Job 22:1-29:25

Good morning, all:

Sorry about the delay in posting... yesterday was another busy day, and since I find these posts take me about an hour to write, I have to make sure I have ample time to offer my thoughts for the day. So, with my reading generally caught up for the moment, I thought I would take some time while in the quiet of the library to offer my throughts. So, here we go.

1) Eliphaz "the Impatient" Teminite speaks again to Job saying, in essence, "Listen Job, don't get all high and mighty on us. Admit to the fact that you've clearly sinned in your life because you, a rich man, haven't helped the needy. Now that's why God has struck you with these terrible problems. Don't act like you don't deserve it. And besides, you keep criticizing the God who still blesses you - don't you know that's exactly what led to the ruin of other evil persons."

Then he continues by saying that, "Job, why not just make peace with God and you will receive blessing upon blessing. He will hear your prayers and your life will be merry sunshine all the time." Sadly, so many people think God works this way, but he doesn't. God is not some cosmic vending-machine who simply gives us what we want so long as we put in the right change. That would make God manipulatable by us, and it would also leave no room for His grace and His love, because it makes our salvation basically up to us.

2) Job doesn't seem to acknowledge Eliphaz; he just states again that he wants the chance to argue this with God. Interestingly enough, Job says in vv. 8-9, "But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him." Compare that with Psalm 139:7-8, "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there." Clearly, Job's are the words of one who struggles to find God's presence; yet the words of the Psalmist reflect the reality that we cannot escape from God. Even in the darkest moments of our lives, when God seems absent, He is with us. He may be silent, but he is with us. Why that is, we do not know.

3) Job also states that "When God has tried me, I will come forth as gold." Although he is angry with God, and He feels God is being a tad tyrannical (see v. 13), Job seems to indicate a hope that when he emerges from this time of suffering, he will indeed be "refined" as fire through gold - which would seem to indicate that through the fire of these torments, God will transform his life. In the midst of our suffering, this can indeed be our only hope. Job is also afraid of God. He fears God's power. But that doesn't stop him from launching his accusation against what he sees as God's injustice.

4) Job then asks why the unrighteous are not judged by God. They go around harming others and committing all sorts of evil and shameless acts, and yet their judgment never comes. Why does God delay this judgment? God alone knows. But Job rests assured that the grave gets them in the end, and they are forgotten. And God sees what they do, and he drags them away from their power, leaving them with no assurance for life.

5) Then Bildad reasserts that God is the one who ordains order in the world, and the one who set the forces into motion. God is, essentially, the plumb line by which all standards are both measured and set. Thus, how can man be pure before God if they are but maggots before him? Seems to me Bildad had an understanding of the "Total Depravity" of man - that is, that humans are not good by nature, but fundamentally bad. Good Calvinist,he was.

6) Job gets a tad sarcastic and cynical, saying in essence, "Oh, that's so helpful for people like me in anguish. THANK YOU for your excellent message of hope!" Then he says, "God has wronged me - He has denied me justice. I don't care if that's the way it is. I will not submit to your estimation of the way things are - I am not a horrid sinner, I've done everything God wants me to do, [and to quote Ned Flanders from the Simpsons for comedic relief] 'including the stuff that contradicts the other stuff.' I've done everything right! And I will continue to be righteous and never open my mouth in sinfulness agaisnt God." Then job goes on to describe the fate of the wicked and the lament of the vanity of human existence. He says, "How I long for the days when God blessed me and my hand. Oh for those days when in my power, I helped the poor and the fatherless. I wish I could go back in time.

Well, that's all for today. We continue to struggle with Job. Maybe I'll add a little more insight later when I have some more time. Have a blessed day!

In Christ,
Pastor Nathan