Job Longs for God
“Then Job answered: “Even today my complaint is bitter. His hand is heavy despite my groaning. If only I knew where to find Him, so that I could go to His seat. I would plead my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would learn how He would answer, and consider what He would say. Would He contend with me in His great power? No, He would certainly take note of me. Then an upright man could reason with Him, and I would be delivered forever from my Judge.
If I go east, He is not there, and if I go west, I cannot find Him. When He is at work in the north, I cannot behold Him; when He turns to the south, I cannot see Him. Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have followed in His tracks; I have kept His way without turning aside. I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread.
But He is unchangeable, and who can oppose Him? He does what He desires. For He carries out His decree against me, and He has many such plans. Therefore I am terrified in His presence; when I consider this, I fear Him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me. Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.”
After all these insults, Job weighs in again. Job wishes that he can just meet God and confront Him. Job actually thinks he can argue with the Creator of the Universe and “consider what He will say.” Wow! Talk about nerve! But Job trusts that God will seriously consider Job’s arguments. Even though Job does not know where to find God, he still trusts that God will honor his presumption and that his arguments will carry the day with God. “Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have followed in His tracks; I have kept His way without turning aside. I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread.”
Despite all the insults and innuendos Job’s friends have heaped upon him, Job still believes in his own righteousness. But Job also knows that God is almighty and does whatever He wants. Even in the darkness of Job’s suffering, he refuses to be silenced.
APPLICATION: If we are honest with ourselves, very few of us would have the same amount of presumption as Job. Face it, we are not righteous, no matter how hard we try. Our thoughts and our actions fall far short of perfection or holiness. This being the case, how should we regard God?
What Job fails to realize is that God is not persecuting him, but allowing him to be tried. “Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” In fact, this eventually happens.
Very few of us learn much from prosperity or comfort. When I was growing up on a Midwestern farm, we began working as soon as we could walk; this was what our parents and grandparents had done. I learned to milk cows by hand partially because I enjoyed it but also because many generations of women in my family had done so. I am eternally grateful for having learned to work when I was young. I am also grateful for having had to do distasteful chores such as pitching manure. Once you have pitched a lot of manure, nothing else will faze you! No matter how bad things might get later on, you can always comfort yourself with the thought that at least you are not wielding a pitchfork. I am also thankful for having had to feed and water animals twice a day. Little did I realize at the time that God was preparing me for rounds in a bush hospital.
One of the major lessons we can gain from the Book of Job is that we never know what God is doing in our lives. All the time that we think we are suffering, God is preparing us to help others. There is no substitute for experience. Job is certain that God is punishing him; meanwhile, God is actually refining him. In the beginning, Job was a nice rich guy doing good stuff and worshiping God. Job was not a bad person; however, Job had never really suffered any setbacks or any health problems. Job’s life was very pleasant, and he assumed it would continue in that fashion. What could possibly go wrong? Perhaps Job might even have assumed that he deserved his wealth and his happiness because he worshiped God, assuming that anyone who was suffering had failed God somehow. Now Job’s misbeliefs have been torn away; never again will he assume that people who suffer somehow deserve their misery!
God is a loving God and despite all Job’s accusations, God is continuing to work things out for Job’s good. If you feel trapped in an impossible situation, hold on! God’s answers might be closer than you think. Trust God even in the dark and pray for the light to come; eventually it will.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, there are many people who feel exhausted and completely depleted. Please give these people new light and new hope. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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