October 10, 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 21 (NIV)
Job
1 Then Job replied:
2“Listen carefully to my words;
let this be the consolation you give me.
3 Bear with me while I speak,
and after I have spoken, mock on.…..Continue Reading
Job is disagreeing with his friends for he has reason to have a complaint to God and them for he doesn`t understand why he is suffering so much. For his appearance is so bad that people are appalled and cover their mouth. His body is trembling and weak. Fear comes upon him when he remembers what they see. One of the things he doesn`t understand is how often the wicked go on without any form of suffering and instead are allowed to have what would be lives of blessings. While others may go whether wicked or good and have constant lives of sufferings. God has His purpose in all of these lives and ours. Sometimes God`s judgement is on the wicked right away. Sometimes it is delayed like what He did with evil nations to bring judgement upon Israel only latter to judge these same nations. In Daniel we are told about King Belshazzar that with God`s hand writing on the wall of judgement by God on him. That very night he was slain. Dan. 5. But there is also the final judgement where the wicked will be cast into the lake of fire. The righteous many times will go through much suffering some more than others but this doesn`t mean they have sinned. Although sometimes it is because of sin. Sometimes believers have long lives and sometimes they have short lives. Also some believers don`t have much suffering at all. God does things different in each of our lives. At the end of this chapter Job knows that his friends comfort to him is nonsense and falsehood for they all think that Job is a wicked man and deserves what he is getting. There is also another scripture that comes to mind. Luke 16;19-31. The rich man and Lazarus. The rich man went to hell and Lazarus went to Heaven. May our speech and attitude be what is honoring to the Lord.
I can definitely say I have felt how Job feels. So often we do see the wicked prosper in this world. But, when God turns our hearts and minds toward our home in heaven, we begin to loosen our grip a bit, and find our peace in what God has done. Jesus prays for his disciples, and by proxy, us when he asks the Father:
“I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:15-17
By abiding in God’s Word, His Truth, and with His people, in His Spirit, He helps and equips us to endure and thrive in a world that seems to all too often reward the wicked. Those who we see as wicked, through new eyes given by the Spirit, become as those in chains to us, and our heart moves to share the love of God with them, having been delivered from the very same chains, simply because God loves, and God saves.
It is actually quite admirable how Job has a clear observation and insight about the plight of the wicked and righteous people like him. I believe it is freeing to accept the fact that many wicked people will live and even die comfortably on earth. That should not shake my faith.
Job 17-21; Ruth 1
It is fitting that Job would begin by asking them to listen carefully because up to this point they haven’t and have had their own agenda and opinion independent of what Job has said. And yet his point is valid. At times the wicked do prosper and sometimes they may on the outside but not on the inside. But I think the main point is that we can’t make a judgement about a man’s heart by the condition of their lives or what circumstances might cause us to conclude about God’s activity towards them. God certainly blesses righteousness and those who sow to the sin nature reap destruction. But that is not the only way that God works. He also makes the rain fall on the just and unjust…and allows undeserved suffering in the life of the righteous….Job being the poster child of that in fact. But the best thing we can do as we minister to people is get to know their hearts by talking AND listening, rather than making snap judgments based on preconceived notions. And the objective reference point is how are we regarding the things of God….are we growing in them or not..and a sure sign is the extent to which we are engaging in the 5 disciplines: worship, the word, the Spirit, prayer and the fellowship of believers. How we are engaging in them is a greater indicator of the condition of our lives rather than what is happening to us.
Job 21
Job uses his friend’s own logic against them here to say if we see wicked people live blessed lives than it is possible for a righteous man to experience suffering. Job seems to defend and struggle with the fact we don’t always understand God’s plan and His thoughts are much higher than ours. The reality is as a Christian we will experience hurts, loss, and pain but it is in those times that we press into God instead of wasting time trying to answer such a question as why bad things happen to good people and vice versa. Instead we lean into God and trust that there is always a bigger plan at play even if we don’t understand…just look at how much we are still learning so many years later from the experience of Job.
Job 21
“Why do the wicked live and become old,
Yes, become mighty in power?”
Job 31