Job 16

Continuing onward to Job 16.

Job punched back at his friends...

Then Job replied:
I have heard many things like these;
miserable comforters are you all!
Will your long-winded speeches never end?
What ails you that you keep on arguing?
I also could speak like you,
if you were in my place;
I could make fine speeches against you
and shake my head at you.

His friends didn't say anything that Job didn't know already. He felt, c'mon guys, you are no help at all! I have heard everything you have said because I've said them to myself already!

But my mouth would encourage you;
comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

Real wisdom is needed in life on what to say to people in pain. How does one encourage and comfort?

Often times words do seem awfully useless. But yet, sometimes words are all we got to give someone. Can't help but think of James 3 where the power of the tongue (words) for good and evil are directly discussed.

If there is sin there, how do we speak truth that can restore?

If there is suffering there, how do we speak truth that encourages and comforts?

Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved;
and if I refrain, it does not go away.

Ever been there?

What is there to do when there is nothing that can be done?

Tearful nights, sleepless dawns.

Can't help but think of Robert Kennedy quoting Aeschylus' Agamemnon on the night Martin Luther King was assassinated:

"In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

Job continued to bare his heart to God and his friends ...

Surely, O God, you have worn me out;
you have devastated my entire household.
You have bound me - and it has become a witness;
my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.
God assails me and tears me in his anger
and gnashes his teeth at me;
my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.
Men open their mouths to jeer at me;
they strike my cheek in scorn
and unite together against me.
God has turned me over to evil men
and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.
All was well with me, but he shattered me;
he seized me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me his target;
his archers surround me.
Without pity, he pierces my kidneys
and spills my gall on the ground.
Again and again he bursts upon me;
he rushes at me like a warrior.
I have sewed sackcloth over my skin
and buried my brow in the dust.
My face is red with weeping,
deep shadows ring my eyes;
yet my hands have been free of violence
and my prayer is pure.
O earth, do not cover my blood;
may my cry never be laid to rest!

This is the power of poetry at work: the visual words, the cadence of phrases, the deep emotions pour forth giving form to thoughts from within.

Yes, it sounds sacrilegious to be this angry at God!

As a "religious" person, I often think of myself as "a sinner in the hands of an angry God." And that picture is true! But here the tables are turned somewhat where God is in the hands of an angry sufferer.

Later on in Job, God responded and Job cowered in the presence of God and rightly so.

The choice was before him: "curse God and die" or engage God honestly and see what happens.

Indeed, Job goes on knowing he needed help ...

Even now my witness is in heaven;
my advocate is on high.
My intercessor is my friend
as my eyes pour out tears to God;
on behalf of a man he pleads with God
as a man pleads for his friend.
Only a few years will pass
before I go on the journey of no return.

Job didn't know about Jesus and what that would mean theologically. However, Job knew the human condition. He knew his condition. If he, if we, are to stand before God, we need help.

Lord, thank you that Jesus is my advocate before you. I can pour out tears to you and you will hear because Jesus has restored my relationship to you, O God. Amen.

Job 15

Previously,
Job 1-2 Narrative Prologue
Job 3 - Job's lament
First cycle of poems
Eliphaz - Job 4-5, Job replies - Job 6-7
Bildad - Job 8, Job replies - Job 9-10
Zophar - Job 11, Job replies - Job 12-14

I was recently at the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit in San Diego. One highlight of the exhibit was the videos from the UCLA Qumran Visualization Project.



One of the scrolls on display was an Aramaic translation of the Book of Job. It was kind of a strange moment to think that I had just a little bit in common with that scribe 2000 years in the past and 1/2 a world away!

What did he think about when he wrote out Job 15?

Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
Would a wise man answer with empty notions
or fill his belly with the hot east wind?
Would he argue with useless words,
with speeches that have no value?

Them is fighting words!

He goes on with more jabs.

But you even undermine piety
and hinder devotion to God.
Your sin prompts your mouth;
you adopt the tongue of the crafty.
Your own mouth condemns you, not mine;
your own lips testify against you.

It seems that each speech by the friends of Job is getting progressively more aggressive. Eliphaz's prior speech in chapter 4 seemed downright mild in comparison!

Are you the first man ever born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
Do you listen in on God's council?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
What do you know that we do not know?
What insights do you have that we do not have?
The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
men even older than your father.

It is certainly true enough that Job probably wasn't the first man to suffer and wonder what the heck is going on. In someway, Job is "everyman" or at least every man who has tried to live rightly with faith in God. Someone who hasn't tried to live rightly would have no right to complain. And someone with no faith in God would have no God he or she would want to complain to!

Are God's consolations not enough for you,
words spoken gently to you?
Why has your heart carried you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
so that you vent your rage against God
and pour out such words from your mouth?
What is man, that he could be pure,
or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?
If God places no trust in his holy ones,
if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,
how much less man, who is vile and corrupt,
who drinks up evil like water!

Such powerful words!

Sometimes when I'm feeling like the score is disappointment in life 5 me 0, I feel pretty low. As a person of faith, I ask myself, Are God's consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you? Do I really have the right to complain?

One thing I live by (I confess I often don't succeed) and I wonder if you think it is wrong of me to do this but I try to act happier than I actually am. Friends who know me will tell me I often fail at this! However, this is something I strive for. You see sometimes by acting happy you soon become happy. And even if that doesn't happen, I might still have an impact on those around me in a positive way. Do you think this is a good thing?

There is a scene in the film Cinderella Man when the character played by Rene Zellwegger is at the end of her rope with the children. When she is with them, she maintains a positive outlook. However, she then steps outside her home and breaks down and cries. She tried to act more happily than she felt because she wanted to protect her children.

The whole premise of the film Life is Beautiful is similar to this.

However, when I'm alone with God. I am at more liberty to be myself. Is this the right approach?

One last thought, from Job 1-2, we find that God has placed trust in Job in contrast to Eliphaz's point If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks up evil like water!

Eliphaz continues very confidently and belligerently ...

Listen to me and I will explain to you;
let me tell you what I have seen,
what wise men have declared,
hiding nothing received from their fathers
(to whom alone the land was given
when no alien passed among them):
All his days the wicked man suffers torment,
the ruthless through all the years stored up for him.
Terrifying sounds fill his ears;
when all seems well, marauders attack him.
He despairs of escaping the darkness;
he is marked for the sword.
He wanders about - food for vultures;
he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
Distress and anguish fill him with terror;
they overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,
because he shakes his fist at God
and vaunts himself against the Almighty,
defiantly charging against him
with a thick, strong shield.
Though his face is covered with fat
and his waist bulges with flesh,
he will inhabit ruined towns
and houses where no one lives,
houses crumbling to rubble.
He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions spread over the land.
He will not escape the darkness;
a flame will wither his shoots,
and the breath of God's mouth will carry him away.
Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless,
for he will get nothing in return.
Before his time he will be paid in full,
and his branches will not flourish.
He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes,
like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.
For the company of the godless will be barren,
and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.
They conceive trouble and give birth to evil;
their womb fashions deceit.

Such vivid word pictures!

It is passages like these especially that tell me this story isn't "literal" in the sense this is a transcript of Job and his three friends sitting on the porch contemplating the mysteries of life. Do you and I talk in poetry to each other?

What probably happened was that the author of Job put into beautifully imaginative poetry the kinds of thoughts people have when they wrestle with the age old questions of justice, suffering, faithfulness, God and friendship.

Shakespeare's works aren't literally true but they are based loosely on real life events and embody real life experiences of the human condition.

So on the substance, is Eliphaz right?

9 times out of 10, people do get their comeuppance. The wheels of justice in this life sometimes do work and those who do wrong pay a price for their ways. But the difference in the story is that it is one thing to see the foibles of the rich and famous documented on the television news and then for them to wind up in jail. They are getting their just dessserts.

It is another thing to see someone suffering and assume they have some sin which we haven't seen.

Is Job suffering because he sinned?

Thus, as one may say, the premise of the question doesn't apply.

Lord, help me to take consolation in you during the difficult times. Help me to be loving to those around me who are in pain. Help me to be discerning about my sin and other's sin and slow to make judgments about others. And when I do make judgments on others, help me to do so with extreme humility and ready to give mercy and compassion with the goal of restoration and not to tear down. Amen.

Job 14

Am looking at Job 14 this morning.

Job is continuing the monologue he started back in Job 12.

Man who is born of woman
Is of few days and full of trouble.
He comes forth like a flower and fades away;
He flees like a shadow and does not continue.
And do You open Your eyes on such a one,
And bring me to judgment with Yourself?
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
No one!
Since his days are determined,
The number of his months is with You;
You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass.
Look away from him that he may rest,
Till like a hired man he finishes his day.
For there is hope for a tree,
If it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
And that its tender shoots will not cease.
Though its root may grow old in the earth,
And its stump may die in the ground,
Yet at the scent of water it will bud
And bring forth branches like a plant.
But man dies and is laid away;
Indeed he breathes his last
And where is he?
As water disappears from the sea,
And a river becomes parched and dries up,

Do you think about death a lot?

I don't. Certain events in life (death of someone I know, a personal health problem, some tragedy in the news) will cause me to think about death. And when I sit and think about it, I do have to say what Job is saying here: we are here and gone just like that.

Can I wake up every morning and think, I'm going to die today? I suppose it might focus my mind more on gratitude and making the most of the opportunity of life? Or would it just be depressing leading me to not even bother going out the door?

Of course, we have to allow Job this time of reflection because of his circumstances.

As one pastor shared with me, I don't have to preach too loud at funerals. At other times, pastors can get a megaphone in our face and we don't listen!

So man lies down and does not rise.
Till the heavens are no more,
They will not awake
Nor be roused from their sleep.
Oh, that You would hide me in the grave,
That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past,
That You would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my hard service I will wait,
Till my change comes.
You shall call, and I will answer You;
You shall desire the work of Your hands.

Do you think Job believes in an afterlife?

A lot of times, Job talks of death and it seems like he is saying, that's it, you are in the ground and there is nothing more.

This passages seem to hint that he believes there might be something more.

What do you think?

Is it the part of me that knows of Jesus and the resurrection that biases me to think that Job had at least a hint of an afterlife?

From the next passage, I can't help but feel that Job is of two minds about the afterlife. At times, it seems like he thinks there is nothing more and at other times he seems to be hinting he believes there is more.

For now You number my steps,
But do not watch over my sin.
My transgression is sealed up in a bag,
And You cover my iniquity.
But as a mountain falls and crumbles away,
And as a rock is moved from its place;
As water wears away stones,
And as torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
So You destroy the hope of man.
You prevail forever against him, and he passes on;
You change his countenance and send him away.
His sons come to honor, and he does not know it;
They are brought low, and he does not perceive it.
But his flesh will be in pain over it,
And his soul will mourn over it.

It does seem bleak doesn't it?

I think the "hint" of an afterlife is that Job seems to care about justice as he talks about sin.

For now You number my steps,
But do not watch over my sin.
My transgression is sealed up in a bag,
And You cover my iniquity.

Job believes he has sin in his life but that God has forgiven him of his sins.

The simple calculation is that he is suffering right now and so he must have sin. If there is no afterlife, where is the vindication of his standing before God?

Perhaps, that is a reach of convoluted logic.

Lord, the physical life is precious to me. You want me to do justice in this life but I know there is still lots of injustice. You want me to show mercy to people in this life but sometimes that just doesn't seem like enough to make up for has happened. You want me to walk humbly with you but it seems hard when things happen that don't make a lot of sense. Help me to be like Job to be able to say like him,
If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my hard service I will wait,
Till my change comes.
You shall call, and I will answer You;
You shall desire the work of Your hands.
Amen.

Job 13

Onward to Job 13.

Job goes into a thrust and parry mode.

He takes a poke at Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar and says their arguments are not unfamiliar to him.

Behold, my eye has seen all this,
my ear has heard and understood it.
What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.

What Job wants is an audience with God.

But I would speak to the Almighty,
and I desire to argue my case with God.

Job pokes his friends again!

As for you, you whitewash with lies;
worthless physicians are you all.
Oh that you would keep silent,
and it would be your wisdom!

Job switches back to wanting to make his case.

Hear now my argument
and listen to the pleadings of my lips.

He slaps at his friends again.

Will you speak falsely for God
and speak deceitfully for him?
Will you show partiality toward him?
Will you plead the case for God?
Will it be well with you when he searches you out?
Or can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?
He will surely rebuke you
if in secret you show partiality.
Will not his majesty terrify you,
and the dread of him fall upon you?
Your maxims are proverbs of ashes;
your defenses are defenses of clay.

He demands silence from his friends so he can have the floor to make the case with God.

Let me have silence, and I will speak,
and let come on me what may.
Why should I take my flesh in my teeth
and put my life in my hand?
Though he slay me, I will hope in him;
yet I will argue my ways to his face.
This will be my salvation,
that the godless shall not come before him.
Keep listening to my words,
and let my declaration be in your ears.
Behold, I have prepared my case;
I know that I shall be in the right.
Who is there who will contend with me?
For then I would be silent and die.

The phrase that really jumps out at me is Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face. Whoa. Audacious. Chutzpah. Any other words you want to use to describe Job here?

Job straddles that fine line of respect for God ... he realizes he could be zapped on the ground he is standing on ... and intimacy with God ... he wants to get in God's face!

He goes on and demands two things from God ...

Only grant me two things,
then I will not hide myself from your face:
withdraw your hand far from me,
and let not dread of you terrify me.
Then call, and I will answer;
or let me speak, and you reply to me.

Paraphrasing Job by drawing from my own prayer life when sometimes I feel anguish such that all I can barely croak out in prayer is, God I'm in pain (emotional or physical), make it stop, talk to me, listen to me. HELP!

How many are my iniquities and my sins?
Make me know my transgression and my sin.
Why do you hide your face
and count me as your enemy?

Job knows he isn't a perfect man. He pleads, God, did I mess up somewhere? I know its possible, tell me!

He brings all his doubts to God's feet

Will you frighten a driven leaf
and pursue dry chaff?
For you write bitter things against me
and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.
You put my feet in the stocks
and watch all my paths;
you set a limit for the soles of my feet.
Man wastes away like a rotten thing,
like a garment that is moth-eaten.

To be continued into Job 14 ...

Lord, Job, one of the oldest books in the Bible reads and sounds as real today as prayers anguished believers pray each night as they bring their sorrows to you. God, I have heard words from my mouth no where near as eloquent as Job's words but they come from the same heart. Lord God, grant comfort to those people in my life for whom I know sorrow is their portion at this moment. Grant me some of that blessing too as I face difficulties in day-to-day life. Amen.

Job 12

Previously, in chapter 1-2 we got the behind the scenes look at the cosmic struggle for faith and its meaning to God.

Job's opening lament was chapter 3.

Eliphaz spoke in chapter 4-5. Job replied in chapter 6-7.

Bildad spoke in chapter 8. Job replied in chapter 9-10.

Zophar spoke in chapter 11. Now Job launches into a reply in Job 12. His reply extended into chapters 13-14.

Then Job replied:
Doubtless you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you!

A little sarcasm here, dear Job?

But I have a mind as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know all these things?

Job comes out swinging saying he has thought about all the arguments his friends have been making about his suffering.

I have become a laughingstock to my friends,
though I called upon God and he answered --
a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!

He felt as if his friends are mocking him. He feels he has not only lost his possession, his family and his health but also his dignity and the respect of others. He feels alone in his belief that as far as he could tell he was righteous and blameless before God.

Men at ease have contempt for misfortune
as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
The tents of marauders are undisturbed,
and those who provoke God are secure --
those who carry their god in their hands.

He blasted his friends saying, it is easy for you to criticize me because you have it easy right now.

Job then launched into a tour of the grandeur of the physical world as evidence that God is the Creator.

But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish of the sea inform you.
Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?

What does the animal world tell us about the nature of life?

Ever watch a nature documentary?

You see animals killing each other! We sometimes romanticize animals because in cartoons they talk and are singing songs. But real life, in the wild, is bloody and filled with death.

Is Job saying that humans are under the same scenario as the animals?

Job sees the creation and knows God is behind it. And if God is behind it, then questions of life and death and wisdom have to come from God.

In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind.
Does not the ear test words
as the tongue tastes food?
Is not wisdom found among the aged?
Does not long life bring understanding?

Is Job being sarcastic again saying that his buddies are old and they really "understand?"

Or is he saying, he is the one who is truly wise because of his life experience and perspective sitting on the ash heap?

Either way, he launches into an incredible poetic statement of the power of God.

To God belong wisdom and power;
counsel and understanding are his.
What he tears down cannot be rebuilt;
the man he imprisons cannot be released.
If he holds back the waters, there is drought;
if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.
To him belong strength and victory;
both deceived and deceiver are his.
He leads counselors away stripped
and makes fools of judges.
He takes off the shackles put on by kings
and ties a loincloth around their waist.
He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows men long established.
He silences the lips of trusted advisers
and takes away the discernment of elders.
He pours contempt on nobles
and disarms the mighty.
He reveals the deep things of darkness
and brings deep shadows into the light.
He makes nations great, and destroys them;
he enlarges nations, and disperses them.
He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason;
he sends them wandering through a trackless waste.
They grope in darkness with no light;
he makes them stagger like drunkards.

23 verbs. Count them. 23 times. God tears down, God holds back, God leads, God reveals ...

There is an abstract theological debate about God's relationship to time and God's balancing of human free will and divine sovereignty.

I don't have any answers. I have ideas but certainly nothing I could "prove." I think it would be the height of folly to claim I can prove my views on God.

God has to have a "strange" relationship to time because time appears to be a function of the created universe. If God exists "prior" to the universe and time only exists because their is a universe than God's relationship to time must be quite beyond our comprehension.

As for divine sovereignty, I have a somewhat nuanced view which I don't know if it lands me as a heretic or not but I'm very careful when I describe the power of God. Some might say, God is so powerful, God can do everything. I feel that is not precise. God can do everything God wants to do. Do you see the difference?

For instance, can God do something evil? I say no. So that means God can't do everything! To which I reply, I believe God can do whatever God wants to do. God doesn't want to do evil so God doesn't do evil.

So what is the relationship to human free will?

How about a trivial example?

I suppose one might ask, does God make me put on that loud green tie today?

I suppose if God really wanted to make me put on that silly tie, God could do so. I suppose if God really didn't want me to put on that goofy tie, God could stop me. However, I believe that God can do whatever God wants to do and maybe, just maybe, God says, Rene, you can put on any tie you like. Has God's sovereignty been preserved? Has my free will been preserved?

Obviously, this gets a lot more complicated with matters more significant than the color of the tie I put on in the morning.

Sorry, dear gentle readers, I've gone from the sublime poetry of Job that attempts to describe the ineffable aspects of God power to talking about ties.

But I hope you see where my meditation has been going this morning.

Lord, you are powerful and can do what you want. But in your deciding what you want, you have given us incredible freedom and the consequences of that. Dear Jesus, there are days I'm deeply saddened by what I see happening around the world. I'm hurt to the core to see loved ones suffer. And yes, in my selfishness, I often bitterly complain to you about my own hurts. But I lay them all at your altar knowing my duty is to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly before you. Job tried to do that his whole life and he is sitting on an ash heap and pretty upset. And for all his faults, he knows where wisdom is found and he is wrestling with you about it. Lord, help me to do the same in my life. Amen.