Beloved, I am pleased to share with you today the above theme from Job 23:1-2 and following. Indeed, Job is already in his eighth speech, and the gap is widening ever between him and his companions. The latter, like many people today, see in God a sovereign Creator, too great to condescend to deal in detail with their circumstances and to take into account their feelings (Jb 22:1-14). Job has more knowledge. He knows that God is interested in him – even more than He would like (Jb 7:17-21) – but he believes him to be inaccessible. “Oh! if I knew how to find him,” he exclaims. Does each of us know where to find God? He has drawn near to us in Jesus, so that we can in turn freely draw near to Him through prayer and have access where Christ sits, at the right hand of God (Jb 23:3; Hb 4.14-16).
For Job 23:10 recalls the purpose of the trial: “I will come out [pure] as gold,” Job says. Although he still lacks the feeling of grace that operates for his good, our Patriarch agrees with the Apostle Peter. You are – writes this one – afflicted for a little time, if necessary, “so that the testing of your faith, much more precious than that of the gold that perishes … happens to be a subject of praise and glory and honor in the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 P 1:3-9). Job replies: “Even today my complaint is bitter, the hand that dwells on me is heavier than my groan! Oh! if I knew how to find Him, and get to where He sits!” Is this the language or feelings of someone who is aware of being guilty of iniquity before God? We never hear such words coming out of the mouths of Eliphaz or her friends. I do not deny their faith, but I only note that their spiritual state was not comparable to that of Job, despite all his bitter complaints. “I would present my just cause before him, and I would fill my mouth with arguments. I would know what words he would answer me, and I would understand what he would say to me. Would he challenge with me in the greatness of his strength? Job knew God enough to speak like this. “No, but he would pay attention to me. There, a righteous man would reason with him, and I would be delivered forever from my judge.”
Job’s friends show a spirit of judgment from one end to the other, and such dispositions are always unfortunate. There may be a measure of truth in what is said, but a judicial spirit can never save a soul from death and harms above all those who indulge in it; it is not suitable for a saint in a world such as ours. But these were the dispositions of Job’s friends. They did not know God as he did. “Behold, I’m going forward, but he’s not there.” That was the cause of his sentence. He could not enjoy God, for he did not yet have within his reach the key to his distress. He desired God and was unhappy, because in reality he was at a distance from Him, all his trials intervening like a cloud to obscure the feeling of His goodness in his soul. “He tests me, I will come out like gold.” He did not know how it could be for the glory of God or his own blessing that he was so tested, but he had the perfect assurance that hypocrisy was the last thing he could be justly accused of.
The obscure verse with which Job begins seems to imply a reference to his entire physical and mental condition. “Even today, my complaint, my rebellion! The hand on me is heavier than my moans.” I have to talk about my sorrow and you will count it as rebellion. Yet, if I moan and sigh, my pain and weariness are more than an excuse. The crisis of faith is with him, a prolonged misery, and hope trembles in the balance. Eliphaz’s false accusations are in his mind; but they only provoke a feeling of weary discontent. What men say does not bother him much. He is troubled because of what God refuses to do or say.
Indeed, there are many afflictions of the righteous. But every case like his obscures God’s providence. Job does not entirely deny his friends’ claim that unless suffering is a punishment for sin, there is no reason for it. Therefore, even if he maintains with a strong conviction that the good are often poor and afflicted while the bad ones prosper, he does not clarify the issue. He must confess to himself that he is condemned by the events of life. And against the testimony of external circumstances, he appealed to the king’s courtroom. Has the Most High forgotten to be righteous for a while? When the generous and the true are put in a difficult situation, does the great Friend of truth neglect his task as governor of the world? It would indeed plunge life into deep darkness. And it seems that it is the same. Job seeks deliverance from this mystery that emerged from his own experience. He would submit his cause to the One who alone can explain.
Present in Job’s mind here is the thought that he is under condemnation, and with it the conviction that his trial is not over. It is natural that his mind oscillates between these ideas, holding firmly to the hope that the judgment, if it is already rendered, will be revised while the facts are fully known. Now this course of thought is quite in the dark. But what are Job’s unknown principles, out of ignorance of which he must long for doubt? In part, as we saw long ago, the explanation lies in the use of trial and affliction as a means of deepening the spiritual life. They give gravity and therefore the possibility of power to our existence. Even though, Job had not realized that one always kept the path of the primrose, spared by the vivid air of “misfortune” although he had, at first, a pious disposition and an irreproachable record, would be worth little: the end to God or to humanity. And the necessity of the discipline of affliction and disappointment, just as it explains the smallest troubles, also explains the greater ones.
Let evil pile up on evil, disaster on disaster, disease on mourning, misery on sorrow, while step by step life descends into deeper circles of sadness and pain, it can acquire, it will obtain, if faith and faithfulness to God remain, massivity, strength and dignity for the highest spiritual service. But there is another principle, not yet considered, that enters the problem and sheds even more light on the valley of experience that seemed so dark to Job. The poem touches again and again on the margins of this principle, but never states it. The author says that men were born for trouble. He made Job suffer more because he had to maintain his integrity than if he had been guilty of transgressions by acknowledging that he could have appeased his friends: The burden weighed heavily on Job because he was a conscientious man, a real man, and could not accept any pretending to be religious.
But where another step would have led him to the light of blessed acquiescence to God’s will, the power failed, he could not move forward. Perhaps the authenticity and simplicity of his character would have been altered if he had thought about it and we like him better because he didn’t. The truth, however, is that Job suffered for others, that he was, by the grace of God, a martyr, and until now in the spirit and position of that suffering servant of Jehovah whom we read about in isaiah’s prophecies. The suffering righteous, the martyrs, what are they? Always at the forefront of humanity. Where they go and where the footprints of their bloodied feet are left, there is the path of progress, civilization, religion. The most successful man, preacher, journalist or statesman, is usually supposed to lead the world on the right path. Butwhere the crowd goes and yells at him, isn’t that how we go? Don’t think so.
Look for a teacher, a journalist, a statesman who is not as successful as he could be, because he will be, at all costs, true. The Christian world does not yet know the best of life, thought and morals for the better. He who sacrifices his position and esteem to justice, the one who does not prostrate himself before the great idol tothe sound of hisskull and psalterion, observes where this man is going, tries to understand what he has in mind. Those who, under defeat or neglect, remain steadfast in faith have the secrets we must know. In the ranks of the afflicted and the broken, the author of Job became an example of witness to high ideas and faith in God who brings salvation. But he worked in the shadows, and his hero is unaware of his high vocation. If Job had seen the principles of divine providence that made him an assistant of human faith, we would not now hear him cry for the opportunity to plead his cause before God. “Would he fight with me in his omnipotence? No, but He would pay attention to me. Then a righteous man would reason with him; So should I free myself forever from my judge.”
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
Job’s reply: God refuses confrontation:
- Discontent, men’s complaint to God
Jb 10.1 My soul is disgusted with life! I will give effect to my complaint, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. Jb 23:2 Even now my complaint is a revolt, but suffering stifles my sighs. Ps 55:6 Fear and terror assail me, and the thrill envelops me. Ps 77:4 I remember God, and I groan; I meditate, and my mind is dejected. -Break.
- Spiritual desire, general references
Ps 38:10 Lord! all my desires are before you, and my sighs are not hidden from you. Isa 26:9 My soul desires you during the night, and my spirit seeks you within me; For when your judgments are exercised on earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. Lk 6:21 Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be satiated! Happy you who cry now, for you will be in joy! 1 Pet 2:2 He who has not committed sin, and in whose mouth there has been no fraud;
- God invisible to the human eye
Ex 33:20 Jehovah says, Thou shalt not be able to see my face, for man cannot see me and live. Jb 23:8 But if I go to the East, he is not there; If I go to the West, I don’t find it; John 5:37 And the Father who sent me bore witness to me himself. You have never heard his voice, you have not seen his face, 1 Tim 6:16 who alone possesses immortality, who dwells in an inaccessible light, which no man has seen or can see, to whom eternal honor and power belong. Amen!
- Fidelity towards God, examples
Nb 14:24 And because my servant Caleb has been animated by another spirit, and has fully followed my path, I will bring him into the land where he went, and his descendants will possess him. 1 Kings 19:18 But I will leave in Israel seven thousand men, all those who have not bowed their knees before Baal, and whose mouths have not kissed him. 1 Cor 4:17 For this I have sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord; he will remind you of my ways in Christ, how I teach everywhere in all the churches. 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.
From all of the above, we note that Job collapses in the effort to realize the great God: “I have taken behind me, in the past. There are the footprints of Eloah when He passed. In the silence, an echo of his step is heard; but God is not there. On the right hand, beyond the hills that close on the horizon, on the left hand where the paths lead to Damascus and the far north – not there I can see its shape; nor there where the day rises in the east. And when I travel forward in the imagination, I who said that my Redeemer would stand on earth, when I strive to conceive of his form, always, in total human incapacity, I fail. “Truly, you are a God who hides you.” And yet, isn’t Job’s conviction of his own righteousness The testimony of God to his spirit? Can’t he be content with it? To have such a testimony is to have the very verdict he desires. By his divine power, he is present everywhere. The Lord and the Almighty always sit on the throne of His power. From there, he is able to see everything, and renders to everyone with justice, according to his works. That is why it is not in vain that we have hope in God, because He does not change like us. But pray to him humbly, for he is very generous and merciful. Hate and run away from evil as you can. Love the virtues and follow them. You have a great need to always do well, for you always do everything you do in the presence of the eternal and almighty God. He sees everything and he will reward everything.” For Job will not be surpassed. He stands in the dark against his three friends and the invisible adversary. But he loves integrity, virtue, first of all; and he cares for himself as a representative of what the Spirit of God gives to faithful men. So he can cry, he can defend himself, he can complain; and God will not reject it. “For he knows the path I am taking; If he put me to the test, I would come out like gold. My foot clung to his footsteps, I kept his way and did not turn it away. I have not gone back on the commandments of his lips; I cherished the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.” Courageously, it is not to boast that he speaks, and it is good to hear him still able to make such a claim. Why don’t we hold so tightly to the garment of our Divine Friend? Why don’t we realize and show the resolute piety that anticipates judgment: “If he tested me, I would come out like gold”? The psalmists of Israel thus stood on their faith; and it is certainly not in vain that Christ called us to be like our Father who is in heaven. 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 respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow, “Why doesn’t God judge the wicked? (Jb 24)
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.