Year 2, Day 106: Job 12

Job Sets Up His Response to Zophar

Today we see the reaction to Zophar’s overstated and ill-timed blunt approach.  I think Job makes it pretty clear how he is going to react in his opening words: “No doubt you are ‘the people’ and wisdom will die with you.”  If that doesn’t make things pretty clear, I’m not sure that anything else will!  Job is telling Zophar that his advice is blunt and opinionated and not delivered in a manner that Job cares to listen to at all.

Job Is Resolute

I will give Job credit here.  He is absolutely resolute in his understanding that he did not bring this plague upon himself.  Satan came upon him and cursed him, expecting him to curse God.  Job didn’t. Three friends have now come before him and have chastised Job and told him to repent of his sins, and Job remains resolute.  He is in the right, and he continues to stand up for what he knows to be true.  Job did not bring this upon himself except for being righteous.

Truth: Who Among Us Can Resist God

Job’s speech about God turns us to one of the overarching themes of Job.  Who among us can resist God?  Who among us can even fathom God?  Who among us can ever hope to fully grasp the plan of God?  None of us can even see the fullness of what God is doing in the world.

When God punished the people at the tower of Babel, did any of us see that God was actually spreading out the population of the earth to fill it?  When God led the Hebrew people into Egypt, did any see it as a means to demonstrate His power?  When the Hebrew people were led into captivity, did anyone see it as a means to judge the Hebrew people, judge the Babylonians, and bring forth a remnant of faithful people?  When God sent Jesus, how many truly understood what God was doing in Him before He was resurrected and explained it all to us?

No, the truth is that human beings understand best in hindsight.  We might be able to grasp a glimpse of God’s plan, but we cannot grasp it fully.  What God purposes, we cannot fathom.  We can simply get on board with what God is doing and play our part.

When “getting on board” is easy or fun or productive, we enjoy getting on board with God.  When “getting on board” is being persecuted because of our faithfulness – like Job in this story – it isn’t so much fun.  But that is what the disciple of Christ does.  That is what the follower of God does.

The true follower of God may wrestle with understanding what is happening.  In fact, the most faithful people I know in my life can speak profoundly on their wrestling with God.  But the faithful do not doubt God.  They certainly do not doubt that God was worth believing.

Did Job lose his faith in God?  Certainly not!  Did the true prophets lose their faith when the Hebrew people were dragged off into slavery?  No!  Did James – the disciple of Jesus Christ – lose his faith when Herod dragged him into prison and had him beheaded just for a popularity boost?  No way!  Did Saul lose faith when God struck him with a blinding light and essentially told him that he was wrong in every conceivable way?  No!  The true follower finds God and gets on board with God.  They may not understand.  They may wrestle.  They may only really see exactly what God is doing in hindsight.  But they do get on board with God.

After all, who can stand up to the wisdom and perspective of God?  How many of us can genuinely guarantee that when we set out to do something it will end in happiness, glory, or even righteousness?  No, God is the only one among us who can guarantee that He actually knows what He is doing.

Imperfectly Wrestling With a Perfect God

I think this is one of the most challenging aspects to Job – and I keep coming back to it.  Yes, Job is a sinner – as are we all. But I see Job struggling with his knowledge that God is supreme yet he feels like what is happening is unfair.  As a human being, it is so difficult to put trust in God that He genuinely knows what is actually fair.  It is so hard to accept what comes, deal with it, and trust God.  That is a great struggle.  We can only see fairness in our limited self-centered perspective.

Of course, living in a post-Christ church means that we can genuinely know how much God is in control of fairness.  When we didn’t deserve it, He handed us both salvation and forgiveness on a silver platter.  There can be no question in the believer’s mind that God not only knows the definition of fair – He has exceeded the definition for our sake.  We deserve condemnation; God offers us grace and love and mercy and forgiveness and relationship.

Granted, that doesn’t make it easy to remember in every moment of every day.  Even knowing how gracious God is, it is tough to give control of “fairness” to God.  I feel for Job.  It is hard to be in the midst of something that seems so incredibly unfair and accept it while trusting that God knows best and He will work it out to His glory.

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