Job 27 Job’s Final Speech
Job continued speaking: “I vow by the living God, who has taken away my rights, by the Almighty who has embittered my soul—As long as I live, while I have breath from God, my lips will speak no evil, and my tongue will speak no lies. I will never concede that you are right; I will defend my integrity until I die. I will maintain my innocence without wavering. My conscience is clear for as long as I live.” Here, Job is falsely accusing God, for Job blames God for taking away his rights and embittering his soul. But even in the midst of suffering, there are still choices.
Viktor Frankl survived German concentration camps during World War II by insisting that he was in charge of his choices and he could choose to become discouraged or to continue to take heart. Later, Frankl would author Man’s Search for Meaning, one of the best books about overcoming suffering ever written. Frankl chose to fight the crushing weight of despair in the camps by three means: the completion of tasks, caring for another person, and finding meaning by facing suffering with dignity.
Job has endured repeated verbal assaults from those purporting to be comforters. Repeatedly, these men have attempted to convince Job that he must be a miserable sinner who has committed some terrible act for God to punish him in this fashion. Repeatedly, Job has persisted in facing his suffering with dignity. Knowing that he is innocent, Job has done everything he can to defend himself, but to no avail. Now Job is having his final say to these false friends.
“May my enemy be punished like the wicked, my adversary like those who do evil. For what hope do the godless have when God cuts them off and takes away their life? Will God listen to their cry when trouble comes upon them? Can they take delight in the Almighty? Can they call to God at any time? I will teach you about God’s power. I will not conceal anything concerning the Almighty.”
“But you have seen all this, yet you say all these useless things to me. “This is what the wicked will receive from God; this is their inheritance from the Almighty. They may have many children, but the children will die in war or starve to death. Those who survive will die of a plague, and not even their widows will mourn them.”
“Evil people may have piles of money and may store away mounds of clothing. But the righteous will wear that clothing, and the innocent will divide that money. The wicked build houses as fragile as a spider’s web, as flimsy as a shelter made of branches. The wicked go to bed rich but wake to find that all their wealth is gone. Terror overwhelms them like a flood,
and they are blown away in the storms of the night. The east wind carries them away, and they are gone. It sweeps them away. It whirls down on them without mercy. They struggle to flee from its power. But everyone jeers at them and mocks them.”
These are the worthless arguments Job’s three advisors have put forth. Job is anything but convinced, for he knows that sometimes the wicked prosper and the innocent suffer while other times, the wicked do suffer while the innocent survive. Only God truly controls these events. What angers Job is the refusal of these men to acknowledge his innocence and to recognize that their platitudes simply don’t hold water.
As I am writing this study, my husband is watching a program about engineering disasters that have killed thousands of people. These people were innocent victims of poor planning, deforestation, building in earthquake and mudslide-prone areas, shoddy building practices that left buildings on the brink of collapse. Their only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Disasters have occurred since the beginning of time. Luke 13:1-5 tells of a time when Jesus’ disciples were asking about innocent people suffering. “At that time some of those present told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. To this He replied, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this fate? No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed on them: Do you think that they were more sinful than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
Here Jesus is contrasting physical death from disasters with spiritual death. Both kinds of deaths are tragic, but spiritual death is even worse than physical death, for spiritual death is eternal. When we give way to despair and curse God, clinging to our sins, we are choosing emotional and spiritual death. Job’s friends were correct to a certain point: humans are inherently sinful and need a Savior to deliver them from the consequences of their sins. But God has already given us a means of escape from our sins. John 1:8-9 tells us, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
How can we fight despair when we feel crushed by events? Romans 15:13 gives us the answer: “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” We cannot manufacture joy or peace for ourselves, for joy and peace come from God. But we can ask God to give us His peace, His joy, and His hope, for when God gives these gifts, they will remain forever, as long as we will continue to believe in Him.
Eventually, Job’s faith will be rewarded and his critics will be confounded. God has allowed Job to be included in the Bible so that we can learn from Job’s example of patience and endurance. May God help us to learn everything we can, so that our lives will abound in hope, joy, and peace.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to believe in You so that You may give us Your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, all the fruits of the Holy Spirit. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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