Today in God's Word—July 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
July 5, Job 40
“And the LORD said to Job, “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it." - Job 40:2
I hope you've never had the experience, but I imagine you have, just like me. I hope your experience was not as serious or to the same degree as Job’s. But it’s likely you have known what it's like to want something, to earnestly desire it, and when you finally got it, you realized that it was not at all what you thought it would be. Maybe you like Job, changed your mind and decided you didn't want it any more.
Job had said (more than once) that he wanted to talk to God. He wanted to present his case to the Lord. Job was confident of his own integrity. He believed that God would find nothing wrong and would vindicate him from the hateful accusations of his friends. But when God started talking directly to him and demanded an answer from Job, poor Job no longer wanted what he thought he did.
After God's questions crashed in on Job like wave after wave against the rocks or the sandy beach, Job realized he had no strength or standing to argue with God. He admitted he had spoken, and promised to speak no more. God humbled Job, not because he hated him but because he loved him and knew what he needed. Job thought he had heard enough, but God wasn't finished with the lesson.
God knew Job had some pride. He knew Job still maintained he was right, and that God had afflicted him without cause. So the Lord invited Job to prove his worthiness to question God. He invited Job to dress in his majestic robes and sit on his throne and do his job. He asked Job if he had the strength and power of voice to humble the proud and to subject them. If Job could do that, he could save himself. But of course Job couldn't do those things. God knew it and Job was learning it. In essence, the Lord told him, “Don't tell me how to do my job if you're not
strong enough and wise enough to do it yourself. And you're not.”
God called Job's attention to Behemoth. We're not sure what kind of animal this large creature was. Some guess he was a hippopotamus, or perhaps a dinosaur (which seems to fit the description better). Whatever Behemoth was, he was big, powerful and scary. This big creature was an example not only of God's great creative power, but of his controlling power as well. Did Job want control? Could he control this monster? And if he couldn't control or tame the creature, how did he presume to contend with the Creator?
Remember Job’s friends had an erroneous misconception that an individual's suffering was only and always the direct result of that person’s sin. So Job's friends were sure Job was guilty of something really bad since his suffering was so intense. Job knew he wasn’t guilty like his friends claimed. But he couldn't explain why he was so miserable. He supposed he could clear up this awful mistake if he could reason with God. And that is the pride that God wanted Job to overcome. God wanted to purge that bitter root of pride from Job's heart.
God's dealing with Job in this way reminds me of Jesus and the rich young ruler. Jesus knew the eager young man lacked one thing. Because he loved him, he told the young man to get rid of the stuff that he loved so much and come follow him. The young man couldn't bear to part with his riches and walked away weeping. But the test Jesus gave him was done in love and for the young man's good.
God didn’t ask these hard questions because he disliked Job. We know how much he approved of him and esteemed him from what God told Satan. But he was not content to leave this dangerous attitude intact in Job's heart. If the rich young ruler's submission required poverty, Job's required humility.
What does God see in my heart and yours? What is he working to do in us? From what hindrance does the Lord want to set us free?
When God works to bless us through adversity, it really is, as we told our children and our parents told us, for our own good.
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Comments