Author: Dave Dishman (Page 58 of 451)

Sometimes the wrong words just pop out. Like recently when a colleague older than myself asked how he was supposed to understand an interactive web page we developed. I replied (in front of a crowd), if you were 30 years younger it would come easily. Oops. Fortunately, my gracious coworker laughed in agreement. But I blurted out the comment without thought and apologized for my rudeness.

King David worried about his choice of words as well. He prayed, Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.

I wonder if David had just said something hurtful to his colleague? Or replied with sarcasm to a well-meaning person in his service? As king, David heard bluster, wild stories, people bragging on themselves, outright lies and whispered accusations. He needed to hold his tongue as he sought wise decisions. Prone to rash behavior at times (think of Bathsheba in her bath), David learned the need to pause his speech.

David’s prayer is good for all of us. Maybe, just maybe, the Lord’s power can tame the tongue when nothing else works. Here’s my prayer today:

Lord, set a guard over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. Help me keep an appropriately tight hold on my speech as I go through this day. Amen.

Psalm 141 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Joseph Corl

Job is a terrifying book. Satan attacks Job as God stands back. Seeking to destroy a kind-hearted man, Satan gleefully anticipates Job cursing God for his misfortunes.

Satan lies and destroys, wanting all of us to curse God and die. The Lord, however, holds for eternity. The circumstances of our lives work out for the good for those who love God and are called to his purposes. Such was the way of Job.

Satan wants us to believe this world is all there is. If things don’t go right we should give up on God. But beyond our understanding lies a vast country, our true home. Satan blots out that hope.

The book of Job deals with bad things happening to a good person. Our world is filled with bad things happening to innocent people, which I cannot understand. It helps a bit to realize that an enemy exists, an accuser who works with whatever is at his disposal to cause me to join him in rebellion, to curse God and die. Filled with boundless evil, Satan yearns to twist my mind, hurt my body, smother my hope and shoplift my soul.

The Lord simply wants our trust. Job never got his questions answered, nor understood the cruelty of the opponent he faced. Yet in the midst of tragedy he proclaimed in an act of worship:

Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.

I’m not sure I could ever match Job’s faith. But I can take on his mantle of hope, trusting in our God who patiently waits in a land with no crying or mourning or pain.

Job 1 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by engin akyurt

We label a person who’s made their own success a self-made man. This is especially true if the person (maybe it’s you or me) started life without money, education or high social status. Recent surveys of people with a net worth of at least one million dollars in the US reveal that most consider themselves self-made. These folks did not inherit wealth or win the lottery, but worked and saved and skimped and invested wisely.

However, the psalmist reminds us that no matter how low we started, no one is truly self-made:

Know that the Lord is God. It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

None of us fashion ourselves from the dust. The Lord knit us together in our mother’s womb. Our lives proceed at his pleasure. All good things we possess come from his hand, including our ability to work hard, delay gratification and build wealth.

Does God approve of self-made men and women? The Scriptures certainly promote hard work and prosperity. But as we prosper, we’re encouraged to share with others and bless our fellow citizens on this earth. In the midst of our success we’re to acknowledge the Lord as God. We’re his sheep, grazing in pastures of his making.

It’s good for me to remember that God is the sculptor, and I’m merely the stone on which he pounds.

Psalm 100 in Through the Bible in 2024

A good novel foreshadows things to come. The hero might meet a minor character early on who turns out to be the key to success in the end. Great authors weave important themes into their stories, starting with hints that lead to unseen results.

The Bible follows this concept as well. In the book of Job, considered by many to be the first section of the Scriptures put on paper (or papyrus), the main character foreshadows the theme of the Bible. As Job struggled with pain and suffering, he shared his feelings of estrangement from God:

He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.

If only there was someone to mediate between us. Sound familiar? Job needed a liaison to help him communicate with God. Not quite the savior we find in Jesus, but the groundwork is laid. From the very beginning, just a few lines into the text, a man recognizes his alienation from God and calls for someone to bring us together.

You and I know where this foreshadowing leads. We don’t have to suffer like Job. The one who removed the rod from our backs, the Great Emancipator, the intercessor who allows us to speak to God without fear has been revealed. In a few days we will celebrate his birth. Today we call on Jesus, the mediator Job longed for.

Job 9 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Nick Fewings