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Today’s Daily Bible Study is Job 12:13-25.  The theme of this week’s lesson (taken from Ephesians) is the “New Revelation in Christ”.  Let’s look at today’s scripture:

13 ”With God are wisdom and strength; he has counsel and understanding.
14 If he tears down, no one can rebuild; if he shuts someone in, no one can open up.
15 If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
16 With him are strength and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.
17 He leads counselors away stripped, and makes fools of judges.
18 He looses the sash of kings, and binds a waistcloth on their loins.
19 He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.
20 He deprives of speech those who are trusted, and takes away the discernment of the elders.
21 He pours contempt on princes, and looses the belt of the strong.
22 He uncovers the deeps out of darkness, and brings deep darkness to light.
23 He makes nations great, then destroys them; he enlarges nations, then leads them away.
24 He strips understanding from the leaders of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
25 They grope in the dark without light; he makes them stagger like a drunkard.  Job 12:13-25 NRSV 

What is Job saying here?  On the face of it, he’s stating that – indeed – God has dominion over all things.  But consider the context of his speech in the overall story of Job, and consider too the tone of these statements: the voice you can almost hear.  God “makes nations great, then destroys them”.  The statement, like the others in today’s scripture beg the question, “Why?”  We’ve talked about this before in class — the question of theodicy or the justice of God.  How can a just God destroy nations, lead them away, strip understanding from the leaders of the earth, make fools of judges?

For Paul – as we’ll see in the lesson scripture for next Sunday – the answer to this mystery was to be found in the universal good news of Christ.  But what is the “plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things?”