171 My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me. 2 Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation. 3 "Lay down a pledge for me with thyself; who is there that will give surety for me? 4 Since thou hast closed their minds to understanding, therefore thou wilt not let them triumph. 5 He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property, the eyes of his children will fail. 6 "He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit. 7 My eye has grown dim from grief, and all my members are like a shadow. 8 Upright men are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless. 9 Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he that has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
10 But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you. 11 My days are past, my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart. 12 They make night into day; 'The light,' they say, 'is near to the darkness.' 13 If I look for Sheol as my house, if I spread my couch in darkness, 14 if I say to the pit, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'My mother,' or 'My sister,' 15 where then is my hope? Who will see my hope? 16 Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?"
181 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered: 2 "How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and then we will speak. 3 Why are we counted as cattle? Why are we stupid in your sight? 4 You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock be removed out of its place?
5 "Yea, the light of the wicked is put out, and the flame of his fire does not shine. 6 The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp above him is put out. 7 His strong steps are shortened and his own schemes throw him down. 8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks on a pitfall. 9 A trap seizes him by the heel, a snare lays hold of him. 10 A rope is hid for him in the ground, a trap for him in the path.
11 Terrors frighten him on every side, and chase him at his heels. 12 His strength is hunger-bitten, and calamity is ready for his stumbling. 13 By disease his skin is consumed, the first-born of death consumes his limbs. 14 He is torn from the tent in which he trusted, and is brought to the king of terrors. 15 In his tent dwells that which is none of his; brimstone is scattered upon his habitation. 16 His roots dry up beneath, and his branches wither above. 17 His memory perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the street. 18 He is thrust from light into darkness, and driven out of the world. 19 He has no offspring or descendant among his people, and no survivor where he used to live. 20 They of the west are appalled at his day, and horror seizes them of the east. 21 Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly, such is the place of him who knows not God."
191 Then Job answered: 2 "How long will you torment me, and break me in pieces with words? 3 These ten times you have cast reproach upon me; are you not ashamed to wrong me? 4 And even if it be true that I have erred, my error remains with myself. 5 If indeed you magnify yourselves against me, and make my humiliation an argument against me, 6 know then that God has put me in the wrong, and closed his net about me. 7 Behold, I cry out, 'Violence!' but I am not answered; I call aloud, but there is no justice.
8 He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths. 9 He has stripped from me my glory, and taken the crown from my head. 10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone, and my hope has he pulled up like a tree. 11 He has kindled his wrath against me, and counts me as his adversary. 12 His troops come on together; they have cast up siegeworks against me, and encamp round about my tent. 13 "He has put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me. 14 My kinsfolk and my close friends have failed me; 15 the guests in my house have forgotten me; my maidservants count me as a stranger; I have become an alien in their eyes. 16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer; I must beseech him with my mouth. 17 I am repulsive to my wife, loathsome to the sons of my own mother. 18 Even young children despise me; when I rise they talk against me. 19 All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me. 20 My bones cleave to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. 21 Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me! 22 Why do you, like God, pursue me? Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?
23 "Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! 24 Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were graven in the rock for ever! 25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth; 26 and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then from my flesh I shall see God, 27 whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me! 28 If you say, 'How we will pursue him!' and, 'The root of the matter is found in him'; 29 be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishment of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment."
101 At Caesare'a there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms liberally to the people, and prayed constantly to God. 3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, "Cornelius." 4 And he stared at him in terror, and said, "What is it, Lord?" And he said to him, "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa, and bring one Simon who is called Peter; 6 he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside." 7 When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those that waited on him, 8 and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
9 The next day, as they were on their journey and coming near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. 10 And he became hungry and desired something to eat; but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance 11 and saw the heaven opened, and something descending, like a great sheet, let down by four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." 14 But Peter said, "No, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, "What God has cleansed, you must not call common." 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. 17 Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold, the men that were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood before the gate 18 and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there.
19 And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Behold, three men are looking for you. 20 Rise and go down, and accompany them without hesitation; for I have sent them." 21 And Peter went down to the men and said, "I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for your coming?" 22 And they said, "Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house, and to hear what you have to say." 23 So he called them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went off with them, and some of the brethren from Joppa accompanied him.
(Read Acts 10:1-8)
Hitherto none had been baptized into the Christian church but Jews, Samaritans, and those converts who had been circumcised and observed the ceremonial law; but now the Gentiles were to be called to partake all the privileges of God's people, without first becoming Jews. Pure and undefiled religion is sometimes found where we least expect it. Wherever the fear of God rules in the heart, it will appear both in works of charity and of piety, neither will excuse from the other. Doubtless Cornelius had true faith in God's word, as far as he understood it, though not as yet clear faith in Christ. This was the work of the Spirit of God, through the mediation of Jesus, even before Cornelius knew him, as is the case with us all when we, who before were dead in sin, are made alive. Through Christ also his prayers and alms were accepted, which otherwise would have been rejected. Without dispute or delay Cornelius was obedient to the heavenly vision. In the affairs of our souls, let us not lose time.
(Read Acts 10:9-18)
The prejudices of Peter against the Gentiles, would have prevented his going to Cornelius, unless the Lord had prepared him for this service. To tell a Jew that God had directed those animals to be reckoned clean which were hitherto deemed unclean, was in effect saying, that the law of Moses was done away. Peter was soon made to know the meaning of it. God knows what services are before us, and how to prepare us; and we know the meaning of what he has taught us, when we find what occasion we have to make use of it.
(Read Acts 10:19-33)
When we see our call clear to any service, we should not be perplexed with doubts and scruples arising from prejudices or former ideas. Cornelius had called together his friends, to partake with him of the heavenly wisdom he expected from Peter. We should not covet to eat our spiritual morsels alone. It ought to be both given and taken as kindness and respect to our kindred and friends, to invite them to join us in religious exercises. Cornelius declared the direction God gave him to send for Peter. We are right in our aims in attending a gospel ministry, when we do it with regard to the Divine appointment requiring us to make use of that ordinance. How seldom ministers are called to speak to such companies, however small, in which it may be said that they are all present in the sight of God, to hear all things that are commanded of God! But these were ready to hear what Peter was commanded of God to say.
