Scripture: Job 38:1-7; 40:3-5; 42:1-6,10
After taking 3 weeks to consider the struggle that Job went through, today we approach the resolution that he has so desperately needed. He doesn’t get an answer to his “WHY?” question, but he will discover that not only is the question irrelevant, but the answer to “Why” isn’t all that important, either.
The author Sister Ritamary Bradley writes:
“It is not why does God not hear me, but why do I not hear God?”
--Ritamary Bradley,
Praying With Julian of Norwich.
When you ask the wrong question, you either get the wrong answer or no answer at all. For Job, it was never a question of “Why?” or “How?” or anything else! It had to be a statement - his response to the struggle had to be the exclamation “Yes!”
A fourth friend by the name of Elihu comes to Job, and for 7 chapters begins to unfold the majesty of God to Job and the other three. He would be the last and the youngest to address Job’s condition and, apparently, the wisest. As a brief summary of what Elihu tells the others, it is this: “Job – you’re not as perfect as you seem to think you are. The suffering that you are experiencing is the pain of death that comes to all who sin. Relief and redemption from the pain of this life can only come from God, not by our own hand.”
And he tells the other three that they aren’t quite as smart as they seem to think they are. Not one of them has proven Job wrong, and none of them has truly answered Job’s arguments. And regardless of how much they had to say about the Lord and his ways in Job’s life, none of them actually understands how just and powerful and all encompassing and magnificent God really is.
And Elihu ends his speech in 37:23-24 with these words “The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress. Therefore, men revere him, for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?”
When God knew that Job finally understood that, he began to tell the man exactly what he needed to know.
Read Job 38:1-7
Job was a righteous man – God told the Accuser that back in Chapter 1. But the man wasn’t perfect and suffering came just the same. But through it all, Job’s only plea was not necessarily for relief, although that would have been welcome, but rather that he might once again see his Lord’s image and hear his Lord’s voice.
God tells the man to fasten his seat belt and to hold on tight, because now the tables would be turned – the Almighty would do the questioning, and the man would give the answers, if indeed, he could! And the divine response would last for four chapters
But the answer isn’t the one that Job or the other four were expecting, and it isn’t the one that any of us would want, either. We want to hear that God suddenly spoke words of compassion and hope to Job and would immediately take pity on his sorry state and heal him on the spot. But he didn't.
As for the 3 friends, we want God to offer them words of condemnation and correction for the way that they treated Job. But he doesn’t. The words that come from God, basically, remind these men - all of them - of the power and mystery that is behind the very nature of his Almighty hand, and that there isn’t one of them (or one of us for that matter!) who has the right to question God’s ways; that no one can have even an ounce of understanding of him. He offers one point after another, and every one of them is intended to reveal the glory that is God and the miracle that is his creation. There isn’t a single word of deep theological thought here, and yet it lays out the Divine purpose in such visual and understandable way that it is unmistakable.
Job had been waiting to plead his case to God, and it seems that it is God who asks the questions and makes the case for Job! And the man and his friends sit in awed silence until God asks: “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!”
Read Job 40:3-5
Job tells the Lord that he has nothing to say in response. He’s starting to get it, but God isn’t done yet, and continues:
Read Job 40:8-14
I wish more people would consider these words and try, just try, to understand what they are saying to us. After all of the “Can you’s” and “Where were you’s”, and “Do you’s” of chapters 38 & 39, God tells Job that if he can even begin to do the things that the Lord has already been doing, then he will acknowledge that salvation by human hands is, after all, a possible and viable option.
But there are a lot of folks out there who don’t appreciate this fact.
They discount God’s solitary authority over control of the universe, over who will be saved, and over who can’t and won’t.
They don’t, or won’t, understand, that while the decision that they make is the difference between salvation and condemnation, it isn’t going to be based on their standards!
Salvation is not the default for our lives! The lack of a conscious decision will not bring about the desired effect for our life in eternity! Even Job the Righteous knew that he was incapable of controlling anything that God had made – items that the Lord has had power over and has commanded in every moment of every day since the beginning of time.
The renowned story teller John Henry Faulk tells a story from his early childhood:
While growing up with his cousin, Billy, deep in East Texas as nine-year-old make-believe Texas Rangers, they were the scourge of all bandits, robbers and desperadoes when they rode their trusty stick horses on the range between the kitchen door and the corn crib.
One day John Henry's mother sent them out to investigate a commotion in the henhouse. They cautiously entered where all the chickens were squawking and fluttering around and began to examine the nests. About half way through their investigation, as they peered into a nest, a black snake raised its head about six inches from their noses. John Henry remembers how all of their make-believe heroism fell away as they made a new door in the side of the henhouse.
When John Henry's mother questioned them about the incident, she wondered how the two bravest lawmen in East Texas could be afraid of a harmless black snake, adding, “After all, everybody knows a black snake can't hurt nobody.” To which young Billy replied, as he rubbed his bruised head and backside, “Yes, Ma'am, but they sure can cause you to hurt yourself.”
The struggle that Job went through, and the attacks of his friends, and the frustration that Job felt during those months of pain and suffering and agonizing hopelessness, was not caused by either God or the Accuser! God allowed Satan to take blessings away from Job, but the greatest pain came, not because of the loss of family or possessions or health, but because of human perceptions and attitudes and disjointed faith.
The point of the suffering, as well as that of the Divine lecture, was not to humble Job and to beat him down into submission. It was to teach a lesson to all who were involved – Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, Elihu, and especially Satan the Accuser - and to grow the man Job into even greater faith and righteousness.
And it was successful.
Read Job 42:1-6, 10
The lesson of Job is not about enduring pain, and as much as tradition would tell us otherwise, it is not about patience! Job was not a patient man! It’s about living a life in faith that is so strong that nothing can come between us and our Lord. And in our lives, whether in tragedy or in joy, we need to claim the words that showed the world that Job had learned the lesson well.
“My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”
Then God tells the friends that they have to go to Job to seek his forgiveness for all of the wrong advice that they had given. He knew the commandment “Whatever you forgive on earth will be forgiven in heaven ..” (Matthew 18:15-19) some 2,000 years before Jesus ever spoke them!
Have you forgiven your friends of all the hurt that they have brought into your life? And if you have, have you seen your Lord today? Have you heard his voice? If you’re not sure, then just look around you and marvel at the creative and restorative and redeeming powers that he gives to our benefit every day. Open your ears to the glory of a newborn’s cry, or a breeze blowing through a tree, or an unexplained word or sense that gives you the very answer that you need. Claim the forgiving power of God, and be part of that restorative work in our world.
See with the eyes on your face, and with the eyes of your heart; Hear with both the ears of your body and with those of your soul. Know, without question, that he and he alone is God, and that our very existence is based in his grace and his love for the likes of you and me.
