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Job 4 (ESV)

Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prosper

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
“If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
Yet who can keep from speaking?
Behold, you have instructed many,
and you have strengthened the weak hands.
Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,
and you have made firm the feeble knees.
But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
it touches you, and you are dismayed.
Is not your fear of God your confidence,
and the integrity of your ways your hope?
“Remember: who that was innocent ever perished?
Or where were the upright cut off?
As I have seen, those who plow iniquity
and sow trouble reap the same.
By the breath of God they perish,
and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
10  The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,
the teeth of the young lions are broken.
11  The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12  “Now a word was brought to me stealthily;
my ear received the whisper of it.
13  Amid thoughts from visions of the night,
when deep sleep falls on men,
14  dread came upon me, and trembling,
which made all my bones shake.
15  A spirit glided past my face;
the hair of my flesh stood up.
16  It stood still,
but I could not discern its appearance.
A form was before my eyes;
there was silence, then I heard a voice:
17  ‘Can mortal man be in the right before God?
Can a man be pure before his Maker?
18  Even in his servants he puts no trust,
and his angels he charges with error;
19  how much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed like the moth.
20  Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces;
they perish forever without anyone regarding it.
21  Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them,
do they not die, and that without wisdom?’

Psalm 89 (ESV)

I Will Sing of the Steadfast Love of the Lord

89 A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever;
with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever;
in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”

You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:

‘I will establish your offspring forever,
and build your throne for all generations.’ ” Selah

Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,
your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!

For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,

a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
and awesome above all who are around him?

O Lord God of hosts,
who is mighty as you are, O Lord,
with your faithfulness all around you?

You rule the raging of the sea;
when its waves rise, you still them.

10  You crushed Rahab like a carcass;
you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

11  The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;
the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.

12  The north and the south, you have created them;
Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.

13  You have a mighty arm;
strong is your hand, high your right hand.

14  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.

15  Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,
who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face,

16  who exult in your name all the day
and in your righteousness are exalted.

17  For you are the glory of their strength;
by your favor our horn is exalted.

18  For our shield belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.

19  Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said:
“I have granted help to one who is mighty;
I have exalted one chosen from the people.

20  I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,

21  so that my hand shall be established with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.

22  The enemy shall not outwit him;
the wicked shall not humble him.

23  I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.

24  My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him,
and in my name shall his horn be exalted.

25  I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.

26  He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’

27  And I will make him the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.

28  My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
and my covenant will stand firm for him.

29  I will establish his offspring forever
and his throne as the days of the heavens.

30  If his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my rules,

31  if they violate my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,

32  then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with stripes,

33  but I will not remove from him my steadfast love
or be false to my faithfulness.

34  I will not violate my covenant
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.

35  Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.

36  His offspring shall endure forever,
his throne as long as the sun before me.

37  Like the moon it shall be established forever,
a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah

38  But now you have cast off and rejected;
you are full of wrath against your anointed.

39  You have renounced the covenant with your servant;
you have defiled his crown in the dust.

40  You have breached all his walls;
you have laid his strongholds in ruins.

41  All who pass by plunder him;
he has become the scorn of his neighbors.

42  You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
you have made all his enemies rejoice.

43  You have also turned back the edge of his sword,
and you have not made him stand in battle.

44  You have made his splendor to cease
and cast his throne to the ground.

45  You have cut short the days of his youth;
you have covered him with shame. Selah

46  How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire?

47  Remember how short my time is!
For what vanity you have created all the children of man!

48  What man can live and never see death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

49  Lord, where is your steadfast love of old,
which by your faithfulness you swore to David?

50  Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,
and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations,

51  with which your enemies mock, O Lord,
with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.

52  Blessed be the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.

Book Four

Luke 8:19–25 (ESV)

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers

19 Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. 20 And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” 21 But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

Jesus Calms a Storm

22 One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, 23 and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. 24 And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

In the passage cited above, that is taken from the Exposition of the First and Second Chapter of John, 1537 and 1538, there is the statement: “But these are questions that remain questions which I will not solve and that do not give me much concern, only there are people so sly and keen that they raise all kinds of questions for which they want to have answers. If one, however, has a correct understanding of Scripture and possesses the true statement of our faith that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has suffered and died for us, it will not be a serious defect if we are not able to answer them.” And following this: “When discrepancies occur in Holy Scripture (namely concerning such chronological questions as these: how many years Jesus taught openly, how the account of the Temple cleansing in John agrees with Matthew, and similar questions) and
we cannot harmonize them, let it pass, it does not endanger the article of the Christian faith.” In these statements Luther does not say that it is a matter of indi erence to him whether they contain errors or not but only that his faith would not be endangered, if, in spite of his best efforts, he would be unable to solve the apparent contradictions or to prove the inconsequence of all skeptical questions. He dismisses the matter if he cannot prove it conclusively, but his inability to do so neither commits him to the opinion that these passages really contain error, nor is his faith in salvation thereby imperiled. (49–50)

–Johann Michael Reu, Luther on the Scriptures

This daily Bible reading guide, Reading the Word of God, was conceived and prepared as a result of the ongoing discussions between representatives of three church bodies: Lutheran Church—Canada (LCC), The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). The following individuals have represented their church bodies and approved this introduction and the reading guide: LCC: President Robert Bugbee; NALC: Bishop John Bradosky, Revs. Mark Chavez, James Nestingen, and David Wendel; LCMS: Revs. Albert Collver, Joel Lehenbauer, John Pless, and Larry Vogel.

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