Message Bible Daily Reading - Old/New Testament (MSG)

Old/New Testament Reading for Thursday July 5, 2012 (MSG)

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 10:00 PM PDT

Job 30

The Pain Never Lets Up

^{1 -8}"But no longer. Now I'm the butt of their jokes— young ruffians! whippersnappers! Why, I considered their fathers
mere inexperienced pups. But they are worse than dogs—good for nothing,
stray, mangy animals, Half-starved, scavenging the back alleys,
howling at the moon; Homeless guttersnipes
chewing on old bones and licking old tin cans; Outcasts from the community,
cursed as dangerous delinquents. Nobody would put up with them;
they were driven from the neighborhood. You could hear them out there at the edge of town,
yelping and barking, huddled in junkyards, A gang of beggars and no-names,
thrown out on their ears.

^{9 -15} "But now I'm the one they're after,
mistreating me, taunting and mocking. They abhor me, they abuse me.
How dare those scoundrels—they spit in my face! Now that God has undone me and left me in a heap,
they hold nothing back. Anything goes. They come at me from my blind side,
trip me up, then jump on me while I'm down. They throw every kind of obstacle in my path,
determined to ruin me—
and no one lifts a finger to help me! They violate my broken body,
trample through the rubble of my ruined life. Terrors assault me—
my dignity in shreds,
salvation up in smoke.

^{16 -19} "And now my life drains out,
as suffering seizes and grips me hard. Night gnaws at my bones;
the pain never lets up. I am tied hand and foot, my neck in a noose.
I twist and turn. Thrown facedown in the muck,
I'm a muddy mess, inside and out.

What Did I Do to Deserve This?

^{20 -23} "I shout for help, God, and get nothing, no answer!
I stand to face you in protest, and you give me a blank stare! You've turned into my tormenter—
you slap me around, knock me about. You raised me up so I was riding high
and then dropped me, and I crashed. I know you're determined to kill me,
to put me six feet under.

^{24 -31} "What did I do to deserve this?
Did I ever hit anyone who was calling for help? Haven't I wept for those who live a hard life,
been heartsick over the lot of the poor? But where did it get me?
I expected good but evil showed up.
I looked for light but darkness fell. My stomach's in a constant churning, never settles down.
Each day confronts me with more suffering. I walk under a black cloud. The sun is gone.
I stand in the congregation and protest. I howl with the jackals,
I hoot with the owls. I'm black-and-blue all over,
burning up with fever. My fiddle plays nothing but the blues;
my mouth harp wails laments."

Job 31

What Can I Expect from God?

^{1 -4}"I made a solemn pact with myself never to undress a girl with my eyes. So what can I expect from God?
What do I deserve from God Almighty above? Isn't calamity reserved for the wicked?
Isn't disaster supposed to strike those who do wrong? Isn't God looking, observing how I live?
Doesn't he mark every step I take?

^{5 -8} "Have I walked hand in hand with falsehood,
or hung out in the company of deceit? Weigh me on a set of honest scales
so God has proof of my integrity. If I've strayed off the straight and narrow,
wanted things I had no right to,
messed around with sin, Go ahead, then—
give my portion to someone who deserves it.

^{9 -12} "If I've let myself be seduced by a woman
and conspired to go to bed with her, Fine, my wife has every right to go ahead
and sleep with anyone she wants to. For disgusting behavior like that,
I'd deserve the worst punishment you could hand out. Adultery is a fire that burns the house down;
I wouldn't expect anything I count dear to survive it.

^{13 -15} "Have I ever been unfair to my employees
when they brought a complaint to me? What, then, will I do when God confronts me?
When God examines my books, what can I say? Didn't the same God who made me, make them?
Aren't we all made of the same stuff, equals before God?

^{16 -18} "Have I ignored the needs of the poor,
turned my back on the indigent, Taken care of my own needs and fed my own face
while they languished? Wasn't my home always open to them?
Weren't they always welcome at my table?

^{19 -20} "Have I ever left a poor family shivering in the cold
when they had no warm clothes? Didn't the poor bless me when they saw me coming,
knowing I'd brought coats from my closet?

^{21 -23} "If I've ever used my strength and influence
to take advantage of the unfortunate, Go ahead, break both my arms,
cut off all my fingers! The fear of God has kept me from these things—
how else could I ever face him?

If Only Someone Would Give Me a Hearing!

^{24 -28} "Did I set my heart on making big money
or worship at the bank? Did I boast about my wealth,
show off because I was well-off? Was I ever so awed by the sun's brilliance
and moved by the moon's beauty That I let myself become seduced by them
and worshiped them on the sly? If so, I would deserve the worst of punishments,
for I would be betraying God himself.

^{29 -30} "Did I ever crow over my enemy's ruin?
Or gloat over my rival's bad luck? No, I never said a word of detraction,
never cursed them, even under my breath.

^{31 -34} "Didn't those who worked for me say,
'He fed us well. There were always second helpings'? And no stranger ever had to spend a night in the street;
my doors were always open to travelers. Did I hide my sin the way Adam did,
or conceal my guilt behind closed doors Because I was afraid what people would say,
fearing the gossip of the neighbors so much That I turned myself into a recluse?
You know good and well that I didn't.

^{35 -37} "Oh, if only someone would give me a hearing!
I've signed my name to my defense—let the
Almighty One answer!
I want to see my indictment in writing. Anyone's welcome to read my defense;
I'll write it on a poster and carry it around town. I'm prepared to account for every move I've ever made—
to anyone and everyone, prince or pauper.

^{38 -40} "If the very ground that I farm accuses me,
if even the furrows fill with tears from my abuse, If I've ever raped the earth for my own profit
or dispossessed its rightful owners, Then curse it with thistles instead of wheat,
curse it with weeds instead of barley."

The words of Job to his three friends were finished.

Acts 13

^{26 -29}"Dear brothers and sisters, children of Abraham, and friends of God, this message of salvation has been precisely targeted to you. The citizens and rulers in Jerusalem didn't recognize who he was and condemned him to death. They couldn't find a good reason, but demanded that Pilate execute him anyway. They did just what the prophets said they would do, but had no idea they were following to the letter the script of the prophets, even though those same prophets are read every Sabbath in their meeting places.

^{29 -31}"After they had done everything the prophets said they would do, they took him down from the cross and buried him. And then God raised him from death. There is no disputing that—he appeared over and over again many times and places to those who had known him well in the Galilean years, and these same people continue to give witness that he is alive.

^{32 -35}"And we're here today bringing you good news: the Message that what God promised the fathers has come true for the children—for us! He raised Jesus, exactly as described in the second Psalm:

My Son! My very own Son!
Today I celebrate you! "When he raised him from the dead, he did it for good—no going back to that rot and decay for him. That's why Isaiah said, 'I'll give to all of you David's guaranteed blessings.' So also the psalmist's prayer: 'You'll never let your Holy One see death's rot and decay.'

^{36 -39}"David, of course, having completed the work God set out for him, has been in the grave, dust and ashes, a long time now. But the One God raised up—no dust and ashes for him! I want you to know, my very dear friends, that it is on account of this resurrected Jesus that the forgiveness of your sins can be promised. He accomplishes, in those who believe, everything that the Law of Moses could never make good on. But everyone who believes in this raised-up Jesus is declared good and right and whole before God.

^{40 -41}"Don't take this lightly. You don't want the prophet's sermon to describe you:

Watch out, cynics;
Look hard—watch your world fall to pieces.
I'm doing something right before your eyes
That you won't believe, though it's staring you in the face."

^{42 -43}When the service was over, Paul and Barnabas were invited back to preach again the next Sabbath. As the meeting broke up, a good many Jews and converts to Judaism went along with Paul and Barnabas, who urged them in long conversations to stick with what they'd started, this living in and by God's grace.

^{44 -45}When the next Sabbath came around, practically the whole city showed up to hear the Word of God. Some of the Jews, seeing the crowds, went wild with jealousy and tore into Paul, contradicting everything he was saying, making an ugly scene.

^{46 -47}But Paul and Barnabas didn't back down. Standing their ground they said, "It was required that God's Word be spoken first of all to you, the Jews. But seeing that you want no part of it—you've made it quite clear that you have no taste or inclination for eternal life—the door is open to all the outsiders. And we're on our way through it, following orders, doing what God commanded when he said,

I've set you up
as light to all nations.
You'll proclaim salvation
to the four winds and seven seas!"

^{48 -49}When the non-Jewish outsiders heard this, they could hardly believe their good fortune. All who were marked out for real life put their trust in God—they honored God's Word by receiving that life. And this Message of salvation spread like wildfire all through the region.

^{50 -52}Some of the Jews convinced the most respected women and leading men of the town that their precious way of life was about to be destroyed. Alarmed, they turned on Paul and Barnabas and forced them to leave. Paul and Barnabas shrugged their shoulders and went on to the next town, Iconium, brimming with joy and the Holy Spirit, two happy disciples.