June 22 ▪ Day 173

Scripture Readings

Psalms 34:18
Job 41–42
Revelation 3–4
Proverbs 23

Verse Focus (Psalms 34:18)

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
     and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Meditation

Psalms 34:18 says, in the ESV, “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” This is a beautiful and wonderful promise! It’s a comforting verse. But I think it’s a verse we can sometimes best appreciate in hindsight.

When you are hurting — grieving, brokenhearted, wounded, in pain — sometimes the pain is just too big for you to recognize much of anything else. The LORD is close to you during these times, but you may or may not be able to feel His presence. Indeed, the family of God may also be supporting you in these times, but again you may not be able to appreciate it until things are a bit better for you. That’s why it’s good to memorize a verse like before you need it.

This verse also reminds me of Jesus’ heart and his compassion. And it occurs to me that this is something that we should also aim to do — comfort the brokenhearted and help those who are crushed. While it’s true that some people do seem to have a natural gift in this area, I don’t think that absolves the rest of us from our responsibilities. As you go about your day, remember to thank God for the times He has been near you in the past when you were hurting. And pray that He might open your eyes to see someone today who needs your encouragement.

Father God, thank you for your heart of compassion. Thank you that you care about the times when we are wounded and in pain. Thank you that you do save us. Thank you for your care and the mercy you showed to my family when my earthly father died unexpectedly several years ago. Please be with me today to open my eyes to how I might help someone in need of comfort or encouragement. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

In Job 41, the LORD continues to illustrate Job’s ignorance and folly in challenging the Almighty as He speaks of the Leviathan. As the chapter makes clear, the Leviathan is a kind of sea dragon. Although many today consider it to be a mythical beast, I personally believe there once was such a creature. Perhaps it was some kind of marine dinosaur? Who knows.

The LORD speaks of the Leviathan’s fearsome teeth and its armor plating. Verse 18 says, “Its snorting throws out flashes of light,” while verse 19 tells us, “Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.” Smoke pours out the nose of the beast, and its breath “kindles coals (v. 21).”

With a series of questions, the LORD makes it clear that no human could ever tame the Leviathan. Those that attempt to catch it will remember the battle and never try anything like that again (v. 8). Verse 5 asks mockingly, “Will you put him on a leash for your girls?”

In verse 10, God makes the point that if no one can capture an earth creature like this, how could anyone possibly stand against the LORD? “Who has a claim against me that I must pay?” God asks in verse 11. “Everything under heaven belongs to me,” He declares.

Chapter 42 is the final chapter in the book of Job. As the chapter begins, Job repents of his earlier demands that God should declare him righteous, and he repents of his other sins. He keeps his words brief, however. Job first acknowledges that God is supreme. As he says in verse 2, “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

Job is now completely humbled. He acknowledges his ignorance and folly in response to God’s opening question. “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know,” he says in verse 3. God had demanded that Job give an answer to His questions, so Job replies, in verses 5 and 6, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

These are the last words we hear Job speak. It actually makes me quite grateful that we had Elihu’s words in earlier chapters. I wonder if I would have understood the sins Job was repenting of quite so well if it hadn’t been for Elihu. Without Elihu, I might just have thought that Job was overwhelmed by God’s presence — but I wouldn’t have necessarily understood that Job had been challenging God as an equal, and that he was placing his own righteousness above God’s justice.

The LORD also rebukes Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. He says to Eliphaz in verse 7, “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” The LORD directs them to bring “seven bulls and seven rams” as a burnt offering; Job will perform the duties of priest and will also pray for his friends to be forgiven.

I recall that the number seven is symbolic of completeness. So these burnt offerings will make the men whole and well again. It is significant that God makes Job’s own restoration contingent upon his forgiveness of his friends. Notice that God does not restore Job’s fortunes until after he has prayed for his friends (v. 10).

So our story ends with Job being doubly blessed by God. His relatives and friends visit him and bring true comfort this time; each person also contributes a small bit of money to help Job rebuild. And when his fortunes are completely restored, Job has double the number of flocks and herds that he had before. He has 10 more children — again seven sons and three daughters. The Scripture actually tells us the names of these later daughters of Job (while the names of the men are not recorded). We are told that Job’s daughters were extremely beautiful and that Job granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. (Yes!! How’s that for women’s rights!)

I appreciate how Job — a Gentile man, one commended by God for being blameless and upright — models so many things for us. We identify with him in his suffering and pain. He speaks of things we also struggle to understand. We rejoice in Job’s call for a Mediator; he articulated the need for a Messiah like Jesus eons before Christ’s birth. Job’s hope in God is something that resonates with us. And there is much we can learn from his story. After such trial and angst, we are grateful for a very happy ending. Job saw his descendants to the fourth generation. Verse 17 gives the perfect epitaph. “And so Job died, an old man and full of years.”

Revelation 3 has the final three messages for the seven churches in Asia. Like yesterday, we have the repeating refrain, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” We get more details about who Jesus is, and also more details about what heaven will be like.

In chapter 2, the details about Jesus in the messages to the churches were all things that were described in chapter 1. Jesus is he “who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands (2:1).” Jesus is also “the first and the last, who died and came to life (2:8).” He has “the sharp two-edged sword (2:12)” and he is “the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze (2:18).”

In this chapter, some of the details we learn about Jesus in the messages are new. Verse 1 says that Jesus “has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.” The seven spirits of God (or, as some translations put it, the sevenfold Spirit) are different from the seven angels, or messengers, that the seven stars represent. Verse 7 tells us that Jesus is, “the holy one the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.” And verse 14 teaches us that Jesus is the “Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.” I love this idea that Jesus is the one who punctuates our prayers; he is both the underwriter and the final word.

Those who are victorious in Sardis are told that in heaven they will be “clothed … in white garments (v. 5).” Jesus says in verse 5, “I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” Those who hold fast and conquer in Philadelphia are told that they will become a “pillar (v. 12)” in the temple of God. They will be a permanent fixture in the temple; and the conquerors will bear the names of God, the city of God, the New Jerusalem, as well as Jesus’ new name (v. 12). Those who conquer in Laodicea are told that they will be able to sit with Jesus on his throne (v. 21).

The commands given to the churches in these three messages are all things we need to hear. “Wake up,” Jesus tells those in Sardis (v. 2). “Hold fast what you have,” he encourages the Philadelphians (v. 11). However, it is the message to the Laodiceans that resonates the most with American believers. The Laodiceans feel rich and prosperous; they are content with their lot. Yet Jesus criticizes them for being lukewarm and for not recognizing the truth of their wretchedness. Jesus counsels them to buy “gold refined by fire,” “white garments,” and “salve” for their eyes so that they might see (v. 18). In some ways it is peculiar to tell a people who are actually bankrupt to “buy” from Jesus. This advice echoes the call in Isaiah 55:1 to “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” Isaiah’s invitation is echoed in verse 20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

Chapter 4 gives us a vision of the throne room. The one who sits on the throne is described in terms of jewels. There is some sort of radiance or aura around the throne that I have trouble understanding — what does a rainbow that has “the appearance of an emerald” look like? Light split into gradations of different greens? Or does it refer to the facets of an emerald, and how it would throw light? Likely these descriptions are meant symbolically rather than as actual visual representations. But I lack the wisdom to grasp what John is telling us, and can only make guesses. The jasper, carnelian, and emerald were some of the jewels used on the ephod of the high priest (to represent the 12 tribes of Israel), so perhaps this is meant to evoke the idea that God is our Redeemer. We do associate the color green with life, so perhaps a green rainbow is meant to be a promise of life eternal, just like Noah’s rainbow was a reminder of God’s covenant to never again destroy the earth by flood. Clearly, these are things that demand further meditation, and much deeper study. But as today’s goal is simply to read this chapter, that is all I will say about the jewels for now.

There are other elements of the throne room that are interesting. The 24 thrones for the 24 elders. The lightning and thunder (how God is typically portrayed as speaking to the earth). The sea of glass. The four living creatures — presumably Seraphim, since they have six wings (v. 8) — seem to have four different kinds of faces. Or, perhaps, like the Cherubim, they each have four different faces, and the different faces that John sees indicate that each Seraph faces a different direction. At any rate, these four living creatures echo what Isaiah saw when he encountered God, and they also bring to mind Ezekiel’s visions.

The word “throne” appears over a dozen times in this chapter. If nothing else, we should understand that God rules. He is sovereign. He is completely in control. Seeing the throne room must have been very reassuring to John considering the persecution believers faced on earth — whatever it may look like to us, God is very much in command.

And, of course the chapter ends in worship. Verse 11 is one of the most beautiful verses of praise:

You are worthy, our Lord and God,
     to receive glory and honor and power,
     for you created all things,
     and by your will they were created
     and have their being.

The “Sayings of the Wise” in Proverbs 23 do have a bit of a different feel to them than the proverbs of earlier chapters. But I notice how many of these sayings emphasize honoring your parents. Verse 22, for example. “Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.” Three of the sayings are addressed to “my son,” which reminds me of Solomon’s various entreaties in the opening section of Proverbs.

Today, I was thinking about verses 6 through 8:

⁶Do not eat the food of a stingy man,
     do not crave his delicacies;
⁷for he is the kind of man
     who is always thinking about the cost.
“Eat and drink,” he says to you,
     but his heart is not with you.
⁸You will vomit up the little you have eaten
     and will have wasted your compliments.

I think about how it spoils your appetite when you find out that your host begrudges the food you are eating. I’m not sure that wasting compliments is in itself such a terrible outcome — but it teaches us that if you hoped to get something out of this man (some kind of partnership? an investment?), you will instead want to look elsewhere.

This is one of the few times when I can recall being warned against the stingy. I suppose it makes sense, when you consider how the Bible teaches us to be generous. Those who are misers are the opposite of generous, and thus are likely not people we should associate with. In the Hebrew, it literally describes this man as one with a “bad” or an “evil” eye. Metaphorically, I understand how that comes to mean a stingy man or a miser. 🙂

Father God, thank you for your Word. I’m grateful for Job’s story and all that we have learned from it. But there is always more to learn and deeper to go. Keep us learning and meditating; continue to give us insight. I pray that you will give us special understanding as we read through Revelation. Thank you that you are the one who teaches us to be generous. Thank you, too, that you are the one in control. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.