W/out question the main character in the Bk of Job is God. Even though he says nothing at all betw chaps. 3-37, He is the center of intense discussion between Job & his 3 friends, & the focal point of the young man Elihu, who thinks he has everything all figured out.
- The LORD had spoken to Satan in chaps. 1-2, but then went silent
as He allowed the adversary to inflict unimaginable suffering on His faithful servant Job.
- But finally in chapters 38-41, He speaks.
- What happens when God speaks:
- He speaks “out of the whirlwind.” (38:1, 40:6)
(1) We’re probably to imagine something like a tornado, a powerful, destructive wind. Often used in OT prophets as symbol of God’s judgment. Imagine a conversation with a tornado!
(2) Job has been asking for an audience with God, for an explanation from Him of why he has experienced such dire suffering. Now he gets his audience, even if not his explanation.
(3) “Dress for action like a man” – Gird up your loins” – get ready for action – hearing this isn’t going to be easy, & Job had better be ready for the experience.
- He ignores Elihu.
(1) From chaps. 32-37, a young man named Elihu has declared that he knows the answer to Job’s predicament, & shows disdain (“burned with anger”) for the older 3 friends who haven’t been able to persuade Job that he is suffering b/c he is a sinner.
(2) So Elihu speaks to set the record straight – only he can’t, b/c he doesn’t know either. Says exactly same thing as Job’s 3 friends.
(3) So when God speaks, simply ignores him, a sign of disdain & the uselessness of the whole conversation. 38:1 – “Then the LORD answered Job. . . .” (Note the irony: In 37:24 Elihu had said, “He does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.” And he was right!)
- He does NOT give Job an explanation.
(1) If we have been waiting for God to speak in hopes of getting an explanation of all this, we’re sadly disappointed.
(2) Doesn’t even comment on Job’s suffering, only on His own power & knowledge.
(3) Yet by the end of it, Job is satisfied. – 42:5 – “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.”
(4) Job had received an experience of God never known before, & he was content with that.
- He rebukes Job’s 3 friends.
(1) 42:7 – “After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: ‘My anger burns against you & against your 2 friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has’.”
(2) Although they had berated Job for not “seeking God,” it’s them, not Job, that God is angry with. Will only forgive them after they have offered burnt offerings & had Job pray for them.
(3) Job had said he knew he would be vindicated, & now he is, beyond all doubt.
- What does God say to Job in chaps. 38-41?
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- Basically this: “Who do you think you are to question my ways?”
- For Job to question God on anything would imply he possessed similar power & wisdom as God, & he doesn’t. No one does. In a series of 52 questions, God gives numerous exs of things He knows & has control over, & Job doesn’t.
- So God is putting Job in his place, not b/c he complained about his suffering, but b/c he concluded that God must be doing something wrong in the way He runs the universe.
(1) A common complaint about God, isn’t it! – “If there’s really a loving God, why do innocent people suffer?” “Why doesn’t the world work the way I think it should work?”
(2) 40:7-8. “The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind & said: ‘Dress for action like a man; I will question you, & you make it known to me. Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right? Have you an arm like God, & can you thunder with a voice like his?’”
- Here’s the problem: Job thinks that b/c he can’t see or understand the reason for his suffering, there must not be one, except that there’s something not quite right with God.
- Truth is, there’s something of a much higher order going on here that Job knows nothing about. – The “wager” with Satan, the challenge to both God’s & Job’s integrity.
- And altho Job has no way of knowing about it, that shouldn’t stop him from trusting in God & His goodness. Just assume that in His infinite wisdom, God has a reason for letting this happen, or else that He will take these disastrous circumstances & bring something good out of them yet!
- No different for us, is it? We don’t know why bad things happen to good people, even to ourselves. But we do know God – & knowing Him, we should assume that either (a) He has a purpose for what’s happening to us, or (b) He will turn these terrible circumstances into something beneficial in the long run, or ( c) both.
- That’s what Paul found out re his “thorn in the flesh” – thought he’d be better off w/out it. But God said, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Therefore content with weakness, “since when I am weak, then am I made strong.”
- But this is what Job got right that his 3 friends got wrong:
- Eliphaz had said in 5:8, “As for me, I would seek God.” But truth is, Job was the only one in the conversation who WAS seeking God.
- His friends thought they had God in a box, all neatly wrapped up & ready to take out whenever needed. Had God all figured out.
- As John Job wrote, Job’s friends saw faithfulness to God in terms of transmitting truth which they had in their minds, “deep-frozen & ready-packaged.” (Job Speaks to Us Today, 1977, 88)
- Weren’t seeking God, b/c thought they already HAD Him.
(1) In fact, had same view of God as Satan!
(2) A totally utilitarian view of faith – do what’s right, so things will go right with you.
(3) Satan’s argument: “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him &his house & all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, & his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand & touch all that he has, & he will curse you to your face.” (1:9-11)
(4) The 3 friends’ argument: “If God isn’t blessing you the way you want, it’s obviously b/c you aren’t doing the right things. Do them, & you will automatically be blessed.”
- Either way, you end up with a de-personalized God, a God who is more like a vending machine than a loving, caring Father.
(1) Eliphaz: “Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?” (22:3).
(2) Elihu: “If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand?” (35:7)
- With a God like that, there can’t be any purpose for suffering, or even a God who cares enough to do something about it!
- So Job keeps looking, keeps insisting that the “god” his friends & Elihu are presenting to him isn’t the real God at all. He doesn’t get everything right, but at least he knows that there’s more to God than just automatic blessing or punishment, depending on what you do or don’t do. Some things are just up to God, & we may never know His purposes. Yet we still trust Him.
This isn’t easy stuff to grasp, but it’s important. Why? B/c it prepares us for what the Bible says about the Cross of Jesus. It helps us believe that eternity isn’t just about what you get right & what you get wrong, but it’s about knowing the God who created you, & who actually loves you, & who goes against all logic & reason & “so loves the world that He gives His only Son” so you can live in His presence forever.
Faith isn’t just about rules. And it’s not just about blessing & punishment. It’s about God, the Rule-Maker. It’s about trusting Him, believing that whatever He does is right, & whether we see it now or not, someday we will.
Tommy South