Today in God's Word—June 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
June 19, Job 24
“Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days?" - Job 24:1
"I before E except after C.” Do you remember learning that spelling rule? Think back to those early education days, when we first began to read and write. We learned certain conventions of handwriting that made our work legible, and certain rules about arranging letters to form words and words to form sentences. Experience taught us much of what we needed to know to express our thoughts and be understood. But there were some parts of the process that required little clues or helps so we could remember and do it the right way. Perhaps the most famous (and most remembered) of those was the spelling rule that is generally true across the English language. When “I” and “E” are found together in a word, “I” almost always comes first. Like most rules, there are some exceptions. One of those exceptions is baked into the rule itself--"except after C.” That's why it's "friend" and why it's "receiver." We know how to spell most of those words now without saying the rule under our breath. But the rule still comes in handy sometimes, doesn't it?
Job and his friends lived in a time when the general consensus was that people suffered because of their sins. When his friends saw Job so broken by his agony and his grief, they presumed the general rule about such matters applied. They judged Job guilty and pressed him to confess so he could get some relief. But Job was a man of genuine integrity and deep faith. He begged them to see that the rule did not fit or explain his circumstance. Unpersuaded, the friends continued their relentless assault on Job's character and conduct. Job knew he was an exception to the general rule, but he could not persuade his friends to believe what he tried to tell them.
In Chapter 24, Job illustrated how they were all aware of exceptions to their rule about the righteous prospering and the wicked suffering.
He asked why God did not have regularly scheduled judgment days to reward the righteous and punish the wicked. Instead, they knew that there were examples all around them of prosperous people who were wicked and cruel. And they knew righteous people who were victims of those cruel prosperous ones. The powerful took advantage of the weak, and the rich profited from the poor while enhancing their misery. Where was the rule in that? The wicked rich seemed to get away with doing evil, while the weak, poor and disadvantaged ones lived out their lives in misery. Couldn't they see that what they presumed about Job was not always so?
Job noted that evil thieves, killers and adulterers preferred the cover of darkness to do their sinful mischief. He described what Jesus would say about people who loved darkness and did not want to come to the light. Job’s dark assessment reminded me of what Paul wrote about sinners and the unfruitful works of darkness. These sinners seemed to go on doing wrong without being caught or punished for it. What about the rule? How did it apply?
Job wanted his friends to see that despite his great suffering, he was not necessarily a great sinner. He claimed that his circumstances were an exception, not the rule. Not all evil doers suffered in this life for what they did. Suffering may be a result of wickedness, but suffering did not prove that the sufferer was wicked. He insisted that his suffering was not the result of his own wickedness, and challenged them to prove otherwise if they could.
Job's friends did not know enough to be dogmatic judges. Neither are we wise enough to condemn someone on the basis of a general rule and a presumption of guilt. We don't want others to treat us like these men treated Job, and we should never treat anyone the way they treated their poor miserable friend.
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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