Beloved, I am pleased to share with you today the above theme from Job 10:1 and following. Indeed, “Do you take pleasure in oppressing?” This is the question that, in his bitterness, Job would like to ask God (v. 3). Scripture responds with a verse that must never be forgotten in our trials: “It is not willingly that he afflicts and saddens the sons of men” (Lab 3:31-33). Especially when it comes to his children. Like Job in vs. 8-12, David in Ps 139:14-16 marvels at how he was created. And he concludes in the same way: The One who thus “shaped” me,… woven with bones and nerves, “knows me to the bottom of the soul. How could it be possible to hide anything from him? God’s light, His eyes that scrutinize sin, is what makes Job uncomfortable (Jb 13:6-10). He feels before jehovah like prey hunted by a lion (v. 16). Similarly the author of Ps. 139:1-24 first seeks shelter from God’s gaze. But in the end he comes to desire to be probed and known by him. What progress when we got to this point!
The supreme Power of the world has taken on an aspect not of irrational strength, but of determined ill will towards man. The only security seems to be to remain quiet so as not to excite against him the activity of this terrible God who hunts like a lion and revels in the wonders of wasted strength. It seems that once awakened, the Divine Enemy will not stop persecuting. We would find new witnesses, new causes of indignation; a changing crowd of unrest would follow the attack. Let us interpret the whole speech in terms of supposition, as a theory that Job throws into the total darkness that surrounds him. It does not adopt it. To imagine that he really believes in it, or that the author of the book intended to advance such a theory as even being approximately true, is quite impossible. And yet, when you think about it, maybe impossible is too strong a word. For thedoctrine of God’s sovereignty is a fundamental truth; but it was conceived and shaped in such a way as to draw many reasoners into a dream of cruelty and irresponsible force that is reminiscent of the one that haunts the spirit of Job.
Something like this was taken very seriously by men who religiously strove to explain the Bible and professed to believe in God’s love for the world. For example: the annihilation of the wicked is denied by someone for the good reason that God has a deep respect for being or existence, so that the one who once possessed the will must exist forever; but from there, the author goes on to assert that the wicked are useful to God as the material upon which His righteousness operates, that indeed they were created only for eternal punishment so that through them the righteousness of the Almighty can be clearly seen. Against this very type of theology, Job is in revolt: In the very light of his world, it was a creed of darkness. That God hates misdeeds, that all that is selfish, vindictive, cruel, impure, false, be pushed before Him, who can doubt? That, according to his decree, sin entails its punishment and brings back the wages of death, who can doubt it? But to represent the One who created us all and who had to foresee our sin, as without any responsibility for us, tearing apart the machines He made because they do not serve His purpose, although He knows even by doing them that they would not want, what a hideous lie is there; she can justify God only at the cost of non-deification.
One thing this book of Job teaches is that we must not go against our own sincere reason or our sense of justice and truth in order to reconcile facts with a pattern or theory. Teaching and thought must not affirm anything that is not entirely frank, purely just, and as we could, in the last resort, apply to ourselves. Will man be more just than God, more generous than God, more faithful than God? Rejectionof thought, and any system that maintains such a false theory and tries to impose it on the human mind! Nevertheless, let us not fall into the opposite error; hence also the frankness will preserve us. For nosincere man, attentive to the realities of the world and to the terrible ordinances of nature, cannot suspect the Universal Power of indifference to evil, of any intention whatsoever to leave the law without sanction. We do not escape at some point; God is our Father; justice is justified, and so is faith.
As the colloquia progress, one has the impression that the author of this book is struggling with this study that engages more and more the intellect of man: what is reality? How does it compare to the ideal, considered as righteousness, beauty, truth? What is his relationship with God, sovereign and holy? The opening of the book could have led directly to the theory that the real world, the present, laden with sin, disaster and death, is not of the divine order, is therefore of a devil. But the disappearance of Satan throws aside such an idea of dualism and commits the writer to find a solution, if he finds it at all, in a will, a goal, a divine event: On Job himself, the burden and effort descend into his conflict with reality as a disaster, enigma, imminent death, false judgment, established theology and schemes of explanation. The ideal escapes him, is lost between the rising wave and the descending sky.
In the entire horizon, he does not see a clear space where he can take place during the day. But it remains in his heart; and in the night sky he waits where the great constellations shine in their dazzling purity and eternal calm, silently smouldering over the world as if at an immeasurable distance far away. Even from this distance, God sends and will accomplish a purpose. Meanwhile, man stretches out his hands from the shady earth in vain to those bright lights, always so far away and cold. A place of darkness and darkness (Job 10:21). “The land of darkness and the shadow of death”, etc. A funeral veil of the darkness of midnight that always rested there. Every light that enters it is only darkness: “Light is like darkness. The view probably borrowed from the eastern burial sites, underground caves.
For the darkness of these sepulchral chambers transferred to the spirit world. The experience of the disembodied mind supposed to have an affinity with the circumstances of the body. The Sun of Justice had not yet irradiated the world from beyond the grave. The precursor in human nature had not yet entered the veil. A blessed paradise, as a house for the disembodied righteous, not yet known: The doctrine of a happy intermediate state reserved for the teaching of the One who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Perhaps the enjoyment reserved for the time when He Himself would return to glory, having completed the work of our Redemption (Luke 23:43). For itwas up to Jesus to dispel the darkness that covered the spirit world and to show beyond the tomb the hills of heavenly bliss; Lifeand immortality brought to light by Jesus Christ through the gospel (2 Tim 1:10): Jesus brought light into the dark grave and into the world beyond.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
God made me born only to destroy me:
- Discussing with God, it is foolish to
Jb 33:13 Do you want to argue with him, because he gives no account for his actions? Jb 40:2 Gird your loins like a valiant man; I will question you, and you will teach me. Isa 45:9 Woe to those who dispute with its creator! -Vase among earthen vessels! -Does clay say to the one who shapes it: What are you doing? And your work: He has no hands? Rom 9:20 O man, you rather, who are you to challenge with God? Will the clay vase say to the one who formed it: Why did you do this to me?
- Weariness
Jb 3:20 Why does he give light to the one who suffers, And life to those who have bitterness in their souls, Ec 2:17 And I hated life, for what is done under the sun displeased me, for all is vanity and the pursuit of the wind. Ec 4:1-2 I then considered all the oppressions that are committed under the sun; and behold, the oppressed are in tears, and no one who consoles them! they are subjected to the violence of their oppressors, and no one who consoles them! 2 And I have found the dead who have already died happier than the living who are still alive, Jon 4:8 At sunrise, God blew a warm wind from the east, and the sun struck Jonah’s head, to the point that it failed. He asked for death, and said: Death is better for me than life.
- Human mortality, general references
Ps 89:49 Is there a man who can live and not see death, Who can save his soul from the sojourn of the dead? Break. Ec 3:20 Everything goes in one place; everything has been made of dust, and everything returns to dust. 2 Cor 4:7 We carry this treasure in earthen vessels, so that this great power may be attributed to God, not to us. Hb 9:27 And since it is reserved for men to die only once, after which comes judgment,
- Shadow of Death
Ps 23:4 When I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me: Your leadership and your staff reassure me. Mt 4:16 This people, seated in darkness, saw a great light; And on those who were sitting in the area and the shadow of death The light rose.
From all of the above, we note that “Your care has kept my mind,” Job acknowledges. Without this care, who knows how far he would have sunk? Perhaps to the point of cursing God or taking one’s own life (Jb 2:7-10)? Let’s realize how our mind, so quickly excited or on the contrary dejected, needs to be guarded by the Lord! For Job was a rich man, but just and pious. God allowed Satan to take away his wealth, his family, and his health from the job. With his three friends, Job raises the following problem: why does a just God allow the suffering of a just and innocent being? The three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Tsophar, did not understand these ways of God. According to them, God punished Job because of some sin; these men did not see that God also uses suffering to purify and instruct believers. Desperate, Job opposes his three friends with his own righteousness and righteousness. He feels that he is being treated unfairly, but hopes that God, eventually, will receive him. Elihu then intervenes. He is the lord’s messenger and type (Job 32:8; 33:4). He explains that God uses discipline towards man in order to purify him and bring him closer to him. With his words, Elihu shines the light in the darkness and leads Job into the presence of God. When God then speaks directly to Job, He finally recognizes, “My ear had heard of you, now my eye has seen you: That is why I abhor myself, and I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5, 6). God can then bless Job again. 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 “Tsophar’s speech to Job. (Jb 11)
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.