David Bahn – Reflections

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These reflections grow out of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas. This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are Genesis 14-15; Psalm 29.

Genesis 14:18-20

After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). ¹⁸ And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) ¹⁹ And he blessed him and said,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
    Possessor of heaven and earth;
²⁰ and blessed be God Most High,
    who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”

And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Melchizedek appears suddenly in Genesis, blesses Abram, and then disappears. But he leaves behind a pattern. He is a king who brings peace. He is a priest who blesses God’s people. His is a righteousness not rooted in law, lineage, or achievement. He just shows up, blesses Abram, and leaves. But before Melchizedek leaves Abram gives him a tenth of all he has.

God waits centuries to tell us why all this matters. Hebrews 5–7 uses Melchizedek to explain who Jesus is and why his priesthood matters.

For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. ² He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. ³ Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. ⁴ And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.

⁵ So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him,

“You are my Son,
    today I have begotten you”;

⁶ as he says also in another place,

“You are a priest forever,
    after the order of Melchizedek.” – Hebrews 7:1-6

Years ago one of our sons made a comment about my sermons – respectful, thoughtful, and meant in love. “Dad,” he said, “it seems no matter what the text or topic you preach on, you always manage to end up talking about Jesus.” “Well,” I told him, “that’s on purpose Son…” The Old Testament is a prelude to the New Testament. And the New Testament is a commentary on the Old Testament. So, yes, here we come again to Jesus. In Jesus, the pattern is fulfilled. He is the true King of righteousness and peace, and the priest who intercedes for us forever. He is worthy of our praise, our prayers, and our offerings.

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

These reflections grow out of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas. This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are Genesis 12-13; Psalm 28.

Genesis 12:1-9

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵ And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶ Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. ⁹ And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

Abraham is known as the father of faith, and he shows it here in his response to God’s call. God gives Abram a great challenge, a clear call, and a great promise.

Think of the challenge. It comes out of the blue. It’s as if the LORD said, Get up and go to a place I will show you. But it’s even more, for God admits that he is asking Abram to leave ancestral home, his family, and the country where he lived. It would be a lot. Even a nomad might balk at the idea of pulling up stakes and moving at a single command.

Then comes the clear call. God will lead him to the land he will show him. But that’s all he has to go on. There is no pillar of fire, no paper map folded 40 times, a more convenient AAA TripTick, and certainly no Garman GPS, or Google maps to follow. There is no telling where he is to go. Had Abram been out of his own country before? Does he know the possibilities and lay of the land in various places? Perhaps he does. Maybe he doesn’t. But in either case God is calling him to an adventure of faith: Follow me. I will lead you.

God adds a promise – or better yet, he states what the future will hold. When God said, “Let there be light,” there was light. God’s word is not just a matter of verbs, adjectives, nouns and grammar. God’s word creates worlds. He calls the stars out and names them. He sets the limits. He determines boundaries. So when God says, “I will make of you a great nation,” it’s gonna happen.

Abram is not yet Abraham. Abram means Exalted Father. Abraham means Father of Many Nations. God will re-name him in due time. Abram will go as God leads him. Abram does not negotiate the terms. He does not ask for a guarantee. Nor does he delay until he understands.

Faith is like that. It is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is focused on the One who makes the promise and on what he promises, even though we have not yet seen it. Abram will stumble more than once as he waits for God’s promise to become reality. But God does not stumble. His word is as certain as our fumbles and foibles are real. And that word is fulfilled in Jesus, who calls us to follow him.

Abram builds altars along the way and calls on the name of the LORD – a phrase indicating worship. That’s a great example for us as well – to build altars of praise to God and to worship him who is the object of our faith – Jesus Christ our Lord.

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

These reflections grow out of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas. This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are Job 41-42; Psalm 27.

Job 41:1-5

[The LORD continues to speak] “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook
    or press down his tongue with a cord?
² Can you put a rope in his nose
    or pierce his jaw with a hook?
³ Will he make many pleas to you?
    Will he speak to you soft words?
⁴ Will he make a covenant with you
    to take him for your servant forever?
⁵ Will you play with him as with a bird,
    or will you put him on a leash for your girls?

Job 42:1, 5-6

Then Job answered the LORD and said:

⁵ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
    but now my eye sees you;
⁶ therefore I despise myself,
    and repent in dust and ashes.”

There are some powerful passages in the Book of Job: “I know that my redeemer lives,” and “The LORD gives and the LORD takes away. Blessed be the name of the LORD” are two examples. But in these two chapters (41 and 42) are two more – a bit less ennobling, but no less true. God asks Job, “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook…or put him on a leash for your girls?” Those are powerful questions. They silence Job who says, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42: 5-6 NIV)

It may not be very gracious on my part to have such a chuckle over these verses, but I can’t help it. Catching Leviathan with a fishhook?!? Who would think of that? Putting him on a leash for your girls? What a funny image that is!

Except they are neither funny nor trite. These are not throwaway questions on God’s part. He is quite serious. The themes of chapter 42 are not just a continuation of the previous list of God’s creative majesty. Job could never match that. Here in chapter 42 we have the exclamation point. The Leviathan are sea monsters associated with the whale and crocodile.

But in Isaiah 27:1 there is another connotation: In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.

This most certainly refers to Satan. And who but God can tame the devil, and make him his daughter’s pet on a leash? That’s what Jesus did when he remained faithful even unto death and rose on the third day. He not only ransomed us and saved us from sin and death. He defeated the devil who will one day be thrown into the burning lake of fire.

God’s question to Job must have shaken Satan to his core – if he had any knowledge of it. It was only a matter of time. Satan’s sway will one day end. We yearn for that day, but it has not come yet. So why does God still delay? He delays so that more people will have the opportunity to repent – just as Job did – and discover the abundant restorative grace of God as Job also did 1000s of years ago. That abundant grace still redeems and restores us who repent – not in dust and ashes – but in anticipation of Jesus’ final coming and our welcome into the eternal joy of his salvation.

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

These reflections grow out of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas. This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are Job 38-40; Psalm 26.

Job 38:1-7; 40:3-5

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

² “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
³ Dress for action like a man;
    I will question you, and you make it known to me.

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
    Tell me, if you have understanding.
⁵ Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
    Or who stretched the line upon it?
⁶ On what were its bases sunk,
    or who laid its cornerstone,
⁷ when the morning stars sang together
    and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

^40:3 Then Job answered the LORD and said:

⁴ “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?
    I lay my hand on my mouth.
⁵ I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
    twice, but I will proceed no further.”

Finally, God is no longer a spectator in this saga of suffering. He now speaks to Job – and speak he does. God does not, however, explain Job’s suffering. Instead, he re-orients Job’s vision. God will not give an account of why Job had to suffer so; he will remind Job of who is God – and who is not.

And God does this by recounting examples of his creative majesty and prerogatives:

• Lays the foundations of the earth – God alone ordered creation with wisdom and purpose before any human existed (38:4–7).
• Sets boundaries for the sea – The chaotic waters go only as far as God permits — no farther (38:8–11).
• Commands the morning and brings the dawn – Each day begins at God’s bidding, not by chance (38:12–15).
• Knows the depths of the sea and the gates of death – God sees what is hidden, dangerous, and beyond human reach (38:16–18).
• Controls light and darkness – Light is not just physical but ordered by God’s wisdom (38:19–21).
• Sends rain, snow, hail, and lightning – Weather answers to God, not to human control (38:22–30).
• Feeds wild animals and their young – God cares even for creatures humans overlook (38:39–41).
• Orders the seasons and the stars – Constellations move according to God’s command, not human knowledge (38:31–33).
• Gives strength and limits to powerful creatures – Behemoth and Leviathan exist under God’s authority, not as rivals (40:15–24; ch. 41).
• Sustains creation by wisdom, not explanation – God rules the world by wisdom deeper than human understanding (38:36).

I love this! First, however, he will confront Job. And he does so authoritatively: “Tell me if you have understanding.” Or as the NLT has it, “Tell me, if you know so much.”

Clearly Job has this coming. He says, “I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.” (Job 23:4) But he won’t get the chance. So Job backtracks:

“Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?
    I lay my hand on my mouth.
I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
    twice, but I will proceed no further.” (Job 40:4-5)

C.S. Lewis wrote a powerful essay, God in the Dock, where he challenged the idea that we can ever call God to account for his actions. He doesn’t give an answer to us. We must give an account to him. He determines what is good and what is evil. The original sin wasn’t merely eating forbidden fruit. It was deciding that Adam and Eve knew better than God what was good and what was evil.

We’re all inclined to commit this sin. We all want God to conform to our sensibilities. But if he did, he would never have sent his Son to redeem and save us. He would not pour out his grace on ungrateful sinners.

God does not justify himself to Job nor does he justify himself to us. Instead, he justifies sinners. The God who will not be placed in the dock is the same God who, in Christ, places himself on the cross. And that is not an answer to our questions, but something far better: our salvation.

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

These reflections grow out of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas. This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are Job 29-31; Psalm 23.

Job 29:1-6

And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

² “Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
    as in the days when God watched over me,
³ when his lamp shone upon my head,
    and by his light I walked through darkness,
⁴ as I was in my prime,
    when the friendship of God was upon my tent,
⁵ when the Almighty was yet with me,
    when my children were all around me,
⁶ when my steps were washed with butter,
    and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

Psalm 23

23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
³     He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name’s sake.

⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

My mother-in-law had nothing good to say about the good old days. Her life was hard. There was nothing nostalgic about her years in the old days. The same was true of my mother. I was raised in the dust bowl of Oklahoma during the depression she would say. Who would want to go back to that?

Job, on the other hand, yearned for the good old days. He was prosperous. He helped people with his great wealth and was respected for his kindness to those in need. Now he is in misery. He agonizes over the trouble he’s seen.

Against that we have Psalm 23. This psalm reminds us that God is with us in the hard places. He is the one who leads us in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Perhaps that’s the lesson Job is yet to learn. God has pointed out that Job is a righteous man. He has incited Satan to cause Job all manner of pain and suffering – beyond what most of us could even imagine.

But the claim of Satan is not proving to be true – nor will it be shown to be true in the end. Job will not curse God to his face. Quite the opposite is about to happen. We’ll see that in the chapters ahead. But for now, Job – righteous as he is – must learn that God is with him in the green pastures and beside the still waters and especially in the valley of the shadow of death and the presence of his enemies.

Some years after Job, David will speak about God and to God. He speaks about God in the first 3 verses of Psalm 23. He leads me, he restores me, says David. That’s a good thing to do. We can speak about God when we witness to his goodness and faithfulness. Sadly, however, it seems that no one has done that so far in this saga of suffering.

But we can also speak to God. That’s a good thing to do as well. David says, “You are with me, your rod and staff comfort me, you restore, you anoint…”

Even the best of days gone by are a dim image of the joy and bliss of the life of the world to come, where we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

In the end, our comfort is not found in better days of the past or stronger faith in the present. Our true comfort is found in Jesus, the Good Shepherd who walked the valley of the shadow of death for us. Jesus now leads us by his grace to the eternal joy of his salvation.

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

These reflections grow out of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas. This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are Job 26-28; Psalm 22.

Job 28:24-28

[Job is speaking] “God looks to the ends of the earth
    and sees everything under the heavens.
²⁵ When he gave to the wind its weight
    and apportioned the waters by measure,
²⁶ when he made a decree for the rain
    and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
²⁷ then he saw it and declared it;
    he established it, and searched it out.
²⁸ And he said to man,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
    and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Psalm 22

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
² O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
    and by night, but I find no rest.

³ Yet you are holy,
    enthroned on the praises of Israel.
⁴ In you our fathers trusted;
    they trusted, and you delivered them.
⁵ To you they cried and were rescued;
    in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

⁶ But I am a worm and not a man,
    scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
⁷ All who see me mock me;
    they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
⁸ “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;
    let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”

⁹ Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
    you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
¹⁰ On you was I cast from my birth,
    and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
¹¹ Be not far from me,
    for trouble is near,
    and there is none to help.

¹² Many bulls encompass me;
    strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
¹³ they open wide their mouths at me,
    like a ravening and roaring lion.

¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
    and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
    it is melted within my breast;
¹⁵ my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
    and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
    you lay me in the dust of death.

¹⁶ For dogs encompass me;
    a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
¹⁷ I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
¹⁸ they divide my garments among them,
    and for my clothing they cast lots.

¹⁹ But you, O Lord, do not be far off!
    O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
²⁰ Deliver my soul from the sword,
    my precious life from the power of the dog!
²¹     Save me from the mouth of the lion!
You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!

²² I will tell of your name to my brothers;
    in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
²³ You who fear the Lord, praise him!
    All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
    and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
²⁴ For he has not despised or abhorred
    the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him,
    but has heard, when he cried to him.

²⁵ From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
    my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
²⁶ The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
    those who seek him shall praise the Lord!
    May your hearts live forever!

²⁷ All the ends of the earth shall remember
    and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
    shall worship before you.
²⁸ For kingship belongs to the Lord,
    and he rules over the nations.

²⁹ All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
    before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
    even the one who could not keep himself alive.
³⁰ Posterity shall serve him;
    it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
³¹ they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
    that he has done it.

A missionary friend told me about an unfortunate situation he experienced while in the mission field many years ago. The treasurer of he congregation he had started was found to have embezzled money from the church. When the pastor and the president of the congregation confronted the man, the president of the congregation was incredulous. He exclaimed, “Don’t you fear God?” He had it right. Although it is a secondary motivation for Godly living (love for God and neighbor being the primary motivation), fear does its work when we resist temptation out of fear of spiritual or practical consequences. Job has it right: the fear of the Lord is wisdom.

Then comes the Psalm reading for today. Psalm 22 is one of the most profound messianic psalms of all. These words of David point toward Jesus’ crucifixion: “They pierce my hands and my feet….I can count all my bones.” Jesus’ cry from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” is not only a cry of agony. It serves as a pointer to this psalm – the fullness of which also points toward his resurrection:

Posterity shall serve him;
    it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
³¹ they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
    that he has done it.

Jesus knew what it was to fear God, but also what it was to trust him. Even as he died, abandoned by God for us, he still called, “My God, my God…” He knew from where help was to come. And we do too, for we are to “fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

These reflections grow out of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas. This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are Job 23-25; Psalm 21.

Job 23:8-17

“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,
    and backward, but I do not perceive him;
⁹ on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;
    he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
¹⁰ But he knows the way that I take;
    when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
¹¹ My foot has held fast to his steps;
    I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
¹² I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
    I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
¹³ But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back?
    What he desires, that he does.
¹⁴ For he will complete what he appoints for me,
    and many such things are in his mind.
¹⁵ Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
    when I consider, I am in dread of him.
¹⁶ God has made my heart faint;
    the Almighty has terrified me;
¹⁷ yet I am not silenced because of the darkness,
    nor because thick darkness covers my face.

It’s obvious that Job was not feeling a sense of God’s presence and grace. He felt hemmed in as he laments, “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; ⁹ on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.”

As I read how Job looked left and right or moved backward or forward in search of God’s favor, I was reminded of this blessing:

May the Lord go before you to guide you.
May he go beside you to comfort you.
May he go behind you to protect you.
May he go beneath you to sustain you.
May he go above you to watch over you.
May he go within you to give you peace.

And may the blessing of almighty God —
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit —
be with you and remain with you always.
Amen.

What a beautiful benediction! Job will one day see the faithfulness of God in this manner again. But for now he is being tested and refined. Yet, I see a glimmer of hope and faith when he says, “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”

I’m reminded of Peter’s words to suffering believers: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:6-7)

We can lament our suffering without abandoning our faith in God. The key is to hold to God’s faithfulness and remember the ultimate joy that we will experience in the Life of the World to Come. We will glory in God’s grace (cf. Ephesians 1:6), because of its breadth and our deepening realization of our desperate need for it, fully revealed when Jesus returns.

As we wait for that ultimate deliverance, we can seek God’s abiding blessing surrounding every aspect of our being and doing.

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

These reflections grow out of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas. This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are Job 20-22; Psalm 20.

Psalm 20

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
    May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
² May he send you help from the sanctuary
    and give you support from Zion!
³ May he remember all your offerings
    and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah

⁴ May he grant you your heart’s desire
    and fulfill all your plans!
⁵ May we shout for joy over your salvation,
    and in the name of our God set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!

⁶ Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;
    he will answer him from his holy heaven
    with the saving might of his right hand.
⁷ Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
    but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
⁸ They collapse and fall,
    but we rise and stand upright.

⁹ O Lord, save the king!
    May he answer us when we call.

In Job 20–22 we see these convictions collide. Zophar insists that the prosperity of the wicked is always temporary and that suffering inevitably exposes hidden sin. Job counters that lived experience contradicts this claim: many wicked people flourish and die in peace, showing that suffering cannot be explained by simple moral formulas. Eliphaz responds by moving from implication to accusation, defending God’s transcendence while turning repentance into a means of restoring material blessing. The conversations are combative and ultimately self-defeating.

Psalm 20 then offers a striking counterpoint. While it affirms that the wicked collapse and fall and that the righteous stand firm (v. 8), it does not defend God’s predictability in the way Job’s friends do. Instead, the psalm points to God’s justice. It calls us to trust that justice even when outcomes are unclear and suffering seems undeserved.

This is the tension Job lives in. Whether or not he fully trusts God’s justice, he never disengages from God himself. His anger and accusations presume that God is there and that God is just – otherwise his protest would make no sense. Job’s struggle is not unbelief, but faith under strain.

There is only One who entrusts himself perfectly to God’s justice in the face of profound injustice. Jesus knew how to lament and how to expose empty piety. And at the moment of his deepest suffering, he placed himself wholly in his Father’s care: “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”

It is easy to fall into the pattern of Job’s friends – accusing, correcting, and pontificating. It is also easy to become defensive and self-righteous like Job, even charging God with injustice. But Jesus is not merely an example to imitate. He is God’s Son and our savior, the one who bears injustice for us and entrusts us, even in suffering, into the hands of a just and faithful God.

Job was honest with God. He remained engaged with God. He will be vindicated, but not by his own righteousness, but by God’s grace.

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These reflections grow out of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas. This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are Job 17-19; Psalm 19.

Job 19:23-29

“Oh that my words were written!
    Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
²⁴ Oh that with an iron pen and lead
    they were engraved in the rock forever!
²⁵ For I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
²⁶ And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
    yet in my flesh I shall see God,
²⁷ whom I shall see for myself,
    and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
    My heart faints within me!
²⁸ If you say, ‘How we will pursue him!’
    and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’
²⁹ be afraid of the sword,
    for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
    that you may know there is a judgment.”

It is not at all clear that Job had any sense of how far-reaching or prophetic his words would be when he cried out, “Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!” These words emerge not from quiet reflection, but from the midst of intense verbal conflict. Three self-righteous friends launch repeated accusations against Job, who has become deeply defensive – at times even self-justifying. The friends take turns pressing their case. Job responds with sarcasm and counter-accusation. It is not a pretty scene on any level.

In that context, it seems unlikely that Job imagined his words would one day be read at funerals and graveside committal services, or sung by the Church as a hymn of resurrection hope: “I know that my Redeemer lives.” We rightly hear these words fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who lives triumphant over the grave. He lives, having conquered death – and Job will indeed see him, even after his body has returned to dust.

Yet the immediate spirit of Job’s words seem to be more courtroom appeal than calm confession. Job is fighting for vindication. He longs for a living witness who will stand for him when everyone else condemns him. And in that desperate plea, God gives words that reach far beyond Job’s moment – words that the Church hears, at last, fulfilled in Christ.

It might be that Job uttered these words in faith – believing that God would come to his aid and justify him before his three visitors. But the evidence is not strong to that idea. Nevertheless, man’s lack of faith does not thwart God’s redemptive work. And that’s good news. For faith does not cause God to bless us. Faith discovers the blessings of God and makes them our own.

As I re-read these words of Job, I wonder whether these are words of faith – albeit a desperate faith. He is at the end of his self. He has only God to appeal to – even though God has been silent for these many days. It’s as if he is surrendering. But we know the surrender is not complete. He and God will have a heart-to-heart talk and Job will discover just how desperate he really is. But he will also discover how good, gracious, merciful, and faithful God is. It comes at a price – not that of Job’s suffering, but at the price of the suffering and death of God’s Son, the Redeemer of the world, and our Savior.