And He Healed them all: What about Job? Part II.mp3 Podcast: Download (35.9MB)
Key Text:
Proverbs 24:12
II Peter 3:3-5
Romans 1:16-28
Job 6:1-14
Job 7:11-21
Job 9 – 10
Job 12:6-9
Job 12:24-25
Job 13:15, 21-28
Job 16:7-17
Job 19:1-6
Overview:
This is our second teaching on Job. Our first was almost more about the book itself, giving us insight into the time and setting of Job which is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY in order to understand the lessons this book is teaching.
Tonight, we began by answering a question which was posed on Sunday but was cut off by the recording ending early, though I did address it a little in the written “Overview” from Sunday.
The Question
The question was, “Why was Job being attacked? What did he do to open the door for God to allow the enemies attack?”
As I addressed on Sunday, the book offers initial clues as to “the why’s” throughout the first 3 chapters of the book. Then it leaves you hanging as to specifics – almost like a “Cliffhanger”, until the very end of the book.
This provokes the same thing in the reader as the actual events did to Job himself. It challenges your understanding of God as good.
IS He….?
This book answers that question IF you studiously read it without a preconceived bias. However, it postpones specific answers to that question until very late in the book, so as to get the reader “caught up” in the narrative – to feel the feelings Job felt. To sense the injustice that Job sensed – all the while testing your convictions of God as a good God.
I have come to see the book of Job as a sort of spiritual litmus test for our relational trust in the goodness of God.
So often our reactions are like Job’s. We only consider how events effect us and fail to consider that God is NOT unjust nor does He pervert justice. This leaves us with but one conclusion – IF there is any fault…it is mine!
This was a thought which Job never truly considered as will become apparent as we go through a small sampling of the statements and accusations Job made throughout this trial.
So in the end, will we be studious enough to study and read the book for what it actually says or will we choose the “often used” shortcut of …”Yes, God is good, BUT His understanding of goodness is different than ours.”
Now, I’ll grant you that God has a clearer picture of “good” than we do because it emanates from His character – but in all reality this answer is simply a cop-out for those who need a pressure release valve in their “quick to come to conclusions about God” approach to scripture.
IF, subverting justice is a good thing because of the results it can bring, then WE ARE ACCUSING GOD OF DOING EVIL THAT GOOD MAY COME. This is something we must diligently avoid, because it is slanderous against the very nature of God.
Paul said,
“No, indeed; let us hold God to be true, though every man should prove to be false. As it stands written, “THAT THOU MAYEST BE SHOWN TO BE JUST IN THE SENTENCE THOU PRONOUNCEST, AND GAIN THY CAUSE WHEN THOU CONTENDEST.” But if our unrighteousness sets God’s righteousness in a clearer light, what shall we say? (Is God unrighteous–I speak in our everyday language– when He inflicts punishment? No indeed; for in that case how shall He judge all mankind?) If, for instance, a falsehood of mine has made God’s truthfulness more conspicuous, redounding to His glory, why am I judged all the same as a sinner? And why should we not say–for so they wickedly misrepresent us, and so some charge us with arguing– “Let us do evil that good may come”? The condemnation of those who would so argue is just.” ~ Rom. 3:4-8
So what is our answer? Why was Job able to be besieged by these trials?
Job knew God better than most of his contemporaries. He was closer to God then most, which made him more responsible for his conclusions about God.
How do I know this? Because God said of him, that there was none like Job in all the earth. A man who fears God and shuns evil. Even a cursory glance through the scriptures reveals that those who fear the Lord are close to Him, have His character revealed to them and can enjoy a for of fellowship with Him which others do not enjoy. This was true of Peter, James and John. They were closer to the Lord by choice, and the Lord honored that choice by drawing near to them.
“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you…” ~ James 4:8
Out of all those who followed Christ, He was closer to the 120 than to the masses. Closer to the 12 than the 120. Closer to the 3 than the rest of the 12…and closer to Peter than the other two. (Peter was positioned in the place reserved for the closest friend at the table with Christ.) It was to Peter that the revelation came that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. It was Peter who jumped out of the boat. It was Peter who alone initially refused to allow Christ to stoop and wash his feet.
But this cord of intimacy cuts both ways…It was Peter, who rebuked Christ for saying He would die. It was Peter who denied Christ three times with cursing. It as Peter who had to be restored to intimacy on the shores of Tiberias.
So was the case of our friend Job. He had drawn near to God and God had drawn near to him. Never the less, Job did NOT trust God. He feared Him not only in terms of respect, but also in terms of dread. He did not believe that God would also protect that which He had blessed Job with and so lived in trembling terror and dread that he would loose it all.
“The things which I have so dreaded with trembling have come upon me” ~ Job 3:25
Job, like Israel in the exodus, knew of the loving kindness of God, yet he would not fully trust Him. In fact, he believed of God things which were both terrible and wrong.
“Shall we receive good from the hand of God and shall we not also receive from Him things which are inherently wicked and evil.” – Job 2:10
God is NOT the author NOR the distributor of evil – a fact which Job (by this time) ought to have known. Just like Israel should have known that if God wanted to kill them He’d had already done in by leaving them in Egypt. Never the less, throughout all the goodness of God and the miracles He did to deliver and protect – they refused to draw near to Him that He might draw near to them. They dreaded Him in trembling terror.
What was the result? They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years until that whole generation died.
The question is NOT why did this happen to Job. The question is, why can we see it so clearly with Israel and yet, fail to see the exact same thing with Job?
We address this much more completely in the audio, but this is sufficient for an overview of the question we addressed.
Job’s false views of God
Job repeatedly comes to wrong conclusions and also accused God of wrong throughout the book.
We know that Job was a patient man (who knows how long it took for him to begin to complain – Jewish tradition may have told James this – I do not know but James records Job as a patient man [James 5:11].
Below are but a few selected examples of Job’s wrong accusations and statements:
- 6:1-14 – Justifies himself and accuses God.
- “For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, The poison whereof my spirit drinketh up: The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.”
- 7:11-21 – Freely complains and accuses God of injustices (SEE I Jn. 4:18 & Prov. 3:19-26)
- Chapter 9 – Job claims that God has unreasonable standards.
- He fills me with bitterness (despair and hopelessness) – See Rom. 15:13
- “Even if I WERE righteous He would remove my ability to reason justice I am crushed by God without a cause, “He destroys the blameless with the wicked”…etc. [See Prov. 17:26; Gen 18:25,26; Ps. 1]
- 10:1-7 – again giving free course to his complaints against God. “Though You know I am not wicked I cannot be delivered from Your oppressive hand of judgment.”
- 10:13-22 – believed he was sinless yet received continual oppression.
- 12:6-9 – Those who provoke God are secure.
- 12:24-25 – God withholds understanding and causes men to grope about in darkness and stagger like drunken man without cause. – Psalm 107:27
- 13:15 – Believed he was trusting God – though accusing Him and insisting upon defending his own ways.
- 13:21-28 – Accusations against God’s goodness.
- 16:7-17 – Job claims God hates him and he regards Him as his enemy though his prayers are pure.
- 19:6 – 1-5 …replying to Bildad, but then claims God has wronged him.
…etc.
There are many…MANY more examples of Job’s delusions bout God, but these will suffice. The point I am making here is that what Job said was in fact wrong – it simply was not sin because it was spoken from ignorance. Which means that his sins were to assume evil of God and then justifying himself. Something which God Himself accuses Job of later in the book.
On Sunday we will begin to look at a young man named Elihu who confronts Job and encourages him to repent. To his credit, Job listens to the young man and it opens the door for God to come and cross-examine Job Himself…leading to Jobs repentance.
For more, listen to the audio.
