Sunday, October 27, 2013

gentle correction

Good afternoon friends,
First a gentle reminder, if you haven't had a chance to fill out a pledge form, there's still time, but the sooner the better. Every little bit helps, whether you can give a dollar a month or $100 each week. Together we can reach our goal of a balanced budget.

Our reading today gives us Job's friend Eliphaz's first response to Job's complaint. He argues, gently that Job can trust God because God takes care of the righteous. As we'll see, this gentle correction becomes a fierce argument about how suffering and righteousness really relate.

God bless,
Sam


Job 4:1-11
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: 2“If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended? But who can keep from speaking? 3See, you have instructed many; you have strengthened the weak hands. 4Your words have supported those who were stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees. 5But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed. 6Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?

7“Think now, who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? 8As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. 9By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed. 10The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions are broken. 11The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness are scattered.

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