Suffering Job: Justified Before God

Job 32:2 "He justified himself before God"

Job has spent the previous chapters asserting his integrity, recounting the ways he has lived a righteous life. His soul was grieved for the needy and he wept for those whose lives are hard (30:25). He guarded his eyes from lust (31:1). He did not go after other women but had been faithful to his wife (31:9). He treated his servants justly (31:13). He fed the poor and took care of the orphan and the widow (31:16). He took no pride in his wealth (31:24). He did not curse his enemies (31:29). He showed hospitality to the alien and the stranger (31:32). God Himself affirms the upright heart of Job: "There is no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man" (1:8). Job's life appears Christ-life indeed. Surely God worked a profound miracle of grace in Job's life and led Him on the straight and narrow path of righteousness. Yet when calamity befell Job, his heart cried out "what have I done to deserve this?!" And so Job justifies himself before the Almighty God.

I don't think Job was lying about his life. I am confident that he was an upright man who had lived a life of faith that was very pleasing to God. But tremble in amazement: even the most righteous man on the earth cannot justify himself before God! I have sought to live an obedient life before God, but can I make any of these claims of Job for my life? How wretched I am compared to Job. And if Job cannot justify himself before God, how much less can I? How can I ever hope to be righteous? My hardest attempts are weak and tainted with sin.

Praise God, He completely supplies everything we lack in Christ! Every debt has been paid, every failure accounted for. He took our sin, we get His righteousness. "He made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

(6/20/2011)

Suffering Job: The Result of Obedience

Job 23:12 "I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."

The word of God had been Job's life and for this reason he seeks to "present his case before God" (Job 23:4) and to argue for his vindication. Job's obedience to God's word, he feels, should not result in such profound suffering. Job feels that such obedience should result in prosperity: "How blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord...in whatever he does he prospers" (Psalm 1:2,3). 

Job is in such distress that he cannot see the good purpose of God in his suffering. This wasn't supposed to be the result of his obedience, he thought. Yet Job hints that he knows what is coming, as much as his soul cries out in complaint, "when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10). Job can't see that it is because of his obedience to God's word that God has ordained his current sufferings! After all, it was God who commended Job to Satan: "The Lord said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job?'" (Job 1:8) and thus the evil one brought much evil upon Job and his family on account of Job's righteousness. "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Timothy 3:12). In a world of darkness and evil, obedience to God's word doesn't spare us from suffering, it leads us into suffering. Not in futility, but in hope!

So I must ask myself, is there any call to obedience that I am disobeying in order to avoid suffering?


(6/17/2011)

Suffering Job: Redemption

Job 19:25 "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth."

A redeemer is one who buys back; One who at great cost to himself buys back a field that once belonged to his family for instance, or buys a person out of slavery. To redeem, in a sense, is to pay the appointed price to liberate and restore proper ownership.

Job, having lost everything in this life, even his health and his peace, his hideous body covered in painful boils, has only one possession remaining: his hope in God. "In hope against hope he believed" (Romans 4:18). Job wonders in despair why "the hand of God has struck me" (Job 19:21), yet he clings to the hope that God is still his God, and that his God will redeem him. But what does Job need to be redeemed from?

First, the curse of creation. "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now." (Romans 8:20-22)

Job looks to be set free from a world corrupted by sin, where death and pain roam free, looking for someone to devour. As a child of God, Job senses in his heart that his world is not operating in its natural state, and that he belongs in another world, one where death does not reign with terror. Job's cry echoes Romans 8:23 "we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." Job looks to the Lord to redeem his body from suffering and decay.

Lastly, Job looks to the Lord to redeem from the curse of disobeying God's law. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us - for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree'" (Galatians 3:13) Job is a righteous man in God's sight, yet he knows: "How can a man be in the right before God?" (Job 9:1) So Job looks to the Lord to redeem him from the curse of sin.

I also know that my redeemer lives today; He did stand on the earth, He did hang on a tree, and He will stand on the earth at last! Jesus Christ purchased me with His own blood from slavery to sin. With a costly price He transferred ownership of my soul from darkness to light. He redeemed me from the curse of the law and He will redeem my body someday from the curse of corrupted creation. Praise God!

What does this mean for me today to have an Almighty Redeemer who lives? Hope. Hope in God, rejoice in the Lord always, don't hope in your circumstances, your emotions, your friends and family. None of these can redeem, only Christ. Don't look to your own righteousness either, for no one can redeem themselves, only Christ.

(6/16/2011)

Suffering Job: Not all is Lost

Job 17:11 "My days are past, my plans are torn apart, even the wishes of my heart."

Job did not anticipate the destruction of his property, the death of his family, the removal of his health. Job had different plans for his life that did not involve the sudden demise of his children. It seems as though the scroll of Job's life had been torn to pieces, yet the scroll of our life which God has written is surely never torn apart.

Do you have plans for your life or wishes in your heart that are so dear to you that you would be destroyed by their undoing? Let there be only one ultimate desire in your heart: to be united with Jesus Christ at last. Then you will say with sincerity, "Father, Your will be done".

Everything in this life can be taken from me. My job, my family, my home, my ministry, my health, yet one thing will always remain: the love of God in Christ Jesus. He promises, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:18) "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you" (John 14:27) and "Who will separate us from the love of Christ?" (Rom 8:35)

Therefore be bold with joy and risk all for the kingdom's sake, because whatever you lose for Christ will be gain and you cannot lose Christ.

(6/15/2011)

Suffering Job: The Righteous are Slain

Job 13:15 "Though He slay me, I will hope in Him."

Job is in such grief and pain that he laments the day he was born, yet he will not give up his hope in God. It is as if the hope of the Lord is permanently etched into his heart, so firmly established that it would be easier to carve his heart out of his chest than to remove his hope in God. Here righteousness is displayed as an untarnished, brilliant bronze breastplate, though its inhabitant may appear frail with decay and wounded to the point of death.

(6/12/2011)

The Life of a Soldier

2 Timothy 2:3-4 "Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier."

Paul exhorts Timothy, his "beloved child", to join him in willingly, joyfully embracing ongoing suffering for the sake of Savior Jesus. The reasoning and motivation for this lifestyle is because they are not employees of Jesus, but soldiers of Jesus.

All soldiers are trained to fight and expect to do so should there be war. Therefore, Paul pleads with Timothy to live with a soldier's mindset. That means not allowing oneself to become occupied in civilian activities which make a soldier less effective or even useless in battle. A good soldier doesn't use his idle time to play golf, he runs to keep his body fit. Even as he relaxes his rifle is near and he waits for his instructions.

I am not called to comfort and relaxation. I am called to suffer and strive, denying myself even simple, mundane pleasures. Every day, every hour, every choice is an opportunity to live for Jesus and not for myself. I cannot become "entangled in everyday life" so that I will be a good soldier. How do I not become entangled when so much of my life is mundane and does not seem like warfare? How does this work itself out when my "active duty" is playing with Abram and changing diapers?

Perhaps when discerning whether something is "active duty" or "everyday life" I should ask, "Is this what Jesus has chosen for me or is this what I have chosen for myself?". That seems to be the difference between a civilian and a soldier. The civilian decides how to use his own time, but a soldier looks to their commander to decide because the decision is not theirs to make. One is under a higher authority, the other is not.

So how can I live with a soldier's mindset today? What practical things can I do or not do to be a good soldier? I cannot pause and read the Bible before every decision I make today, but I can pause and pray. I will ask and listen to make sure that what I'm doing is Jesus' idea and not my own. Then I must rely on Him, because the One who called me into service is the only One who can sustain my service. The commands He issues are not that of a hard, staunch drill-sergeant but rather a Sovereign, Servant-King who loves me and gave His life for me.