Year 2, Day 123: Job 29

Job’s Perspective

I’ve done a lot of praising Job lately, so today I’m going to have a reminder that Job is human, too.  But before I go into this, let me explain that I think this is a healthy thing to remember.  So often we think of the book of Job in terms of: 

• Job’s three friends as the enemies, 
• Job as the pure victim, and 
• God as the righteous judge. 

That’s not quite right.  This is a better perspective: 

• Job’s three friends are genuinely rooted in truth but misguided in their application of truth, 
• Job is a human being who largely has it right but who occasionally allows his humanity to lead him astray, and 
• God absolutely is the righteous judge.

Do you see the difference?  The first is a black-and-white evaluation of right and wrong.  The latter is a muddled understanding of how each person in the story shows moments of truth and moments of human failing (in varying degrees, of course).  I think it is important to remember that with human beings, none of us are righteous – although we all handle our unrighteouness in substantially different ways.  So when I speak here about Job, I’m not judging him.  I am merely illustrating his humanity. 

Job begins this chapter talking about “the days when God watched over me,” “when his lamp shone upon my head,” “by his light I walked through darkness,” and “I was in my prime.”  Do you hear what error Job has fallen into?  Job has himself begun to equate prosperity with God’s love.  The very thing that Job has fought and resisted all these chapters is seeping into his own argument!

This just goes to show us what kind of enemy we are to ourselves.  Even a person that God has declared righteous is not immune to his own humanity.  In this perspective, we indeed are our own worst enemy.

That speaks about the seeping destruction of prosperity theology.  We get into trouble when we assume that God is with us when things go well and God is not with us when things go poorly.  The reality is that God is always with us and it is we who turn our back on God.  From a worldly perspective, when things are going well it is probably more likely that we are turning our back on God!  Prosperity theology is not the answer.  Job knows better.  His humanity is getting the better of him here.

The Presence of God’s Righteousness

Yet, in the middle of this passage we do get a glimpse of God’s righteousness shining forth through Job’s humanity.  That is a very good thing.  What is it that made Job righteous?  Was it his wealth and prosperity?  No.  What made Job righteous was being the eyes for the blind.  He was the feet for the lame.  He was the father to the needy and friend to the foreigner.  He was the vigilante against the unrighteous.

There is righteousness.  There is the presence of God!  The presence of God is not in our wealth or our status or our position.  The presence of God is not in prosperity theology where I can have a great life!  The presence of God is in our humbleness.  It is in our love for God’s ways.  It is in our love of the neighbor.

Returning to the Perspective of Job

If only Job would have stopped talking after saying those things.  But no, he keeps talking.  Have you ever noticed how when we keep talking we often just make things worse?  One of the hardest lessons for me to learn is knowing when to shut up! 

After speaking about true righteousness, Job returns to his failed human understanding of righteousness.  He returns to the idea of status and honor among the people.  He returns to how it felt when people listened to him and knew to be quiet when he spoke.  He returns to the feeling he had when he could be confident while other people were not confident.  He returns to a human understanding of righteousness.

Job’s human.  He’s like me.  He’s like all of us.  We all make this mistake – and in truth it is really just the same mistake that his three friends made.  Job knows the truth, but because of his humanity he is misguided in his application. 

Righteousness is not found in temporal blessings and materialistic gain.  Righteousness is not found in our place of honor.  Righteousness is found in God and in knowing that whether life is going well or poorly, God is there beside us.

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