Meaningless Comfort (Job 4–5)

Meaningless Comfort (Job 4–5)

The central section of Job revolves around a series of speeches between Job and his friends. While they had come to comfort him, we quickly discover that they had completely misdiagnosed the situation and were, therefore, completely unable to help. As Job would later...
Dealing with Darkness (Job 3)

Dealing with Darkness (Job 3)

William lost his mother when he was six years old and never quite got over her death. Fifty-three years later, when someone sent him a portrait of her, he responded by writing a poem: I heard the bell toll on thy burial day, I saw the hearse that bore thee slow away,...
God’s Devil (Job 1–2)

God’s Devil (Job 1–2)

Recently, my son asked one of those age-old questions: Why does God not destroy the devil? It would be so easy for him to do. These are the kind of questions to which there are no easy answers. They are the kind of questions that sceptics love, because they give an...
Renewed and Transformed (2 Peter 3:14–18)

Renewed and Transformed (2 Peter 3:14–18)

In our introduction to 2 Peter, we considered the reality that belief affects behaviour. Peter, we learned, knew that, if his readers embraced false teaching, they would soon begin to live like the false teachers. He was more concerned that they pursue Christlikeness...
Finite Patience (2 Peter 3:14–18)

Finite Patience (2 Peter 3:14–18)

Several years ago, Rob Bell created waves with his book Love Wins, which suggested that God might ultimately save every human being who has ever lived. Once considered a significant voice in evangelicalism, Bell’s apparent embrace of universalism cemented his position...