Daily Devotions · November 5
Reading for November 5
Read the whole Bible in a year, a few chapters a day.
Job 28–29 · Galatians 1–2
Job 28–29 · Galatians 1–2, Berean Standard Bible
Job 28
“Surely there is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined. 2 Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore. 3 Man puts an end to the darkness; he probes the farthest recesses for ore in deepest darkness. 4 Far from human habitation he cuts a shaft in places forgotten by the foot of man. Far from men he dangles and sways. 5 Food may come from the earth, but from below it is transformed as by fire. 6 Its rocks are the source of sapphires, containing flecks of gold. 7 No bird of prey knows that path; no falcon’s eye has seen it. 8 Proud beasts have never trodden it; no lion has ever prowled over it. 9 The miner strikes the flint; he overturns mountains at their base. 10 He hews out channels in the rocks, and his eyes spot every treasure. 11 He stops up the sources of the streams to bring what is hidden to light. 12 But where can wisdom be found, and where does understanding dwell? 13 No man can know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living. 14 The ocean depths say, ‘It is not in me,’ while the sea declares, ‘It is not with me.’ 15 It cannot be bought with gold, nor can its price be weighed out in silver. 16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. 17 Neither gold nor crystal can compare to it, nor jewels of fine gold be exchanged for it. 18 Coral and quartz are unworthy of mention; the price of wisdom is beyond rubies. 19 Topaz from Cush cannot compare to it, nor can it be valued in pure gold. 20 From where, then, does wisdom come, and where does understanding dwell? 21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing and concealed from the birds of the air. 22 Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor about it.’ 23 But God understands its way, and He knows its place. 24 For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. 25 When God fixed the weight of the wind and measured out the waters, 26 when He set a limit for the rain and a path for the thunderbolt, 27 then He looked at wisdom and appraised it; He established it and searched it out. 28 And He said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
Job 29
And Job continued his discourse: 2 “How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, 3 when His lamp shone above my head, and by His light I walked through the darkness, 4 when I was in my prime, when the friendship of God rested on my tent, 5 when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me, 6 when my steps were bathed in cream and the rock poured out for me streams of oil! 7 When I went out to the city gate and took my seat in the public square, 8 the young men saw me and withdrew, and the old men rose to their feet. 9 The princes refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands. 10 The voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths. 11 For those who heard me called me blessed, and those who saw me commended me, 12 because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper. 13 The dying man blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy. 14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; justice was my robe and my turban. 15 I served as eyes to the blind and as feet to the lame. 16 I was a father to the needy, and I took up the case of the stranger. 17 I shattered the fangs of the unjust and snatched the prey from his teeth. 18 So I thought: ‘I will die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand. 19 My roots will spread out to the waters, and the dew will rest nightly on my branches. 20 My glory is ever new within me, and my bow is renewed in my hand.’ 21 Men listened to me with expectation, waiting silently for my counsel. 22 After my words, they spoke no more; my speech settled on them like dew. 23 They waited for me as for rain and drank in my words like spring showers. 24 If I smiled at them, they did not believe it; the light of my countenance was precious. 25 I chose their course and presided as chief. So I dwelt as a king among his troops, as a comforter of the mourners.
Galatians 1
Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 6 I am amazed how quickly you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is not even a gospel. Evidently some people are troubling you and trying to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse! 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be under a curse! 10 Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. 11 For I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached was not devised by man. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how severely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not rush to consult with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to the apostles who came before me, but I went into Arabia and later returned to Damascus. 18 Only after three years did I go up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas, and I stayed with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I assure you before God that what I am writing to you is no lie. 21 Later I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was personally unknown, however, to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only heard the account: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God because of me.
Galatians 2
Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, accompanied by Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 2 I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I spoke privately to those recognized as leaders, for fear that I was running or had already run in vain. 3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. 4 This issue arose because some false brothers had come in under false pretenses to spy on our freedom in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us. 5 We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. 6 But as for the highly esteemed—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—those leaders added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted to preach the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised. 8 For the One who was at work in Peter’s apostleship to the circumcised was also at work in my apostleship to the Gentiles. 9 And recognizing the grace that I had been given, James, Cephas, and John—those reputed to be pillars—gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. 10 They only asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. 11 When Cephas came to Antioch, however, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself, for fear of those in the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. 14 When I saw that they were not walking in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?” 15 We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile “sinners” 16 know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. 17 But if, while we seek to be justified in Christ, we ourselves are found to be sinners, does that make Christ a minister of sin? Certainly not! 18 If I rebuild what I have already torn down, I prove myself to be a lawbreaker. 19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain.
How to SOAP
Grab a journal and a pen. Read the chapters above and watch for the verse that stops you. Then take it through four steps.
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Scripture
Write out the verse that stood out to you.
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Observation
What is it saying? Who is speaking, and to whom?
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Application
What does it mean for your life today? Be specific.
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Prayer
Talk to God about it. Ask Him to help you live it.
Why daily devotions?
Devotions are time set aside each day to read God's Word and let Him speak. The point isn't checking off chapters. It's meeting with Him.
Ten or fifteen minutes is enough to start. Pick a time and a place and keep the appointment. Mornings work well for a lot of us, before the phone and the day start talking.
Missed a day? Don't start over. Read today's chapters and keep going.