PSA Bible Reading Challenge 2025-2026

I always find it curious that Luther thought that James did not believe in the biblical cannon. He was very uncomfortable with the role that works plays in the author’s language, a role that is without compromise. I like it because it leaves no room for doubt that if you want to be a follower of Jesus you have to follow in more than just speech. You have to follow in action as well. The leading theme is that faith is fully revealed, almost only revealed, by the works that we do. Faith without works is dead. How can you not like that?

Psalm 47 is a classic which describes the celebration that all of the earth ought to have because God is king. It is a type of enthronement psalm that allows us to see God reigns over us and is far above all of our politics. It is a good psalm for today when geopolitically we are quite a mess at this time.

He is consistent in giving advice that leads us to enjoy the current life that we have, because we have absolutely no guarantee about what the life to come will be like, our future. He is not referring to heaven, he is referring the future of our life, regardless of whether we are righteous or not, it does not mean that we will be given any special treatment in this life for how we act. This is a type of message that leads the author to say vanity of vanities, all is vanity. He has noticed that the righteous are treated as sinners, and sinners are treated with long life and prosperity, there is no making sense of it.

His solution is that we do that which we enjoy. As followers of Jesus Christ, I would say the same thing. The interesting caveat to all of this is that what we enjoy ought to be what Jesus would have us enjoy. There is no reason to pursue sin, because it should not be something that we either enjoy nor something that we think would give us a good future. When our will is perfectly aligned with the will of God, when our desire is perfectly aligned with God’s desire, then we are able to live our lives following the advice of the author of Ecclesiastes. Things become less vain when we pursue God’s desire in our lives, because it ought to reflect our desire and vice versa. This is lost on many people as they see following God an exercise in legalism. It is nothing like that at all. It is an exercise in freedom.

This is thought to be written by King Solomon, which makes sense because he repeats a number of times that he has the type of wisdom that is not understandable for others. God allowed him to ask for anything, and he asked for wisdom so that he could rule his people well, that’s pretty self-sacrificing. Which is surprising as we read Ecclesiastes. We find here an author who seems pretty grizzled and disenchanted with life in general. All is vanity, is the refrain. We know chapter 3 from the song by the Byrds, to everything there is a season, but do we know the context within which it is written. It is written by a king who has tried everything and discovered that there is nothing new under the sun.

This reminds me when I was on spring break while I was studying abroad in Italy and went to Germany. It was the spring of 1990 and the wall had just come down so I made my way to Germany. I got off the train at Check Point Charlie and walked across the border between East and West and saw people like ants scurrying up and down the wall and taking pieces and tearing it apart. I found myself not wanting to take a piece, because everyone else was, and there was something a bit like holy that it struck me. I decided to sleep on a park bench in East Germany right outside the Brandenburg gate because I knew that no one had ever done that. The way the East Germans had cracked down on people sleeping outside, homelessness was not allowed, made me realize that I could finally do one thing that had never been done before in the history of the world. Sleep on a bench in East Germany. There was something new under the sun for me, but it was in no way tied to righteousness.

Finally God is revealed and he answers Job. He spends a few chapters asking Job is he had any part of the creation at all, because he was speaking as if he knew the wisdom of God, because no one knows the wisdom of God. He asks Job countless questions in relationship to where he was when thing were created, or does he have any influence when the things of creation take place, when the time of birth comes, can he influence that? Of course the answer to all of this is no, Job has no influence whatsoever on all that takes place on the face of the earth, but he is obviously influenced by it.

Job responds to God who speaks and he confesses and asks for forgiveness. This is critical, he does not try to defend himself, he does not try to justify himself, he just says I’m sorry, I won’t do it again. There is an age long debate as to who is in the right, Job or God. Well, clearly Job sees God in the right which is why he asks for forgiveness and he repents, these are the words of Scripture, not mine. From there God is able to act. He condemns Job’s friends because they were wrong and Job was right and makes Job make sacrifices on their behalf because God will not pay attention to anyone else’s sacrifices but Job. And then he ges more than restored with all of his wealth. The story ends happily ever after.

It is interesting that the author of Proverbs 21 speaks about the rashness of youth and the danger of pride and haughtiness. It is not a good thing when we think we know more than we do. This is clearly not directed at Job, although those are the accusations against him, but rather against this new “friend” of his, Elihu. He is speaking as one who has all wisdom, in fact he says as much, that God had gifted him with the wisdom that no one else has. That is really the definition of what the author in Proverbs addresses that is very problematic.

Hopefully someone will put this youngster in his place, I think God is going to do that at the end of Job. Let’s see what happens. I do like the pairing of Proverbs 21 with the words of Elihu, it kinda highlights the pride that he should not have.

No sooner had I said that Job has been accused for very specific, Matthew 25ian, offenses and he had not response to them, which was troubling to me, than he finally responds in a similar specific way. The accusations against him were that he did not do all that which God requires of us first and foremost in regards to our neighbor. No one was accusing him of not loving God but we did hear that he did not love neighbor. He now refutes that, he actually spends two entire chapters speaking of his reputation and his works in regards to those on the margins of society and those who were in need, both the widow and the orphan and the homeless and the thirsty and the hungry and those who did not have counsel in the courts of law.

Job self describes as not only meeting the needs of the poor, but actually having a reputation as the one, the only one really, to whom the needy went to find relief. It was a pretty convincing defense. Now a fourth friend jumps in, a youngster, and he has had enough. He has seen the three friends trying to reason with Job, but Job has been able to successfully show them how they are wrong and how he is innocent. But unfortunately for us, he spends two chapters just building up what he is about to say without saying anything. Just say it!

In chapter 22 the words of one of Job’s friends caught my attention. He specifically accused Job of demanding money from his family, not clothing the naked, not given water to drink or food to eat to those who needed it, and he sent away the widow who was in need empty handed. These are very specific charges that echo in many respects the Matthew 25 parable which Jesus uses much later. We never see Job respond to these very, very specific charges, and it is a bit disturbing. I had always seen Job as being wrongfully accused.

The accusations against Job had always been generalized for me and his answers always revolved around the Providence of God and how that Providence can be translated into fickleness. Who are we, just the clay in the potter’s hand. Who are we, just the creatures who are at the whim of the creation. This is where his defense came from, a defense of generalities which didn’t really have to respond to specific charges. I had never seen, or thought about as I was reading, that these could be specific charges. This changes things a bit for me and reminds me that we are all sinners in the hands of a loving God. Even the most righteous demonstrates a callousness that maybe we didn’t think existed in them.

The back and forth between Job and his friends continues. At one point Job states, I am not really arguing with you, but I am actually arguing with God. He is the one who has placed me in this condition. He points out how the unjust are the ones who die at an old age and those around them who judge them say that their children will be judged as a result. Job says, what do they care if their children are judged, they seemed to have gotten away with disobedience and sin and are able to enjoy all that they want without any skin off their back.

Paul finishes up Romans with a greetings to all the churches. Remember, we are pretty sure that Paul has never had the chance to see this church and meet its people in Rome. He loves them but does not actually know them first hand. It is not a church that he had started.

We find Job defends himself this time not in a conversation with God, but rather with a conversation with his friends, telling them that he too could accuse them and show them how bad they are if they were in his position. But he insists that they do not know him and that he is innocent of what they accuse him of: inevitable sin as a result of the life in which he is currently living. He must not have been involved in clean living since he is in the current state the he finds himself.

Romans gives us again some great theological truths. Chapter 12, especially from verses 9-21 contain some of the verses that I try to point to when I am preaching. It even includes the words that I use in the benediction: return no one evil for evil. Paul understands that the way to salvation has been opened by the disobedience of Israel, but it also remains open for the people of Israel as well as the gentiles, that would be us.

There is nothing new in Job’s defense of himself, and nothing new in the accusations of his friends. Job agrees with his friends that it is God who is causing this to happen, but disagrees with them that it is a result of Job’s wrongdoings that God is making this happen. Job portrays God as a bit more capricious than his friends do. Job even states that God makes calamity fall on both the just and the unjust, very similar to how in Matthew Jesus states that the rain falls on both the righteous and the unrighteous. In Romans we see that we are all unrighteous and so we all deserve to be condemned. Thanks be to God that we don’t get what we deserve!