Job - Pt. 6

 

[Job said] “Let me have silence, and I will speak, and let come on me what may. Why should I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hand? Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face. This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him. Keep listening to my words, and let my declaration be in your ears.” (Job 13:13-17 ESV).

 

Just WOW! So far as we have barely scratched the surface of Job’s pain, we see no end in sight for this man who has been declared the most righteous man on earth. He has done nothing to deserve what he has received; the pain is excruciating; and, he continues to suffer. The question now becomes, “When God allows tremendous and seemingly inexplicable pain, what does he expect from us?” If we can find no explanation of our pain in relation to our sins or God’s good desire to grow us into maturity, what does God want us to do?

 

The answer in the book of Job is surprisingly simple. Satan predicted that Job would curse God when he lost everything (cf. Job 1:11). He declared that Job would give up on God, cut off his relationship with him and demean God as unworthy of any love or worship. In fact, Job did the opposite and blessed God when God seemed to be cursing him (cf. Job 1:21). It is my belief that both with Job and every believer, the Lord has no other requirement. It is true that the Lord will confront some of the foolish things Job has said in the dialogues (cf. Job 38:3), God never rebukes Job for any sin.

 

This is the conundrum in our third question. Remember, the first two: “Who?” and “Why?” These are plainly answered in Scripture. However, this third question is “When will it get better?” When will the pain cease? After all, when all seems lost, when the pain is so great, when will it end? The Scripture does tell us the ultimate end of our suffering will be at death. Then we receive our entrance into the presence of God in a way that will be plain and evident. But, what about until then!

 

We are told in this incredible account of this Old Testament hero of the faith that we are to hold on to our relationship with the Lord and not give up on him. Like Job, we may say some very foolish things about God in our pain. Like Job, these careless words will cause us intense pain when God restores us, as they did for Job (cf. Job 42:6). But God’s response to this foolish speech is extraordinarily gentle. We should not miss the truth that God does tell Job to prepare himself for the encounter (cf. Job 38:3). This is an extremely gracious way to respond to someone who has said just about everything negative one can say without cursing God. The real strength comes not from knowing more; it comes from knowing the Lord who knows all and oversees all to our good.