October 1, 2023
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Job? Here’s today’s reading:
Job 12 (NIV)
Job
1 Then Job replied:
2“Doubtless you are the only people who matter,
and wisdom will die with you!
3 But I have a mind as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know all these things?…..Continue Reading
Job 12
Job answers Dope har and nails it. Wisdom will die with you! Then he answers all of these narrow minded and incorrect legalists. So easy to judge others based on a few hours of conversation. Unless we have walked in their shoes. And I’m learning so much to read these words again. To not judge. But to love. If I invest time with someone and show them the love of God without judgement. That love will overcome. Job lets these clowns know. They have told him nothing that he didn’t already know. And that they completely misunderstood the reason for his suffering. Job didn’t know why. But he was certain these guys were incorrect. There’s not a stronger scripture reading that speaks to me about not to judge but to come along those that are suffering and show them the love of Christ
Job is responding to his friends for they think that they know it all. They clearly don’t, but Job says he has understanding as well as them. Job is grieved because his friends mock him and is scorned even though he is an upright man. Job points out that at times the wicked do prosper and even provoke God but feel they are secure. God has His own time for judgement. Then Job goes on and says how God`s creation can teach you. That God is in control and can do anything He wants and in His time. He can lift up or lower whoever He wants. There are many examples throughout the Bible. Such as Moses, Joseph, Gideon, and even the rise and fall of kings. God bless us as we seek to be instruments for His good.
Job defends himself before his friends and makes clear that he has wisdom too. He sees God’s hand in his situation and recognizes all life is in God’s hand. God in fact is the One who is the source of wisdom and power and can do what He so chooses with every echelon of society, from the highest to the lowest. No one can come against God and be successful. We should all be humble before Him and wait for Him to provide answers to the situations we find ourselves in and follow the counsel of those who receive their counsel from Him.
Job is quick to remind his friends that he too knows how God works, he understands the idea of sin and punishment, he knows the power and might of God. In this chapter we see his frustration shifts away from wondering why God is doing this to why his friends are treating him like a sinful idiot.
When you think about job it is hard not to consider Jesus’ crucifixion, standing before people’s hurtful words, physical torment, and ultimately His death but all as an innocent man. I read these interactions and think Job does remain so faithful to God but also we hear and feel his frustration and sorrow. He spouts off rants while understandable are filled with heartache and then I think of Jesus and he said almost nothing as He withstood such pain for us!
Job 12
“But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Indeed, who does not know such things as these?”
Psalms 141:3 Set a guard over my mouth, Lord ; keep watch over the door of my lips. Sometimes it is hard to keep quiet when people are speaking negatively about others. The Lord will help me refrain from engaging in conversations that hurt or berate others regardless of whether or not the person is my adversary. Only then am I acting as a true believer, a child God loves, who shares this love with everyone I interact with, knowing deep in my heart that Jesus would do the same.
Job 12