And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. Leviticus 16:18‭-‬19 KJV ¶Life is in that blood. Blood sacrifice meant getting your life back. The Spirit of God thus led OT believers to eagerly anticipate the fountain in which they could lose all their guilty stain. For those cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, it means getting not our life back, but a chance to share in the new life, eternal life, that is in His blood. Not just a second chance, but a new nature awaits.

  And say to the people of Israel, 'Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both a year old without blemish, for a burnt offering, And Moses said, "This is the thing that the Lord commanded you to do, that the glory of the Lord may appear to you." Leviticus 9:3‭, ‬6 ESV ¶In this is the Lord still manifested among His people: with the sacrifice of His own Son for our pardon and cleansing, His glory manifests in the coming of His Holy Spirit. What can wash away my sin? What can make me whole again? 2 For my pardon this I see: For my cleansing this my plea: 3 Nothing can for sin atone: Naught of good that I have done: 4 This is all my hope and peace: This is all my righteousness: nothing but the blood of Jesus. Robert Lowry (1876)

  "15 "You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor." - Leviticus 19:15 ESV ¶Is showing partiality to the poor really a big problem? It seems like showing favoritism to the rich and powerful is a bigger problem. If we see how the someone rich spends their money on a big house and fancy car, we may remember some sacrifice we've made and want to compare ourselves. But what God wants from us isn’t to become judgmental of the rich and syrupy sappy with the poor, certainly not because of choices we've made for His sake. What He wants is justice, and He alone is the measure of that.

There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God. Exodus 29:43‭-‬46 ESV ¶Let's call these offerings what they were. They were sacrifices. The people sacrificed their very best to make them. It hurt. But with these losses they were making room in their lives for something better. God would dwell among them. To the figurative "cord of two strands" that joined together this fractious people would be united a third strand, that of God Himself, who would dwell among them.

And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel. Exodus 25:21‭-‬22 ESV ¶The Book of the testimony Moses deposited within the Ark of the Covenant spelled out the terms of God's covenant with His people. Out of all the struggles Israel had honoring the terms of their covenant with God, the prophet Jeremiah would bring good news of a new covenant, in which God says "I will put my law in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts" (Jeremiah 31:33) and Ezekiel says will give "a new heart and put a new spirit in you" (Ezekiel 36:26), or as the apostle Paul put it, "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). God chooses to dwell there, and...

"Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death. Exodus 21:16 ESV ¶This is human trafficking. God hates it. From this the very first giving of the Law in Exodus 20-21, right along with the legendary 10 commandments, He condemns it and He condemns those who deal in it. The consequences were death both to the stealer and the seller of stolen humans. Unfortunately, this is the form of enslavement that corrupted the exploration and colonization of our New World, exploited by settlers and native peoples alike, who were addicted to the ill-gotten profits accrued from practices they KNEW were wrong.  

Then he said to Moses, "Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him." Exodus 24:1‭-‬2 ESV ¶In the temple and the tabernacle, there were those who represented God's people at the Altar, and then there was the high priest who yearly approached God at the Holy of Holies. Here on Mount Sinai, this is where that started. The temple and tabernacle become the visual representation depicting approaching God on Mount Sinai; and the books of the Law become the verbal representation of approaching God. The regulated life of Israel, called to be a holy nation, was to be the communal representation of a people living "coram deo", before the face of God.

The Lord said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Exodus 19:10‭-‬11 ESV ¶It was after three days of waiting that the Lord Jesus said he would rise again in power to rule over His own and guide us through the wilderness. This He did.

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel." Exodus 19:5‭-‬6 ESV ¶When we read the apostle Peter proclaim that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, let us return to these initial moments of covenant-making agreement when God chose a people long ago and far away to adopt and call His own. When we realize our inclusion into that people, and our unity with those saints, we begin to grasp how God sees us, and the scope of His mercy.

  "Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor. Pour out the overflowings of your anger, and look on everyone who is proud and abase him. Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked where they stand. Hide them all in the dust together; bind their faces in the world below. Job 40:10‭-‬13 ESV ¶What an accurate, poignant picture of modern man, who, like the builders of Babel, raises himself up to judge his neighbor, hoping to somehow justify and save himself. No wonder Jesus says "judge not, lest ye be judged" (Matthew 7:1)

"Job 33:23 If there be for him an angel, a mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him, 24 and he is merciful to him, and says, 'Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom;" "26 then man prays to God, and he accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy, and he restores to man his righteousness." -Job 33:23‭-‬24, 26 ESV ¶Job had declared out of his calamity "The thing that I most feared has happened to me". Job was living his life in fear of "going down into the pit". Such will be the worry of all of us who are defending ourselves according to our own righteousness. Quit striving to stand upon your own righteousness, Job. "But what else do I have to stand on? It's all I have left to me." he might answer. But Elihu expresses the longing, possibly for an angel, from among God's thousands, who could come to deliver us out of the pit, based not just upon our persona...

Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die." But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job 2:9‭-‬10 ¶Satan was able to take away Job's health, and all that he had, but he was not able to remove from him wisdom. His understanding was deep enough to know there were things beyond his understanding. We have also this insight from Joseph, Job's contemporary, to his brothers: "What you may have meant for evil, God has used for good". The deeper truth: God, scourged and suffering, out of His great love, received the evil Himself, to be swallowed up in victory.

I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; Hosea 14:5 ESV ¶How is God like the dew? Your bountiful care, what tongue can recite? It breathes in the air, it shines in the light; it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain, and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain. "O worship the King", Robert Grant, 1833

"Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down before you. Genesis 49:8 ESV   ¶Judah was by no means the best of his father's sons. He would take a Canaanite wife, and then go on to have incest with his daughter-in-law Tamar. But he was the most blessed. It was from his line that the true heir to the covenant promise of God would arise, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus went about calling Himself Son of Man, placing Himself in the line of these sinful, broken people, but also Son of God, not only as heir but as agent and guarantor of these covenant promises, fashioned from within the perfect love of Father and Son from eternity past on behalf of a people promised by the Father to the Son. This includes us, if we by faith accept it.

I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. Genesis 43:9 ESV From among the twelve sons of Jacob, out of Judah comes the deliverer, who pledges the ransom of Israel's son out of Egypt, who stands before the father offering to bear the blame for the sins of his people. Israel the man has no idea of his role as God Himself in this drama, nor does Judah realize the Savior and Redeemer destined to arise from his loins.

Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth." And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Genesis 11:4‭-‬6 ESV ¶The residents of Babel did not want to be dispersed, but to make for themselves a name. This does not sound like the desire of free people, but of a dictator who derives power from concentrating resources unto himself, suppressing dissent and freedom. It was the opposite of the Genesis 1 mandate to be fruitful, fill the earth, and subdue it. A people that exalts their name, their place, their language, their culture over all others is no longer a nation "und...

  
 He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, "You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, and you shall say, 'Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.'" For he thought, "I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me."
Genesis 32:19-20 
¶With Jacob I am most impressed with how free his conscience was, how little his conscience bothered him. He was getting through life by appeasing others and running his latest scam, but to what end? Lift up his eyes, Jacob, and see that you are destined for bigger things than appeasing Esau. You are chosen, and renamed Israel. In you, we all find our place, and are accepted.


Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—" He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. 
Genesis 3:7, 11, 22, 24 ESV 

¶The flaming sword goes back a nd forth on the way back to the garden.
Protecting the tree of eternal life from pretenders such as me. 
Was it good to grasp the forbidden fruit 
And pretend to call it righteousness?
And you, my soul, would you still self-justify 
When before you stands not the flaming sword, 
But the Spirit and the Bride crying “com...


O Lord, why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart, so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.
 Isaiah 63:17 ESV

 ¶It's okay to pray this way. Even when we in our wayward prayers turn on God and blame Him for our own disobedience, He hears. Out of His loving heart He has already forgiven, purified and perfected our prayers, and crafted a response out of His perfect loving will.


In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
 Isaiah 63:9 ESV 

¶God carries our afflictions. He assumes our burdens. Our troubles become His own. He says He bore us on eagles' wings and redeemed us to Himself.


You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
Isaiah 62:4-5 ESV

 ¶It is we who are the land. We are the ones no longer called forsaken and desolate. Instead we are His delight and His married one. The bridegroom Messiah rejoices over us, then promised, now successfully delivered by the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.


The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
Isaiah 61:1 ESV

  ¶This verse from Isaiah 61:1 speaking of liberty for the captives and the restoration of Israel to their land stands between two other usages of these phrases, previously in Leviticus 25:10 of the proclamation of liberty and the restoration of their inheritance in the year of Jubilee, and subsequently in Luke 4:18 of the proclamation of liberty to the captives and the restoring of hearts through Jesus. He is Lord not only of the Sabbath, but of the Jubilee.  


He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold? He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow. 
Psalm 147:17-18 ESV 

¶The winter world outside our windows  
Huddles dormant against the storm.  
The leaf's green blood waits the bursting forth,
 struggling, kicking  
For its first breath of air  
For light from the sun,  
For nurture from the earth's warming bosom.
 Waters, flow! Wind, blow
 This seed, this ark of life. 
Be fruitful! Multiply! 
 Against all obstacles, fill the earth. 
 Then, 
after a season, 
and for a season, 
rest.

  "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.' If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall b...

  After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.
 Revelation 15:5-8 ESV 

¶It turns out that the original tent of witness where God met with with His people is a replica of this ultimate heavenly dwelling-place of God. All the fearsome, cleansing, qualities of that holy place are present here, figuratively seven-fold in scope and intensity. No imperfect thing stands before Him there. The modern world is at ease with the concept of "the circle of life", that natural selection determines whether ...

  
 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name." Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
Revelation 14:9-12 ESV 

¶The third angel brings consequences. The beast, in whatever form he takes, leaves his mark upon those whom he deceives. Whatever form sin takes, and whether they know it or not, it gathers all sinners together into one body, marked with the mark. Toward them God is not just absent. He is ...


 Another angel, a second, followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality."
Revelation 14:8 ESV 

¶The second angel decries our fallenness as we fall under the influence of not just these the greatest of temptations, but of all the myriad of demons they represent.

And he said with a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water."
Revelation 14:7 ESV

 ¶This first angel bids us only do what, but for the burden of our sin, would come naturally to us all. That is, when we behold creation, ascribe its glory to a Creator, seek him out, and worship Him.


"Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married," says the Lord.
Isaiah 54:1 ESV

¶ So many people think that the achievement of a successful career constitutes a meaningful life. But the number of children we have, the number of friends we know, the number of companies owned, the number of nonprofits served, none of this compares to the joy of knowing Jesus, seeing Him, and reflecting His glory. On the other hand, there are those who recognize that desolation and barrenness are a shorter path to the way of the cross. But there are snares to our pride there as well. Anything we try to use to advantage ourselves from our position as helpless broken sinners before God is at best a distraction, and more likely an idolatry.
"All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood."
Isaac Watts, 1707
(His ...


In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me; whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you. Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy; no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord."
Isaiah 54:14-17 ESV

 ¶God gave his people laws that we might live in peace and harmony. Rebellion against God's law distorts the lives of the smith who turns plowshares into swords and the ravager who employs them to destroy. But God addresses our rebellion not by withdrawing, but by drawing closer, by seeking Adam in the garden, by establishing a tabernacle dwe...

 Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men; preserve me from violent men, who plan evil things in their heart and stir up wars continually. They make their tongue sharp as a serpent's, and under their lips is the venom of asps. Selah Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from violent men, who have planned to trip up my feet. The arrogant have hidden a trap for me, and with cords they have spread a net; beside the way they have set snares for me. Selah
Psalm 140:1-5 ESV 

¶We pray asking this for Ukraine, and for all the families oppressed and driven from their homes by war. Amen?


 The proud beasts have not trodden it; the lion has not passed over it. "Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots. He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing. He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.
Job 28:8-11 ESV 
"But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living. And he said to man, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.'"
Job 28:12-13, 28 ESV 

¶The technological prowess of man long ago exceeded that of all other creatures. Yet we have not figured out how to live, because of the veil of sin that clouds our understanding. No utopian system of man has yet solved the problem of man's sinful self-interest. The apostle Paul likens our communal relations to a body, in which all parts ...

The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter. The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.
Revelation 8:7, 9-12 ESV 

¶At the sounds of these trumpets, all the things which God had endowed at creation, fi...


Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
Isaiah 49:1-3 ESV 

¶From the womb of Mary this servant was named Jeshua, to represent his people Israel, and now also us, who are grafted in. When we behold Him again, He will appear fully armed, with the Word of truth proceeding from His mouth like a sharpened sword. The glory of God dwells in Him. and He dwells in us. Imagine that.  


Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.
Psalm 139:4, 19-22 ESV

 ¶What is God to do with such a vengeful, hate-filled man? God lets him speak! A man spills out all the bitterness and hate that are in his heart. God not only knows our imperfect words before we form them, but then He sends His Spirit to carry them perfected according to His will to the Throne.


He says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
Isaiah 49:6 ESV 
¶On what basis can a people raise and restore themselves to their place before God without an advocate? Is there any servant raised up from among them worthy to offer a sacrifice sufficiently holy and effective enough to extend not only to themselves, but to all nations, and across all time to include even you and me?  

  I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days. Job 27:6 ESV     Can Job hold on to his claim to righteousness when none of the rewards of righteousness are redounding to him? The world's definition of success is that God rewards the righteous. We do the right thing in order to be rewarded and avoid penalty. Can the righteous soul then be tormented? Yes, even of Lot it is said by the apostle writing in 2 Peter that his righteous soul was tormented. Even more think of Jesus, who made of Himself nothing.

 
Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go. Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth; say, "The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!" "There is no peace," says the Lord, "for the wicked."
Isaiah 48:17-18, 20, 22 ESV 

¶Temporary control over one's circumstances does not provide permanent peace. It is possible, though, to so fix our minds on Christ, to dwell in the presence of the Lord, to live at peace with all men, and in harmony with our creation, to stand washed clean in the blood of the Lamb, that God will keep us in perfect peace. The understanding may come later, but don't forfeit the peace now.


 On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
Psalm 138:3, 8 ESV 
¶Because of the steadfast love with which He loves us,He strengthens us in our inner being. We pray for strength in our inner being. We ask God to fulfill His purpose for us.


 He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.
Job 26:10 ESV
  ¶The twilight hour passing over the surface of the waters of the earth represents the boundary between the past we cannot change, and the future we cannot know. The place where we exist, the present, is but a point. It has no dimensionality. There's no place to go, no time, no room to maneuver. The future approaches us, slips through our lives, and recedes into the past. What we call the present, and all the actions we bring to bear upon the present moment, are but the sum of all the influences the past brings to bear upon the future as it hurtles toward us. This is the extent of the wisdom offered by Job.


 "Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' or 'Your work has no handles'?
Isaiah 45:9 ESV

 ¶What is man himself but the lump of earth into which God breathed life? The rationality which man uses to question God's ways is itself endued within him by his Creator. Yet the darkness in which we dwell is not from the application of reason, but from the lack of it. When first we began laboring to judge God, and to place ourselves over Him as the arbiter of His ways, reason reached a dead end. We are now controlled not by reason, but by sin. The God who created all things, and holds them together by the word of His power, is still in charge. Creation sings of it. The Psalms echo it. Wise men from Job to Solomon to Isaiah to Paul acknowledge it. By faith, delivered from sin, we realize it. This comforts me.  


“Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days? There are those who move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen. They drive away the orphan’s donkey and take the widow’s ox in pledge. They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding. But God drags away the mighty by his power; though they become established, they have no assurance of life. He may let them rest in a feeling of security, but his eyes are on their ways. For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.
Job 24:1-4, 22-24 NIV 

 ¶What kind of God is this that even allows such critical words to be spoken of Himself in His own Holy Bible! If He were like a powerful worldly potentate, He would have censored such dissident and unflattering speech before we could ever hear it. Yet He is not without mystery. Before we go ...


If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling! I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
Job 23:3-4 NIV

 ¶We can see His works in rocks and trees, in skies and seas, but where actually is He? Is He everywhere? Is He anywhere? Fortunately, in His great love, He has found us, and bound us to Himself by the Spirit.


When I think about this, I am terrified; trembling seizes my body.
Job 21:6 NIV 
¶What is it that terrifies Job so much? He is not just afraid of trouble and hardship. These can be meaningful if they have a purpose. He is terrified because all fingers point toward God as the source of his troubles. He feels abandoned by the One in whom he has put his hope, and who has actually conspired against him. Things are not as they should be. How could God be responsible? Job would not be the last to cry out "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Gazing up into a bronzed sky, he sees reflected back to him only his own troubles. He sees no "earthly signs of a heavenly reality". Like Solomon in his existential despair, he will only find solace in his creaturliness, that God is creator, and creatures great and small live by His command.


 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Revelation 2:4-6 ESV
 ¶John implores the church at Ephesus to return to their first love. What gained for them their lampstand before the Throne of God was not what they hated, but how they loved, and fulfilled the first, second, and greatest commandments.

  
 There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.
Psalm 132:17 ESV 
 ¶By the time of his day, Daniel had seen other horns that would raise themselves up against the Lord. Instead of a beacon of peace to the nations, Jerusalem became a cauldron of conflict. Nations came to the Beautiful Land to wage their wars of conquest. Yet the promise still stands, awaiting the One coming upon a white horse, with the sword of the word of God proceeding from His mouth, carrying upon His thigh the name He inherited from His father David: King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

They of the west are appalled at his day, and horror seizes them of the east. Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, such is the place of him who knows not God."
Job 18:20-21 ESV
   ¶If I were Job's friend Bildad, I would look to my own soul before making such pronouncements. Like all of us, he would find any righteousness he might claim to be sad, sorry defenses against the demands of God's holiness.