Job 23-24, Where is God?

Where is God? Where is God when I'm in pain? Where is God when I have questions? Where is God when the wicked oppress the needy? Where is God when the unrighteous are successful? Where is God when I need him?

If you're a person who has lived a life of faith for any time, you have found yourself asking these questions. Job asks these questions as well in Job 23-24. Again we find that doubt and struggle with our faith is not confined to those of us who are "weak" or "young" in our faith, but also to those of great character and experience who had walked with God for a long time.

In Job 22 Eliphaz told Job that he was a sinner, that he had turned from God in his heart, and if he would only repent then everything would be okay. In other words, same old, same old from Job's friends. Job is going to follow up in 23-24, lamenting his current state and refuting Eliphaz's arguments yet again. Please read along in the Bible...or here...or here.

Job 23:1-7 - Where is God? Why won't he hear me? Why can't I find him? Sometimes I throw little funny pictures or comments in here, but it just doesn't seem appropriate for this heartbreaking section of verses. Job is pouring our his heart before God. He's broken. He's searching for God. He wants to find God so he can find an answer for the suffering he's had to endure. "Today also my complaint is bitter; my hand is heavy on account of my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat," (2-3) He wants to find God and ask, "Why?". "I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me," (4-5). Job is still confident that if he could present his case before Him, that God would vindicate him as a righteous man, (6-7).

Job 23:8-17 - Job's inability to find God and his despair at God's sovereign and mysterious will. Boy, I don't think anyone can relate to this section, right? I mean no one has struggled with the hidden will and purpose of the Almighty, right? Well that's where Job is right now. "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him," (8-9). Job despairs at being unable to find God to answer his questions. He despairs at being lost in his "why" questions. I know you and I have been there too. We've found ourselves alone, in pain and in doubt, crying out for God to show himself and to care for us. We've all experienced being alone with our questions. Why does God work this way? I don't know. Job despairs at the mysterious will of God.

"But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, he does. For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind. Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me," (13-16). 

Yet throughout all of this, Job holds fast to his integrity. He knows he has not sinned against God. He knows there is no evil in his life to justify the pain and loss he has experienced, (even as his friends keep stating the opposite). "But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold," (10-12).

Job 24:1-12 - Where is God in the presence of unrighteous oppression? Job had despaired at the hiddenness of God's will in the previous chapter. (Yes, "hiddenness" is a word. Look it up). Now Job's despair has led him to cry aloud at the hiddenness of God in the face of oppression on the earth. This is also the beginning of a rebuke of Eliphaz's idea that evil men do not prosper on the earth. "Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days?" (1). In other words, why don't we see God judge sin in the world? "Some move landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them. They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow's ox for a pledge," (2-3). Not only do the wicked exist, but they ruin the lives of the poor and needy. "They thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves...They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold...From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with wrong," (4-12, selected). Job's not only asking, "Where's God for me?" but also, "Where's God for the poor and oppressed? Why are the poor oppressed by the wicked? Why doesn't God show up and help them? Why is there so much suffering and injustice in the world?"

Job's friends had confidently stated that the wicked are judged on the earth and that God swiftly punishes the guilty for their sin. Job looks at his life and the world around him and says, "That's not so." In our day all we have to do is turn on the six o'clock news to see that things are not right in the world. There is injustice, oppression, poverty, evil, and war. Evil men invade countries. Poor people are wronged. Justice is perverted. Where is God?

Job 24:13-17 - Where is God in the darkness of evil? "There are those who rebel against the light...the murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy...the eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying 'No eye will see me'...they do not know the light...for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness," (selected, self explanatory).

Job 24:18-25 - Job confronts and rejects an expected response from his friends. Job knows his friends are going to counter his arguments, so he will acknowledge it and then respond to their arguments ahead of time. This is a bit of a tricky passage. Some translations read this differently. My understanding is that the original Hebrew is a bit hard to interpret. I'm going with the ESV translation because it appears to match up with the flavor of what Job was saying in the passage. Then again, I may be wrong here. My advice to you is to read it on your own and come to your own conclusions. But since you're reading my blog, I'll give you mine. Read along in the ESV if you want to see what I'm reading.

"You say, 'Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land...Drought and heat snatch away Sheol those who have sinned," (18-19). Job expects his friends to respond with the same comments they have made previously. Now he counters in 21-25, tell his friends they are wrong. "They, (the wicked), wrong the barren, childless woman, and do no good to the widow. Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power...He gives them security, and they are supported," (22-23). Ultimately, Job sees that the good and the wicked all live and die alike, so what is the point? Then he challenges his friends to disprove him if he is wrong. "If it is not so, who will prove me a liar and show that there is nothing in what I say?" (25).

Job spends this chapters crying out at the seeming "hiddenness" of God. He not only asks, "Why God?" but also, "Where are you?" "Where are you why I cry out for help? Where are you when the wicked prosper? Where are you when there is injustice and oppression in the world? Where are you in my pain? Where are you when the wicked murder, corrupt, destroy, and mock your righteousness?" We have asked those questions too in cuddled up in our beds, alone with our tears. Job is not so fortunate to get answer in these chapters, either from God, (who will respond eventually), or from his friends, (who are morons). But it would be rude of me not to offer some Biblical perspective here.

The world is not as it should be. God did not make the world with suffering, sickness, despair, evil, corruption, and oppression. God made the world perfect, safe, pure, and whole (see Genesis 1-2). Man, from the very beginning, has rejected God, his ways, his authority, and his kind and holy instructions about life, love, righteousness, and what is good (see Genesis 3 until Revelation, which is a rather large reference, don't you think?). This is why Christians describe the world as fallen. It is not as it should be.

And God is not silent or aloof. Job asked where God was in the midst of his broken life and the broken world around him. What Job didn't know is that one day God would enter the world as a man, Jesus Christ. He would live on this earth, faithfully obeying the Father's will, and bringing the goodness of God into this fallen world. He healed the sick, touched those who were unclean and cared for the poor. He also taught the beautiful truth God's Word, instructing the simple, correcting the proud, and revealing the will of God to all. Ultimately, he was tortured and killed on a cross, convicted of crimes he had not committed. He died and rose again from the grave. Where was God? God was in Christ. He stepped into this fallen world, bore its sorrows and wickedness, and paid the price so that men might believe on him as a Savior, be forgiven of their sins before God, and restored to a relationship with their Creator.

The Lion will return. 

Finally, the world is not as it will be. One day Jesus is coming back. The world is going to be restored to as it was before the Fall. Those who are not believers in Jesus Christ will receive the appropriate judgment for their sin. The wicked will no longer oppress the needy. The poor will no longer be have no advocate for their suffering. The corrupt will no longer deceive. Evil rulers will no longer trample on the weak. There will be a king, Jesus, who will rule forever in righteousness and mercy. Job didn't know this. Maybe you didn't know this either, but now you do. How are you going to respond?

In the meantime we ask "Why?" and "Where?", but one day we won't have to.

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, or crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away," (Revelation 21:1-4).

Amen.

Job 21-22, Job, Chickens, and Arguments

Wait, I don't have what? 

Have you ever been talking to someone and they have this great idea? Everyone is going to love their idea, according to them. And then you ask a question, which seems totally obvious to you, but completely exposes some flaw in their thinking? It'd be like if I had this great idea to sell chap-stick to chickens. And I'm just so excited because the chap-stick chicken market has never been approached before and I'm just guaranteed to make millions of dollars. Everyone else has chap-stick, so why not chickens, right? But then you look at me and say, "But Travis, chickens don't have lips." To which I would be like, "Oh...right?" That's kind of what's about to happen in the next chapters of Job.

All of Job's friends have been saying that people only suffer in this life because of their sin. They've also said that the wicked never prosper in this world. Instead, God wipes them out because of their evil. Ergo, according to Job's friends, Job must have sinned or else he wouldn't be suffering because the righteous don't suffer. Well ole' Job is about to pull a "Chickens don't have lips" moment on all of his brilliant friends. As always, please read along in your Bible or genius phone application.

Job 21:1-6. I am tired of you guys and I'm tired of God not answering me. "Bear with me and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on," (3). Job is sick of his friends and their attempts to answer him. He wants to be answered by God and is impatient for his reply. "As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient? (4). Now Job is going to shift to totally destroying his friend's arguments. Batter up...

Job 21:7-16: The wicked prosper and die in peace. Why? These verses (7-16) require little interpretation, so I'm going to offer you a special T.J. Hendley modern day paraphrase. Compare this with the Bible to see if I'm on target:

"You have said the wicked are wiped out by God and the unrighteous suffer for their evil. Why then do I see wicked men live long on the earth, experience prosperity, and get to bounce their grandchildren on their knees? Why do wicked men live in safety from destruction? Why do they have success in business when they lie, cheat, and steal? Why are their children safe from danger and sickness? Why do they make successful movies or gross music videos that mock what is moral and good? Why do they get to rule over countries while their people suffer in poverty? All of this happens while they abandon God and his ways."

Job 21:17-26: Job doesn't see the wicked suffering like his friends describe. "How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them?" (17). Job says the wicked don't suffer on earth like his friends have stated. Instead of the wicked being destroyed by God they thrive on this earth. Why? "You say, 'God stores up their iniquity for their children.' Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it...For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off?" (19, 21). Job confronts the rationale of his friends who say that God brings punishment on the children of the wicked. To Job, that seems stupid. If God is going to punish the wicked, why doesn't he just punish the actual transgressor, rather than letting them die in peace and punishing their children. In verses 22-26, Job says there is no consistency in the death of the righteous or wicked. Some of them die in prosperity and health while others die in poverty and bitterness. "One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure...Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity," (23, 25). Job destroys his friend's faulty assumptions. He says the wicked are not treated in accordance with their deeds. I think you and I, as we look around in the world around us, would agree with Job. What goes around doesn't necessarily come around to the wicked. Karma doesn't play out in our world, (where good people get what's coming to them, etc). The righteous aren't always blessed and the wicked don't always suffer. Sometimes very nice chickens get made into chicken sandwiches. It's not fair, I know.

Mmmmm...Chick-fil-a Chicken Sandwiches...Where was I? Oh yes, Job.

Job 21:27-34: Job preemptively strikes down an argument of his friends. Job knows his friends are going to respond by saying, "Oh yeah. Show us a wicked man who is currently living in prosperity and wholeness. Tell us where he lives?" "For you say, 'Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?" (28). So he's going to nip that argument right in the bud. "Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity, that he is rescued in the day of wrath," (29-30). Job says, "Ask around. People everywhere know wicked people who are doing quite well." Like I said previously, wicked, immoral, and violent people sometimes live long and healthy lives. They are not immediately killed by a giant chicken for their sin. They aren't wiped out by God, as Job's friends contend. We see it all around us in the world we live in. Job says it was evident in his day as well.

So Job has just exposed a flaw in the statements of his friends' arguments. Now Eliphaz is going to respond in chapter 22.

Job 22:1-11: I'm not going to respond to your destruction of my arguments. You're a dirty rotten sinner, Job!
That about sums it up. This is a known tactic in arguing. If you can't win your position, just attack the other person's character, (this has been known to happen in politics quite often). Eliphaz is not going to answer Job's argument. He just doubles down on Job's sin. In fact he gets pretty nasty. "For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing and stripped the naked of their clothing. You have given no water to the weary to drink...You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed," (6,7, 9). Did you see an answer to Job's contentions? Me either. Maybe he'll provide one in the next section...but I don't think so.

Job 22:12-20: Your motives are corrupt, you have rejected God in your heart. Eliphaz attacks Job's motives, stating that inwardly he has turned from God. "But you say, 'What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness?...They said to God, 'Depart from us,' and 'What can the Almighty do to us?" (13, 17). Did you see any answer to Job's refutation of their arguments from the prior chapter? No? I still don't see one either.

Job 22:21-30: You should repent, Job, and all will be well, (blah, blah, blah). We've heard all of this before. Job's friends still contend that Job had sinned because suffering only comes upon the wicked, and if he would just confess and repent before God then all would be well. "Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you...If you return to the Almighty you will be built up...then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver...You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you," (21, 23, 25, 27). Never mind the fact that Job was a righteous man in whom they could find no sin. Never mind the fact Job had exposed the lie in this argument in the previous chapter. Never mind the fact the wicked sometimes prosper and are not wiped out by God or that sometimes the righteous get cancer, get defrauded, or suffer needlessly.

This is what happens when you argue with an ignorant or unthinking person. You get the same old arguments that ultimately prove nothing. Job finds himself there now. He has illustrated how the wicked don't necessarily suffer in accordance with their sin. We know this as well. His own life has illustrated how the righteous sometimes suffer without just cause or explanation. We have seen this in our world too. Job continues to seek God to answer why he has suffered so much in his life. He still hasn't heard an answer from God or anything intelligent from his friends. Job will continue to cry out "WHY?" So do we when we're in pain. We know every difficult thing in life is not necessarily equated with God's judgment, so we struggle to understand God's purpose in our pain and loss. Unfortunately we're not going to find an answer from Job's friends. Eventually God is going to answer Job's "why" questions. Stay tuned.

Job 20, Where we skip Zophar, (Yay!) and I ramble instead, (Uh oh!)

Today's pictures are dedicated to meat.

"Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said: 'Therefore my thoughts answer me, because of my haste within me. I hear censure that insults me, and out of my understanding a spirit answers me," (Job 20:1-3).

Travis' translation, "What you've said bothers me, Job. I'm about to respond to you." In the South, instead of going saying all of that we'd just say, "Baloney", or in Spanish, "Caca del Toro". Is anyone else tired of hearing the same old stuff from Job's friends? It's okay, you can admit it. I'm sick of it myself. They keep saying: "Job, God only punishes the wicked. Bad things only happen to bad people. Now listen to me as I ramble on for another 15 verses saying the same thing in different ways, yada yada yada." I know, I know. It's getting old. Can you imagine how Job feels at this point?

Have you ever watched someone on TV who is arguing some position, (whether it be related to sports, politics, etc), but all they do is keep repeating the same old talking points over and over again? It makes you want to pull your hair out, right? Unfortunately that's where Job finds himself right now and that's where we find ourselves having to listen to and read this from Job's friends over and over again.

So why do I do it? Why do I keep coming back to each chapter and, as accurately as I can, go through what is being said, even if it comes across as boring and overly redundant? For that matter, why should we struggle through hard or boring passages of the Bible? Why not just skim over it? Why don't I just summarize long portions or chapters of the book for you and tell you what it says? I seem like a smart and somewhat nice guy, right? You'd be willing to trust my thoughts on the Bible, right?

It's okay to admit that some or lots of the Bible is hard to read and quite possibly, boring. I'm not naming any names or books for you, but they might rhyme with ShLeviticus and CaNumbers. Don't even let me get started on the difficulty of a book that rhymes with BubRevelation. So why shouldn't we just read nice Christian books on Bible related topics instead of struggling through the Bible for ourselves? There are reasons I have toiled over each chapter of Job in an effort to faithfully understand and explain what is going on. They are the same reasons why you and I should take our time and energy to work through the Bible, even the boring or difficult parts.

Reason #1: Jesus. Most everybody seems to like and respect Jesus, even people who don't like Jesus' followers. So what did Jesus think about the Bible? Jesus said that every word, "every jot and tittle", of the Bible is true and cannot be broken.

"For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished," (Matthew 5:18).
"If he called them gods to whom the word of God came--and Scripture cannot be broken--" (John 10:35).

It is said that about 2/3 of the recorded words of Christ in the Gospels were either direct or indirect quotations of the Old Testament. When Jesus was staring down Satan's temptations in the desert his only answers to Satan's questions were quotations from the book of Deuteronomy, (Luke 4). When Jesus was dying on the cross he quoted Scripture. When he spoke with the Pharisees he quoted from the Bible. When he spoke to common folk he quoted the Bible. You get the idea. Jesus believed in the truthfulness of the Scriptures and they were deeply ingrained into the fabric of everything he did and every word he spoke. He knew the Bible. It was very important to him. My point is that if it's good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for you and me. As one pastor has said, "I never argue with men who rise from the dead."

Not for Jews.

Reason #2: There is no other revelation from God. The Bible is the means by which God has revealed himself, his Son, and his truth. There is no other provision from God, to man, but the Scriptures. There is no mystic who can reveal the truth of God. There is no other document given, that reveals God's truth. There is no man who has heard voices who will reveal the plan and purposes of God. God has given the Bible as a means of knowing truth, knowing Him, and knowing his salvation. God has not given Christian literature, no matter how good it may be, as a primary means of knowing Him or His will. God has not given experience or feeling as a means of knowing what is true. God has given his Word, and we are foolish to neglect it.

Reason #3: It is the Scriptures that bring about changes in your life and mine. What does God say in the Bible about the Bible? "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ." "For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a lamp to my path." "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." (Romans 10:17; Hebrews 4:12; Psalm 119:105; 2 Timothy 3:16-17).

We thank thee, O Lord, for Colonel Sanders.

What are the people of God commanded about the Word of God?
 "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus...preach the Word," (2 Timothy 4:1-2). "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth," (2 Timothy 2:15). "But this is the one to whom I will look; he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word," (Isaiah 66:2). "And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." (Deuteronomy 6:6-9).

Reason #4: We are meant to think for ourselves, not let others do the thinking and work for us. Paul praised the Bereans in Acts 17 because "they were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so," (11). You are not meant to digest what some other person teaches and simply accept it as fact. You and I are meant to examine what we hear to see if matches up with what God has said. That is why I try to explain what I think and why I think it in the book of Job. I want you to see what I'm thinking and why. I don't want you to just accept what I say. I want you to examine the Scriptures to see if these things were so.

Self explanatory.

We struggle through difficult and sometimes even boring parts of the Bible because it is THE revelation he has given about himself, his truth, and his salvation. He has given no other Word or revelation. We know what is truth because he has told us in the Scriptures. We know about his Son Jesus because we learn about it in the Scriptures. It is the tool by which we know God, grow, and are protected from evil. So even though some of Job is hard and repetitive, we must continue to struggle on and work through it. All the while we are trusting that God will use his Word to transform our hearts and minds.

So we skipped Zophar today, (Yay!). Next time we'll come back to Job in chapter 21. I thank you for allowing me a little interlude and explanation for why we struggle through these chapters. God bless.

Job 18-19, Bildad and Job, Round Two

Have you ever seen the movie Rocky? It's the story of a down on his luck boxer that finally gets a chance. He ends up fighting the heavyweight champion of the world. Rocky then goes on in Rocky IV to end the cold war after beating a nine foot tall Russian, but I digress. Today we think about Rocky II, when Rocky fought Apollo Creed for the second time, (SEGUE WARNING), just as Job is about to debate with Bildad for a second time. Yo Adrian!

In the last section Job debated Eliphaz again. Eliphaz, having exhausted all of his words and ultimately saying nothing, (he must have been a politician), now gives way to Bildad. As always, please read along in your Bible or your telephono inteligente. Ole!

Job 18:1-4 - Bildad is angry at Job for rejecting the words and wisdom of his friends, (which have been spoken with such gentleness by the way). He feels as if Job, by rejecting the wisdom of his friends, is treating them as if they were stupid, (no comment). "Why are we counted as cattle? Why are we stupid in your sight?" (3). To Bildad there are some absolute truths Job is rejecting; these truths are as certain as gravity and the rising of the sun. "Shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock be removed out of its place?" (4) So what are these absolute truths?

Job 18:5-20 - An absolute truth of life, according to Bildad. Bildad goes into a rather lengthy explanation here. Let's see if we can pick out the theme of his speech.

"Indeed the light of the wicked is put out, and the flame of his fire does not shine...Terrors frighten him on every side and chase him at his heels...He is torn from the tent in which he trusted and is brought to the king of terrors...His memory perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the street...Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, such is the place of him who knows not God," (selected verses). 

An absolute and unshakable truth of life, (according to Bildad), is that the wicked are destroyed by God and do not prosper on the earth. This is as plain as the blueness of the sky and the tastiness of a Hot Kripy Kreme doughnut. Therefore Job must accept that God is punishing him for his wickedness and just move on with life. There can simply be no other explanation for what is happening. Suffering only happens because of sin.

Does what Bildad say match up with reality as you've seen and experienced it? Do murderers always get found out and punished? Are greedy swindlers always convicted? (Consider Washington D.C. and Wall Street before answering). Are dictators and cruel oppressors quickly overthrown or killed? Does their memory perish from the earth and do they have no name in the street? (Do you remember Stalin, Ghengis Kahn, Hitler, Pol-pot, etc?). Do the wicked "have no posterity or progeny among his people"? I seem to remember Fidel Castro's brother taking over Cuba and Kim Jong Il's crazy son taking over North Korea. Was that true for slave owners all over the world who prospered for years in the slave trade? Was that true of the Catholic church during the Spanish Inquisition when they either drove out or killed hundreds of thousands of Jews and Muslims?

No. Bildad's words ring hollow. Bildad's idea that people who do evil are justly punished in this life is faulty. You know it, I know it, and Job knew it. We all experience or have witnessed injustice and corruption in this world on a daily basis. Whether it be someone taking 15 items in the 10 items or less line, (jerk), a bully messing with your children at school, or a killer getting off in court. These people don't immediately get the Bubonic plague or have their eyebrows catch on fire. The wicked sometimes prosper. Sometimes they live long and healthy lives. Suffering in one's life is not an automatic indicator of God's judgment. Neither is prosperity in this life and indicator of God's favor, by the way.

So Bildad ends his second speech without saying anything too helpful, (and we are all surprised). If this was a boxing match, he would be the equivalent of Glass Joe. Now Job responds. Cue the "Eye of a Tiger" theme music.

Job 19:1-6 - Job's rebukes his friends and God for their unjust attacks upon him. "How long will you torment me and crush me with your words?" Job is obviously tired of his friends' commentary and attacks on his integrity. He still retains that he is innocent and his sin is not the cause of his suffering. Then Job boldly states that God has wronged him by the way he has treated him. "Know then that God has wronged me and has closed his net around me," (6).

Job 19:7-12 - Job describes how God had unjustly treated him. God has not answered Job's pleas for justice. "Behold I cry out, 'Violence!' but I am not answered; I call for help, but there is no justice," (7). He then continues to list things God has done to him, as evidence of God's injustice. "He has...he has...he has...he breaks...he has...his troops...they have," (8-12). Job is listing out the ways he perceives God has wronged him. In the mind of Job's friends, God was treating Job this way as judgment for his sin. In Job's mind, God was treating him as an enemy without any just cause. Job did not think it fair for God to be treating him this way.

Side note: Do you know who are the absolute experts at fairness? Children. Children are the supposedly perfect judge and jury of all things fair. Whenever someone gets the bigger fish stick, they cry out, "THAT'S NOT FAIR!" Whenever someone gets a cookie and they don't, they cry out, "THAT'S NOT FAIR!" Whenever they have to clean their room or make their own lunch, they cry out, "THAT'S NOT FAIR!" However, children are not very good at the opposite end of the fairness spectrum. They don't consider other children in the world who don't have beds, warm meals, and loving parents to care for them. Is that fair? Children don't consider the amount of presents or desserts other children don't receive. Is that fair? Children don't consider the jobs or restrictions other children have placed on them. Is that fair? Children are experts at understanding what is "unfair" in their own lives, but aren't so good at considering how graciously and kindly they have been treated by those who love them.

What's that you ask? Do I consider how good I have it? Do I ever complain about unfairness? Did I ever act that way as a child? Do I still act that way?...I'm sorry, you don't get to ask those questions. Let's just move on.

WARNING! WARNING!

Here's my point. Job has so far complained that the incredible suffering he has endured did not match up with the righteous character of God or the integrity of Job's life. He had valid concerns. He wanted to know "why" God had treated him this way. But now Job is starting to complain about the justice of God. Personally, I don't think it's such a good decision on Job's part. It's never a good idea to argue about the justice of the sovereign, holy, righteous, perfect and eternal God. Nevertheless, when we're suffering it is hard not to doubt the fairness of God. It may seem to us that God is acting cruelly and out of touch with his character. However, if there was a warning light on Job's dashboard, it should be going off right now. He continues...

Job 19:13-22 - God has also ruined Job socially. "He has put my brothers far from me, and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me. My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me...I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer; My breath is strange to my wife...Even young children despise me." God has treated him unjustly. Men, women and children have rejected him. Where is Job's hope?

Job 19:23-29 - Job hopes in a life after death where he will see and be vindicated by God. Throughout the book, Job has been arguing for his integrity against his friends, and in some ways against God. He believed he did not deserve the suffering he was enduring. "Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!" (23). Job hoped that a record would be taken of his complaint and certainty of his integrity. (If you can't see the irony here then I just can't help you). Then he announced his trust in God's ultimate vindication of his character, even if that vindication came at the end of the world. "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God," (25-26). Did Job know about Jesus? No. Did Job have a clear understanding of the resurrection of the living and the dead? Not really. Remember, this was written around Abraham's time period, when the revelation from God was a bit limited. However, Job trusted that God would one day support and vindicate Job for the life he had lived. Job believed there was a Redeemer for him who would present the truth of his case to God and thus vindicate his righteous and faithful life.

Even if Job didn't get the answer he wanted in this life, he believed God would give it to him in the end. Even if Job was mocked and scorned by everyone around him, he believed God would make things right in the last day. Even if he was viewed as a sinner in this life, he believed God would justify him as a righteous man when he stood before God in heaven, (or his understanding of heaven, anyways). There's a point here for the rest of us. We may not grasp the purposes of God in this life, but one day we will see and understand God's plan. We may not be approved of by people around us now, but we should ultimately looking to the smile of God, the "Well done" in heaven. Life on earth is not easy and not fair, but there is God in heaven to whom we can fix our eyes and trust that one day he will make things right.

Let's close with some insights from Hebrews 11, (right side of the Bible, towards the end):
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation," (1-2). 
"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him," (6). 
"If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city," (15-16).