Category: Job

Here’s the climax of the book: Job gets his answer from God, and in a way few have received an answer from Him. God answered Job out of the whirlwind, and apparently audibly spoke to him. Think about that.

Did God answer him in a way that satisfies you? I have long wished that God would have told Job the whole background story of his trial and commended him for remaining blameless through the trial. And that He would have reprimanded all four of the friends in a most just way. Why did God answer him this way? What do you think?

I wonder if it’s not because God wants us to understand that it’s not about us, pleasing to Him as we might be. The epic battle is between God and His enemy, and while we are loved by God, His enemy sees us only as tools to manipulate in his attempts to hurt God. In all circumstances, we need to understand that God is preeminent. That may not seem satisfying to us, but in truth, if we will accept that reality and allow ourselves to be changed by it, we can find true satisfaction in it. God is the hero of the epic story, and He is truly a hero’s hero. Truly a heroine’s hero. Dare you invite Him to give you a greater appreciation for Him as the only one worth talking about?

Job had expressed numerous times his desire to present his case to God and get answers from God. He didn’t get his answer, but he didn’t seem to mind. His response to God’s point wasn’t, “But you still haven’t answered my question! Why did you do this to me?” Note his response: “I am speechless, and rightfully so.”

Just so, we have powerfully important questions for God: “If God is who He says He is, why did He allow this horrible thing to happen?” “Why is there evil in this world?” “Is He as powerful as He says He is, or is He as involved as He says He is, or is He not as good and loving as He says He is?” But God wants us to see Him as Job did, in such awe that we can only place our hands over our mouths. He can handle our questions; can we handle His answers?

Is God vain to make it all about Him? Not at all. Would you call an expert vain for offering effective response to a challenging situation or for giving expert testimony in a court case? All that He says is true! The things He points out about Himself are sparks to ignite our praise life if we will just contemplate them. God is worthy, so worthy of our awe. That is a fact, and this passage confronts us with an opportunity to consider that fact. If we don’t take these reminders as an opportunity to consider His worthiness, we never will consider His worthiness, and we will fail to know God. So let’s consider what He offers for Job’s consideration, and formulate our own praise to God out of it. To get us started,

• • How vast is the earth – and God created it – from nothing. Just by the words from His mouth. We are incapable of creating out of nothing, and our words are powerless to create.
  • How vast are the oceans, and how overwhelming the power of their waters, as we’ve witnessed plenty recently. We can’t begin to hold the water back – but God does. The oceans go no farther than God says. He controls them with a word!
  • How vast is the darkness, and how impenetrable, except for the light God has created. And what a source of light we have!
  • What more powerful telescopes have revealed about the vastness of the universe has so awed many astronomers that they can no longer  believe that it spontaneously happened. Whether or not they have chosen to believe in God, they are compelled to believe that there is intelligent design in the awe-inspiring things they have observed, things that the proponents of the Big Bang theory never had the opportunity to observe.
  • We are helpless to control the rain – when we get it, and when it stops. Our growing food is watered correctly by God’s mercy alone.

We don’t know what behemoth and leviathan are. They may be extinct creatures, for all we know. That we don’t know what they are is not important enough to bother with. If curiosity about that causes us to miss God’s point, we have been played by the enemy’s tactics.

Notice that Elihu is not admonished by God when the other three men are. That is not because Elihu was spot on. God was not displeased with Job, as Elihu accused; God says that he was correct. Job was blameless. Because God’s response to Elihu is not recorded, some scholars believe that Elihu was the author of the book and left that part out. Another consideration might be that God didn’t think he was worth bothering with. Perhaps in that culture, God’s ignoring him was more effective at putting him in his place than if he got an audible admonition from Him. He had stated that he was perfect in his own eyes; would he have heeded the inevitable admonition from God? If “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble,” Elihu rightfully deserved not to receive a response from God. What a frightening position to be in. How many of us might be in that very position? One to whom Jesus has to say “Depart from me; I never knew you” when he tries to justify himself by pointing out how often he spoke up on behalf of God or defended His honor.

This story is our call to examine our own hearts. Are we Eliphazes, who self-righteously claim to know God and think we’re defending His honor in our spoutings, but  kindle His anger instead because we don’t speak rightly about Him? Does He see us as fools in our speeches about Him? Do we need to repent of our ideas that we have Him figured out, and seek His forgiveness? How fortunate Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar were, that God gave them the opportunity to make their relationships with Him right. Elihu was not given that chance. Are any of us in the hopeless, prideful condition he was in? That is truly frightening to consider.

You have finished reading your first book of the Bible for this year! Readers typically don’t find it an easy or enjoyable book to read, so if you have read it completely, you have made it over a potential hurdle! If you haven’t read it completely, there are more hurdles ahead to challenge you; determine now that you will do better!

In verse 36:4 Elihu calls himself “one perfect in knowledge.” Hmmm. However, he has failed to understand the truth about Job – that Job is in truth blameless and is not failing to acknowledge his transgression or “behold God.” No, Elihu has Job “perish(ing) among the cult prostitutes” in his youth (verse 36:14) in judgment for his being “full of judgment on the wicked” (36:17). Elihu himself is judging Job, absolutely incorrectly. Job acknowledged God’s sovereignty and praised Him for who He is and what He has done in creation, just as Elihu does; Elihu contributes nothing new to the conversation. All this, and he claims “Job opens his mouth emptily; He multiplies words without knowledge,” while he himself is “one perfect in knowledge.” Then he arrogantly admonishes Job, “Remember that you should exalt His work” (verse 36:24) and “Listen to this, O Job,” (verse 37:14) and launches into a rather vague description of God’s wonders in creation, as if Job hadn’t already expressed awe for God as revealed in nature in his last speech.

In verse 37:16 Elihu describes God as perfect in knowledge. Thus, he equates himself with God.

We need to be careful that we are not like Elihu. Fallen human nature has a tendency to pride like cursed nature has a tendency to decay. We’d be victims of our own pride like Elihu if we were blind to our own prideful tendencies. Can you recall a time when you thought you were pretty wise, pretty mature spiritually? Have you gained more wisdom since then, perhaps even enough to realize that you were totally erroneous in your former “wisdom?” Have you grown spiritually since you marveled at your own spiritual maturity? Do you in your more advanced condition cringe at that you of the past who thought he was so wise and so mature? Hopefully you will continue to grow so that even today’s wisdom and maturity seem puny to you in the future. That’s God’s desire for us, that we “grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is Christ….” (Ephesians 4:15) So if we are always to be growing, how truly mature are we today? How like Elihu are we in our claims of wisdom and maturity for ourselves?

Tomorrow’s reading gives us God’s response. I don’t think it will disappoint! I hope you have built into your weekend schedule the time you need to read and reflect.

Elihu steps up to set Job straight, claiming to have understanding given to him from the breath of the Almighty. Convinced that God is rebuking Job and repaying him for his wicked ways, he accuses Job of “drink(ing) up scoffing like water.” He uses the same reasoning as the other “friends,” that if God is rebuking him he must have done something worthy of God’s rebuke, because God “will not pervert justice.” They don’t question whether God’s intent is actually to rebuke Job – it must be rebuke, for causing him to suffer unworthily is not just. They equate such action with wickedness. Again, Elihu is wrong because he thinks he has God figured out.

Elihu isn’t the only one in history to think he has God figured out. The Roman Catholic Church in the Renaissance is an example of others who have been convinced that they know God, and know that God would never do the scandalous thing of which He has been accused by man. But God does do some things that are scandalous to man. In the question placed before the Roman Catholic Church leaders during the Renaissance, He did in fact create the earth to revolve around the sun. In the case of Elihu, God did allow Job to suffer for reason other than his sin. God did allow a blameless man to suffer as no other man in recorded history has suffered.

But then again, God Himself was willing to suffer unworthily. Suffering can accomplish so much in God’s economy. His own suffering accomplished man’s redemption from sin. If God were only just, we would never be saved from sin, would be permanently ruined, without opportunity to enjoy relationship with Him. What a scandal that He suffered unjustly for the purpose of having relationship with ruined man. Who could have ever understood that truth without God’s explaining it to us in His word?

Given the example of His own suffering, what makes us think that we could ever have God figured out enough to decide what He is or is not doing? Hopefully we are all frustrated enough by Elihu to remember his example: WE CANNOT ASSUME WE HAVE GOD FIGURED OUT. He is GOD, and we are not.

However, we aren’t doomed to ignorance of what God is doing. We are given enough examples in Scripture of people who have sought understanding from God and been granted understanding, that we can humbly present our questions to God, seeking understanding for the purpose of knowing Him better, and have hope that He might give us the insight we seek. Job has expressed longing numerous times to get answers from God. What will be God’s response? Can you feel the tension building in the plot of Job’s story?

Elihu is so far off the mark. He accuses this blameless man of being the ultimate wicked person. In verses 34:7-8 he says, “What man is like Job, who drinks up scoffing like water, who travels in company with evildoers and walks with wicked men?” In contemporary jargon, his words would be, “Who is as bad a man as Job?” How do you suppose God feels in response to Elihu’s conviction that he has the all-wise, all-powerful creator/sustainer God figured out, and that he speaks for God in calling wicked the one whom God has actually called blameless? Don’t you wish God would put him in his place?

Don’t miss the next couple days of reading – it is very satisfying!

It’s interesting to me that in the opening verses of chapter 30, Job talked about people who were on the margins of society. People were marginalized even back then! And Job, blameless as he was, shared the prejudices of society. These people were gaunt “from want and famine” and were reduced to digging for roots for food and living in caves for shelter. He tells in the next chapter how he has understood his slaves’ equality with him before God, and how he has cared for the needy; so how is he justified in disdaining these other people as even lower than his dogs (who were not cherished as pets in that day, were looked upon then much as we look upon rats in our culture)? Remember that God called Job blameless. Also recall that this is a book of poetry, not teaching.

Job details in chapter 31 his character demonstrated by his conduct. This is the character and conduct of a blameless man. This should be our goal. One good method in Bible study is to make a list when given this kind of valuable information. We should understand each item on the list in terms of what it meant for Job, and then, in light of that, what it means for us. For example, the widow and the orphan are of special concern for God throughout Scripture, because they were the neediest, most helpless people in ancient society. Today this is not so because the government cares for them. But understand what he was doing in caring for their needs: he was caring for those whom society would be inclined to forget, who were so unimportant as to be overlooked, who mattered to no one and so mattered not at all. Often they had no homes, and didn’t eat except at the charity of others. And who gives charity to those who don’t matter? So if the blameless person takes care of the needs of those whom society overlooks, who in your life needs your care? Likely that care doesn’t look like what Job’s care to the needy looked like, because times are so different. Perhaps that care looks like a kind word to one in your life whom society has marginalized, or befriending the friendless.

Note also in verse 31:38 Job’s care for the land. Does it surprise you that there were environmental advocates in Job’s day? Does it surprise you that responsible care for the land is a characteristic of the blameless man?

What else on the list surprises you? What on the list needs your attention?

Again Job expresses longing for Messiah. Do we appreciate the work of Jesus in giving us access to God?

We are swiftly making our way through Job, our first book of the Bible that we will complete, and not one of the easiest books to read and follow. Keep going; we’ll finish it in only three more days!

Job acknowledges that God brings justice for the wicked, but often not in their lifetime. While he waxes poetic about wisdom, consider: anywhere man might be able to go on this earth, he cannot find wisdom. There exists no wealth to exchange for it. God is the only source of wisdom, and has decreed that the only way for us to get it is through knowledge of Him. He offers no shortcut to wisdom. If we want it, we must invest ourselves in relationship with Him.

That’s no easy thing, to search for relationship with Him and find it. Messiah’s coming has made it much easier for us than it was for Job, but it’s still a matter of diligence in that which doesn’t always seem to bear fruit in our limited perception. How can we know One Who is so much higher than we are? Whom we can’t see or hear or touch? Faith. If we choose to believe what He tells us about Himself and about the way He has given us to approach Him, if we follow that way, He promises that He will reward “those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

Job obviously invested himself in such relationship, for God obviously rewarded him with wisdom. In chapter 29 he tells what his life was like before the events of this book. Here we see what a life blessed by God looks like. Think about what such a person would look like in our culture today, and compare it to Job’s reduced state here so that you can better appreciate his plight.

Another thought worth considering is that if God is the only source of wisdom and only gives wisdom through knowledge of Him, what can we conclude about man’s wisdom apart from God?

Eliphaz is going in for the kill. Note in verses 22:6 and 13, he accuses Job of doing things and saying things that he actually hasn’t. Whatever causes him to make such accusations – anger, pack mentality, envy of old boiling over now that Job is in a weakened state – whatever it is, we must understand that we are susceptible to the same ugly behavior, and guard against it. God, transform me as You promise to do!

Eliphaz’s brand of righteousness is not lovely. In verses 22:19 -20 he speaks of the righteous being glad at the destruction of the wicked, and mocking them. Does that seem like a righteous person? He also doesn’t understand that even the righteous don’t get their way in all things. Note verse 22:28. The righteous don’t have a relationship with God like Aladdin had with the magic genie. That would make God the slave of the righteous, and that is not the sovereign God He says He is or that we want Him to be. Eliphaz’s speech leads one to believe that he is speaking about the righteous from experiential knowledge, but we can be certain that he didn’t enjoy that magic genie relationship with God.

Job again shares his longing for a way to approach God. How fortunate we are to have Jesus as the way to come to God (John 14:6) and as our intercessor before God (Hebrews 7:25).

In verse 23:10 Job expresses his continued confidence in God’s justice. Note the way of the blameless man that he describes in the following verses, and remember that God considers him a blameless man. This is certainly reason enough for us to use him as an example for what blamelessness looks like and how to attain that goal. Notice that what he has done is invest in relationship with God. He hasn’t checked off a list of to-dos, but has done what God has said to do, without deviating, without accommodating his personal comforts or opinions.

Job notes that his friends are wrong in their observations about the prosperous wicked being struck down and brought to destruction. How often do we actually see that happen? God’s justice is often a matter between Him and the unjust, and we don’t get to see it happen.

Then Bildad adds his two cents. He doesn’t say anything wrong, but He comes off as self-righteous. Man may see himself as a worm in comparison to God’s greatness, but this is not God’s view of man;. we know that because of Psalm 8.

Job demonstrates the best understanding of God, which leads to the observation that if we take our questions to Him, we will gain understanding. If instead we hold to our assumptions about Him, great as they are, and don’t acknowledge the challenges that reality sometimes brings to bear on our limited understanding, we will not learn the deeper truths about God. That’s what the Roman Catholic Church leaders did to the revelations of the telescope during the Renaissance, and refused to believe that the earth revolves around the sun, leading to a marginalization of the Church and of God in people’s minds. Rather, the best way to handle such perceived challenges to our understanding of God is to take them to Him and ask for help understanding the truth.

If we don’t, is it because we don’t believe that God will answer? He promises that we’ll find Him if we seek Him with all our hearts. Or don’t we believe that the truth can stand up to the scrutiny of man’s understanding? It always can, but we’ll never know that if we don’t seek to understand. God is the only source of understanding, and our questions must be taken to Him. Or do we trust man’s wisdom and the observation of our limited senses more than we trust the all-knowing God?

Crises often present us with a challenge to choose to believe God or man’s wisdom (whether that be one’s own, or a revered wise man or scientist). God is up to the challenge! Present Him with the dilemma!

What kind of friend torments a profoundly suffering person, crushing him with words? These men were firm in their convictions that they were being faithful friends to point out Job’s obvious wickedness to him, presumably with the end that he would repent and be saved from the ultimate fate of the wicked. But these friends were wrong – incorrect in their assumptions about Job’s wickedness, incorrect in their assessment of God’s ways, and morally wrong to presume to make such assessments and to beat suffering, blameless Job over the head in judgment. We need to be careful we don’t do the same with people in the name of friendship. These men truly didn’t care for Job, to respond as they did – they descended like carrion birds to lord it over Job in his fallen state, to enjoy their position of superiority over such a man of prominence.

Zophar was angry in his self-righteousness. Again, his anger shows that he didn’t care about Job. He now responds in anger, when he supposedly is there to offer consolation to a suffering man. Then he blathers on and on self-righteously, burying Job even deeper than he already is, as if he wishes upon Job the dark catastrophes about which he speaks. Job’s response is correct. How often do you see the prosperous wicked cut down to utter despair in this life? Not often. That justice is not a given in this life. Zophar is nattering words that sound correct, but in fact are not. We must be careful that we don’t offer the same. For because of such behavior, Christians have alienated enough people, that now Christians are perceived as intolerant, and no one wants to listen to a Christian.

How can I possibly know that God has allowed this catastrophe or that tragedy because He is judging sin? The truth is, we may be as far off the mark as Job’s friends were in making such assessments. That’s why we are instructed to “let our speech be full of grace, seasoned with salt.”

Job says that God has wronged him. He is incorrect in his understanding of the situation also. The difference is that he does not set himself up in the place of God. He speaks with the humility of one bowing in submission to sovereign God, who knows who his Redeemer is. This is the example we are given of the attitude we must take when questioning God. When we assert our innocence, can we do so with the prospect before us of standing before God?

But his situation is not the end of the story. He longs for his words to be recorded, and look how long they have been preserved – and how many people they have helped over the years.

Job’s friends grow bolder in their assertions that Job’s wickedness is the cause of his suffering. Eliphaz accuses Job of lacking reverence for God and turning away from God in his refusal to acknowledge the guilt that has obviously brought him to this point. Again, we know that Job’s friends have it all wrong.

Eliphaz thinks they have been gentle with Job in offering the “consolations of God,” but consider how such counsel would understandably add to Job’s suffering. He is confused himself as to what has been the cause of his suffering, because his conscience is clean. Job feels like “they have slapped (him) on the cheek with contempt” and ganged up on him (verse 16:10).

They err in refusing to accept the fact that God’s ways are higher than their ways, and His thoughts than their thoughts (Isaiah 55:9),  believing that they have the cause of suffering figured out completely. Their increasing boldness is perhaps due to the fact that they have found strength in numbers.

Their behavior needs to serve as a warning for us. Do we swoop in with a killer instinct when someone we know is suffering? Are we quick to accuse because we think, in the luxury of our non-suffering ease, that we know what God’s thoughts are in this matter? Do we feel strengthened in our position because of others’ backing, and so strengthen our attack? We must keep in mind that suffering is doubtless coming our way, or if it doesn’t, we should be concerned, for God accomplishes much through suffering. James says that trials work patience in us, which ultimately leads to greater perseverance. If this is how God grows us, we should be prepared for suffering ourselves. Hopefully this common human condition gives us compassion towards a suffering fellow human being. There is nothing like suffering to make us more compassionate toward the suffering of others.

Eliphaz accuses Job of lacking reverence for God, when in fact it is Eliphaz and his companions who lack reverence for God. For God has already called Job blameless – twice -, and Eliphaz has the audacity to speak for God, sure that he has God’s way in this matter figured out. This is another lesson for us. Jesus taught that before we judge another for his minor fault, we must first address our own greater faults. Fallen human nature is quick to condemn in others the very behavior with which one struggles himself, and slow to see his own fault. When I find myself judging others, I should use that as an occasion to examine myself. Help us, O God!

Again, Job is crying out for justice and longing to confront God about his confusion over why this is happening to him. Can you relate to his pain? It is adding tension to the plot of the story. His many words about his misery should help us to understand that he is utterly miserable, and to long for satisfying resolution for him. The erroneous wind of his friends and their smugness in their utter confidence of their assessment of the situation should frustrate us and make us long for justice for Job.

One week down! If you can keep up the reading for five more weeks, you’ll have established a habit of daily Bible reading. But let’s take it week by week, and focus on starting off week two strongly tomorrow.

Zophar also expresses disbelief that Job is blameless, implying that since Job is suffering such calamity, it must be God’s judgment for his wrongdoing. He tells him that if he would only seek God and repent of his sin and forsake it, his fortunes would turn. He is setting himself up in the place of God! Job’s friends are a warning for us as we respond to hurting people in our spheres of influence.

Note Job’s sarcastic response in verses 12:1-3; and he again slams the wisdom and comfort of his friends in verses 13:1-5.

A popular quote from Job is found in verse 13:15. This is popular because it displays Job’s lovely character in the midst of suffering. He bows to God’s sovereignty, rather than trying to manipulate God or shake a fist in His face. Submission to God, as demonstrated by this blameless and upright man, doesn’t mean we can’t and shouldn’t bring our questions to Him. Can’t we trust God with our questions? However, confronting God having already drawn the conclusion that if He doesn’t grant my heart’s desire then I refuse to believe that He is God, is not the model of questioning given to us in Job.

Have circumstances ever caused you to question that God is who He says He is? When innocent people suffer unjustly, how can man not doubt God’s justice? When evil befalls us, how can we continue to believe that God is good? Or is it that He is in fact just and good, but the problem is caused by the fact that He’s not as powerful as He claims to be? I once asked God to clarify for me such questions, and He did in such a way that my confidence in His goodness and power has never again been shaken. Only He can provide answers that can withstand the fire of hard trials. We need to follow the example given us and ask the questions that burn in our minds, keeping in mind that God is sovereign God Almighty. He doesn’t have to answer; He doesn’t owe us anything, and certainly not an explanation. However, if we are truly seeking Him, rather than seeking our own prosperity; seeking to know Him rather than seeking to vent our anger and frustration upon Him or seeking to manipulate Him as if He were the creature and we were God, He may enlighten us. Then we will be truly enlightened. If we don’t ask, we probably won’t understand. Then Satan is left with the opportunity to move in on us like he did on Eve, and we have left ourselves vulnerable to his attacks.

Job asked. By the end of the book, God answered. In the meantime, there are a lot more words. Another lesson of Job might be that we should speak fewer words, thus minimizing our opportunity to embarrass ourselves.