Job 14:14 (KJV) Don’t Give Up

Job 14:14 (KJV)

If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

Job has said some pretty negative things in this chapter. In verses 10-12, he says that man dies, wastes away, gives up the ghost, and then asks, “where is he?” He compares him to water that dries up. He says man lies down and does not rise again.

It sounds hopeless.

Interestingly, Job had just said there was hope for a tree. Cut it down and, if there is still life in the roots, “through the scent of water it will bud.” Job could see the possibility of new life for the tree, but he was having a much more difficult time seeing it for himself.

Then something changes in his thinking.

“If a man die, shall he live again?”

Job answers his own question, at least in part, when he says, “all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.”

I am struck by the word wait.

Job didn’t know when his change would come. Perhaps he was thinking only of eternity. Later he would say, “I know that my redeemer liveth.” We know that, for the believer, the ultimate change is coming. If nothing ever improves in this life, we still have the promise of eternity with the Lord.

But Job didn’t have to wait until eternity for everything to change.

We know the rest of the story.

Job did not know it while he sat in ashes. He couldn’t see that God would turn his captivity. He didn’t know that his family would gather around him again. He had no idea that “the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.”

All Job knew to do was wait.

I think there is something here for us. We can get into a place where we see no possible way things can improve. We know heaven awaits us, but right now looks pretty bleak.

Wait.

Our ultimate change will come when we enter the presence of the Lord. But we have no idea what God might have planned between here and there.

The blessing we cannot see today may already be just around the corner.

Wait till your change comes.

#WaitOnGod #FaithInHardTimes #TrustGod #BookOfJob #DailyVisitWithGod

Don’t Give Up—God May Change Everything Tomorrow

When life feels hopeless and nothing seems to change, Job reminds us that waiting on God is an act of faith. We know what God has promised for eternity, but we never know what blessing He may have waiting just around the next bend.

What are you trusting God to change while you wait on Him? Share your thoughts in the comments.

For more KJV Bible studies, Daily Visits with God, books, podcasts, and practical Christian encouragement, visit marvinmckenzie.org.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 7200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
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Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Job 14:14 (KJV) Don’t Give Up

Here's a comic version of the lesson.

http://youtube.com/post/Ugkx1lZLi3hhIq0sM4eAAl4PAaF3s0IEM-FI?si=DrYRgf4GFVZX-uNH

Job 13:16 (KJV) Hypocrisy Is Worse Than We Think

Job 13:16 (KJV)

He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.

I’ve heard many people accuse churches of being full of hypocrites. Perhaps they are correct. I question whether most professing Christians really are saved. I question whether most professing independent Baptists are saved. Frankly, I wonder whether many independent Baptist pastors and preachers are saved. (Could this be the reason for some celebrity-type pastors falling into egregious sin?)

Job’s use of the term hypocrite reminds me of Paul’s warning concerning the reprobate.

2 Corinthians 13:5 (KJV)
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

Paul urges the members of this church to examine themselves and make sure they are in the faith. No reprobate—or, as Job would have said it, “an hypocrite”—shall come before God.

The ancient Hebrew word translated hypocrite here means filthy, polluted, or immoral. Brown-Driver-Briggs defines it as “godless” or “irreligious.” The fact is, hypocrisy is much worse in God’s eyes than the softer “two-faced” definition of the secular world.

Frankly, it matters but a little how the non-Christian judges those who attend our churches. But woe to the man or woman whom God judges an hypocrite.

#Hypocrisy #ExamineYourself #TrueSalvation #BiblicalFaith #Job13v16

Hypocrisy IS Worse Than We Think: What God Really Sees

What does the Bible really mean by hypocrisy? Is it simply being two-faced, or does Scripture warn of something far more serious?

What do you think? Leave a comment and share your thoughts. Then visit marvinmckenzie.org for more Bible studies, Daily Visits with God, books, and practical teaching from the Word of God.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 7200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Job 13:16 (KJV) Hypocrisy Is Worse Than We Think

Here's a comic version of the lesson.

http://youtube.com/post/Ugkx1lZLi3hhIq0sM4eAAl4PAaF3s0IEM-FI?si=880ytMnJNW11Hdhl

Job 12:17 (KJV) The Dangerous Sin of Judging Too Soon

Job 12:17 (KJV)

He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools.

Judgment is necessary. There are times when someone must examine the facts, determine what is right, and make a decision. We need judges who are fair enough to hear the whole matter and stern enough to act when wrongdoing has been established.

But judges are still men.

That is one of the great ironies of human judgment. We need judgment because men are fallible, yet every earthly judge is himself fallible. He can misunderstand the evidence, believe the wrong person, overlook an important fact, or reach a conclusion before everything is known.

Job's "friends" demonstrate that danger.

They looked at Job's circumstances and thought they understood what had happened. Job was suffering terribly. They knew that God is righteous. They knew that sin has consequences. From those truths, they formed a conclusion: Job must have committed some terrible sin.

Their theology contained truth. Their conclusion did not.

What they could not see was what had happened in Heaven before Job's suffering began. They were judging a situation while missing some of the most important evidence.

We often do the same thing.

We see a troubled marriage and think we know who caused it. We see someone struggling financially and assume we know why. We watch a person leave a church and decide which side was wrong. We hear one account of a disagreement and form an opinion about someone we have never even spoken with.

Sometimes our conclusions may be correct.

But sometimes God "maketh the judges fools."

That ought to make us cautious about passing judgment concerning circumstances we do not fully understand. It does not mean refusing to call sin what God calls sin. Scripture gives us clear judgments concerning right and wrong. But judging an action plainly condemned in Scripture is different from assuming we know the motives, history, circumstances, and hidden facts surrounding another person's life.

Job's friends knew enough to have an opinion.

They did not know enough to pronounce a verdict.

There will be occasions when we must make judgments. When we do, we should seek truth, listen carefully, and act courageously.

But we should never forget that God knows the part of the story we do not.

#DailyVisitWithGod #Job12v17 #BiblicalWisdom #JudgeRighteously #GodKnowsTheWholeStory

The Dangerous Sin of Judging Too Soon: See Less, Judge Less

Have you ever discovered you were wrong because you didn't know the whole story? Share your experience in the comments—I’d love to hear your thoughts. 

For more daily Bible devotions, biblical teaching, books, and resources to help you grow in your walk with Christ, visit marvinmckenzie.org. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a new Daily Visit with God.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 7200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Job 12:17 (KJV) The Dangerous Sin of Judging Too Soon

Here's a comic version of the lesson.

http://youtube.com/post/UgkxE3p7OeFG1B2BKs6QdnOXddpuAVLui1TV?si=Ju6b3cXhgGByGjRl

Job 11:14 (KJV) God's Conviction or Man's Accusations

Job 11:14 (KJV)

If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.

It seems to me that the operative word in this passage is "if." It is a conditional clause: If this, then that...

Drawing back to a Daily Visit with God from 2023 (Job 8:8), I noted Scofield's proposition that Eliphaz leaned on his experiences, Bildad on his traditions, and Zophar on his "superior" understanding of God and his dogmatism. I adapted that idea by describing Eliphaz as the charismatic, Bildad as the Protestant, and Zophar as the Fundamentalist.

Zophar began his discourse by calling Job a liar.

Job 11:3 (KJV)
Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?

Right from the beginning, I want to acknowledge that there is iniquity in us all. In one sense, we all tend to lie by making ourselves appear better than we really are. But that is not what Zophar means. He is accusing Job of something he does not know to be true. He is condemning him. He is passing judgment on Job's character, even though God has already informed us that those judgments are inaccurate. I cannot say for certain whether Zophar had heard from God on this matter, but much of the time, people who judge are not especially interested in God's view anyway.

I can say this: if someone has iniquity in his life, and if God has brought him under conviction for that iniquity, he would be much better off to put it far away. If that is the case, and if God has confirmed it, then we would be wise to let not wickedness dwell in our tabernacles.

But if those accusations come from men and not from God, then our responsibility is to answer to God, not to men.

#Job11v14 #DailyVisitWithGod #ListenToGod #BiblicalDiscernment #WalkWithGod

God's Conviction or Man's Accusations: Warning Signs You're Listening to Men Instead of God

Have you ever struggled to know whether conviction was coming from God or criticism was coming from people? Share your thoughts or experience in the comments—I’d enjoy hearing from you. 

For more daily Bible studies, biblical encouragement, podcasts, and free resources, visit marvinmckenzie.org.

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 7200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Job 11:14 (KJV) God's Conviction or Man's Accusations

Here's a comic version of the lesson.

http://youtube.com/post/Ugkx7FsSiRQdG0sJxSbcQZ-yMLgiD2pQO-3F?si=y2fym4_EIT0mbT8z