Job 20:18

He will disgorge the yield of his toil unswallowed,

   Spewing forth, gains fully restored, not chewed up.

My first thought was how do you disgorge something not swallowed in the first place. Got over that quick, but it did get my attention. I had a new appreciation of a phrase I had heard all my life this week. The phrase is ‘They will know us by our love.” I always assumed this was non-Christians would know Christians based on how Christians treated other Christians, until I assumed it was how we treated everyone. But now I only associate it with how we love God. That is the distinguishing element that matters.

I had a lot of notes on word choices in these stitches. Some versions had four stitches, some had two. I ended up with two probably due to word choice. ‘Disgorge’ was also ‘give back’ or ‘restore’. ‘Yield’ was also ‘fruit’, ‘what’, ‘that’, ‘goods’, ‘gain’, and ‘wealth’. ‘Toil’ was also ‘labor’. ‘Unswallowed’ was ‘not swallowed’, ‘uneaten’, and ‘cannot absorb’.

‘Spewing forth’ was also something so different as to not be comparable. ‘Gains fully restored’ was also left off or ‘profit of their trading’, ‘proceeds of business’, ‘shall the restitution be’, ‘value of the riches’, ‘like the wealth the return’, and ‘like the goods, their value’. ‘Not chewed up’ was also ‘not enjoyed’, ‘undigested’, and ‘no pleasure from’.

The ideal is that the wicked will have to give back their gains before they can use them at all. As we all know, it never works this way. Even if punished, the victims do not get anything back near what they lost. This guy is full of it.

We spoke about plans at accountability today. The idea is that we make a plan and then God lights the next step only. Living without a plan is not God’s plan. Taking steps without God is not part of His plan. My plan is to be available to teach at church. I do not care the topic, the audience, or anything, but I know God wants me in line to teach and will point me when needed, and let me take the step.

Last night I spoke with a guy who I now realize might be the whole reason God wanted me to help with this class. Our backgrounds are similar and I think we each can help each other mature as we seek God. I did not go to the class even hoping for a friend, but I took each next step, and now I have a whole path laid out to follow. If it gets blocked by God, so be it, but I have seen the fruition of a plan, and I will follow each next step as God lights the way. This is how I show my love for Him.

Written 2/26/24, Posted 4/19/26, Job 476/~1070