Job 21:1-2
Then Job answered and said:
Listen carefully to what I have to say,
Let that be your act of consoling me.
Wow did I miss that. As in the past, I left off verse one as it is repetitious, but then I didn’t notice I had when I was doing this yesterday. How happy I am to hear the words of Job and not Zophar. My short-term goal will be to pay attention to what Job has to say.
‘Carefully’ was also ‘diligently’, ‘listen’ was also ‘hear’, and once ‘hear’ was repeated twice for emphasis. This is probably the form the Hebrew took as it was their style. ‘What I have to say’ was also ‘speech’ or ‘words’.
In the second stitch, the most common alternate was ‘Let that be your consulation’ as if Zophar was getting something out of it.
Work has not been at all what I thought it would be. I was used to being paid by the hour for short bursts that left me plenty of time to enjoy the day. Now it is a constant stream of too much that all works towards some seemingly random pay days of indeterminate amounts. I’d quit, but it was a long-term commitment with a nice compensation. While that is true, I really am doing this because I know this is what God is calling me to do, and I follow Him when I know that to be true.
One of the concepts that the Bible discusses is the sheep knowing their master’s voice. This is based on the sheep not being too smart, but smart enough to not follow anyone besides their master. The more he spoke to them, the better they could distinguish his voice. So it is with God. The more we listen to Him, the more we can discern His call upon our life. I used to go my own way until God made it obvious I needed to not to (to quote Mater). Now, I actively try to hear His call on the tiniest things. I still get a lot wrong, but I get a lot more right than I ever did before.
In this verse, God is telling me to listen to the words He has put into this speech by Job and let that be how I worship God during this period. I’ve been helping with a class at church on Wednesday’s, and although I know I have the spiritual gift of teaching, and I know we are to use our gifts to serve others through church, I now know that I need to take a step back and focus on my work and not let what I think needs to be interrupt what God is telling me needs to be. Probably not enough commas in all that, but …
Written 4/8/26, Posted 5/10/26, Job 488/~1070