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READ: Job 21
CHALLENGE: Keep Your Faith in the Struggles
Job is wrestling through life’s inequities and faith. You can see the tug of war as he goes from thoughts of no justice with God to justice with God. Back and forth! You’re sure but unsure. You believe God is loving but you can’t understand violence or disease. It’s OK to wrestle things through and ask questions.
When you ride a roller coaster, it’s nice to have a bar in front of you to hang on to! Job has some great concepts that help us to hold on during this ride of life.
- FAITH IS HONEST
What keeps Job up at night? What is hard for him to figure out?
Vv5-7 – Look at me and be appalled; clap your hand over your mouth. 6 When I think about this, I am terrified; trembling seizes my body. 7 Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
You guys should be terrified by what you’re seeing. A righteous man suffering and wicked people prospering. Be appalled! I’m terrified! The experiential knowledge that the wicked live on happily makes him quake. They grow old. They increase in power. Their stock isn’t going down, it’s going up! It’s like a weed growing unchecked, that’s the wicked. It’s like poison ivy growing up a tree and ultimately choking it out and no one is cutting the vine and stopping it. Thus it grows. What is God doing?
- Wicked People Prosper
Vv13-16 – They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace. 14 Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways. 15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?’ 16 But their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.
Their years are spent prospering and they die in peace. If you die in peace then I assume, you have no debts. No enemies. No worries. Job’s faith in God accepts the reality that sometimes that bad guy is winning!
They even smart mouth God – LEAVE US ALONE! They are disinterested in knowing God’s ways and don’t see why they should serve him. They won’t even pray as they don’t see any value in it. How many in the world fit this description? They aren’t interested in spiritual things. They don’t go to church or read the Bible. They don’t bother praying.
Job’s friends would see prosperity coming through righteousness but the wicked prosper. The wicked see prayer as gaining you nothing. That’s the pointless thing for them. They see no benefit coming from God so they don’t even acknowledge God’s hand in their life. Their gain comes through corruption, not God.
At least the world follows their own belief system. They don’t believe in God and they live like they don’t! You know what’s worse? When you say you believe in God but live like you don’t! I’d rather not pray because I don’t believe it, than not pray after affirming that I do believe it. We believers have an extra thing to wrestle through. People claiming Christianity while living like the world in lying and immorality and doing well!
Regardless, it’s a tough pill to swallow! You’re waiting for the lightning bolt to strike and they are winning the lottery. They lie non-stop yet they are promoted. This is the ocean of reality upon which we sail our ship of faith. You’ll see stuff that doesn’t make sense.
Job also surmises that their prosperity is not in their own hands. That would mean that God is prospering them. The evil are blessed. Not just lucky, they are blessed meaning they have what they have because of God. As Jesus said, the sun shines on the good and the bad. God blessed pagans in Acts 14 because God gave them food and filled their hearts with joy. Even them!
Remember the thinking his friends are steeped in. They believe in the law of retribution. This means that good people get good things and bad people get bad things. They have told him that he needs to repent as they presume hidden sin in his life. His response is the terrifying reality that people who do bad things are not only NOT GETTING PUNISHED, they’re prospering while he suffers after living righteously. This debunks the thinking that bad people always pay for what they’ve done in this life.
People would try to explain this inequity by saying that their children were going to reap it. Job said, how about the people who did the crime suffer for the crime they did. He points out that they’re only kicking the can down the road intellectually by saying the children will reap it. He didn’t see immediate justice.
Who hasn’t wished for some immediate karma? The guy drives down the road like a maniac and is weaving in and out of traffic and you’d like nothing more than to see them pulled over by a police officer. But they get away with it while grandma gets the speeding ticket. She was just driving 10 mph over the limit in her Oldsmobile.
However, to maintain faith in the world, I cannot hold every contrary thing against God. It’s a fallen world and it’s not a fair world. It’s not fair that a cat is bigger than a mouse! It’s not fair that a wolf has bigger teeth than a sheep! But it’s the world that we live in and my faith has to accommodate these contrary things. Faith believes despite the things that challenge it.
V22 – “Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he judges even the highest”?
God knows what he’s doing so who are we to say?
- Life Is Completely Uneven
Job 21:23-25 – One person dies in full vigor, completely secure and at ease, 24 well nourished in body, bones rich with marrow. 25 Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having enjoyed anything good. 26 Side by side they lie in the dust, and worms cover them both.
One person has no problems. The other person has nothing but problems. With all things being equal, some have enjoyed good while others have suffered bad. I would say that generally speaking the playing field is even but in certain sectors it’s uphill for one person and all downhill for another.
- Wicked People Aren’t Punished
The wicked prosper and they don’t pay
Vv29-32 – Have you never questioned those who travel? Have you paid no regard to their accounts— 30 that the wicked are spared from the day of calamity, that they are delivered fromthe day of wrath? 31 Who denounces their conduct to their face? Who repays them for what they have done? 32 They are carried to the grave, and watch is kept over their tombs.
Again, part of what he is saying is that this is reality. Talk to those who travel. We’ve all seen the same thing. They are carried to the grave and have a special guard at their tomb. These people have every favor accorded to them. Job is dismantling the notion that the law of retribution is always fixed.
Therefore, you cannot look at blessings in your life and think that it’s an automatic sign of God’s favor. I don’t even think you could look at the size of a church and gauge authenticity by that. You can’t look at sickness and think a person is being punished. It’s unwise to judge these things.
V34 – “So how can you console me with your nonsense? Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!”
You just can’t understand everything and if you say that you do, you’re lying
B. FAITH IS PROVEN BY ACTION
Job 23:8-12 – “But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. 9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. 10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. 11 My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. 12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.
- We Don’t Always Have the Answers
This passage really spoke to me because it’s life as it is. He didn’t always see where God was at. He was searching for God in all points of the compass. He looked for God east and west and didn’t find him. He looked north and south and did not see him, not even a glimpse.
He wanted to have a talk with him. And there are times we also want to talk with God and to get answers to the things that happen but we don’t. We’d love it if we did. Right?
Perhaps we feel this way at times. We may wonder, “God, where are you”? The answer is that He is not far from any one of us. God is here. God will not always be seen right when we want to see Him.
I truly believe that everyone has wondered where God is in the mess of this world. While I may not look for God on a map. I may look for God to show up in certain situations. I’m looking over in this person’s life and I’m not seeing it. I’m looking at a situation and I don’t see God there either. You may wonder from time to time what in the world is going on. And when you wonder, you’re not alone.
Are you OK with this in your theology? He’s not a genie in a bottle that you rub and you get your wish precisely when you want it. It’s not that way. However, God does invite us to seek Him. And when you’re in the furnace of some problem, keep seeking Him. We’ll find God when we search for Him with all of our hearts.
- God Knows the Way That You Take
This is a wonderful concept. God knows the way that you take! I’m not seeing God but I’m certain of this one thing. He is certainly seeing me. And Him seeing us is far more important than us seeing Him. Zeke is the child and it’s incumbent upon me to watch for him whether he sees me or not. I keep my eyes on him. I’m the adult in the relationship.
When it comes to humanity, God is always the adult in the relationship. He knows where you are. The thing that can be challenging about that as well is that God knows what you’re up to. There’s no hiding. You can’t conceal things. And as the Bible teaches, be sure that your sins will find you out. God’s vision is motivation for living rightly.
- God Tests Us
Job believes that God tests us. What is this testing? What is the purpose? The purpose is that God knows what we’re made of. Sometimes the only way to know what’s truly in your heart is by testing. I had a candelabra and I took a file to the base to know whether or not it was brass or pot metal. The file showed the color of the metal beneath the tarnish. That would be a test of sorts.
You know what a four wheeler can do by trying it out. You have a truck and you put it under load and then you know what it can handle. Will a half ton pick up truck handle more than a ton? I know that it can because I’ve done it many times.
We’ve tested gold before with acid to know whether or not it’s real. Is it actual gold? We had antique pins and although they were unmarked, they looked like gold to me. But the only way to know was to test it. It’s not a matter of what it looks like, we need to know the truth of the matter. You file some flakes on a black stone and poor acid on the dust. If it desolves, it’s not gold. If it remains, it is gold.
I think of Jesus being tested after 40 days of fasting. The devil wanted to see if he would follow God’s will or not. Turn the stone into bread. Jesus used Scripture to defend himself against it. Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Jesus was proven to be obedient to God. Job was proven to be faithful to God as well. Why is he so sure He’ll pass the test? He’s sure because he had obeyed God. And God’s words were like his daily bread. As Jesus said, man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. This is how Job lived.
He did not depart from God’s commands. His friends said that he did but in reality he did not. You have to know your own life. Are you living for the Lord or not? He knew that he had not turned aside. He had not departed whatsoever. He was consistently there living for the Lord.
Your actions in times of testing will demonstrate your faith whether it’s true or not.
C. FAITH BELIEVES GOD IS ULTIMATELY FAIR
Job 24:22-25 – But God drags away the mighty by his power; though they become established, they have no assurance of life. 23 He may let them rest in a feeling of security, but his eyes are on their ways. 24 For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain. 25 “If this is not so, who can prove me false and reduce my words to nothing?”
Job is now swinging back to his good senses. God will bring justice. You cannot be evil forever and get away with it because your day will come. Sure, the wicked prosper. Sure, they seem to be established. However, they have no assurance of life. He may allow them to rest in a false sense of security but they’re not secure.
That idea of “assurance of life” means that their life doesn’t satisfy or mean anything. God robs the wicked person of their zest for life as he becomes disillusioned with it. When you seek pleasure over morality, it will never be enough for you. Seek money, applause, or whatever is of this pride of life and you’ll never be satisfied.
You know what I’d rather have? Happiness! I’d rather enjoy what I have than have a bunch of pleasures gained by evil that will never make me happy. Solomon said that we can’t experience happiness apart from God.
So, what’s part of the punishment on the wicked? They’re unhappy! They are exalted like an Iris. It’s stately but it’s season is not long. I like the plants with long bloom times. I have a flower that somehow found it’s way onto my property. I’ve propagated it to several places and I love it because it’s a dependable and long blooming flower. Russian sage is another that blooms throughout the season. I’d rather that joyful color for weeks on end than a flash in the pain.
There is no assurance of longevity when you’re wicked. No true ultimate happiness. No treasures in heaven which will really hurt when we check out of this life.
Where is your foundation? Jesus said that if you don’t build on His word, you’re on sand. You’re fine until the storm comes. But when it does, your house will fall.
Does it pay to live rightly? It does and you have to keep your focus on that.
Psalm 73:12-17 – This is what the wicked are like—always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. 14 All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments. 15 If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children. 16 When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply 17 till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.
VV23-24 – Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. 24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
We never want a feeling of arrogance. We daily live in dependence on God. I want to have assurance that God has me in the palm of his hands. You have assurance when you’re living for God. You realize that you’re winning.
Faith does give assurance. You can say like Paul to live is Christ and to die is gain. I’m winning no matter what happens. Just keep doing the right thing no matter what!