Beloved, I am pleased to share with you today the above theme from Job 12:1-2 and following. Indeed, the common places that Tsophar has just stated as if Job were inferior to him in knowledge have only humiliated and offended him. Not only was he not the object of the mercy he was entitled to expect from his friends (Jb 6:14), but he finds that he has become their laughing stock! (v. 4 ; Jb 17.1-2; Jb 21.1-6; Jb 30.1; Ps. 35.15-16). How can we fail to mention the nods of those who passed before the crucified “Perfect Just” and mocked: “He has put his trust in God, may he deliver him now if he cares for him” (Mat 27:41-43)? In other words: If God does not deliver him, it is proof that he has earned his wrath. (In short, this is how Job’s friends reason about him.) “We have judged him punished, struck by God and humiliated” – the repentant Jewish people will say when they return to Jesus their Savior (Isaiah 53:4-5). Yes, Christ, precisely because he was the righteous perfect, knew and felt more than anyone, the bitterness of unjust accusations. But his trust in his God and his complete submission have not been shaken (Ps. 56.6-12).
What a contrast with Job who could not bear either the mockery or the false accusations and who for three chapters (12 to 14) will be the advocate of “his just cause” (Jb 13:17-19). Now to this question, quite confusing at first glance when we consider what suffering there is in creation, how the waves of life seem to beat and break from age to age on the rocks of death, the answer in its first step is that God and nature cannot be in conflict. They are not separate; there is only one universe, therefore one Cause. There is an Almighty whose will is fulfilled, whose character is shown in everything we see and everything we cannot see, the outcomes of endless conflicts, the long results of perpetual evolution.
But then comes the question, what is his character, from what spirit is he the one who reigns alone, who sends after the calm the fierce storm, after the beauty of life the corruption of death? And it can be said that the struggle between biblical religion and modern science is situated on this very ground: Cold and heartless power, some say; no Father, but an impersonal Will to which men are nothing, human joy and love, nothing to which the beautiful flower is no more than the clod, and holy prayer no better than vile sneering. On this, faith arises in struggle: Warm and hopeful faith takes reason in advice, probes the sources of existence, advances in the future and predicts the end, in order to affirm and reaffirm against all negation that reigns an Almighty who loves everything, the Father of infinite mercy.
This is the arena; here the conflict is raging and will rage for many days. And to him will belong the laurels of the century which, with the Bible in one hand and the instruments of science in the other, reconcile faith with facts. “From Yourwill flow the worlds, life and nature, Your fearsome sabaoth.” Now back to Job. He considers nature; he believes in God; he stands firmly on the conviction that everything is God’s. The Hebrew faith supported this, and was not limited to retaining it, for it is the fact. But it is not surprising that providence has baffled him, since the reconciliation of “ruthless” nature and the merciful God has not even been achieved yet. Despite Christ’s revelation, many are still in darkness at a time when the light is most urgent.
Eager to believe, they nevertheless lean towards a dualism that makes God Himself appear in conflict with the order of things, upset sometimes and sometimes repentant, graceful in his designs but not always in his effects. Now the limitation of Hebrew was this, that in his idea the infinite power of God was not counterbalanced by infinite mercy, that is, by the respect of the whole work of his hands. In a stormy dash afterwards, another Job is made to attempt this barrier: At times, he is lifted up beyond and sees the great universe filled with divine care that equals power; for the moment, however, he distinguishes between merciful and ruthless intent, and attributes both to God. What does it say? God is in the deceived and in the deceiver; they are both products of nature, that is, creatures of God. It multiplies nations and destroys them. Cities arise and become populated. The great metropolis is filled with its myriads, “among which one hundred and twenty thousand who cannot discern between their right hand and their left.” The city will complete its cycle and perish. It is God.
In search of reconciliation, Job faces the facts of human existence, and he sees a confusion, the whole enigma that resides in the constitution of the world and the soul. Observe how his thought moves: The beasts, the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, all living beings everywhere, not created by themselves, without the power to shape or resist their fate, testify to the omnipotence of God. In his hand is the inferior creation; in his hand too, rising higher, is the breath of all humanity. Absolute, universal is this power, dispensing life and death as it smoulders through the ages. Men have sought to understand the ways of the Great Being: The ear tastes words as the mouth tastes meat. Is there wisdom in the elders, those who live long, as Bildad says? Yes: but with God are wisdom and strength; not only penetration, but above all power.
For He discerns and does: He demolishes, and there is no reconstruction. Man is imprisoned, locked up by misfortune, by disease. This is God’s decree, and there is no opening until He allows it. At his will, the waters are dry; at his will, they pour out in torrents on the earth. And so among men, there are currents of evil and good that run through lives, here in the liar and the cheater, there in the victim of deceit; here with advisors whose plans do not succeed; there in the judges whose sagacity turns into madness; and all these crossed currents, making life a mind-boggling labyrinth, have their beginning in the will of God, who seems to take pleasure in doing what is strange and disconcerting. For kingstake men into captivity; the bonds of captives are untied, and kings themselves are bound. What are princes and priests, who are the powerful for Him? What is the speech of the eloquent? Where is the understanding of the elderly when it spreads confusion? In the depths of the darkness of the grave, the ambitious can hide their plans; and the flow of events brings them to judgment.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
God does what He wants:
- Sufficiency, warning against
Pr 3:7 Do not be wise in your own eyes, Fear the Lord, and turn away from evil: Isa 5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their eyes, and who believe themselves to be intelligent! Rom 12:16 Have the same feelings toward one another. Do not aspire to what is high, but let yourself be attracted by what is humble. Do not be wise in your own eyes. 1 Cor 8.2 If anyone thinks he knows something, he has not yet known as he should know.
- Spiritual intelligence, general references
Dt 4:6 You will observe them and put them into practice; for this will be your wisdom and intelligence in the eyes of the peoples, who will hear of all these laws and who will say: This great nation is an absolutely wise and intelligent people! Ps 119:104 By your ordinances I become intelligent, So I hate every way of lying. Pr 13:15 A healthy reason has grace as its fruit, but the way of the treacherous is harsh. 2 Tim 2:7 Understand what I am saying, for the Lord will give you intelligence in all things.
- Contempt for saints
Jb 12:4 I am to my friends an object of mockery, when I implore god’s help; The just, the innocent, an object of mockery! Ps 119:141 I am small and despised; I do not forget your ordinances. 1 Cor 1:28 and God has chosen the vile things of the world and those that are despised, those that are not, to destroy those that are, 1 Cor 4:13 slandered, we speak with kindness; we have become like the sweeps of the world, the waste of all, until now.
- King of kings
1 Tim 6:15 that will manifest in his time the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, Rev 1:5 and on behalf of Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth! To the one who loves us, who has delivered us from our sins by his blood, Rev 17:14 They will fight against the lamb, and the lamb will defeat them, because he is the Lord of lords and the King of kings, and the called, the elect, and the faithful who are with him will also defeat them. Rev 19:16 He had on his garment and on his thigh a written name: King of kings and Lord of lords.
From all of the above, we note that in order to be true, we must not accept what seems to be true, nor speak in a medico-legal way, but affirm what we have proven in our own lives and collected in the greatest effort of Scripture and nature. For men inherit opinions as they inherited clothes, or conceive of them, as clothes of a new fashion, and from the inside of the folds they speak, not as men but as priests, which is right according to a received theory. Inthe past, a man like the author of Job turned away with contempt from the explanations made at school and sought a living word. In our time, the number of those whose fever can be rocked by a functional theory of religion and a judicious arrangement of the universe is rapidly decreasing. For allmen are also condemned to the wrath and curse of God; then the evidence of the curse is found in trouble, fear, and pain. But what about this teaching? Not all of them are in trouble and do not suffer. Those who are afflicted and disappointed are often sincere Christians. And yet, once again, in the retreat of all this, men invent schemes of goodwill and comfort, which simply have nothing to do with the facts of life, no basis in the world as we know it, no sense of the rigor of Divine love. Job finds them guilty of false speech as special litigants for God in two respects. They insist that he has offended God, but they cannot point the finger at a single sin he has committed. On the other hand, they positively affirm that God will restore prosperity if confession is made. But in this too, they play the role of lawyers without a mandate. They show great presumption by daring to engage the Almighty in a path consistent with their idea of justice. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom as I walk in your ways.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to react to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “Job accuses his friends of falsehood and claims his innocence. (Jb 13)
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.