BAD ADVICE

“Then his wife said to him, do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!" (Job 2:9 NKJV).

In a matter of a few days Job had lost his possessions, his children, and his health. Also, from the look of things, it seems as if he had also lost the encouragement of his wife. Like many folks today, she was negative, distrustful and viewed the problems of life with an ungodly attitude. In her advice to Job, she told him two things - she told what to say and she told him what to do. Neither of these two things was good advice; rather it was bad advice. Yet this is the reaction of many people in trouble in our world today.

What to say - “Curse God.” Cursing God is terrible advice. Yet many folks today curse and blame God when troubles come their way. From stubbing one’s toe to some major catastrophe, man’s frequent reaction to trouble is to curse and use the name of God profanely. Too often, the first reaction for many folks when tragedy strikes are to spew out a string of profanities. These folks are following the advice of Job’s wife. Of course, such speech does not solve any problems; it only aggravates them. In times of trouble, we need God’s help, and cursing is hardly the way to get the help we need.

What to do - “Die.” Basically, Job’s wife was saying to Job - ‘why don’t you quit; why keep going; why keep up your faith in God; throw in the towel.’ Again, Job’s wife is expressing the attitude of many when faced with trouble. Folks simply quit. Indeed, Job’s troubles were very great, and from a human perspective, one could conclude that it was all over. But Job did not quit. He saw beyond his circumstances and his problems. He saw the Lord, the great problem solver.

(Adapted from Butler Daily Bible Reading)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“The Christian finds safety, not in the absence of danger but in the presence of God!”

Anonymous

Word Study

Difficult

In Luke 9:39 we read, “And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him” (NKJV).

Difficulty is the Greek word molis (μόλις = mol'-is). It means with difficulty, hardly, with toil. In Classical Greek, the word means scarcely, barely able to be done. The thought here is of struggle to attain something worthwhile only after great effort. Molis appears a few times in the Septuagint but is never used to translate a Hebrew original.

In the New Testament molis means to toil. In Acts 27:7-8, 16 molis is used to demonstrate the toil of laboring against the storm which eventually caused Paul’s shipwreck. Further, molis is rendered scarce in Acts 14:18 where Paul and Barnabas had to work hard to convince the people they were not gods.

Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus

Old Testament Prophecy – Messiah would be Priest after the order of Melchizedek

(Psalm 110:4)

New Testament Fulfillment – Hebrews 5:5-6; 6:20; 7:15-17

Bible Facts

The Pleiades and Orion star clusters described (Job 38:31). The Pleiades star cluster is

gravitationally bound, while the Orion star cluster is loose and disintegrating because the gravity of the cluster is not enough to bind the group together. 4,000 years ago, God asked Job, “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the belt of Orion?” Yet, it is only recently that we realized that the Pleiades is gravitationally bound, but Orion’s stars are flying apart.

Bible Quiz

The woman that Jesus met at Jacob’s well had had how many husbands?

**Answer to last week’s trivia: What was the meat that God provided to the Israelites in the wilderness? Quails (Exodus 16:13)

That’s in the Bible

"Loaves and fishes”

“Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude” (Luke 9:16 NKJV).

“Loaves and fishes” - The expression “loaves and fishes” carries the idea of God doing the impossible. Stating that there were only “five loaves and the two fish,” the disciples were highlighting the fact that the meal was inadequate for such a large group of people. For the Lord Jesus to use this setting to do a miracle shows the universal need all people, and how perfectly He satisfies that need as the Bread of Life. It shows the Lord’s messiahship and was an illustration of God’s gracious provision for man’s salvation. God, who provided manna in the wilderness, was authenticating the Lord Jesus as His Son and portraying the abundant blessings of the kingdom. The lesson is clear for every believer. Once we do our part, God will multiply our resources

Did You Know - Christian History

Sir Frederic George Kenyon was born January 15, 1863 in London, England. He was a British paleographer and Biblical and Classical scholar (paleography is the study of ancient and historical handwriting). He was educated at Winchester College and Oxford, where he was later a fellow.

Kenyon joined the British Museum in 1889 and rose to be its Director and Principal Librarian by 1909. He was knighted for his services in 1912 and remained at his post until 1931.

Kenyon was a noted scholar of ancient languages, and made a lifelong study of the Bible, especially the New Testament as an historical text. His book Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts, shows one way that Egyptian papyri and other evidence from archaeology can corroborate the narrative of historical events in the Gospels. He was convinced of the historical reality of the events described in the New Testament, and later wrote: “Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established.”

Kenyon also had the gift for making his words understandable to ordinary people. He was convinced that science does not disprove the Bible, but rather supports it. Further, he showed that the documentary evidence for the Bible was very good as compared to the documentary evidence for other events in ancient history. For example, the text of the manuscripts for the seven extant plays of Sophocles were written more than 1,400 years after the poet’s death. By comparison, the oldest manuscripts of the New Testament date to less than 100 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Further, almost every verse of the New Testament had been quoted in a writing by someone somewhere by the 3rd Century.

Because the number of manuscripts for the New Testament, or early translations of it are so numerous, Kenyon concluded that the Christian can take the whole Bible in his hand and say without fear or hesitation that he holds the true Word of God. This can be said of no other ancient book in the world.

Between 1933 and 1936, Kenyon published the famous Chester Beatty Papyri in five volumes. They date from about 200 AD and included most of the Epistles of Paul. Kenyon, the great scholar died August 23, 1952. He was 89 years old, but had lived long enough to learn of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

A Little Humor

A politician died, went to heaven, and was put at the front of the line. Some of the people standing by said to Saint Peter, “Why did you let this guy go to the front of the line? After all, we have pastors, evangelists, and Sunday school teachers up here.” Saint Peter said to him, “Yes, I know, but we only have one politician up here.”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“A person who is almost persuaded is still completely lost!”