Open Word

FIRST READING

Job 4:1-21

Verse 1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: Verse 2. “If one ventures a word with you, will you be wearied? Yet who can keep from speaking? Verse 3. Surely you have instructed many, and have strengthened their feeble hands. Verse 4. Your words have steadied those who stumbled; you have braced the knees that were buckling. Verse 5. But now trouble has come upon you, and you are weary. It strikes you, and you are dismayed. Verse 6. Is your reverence not your confidence, and the uprightness of your ways your hope? Verse 7. Consider now, I plead: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Or where have the upright been destroyed? Verse 8. As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same. Verse 9. By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed. Verse 10. The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken. Verse 11. The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. Verse 12. Now a word came to me secretly; my ears caught a whisper of it. Verse 13. In disquieting visions in the night, when deep sleep falls on men, Verse 14. fear and trembling came over me and made all my bones shudder. Verse 15. Then a spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body bristled. Verse 16. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance; a form loomed before my eyes, and I heard a whispering voice: Verse 17. ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker? Verse 18. If God puts no trust in His servants, and He charges His angels with error, Verse 19. how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth! Verse 20. They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; unnoticed, they perish forever. Verse 21. Are not their tent cords pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?’[’’]

PSALM

Psalm 77

For the choirmaster. According to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph. I cried out to God; I cried aloud to God to hear me.

In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted.

I remembered You, O God, and I groaned; I mused and my spirit grew faint.

You have kept my eyes from closing; I am too troubled to speak.

I considered the days of old, the years long in the past.

At night I remembered my song; in my heart I mused, and my spirit pondered:

“Will the Lord spurn us forever and never show His favor again?

Is His loving devotion gone forever? Has His promise failed for all time?

Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has His anger shut off His compassion?”

So I said, “I am grieved that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”

I will remember the works of the LORD; yes, I will remember Your wonders of old.

I will reflect on all You have done and ponder Your mighty deeds.

Your way, O God, is holy. What god is so great as our God?

You are the God who works wonders; You display Your strength among the peoples.

With power You redeemed Your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph.

The waters saw You, O God; the waters saw You and swirled; even the depths were shaken.

The clouds poured down water; the skies resounded with thunder; Your arrows flashed back and forth.

Your thunder resounded in the whirlwind; the lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked.

Your path led through the sea, Your way through the mighty waters, but Your footprints were not to be found.

You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

SECOND READING

Ephesians 2:1-10

Verse 1. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, Verse 2. in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Verse 3. All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath. Verse 4. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, Verse 5. made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! Verse 6. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, Verse 7. in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Verse 8. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, Verse 9. not by works, so that no one can boast. Verse 10. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.