Genesis 1:1-5

Genesis 1:1-5 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. The Bible begins with God already existing. That is because God is eternal – He is from everlasting to everlasting. We have a hard time wrapping our heads around that, but that is just how it is. God has always been, and God will always be. Period. End of discussion. And God made all of the materials that He needed on the first day. Verse two says that everything was just there – all piled up and disorganized. It was like the concrete blocks and two by fours and nails at Lowe’s – they are just lying there waiting for someone to buy them and take them home and build something like a new bedroom or a garage or something else. So after God made all of the stuff, he created light. He didn’t make the sun until day four. But God made the light on day one! That is because God Himself is light! And God didn’t have the sun just yet to mark the evening and the morning, like we do. But God knew when it was evening time and God knew when it was morning time. So God finished His work and the first day was over. We start the next day at midnight, but the Jewish day starts at sundown in the evening. So Friday starts at 6 PM on Thursday evening and goes until 6 PM the next day. That is why it says in Genesis 1:5 that the evening and the morning was the first day. I’m glad that God knew what He was doing when He made everything, aren’t you? And I’m glad that God knows what He is doing in my life and in your life, aren’t you?

Job 42:12,13,15-17

Job 42:12,13,15-17 So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters. And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days. Here at the end of the book, God once again blesses Job. If you check Job chapter 1, you will notice that God doubled everything that Job had. Job had twice the sheep, twice the camels, twice the oxen, twice the donkeys, but wait, only ten more children. Job had ten children who were killed, but he had ten more at the end. That isn’t double . . . or is it? Job’s first ten children died and went to heaven. Job had ten more children, so actually Job’s family did double to twenty! And wow! Did Job have gorgeous daughters! His boys were strong and smart and his daughters were great lookers! Kind of like my grandchildren. Right?!

Job 42:7,8

Job 42:7,8 And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job. Job was a righteous man. And God knew it. But Job’s three friends accused Job falsely. And God knew that too! So God took up for Job and told his three friends that they were wrong. So God told Job’s three friends to offer a sacrifice for their attitudes. But God went a little further. God said that the three friends needed to ask Job to pray for them. They were not in a position to pray for themselves – they needed Job to pray for them. That is a good lesson for us. When we are in trouble, ask someone who is close to God to pray for you. Both of you can get talk to God together. Sometimes we need someone to pray for us. That is called intercession. And Job’s three friends needed Job to intercede to God for them.

Job 41:1,2,6,8,15-17

Job 41:1,2,6,8,15-17  Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants? Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. One is so near to another, that no air can come between them. They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered. Here in our verses is the second of the great dinosaurs mentioned in the book of Job: the leviathan. The leviathan was a huge swimming dinosaur, probably a plesiosaurus. He had a long, serpent-like neck with great teeth and protective scales. God told Job to go ahead and catch leviathan with a hook like a fish. But watch out. Once you get ahold of him, you had better hang on for dear life! Leviathan was powerful and God reminded Job that He had made leviathan. And God made Job. And God made you too!

Job 40:15-24

Job 40:15-24 Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron. He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him. Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play. He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens. The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about. Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares. The book of Job is probably the oldest book in the Bible.  That is because no other book of the Bible is mentioned in the book of Job, and no other of the patriarchs, like Abraham or Moses, are mentioned either. Immediately after the flood, a few dinosaurs survived for a while. This one, the behemoth, was probably a sauropod – a long-necked dinosaur. He ate grass and lived in the swamps. When he took a drink of water, it was like sucking up a river! Behemoth lounged around in the shady swamps because he was not afraid of anything! Who could hurt him? No one could! The word dinosaur was first used by Sir Richard Owen about 200 years after the Bible was translated. Dinosaurs became extinct long ago – but they were still around in Job’s time.