Beloved, I am pleased to share with you today the above theme from Job 7:1 and following. Indeed, the distress of Job, crushed in his body, tortured in his soul, in front of a God whose silence fills him with fear, can help those who, like him, go through discouragement, not understanding the purpose of their trial. Like him, at the end of the book, they will only know its meaning by an act of faith. It is no longer to Eliphaz, but to the Lord that Job addresses the end of his discourse. He paints a brief picture of man’s pitiful condition on earth. Toil, sighs, disappointment, misery, agitation, bitterness, distress, disgust, vanity, are the expressions he uses, and which summarize only too well the human experience. But the key word has not yet been spoken, the one that is, whether we recognize it or not, the primary cause of man’s misfortunes. Finally Job cries out, “Have I sinned?” (v. 20). But he adds: “What have I done to you?”, as if sin were just that: a source of misery for man, while he is first and foremost an offense to God. Generally speaking, it is all this journey of thought that God strives to produce in someone that he experiences: observation of his unfortunate state, conviction of sin and confession to God. To the desperate question in vs. 17 and 18, Ps 8:1-10 provides the glorious answer by presenting Christ, the Son of Man, the last Adam (1 Cor 15:20-45).
We must not fall into the error of assuming that it is only the pain of his illness that makes Job’s misery so heavy. Rather, it is that his troubles come from God; they are “the arrows of the Almighty”. Simple suffering and loss, even to the end of death, he could have endured without a whisper. But he had thought that God was his friend. Why were these arrows suddenly thrown at him by the hand he trusted? What does the Almighty mean? The evildoer who suffers knows why he is afflicted. The martyr who endures for his conscience has his support in the truth of which he testifies, the holy cause for which he dies. Job has no explanation, no support, he cannot understand providence. The God with whom he believed himself at peace suddenly becomes an incomprehensible angry Power, destroying and destroying the life of His servant. The poisoned existence, the bed of ashes surrounded by terrors, is it not surprising that passionate words come out of his lips? A cry is the last power left to it.
The truth, however, as shown in a previous chapter, is that suffering has no proportion to the guilt of sin, but is related in the scheme of divine providence to life in this world, its movement, discipline and perfection in the individual and the race. Afflictions, pains and sorrows are assigned to the best and the worst, for all must be tested and pushed from imperfect faith and spirituality to the vigor, constancy and courage of the soul. The principle is not clearly stated in the Book of Job, but it underlies it, for the truth must underlie every genuine criticism and true image of human life. The inspiration of the poem is thus to present the facts of the human experience that only the true answer can satisfy. And in the speech we now consider, some imperfect and erroneous views are so completely swept away that their survival is almost inexplicable.
The Lord has also determined the service of our lives: All men are servants of one master or another, none of us can avoid bondage. The greatest men are only all the more servants of others. If we are now the servants of the Lord Jesus, this life is a definite time of work and learning to be accomplished. I am bound by solemn contracts to my Lord and Master until the expiration of my life term, and I am very happy to have him so. Now, a servant who has abandoned himself for a certain number of years does not have a moment that he can call his own, or any of us, if we are god’s people. We don’t have a moment, no, not a breath, nor a faculty, nor a penny that we can honestly reserve. You should expect to work hard in His service until you are ready to faint, and then His grace will renew your strength. A servant knows that his time is limited. If it’s a weekly service, he knows his engagement can be closed on Saturdays; if he is hired by the month, he knows how many days there are in a month, and he expects it to end; if he is engaged year-round, he knows the day of the year when his service will end. As for us, we do not know when our mandate will be completed.
The mercenary is waiting for his salary; it is one of the reasons for its industry. We, too, are waiting for our own – not really a debt, but a grace, but always a gracious reward. God does not employ servants without paying them wages, as many of our merchants now do. What is man? Lower than angels in the position of creature, immensely higher in privilege of Redemption. There isa life on earth consisting of a few months or years; a second in another sphere, which will last forever. He has a body that combines him with the ground on which he walks; and a spirit that connects him to the God who made it. It is un reed, but a reed that thinks. A worm, but a worm capable of measuring the distances of stars and capturing the universe. He is inthe image of his Creator as to moral nature, intelligence, immortality and domination. Through disobedience and rebellion, he is reduced below the level of the brutes. Mercifully provided, with deliverance from his condition fallen by substitute obedience and death of his incarnate Creator. – The man “magnified” by God, Job, in his confession, speaks in a petulant tone to God as the guardian and observer of his creatures: “Oh you, savior of men.”
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
Job complains about God:
- Despair, general references
Jb 17:15 Where is my hope? My hope, who can see it? Isa 49:14 Zion said, “The Lord forsakes me, the Lord forgets me!” – Jer 2:25 Do not expose yourself to barefoot, do not dry out your gosier! But you say: It’s in vain, no! Because I love foreign gods, I want to go after them. Eph 2:12 Remember that you were at that time without Christ, deprived of the right of the city in Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.
- Physical life, symbolic allusions to the brevity of the
Gen 47:9 Jacob answered Pharaoh: The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years. The days of the years of my life were few and bad, and they did not reach the days of the years of my fathers’ life during their pilgrimage. Ps 89:48 Remember what the duration of my life is, and for what nothingness you created all the sons of man. Ps 90:9 All our days disappear by your wrath; We see our years fade away like a sound. 1 Ch 29:15 We are before you strangers and inhabitants, like all our fathers; our days on earth are like shadows, and there is no hope.
- Insignificant man, apparent insignificance of man
-The tenant of a clay house Jb 4.19 How much more among those who live in clay houses, Who derive their origin from dust, And who can be crushed like a worm! Jb 7:17 What is man, that you may make so many of it, that you may deign to beware of him,
-A worm Jb 25.6 How much less man, who is only a worm, The son of man, who is only a worm!
-An atom in the natural universe Ps 8.5 What is man, so that you remember him? And the son of man, so that you may take care of him?
-A grasshopper compared to God Isa 40:22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And those who inhabit it are like grasshoppers; He extends the heavens like a light cloth, He unfolds them like a tent, to make them his home.
-However, he benefits from the continual solicitude of the Almighty Isa 41:14 Fear nothing, worm of Jacob, Weak remnant of Israel; I come to your aid, said the Lord, And the Holy One of Israel is your savior.
- God’s forgiveness, procured
Ex 32:32 Forgive their sin now! If not, delete me from your book you wrote. Ps 25:11 It is because of your name, O Lord! That you will forgive my iniquity, for it is great. Ps 51:3 O God, have mercy on me in your goodness; According to your great mercy, erase my transgressions; Dn 9:19 Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, be attentive! act and do not delay, out of love for you, O my God! For your name is invoked on your city and on your people.
From all of the above, we note that God considered it as if He carefully marked the faults of men in order to punish them. For it was Satan’s purpose to foster such views in Job in order to achieve his goal. And Job’scomplaint is in agreement with this view. “Why did you put me as a mark against you?” The supposed result of God’s careful inspection of his conduct, est as if to take revenge for the wound that was done to him. For healready considered himself to be targeted by the arrows of the Almighty (Job 6:4). He weighsaccording to meaning and appearance: God’s best saints often seem to be the target of His sharpest arrows. The effect and meaning of these arrows: “That I may be a burden to myself” or “and I have become a burden to you”, a burden to God by his sin, and a burden to himself by his suffering. When sin makes a man a burden to God, he is likely to become a burden to himself. A sinner has left to himself the greatest burden that can be imposed on him. Often suffering from a heavy burden, sin a thousand times more: “I prefer to go to hell without sin, than to heaven with him.” Cain said, my chastisement is greater than I can bear, as in Job 7:20. Judas thought of getting rid of the burden by hanging himself, but only made it faster and heavier. Sin makes men a burden on the Creator as well as on themselves. God wearies himself of the iniquities of men (Isaiah 43:24), being pressed under them like a cart full of wreaths. That Job was a burden to himself was his own feeling; that he was a burden to God, was Satan’s suggestion. The question is not that of a humble penitent asking for forgiveness. Job has not yet become a poor sinner. And the forgiveness of sin is a favor, not an obligation, or an evidence. It’s a sovereignty of God. We will only know its deeper meaning through an act of faith. 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 “Bildad’s speech to Job” (Job 8).
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.