Who Do You Say? Reading With the People of God #19নমুনা

The Season of Advent is a beautiful time when I can slow down, extract myself from the hubbub for a little while each day, and reflect on the events leading up to the incarnation of Jesus Christ. As I read, meditate, and pray over Scripture passages from the Old and New Testaments prescribed for the season, I find peace and a loud and clear message that everything is all right.

Conversely, everything is not peaceful for Job in today’s Job 14 reading. He is suffering unmercifully with little hope of relief. As we remember the story in the previous chapters, his three “friends” are no help. In fact, they mocked and insulted him, and they drew the wrong conclusions about the cause of his suffering. As a result, we find Job appealing directly to God for relief.

In Job’s discourse, there are seven laments that take us through his view of human frailty, the fleeting nature of life, and the inevitability of death. We also see him moving from despair to a glimpse of hope for restoration with God after his death, then a return to his feelings of despair and hopelessness. In his suffering, Job turned to prayer with an honest outpouring of his fears, concerns, and feelings. He modeled for us what to do when we face distressful situations.

Job provides us with powerful lessons about our shared human condition, and he gives us a dim, but prophetic view, of the One who would come to earth to save us from our sins and grant believers eternal life.

Turning to Revelation 2:8 to 3:6, Jesus spoke through John to four of the churches in Asia. He praised the church in Smyrna for its spiritual richness. He commended the church in Pergamum for holding fast to their faith. He recognized the church in Thyatira for its love, faith, and service. Finally, He criticized the church in Sardis for its reputation of being alive, but spiritually dead.

Jesus’ messages to these four churches are a great reminder for us to examine our own spiritual condition, as individuals and as a church. Are we spiritually rich and known for our love, faith, and service? Are we holding onto our faith while surrounded by worldly ideas and practices? Are we spiritually alive or spiritually dead?

Primer contributed by Ron Ringstrom, a disciple of Christ and member of Cornerstone Community Church of Chowchilla