Job 21 Job’s Seventh Speech: A Response to Zophar
Then Job spoke again: “Listen closely to what I am saying. That’s one consolation you can give me. Bear with me, and let me speak. After I have spoken, you may resume mocking me.”
Well, Job has had it with Zophar! Job is begging Zophar to shut up and listen; meanwhile, Zophar is likely sitting there jiggling his foot and fidgeting with impatience. All Zophar can ask himself is, “When will Job stop trying to defend himself and simply agree that he is a miserable sinner?” Many leaders advise that you should speak only 20% of the time and listen 80%. Obviously, Zophar has never heard that tidbit.
“My complaint is with God, not with people. I have good reason to be so impatient. Look at me and be stunned. Put your hand over your mouth in shock. When I think about what I am saying, I shudder. My body trembles.” Job feels as if he is Exhibit A for someone suffering despite his innocence.
“Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful? They live to see their children grow up and settle down, and they enjoy their grandchildren. Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them. Their bulls never fail to breed. Their cows bear calves and never miscarry. They let their children frisk about like lambs. Their little ones skip and dance. They sing with tambourine and harp. They celebrate to the sound of the flute. They spend their days in prosperity, then go down to the grave in peace. And yet they say to God, ‘Go away. We want no part of you and your ways. Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him? What good will it do us to pray?’ (They think their prosperity is of their own doing, but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.)”
Now Job is posing an age-old question: why do righteous people suffer while wicked people enjoy prosperity? It appears that the very people who reject God are the ones whom God blesses, and Job feels this is totally unfair.
“Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished. Do they ever have trouble? Does God distribute sorrows to them in anger? Are they driven before the wind like straw? Are they carried away by the storm like chaff? Not at all!”
“‘Well,’ you say, ‘at least God will punish their children!’ But I say he should punish the ones who sin, so that they understand his judgment. Let them see their destruction with their own eyes. Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty. For they will not care what happens to their family after they are dead.”
Back when France was governed by kings who lived lavish lifestyles beyond the imagination of most of us, King Louis XV is said to have told Madame de Pompadour, his mistress, “Apres nous, le deluge,” generally translated as “after us, the flood.” The king said this because he had no compassion for his subjects and was totally indifferent to their suffering or to the fact that the poor of France were financing his financial extravagances. The king might just as well have said, “I’ve got what I want and I don’t care what happens after I die!” It is generally believed that it was Louis XV’s many wars and his rich lifestyle during his 59-year reign that paved the way for the French Revolution that occurred during the reign of his son, Louis XVI.
“But who can teach a lesson to God, since he judges even the most powerful? One person dies in prosperity, completely comfortable and secure, the picture of good health, vigorous and fit. Another person dies in bitter poverty, never having tasted the good life. But both are buried in the same dust, both eaten by the same maggots.” Here Job is still struggling with the same dilemma: why do the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer? Comparisons are odious and generalizations are equally odious. Although some wicked people prosper, there are others who do not. And although some righteous people do suffer, there are also righteous people who prosper.
One of the problems we have as humans is that we have a very limited view of spiritual things. Only God knows why He allows some people to suffer; however, some of the finest people in the world have suffered the most. Joni Earickson Tada just celebrated the 58th anniversary of the day she dove into shallow water, breaking her neck and immediately becoming quadriplegic.
Although Joni initially was severely depressed, eventually she came to view her paralysis as a blessing. Since Joni’s injury, she has founded several different ministries to the disabled, has cooperated wtih numerous other ministries, including Wounded Warriors, has authored over 48 books, and has won numerous awards for radio and TV programs, and her musical performances. Joni is also an accomplished artist, producing wonderful paintings and drawings while holding pens and brushes in her mouth. The ministry Joni and Friends has provided wheel chairs and other devices to thousands of disabled people throughout the world. Joni has been honored by a variety of colleges and universities. Had Joni remained as a normal teen-ager, she might have pursued a quiet life, but God has used her disability to bless millions of people. Although Job cannot understand what God is doing to him, Job’s story will echo through the ages as the chronicle of a giant of the faith.
“Look, I know what you’re thinking. I know the schemes you plot against me. You will tell me of rich and wicked people whose houses have vanished because of their sins. But ask those who have been around, and they will tell you the truth. Evil people are spared in times of calamity and are allowed to escape disaster. No one criticizes them openly or pays them back for what they have done. When they are carried to the grave, an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb. A great funeral procession goes to the cemetery. Many pay their respects as the body is laid to rest, and the earth gives sweet repose. How can your empty clichés comfort me? All your explanations are lies!”
Why does God spare wicked people? 2 Peter 3:9 tells us, “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” None of us can plumb divine love to its depths, for God sees all of us as sinners in need of a Savior and wants all of us to be with Him in heaven forever.
Only God knows what events are most likely to cause people to come to Him. One of my friends in a church in Charleston, S.C., had a son who was in the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang and who was involved in all kinds of evil. Despite all appearances, this woman continued to pray for her son, and finally God changed his heart. The man found himself in a phone booth (this was the 1970’s) calling his mother while gang members were approaching to kill him. His mother advised him to look in the phone book and call the first minister whose name he saw. When the man called a minister, God sent a huge guy who was an ex-marine to rescue him from that phone booth. I heard the man’s testimony at a church and then later met his mother, so I know the story is true.
When I was growing up on an Illinois farm, we used to raise hogs out in the field. Periodically, we would need to move the hogs from one pasture where they intensively grazed to pastures with fresh grazing. Did those pigs want to change locations to someplace better? Are you kidding? We would have to open the gate and then use other long gates to herd the pigs through the gate hole, bumping them on their noses before they would reluctantly back through the gate. Many people are just as foolish as those pigs. God wants to offer us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; yet, all we can think of is persisting in destructive behavior.
While Job is continuing to complain at God for tormenting him, God is perfecting Job spiritually. Even the verbal assaults from Job’s self-styled advisors are part of that process.
Perhaps you too sympathize with Job. Perhaps you find yourself in an untenable situation, surrounded by vicious critics. But if you are trusting God, then never fear. The same God who has caused Joni Earickson Tada to bless millions can equally perfect you.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, please help us to trust where we cannot see and to realize that Your purposes for our lives are far greater than anything we can imagine. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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