Year 8, Day 127: Job 33

Theological Commentary: Click Here

When Elihu speaks, I think he speaks with great technique.  Elihu empathizes with Job by saying that he is with God as Job is.  Elihu doesn’t deny that Job is walking with God.  Elihu is trying to put Job in as best of a position as possible to listen.

The second thing that Elihu does that is wise is to show that he has been listening.  Elihu quotes Job.  When Elihu quotes Job, he isn’t quoting him to mock him, or twist his words, or to use them as ammunition against Job.  Instead, Elihu is quoting Job to lay a common reference point.  He is trying to demonstrate to Job that he is willing to meet him where he is.

With these two pieces of arguing done, Elihu starts his own thought.  Elihu tries to tell Job that there is another way to see the things that happen to us.  Instead of seeing the hand of God as punishment for wrong-doing, Elihu teaches that God sometimes has things happen to us to teach us lessons.  I believe that there is a good bit of truth here.  Sometimes God does let us suffer the consequences of our own choices to give us time to think about the cause and effect nature of life.

However, I also think this is where Elihu goes astray.  In trying to justify God’s action, Elihu goes to far.  God isn’t trying to teach Job a lesson.  God is actually trying to teach a lesson to the people around Job, especially Satan.  The lesson isn’t so much for Job as it is for us!

God is trying to show that faith can endure great hardship.  God is trying to show that faith is the only way through inexplicable hardship!  God is tying to show that the most powerful force that we as human beings can experience is a hope that comes with relationship to Him.  That’s the point of Job.  Job already knows this, although the reminder probably doesn’t hurt.  But it is our lesson to learn just as much as it is for Job and his friends.

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Year 8, Day 126: Job 32

Theological Commentary: Click Here

In Job 32 we meet Elihu.  Elihu is an interesting perspective in the study of humanity.  Elihu is younger in years than Job or his friends, so he has been silent up until now.  However, while he does wait to speak, he speaks nonetheless.

Elihu speaks because he feels the need to defend his own perception of righteousness.  In this attitude, we can see an issue with youthfulness.  Youth often see the world in black-and-white.  With the youth, there is often only right and wrong.   There is their perspective and then the different other perspectives.  Youths have not learned the skill of compromise.  They have not learned to see the beautiful shades of gray between the contrasting black-and-white poles.

Elihu also feels the impulse to stand up and defend.  He feels the need to be the protector.  He is like the young knight riding off to fight the unconquerable dragon.  Elihu does not understand that wisdom takes time.  He does not realize that often the things we say need time to be absorbed, pondered, and internalized.  Truth is not often recognized in the moment it is spoken.  Truth is recognized after it can be tested and contemplated in the mind.

That being said, we do need to respect what Elihu brings to the conversation.  He brings energy.  He brings passion.  He brings an urgency to the discussion.  These things are not bad things when harnessed correctly.  We should want to take what youth have to offer us and put it to proper use instead of mocking it and discarding it as rash or brazen.  While Elihu is prone to making mistakes because of his youth, he brings qualities that can be shaped and tempered properly.

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Year 8, Day 125: Job 31

Theological Commentary: Click Here

In this chapter we get to hear Job’s final defense.  There isn’t much to say here that hasn’t already been said.  Job reflects upon his life and confesses that he ahs tried to live as virtuous life as possible.  He has tried to care for the poor.  He has remained faithful to his own wife.  He has tried to look after the land and the animals within his possession.  He has tried to work with those around him.  He’s tried to be a good citizen.

The thing that I really appreciate about Job’s words here is that he does give room for error.  Many may read Job’s words in a haughty manner, as though Job is declaring that nothing can find fault in him.  Naturally, we know this is not true.  We all have faults.  None of us are perfect.  We’ve even seen a few of Job’s faults along the way!  While Job is testifying that he has lived as good of a life as possible, he is also giving room for the possibility that something may have cause against him.

As Job ends this passage, I also can’t help but remember who it is that Job has consistently says will be his judge.  Ultimately, Job knows that he will be judged by God.  Furthermore, let’s not forget that Job has already professed in earlier chapters that he knows who His redeemer is: God!  This is the perfect capstone to this chapter.  Job is God’s; Job is God’s to save.  Job has tried, and where Job has failed God can make right.

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Year 8, Day 124: Job 30

Theological Commentary: Click Here

There are three really good thoughts that come out of Job’s utterances in this chapter.  First, Job mourns the way that he is being treated.  Job can know the difference because he used to be treated well.  He was treated well because of his status and position in the community.  When he had lots of money, he rubbed shoulders with important people.  That meant that everyone treated him well because he might be an avenue for societal improvement.  Now, however, people treat him with disdain.  They scorn him. Why do they scorn him?  They scorn him because they can.  Now that he is inflicted, and his wealth is gone, people have no use for him.  He is a societal castoff.

What this teaches us is that we need to be careful of society.  True friends receive us however we are.  They may challenge us to change, but they receive us.  The greater society, however, only receives us if we have use or value to them.  As soon as our usefulness erodes, so will our connection to them.  Our notoriety will dry up and we will be outcast.  There are many people who go to great lengths to avoid this fate.  I prefer to perceive the reality and simply place no value in vain notoriety that comes from the shallowness of society’s judgment.  What matters is the opinion of those who value me for who I am, not the opinions of those who value me for what I can do for them.

The second perspective that we can learn from this chapter is Job’s opinion of himself.  Understandably, his opinion of himself has fallen.  That’s not how it should be, but it is understandable.  As people turn away from Job, Job can actually understand more about why they turn away than he can see his own worth.  He himself identifies more with those who abandon him than he identifies with what he still offers.  He has already proven his wisdom and faith!  Yet as society turns from him, his own identity ebbs away.

Finally, we can get a sense of Job and his relationship with God.  Job still does not understand God’s position in all of this.  If Job is so righteous, why does God seem to stand so far off and do nothing about it?  Job is lost in his own lack of understanding.

It is important to note, however, that Job does not abandon God.  Job is confused by God, but he does not walk away from God.  While Job may wonder about God’s absence, he does not accuse God and forsake his relationship with God.  This can often be a fine line, but it is an important line.  It shows us that there is a proper way to allow our doubts to find expression without it affection our relationship with God.  This is a very important practice to understand.

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Year 8, Day 123: Job 29

Theological Commentary: Click Here

I don’t particularly like the humanity that I read here in this chapter.  Job begins by saying, “Oh that I wish …”  He then starts to talk about when his life was good.

I get what Job is saying.  He feels the pain of life now and remembers the joy of life in the past.  I understand what Job is saying.  I feel what he is getting at.  Who among us wouldn’t like to like in the times when life is most enjoyable.  What Job is saying in this chapter makes perfect human sense.  I’m not even going to fault Job for this.  We’d all like to live a joyful life instead of a pained life.

Where I find fault with Job is that Job compares God’s love for him with his joy.  Job speaks as though God loved him more when life was good.  Job indicates that God was closer to Job when life was good.

This is an absolutely natural reaction.  All of us feel closer to God when life is good.  But that’s our perception of reality, not reality.  Just because we think we are closer to God, doesn’t mean God is actually closer to us.  Just because our life is easy doesn’t mean that God actually loves us more!  In fact, if we hear the testimony of the insanely popular footsteps poem, the times in our life where life is the most difficult is the time when God is actually carrying us through life.  You don’t get much closer than that!

The truth is that I am just as guilty as Job for thinking this way.  I often equate God’s love for me to things going the way I want them to.  But that’s my foolish human perception, not a true reflection of reality.  God loves me.  He doesn’t love me more when life is good.  He doesn’t love me less when life is bad.  God loves me and walks each day by my side.  The same is true for us all.

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Year 8, Day 122: Job 28

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Job makes a very interesting comparison in this chapter.  He begins by talking about humanity’s quest for valuable things.  We will mine deep into the earth for ore.  We will stop up rivers in the chance to find gold and silver.  We will go deep into caves for gemstones.  We value flint for its ability to make fire.  In fact, Job makes the claim that we are so interested in these precious quantities that we see it all.

Human beings have a natural attention for what we value.  When we see something we value, we notice it.  We will even look over things other people value in order to get to what we value.  As proof of this, how many streams and rivers have we spoiled because we value industry and commerce over drinkable water supplies and natural habitat?

Job then asks from where wisdom comes.  He acknowledges that it is hidden from among the eyes of human beings.  In other words, none of us are inherently particularly wise.  We know gold when we see it.  We even know how to find gold!  But wisdom is hidden from us.

Why is it hidden from us?  Job gives us a really nice answer.  What is wisdom?  The fear of the Lord is wisdom.  Turning away from evil is understanding.  In other words, we recognize wisdom when we turn from our own ways and live as the Lord desires us to live.  Wisdom is letting go of our sinful humanity within.

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Year 8, Day 121: Job 27

Theological Commentary: Click Here

In today’s chapter, we get a mixed bag when it comes to Job and his expression of faith.  At the beginning, Job seems a little accusatory of God.  Has God taken away his right?  If God really to blame for the bitterness of Job’s soul?  Is Job perfect?  Is Job even righteous apart from God?  Job gets on a pretty high horse in these verses.

On the other hand, Job refuses to abandon God.  While he may feel like God has been unfair, Job isn’t looking to leave God.  He is still faithful.  He still wants to be counted by God.

This leads to an interesting perspective the rest of the chapter.  Job stays with God in spite of his feelings of unfairness.  So where is it that the wicked turn? Where is it that the godless turn?

Who hears the cry of the godless?  In what great omnipotent power do the godless hope?  What is the thing in which the godless take delight, and how long does it last?

I know there are many things to which people do turn.  There are many things in which we place our hope and our joy.  As for me, I am glad my hope and my joy is in the Lord.  It may not always lead to the easiest life.  It may not always lead to the simplest of life.  But it certainly does lead to an eternal life.  It leads to a belief and a hope that no person can take away.  It leads to a hope that endures rather than fades.

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Year 8, Day 120: Job 26

Theological Commentary: Click Here

There are a few chapters in the Bible that entirely focus upon God.  The majority of chapters in the Bible focus on God and our relationship with Him.  Very few chapters – especially outside of the book of Psalms – focus entirely on God and His character.  This is one of those chapters.

Look at what this chapter has to tell us about God.  First of all, God is omnipresent.  Life cannot hide from Him.  Even the dead in Sheol cannot hide from Him.  Nothing escapes His observation.  He is aware in a way that we cannot even comprehend.

This chapter also speaks to God’s omnipotence.  He covers up voids.  He hangs the earth on nothing!  This thought caused me to stop and think for a second.  This is quite literally true.  The earth is suspended in space, supported only by the force of gravity that constantly pulls us towards the sun and thus into our elliptical orbit.  Oh, by the way, the sun is hung on nothing, too.  If you want to explain that our planet stays put because of the gravitational attraction with the sun, what is the response to how the sun is hung?

To continue with God’s omnipotence, Job reminds us that God can cover the whole face of the moon with a cloud.  For many years, I lived in Western Pennsylvania.  Seattle residents might be surprised to find out that no place in America sees less sun per year than Western Pennsylvania.  As a sufferer of Seasonal Affective Disorder, I was keenly aware of how little sun I saw.  One winter I remember going 36 straight days without seeing the sun – all of January and a little December and February!  Imagine the size of the cloud that covered the face of Western Pennsylvania for 36 straight days!  God is bigger than even that cloud!

God stills the seas.  God splits apart the light from the darkness.  God speaks in the thunder and is present in His own silence.  This is the amazing power of God.

This is a chapter that can truly cause us to ponder God and His nature.  We cannot comprehend Him, but we can pay Him homage when we try to do so.  This is the power of this chapter.

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Year 8, Day 119: Job 25

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Bildad speaks.  If I may say so with a snarky tone to my voice, it is blessedly short, too!  I love that this chapter is only a handful of verses.  It can help us realize that pontificating isn’t always necessary, and listening is always more important!

Much of what Bildad says has worth.  God does judge us.  God does have an immeasurable force.  God’s light does shine everywhere.  How can we even come close to comparing to God?  Bildad is wise to recognize our limitations.

That being said, Bildad is shortsighted.  We cannot be righteous on our own merit.  However, because God’s power is limitless, He can make us righteous!  We can stand righteous in His presence because of who He is, not because of who we are.  That’s a very important dynamic to remember.

It is often easy to focus on our humanity.  We can spend too much time seeing the sinfulness around us.  Even in those moments where we do focus on the sinfulness around us, we should be mindful of God’s ability to change us and make us righteous.  We should never lose sight of hope, especially in those moments when we are looking into the depth of human depravity.

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Year 8, Day 118: Job 24

Theological Commentary: Click Here

In this chapter, we get to hear a fairly reasonable complaint from Job.  Ultimately, the complaint puts Job in the wrong.  It puts us in the wrong when we say it, too.  The complaint is understandable.

Job’s complaint is that evil people seem to go unpunished.  The powerful oppress the powerless.  The wealthy find ways to take even more money from the poor.  The people with food hoard it instead of sharing it with the hungry.  The widow goes without a champion.  In all of this, they aren’t held accountable.

This is a human grievance throughout time.  You can go to any culture and hear people speak about this.  You can go to any time period and see this dynamic at work.  It is true in the greatest nations and true in the worst of nations.  It is this dynamic that caused people to create both democracy, capitalism, socialism, and communism.  For the record, this human condition is still present in all of them, too!  We cannot get away from this dynamic within humanity.  Job is correct in recognizing this human dynamic and stating that it is a problem.

That being said, Job takes his argument too far.  Job argues that such a dynamic is allowed to exist by God.  This argument is wrong on two accounts.  First, why is it God’s responsibility to fix our mistakes?  Yes, God does save us and ultimately He does fix our problem with sin.  Just because he does fix it, however, doesn’t mean it was His responsibility!  That’s why we call it grace.  Job is wrong when he lays this problem at God’s feet.

Second, Job is wrong because he lacks an eternal perspective.  God does judge us when we behave according to the manner that Job describes in this chapter.  He doesn’t judge us in the present; He judges us in the future.  There will be an accounting.  There will be a judgment.  That’s why we need God’s grace.  To accuse God of not holding people accountable does nothing except prove our own short-sightedness.  He does hold us accountable; He does it on His own timeline.  Why should God have to do things according to our timeline created by our limited perspective?

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Year 8, Day 117: Job 23

Theological Commentary: Click Here

I think this is a beautiful chapter.  What is it that makes a beautiful chapter in the Bible?  It really depends, but from my perspective a beautiful chapter is one that contains truth, contains an exposition on the human condition, and contains a relatable circumstance.  All of these things happen in this chapter.

The relatable circumstance is Job’s life in this chapter is his inability to see God.  I know how that feels.  There are days that I would love nothing more than to sit in God’s presence and ask him the questions that I ponder.  There are days when I wish I could be in the presence of a God who chases away the presence of evil, doubt, and hatred.  There are days when I long to know – to truly know – God’s plan for my life and the rest of the world.  There are days when I long for the peace that only He can bring.

I know how Job feels.  Job just wants to explain himself to God.  He just wants to hear God’s rationale.  He just wants the comfort of knowing God’s presence.

What’s the truth in this chapter?  I think there are multiple truths.  First, human beings can’t see God whenever they want it.  We can’t shake God’s hand.  We can’t enter into His physical courts.  Second, the truth is that God is the answer.  God is immutable.  God completes what He starts.  God has a purpose to what He does.

When we tie these ideas together, we end up with a great perspective on the human condition.  If we long to see God when He truly is the answer but we can’t see Him, why does that even happen?  I think Job gives us the answer in the closing stanza of the chapter.  In verse 9 we hear Job confess that when He is at work on the left and the right it us who do not perceive Him.  The reality is that it is our issue.  We don’t see God because our hearts aren’t ready.  We don’t see Him because we may not have learned how to look.  We don’t see Him because we are focused on the wrong thing.  Whatever the reason, we don’t see Him.  That’s the condition that Job mourns in this chapter.

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Year 8, Day 116: Job 22

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Once more we get to see an example of human wisdom at work.  Don’t get me wrong.  Human wisdom can have some good points.  Human wisdom, however, doesn’t equal divine wisdom.  Human wisdom cannot have the same universal applicability as divine wisdom.

For example, look at what Eliphaz says in Job 21:22.  “Agree with God and be at peace, thereby good will come to you.”  At first, it sounds like a great quote.  Agree with God and be at peace.  When we are aligning ourselves with God, we are going to be at peace with God.  That portion is absolutely true.  That’s why the wisdom sounds great.

The problem is that it isn’t universally applicable.  Am I at peace when I agree with God?  At peace with God, absolutely.  Am I at peace with the world?  Actually, the more I agree with God, the more likely I will feel like sandpaper to the world!  Of course, peace with God is greater than peace with the world.  Eliphaz’s advice is still good in that perspective.  Agreeing with God is generally a good thing, so long as we understand that we will be at odds with the world.

There’s another problem with this piece of advice.  If it was just about peace, it would be conditionally good advice.  The problem is that it uses something that sounds good to draw an even bigger conclusion.  Peace isn’t the issue for Eliphaz.  What Eliphaz’s advice truly is about is the reward.  What Eliphaz is saying is that if we agree with God, we’ll be at peace because we’ll get what we want.  That’s the issue with this advice.  It’s prosperity gospel.  It’s about getting.  The primary goal isn’t peace with God.  That’s the bait to make us feel like the advice is good.  This advice is about equally relationship with God to living the life we want to live.

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Year 8, Day 115: Job 21

Theological Commentary: Click Here

There are deep reasons why I love and respect Job as a spiritual figure.  A number of them reside in this chapter.  This chapter speaks as to why I consider this afflicted man a personal hero.

Job sticks to his guns.  He hears time and time again about how he must be evil because of his affliction.  Yet, Job doesn’t believe them.  Job knows his heart.  He may not know the hearts of others, but he does know his own heart.  He knows his own relationship with God.  Others say what they may, but he stands his ground.  When a person knows they are right, it can pay to be stubborn and stick to one’s guns.  Especially when the stakes deal with ourselves and not others.

Another dynamic that I love about Job is that he is honest.  Job doesn’t have to be perfect.  He doesn’t have to hide his flaws.  Job knows himself and is happy to admit the human flaws within.  He tells the people to look at him.  He knows that he’s a walking billboard for calamity.  He knows people are appalled when they look at him.  He himself shudders when he considers his own flesh!  Job doesn’t see through rose-colored glasses.  Job sees the truth and paints a true picture.

Finally, Job invites truth.  He doesn’t want platitudes.  Job doesn’t want quaint sayings.  Job doesn’t want to hear things we think are true.  Job wants truth.  Job wants to think things through and know they are true.  Job knows that there are plenty of wicked in the word who have the respect of others.  Job knows there are plenty of people who are evil and yet at the end of their life they are buried with all the pomp and circumstance that one would expect from a truly wonderous person.  Job doesn’t accept that affluence and general well-being proves righteousness – even though we’d love for that to be true.

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Year 8, Day 114: Job 20

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Ever wonder about the problem of social wisdom, cultural proverbs, and truisms?  They do contain truth.  There is a little bit of truth in most things!  The problem is that while they seem like the truth, they really aren’t.  They don’t universally apply.  They are true in some circumstances, perhaps even many circumstances.  But they aren’t universally true.

This is the case with Zophar’s speech today.  When Christians hear these words, we want to jump on them and talk about how true they are.  He talks about evil within people being vomited back up.  He talks about the wicked perishing like their own dung.  He talks about the memory of the evil ones fading away.  Zophar talks about evil sowing and then reaping its own evil.

We hear things like that and we want to believe them.  We desperately want to believe that evil will be punished and judged.  It will be.  One day, God will have His say and all will be exposed.  In fact, all of us will know our evil exposed under the judgment of God.

The reality, though, is that Zophar’s words simply don’t play out in reality.  The wicked often prosper.  The wicked often seek and find the fruit of their toil.  They often find, at least in this life, thee prosperity that their heart desires.

This shows us again what has been a significant theme throughout the book.  We cannot judge a book by its cover.  We cannot assume that because Job is having a hard time that he is evil.  We likewise cannot assume that because a person is having an easy life that they are righteous.  Who are we to judge in any way?  The only way to truly know a person is to know their heart and motivation deep within them.

It’s harder to live this way.  It’s hard to refrain from judging until we know a person’s character.  But it is the better way.  It is the godly way.  When we buy into cultural wisdom, we often err in our decisions because we allow ourselves to apply what seems like truth to a situation to which it may not apply.  The problem is that we never realize that it doesn’t apply.  That’s the danger of Zophar’s words.

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Year 8, Day 113: Job 19

Theological Commentary: Click Here

This is considered one of the most powerful chapters in the book of Job.  Naturally, the chapters at the end of Job, where we hear from God, are also powerful chapters.  Aside from the chapters where God speaks, this is a great voice from a hurting man.

What makes this chapter great can be summed up in one line.  It is a line that most Bibles use as a header for this chapter.  Job 19:25 says, “I know that my redeemer lives and at the last He will stand upon the earth.”  I love that line because of the pattern of theology that it represents.

This verse is focused upon God.  It is focused upon His majesty, His omnipresence, and His omnipotence.  So many people quote verses because they want to apply God’s promise to them; they want to pick a verse that is good for them.  This verse is about lifting up God as the central figure in our life and in the universe.

It is in this thought that we find true religion.  Don’t get me wrong.  I am happy to think about verses that promise eternal life with God.  I love thinking about a time when God will make me perfect and wash away my sins permanently.  But true religion realizes that such things are secondary effects to the greater truth of putting God central in one’s life.  It is God who is the focus.  It is God who is righteous.

That’s what I love about this quote.  Job acknowledges that the only way he can know salvation is by casting aside all the awful things that have happened to him and focus on the fact that in the end, it is God who will stand upon the earth.  It is God’s character that surpasses everything. All that I look forward to happening to me is a secondary effect coming out of God’s character.

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Year 8, Day 112: Job 18

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Bildad makes me mad.  Look at where Job had brought himself in the last chapter.  Job has managed to remember the path to hope.  He has managed to remember to focus back upon God.  He has remembered how to turn his eyes back upon God.

Enter Bildad.  Rather than rejoice with Job and his ability to turn to God, Bildad begins to tell Job how evil he is because he is suffering.  Rather than celebrate Job’s ability to maintain his relationship with God in spite of his troubles, Bildad accuses him of being wrong.  With friends like Bildad, Job certainly doesn’t need enemies!

There is a great lesson here.  Bildad isn’t about leading people to God, Bildad is about being right.  That’s an incredible distinction to learn to make when evaluating spiritual people.  What is the motivation for their teaching?  Are they open to God and allowing God to reach people in His way or do they force people to always see things their own way?  Spiritual people should be about being God’s hands and feet and letting God be the master.

This is also a good lesson to learn when mentoring.  When someone draws closer to God, we should celebrate it!  It isn’t about whether or not I had a hand in the person growing closer to God, it is all about the person growing closer to God in the first place.  That’s the key.

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Year 8, Day 111: Job 17

Theological Commentary: Click Here

We see Job begin to turn a corner.  Up until now, he’s been wallowing in his sorrow.  He’s been focused on the negative things that have happened.  While it may not be correct, it is absolutely understandable.  It is the human condition.  It is far easier for most of us to remember the last negative experience than to consider the future with hope.

What Job shows us in this chapter is how to turn the corner.  While it can be natural to focus on the negative, life is not best lived when we are doing so.  We need to push through the negative memory and look ahead in hope.  This is how we experience grace.

Look at how Job ends this passage.  What hope is found in Sheol, the place of the dead?  What hope is found in the earth that swallows the dead or the worms, flies, and animals that dispose of the body?  There is no hope to be found there.  If death is the final outcome, what’s the greater point of life?

Look at the great verse that allows Job to turn the corner.  Job 17:9 is a powerful verse.  “Yet the righteous hold to His way.”  This is how we turn the corner and get past the negative experiences in our life.  We turn to God and remind ourselves of how He wants us to live.  His way is a way of hope.  His way is a way of grace and peace.  Hs way is a way of forgiveness and love.  The righteous get past the evil around them and bring their focus back upon God.  It is God’s ways that allow us to move beyond the dark world that surrounds us each and every day.

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Year 8, Day 110: Job 16

Theological Commentary: Click Here

In this chapter we find Job once more running low on vision.  I’m going to try to not be too hard on him because he has endured great suffering.  However, there is something we can learn from him so long as we look at him as a case study and not make it personal.

Today as I was going about my day I was allowed the privilege of listening to another teacher do a devotion with a couple of students.  I am blessed with this opportunity quite regularly.  Today, I heard the teacher quote a phrase from a book: “Grace is found at the intersection of clarity of sight and hope for the future.”  This quote stuck with me, especially since I have a love of mathematics.  When I hear the word intersection, I think of a graph or chart.

I am pretty sure that this quote speaks to Job’s state of mind today.  Job is lacking hope for the future.  He’s suffering and doesn’t know how to make it better.  He’s pleaded with God.  He’s prayed.  He tried to make a defense.  His condition remains unchanged.  He has no hope for a great life in the future.

While this lack of hope is devastating enough, I think Job also has a lack of clarity.  His circumstances are preventing him from seeing what God is really doing.  He doesn’t see the restoration God is planning. He doesn’t see the truth that God is trying to teach.  He doesn’t see much at all.

What is the summary of this state?  Because of Job’s hopeless state, he doesn’t see much reason to go forward.  That is why Job longs for death from God.  Because of Job’s lack of clarity in vision, he isn’t very receptive to anything but his current frame of refence.  He’s not in a place to learn.  He’s not in a place to receive.  He’s in a place to focus on his current circumstances and dwell in the misery of his being.

That being said, I can’t really blame Job.  Clinically, I can point to where he is going wrong.  Rationally, I can know what he needs to do to get out of his funk.  Pastorally, I can understand where he is coming from and why he is feeling as he is.  I can empathize with the man.

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Year 8, Day 109: Job 15

Theological Commentary: Click Here

I think that Eliphaz deceptively gets a fair bit wrong here in this chapter.  One such place is his accusation of Job.  While Job has his faults, I don’t think fear of the Lord is one of them.  I think Job has a healthy understand of who the Lord is and what the Lord can do in His righteousness.  Job may be guilty of not seeing what God has planned.  He may be guilty of having a little less patience than necessary.  He may be guilty of jumping to hopelessness a little too quickly.  I think he has a healthy fear of the Lord, though.

Another place where I quibble is where Eliphaz says that God places no trust in the holy ones or even in humanity.  That’s just not true.  How many times in the Bible does God give a message to one of His holy angels?  Doesn’t God invite us to participate in His work?  Doesn’t Jesus Himself train human beings to be His disciples and to make disciples?  The reality is that God does trust us.  He knows our faults.  He knows our sin.  But He trusts us and invites us into relationship in spite of them!

Another place of bad advice is where Eliphaz talks about wicked writhing in their pain.  Again, this just isn’t true.  Yes, eternally, the wicked will live in separation from God.  Occasionally in life, the wicked are caught in their sin and punished.  However, God Himself says that in this life His blessings fall upon the wicked and the righteous.  There is example after example of wicked people who live and prosper in this life.  The level of one’s writhing in pain is not a fair indicator of one’s righteousness or wickedness.

This is a dangerous chapter.  It is very easy to read through much of what Eliphaz says and want it to be true.  He is doing a great job of painting a picture that we want to hear.  But Eliphaz is painting a theology of his own desiring, not a genuine theology.  That’s the danger in Eliphaz’s words.

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Year 8, Day 108: Job 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Here we have a passage where I think Job goes a touch too far.  Before I get there, though, I’m going to start out in truth.  Like all theology that goes a little bad, it actually starts in truth.  Job makes a couple of reasonable comments.  First, man is full of trouble when we are born.  Our days are short in number and we are full of sin inherently.  There’s no arguing that.

Then, Job asks a really important question.  Who can bring anything clean out of the unclean?  Naturally, no human being for sure.  This question is the turning point for Job.  The reason that it is so important is because its answer is what allows us to avoid Job’s mistake.  We know who can make something clean out of the unclean.  God can.  We know how He does it, too.  He does it through the cross of Christ.  Through Jesus we are made clean.  Job doesn’t have access to this knowledge.

Because Job doesn’t have access to this information, he begins to accuse God.  He sees the hopelessness of life.  Who among us can hope to be righteous?  Who among us can hope to be clean?  If we don’t have a shot at it, why try?

This is the futility out of which Job ends this chapter.  Job acknowledges that we have no chance.  We are born and die and don’t get a chance to see the fruit of our generation!  God watches while the mountains ebb away, we don’t get that perspective.  God watches while we destroy each other and even while He brings destruction upon us.  But we don’t get to see the overarching effects.

Without the cross of Christ, life is ultimately futile.  What is man that God is mindful of us?  However, with the cross of Christ we can know cleanliness.  We can know that God can take our efforts and prosper them.  He can allow us to know the eternal, even though we might die!  With the cross of Christ, we don’t need to know the futility that Job sinks into at the close of this chapter.

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