Fr. Mike reads Genesis 12-13, Job 1-2, and Proverbs 1:1-7 and shows how Abram and Job, despite their brokenness, were able to trust in God. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Hi, I'm Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today.
This is day six. Let's get started. We are reading today Genesis chapter 12 and chapter 13. We're also jumping into a different book, not just the Psalms, actually two different books, not just the Psalms. We're also jumping into the world of Job, the world of Job, the righteous man who suffered, and also into the book of Proverbs, one of the wisdom books. in scripture.
Again, Genesis chapter 12 and 13, Job chapter 1 and 2, and Proverbs verses 1 through 7. The Bible translation I'm using is the Revised Standard Version, the Catholic edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to read along and not just listen along, you can download the Bible in a Year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year.
Even if you just want to see where we're headed each day, you can download your Bible in your reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com. You can also subscribe in your podcast app. You can also sign up for our email list and get updates and notifications by texting Catholic Bible to 33777. That's Catholic Bible, all one word, to the number 33777.
Without anything further, we begin by reading, proclaiming, and hearing and receiving Genesis chapter 12 and chapter 13. Now the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse. And by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves. So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions which they had gathered, and the persons that they had gotten in Haran, and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Morah. At that time, the Canaanites were in the land.
Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, to your descendants, I will give this land. So he built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. Thence he removed to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negev.
Now there was a famine in that land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, I know that you are a woman beautiful to behold. And when the Egyptians see you, they will say, this is his wife, and then they will kill me, but they will let you live.
Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared on your account. When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful, and when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
And for her sake he dealt well with Abram, and he had sheep, oxen, he donkeys, men servants, maid servants, she donkeys, and camels. But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. So Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
Why did you say she is my sister so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and be gone. And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they set him on the way with his wife and all that he had. So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and lot with them into the Negev.
Now Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver and in gold, and he journeyed on from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites dwelt in the land.
Then Abram said to Lot, let there be no strife between you and me and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.
And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt in the direction of Zoar. This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other.
Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, while Lot dwelt among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, "'Lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are northward and southward and eastward and westward.
For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants forever. I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your descendants also can be counted.' Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.
So Abram moved his tent, and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.
The Book of Job Chapters 1 and 2
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. And that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He had 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 she-donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.
His sons used to go and hold the feast in the house of each on his day, and he would and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all.
For Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus Job did continually. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, From where have you come? Satan answered the Lord, From going back and forth on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.
And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil? Then Satan answered the Lord, Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has on every side?
You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face. And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only upon himself do not put forth your hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.
Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And there came a messenger to Job and said, The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them. And the Sabaeans fell upon them and took them and slew the servants with the edge of the sword. And I alone have escaped to tell you.
While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.
While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, The Chaldeans formed three companies and made a raid upon the camels and took them and slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you. While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house.
And behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and it struck the four corners of the house and it fell upon the young people and they are dead. And I alone have escaped to tell you. Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell upon the ground and worshipped. And he said, naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, From where have you come? Satan answered the Lord, From going back and forth on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.
And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you moved me against him to destroy him without cause. Then Satan answered the Lord, Skin for skin, all that a man has he will give for his life.
But put forth your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face. And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a potsherd with which to scrape himself and sat among the ashes.
Then his wife said to him, Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die. But he said to her, You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips.
Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Namathite. They made an appointment together to come to condole with him and comfort him. And when they saw him from afar, they did not recognize him.
And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust upon their heads towards heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
Proverbs chapter 1 verses 1 through 7
The Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Father in heaven, we thank you and give you praise.
Thank you for your word. Thank you for the gift of revealing yourself to us and revealing your heart to us, even in broken situations. We ask that you please send your Holy Spirit that when we're broken, when we fail, when we fall, and when we're suffering, that we turn more deeply to you, that we refuse to curse you, that we refuse to run away from you, that we refuse to hide from you.
But instead, come to you in our brokenness and come to you in our need. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So, today's readings, wow. Gosh, Genesis chapter 12 and 13 and then Job chapters 1 and 2. Such an incredible opportunity for us to see what we're going to see throughout the course of these narrative books and the narrative books of Scripture today.
will again and again show what the great giants of our faith, like here's Abram, whose name is going to be Abraham soon, and Sarai, whose name is going to be Sarah soon, that even they, as they're following the Lord, making that act of faith, even as Abram hears the words of God, his promise that through Abram, God is going to bless the world, that when Abram and Sarai, in their need, they go into Egypt, there still is this brokenness of Abraham
Abram passing off Sarai as his sister so that she can become the wife of Pharaoh, which is one of those things we think like, wait, why would in the world would anyone even consider doing this? Much less the patriarch, right? The original, like essentially father of our faith, who's actually the church describes as the father of faith, Abraham. Why would he do this?
Or even we have the book of Job, where it's even confusing because here is the righteous Job and the sons of God are traveling throughout the earth, right? Which is a kind of a way of saying the angels of the Lord are traveling throughout the earth. And here's Satan, who seems to have access to God himself, even though we're accustomed to Satan being Lucifer, the one who had fallen from grace.
In this case, Satan is that Hebrew word in Hasatan, which would mean the accuser or the one who, yeah, the one who accuses. And what does he want to do? He wants to accuse Job, even accuses God of saying, well, the only reason that Job loves you, the only reason that Job serves you, the only reason he's righteous is because you bless him.
And the moment you take away your blessing, the moment you let him encounter suffering, he is going to be faithless. So what we see is these two men in particular, and Sarai, of course, these two men at the beginning of our journey, and neither of them are perfect. Both of them are called perfect. but neither of them are perfect.
At the same time, both of them demonstrate faith today, especially in our readings today. You have Abram who says, yeah, I will divvy up the property between myself and you, my nephew Lot. And he doesn't have any compunction to say, I claim this better land. He doesn't have any kind of jockeying for position. He just says, whatever you choose, if you choose the left, I'll go right.
If you go right, I'll go left. because I don't want there to be any disunity between us, no strife between us. And that's a great sign of Abram's faithfulness. That's a great sign of Abram's being willing to say, I know that the Lord will continue to take care of me. Same with Job.
As soon as Job was afflicted, meaning all of his properties is stolen or it's destroyed, even when his children are killed, Job's response is in all of this, Job did not curse God, but instead he worshiped. Of course, things are going to get worse for Job as time goes on. But Job's initial response was to worship, was to say, naked I came forth from my mother's womb, naked I shall return again.
The Lord gives and he takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And this is our call, right? This is the call of every single one of us. Not that life is always going to make sense, but we know that the Lord is always going to be present.
That when he allows us to experience these incredible trials, and Job is going to endure incredible trials, Job once again has to battle that voice inside and outside of him, his friends and his wife, who are saying, just turn away from the Lord. Even that voice inside that wants to accuse God. Remember, Satan, Hasatan, is the one that accuses.
And there's something that gets inside Job that he wants to accuse. And yet, here is God who is so faithful that even when we are not faithful, he is steadfast. And he steadfastly calls us, Abram, Sarai, and Job to belong to him.
As we continue this journey through the Bible, this Bible in a Year podcast, my invitation is for all of us today to be able to say, okay, Lord, make my heart more and more like Job's, that when I experience suffering, I worship. Make my heart like Abram's, that when I don't know which way to go and I need to be corrected, that I allow myself to be corrected by you and trust in you.
Because that's going to be our call for the next 360 plus days. We are just beginning this story and we are going to journey through this Bible, all 73 books together for the remainder of this year. I want to remind you that if you want to get the Bible in a Year reading plan, you can just text the word Catholic Bible to 33777 or you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year.
Once again, my name is Father Mike. God bless.