In Today's Email:
Job 8 Notes
In this chapter Bildad reasons that Job’s suffering is because of his sin.
vs. 1-7 – Bildad makes the same basic accusation that Eliphaz did, that Job must have sinned to have caused his suffering. Bildad is incensed that Job would offer what he determined as empty excuses. Job’s words were as empty as the wind that blows. That also went for his prayers, because it is reasoned that God would hear the prayer of the righteous and, obviously, he had not heard his prayers. It is a cruel accusation in vs. 4 that blames the deaths of Job’s children on their sins, that they must have gotten what they deserved. Bildad’s reasoning is that IF (used to begin vs. 4-6) Job had only done well then none of this would have befallen him.
vs. 8-10 – Next Bildad appeals to history and tradition. Did not their forefathers believe that suffering was caused by sin? How could Job go against the established wisdom that had been passed down to them?
vs. 11-22 – Bildad now appeals to past observation. He argues using cause and effect. God, they all knew, would punish the wicked in the end and reward the righteous. So, if suffering was the fate awaiting the wicked and Job was now suffering, the effect of his suffering must have been caused by his sin.
Job 9 Notes
In this chapter Job begins his defense against Bildad.
vs. 1-10 – Job begins his defense against Bildad by exalting the greatness of God. No man can stand against God. He is ceding the argument made at the close of the previous chapter that God will ultimately punish the wicked and reward the righteous. Who could stop God from doing so? In vs. 9 there is a list of constellations of stars that Job says are proof of the power of God.
vs. 11-21 – After establishing the greatness of God, Job now appeals to His sovereignty. Man is nothing before the almighty God. We cannot stop Him or hinder Him in His works. He knows what is best and does it. Note in vs. 20 that Job says he cannot defend himself against God’s will. Who is man to question God? To what higher authority could our case be appealed? Job proposes that it is sinful to even argue against the plans made by the Lord. God is incapable of wrongdoing or mistakes. If we argue we do not deserve what befalls us, we are guilty of self-righteousness. See I John 1:8-10.
vs. 22-24 – Job counters the argument that all suffering must be caused by sin. He does so by appealing to God’s use of judgment against nations. The word “scourge” is used, likening the action to a lashing. The idea is that some disaster or calamity is sent against a nation and all, both righteous and unrighteous, suffer in it. If famine came, it was not as if the fields of the righteous were bountiful while those of the wicked were dry and bare. If God did not cause or allow such, then who did? Because of God’s sovereignty it must be by Him.
vs. 25-35 – Job senses his own mortality, especially when compared to the vastness of God. Who was he to present a defense against God? How could he even do so? No amount of self-improvement would change the facts of his case. In vs. 33, he longs for a mediator to stand between him and God and argue on his behalf. In the Old Testament economy this was not fully revealed, but we know that Jesus Christ fulfills that very function for believers (I Timothy 2:15, I John 2:1-2).
Job 10 Notes
In this chapter continues his defense against Bildad.
vs. 1-17 – Job presents an example of the defense he might offer God, though he has already admitted in the previous chapter such an endeavor is futile. He is speaking his frustration out loud. God knows that he is not wicked and yet he is suffering. He cannot understand it. Why would God attack one of His children? He was suffering, and all the evidence in his mind showed it was not linked to his righteousness or lack of it. God was doing it and it did not make sense to Job.
vs. 18-22 – Job again despairs that he had ever drawn the breath of life. Why should he suffer when he would go the way of mortal man into death? It would have been better to die in infancy than to live through this experience and face the same fate. Note his description of death. He does not anticipate torment or judgment. He knows that by his faith he would not see that end. But he does not see the joys of Heaven either. He is speaking her out of grief, refusing to acknowledge the blessed hope that awaits for the saints of God beyond death’s door.
Closing Thoughts
It is the height of absurdity to think that we know more than God and that we can somehow convince Him of an error in His will. We here this often among the unchurched, but it creeps into our thinking sometimes. We could never win in an argument against God. Now, we may pray and present our pleas, but God still does exactly what He wills to do. We do not control God. He controls all things. We find peace when we surrender to His will and rest in His care.
Hymn for Today
Our hymn today is a reworking of Job 9:2-10 by Isaac Watts. When it first appeared in 1709 it was entitled “God, Holy, Just, and Sovereign”.
How should the Sons of Adam’s Race
Be pure before their God?
If he contend in Righteousness,
We fall beneath his Rod.
To vindicate my Words and Thoughts,
I'll make no more Pretence;
Not one of all my thousand Faults
Can bear a just Defence.
Strong in his Arm, his Heart is wise;
What vain Presumers dare
Against their Maker's Hand to rise,
Or tempt th' unequal War?
Mountains, by his Almighty Wrath,
From their old Seats are torn;
He shakes the Earth from South to North,
And all her Pillars mourn.
He bids the Sun forbear to rise;
Th’ obedient Sun forbears;
His Hand with Sackcloth spreads the Skies,
And seals up all the Stars.
He walks upon the stormy Sea;
Flies on the stormy Wind;
There's none can trace his wond'rous Way,
Or his dark footsteps find.