Job

Chapter 9:1-12 (ESV) - Then Job answered and said:

“Truly I know that it is so:
    But how can a man be in the right before God?
If one wished to contend with him,
    one could not answer him once in a thousand times.
He is wise in heart and mighty in strength
    —who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?—
he who removes mountains, and they know it not,
    when he overturns them in his anger,
who shakes the earth out of its place,
    and its pillars tremble;
who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
    who seals up the stars;
who alone stretched out the heavens
    and trampled the waves of the sea;
who made the Bear and Orion,
    the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
who does great things beyond searching out,
    and marvelous things beyond number.
Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not;
    he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back?
    Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’”

Question to consider: Why will no one be able to stand before God and ask, “What are you doing?”

Bildad the Shuhite ended his word for Job by saying, “God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers.” Job agreed with this statement, but he posed the question of how a man can be made right before God. If Bildad was correct that Job deserved his plight because of some kind of sin, then what was he supposed to do about it? For God is more powerful than anyone can imagine, and there is no way to contend with Him.

Everything that God wishes to come to pass, comes to pass. Even the mightiest warrior or the wisest mage has no ability to succeed against the one who created the heavens and the earth and whom even the sun obeys.

God sets the order of the entire universe. I have friends who deny God’s goodness and proclaim that God is unjust as if God should act according to their definition of justice and goodness. Set aside the fact that this is reminiscent of a preschooler shaking his fist at his dad and calling him a “meanie” for saying it’s bedtime, the idea of contending with the very one who knit your bones together and keeps your cells from splitting apart seems like a fool’s errand. 

I believe that God revealed Himself as a servant who wrapped a towel around His waist and washed His disciples' feet, and the king who sacrificed Himself for the sake of His people— not the warrior of Islam who rewards someone for blowing themselves up in a holy war. However, if I somehow ended up being completely wrong about this, I would definitely not be under the illusion that I could somehow tell God how wrong He is.

Before someone plays the accuser and questions the goodness of God however, I’d encourage him to set aside what he thinks he knows and consider that God is the one who created everything that is beautiful and true. It is in fact the one who desired to destroy Job who seeks to destroy all that is pure in the world. So maybe we should stop getting our talking points from satanic sources and give God the benefit of the doubt?

Prayer

Dear heavenly Father, thank You for revealing Yourself in scripture. Help us to see all that You have called good for what it really is. If we struggle to understand something, help us to trust in the truth You have proclaimed. Amen.