Agape Devotions

  TEXT FOR REFLECTION Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: 2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?     Yet who can keep from speaking? 3 Behold, you have instructed many,     and you have strengthened the weak hands. 4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,     and you have made firm the feeble knees. 5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;     it touches you, and you are dismayed. ( Job 4:1-5) REFLECT Job's friend Eliphaz complained to Job about his attitude towards good advice. Job had been a spiritual teacher, instructing many, strengthening the weak, and upholding those who were stumbling. But now when he was himself in a crisis, he was impatient with those who gave him the same instruction that he had given to others. Job was good at giving instruction, but poor at receiving. RELATE Life is much harder than we make it out to be. It is even much harder when we try to obey God, or put to pract...

Read: Job 3 No devotions for today (Sunday)

Read: Job 1-2 Verses chosen for meditation: Job 1:8-11 8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”  Reflect The main idea of the book of Job is that God is sovereign and we as mortals, can trust in His Name even through the most difficult of circumstances. This is even so when we know that God has a part to play in our suffering. Such theology is difficult to bear. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do I have to suffer when I didn't do anything wrong to trigger that kind of suffering? We might not und...

Catch up on your readings today. Or if you have not done so, you  can spend some time getting ready to read the book of Job, by going through the introduction to the book as attached link. https://insight.org/resources/bible/the-wisdom-books/job

Today and tomorrow are catch up on your readings day. You can also spend some time getting ready to read the book of Job, by going through the introduction to the book as attached link. https://insight.org/resources/bible/the-wisdom-books/job

READ : Esther 9 -10. Verses chosen for meditation: Esther 9:20 - 22, v.28. 20  Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far,   21  to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar   22  as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor. 28  These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews - nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants.   REFLECT Previous chapters recorded how Esther gained favour with K...

Read Esther 8 Verses chosen for meditation: Esther 8:15,16 ESV: Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor. Reflect Think of a time when things went smoothly, when all requests were granted and when schemers met their own doom. Coupled with that, a promotion, a recognition, and a region wide enforcement of favourable laws. Will this not be a great cause for celebration? Will there not be the attendant joy and gladness? What a day it will be, can you even begin to imagine it? Relate The chapter reads like a red – letter day for the Jews in the days of Esther. Incidentally, today, the 10th of October is also a red - letter day for the Chinese.  In modern parlance, one could say too that 'the stars are aligned'. Indeed, everything was going swimmingly for Esther and Mordecai, includin...