Book of Job Pt. 7

As Elihu finishes speaking, a storm begins to brew outside Job’s tent.

Read Job 38:1-3

1. Who appears to speak to Job? God appears out of the storm. It’s as if after Elihu gave his words of counsel to Job, God said “Finally, someone is speaking some sense to Job.” God seizes the opportunity to build upon the foundation of truth laid by Elihu. And so, after a lengthy silence going back to before Job experienced his sufferings, God speaks to Job.

2. What question does He ask and why does He ask it? Who is this ignorant man that is misrepresenting my counsel/words? Somehow I don’t think those were the words Job expected to hear from God. Why does God ask this question to Job? For the previous 30 plus chapters, Job and his three friends debated the reason why Job was experiencing such suffering. In their back and forth arguments, both sides used God to defend/promote their respective cases. “God does this … No! God does this …” “This is who God is ... No! God is this.” Job and his three friends spoke arrogantly as if they knew everything about God … how He thinks, how He operates, why He does the things He does. They put God in a box and said “This is God.” In the process, they misrepresented God. They distorted God’s counsel particularly in regards to topics such as blessing, suffering, justice, and righteousness.

3. What did God tell Job He was going to do and for what purpose? Ask Job questions to see if Job could teach Him anything

Job 38:4–39:30

4. What did God’s questions center on? Creation. What was God’s purpose in asking such questions to Job? To humble Job. To prove to Job how little he really knows.

Job 40:1-8

5. What did God say Job was doing? Passing judgment on God. Read verse 8 (NIV) “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself ?” In other words, in order to prove his righteousness, Job condemned God as being unjust. Job said a lot of harsh things about God. How did this happen? The combination of Job’s suffering, his friends’ attacks, and silence … the pain and distress they all brought upon him … caused Job to say some foolish things – specifically He questioned God’s justice. In the course of the debate, Job accused God of being unjust in order to assert his claim to being righteous. Job regularly asserted his good works/righteousness and in the processed accused God of being unrighteous. Just as Job’s three friends passed judgment on him without knowledge, Job passed judgment on God without knowledge. Job, a frail human being limited in knowledge and power, passed judgment on God who is limitless in knowledge and power. By doing so, Job placed himself above God. God’s response “Who are you Job to pass judgment on me? Do you have the power that I wield (chapters 40-41) if so, then you can pass judgment on me.”

Job 42:1-6

6. What was Job’s response to God? “God you asked who spoke about you from ignorance? It was me.” Job confessed his foolishness. vs.6 – Job retracted his false statements/misrepresentations, humbled himself before God (dust & ashes), and repented his sin of pride. If you recall from chapter one God refers to Job as the most righteous man on the face of the earth. Job’s actions here (confession, humility, repentance) are strong evidence of God’s opinion of Job. His actions are the actions of a righteous man.

Job 42:7-17

7. How does the Book of Job end? God expresses his anger towards Job’s three friends. (Notice Elihu is not included. God was not displeased with Elihu’s words of rebuke directed at Job.) God told them to seek Job’s intercession. He will offer sacrifices and pray to God on their behalf. They do so. Despite all the grief they gave Job, he intercedes with God on their behalf. Again, evidence of Job’s righteousness. After Job does so, God blesses Job far more than he did before Job went through his period of suffering – more children, more wealth, etc. Notice that verse 10 says that God blessed Job after he prayed for his friends. If Job had refused (and, in our eyes, he would have been justified in doing so, God probably would not have blessed Job. Yet he did intercede on behind of his friends. A tremendous act of forgiveness. Read verse 16-17.

When the reader of Job gets to the end of the Book of Job, the events that precipitated Job’s suffering seem a million years ago. They are almost forgotten. How does Job begin? Satan challenging Job’s motivation for being a follower of God. He argued that if Job suffered enough he would curse God. At the end of Job, does he curse God? No! In fact, the Book of Job ends with him worshipping God. Through his experience of suffering, Job gained a greater understanding/awareness of God … His power, majesty, and sovereignty.

8. Why does God allow Job to experience the tremendous suffering that we all know is coming his way? Who knows the mind of God? My guess?

To teach a lesson to Satan and to the listeners and readers of the book of Job about faith – what it is and what it is not. Our faith is not based on material rewards/blessings from God. That was the traditional belief of the time as we’ll see. Nor is it based on our emotions at a moment in time. We can go through a traumatic experience and still have faith.

Job would be the instrument to teach this lesson. Sounds petty. God and Satan using Job to prove a point. But, it’s not. What it is: spiritual warfare. Whether we like it or not; whether we think it is unfair or petty, we are in a struggle beyond our control … that is the reality of the situation. Job had no say in this conversation between God and Satan. Yet Job was to be God’s knight so to speak. God’s strongest weapon in the struggle against the forces of evil. In the process, Job experienced great loss and suffering as you expect in war. God allowed this to happen confident that Job would get through it with his faith intact. In the end, forces of good win thanks to Job’s faith. In fact, we’ll see at the end of the book of Job, his faith is even stronger than it is at the beginning.

Lessons from the book of Job:

1. What is my reaction/response to suffering? Is it The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD." “Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" or “God is out to get me!” “God is picking on me” “I’m a good person. What have I done to deserve this?” or fall prey to self-pity or depression.

2. What is my reaction/response to those experiencing suffering? Consolation or confrontation? Judge or intercessor? At times, confrontation may be necessary as Elihu did with Job. However, just as Elihu exhibited, confrontation must be accompanied with wisdom. What to say and when to say it.

3. Why am I suffering? Is it because I have done something wrong and God is punishing me or is there another reason? Not all suffering is from God although God does allow us to experience adversity in order to humble us or strengthen us. The major reason why we experience suffering is because we live in an evil world that hates us … a world that has been cursed (Genesis 3).

4. Why doesn’t God tell me why I am suffering? Related question – Is God required to answer this question. Is He answerable to us?

Did God explain to Job why he experienced so much suffering? No. Job never found out why he experienced the suffering that he did. Neither does the reader of Job. Why did God point out Job to Satan? Why did He permit Satan to attack Job so harshly? And so, at the end of the book of Job we are left with the lingering question “Why?” Yet Job seemed to be ok about not knowing “why.” Why? After experiencing God, knowing the answer to the “why” question was no longer important to Job. Being in a right relationship with God was now important to him than having his “why” question answered. Job’s obsession with knowing “why” had greatly strained his relationship with God. It caused him to take his focus of God and placed focus on himself. Once Job relearned the lesson regarding the sovereignty of God, his relationship with God was renewed, and Job stopped asking “why.”

5. How does suffering impact my relationship with God?

During our lifetime, we are going to experience suffering. Doesn’t matter who you are. Rich or poor. Righteous or unrighteous. In times of suffering is when our faith in God is tested the greatest. Particularly when we don’t see it coming (death of loved one, loss of job, loss of health.) It’s ok to ask God the “why” question, when we go through periods of suffering (physical, emotional, etc.). Just don’t expect an answer to your question. When there is no reply, we have to be careful that we don’t allow the suffering or God’s silence on the matter to destroy our faith in God, to cause us to question God’s justice/fairness, to accuse God of breaking His promises to us, of contradicting His word. That train of thought leads to sin. How? We take God off the judgment seat and put ourselves in it. God’s wrong, I’m right. We are in no position to judge the fairness or unfairness of our suffering. Instead, of complaining to God, we should seek God’s presence/His peace. What’s more important to you – being in a right relationship with God or the answer to the “why” question? Philippians 4:6-7. How can I find God? Reading Scriptures, prayer, and intercession by fellow believers who will pray not for answers to your “why” questions but for you to experience God’s peace. In his presence we can find comfort, peace, rest, encouragement. Read Psalm 6; Psalm 13; Psalm 22; Psalm 31: 9-24; Psalm 42; Psalm 77; Psalm 142.