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Now that the beloved has come out from behind her wall and has grown out of her spiritual infancy, we would expect that it is time for her to move on down the pathway in the fullness of the indwelling life of Christ. And this would be correct.
However, before we resume our study of her progress, there is one more issue to settle. This is an issue which profoundly affects our relationship with God and which must be fully resolved before significant spiritual progress can be made.
The matter to which we are referring is most vividly depicted in the reactions of Job to the experiences which befell him. It is here that we can find answers to some profound and perplexing problems.
The book of Job is accepted as a poetic and literary work of the highest order. However, there is no reason to believe that Job was anything but a real, historical character and that the events described happened just as they are set out.
Job was a wealthy and influential man who is thought to have lived about the time of Abraham or later in an area east of the Jordan river in what would now be the country of Jordan. Despite the fact that he probably knew nothing of God’s covenant with Abraham, he was an upright and godly man who carefully observed his duties to God and to his family. The blessing of God was upon him and his family and he increased in wealth and prosperity.
In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. (Job 1:1)
The Bible tells us that in the midst of all this, Satan (the accuser of the brethren) came and stood before God along with the other angels. He had just come from "roaming through the earth and going back and forth on it." God specifically asked Satan about Job.
"Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." (Job 1:8)
But Satan, always quick to find weaknesses in our character and to bring accusations against God’s people, immediately found a legal loophole in this argument.
"Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."
The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger." (Job 1:9-12)
We are reminded of a similar situation just prior to the Crucifixion when Peter was also put to the test.
"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." (Luke 22:31-32)
In both of these instances, Satan was attempting to destroy the relationship that was developing between these men and their Creator. This relationship is at the very core of God’s eternal purpose in creation and redemption and these narratives provide us with some vivid insights into this ongoing struggle at its highest level.
Calamity and tragedy now started to descend upon Job and his nearest and dearest. Firstly his oxen and donkeys, which represented a large part of his wealth, were carried off by Sabean marauders. Secondly, Job received news that lightning had struck and started fires which destroyed his flocks of sheep along with the servants that were looking after them. Then the Chaldeans raided his camel herds, drove them off and put his servants to the sword. Virtually all of Job’s wealth, accumulated over many years, was now gone. (Job 1:13-17)
The greatest of all blows fell, however, when a servant arrived to inform Job that while his seven sons and three daughters were feasting together a great storm had blown up and the house in which they were gathered collapsed, killing them all. (Job 1:18-19)
All of this news reached him within a period of about one hour and, quite understandably, Job was deeply upset and distraught at these unexpected and tragic events.
At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:
"Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."
In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. (Job 1:20-22)
As if all of this was not enough, Satan appeared before God again still not satisfied that Job’s integrity could not be breached.
Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason."
"Skin for skin!" Satan replied. "A man will give all he has for his own life. But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face."
The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life." (Job 2:3-6)
Satan now afflicted Job with painful sores or boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. The sores were festering and covered his body with unsightly scabs (Job 7:5), which peeled and became black (Job 30:28-29), presenting a revolting sight (Job 2:12) causing his friends to turn away from him.(Job 19:19). His symptoms also included bad breath (Job 19:17), excessive loss of weight (Job 17:7; 19:20), a fever (Job 30:30) and continuous pain (Job 30:17). To cap it all, he suffered from nightmares (Job 7:14).
Satan, who was desperately trying to make Job "curse God to his face," used his wife to goad him into doing just that.
His wife said to him, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!"
He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. (Job 2:9-10)
The news of Job’s misfortune and affliction spread far and wide. Three of his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar arranged to meet and go together to sympathise with him and to comfort him. A younger man by the name of Elihu was also in attendance, although he is not mentioned until Chapter 32.
When they arrived, the sight of Job in his humiliation and affliction so shocked them that they sat there in silence for seven days and seven nights.
When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognise him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was. (Job 2:12-13)
Then Job let his distress pour from his soul, and he cursed the day that he was born (Job 3).
That night - may thick darkness seize it; may it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months. (Job 3:6)
At this, Job’s friends start their long and, sometimes, convoluted analysis of the problem in their attempts to bring some comfort. They were long-winded, obscure and, in the end, provided no answers. Although expressing sometimes profound spiritual truth, much of it was not relevant to the real-life situation at hand and completely failed to impinge upon the need of the unfortunate man before them. They gave every appearance of being the theologians of their day.
However, when it was all boiled down, they were telling Job, quite simply, that the extreme nature of the calamities which had befallen him must reflect the enormity of his supposed sin. Their problem was that they could not identify any such sin. Some examples of this follow.
Eliphaz:
"Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?
As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it." (Job 4:7-8)
Bildad:
"How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind.
Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.
But if you will look to God and plead with the Almighty,
if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place." (Job 8:2-6)
Zophar:
"Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him,
if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,
then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear." (Job 11:13-15)
Job was both perplexed and angry at these attacks upon his integrity. He could see no justification for them accusing him of sin, particularly as they talked in generalities and were not able to make any specific accusations. He saw them taking a "holier than thou" attitude and that rankled with him. He also protests his innocence.
"A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow
when darkened by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow,
but that cease to flow in the dry season, and in the heat vanish from their channels." (Job 6:14-17)
"Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid." (Job 6:21)
"But now be so kind as to look at me. Would I lie to your face?
Relent, do not be unjust; reconsider, for my integrity is at stake.
Is there any wickedness on my lips? Can my mouth not discern malice?" (Job 6:28-30)
"I will say to God: Do not condemn me,
but tell me what charges you have against me." (Job 10:2)
"Doubtless you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!
But I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know all these things?" (Job 12:2-3)
"Now that I have prepared my case, I know I will be vindicated.
Can anyone bring charges against me? If so, I will be silent and die." (Job 13:18-19)
The three friends are somewhat stung and shaken at Job’s vehement defense of his own righteousness and their own inability to make any impression. They appeared to be way out of their depth. Perhaps Job put his finger on it when he said, "You see something dreadful and are afraid." Their reaction was to become more aggressive, finding more barbed words and accusations to convince Job that he must have done something wrong, whatever it was.
"But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God.
Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty.
Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you." (Job 15:4-6)
Job’s reaction was more frustration and anger after further expressions of his innocence.
"I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all!
Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing? (Job 16:2-3)
"But come on, all of you, try again! I will not find a wise man among you." (Job 17:10)
"How long will you torment me and crush me with words?
Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me.
If it is true that I have gone astray, my error remains my concern alone.
If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my humiliation against me,
then know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me. (Job 19:2-6)
"So how can you console me with your nonsense?
Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!" (Job 21:34)
As a last resort, these friends started hurling a litany of sins at him hoping that some would stick and that they would thus be justified in what they had said.
"Is it for your piety that he rebukes you and brings charges against you?
Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?
You demanded security from your brothers for no reason; you stripped men of their clothing, leaving them naked.
You gave no water to the weary and you withheld food from the hungry,
though you were a powerful man, owning land - an honoured man, living on it.
And you sent widows away empty-handed and broke the strength of the fatherless.
That is why snares are all around you, why sudden peril terrifies you,
why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you. (Job 22:4-11)
But Job had done none of these things, and their words gave him no light, no direction and certainly no comfort. In Chapter 31 he roundly protests his innocence of all the charges they had directed at him. Finally they gave up because they had failed to convince Job by any of their arguments that his misfortune is a result of his sin.
So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. (Job 32:1)
Throughout this discourse Job had vehemently protested his innocence of any sin that would justify the enormity of the misfortunes that had befallen him. In this he was correct and the Lord himself had attested to that fact (Job 1:8). However Job went on to claim that, because he was “blameless and upright,” God was dealing with him unjustly, summing it up by saying:
"...then know that God has wronged me..." (Job 19:6)
In this Job was wrong. His three “comforters” argued that it must have been grievous sin that had caused such calamities to fall upon him. In this they also were wrong in that they had no more understanding of the battle that was being waged in the eternal courts of justice than did Job (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7).
It took the wisdom and insight of the younger man Elihu to cut through these arguments and see what was taking place within Job’s heart. He saw that Job’s only real sin had been that he was challenging the justice of God.
Up to this time Elihu had been silent in deference to those who were older than himself. Now he could contain himself no longer.
But Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet had condemned him. (Job 32:2-3)
Elihu started by roundly condemning those who offered their advice but really had no comprehension of the issues that were at stake. The fact was that they didn’t understand the ways of God in this situation and tried to cover for themselves by bringing Job into an unresolvable position of condemnation. In other words they tried to make him feel guilty without giving any substance to their allegations and thus giving him no way out of the dilemma.
If this seems all too familiar, it is no accident. Mankind is very prone to feelings of guilt and unworthiness and the unscrupulous among us mercilessly use this to their own advantage.
But Elihu’s main address was to Job himself and in this he was able to expose the attitude of Job’s heart that needed to be addressed. His argument was simply that God’s ways are above our ways and his thoughts and purposes far beyond our comprehension. All the efforts of mankind to understand the physical universe in which we live and the wonders of nature we see all around us have barely scratched the surface. If we can’t understand these things how can we possibly understand the ways of God’s justice and love? How can we then look at the events that have shaped our lives and condemn him for things that we do not understand?
Job, in this time of great pressure and tragedy, had been confronted with the question, “Why is this happening to me?” His response was to say, “There is nothing wrong with me, I am upright and righteous.” His conclusion was, if that were the case then God was dealing with him unjustly. “God has wronged me.”
Thus by justifying himself he was condemning God as unrighteous and the judgements of God as unsafe. In this he had sinned. The three friends had missed this because it had in no way caused the calamities which had come his way. Rather it had been drawn from deep within him as the result of that misfortune.
One of the most powerful forces within the human heart is the urge to justify ourselves. The more guilt and condemnation that is directed at us, the stronger this need becomes. When misfortune or tragedy, great or small, strikes we are confronted, like Job, with the question, “Why is this happening to me.” Consciously or unconsciously we make our response to that question.
In our urge to deflect guilt or blame from ourselves, our natural tendency is to blame God. “God has wronged me.” It can’t be me, therefore God must be at fault in allowing this to happen to me. This may be from our conscious or our sub-conscious or both. Either way it poisons our relationship with God and brings our spiritual progress to a halt. Outwardly we may be going through the motions, but inwardly we are holding deep resentment towards God.
This can only be resolved when, having considered everything that has happened in our lives, the bad as well as the good, we can look up into the face of God and say from the very depths of our soul and with all our strength; “You have dealt with me in perfect justice and love.” It is only when our heart can make this declaration of faith, that we find release and a way forward in our spiritual journey.
All this came like the dawning of a new day into Job’s consciousness. He suddenly saw what had been hidden in his heart and he acknowledged that it was sin.
The LORD said to Job:
"Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!"
Then Job answered the LORD:
"I am unworthy - how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth.
I spoke once, but I have no answer - twice, but I will say no more."
Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm:
"Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.
"Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?" (Job 40:1-8)
Finally, Job bows in repentance before God.
"My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:5-6)
The root of resentment and bitterness had now been wrenched forever from his innermost being. He was a free man.
With this matter resolved and the relationship now restored, God moved to return this godly man to the place of blessing and prosperity that was rightfully his. Firstly God had Job pray for his three friends to ensure that there was not a shred of resentment left in Job’s heart against these "comforters" who had contributed so much to his misery. (Job 42:7-9)
Then Job’s friendships were restored, his wealth doubled, he had another seven sons and three daughters and he lived for another 140 prosperous and happy years. (Job 42:10-17)
We may be tempted to ask why these horrendous tragedies had to befall Job in order to bring these truths to our attention? Surely there was a more painless way in which we could be taught these lessons.
But this is the way God works. When he wants to reveal himself to mankind, he chooses a man or a woman and puts them through experiences which are somewhat larger than life.
Abraham was called "the father of us all" (Rom. 4:16), being the pioneer of the walk of faith to which we are all called. God promised him a son, but it was not given to him until he was almost one hundred years old and his wife was past child-bearing age. He waited decades for this promise to be fulfilled and then only received it when it was no longer a natural possibility. By this he taught the world that it is by "faith and patience" that we inherit the promises of God.
Moses spent forty years of humiliation in the desert tending his father-in-law’s sheep. Noah spent 120 years building an ark and preaching to an uncomprehending world. Esther risked everything to save the Jewish nation in exile. Daniel was thrown into a den of lions. Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego were cast into a fiery furnace and came out unscathed. David confronted Goliath and slew him with a single stone from his sling. And so the list goes on.
What was happening was that these men and women were being used to forge paths along which others would walk. They were the pioneers hacking their way through the spiritual jungle of this world so that the generations yet to come could find a way through.
Thus it was with Job. What he endured was more extreme than is the lot of most of us. But through it he has left a trail for us to follow, truth which we can comprehend and a legacy of faith in God which will be honoured for all eternity.
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