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Morning Bible Reading - Job 19

  1 Then Job answered and said,  2 How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?  3 These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed [that] ye make yourselves strange to me.  4 And be it indeed [that] I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.  5 If indeed ye will magnify [yourselves] against me, and plead against me my reproach:  6 Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.  7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but [there is] no judgment.  8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.  9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown [from] my head.  10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.  11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as [one of] his enemies.  12 His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.  13 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.  14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.  15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.  16 I called my servant, and he gave [me] no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.  17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children’s [sake] of mine own body.  18 Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.  19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.  20 My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.  21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.  22 Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?  23 Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!  24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!  25 For I know [that] my redeemer liveth, and [that] he shall stand at the latter [day] upon the earth:  26 And [though] after my skin [worms] destroy this [body], yet in my flesh shall I see God:  27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; [though] my reins be consumed within me.  28 But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?  29 Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath [bringeth] the punishments of the sword, that ye may know [there is] a judgment.

Matthew Henry Commentary:   0-999 Chapter Outline Job complains of unkind usage. (1-7) God was the Author of his afflictions. (8-22) Job|s belief in the resurrection. (23-29)

Matthew Henry Commentary:   1-7 Job|s friends blamed him as a wicked man, because he was so afflicted; here he describes their unkindness, showing that what they condemned was capable of excuse. Harsh language from friends, greatly adds to the weight of afflictions: yet it is best not to lay it to heart, lest we harbour resentment. Rather let us look to Him who endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, and was treated with far more cruelty than Job was, or we can be. (Job 19:8-22)

Matthew Henry Commentary:   8-22 How doleful are Job|s complaints! What is the fire of hell but the wrath of God! Seared consciences will feel it hereafter, but do not fear it now: enlightened consciences fear it now, but shall not feel it hereafter. It is a very common mistake to think that those whom God afflicts he treats as his enemies. Every creature is that to us which God makes it to be; yet this does not excuse Job|s relations and friends. How uncertain is the friendship of men! but if God be our Friend, he will not fail us in time of need. What little reason we have to indulge the body, which, after all our care, is consumed by diseases it has in itself. Job recommends himself to the compassion of his friends, and justly blames their harshness. It is very distressing to one who loves God, to be bereaved at once of outward comfort and of inward consolation; yet if this, and more, come upon a believer, it does not weaken the proof of his being a child of God and heir of glory.

Matthew Henry Commentary:   23-29 The Spirit of God, at this time, seems to have powerfully wrought on the mind of Job. Here he witnessed a good confession; declared the soundness of his faith, and the assurance of his hope. Here is much of Christ and heaven; and he that said such things are these, declared plainly that he sought the better country, that is, the heavenly. Job was taught of God to believe in a living Redeemer; to look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come; he comforted himself with the expectation of these. Job was assured, that this Redeemer of sinners from the yoke of Satan and the condemnation of sin, was his Redeemer, and expected salvation through him; and that he was a living Redeemer, though not yet come in the flesh; and that at the last day he would appear as the Judge of the world, to raise the dead, and complete the redemption of his people. With what pleasure holy Job enlarges upon this! May these faithful sayings be engraved by the Holy Spirit upon our hearts. We are all concerned to see that the root of the matter be in us. A living, quickening, commanding principle of grace in the heart, is the root of the matter; as necessary to our religion as the root of the tree, to which it owes both its fixedness and its fruitfulness. Job and his friends differed concerning the methods of Providence, but they agreed in the root of the matter, the belief of another world.

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Job 19:1-999 

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Job 19:5-999 

Morning Bible Reading - Job 20

  1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,  2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for [this] I make haste.  3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.  4 Knowest thou [not] this of old, since man was placed upon earth,  5 That the triumphing of the wicked [is] short, and the joy of the hypocrite [but] for a moment?  6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;  7 [Yet] he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where [is] he?  8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.  9 The eye also [which] saw him shall [see him] no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.  10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.  11 His bones are full [of the sin] of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.  12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, [though] he hide it under his tongue;  13 [Though] he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:  14 [Yet] his meat in his bowels is turned, [it is] the gall of asps within him.  15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.  16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.  17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.  18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow [it] down: according to [his] substance [shall] the restitution [be], and he shall not rejoice [therein].  19 Because he hath oppressed [and] hath forsaken the poor; [because] he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;  20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.  21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.  22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.  23 [When] he is about to fill his belly, [God] shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain [it] upon him while he is eating.  24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, [and] the bow of steel shall strike him through.  25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors [are] upon him.  26 All darkness [shall be] hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.  27 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.  28 The increase of his house shall depart, [and his goods] shall flow away in the day of his wrath.  29 This [is] the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.

Matthew Henry Commentary:   0-999 Chapter Outline Zophar speaks of the short joy of the wicked. (1-9) The ruin of the wicked. (10-22) The portion of the wicked. (23-29)

Matthew Henry Commentary:   1-9 Zophar|s discourse is upon the certain misery of the wicked. The triumph of the wicked and the joy of the hypocrite are fleeting. The pleasures and gains of sin bring disease and pain; they end in remorse, anguish, and ruin. Dissembled piety is double iniquity, and the ruin that attends it will be accordingly.

Matthew Henry Commentary:   10-22 The miserable condition of the wicked man in this world is fully set forth. The lusts of the flesh are here called the sins of his youth. His hiding it and keeping it under his tongue, denotes concealment of his beloved lust, and delight therein. But He who knows what is in the heart, knows what is under the tongue, and will discover it. The love of the world, and of the wealth of it, also is wickedness, and man sets his heart upon these. Also violence and injustice, these sins bring God|s judgments upon nations and families. Observe the punishment of the wicked man for these things. Sin is turned into gall, than which nothing is more bitter; it will prove to him poison; so will all unlawful gains be. In his fulness he shall be in straits, through the anxieties of his own mind. To be led by the sanctifying grace of God to restore what was unjustly gotten, as Zaccheus was, is a great mercy. But to be forced to restore by the horrors of a despairing conscience, as Judas was, has no benefit and comfort attending it.

Matthew Henry Commentary:   23-29 Zophar, having described the vexations which attend wicked practices, shows their ruin from God|s wrath. There is no fence against this, but in Christ, who is the only Covert from the storm and tempest, Isa 32:2. Zophar concludes, "This is the portion of a wicked man from God;" it is allotted him. Never was any doctrine better explained, or worse applied, than this by Zophar, who intended to prove Job a hypocrite. Let us receive the good explanation, and make a better application, for warning to ourselves, to stand in awe and sin not. One view of Jesus, directed by the Holy Spirit, and by him suitably impressed upon our souls, will quell a thousand carnal reasonings about the suffering of the faithful.

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Job 20:1-999 

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Job 20:8-999 

Evening Bible Reading - Acts 9

  23 And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him:  24 But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.  25 Then the disciples took him by night, and let [him] down by the wall in a basket.  26 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.  27 But Barnabas took him, and brought [him] to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.  28 And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.  29 And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him.  30 [Which] when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.  31 Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.  32 And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all [quarters], he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda.  33 And there he found a certain man named AEneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy.  34 And Peter said unto him, AEneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately.  35 And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord.  36 Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.  37 And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid [her] in an upper chamber.  38 And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring [him] that he would not delay to come to them.  39 Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.  40 But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning [him] to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.  41 And he gave her [his] hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive.  42 And it was known throughout all Joppa; and many believed in the Lord.  43 And it came to pass, that he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner.

Matthew Henry Commentary:   23-31 When we enter into the way of God, we must look for trials; but the Lord knows how to deliver the godly, and will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape. Though Saul|s conversion was and is a proof of the truth of Christianity, yet it could not, of itself, convert one soul at enmity with the truth; for nothing can produce true faith, but that power which new-creates the heart. Believers are apt to be too suspicious of those against whom they have prejudices. The world is full of deceit, and it is necessary to be cautious, but we must exercise charity, 1Co 13:5. The Lord will clear up the characters of true believers; and he will bring them to his people, and often gives them opportunities of bearing testimony to his truth, before those who once witnessed their hatred to it. Christ now appeared to Saul, and ordered him to go quickly out of Jerusalem, for he must be sent to the Gentiles: see ch. 22:21. Christ|s witnesses cannot be slain till they have finished their testimony. The persecutions were stayed. The professors of the gospel walked uprightly, and enjoyed much comfort from the Holy Ghost, in the hope and peace of the gospel, and others were won over to them. They lived upon the comfort of the Holy Ghost, not only in the days of trouble and affliction, but in days of rest and prosperity. Those are most likely to walk cheerfully, who walk circumspectly.

Matthew Henry Commentary:   32-35 Christians are saints, or holy people; not only the eminent ones, as Saint Peter and Saint Paul, but every sincere professor of the faith of Christ. Christ chose patients whose diseases were incurable in the course of nature, to show how desperate was the case of fallen mankind. When we were wholly without strength, as this poor man, he sent his word to heal us. Peter does not pretend to heal by any power of his own, but directs Eneas to look up to Christ for help. Let none say, that because it is Christ, who, by the power of his grace, works all our works in us, therefore we have no work, no duty to do; for though Jesus Christ makes thee whole, yet thou must arise, and use the power he gives thee.

Matthew Henry Commentary:   36-43 Many are full of good words, who are empty and barren in good works; but Tabitha was a great doer, no great talker. Christians who have not property to give in charity, may yet be able to do acts of charity, working with their hands, or walking with their feet, for the good of others. Those are certainly best praised whose own works praise them, whether the words of others do so or not. But such are ungrateful indeed, who have kindness shown them, and will not acknowledge it, by showing the kindness that is done them. While we live upon the fulness of Christ for our whole salvation, we should desire to be full of good works, for the honour of his name, and for the benefit of his saints. Such characters as Dorcas are useful where they dwell, as showing the excellency of the word of truth by their lives. How mean then the cares of the numerous females who seek no distinction but outward decoration, and who waste their lives in the trifling pursuits of dress and vanity! Power went along with the word, and Dorcas came to life. Thus in the raising of dead souls to spiritual life, the first sign of life is the opening of the eyes of the mind. Here we see that the Lord can make up every loss; that he overrules every event for the good of those who trust in him, and for the glory of his name.

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Acts 9:23-43 

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Acts 9:32-43 

A Commentary By J Vernon MCgee For Acts 9:40-43