Advertising assaults of buy and buy and buy still more drain my strength.

Cold weather and gray skies drain my strength.

Searching for a garage door opener drains my strength.

Watching the suffering of Ukrainian people drains my strength.

Living in a world often far from the values of the Lord drains my strength.

So I ask the Lord for an infusion of strength, because God makes his people strong.

Then I discover peace paired with strength, because God gives his people peace.

Which reminds me of The Prince of Peace, our bringer of strength, our giver of peace. The one we venerate this season.

Amen, come Lord Jesus.

Psalm 29 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Scott Rodgerson

Ever since Adam and Eve bit into that shiny apple, people have been estranged from God. Job, speaking some of the oldest words found in the Bible, felt his separation keenly:

God 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.

Job desperately needed a mediator. He anticipated the coming of a messiah to take the blows of God’s rod upon himself. One to remove terror and bring peace.

A line from a hymn we sing at this time of year reminds us that two thousand years after Job lived, his mediator was born in the little town of Bethlehem:

The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

You and I enjoy the view from a different section of history’s timeline. The mediator—Jesus Christ—offers to walk with us before the Lord. As we celebrate his birth, let’s remember to lift a glass to Job, who called for him so long ago.

Job 9 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Chad Madden

I’ve met people over the years who hate God. I’ve read philosophers who claim the idea of God leads people astray. We’ve all evidenced world leaders who crushed religious worship for the good of mankind—think of Stalin in the past along with many current rulers.

There’s nothing new in this impulse. The psalmist writes, Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.”

Shaking one’s fist at God remains popular. Some harbor anger from past disappointments, real or imagined. Some simply wrap the universe around themselves, with no room for a competing god. Many attempt to manipulate God to their own ends, and the Lord fails to comply.

I’m prone to these same thoughts.

The Lord laughs at all this, scoffs actually, and rebukes such ragers. The psalmist reminds us that we owe ultimate loyalty to the Messiah—Kiss the son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

In the son—Jesus—we find mercy in place of wrath. He appeases the Lord’s anger. Grace waits as our advantage. But it takes humility to turn from fist-shaking anger to bowing before the Lord.

The Lord makes room for you and I, and all the ragers and haters, when each of us chooses to serve the Lord and celebrate his rule.

Psalm 2 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Anna Popović

There’s absolutely no way I can see myself responding the way Job did upon hearing news of unbelievable tragedy. Job tore his robe and shaved his head, traditional signs of mourning, then he said:

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.

Astounding. The book of Job is thought to be the oldest in the Bible. Humankind has wrestled with questions of pain and loss from the beginning.

As I ponder, I’m most unnerved by this line of Job’s—the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.

It’s the taking away that bothers me. I want the Lord to give and give and give, all good things, piling them up. In reality, the Lord does pile up good in my life. But he also takes away, for reasons I may never understand. Like Job, I need to eventually turn toward faith and trust in the Lord.

Because in the end, the Lord is all we have. We leave this world with nothing and then meet him face-to face, dependent solely on his grace and mercy to receive us.

May the name of the Lord be praised.

Job 1 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Andres Haro