John Mark Hicks

Bobby Valentine and John Mark Hicks discuss one of the seven traditional Penitential Psalms, which are used annually at Lent. We question whether this a penitential prayer. Rather, it is a lament and cry for mercy from one who is suffering terribly and mistreated by others (much like in Job 16, for example). The Psalm […]

Publicado por primera vez en Leaven 8.2 (primavera de 2000) 75-80. (An English translation is available here: “Job’s Sanctuary Experience and Mine.”) Translated by Wilson Silva Garcia.             Vivimos en un mundo caído lleno de pecado, desesperación y muerte.  Sin embargo, es el mundo de Dios y él es soberano sobre él (Salmo 115:3).  La […]

JOB’S FAITHFUL ENDURANCE IN GOD’S STORY [This is chapter 6 from my Yet Will I Trust Him (College Press, 1999), pp. 153-181.]                           What is man that you make so much of him,                                       that you give him so much attention,                           that you examine him every morning                                       and test him every moment?                           Will you never […]

LA RESISTENCIA FIEL DE JOB EN LA HISTORIA DE DIOS                         ¿Qué es el hombre para que le des tanta importancia?                                    que le prestes tanta atención,                          que lo examines cada mañana                                      y ponerlo a prueba en cada momento?                         ¿Nunca apartarás la mirada de mí?                                  ¿O dejarme en paz aunque sea por […]

We live in a chilling moment. Children are dying. War has no end in sight. Political discourse is laced with malice and vitriol. Yet, it seems to me, our time is no different than many other times in world history. There is nothing unique about the previous paragraph. This is one reason the Hebrew Bible […]

Returning to Bethlehem (Ruth 1:19-22) So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” She said to them,             “Call me no longer Naomi,                         call me Mara,                         for the Almighty […]

Texts: Proverbs 9:9-10; Ecclesiastes 1:2-3 Days 25-26 in Around the Bible in Eighty Days. Every people group carries a shared wisdom within their history. This wisdom provides boundaries and paths for successful living. It also offers a way for people to endure the chaos that regularly invades life. Wisdom envisions the good life but recognizes […]

In September 2014, I was honored to present some material on the book of Job to a group of dedicated and devout servants in the church at the Midwest Preachers’ Retreat in Wisconsin.  Here are the audio links to those presentations. 1.  The Text of Job as Dramatic Lament: The Dialogical Structure of the Book […]

May 21 is an anniversary date for me. Joshua died on that day in 2001. Many friends helped. Mark and Margo Black were there, Rubel and Myra Shelly were there, Mike Cope was there a few days before as well as John York, and we were surrounded by many others (including my Woodmont Hills Bible […]

Don’t you hate a happy ending? Many find the Epilogue too good to be true. At best, it has the ring of a fairy tale–it might even be pure silliness. It ends like a bad movie. At worst, it underscores the satan’s point–people serve God for profit. Job is rewarded; Job profits. Some dismiss it […]