In today’s section, we read about:
Bildad’s third speech (God is great, but mortals are mere maggots) and Job’s response (God is the amazing lord of creation)
Job’s final speech – commitment to obey God’s law, true wisdom is God’s alone, he remembers his former blessings and speaks of his current anguish
Job finishes by protesting his innocence and his 3 friend are silent
Elihu rebukes Job and reminds him of God’s justice
God appears and speaks to Job out of the whirlwind, God is speechless in response.
Some things that struck me today:
The description in 26:7-13 is a reminder of the creation narrative in Gen 1:1-8
26:14 – “These are just the beginning of all that he does, / merely a whisper of his power. / Who, then, can comprehend the thunder of his power?”
27:10 – “Can they call to God at any time?” – Yes, we can, and it’s an amazing privilege (Phil 4:6-7)
28:28 – cf Prov 1:7
29:4 – “when I was in my prime, / God’s friendship was felt in my home.”
Job has God’s heart for mercy and justice – 29:12-17, 30:25; 31:18-20.
31:37 stands in stark contrast with what actually happens when job gets his chance to confront God – 40:4-5; 42:2-6.
32:3 – why is Elihu cross? Because Job’s three friends have made God appear to be wrong, since they can’t refute job’s arguments
32:22 – “if I tried flattery, / my Creator would soon destroy me”
33:14 – “For God speaks again and again, / though people refuse to recognise it”. This is such a helpful verse, since God is always communicating to us through his creation, through his people, through his word. But we often turn a deaf ear to his voice, and prefer to wallow in self-pity, or follow a path of sin, rather than humble ourselves before God. Or sometimes, we want the whole thunder and lightning show (like Gideon), but actually God wants something else for us, something more personal and intimate. Cf Ps 19:1; Rom 1:19-20.
33:24 – “I have found a ransom for his life.” What is this ransom – 1 Pet 1:18-20 “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.”
33:26-27 talks about people being rescued from their troubles and restored to fellowship with God. This is then followed by v 29 – “Yes, God does these things / again and again for people.” That is the type of God we have.
34:14-15 shows our dependence on God – “If God were to take back his spirit / and withdraw his breath, / all life would cease, / and humanity would turn again to dust.”
34:33 is very much a picture of our current society. We try to tailor God’s justice to our whims and fashions and we still tell him to go away!
Cf 35:6-8 with 22:2-3
36:16 – cf Ps 23:5
What are we to make of 37:13 – “He makes these things happen either to punish people or to show his unfailing love”? Is that the purpose of suffering, or are there other possible reasons that we do not understand (Deut 29:29)?
37:14-24 – stop and consider what God has done. We are too ignorant to make our own arguments. We cannot imagine the power of God. No wonder people everywhere fear him. All who are wise show him reverence.
When God answers in chs 38-41, he doesn’t answer Job’s questions or respond to any of the charges brought against him. His reply is simply “I AM”.
41:11 – “Who has given me anything that I need to pay back? / Everything under heaven is mine.”
1 comment:
Interesting how God doesn't feel the need to justify himself and instead fires back a mass of questions. It makes me think about the way in the NT Jesus often asks questions in order to get the disciples to think for themselves.
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