Lately I’ve been reading Philip Yancy's The Bible Jesus Read and though I'm not far into it, I have already been impressed by some of the things he has said.
His first chapter talks about the Old Testament in general and in essence why it's there and it has some interesting things to say about the character of god as portrayed in the OT. The second chapter is somewhat of a personal commentary to the book of Job. Now I have to say that prior to reading this book I had not read all of Job and it wasn’t high on my "Books-of-the-Bible-that-I-really-badly-want-to-read" list. As I started to read this chapter though, I thought to myself, "Self, you don’t actually know what goes on in Job besides the main gist of the story so you better read it!" So I am and if it weren't for what I'm learning in this book, it would be a hard read. This book however has taught me some things that will help m to understand Job much better.
I was one of those people who always thought and I guess have always been taught that Job is about suffering with a side serving of "oh and Job was faithful." After all, it does contain a lot of suffering, and Job does say some pretty out there things about and toward (mostly toward) God. but what I’ve recently come to realise is that the focus of the book of Job is directed towards Job's faith not his suffering. Can Job Still trust a God who seems to go completely against his Character? Though everything suggests that god has left Job, does he still believe that God is close?
Yancy’s book outlines for us that God is NOT who is testing Job; in fact it's Satan testing Job's loyalty to God. Satan believes that Job only loves god, because god has blessed him so richly. he thinks that there is no true loyalty, only loyalty that is maintained with blessings poured upon blessings. {One thing I have only noticed now is that God actually recommends Job to Satan for the tests and trials.} All through Job's discourses, he upholds not only his innocence but also the character of God. For all job knew God was punishing him unjustly but that went against all that job knew about God and who he was (and is)
I was surprised at two things in the book of job, one being job's candour with god, and the other, which was pointed out by Yancy, is the Style in which the book was written. Job reads like a Shakespearean tragedy or a mystery in which the plot of the story is laid out in the first few moments and the rest of the play is spent unraveling it. Think for a moment about this; in the first 2 chapters the whole story is played out; the introduction of job, the "deal" between God and Satan, and the blows to job. chapters 3- 37 are the unraveling of the story, the detective searching out the clues so to speak, where job and his "FRIENDS" argue back and forth over who is right(eous) and chapters 38-41 are God's speech in response. Reading job with this in mind, made the book much easier to read.
"It helps to think of Job as a mystery play, a "whodunit" detective story. We in the audience have showed up early for a press conference [at] which the director explains his work. We learn who did what in the play, and we understand that the personal drama on earth has its origin in a cosmic drama in heaven."
The Bible Jesus Read--Yancy
The other thing that surprised me about Job is how frank Job was with God. he even insinuates that god turns a blind eye on evil and his back to the Righteous, but then in the same breath, he says that the wicked have no foothold in the world. [Don’t you agree that at times it is easy to think that the wicked get rewarded and the Christians get a tough break? it's good to know that God is interested in us not what we own. I want to be as honest with God as job is].
So what have I learned from Job?
1. That Job is not a book to quote from to people who feel down to lift their spirits but I’d recommend it to that same person to show them that they can be honest with god about how they're feeling.
2. That the majesty and power of God go far beyond any Human's wildest imagination. We can never know everything that God knows.
3. That sometimes I am a better friend when I am silent than when I speak.
4. That GOD is GOD and will always be GOD. He was he is and will always be.
"There's a Rock that doesn't move, it hasn't moved it will never move, even though the waves come crashing down"
Delirious?
God's Character never changes. I don’t have to be concerned if he will be different tomorrow than he was today. God is GOD
5. THAT JOB WAS MORE A MAN OF FAITH AND SUBSTANCE, THAN MERELY A MAN OF SUFFERING.
Read Job. You'll learn so much about God, and Job, and yourself, don't think it's outdated, you'll be surprised how little things have changed in the world (and out of it).
Have fun.
Stunners
Tuesday, January 31
Wednesday, January 18
Filling you in
ok, ok, you win steve. here's the fill in on what's been happening since last post. where to start?
i'll work backwards.
18th of jan
today mmarks the 20th anniversary of my flamily (including myself) moving to Perth, Western Australia. not that i either had a choice or even remember the move as i was only 14 months old, but if you ask my bro, it's a big deal.
today is also my day off. a good thing. i've been playing around with some photos in Photoshop which you can see on flicr.
13th of jan.
Shane flew to thailand on friday and his presence is already being missed by more than just myself. shane is one of the leaders of thornlie youth and my best mate. he is one of those people who everyone can rely on (to be late) and everyone's fiend.. i mean FRIEND.
see you in 6 months, shane.
15th of jan
my parentals came home from their holiday to adelaide and melbourne today. what a pity. i had the run of the house and it was great though tiring. i had people over and parties and dinner with friends and just had a great time while they were gone. i must say though that it's nice to have them back so they can look after me and the house. i would hate to have had to pay bills, or vacuum, mow the lawns or do any responsible stuff like that! and besides where would i find time?
1st of jan.
i guess the next thing i shoud talk about is new years and Christmas. new years eve was good but we missed the count-down Stinking 96fm didnt do one!! either that or none of the 15-20 people that were at my place heard it!. yeah you heard right. Party at the munyards! it does happen but only when my parents are on the other side of the country. any way back to the countdown issue, we missed it so we made our own. at 00:19.50 we started counting with sparklers in everyone's hand! wait that's everyone's hand BUT mine I had an unlit candle (it had been lit but had gone out) so then 10, 9, 8, 7,...3,2,1, Happy new year!!! this is the part where i throw up my hands forgetting about the melted runny candle wax and end up with it all over my Shirt, all through my hair and all over the food table lucky most of the food was gone! so a good new years eve.
25th of Dec
christmas day. Last year's christmas day was really quite boring...and i loved every minute of it. we got up late, headed off to my sister's new house hwere had had morning tea and did the presents thing. then we had lunch at our house with just immediate family (inc. Brett) then sat around doing nothing, went to see the house that Kimberley and brett are building down in SEVILLE GROVE on the way to Uncle Neil and Aunty Gill's to do the present thing again. then to the beach but too cold to swim, then home. for presents i got a tripod and a Car cleaning kit and other stuff which i can seem to remember. i gave mum an electric massager, dad got a bottle of vino, simon got season four of futurama, brett got simpsons season 6 collectors edition, and Kimberley got a Calendar! i know Cheap but thats what she asked for and there was no way i was going into Bras n Things to get her the slippers she wanted!!! there's a line people!! and i aint crossing it.
24th nov -3rd dec
leavers Chaplaincy Was awesome again this year. we went down margaret river, specifically prevellt caravan park to witness to the leavers and to ensure their safety and well being. as it turns out this was the safest and well beed year yet. i got into a few good conversations about god stuff and one guy whom i'm still in contact with is millimeters off of making a committment. you can see photos of leavers on flicr. see link on sideboard
6th of nov
Happy birthday to me! turned 21 here you can see photos of my "party" at the South Perth Foreshore on flicr. got my camera and Case, a few vouchers, an Awesome high intensity LED torch and money from rellies. my camera is a fujifil s5600 digital semi SLR with 10x optical zoom and 5.1 megapixel. nice photos come from it.
well that's all i can think of right now, i know there was probably more you're wanting to know about like my sister;s wedding but that can wait. i dont think i'll forget that one. also stay tuned to flicr coz i'm hoping to be continually uploading new pics every few days.
see you on the other side. (of what i don't know.)
i'll work backwards.
18th of jan
today mmarks the 20th anniversary of my flamily (including myself) moving to Perth, Western Australia. not that i either had a choice or even remember the move as i was only 14 months old, but if you ask my bro, it's a big deal.
today is also my day off. a good thing. i've been playing around with some photos in Photoshop which you can see on flicr.
13th of jan.
Shane flew to thailand on friday and his presence is already being missed by more than just myself. shane is one of the leaders of thornlie youth and my best mate. he is one of those people who everyone can rely on (to be late) and everyone's fiend.. i mean FRIEND.
see you in 6 months, shane.
15th of jan
my parentals came home from their holiday to adelaide and melbourne today. what a pity. i had the run of the house and it was great though tiring. i had people over and parties and dinner with friends and just had a great time while they were gone. i must say though that it's nice to have them back so they can look after me and the house. i would hate to have had to pay bills, or vacuum, mow the lawns or do any responsible stuff like that! and besides where would i find time?
1st of jan.
i guess the next thing i shoud talk about is new years and Christmas. new years eve was good but we missed the count-down Stinking 96fm didnt do one!! either that or none of the 15-20 people that were at my place heard it!. yeah you heard right. Party at the munyards! it does happen but only when my parents are on the other side of the country. any way back to the countdown issue, we missed it so we made our own. at 00:19.50 we started counting with sparklers in everyone's hand! wait that's everyone's hand BUT mine I had an unlit candle (it had been lit but had gone out) so then 10, 9, 8, 7,...3,2,1, Happy new year!!! this is the part where i throw up my hands forgetting about the melted runny candle wax and end up with it all over my Shirt, all through my hair and all over the food table lucky most of the food was gone! so a good new years eve.
25th of Dec
christmas day. Last year's christmas day was really quite boring...and i loved every minute of it. we got up late, headed off to my sister's new house hwere had had morning tea and did the presents thing. then we had lunch at our house with just immediate family (inc. Brett) then sat around doing nothing, went to see the house that Kimberley and brett are building down in SEVILLE GROVE on the way to Uncle Neil and Aunty Gill's to do the present thing again. then to the beach but too cold to swim, then home. for presents i got a tripod and a Car cleaning kit and other stuff which i can seem to remember. i gave mum an electric massager, dad got a bottle of vino, simon got season four of futurama, brett got simpsons season 6 collectors edition, and Kimberley got a Calendar! i know Cheap but thats what she asked for and there was no way i was going into Bras n Things to get her the slippers she wanted!!! there's a line people!! and i aint crossing it.
24th nov -3rd dec
leavers Chaplaincy Was awesome again this year. we went down margaret river, specifically prevellt caravan park to witness to the leavers and to ensure their safety and well being. as it turns out this was the safest and well beed year yet. i got into a few good conversations about god stuff and one guy whom i'm still in contact with is millimeters off of making a committment. you can see photos of leavers on flicr. see link on sideboard
6th of nov
Happy birthday to me! turned 21 here you can see photos of my "party" at the South Perth Foreshore on flicr. got my camera and Case, a few vouchers, an Awesome high intensity LED torch and money from rellies. my camera is a fujifil s5600 digital semi SLR with 10x optical zoom and 5.1 megapixel. nice photos come from it.
well that's all i can think of right now, i know there was probably more you're wanting to know about like my sister;s wedding but that can wait. i dont think i'll forget that one. also stay tuned to flicr coz i'm hoping to be continually uploading new pics every few days.
see you on the other side. (of what i don't know.)
Tuesday, January 10
New photos
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