Stick up for the truth

 

 

READ Job 21-24

These days are filled with supposes. Helped by social media, these imaginations become fact and even conspiracies. The capacity of human suspicion to become true in the minds of those who make up reasons for events and motivations has reached an all-time high. Opposing theories may contain a measure of truth and those caught in the middle are dismayed by a polarization we seldom experienced before now.

Yet this happened in the book of Job. One man’s faith is tested. Unknown to him, Satan gained permission from God to make a guinea pig out of Job to prove that no one would trust the Lord unless the Lord blessed his life with good things. Couple that with the human tendency to think that good comes to the good and suffering comes to those who deserve it, and Job was attacked by those who were called his ‘friends’.

In chapter 21, Job is so frustrated with their insistence that his misery is due to his wickedness, that he says: “Keep listening to my words, and let this be your comfort. Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on.” (Job 21:2–3) He seems to have given up on trying to convince them of their error concerning his problems and takes a run at their error in thinking only the wicked suffer. He points out that many evil people live in ease and prosperity, not all, but this notion that only the wicked suffer is wrong. After pointing that out, he says, “How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.” (Job 21:34)

Eliphaz answers him with surprising vehemence. His accusations against Job are shocking. Some of what he says may apply in other situations, but he is shooting at the wrong target. Isn’t this a common practice? Today’s newspaper is filled with blame misdirected. In Job’s situation, this “you are guilty” attitude overrides any compassion that should have been there for a man hurting without any obvious reasons for his pain.

But Job is not stupidly listening to them. He knows these accusations are not true. He knows the grace of God’s salvation and that his life is not the reason for his suffering. He is deeply aware and deeply troubled that God knows — but is silent. That silence is as painful as the sores on his body and the losses of his children and his possessions. Note the gems in this declaration he makes:

“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food. But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does. For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind. Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me; yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face.” (Job 23:8–17)

Job knows that God knows. Job also knows he is being tested. He knows that he will pass the test and come through it — like pure gold eventually comes from the crucible. He knows God does not change and has reasons for what He is doing. This is a fearsome thing, but His silence and the darkness Job is experiencing has not stopped him from defending the truth that he knows. He is not being punished for some hidden sin!

He also knows the ways of God with those who seem to prosper but are sinful. He says,

“They wrong the barren, childless woman, and do no good to the widow. Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life. He gives them security, and they are supported, and his eyes are upon their ways. They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like the heads of grain. If it is not so, who will prove me a liar and show that there is nothing in what I say?” (Job 24:21–25)

I used to think that Job was a whiner, but now I see the man debating his ‘friends’ for truth. In the NT, God speaks telling readers to, “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” in response to those who perverted the grace of God. Job did that even in his great anguish. He gives me a great example to follow. 

 

Responding to the pain of others

 

 

READ Job 17-20

A few people I know tend to glean their analysis of many situations from anecdotal incidents in their personal experience. For instance, when told about a person who broke their leg in a car accident, they relate to their nephew who broke his leg in a car accident caused by speeding, then assumes the other broken leg was the result of bad driving also. This assumption continues even when told that the victim had been hit by another car. In other words, the one who assumes also assumes that he cannot be wrong and goes on talking about the folly of speeding or whatever he thinks is the issue.

This is what Job’s ‘friends’ did to him. Bildad heard Job’s anguish and compared it to the anguish of the wicked, assuming both were caused by the same thing.

Job explained that his suffering was not just his losses, but that everyone had abandoned him. Even God was silent and not giving him the comfort he craved.

“He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit. My eye has grown dim from vexation, and all my members are like a shadow. The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless. Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger. But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you.” (Job 17:6–10)

After Job’s anguished words, Bildad speaks of how God punishes the wicked. What he said has truth in it, but his words do not apply to Job’s situation. Instead of listening to his hurt, Bildad assumes that because Job is suffering so much, he must be a wicked person.

Job hangs in there. He says what he is certain of. Even though everyone has deserted him and treats him as an outcast, in his heart his faith stands firm:

“Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!” (Job 19:23–27)

Job knows his fate is not the same as the unrighteous people his ‘friends’ talk about, yet even this declaration of faith is ignored. Zophar carries on the same way as Bildad, speaking of the shortness of life and how short are the joys of the wicked. Again, he is assuming that whatever goodness Job had enjoyed was short-lived and now he was paying the price of his sin.

“Therefore my thoughts answer me (Zophar speaking), because of my haste within me. I hear censure that insults me, and out of my understanding a spirit answers me. Do you not know this from of old, since man was placed on earth, that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment? Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds, he will perish forever like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’” (Job 20:2–7)

I can relate, not to Job’s losses nor the depth of his anguish, but I know a little of how he feels at words like those aimed at him. When I share a problem and the listener relates it to a similar problem concerning another person, it seems to me that listener has no concern for me and just wants to show off their ‘wisdom’ about such problems. From this, and from Job, I realize how hurtful this is. Even if the other person is trying to share that they understand what I am going through from their own experiences, this kind of response is seldom helpful.

Once I was at a seminar where the speaker asked what anyone could do when someone told them about the pain they were going through. I spoke up saying something about sharing my own pain so that person would know I understood. The speaker said, “Oh, what an unloving thing to do.” It took me a long time to figure out why she said that, and how true it was. Do not burden a hurting person by directing their attention to the hurts of someone else. It adds to their burden, but it also says their pain isn’t my focus. God never does that. Neither should Job’s ‘friends’ have done that, and I should never do that either.

The best we can do is weep with those who weep.