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Our Daily Bread Devotional For Friday 29th November 2024 – Restraining Order

OUR DAILY BREAD DEVOTIONAL FOR TODAY

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Our Daily Bread Devotional For Friday 29th November 2024 – Restraining Order
Our Daily Bread Devotional

The Topic of Our Daily Bread For 29th November 2024 is “Restraining Order”

Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 35-36; 2 Peter 1

Memory Verse: Job 13:3 nlt

I want to argue my case with God himself.

Today’s Scripture & Insight: Job 13:1-12

We rightly remember Job as an exceptionally good man. “They have the patience of Job,” we say when we notice someone who demonstrates remarkable restraint under pressure. Not to be missed, however, is Job’s obvious humanity. Having lost his children, his health, and his wealth, we see him lash out at his friends who offer him useless counsel. “You . . . smear me with lies,” he says, and calls them “worthless physicians” (Job 13:4). The problem with Job’s friends is that they imagined they were speaking wisely when they were merely spouting empty platitudes. Job says of their advice, “Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay” (v. 12). This raw picture of his response to his trouble and his alleged “comforters” (16:2) humanizes him, enriching our understanding of human pain and suffering. We also learn to guard our speech when we encounter another in deep pain.

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ODB MESSAGE FOR TODAY

A man in court filed a restraining order against God. He claimed God had been “particularly unkind” to him and had exhibited a “seriously negative attitude.” The presiding judge dismissed the suit, saying the man needed help not from the court but for his mental health. A true story: humorous, but also sad.

But are we so different? Don’t we sometimes want to say, “Stop, God, please, I’ve had enough!” Job did. He put God on trial. After enduring unspeakable personal tragedies, Job says, “I want to argue my case with God himself” (Job 13:3 nlt) and imagines taking “God to court” (9:3 nlt). He even puts forth a restraining order: “Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me” (13:21). Job’s prosecution argument wasn’t his own innocence but what he viewed as God’s unreasonable harshness: “Does it please you to oppress me?” (10:3).

Sometimes we feel God is unfair. In truth, the story of Job is complex, not providing easy answers. God restores Job’s physical fortunes in the end, but that isn’t always His plan for us. Perhaps we find something of a verdict in Job’s final admission: “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know” (42:3). The point is, God has reasons we know nothing of, and there’s wonderful hope in that.

What occasions have prompted you to “take God to court”? Why is it okay for you to ask Him tough questions?

Dear God, I sometimes feel angry about what I’ve had to endure. Please help me bring my complaints to You.

 

Our Daily Bread 2024 Devotional is written by Con Campbell and published by Our Daily Bread Ministries. Read more

Visit the ODB official website here: www.odb.org

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