Job’s Sixth Speech: A Response to Bildad
“Then Job spoke again: “How long will you torture me? How long will you try to crush me with your words? You have already insulted me ten times. You should be ashamed of treating me so badly. Even if I have sinned, that is my concern, not yours. You think you’re better than I am, using my humiliation as evidence of my sin. But it is God who has wronged me, capturing me in his net. “
Job is fed up. Although Job has been as patient as possible, his critics have persisted. Job feels as if his friends are dumping huge blocks of stone on his head, crushing him. Why should Job’s friends conclude that humiliation equals sin? This problem is between God and Job, and these fellows have no part in the matter.
One of the problems many of us have is that we refuse to realize that only God truly knows the human heart. A pastor friend used to say that “God is in Management and we are only in Advertising.” Jumping to conclusions about someone else’s motives, thoughts, beliefs, and desires is just as risky as jumping off a cliff.
“I cry out, ‘Help!’ but no one answers me. I protest, but there is no justice. God has blocked my way so I cannot move. He has plunged my path into darkness. He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head. He has demolished me on every side, and I am finished. He has uprooted my hope like a fallen tree. His fury burns against me; he counts me as an enemy. His troops advance. They build up roads to attack me. They camp all around my tent.”
There are times when we do feel as if God has trapped us and we have no means of escape. But the question is this: If God has trapped us, what does He have in mind? God doesn’t toy with people; He always has a number of purposes. Many times we must be stuck in a situation before we will learn the lessons God has for us.
“My relatives stay far away, and my friends have turned against me. My family is gone, and my close friends have forgotten me. My servants and maids consider me a stranger. I am like a foreigner to them. When I call my servant, he doesn’t come; I have to plead with him! My breath is repulsive to my wife. I am rejected by my own family. Even young children despise me. When I stand to speak, they turn their backs on me. My close friends detest me. Those I loved have turned against me. I have been reduced to skin and bones and have escaped death by the skin of my teeth.”
Job lives in a society where his age alone should gain him respect; yet, family members, servants, and even small children are rejecting and despising him. Job feels that he has nearly died several times and wonders why he is still alive. There’s nothing like adversity to show you just what people actually think of you.
“Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for the hand of God has struck me. Must you also persecute me, like God does? Haven’t you chewed me up enough?”
“Oh, that my words could be recorded. Oh, that they could be inscribed on a monument, carved with an iron chisel and filled with lead, engraved forever in the rock.”
“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!” If you have never heard these words echoed in Handel’s Messiah, you owe it to yourself to view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqa8rn-hBSk&list=RDhqa8rn-hBSk&start_radio=1
This affirmation is one of the most mind-blowing statements of faith in the history of the world, and the man uttering it lives centuries before Christ. But Job looks into the future and sees a Redeemer who will save and deliver him.
“How dare you go on persecuting me, saying, ‘It’s his own fault’? You should fear punishment yourselves, for your attitude deserves punishment. Then you will know that there is indeed a judgment.”
Accusing innocent people can backfire. Although Job’s friends are certain that they are righteous and free from any sin, they are wrong. Job is warning these people, but will they listen? Their minds are made up!
The history of missions has been marked by many acts of faith and courage, among them the ministry of John and Betty Stam, missionaries to China. In 1943 the Stams were beheaded by Communist soldiers. They knew things were becoming desperate but refused to flee from the people they loved. Betty Stam wrote this poem.
“I’m standing, Lord: There is a mist that blinds my sight.
Steep, jagged rocks, front, left and right,
Lower, dim, gigantic, in the night.
Where is the way?
I’m standing, Lord:
The black rock hems me in behind,
Above my head a moaning wind
Chills and oppresses heart and mind.
I am afraid!
I’m standing, Lord:
The rock is hard beneath my feet; I nearly slipped, Lord, on the sleet.
So weary, Lord! and where a seat?
Still must I stand?
He answered me, and on His face
A look ineffable of grace,
Of perfect, understanding love,
Which all my murmuring did remove.
I’m standing, Lord:
Since Thou hast spoken, Lord, I see
Thou hast beset-these rocks are Thee!
And since Thy love encloses me,
I stand and sing.
Jesus promised that his disciples would face tribulation, but that they should be of good cheer, for he had overcome the world. Today, we might still face tribulation, but we too can be of good cheer, for as Corrie Ten Boom was fond of saying, “Jesus is Victor!”
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to be faithful and to trust You, no matter what. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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