Read: Job 35-36
Elihu is still speaking in today’s reading, and the main themes really center around humility, God’s unmatched power and holiness, human limits, and the importance of not living in sin but repenting for your own sake.
God wants us all to be in heaven with Him. And while He is incompatible with sin and it hurts His heart when we turn from Him, it actually hurts us even more in the end. Sin leads us into separation from Him, and when we harden our hearts, it opens the door for confusion, anxiety, depression, and everything that pulls us further away from life with God. That path ultimately leads in the wrong direction, and God is always trying to lead us away from that.
God is all-encompassing and all-powerful. What He wills to happen can and will happen. But He also gives us free will. And that matters. Because we are not forced into relationship with Him, we choose it.
So, we cannot live in sin just because we technically know that we have forgiveness through Jesus. That is not what relationship with God is supposed to look like. Grace is not a permission slip to stay the same, it is an invitation to be transformed.
This is where humility comes in. Everything we have is from God, not from our own doing. God can give and take away. He can bless and He can correct. Even David didn’t defeat Goliath by his own strength, it was God working through him. God walks with us, leads us, and gives us direction, but we still have to be willing to take steps. We have to open our hearts and let Him lead. The Holy Spirit works in and through us, but we still have a role in responding.
I think about it like this with my baby girl. I can teach her to walk, but I cannot walk for her. I can do everything right, feed her well, love her, make her feel safe, show her through my own actions, encourage her, cheer her on, but I cannot take every single step for her forever. At some point, she has to choose to try, to fall, to get back up, and to keep going. And that is a picture of our relationship with God.
He is not going to force us, even though He absolutely could. He will not force us to walk the path He has for us, and He will not force us to love Him. Because forced obedience is not love. Real love is chosen, trusted, and walked out day by day.
Discussion Questions
- Do you see grace as permission to stay the same or as an invitation to change?
- What does it look like for you to take a step of obedience today?
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A Note from the Author
Hello everyone,
I wanted to take a moment to share a bit about the Bible verse studies, devotionals, and prayers that I put together. While I strive to offer meaningful insights and reflections, it’s important to clarify that I am not a trained or licensed biblical professional. My goal is not to provide expert theological advice but to share my personal knowledge, beliefs, and experiences as I read and reflect on the Holy Bible.
The insights I offer come from my own understanding and spiritual journey. I approach these reflections with the intention of sharing what personally resonates with me, what I’ve learned through my own study of Scripture, and what the Holy Spirit is sharing through me. I hope these thoughts are helpful and encouraging, but they are based on my personal perspective rather than formal theological training.
This specific Bible study is based off the book A Beautiful Year in the Bible The 52-Week Bible Study for Women by a series of wonderful authors Copyrighted by Alabaster Creative Inc. I do not own the rights to this book and am not claiming to. I am using the book to create my own version of the Bible in 365 days and continue to direct God’s word towards women, more specifically mothers.
Thank you for your understanding and for joining me in this journey of faith and reflection.
Blessings,
Maria Wilcoxon
*The header image is not mine and was taken from Pinterest
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