As a child of Adam, Job cries out with the pain that flows into him and into us from Adam’s fall. The poetry of chapter 9 is Job’s attempt to stretch himself beyond the circle of his suffering into the larger sphere of God’s world. However, as a great bungee cord stretched to its limit, it snaps Job back into his pain that is the center of everything. Zophar makes all this worse when he, third of Job’s so-called friends, intervenes with his theology of sin. Instead of living with questions that evade easy answers, Zophar sets his speech to be the last word on the subject.

Give the Jobs in your life the compassion they need, but which they do not receive. Return this compassion to yourself at those points where your spirit quivers with Job’s.

Job 9—11

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More…
Example: Your hands fashioned and made me 10:8

Tuesdays are dedicated to the Old Testament books of history
and the Hebrew “Writings.”
In the season of Lent this year we read Job 1-14; 38.

For all the Firestarters I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information

The people of Jeremiah’s time had lost a sense of the power of God, placing more confidence in idolatry. Pray that words of the prophet will break you free from any brands of idolatry in your life.

Have a page of your journal open. Make a list of what the Spirit brings to your awareness as manifestations in your own life of what Jeremiah is preaching. What are your fears and worries that may be symptoms that your faith in the power of God is weakening in the face of temptation? Be honest … courageously honest. Feel the links that connect you with these people seven centuries before Christ.

Chapters 11 and 12 contain two of six personal laments of the prophet. They have Job-like power and beauty. How would you express laments about your own personal losses?

Jeremiah 10—12

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the season of Lent we read Jeremiah 1—17.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: You the One who formed all things 10:16

For all the Firestarters I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information.

In the time of the early church, anyone who confessed Jesus as Lord was expelled from the Temple and the local synagogues. Those beloved walls would no longer embrace the ones who had embraced Jesus. There would be no more pilgrimages to Jerusalem for them!

Herein lies the significance of the account of “The Man Born Blind.” Here too is that irony that threads its way through John’s Gospel. The miracle of being able to see for the first time since birth contrasts with the blindness of those who arrogantly claim to see, but who are in fact, blind.

May you be enriched by the confession of the blind man given the gift of sight by faith. No longer are the Pharisees there, “expelled” from Jesus’ presence by their disbelief. Remain with the blind man and Jesus. What is happening to you as you share this silent, loving space together?

John 9:1–41

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Jesus the light of the world. v. 5

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.
During Lent and Easter, we read from the Gospel of John.

For all the Firestarters I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information.