1 Corinthians 9:1 “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?” Observation: Paul has just finished saying in 1 Corinthians 8:13: “Therefore if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again,...

1 Corinthians 7:35 “This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint on you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.” Observation: Paul was sharing what he understood God’s desire to be regarding marriage. He...

Job 34:10 “Far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to do wrong.” Observation: This chapter finds Elihu on a roll, convinced he has the root of Job’s trouble all figured out: it’s Job! Though Elihu’s theories will require some adjustment down the...

1 Corinthians 1:9; 2:14 “God is faithful. … But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God.” Observation: Paul was a spiritual father to the Corinthians, having been first to preach the Gospel there on an earlier trip. Corinth was a remarkably...

Job 30:20 “I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You turn Your attention against me.” Observation: There are two elements to Job’s lament in chapter 30. First is a comparison of his present devastation with his former life. In the...

Job 29:2 “Oh that I were as in months gone by.” Observation: Job 29 is a walk with Job back in time to the days before his afflictions began. He recalled what it was like to have been in the prime of life knowing that God’s friendship spilled over and blessed every...

 Mark 15:5 “Pilate was amazed.” Observation: Jesus found Himself in the belly of legal and religious systems run amok. Religious leaders clamored for His crucifixion while Pilate, the political leader, knew what a premium Rome put on keeping the peace at all costs....

Job 23:3 “O that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come to His seat!” Observation: In this reading, Job declared his great longing for God. The security, comfort, and health he had once known had been stripped away, and the counsel of his friends, while well...

Mark 9:7 “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!” Observation: Peter, James, and John had gone with Jesus to a high mountain where Jesus was transfigured into a heavenly being whose garments radiated such whiteness as to be otherworldly. Elijah and Moses then appeared...

Job 21:7 “Why do the wicked still live, continue on, also become very powerful?” Observation: Job was responding to the angry arguments of his friend Zophar. Zophar had made the claim that a wicked man’s prosperity is brief: “The triumphing of the wicked is short, and...