> 00:02:42.660 Men move boundary stones. 00:02:43.220 --> 00:02:45.120 They seize the flock and pasture them. 00:02:46.060 --> 00:02:47.820 They drive away the orphan's donkey. 00:02:48.540 --> 00:02:50.420 They take the widow's ox as a pledge. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:55.800 They turn the needy from the pathway, and the poor of the land hide themselves together. 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:02.100 Like wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their labor, seeking diligently for food. 00:03:02.860 --> 00:03:05.940 The wasteland provides food for them and for their children. 00:03:06.820 --> 00:03:10.140 They reap fodder in the field and glean in the vineyard of the wicked. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:13.580 They spend the night naked because they lack clothing. 00:03:14.280 --> 00:03:16.440 They have no covering against the cold. 00:03:17.340 --> 00:03:21.900 They are soaked by mountain rains and huddle in the rocks because they lack shelter. 00:03:23.100 --> 00:03:25.840 The fatherless child is snatched from the breast. 00:03:26.350 --> 00:03:28.660 The infant of the poor is taken as a pledge. 00:03:29.460 --> 00:03:33.860 They go about naked without clothing and go hungry while they carry the sheaves. 00:03:35.200 --> 00:03:38.080 They press out the olive oil between the rows of olive trees. 00:03:39.020 --> 00:03:41.560 They tread the wine presses while they are thirsty. 00:03:42.660 --> 00:03:46.800 From the city the dying groan and the wounded cry out for help. 00:03:47.440 --> 00:03:53.100 but God charges no one with wrongdoing. There are those who rebel against the light. 00:03:53.590 --> 00:04:00.880 They do not know its ways, and they do not stay on its paths. Before daybreak, the murderer rises up. 00:04:01.440 --> 00:04:07.760 He kills the poor and the needy. In the night, he is like a thief. And the eye of the adulterer 00:04:08.020 --> 00:04:13.900 watches for the twilight, thinking, No eye can see me, and covers his face with a mask. 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:20.280 In the dark the robber breaks into houses, but by day they shut themselves in. 00:04:20.840 --> 00:04:22.260 They do not know the light. 00:04:23.080 --> 00:04:26.640 For all of them the morning is to them like deep darkness. 00:04:27.620 --> 00:04:29.540 They are friends with the terrors of darkness. 00:04:30.980 --> 00:04:33.720 You say, He is foam on the face of the waters. 00:04:34.460 --> 00:04:38.380 Their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one goes to their vineyard. 00:04:39.080 --> 00:04:42.240 The drought as well as the heat carry away the melted snow. 00:04:43.280 --> 00:04:45.660 So the grave takes away those who have sinned. 00:04:46.760 --> 00:04:47.800 The womb forgets him. 00:04:48.320 --> 00:04:49.760 The worm feasts on him. 00:04:50.460 --> 00:04:52.100 No longer will he be remembered. 00:04:53.540 --> 00:04:56.280 Like a tree, wickedness will be broken down. 00:04:57.180 --> 00:05:02.060 He prays on the barren and the childless woman, and does not treat the widow well. 00:05:03.320 --> 00:05:06.160 But God drags off the mighty by his power. 00:05:06.960 --> 00:05:10.940 When God rises up against him, he has no faith in his life. 00:05:12.140 --> 00:05:17.520 God may let him rest in a feeling of security, but he is constantly watching all their ways. 00:05:18.880 --> 00:05:22.000 They are exalted for a little while, and then they are gone. 00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:28.820 They are brought low like all others, and gathered in, and like a head of grain, they are cut off. 00:05:30.460 --> 00:05:35.480 If this is not so, who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing? 00:05:37.160 --> 00:05:42.360 Well, today we had two short chapters in which our brother Job continues to answer his friends, 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:47.140 or should I say accusers. Let's look for a moment at chapter 23, shall we? 00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:51.780 Job says that he'd like to make his case in God's presence. He says, 00:05:52.320 --> 00:05:57.000 Would he argue with me from his position of power? No, I know that he would listen to me. 00:05:57.740 --> 00:06:02.240 So even though Job feels that God has brought his sorrows on him unjustly, 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:06.140 he still trusts that God would listen and give him a fair audience. 00:06:07.420 --> 00:06:12.200 And then he says that surely God knows that he's been a good man and that the trials that he's been 00:06:12.270 --> 00:06:18.280 through are refining him as gold. But even though he trusts God, he's afraid of him because of who 00:06:18.460 --> 00:06:24.660 God is. I believe this is a healthy fear. I think sometimes, beloved, we take God for granted. 00:06:25.460 --> 00:06:31.379 We've gotten so used to his grace that we forget about his awesome, infinite power. It's good to 00:06:31.400 --> 00:06:37.280 be reminded that God is not to be trifled with. The commentator Adam Clark had this to say, 00:06:37.880 --> 00:06:44.400 Nothing can humble a pious mind so much as scriptural apprehensions of the majesty of God. 00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:50.780 It is easy to contemplate His goodness, lovingkindness, and mercy. In all these we have 00:06:50.780 --> 00:06:57.240 an interest, and from them we expect the greatest good. But to consider His holiness and justice, 00:06:57.820 --> 00:07:03.600 the infinite righteousness of His nature, under the conviction that we have sinned and broken the 00:07:03.740 --> 00:07:09.980 laws prescribed by His sovereign majesty, and to feel ourselves brought as into the presence of 00:07:09.980 --> 00:07:16.520 His judgment seat, who can bear the thought? If cherubim and seraphim veil their faces before 00:07:16.590 --> 00:07:23.860 His throne, and the holiest soul exclaims, I loathe myself when I see God, and into nothing fall, 00:07:24.460 --> 00:07:31.940 What must a sinner feel whose conscience is not yet purged from dead works and who feels the wrath of God abiding on him? 00:07:32.260 --> 00:07:40.340 And how, without such a mediator and sacrifice as Jesus Christ is, can any human spirit come into the presence of its judge? 00:07:41.220 --> 00:07:46.660 Those who can approach Him without terror know little about His justice and nothing of their sin. 00:07:47.340 --> 00:07:54.240 When we approach Him in prayer or in any ordinance, should we not feel more reverence than we generally do? 00:07:55.400 --> 00:07:56.640 That's something to think about. 00:07:57.080 --> 00:07:58.420 I'd love to hear what you think. 00:07:58.790 --> 00:08:04.520 You can comment on the show notes page at lifespringmedia.com slash s12e80. 00:08:04.900 --> 00:08:11.940 Or you can email me at steve at lifespringmedia.com or go to comment.lifespringmedia.com and leave a comment there. 00:08:12.540 --> 00:08:17.620 Tomorrow, we're going to complete the book of Isaiah with the reading of chapters 62 through 66. 00:08:23.400 --> 00:08:25.800 Our verse of the day today is Job 23.10. 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:28.040 Surely he knows my way. 00:08:28.350 --> 00:08:30.940 When he tests me, I will emerge as gold. 00:08:31.720 --> 00:08:32.700 Job 23.10. 00:08:38.219 --> 00:08:40.740 On this date in church history, January 8th. 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:48.200 In 1642, Galileo Galilei died near Florence. He's best known as a pioneering astronomer whose 00:08:48.500 --> 00:08:54.080 observations helped reshape how people understood the universe and whose life later became part of 00:08:54.080 --> 00:09:00.960 a much larger conversation about faith, authority, and science. Galileo was a believing Christian who 00:09:01.080 --> 00:09:06.019 saw his scientific work as a way of exploring God's creation. What he discovered through his 00:09:06.040 --> 00:09:11.380 telescope challenged long-held assumptions, and the controversy that followed revealed how difficult 00:09:11.460 --> 00:09:18.600 it can be to respond wisely when long-held beliefs are challenged. Today, Galileo's story is often 00:09:19.040 --> 00:09:24.400 remembered not as a battle between faith and science, but as a reminder of the need for humility, 00:09:24.860 --> 00:09:31.339 for careful interpretation, and patience when truth unfolds over time. It reminds us that honest 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:38.100 inquiry and sincere faith need not be enemies. All truth belongs to God, and wisdom calls for 00:09:38.100 --> 00:09:44.180 us to seek it with humility, courage, and grace. If you enjoy the show, tell someone. 00:09:53.980 --> 00:09:58.839 Beloved, remember that even when we don't understand God's ways and feel the weight of 00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:05.240 His majesty, we can rest in His promise from Job 23.10, that the God who tests us, knows us, 00:10:05.820 --> 00:10:11.580 listens to us, and is refining us like gold. Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. 00:10:11.900 --> 00:10:14.840 Thanks for being here. I'm Steve Webb. Bye. 00:10:17.080 --> 00:10:22.920 All the programs in the Lifespring Media family are made possible by your value-for-value support. 00:10:23.660 --> 00:10:24.000 Thank you. 00:10:26.140 --> 00:10:29.680 The Lifespring One Year Bible Rewind is a Lifespring Media production 00:10:29.980 --> 00:10:33.520 hosted by Steve Webb, the OG Godcaster, since 2004.