Clothe Yourself
Wednesday, July 3, 2024
Good morning, Lord
Verse of the Day: Job 29: Iyov(Job)went on speaking:
2 “I wish I were as in the old days,
back in the times when God watched over me;
3 when his lamp shone over my head,(Complete Jewish Bible)
Memory verse: Psalm 90:14
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Today's reading: JOB 28-29 ACTS 13:1-25
Clothe Yourself
In Job 29, Job grieves for the days before the enemy inflicted his tragedy on him and speaks of his own righteousness. At the first couple of glances at this, it seems that Job's concept of himself-or his memory of himself in his better days-is really overblown.
Job 29 reads: 14 "I clothed myself with righteousness, and it clothed itself with me;
my justice was like a robe and a crown.
15 I was eyes for the blind,
and I was feet for the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy..."
I thought, "I could never think of myself in that way". Then I realized what I was reading was Job's idea of God's righteousness. If you read the entire chapter, it starts out with Job giving God the credit by saying:
(verse 2)"the times when God watched over me"
and (verse 3)"when his lamp shone over my head...";
(verse 4,5)"...and God’s counsel graced my tent.
5 Then Shaddai was still with me..."
Again, God has had all this recorded for a reason. I believe that we can pull this out, as well as countless other places in the Bible, and use it as language in our times of worship-secret or gathered together.
Yes, the Holy Spirit will take over when our words are exhausted. Romans 8:26-28
"For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."
But, there is a lot of 'praise language' we can learn and use as we grow. We can tell God that we know He is
'eyes for the blind', 'a lamp shining over my head', ' a father to the needy', 'feet for the lame'.
This is why it is so important to not just glance over scripture as we read it. We must take it in one thought at a time-one phrase picture at a time. In doing so, we are learning as much about God as we can.
Clothe yourself with righteousness.(Job 29:14)
Romans 13:14 "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh."
Learning more 'praise language' is more of making the choice to put on Jesus-to clothe ourselves with righteousness-to consciously make the choice to be satisfied by God instead of being 'gratified by the flesh'.
Choose now and say, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"(Joshua 24:15)
...because He loves us...
Father in Heaven,
Feet for the lame and eyes to the blind, oh God, I need Your counsel to obey and remember Your word. Holy Spirit, praise for me. Lead me into a life of forgiveness as I put on Jesus. Forgive me my reluctance.
Divine Light over my head,
In the name of Christ Jesus
Amen
