Job Encouraged Himself in His Faith.

Job is famous for his patience. James writes, “You have heard of the patience of Job” 5:11. A better translation of “patience” is the archaic word, “longsuffering.” The man endures.  Job is also a gifted administrator, running a massive farming and trading enterprise. He is RICH. Moreover, he is godly, wise, and a devoted father and servant of God. 

But I also give him credit for scholarship, for doing the hard work of knowing God, studying, and gaining great insights. Why? Because his understanding of faith and salvation is generations ahead of its time. He lived long before Moses, probably during the time of Abraham. That means he lived before there were any written scriptures.  Yet he understood that God would redeem his life and bring him back through the resurrection of his body. Many Christians today don’t even know that. (The New Testament describes in detail that we will receive our bodies back in the resurrection, for example: “We shall be [united with Him] in the likeness of His resurrection” Romans 6:5.)

There was no written scripture available to Job, but apparently a thriving oral tradition. Even Genesis was not yet written down. In fact, Job’s book is the oldest book in the Bible. Yet, this wealthy businessman knows what the most distant hours of the future hold. Not only that, he hangs onto his faith though he admits that he’s hurting so bad he wants to die.

He FIGHTS for his faith, encouraging himself:

“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end, HE will stand upon the earth, and though my skin be destroyed [in the grave] yet in my flesh, I will SEE GOD. With these two eyes I shall see Him, I and not another. How my heart yearns for that day” 19:25-27.

Job had amazing faith in the midst of the most devastating losses. 

Learn the skill of encouraging yourself. When you are sad and hurting, do like Job: talk to God honestly about your pain. Then talk to God—and yourself—about your faith, and about how great He is, in spite of your hurts. Encourage yourself with scripture. “I KNOW that my Redeemer liveth!” Amen!

ΑΩ

Your Arm’s Too Short to Box With God!

Job lost his riches, his ten children, and his health. And Job was a man so righteous that God told Satan there was no one like Job on the whole earth (Job 1:8, 2:3). Clearly a man that righteous deserved an easy life. But God had other plans.


So is God unjust?

Job’s friends were sure God could not be unfair, so they assumed Job was hiding sin in his heart. One had the gall to tell Job that his children had sinned too, and that’s why God took them (see Job 8:4). But Job knew he and his children were innocent. So Job said God was unfair.

“It is God who has wronged me and caught me in His net…. He uproots my hope like a tree. His anger burns against me, and He regards me as one of His enemies.” Job 19:6, 10-11.

Job literally said, “God has wronged me.” Is Job correct? Did God wrong Job? Job and his friends saw only two possible answers: Either (1) Job had sinned gravely and God was giving him the just payment for those sins, or (2) Job was innocent and God was unfair.

Could there be a third option? Can we suffer horribly, not deserve it, and God remain just?

Yes.

God’s ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9). His ways are “past finding out” (Romans 11:33). That is all we need to know—Job is innocent (as God said to Satan above) and God lets him suffer anyway. We must accept that we can’t figure out God, and we have no right to sit in judgment over Him and say whether He is just or unjust.

Who are you, oh man, who answers back to God? Who do you think you are? The pot does not say to the potter, “Why are you making me this way?” Romans 9:20,21.

In the words of the old poem-turned-play: “Your arm’s too short to box with God!”

It is not our role to question Him.

But there is more: Heaven. Did you forget? This life is NOT all there is. Believers who lived in the time of Job knew little about Heaven. But that is the key: Job will receive justice and blessings in Heaven. Heaven is the good side of the tapestry. This life is like the back side of a tapestry or needlepoint—all we see is threads all mixed up and going every which way. But after we get to Heaven, the picture will be beautiful and everything will make sense. Our suffering will make sense. In Heaven, we will be blessed and we will be rewarded so much that it will be more than fair. And of course, this life is short, a dot in eternity. We think the dot is everything, but a line extends from that dot and goes on forever. In Heaven you and I and Job will be blessed forever and ever and ever. No, God is not unfair.

And Job knows that. In the middle of all his complaining, he affirms his faith. He knows that God will redeem him and make sense of his life and bless him somehow. He knows that God is good, and when he thinks about that, he longs to see God’s face. It is a beautiful statement of faith from a man who has lost everything and who just said that God uprooted his hope like a tree:

“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end, He will stand upon the earth, and, though my skin be destroyed, yet in my flesh I WILL see God. With my own eyes, I will see Him. How my heart years within me.” Job 19:25-27.

No matter what you may be suffering today, God is fair. God is good. And He will make it right. God will redeem your life and make sense of the mess, even if you caused the mess. He is your redeemer, your FIXER, and He will fix you. And for everything you suffer on earth, He will reward you in Heaven.

Dear God, change our hearts. Never let us doubt you or blame you.

ΑΩ

You Can’t Stay Mad at God. Job 19.

Five men circle a tiny flame in the desert. Four sit on rocks.  A fifth sits in the sand, stripped to the waist.  He is covered with oozing sores, boils swollen and bruised like berries beneath the skin. He rubs ashes in the wounds, listening to a friend:

“The light of the wicked is snuffed out. His lamp is put out. The wicked man’s own feet lead him into a net—”

Suddenly the man stands up.  “Why do you crush me with words? You think I’m wicked?  It is GOD who has wronged ME!” He shouts.  “It is God who has caught ME in HIS net!” Job looks at each man, pleading.  “Look at me! My skin is ruined! My breath offends my wife!  My family finds me repulsive!  Children mock me!”

Suddenly he stops, staring into the fire.  He shakes his head, collapsing to his knees.  He can’t make another speech about how unfair God is.  It’s not true.  Or maybe it is.  But it’s not the whole truth.  He rubs a dirty hand over his face, hiding a tear.  He speaks to himself, quietly at first.

“But I KNOW my Redeemer LIVES.”  He leans forward, his hands in the ashes.  “I KNOW IT!  And when this story is over, He will stand upon the earth.  After I am dead and gone, He will bring me back, and I WILL SEE GOD.  With my own eyes, I WILL SEE HIM.”

Job leans into the swirling smoke.  He squeezes his eyes shut, causing tears to run down his cheeks, streaks of clean, wet skin leaving rivulets on his dusty, gray face. 

“With my OWN eyes, I WILL SEE GOD!”  He sobs. 

“I will SEE GOD’S FACE!” He says confidently.  “How my heart yearns within me!”

This man who has not stopped complaining about God for months, can no longer hide the truth: He KNOWS God is good.  In spite of everything, GOD. IS. GOOD. 

And Job knows: when we see God’s face, we will know the deepest, truest joy. 

ΑΩ

Have You Ever Been Mad at God?

Have you ever been mad at God? Job actually wants to file a lawsuit against God!

“If one wanted to take Him to court, he could not answer God once in a thousand times.  God is wise and all-powerful… I could only beg my Judge for mercy. If I summoned Him [to court] and He answered me, I do not believe He would pay attention to what I said… For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court. There is no one to judge between us…. I am on my own.” Job 9:3-4,15-16,32-33,35.

“I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the scruff of the neck and smashed me to pieces. He set me up as His target… He has made me an object of scorn to the people. I have become a man people spit at.” Job 16:12-13; 17:6.

Job has plenty to complain about. He lost 10 children. But how can you take the King and Judge of the universe to court? What judge can hear that case? Only God himself.

But Job—writing the first book of the Bible—realizes what he needs, what we all need, and prophecies of the Messiah:

“I wish that someone might arbitrate between a man and God… Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate [attorney] is in the heights!… I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end, He will stand upon the earth.” Job 16:21,19; 19:25.

What do we need when we are mad at God? We need Jesus, “our advocate with the Father” (1 John 2:1) who “ever-liveth to make intercession for us” Heb. 7:25.

Take your complaints to Jesus. He is your attorney and Redeemer, who spends his time arguing your case, interceding for you! Jesus understands your situation and constantly asks God the Father for mercy on your behalf.

ΑΩ

Is Jesus Your Attorney?

People laugh sometimes when they hear that I am a lawyer. “Oh, Jesus is a lawyer? That’s just not right.” It is jarring to them that a lawyer could pretend to be Jesus on stage.

And I always smile: “Well, you know, Jesus is Our Advocate With the Father.”

“Oh, yeah. I never thought about that.”

Have YOU ever thought about it?

You need a lawyer when a situation is so serious you are too overwhelmed to speak well or even think straight. Lawyers defend those who cannot defend themselves.

Before God’s throne we all need a lawyer. If we had to defend ourselves no man alive could survive: the stakes are too high and the judge’s power too awesome. No human lawyer could stand before that judge’s bench—they would fall on their faces, paralyzed by fear.

You have been charged with history’s most serious crime: the sin of rejecting God. But if you have accepted Christ, Jesus has appeared before the Father on your behalf. When Satan, the Accuser of the Brethren, complains to the Judge of all the earth, and charges you with every sin you ever committed, Jesus steps up as your defense attorney:

If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 1 John 2:1.

In the Bible’s oldest book, Job talks about a heavenly court. Job would like to go to court to file suit against God the Father. “If only I had someone to hear my case! Here is my signature [on my suit for damages] let the Almighty answer me. Let Him draft an indictment against me.” Job 31:35. “Even now, my advocate is on high… Oh, that a man might plead with God as a man pleads with his neighbor!” Job 16:19,21.

These are bold words, but then Job is on earth—he has never seen God or his throne. (He will soon see so much he will “repent in dust and ashes,” Job 42:6.) But right now, Job is suffering. And he is angry at God.

What Job really needs is not a lawyer but a priest. The roles are similar: a priest is the communicator and mediator between a man and God, just as a lawyer represents a man before a judge. And Jesus fulfills both roles: He is our Great High Priest, representing us before the Father, providing atonement through a sacrifice—but unlike other priests, Jesus does not merely PRESENT the sacrifice; Jesus IS the sacrifice.

And Job, a man who presented thousands of sacrifices to God on behalf of his children, seems to understand this. Job knows that he is the “high priest of his home,” and he knows what he needs: a priest and advocate who will speak for him before God the Father. Job saw the need, but would not live to see it fulfilled.

But we have seen it. Our advocate and high priest, Jesus connects us to God in three ways. He is our lawyer, He is our High Priest, and He is the Sacrificial Lamb who was slain for us.

“For there is One God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ.” 1 Timothy 2:5. “We have an Advocate with the Father.” 1 John 2:1. “He ever-liveth to make intercession for us.” Hebrews 7:25 (that means Jesus stands before God ALWAYS interceding on your behalf).

Even better, your high priest is a MAN. He gets it. Your advocate has BEEN THERE. He knows what it’s like to be tempted.

We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet remains without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:14-16.

Dear God, thank you that because Jesus is our lawyer and our priest, we do not have to fear but can come to you anytime, day or night, without an appointment, and even when we are at our most sinful.

ΑΩ

Courtroom Drama.

Like so many of the rich and powerful, Job seems to have spent his share of time arguing before judges.  Then after his life has been all but destroyed, he repeatedly complains there is no judge to hear his case.  Why not? Because it is God whom he wishes to sue. 

“If one wanted to take Him to court, he could not answer God one time in a thousand” 9:3.  “He is not a man like me … that we can take each other to court. There is no one to judge between us” 9:33.  “I prefer to speak to the Almighty and argue my case before God” 13:3. “I have prepared my case. I know I am right. Can anyone indict me?” 13:18-19.  “It is God who has wronged me and caught me in His net… there is no justice” 19:6-7.  “If only I knew how to find Him, so that I could go to His throne and plead my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments” 23:3-4. “Even now my witness is in heaven and my attorney is in the heights!” 16:19.  “I know my Redeemer lives!” 19:25.

Job knows God is holy and just, but also loving and approachable.  God is willing to hear our complaints. Job wants to take God to court and beg for JUSTICE.   

But God does not give Job a courtroom.  He could have—the book actually includes two scenes in which angels—and at least one fallen angel—come before the throne of God and talk ABOUT Job.  But Job was not invited to those hearings. 

Instead, God comes to Job and his friends and talks about creation, parading before

Job all the mysteries of earth and space, of science and weather and animals and every aspect of life on earth.  God dazzles Job, reminding him of His Creative power.  God asks, “Would you really challenge My justice?” 40:8. 

Job gets the message: “Surely I spoke about things I did not understand, things too amazing to comprehend” 42:3.

Stop complaining and rest in God’s power. He knows how you feel and He loves you.  Rest in that and worship Him through the pain.

ΑΩ

Who Has Wisdom? Job 12:16-24.

Who is wise? To whom should a young person listen for advice? Whose opinion do people respect? Pastors? Deacons? Judges? Kings? Teachers? Lawyers? Doctors? Authors? Professors? Psychiatrists?

A better question might be to whom does God attribute wisdom?

Job, “the greatest man among all the peoples of the east,” was a man who was accustomed to being listened to. When he spoke in the city square everyone else fell silent. “City officials stopped talking and covered their mouths with their hands … Men listened to me with expectation, waiting silently for my advice.” Job 29:9,21. According to chapter 29, Job was a “rock star” at the time, but one highly respected for his wisdom. And yet Job is unimpressed with human wisdom. Job knows God is not impressed with human wisdom either. God can reduce every seemingly wise person to shame:

“God leads counselors away barefoot, and makes judges go mad. He … puts a belt around the waists of kings. He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows established leaders. He deprives trusted advisors of speech and takes away elders’ good judgment. He pours out shame on nobles.… He deprives the world’s leaders of reason, and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland. They grope around in darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunken men” Job 12:17-21,24.

God is so much greater than the world’s wisest of wise men. Look at the nine types of wise men that God controls and humbles:

  1. Counselors
  2. Judges
  3. Kings
  4. Priests
  5. Leaders
  6. Trusted Advisors
  7. Elders
  8. Nobles
  9. World Leaders

Is there anyone left? Is there anyone so great and so wise that God cannot humble him? No. The point is, all wisdom comes from God, not from other people. Job says it himself:

True wisdom and power belong to Him. Job 12:16.

Proverbs 1:7—written by King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived—sums it up: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” If you were to review the list of people our culture considers wise, education is the one thing they have in common. But God does not equate a good education with wisdom. You can have a PhD and remain what the Bible calls a “fool.” There are plenty.

It is not “book learnin” alone that makes you wise. “The FEAR OF THE LORD is the beginning of wisdom” Proverbs 9:10. Without the fear of the Lord, your education—even if you were to read all the books in the world—can never make you wise.

I want you to have a fantastic education, to read thousands of good books, and to be able to provide wise counsel to those around you. It begins with your walk with Christ. Apart from that, your education is of little value.

ΑΩ

The Most Amazing Worship Experience. Job 13:15.

Have you had an amazing worship experience?  Were you alone in the mountains, or at a camp or retreat? Or in a quiet cathedral? Or perhaps an arena with spotlights, smoke machines, and thrilling music performed by rocking musicians?

Job lost more than most of us will ever own.  In a single day he lost 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 1,000 oxen, 500 female donkeys, an unknown number of servants, 7 adult sons, and 3 adult daughters.  Job understood suffering. 

On top of that, Job had spent years in business, government, and the law; he had watched God humble the powerful:

“True wisdom and power belong to Him… He leads counselors away stripped of their power and makes judges go mad. He releases the shackles put on by kings and fastens chains around kings’ waists. He leads priests away in shame and overthrows established leaders. He deprives trusted advisers of speech and takes away elders’ good judgment. He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the strong…  He makes nations great, then destroys them… He deprives the world’s leaders of reason … they grope in darkness without a light” Job 12:16-25.

Over and over, Job has seen God humble powerful men.  And now God has humbled Job.  In fact, God has taken everything from him, including his ten children. Job is HURTING.  This man of ‘perfect integrity’ stares into the face of savage loss and what does he do? Does he reject God?  No.  He WORSHIPS.

“Though He SLAY ME, yet will I trust Him” Job 13:15.

Your worship will never be sweeter than when you worship IN SPITE of suffering. The best praise you will ever give God will be when you are staring into the face of evil.  If you can praise God when you are at the bottom, then your faith is so pure.  Few worship experiences will ever top simply praising God through your own tears.

ΑΩ

Can You File a Lawsuit and Drag God into Court?

Have you ever been mad at God? Job actually wants to file a lawsuit against God!

“If one wanted to take Him to court, he could not answer God once in a thousand times.  God is wise and all-powerful… I could only beg my Judge for mercy. If I summoned Him [to court] and He answered me, I do not believe He would pay attention to what I said… For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court. There is no one to judge between us…. I am on my own.” Job 9:3-4,15-16,32-33,35.

“I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the scruff of the neck and smashed me to pieces. He set me up as His target… He has made me an object of scorn to the people. I have become a man people spit at.” Job 16:12-13; 17:6.

Job has plenty to complain about. He lost 10 children. But how can you take the King and Judge of the universe to court? What judge can hear that case? Only God himself.

But Job—writing the first and oldest book of the Bible—realizes what he needs, what we all need, and prophecies of the Messiah:

“I wish that someone might arbitrate between a man and God… Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate [attorney] is in the heights!… I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end, He will stand upon the earth.” Job 16:21,19; 19:25.

What do we need when we are mad at God? We need Jesus, “our advocate with the Father” (1 John 2:1) who “ever-liveth to make intercession for us” Heb. 7:25.

Take your complaints to Jesus. He is your attorney and Redeemer, who spends his time arguing your case, interceding for you! Jesus understands your situation and constantly asks God the Father for mercy on your behalf.

ΑΩ

Integrity Builds Courage & Wisdom.

Nothing builds COURAGE and WISDOM faster than integrity.

Integrity builds courage because it requires people to do things they find frightening. Integrity builds wisdom because the good decisions it requires draw a person out of darkness and into the light.

Both Job and his friends are men of integrity.  (But only Job is a man of “perfect integrity.”)  Job’s friends worship the true God, but when Job’s friends consider the absolute destruction of his life, they abandon whatever wisdom their own integrity might have given them and fall back on simplistic logic: God is just, so if you are suffering, you must have sinned. 

Job’s integrity gives him a deeper wisdom, but who would listen to a ruined man?  No one listens to life’s “losers.”  Yet integrity requires Job to argue what he knows:

  1. Job has maintained his integrity and God expects that to continue, Job 7:20. 
  2. Destruction like he experienced is not normal—he knows it is supernatural; God is behind this somehow. (“Surely the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me” 6:4.)
  3. The point of his experience is somehow connected to his integrity.  (“Reconsider; my righteousness is still the issue” 6:29.)
  4. God is still on His throne but Job is in no position to take God to court and accuse Him—there is no one to mediate between the parties (a role Jesus would one day fill) 9:32-33.
  5. Finally, though he curses his own birth and begs for the relief of death, He KNOWS that God will deliver him in the future:  

“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end, He will stand upon the earth, and, though my skin be destroyed, yet in my flesh I WILL see God. With my own eyes, I will see Him.” Job 19:25-27.

Job has lost EVERYTHING.  Yet, integrity gives him the wisdom to perceive what is going on—and the courage to defend his position though he looks like the “loser” in this story.

God, give us the integrity of Job.

ΑΩ