Days 36-38 - Thoughts on Job

I know this is slightly out of sequence, but I have been mulling over Job for a couple of days now. One of the points that I had in mind when starting Job was to try to be clear what is was that Job's friends said about God that was inaccurate.

My impression is that they had a very simplistic, almost binary view of God and God's law - if everything was fine and you were healthy and wealthy, you must be righteous; if you were suffering it was because you must have sinned. Yet at the beginning of Job, God pronounces that Job is righteous (1:8). Indeed we can only be righteous in God's sight, if God imputes His righteousness to us. 2 Cor 5:21 tells us that God does this through Jesus and his death for us on the cross. The basic truth is that we cannot earn the status of righteousness through our own actions. As Elihu says in Job 35:6-8:

6 If you sin, how does that affect God?
Even if you sin again and again,
what effect will it have on him?
7 If you are good, is this some great gift to him?
What could you possibly give him?
8 No, your sins affect only people like yourself,
and your good deeds also affect only humans.

The point is God is God and we are not. This and this were quite helpful in this.

There were a few verses which stood out for me:

Job 9:33-35 -
33 If only there were a mediator between us,
someone who could bring us together.
34 The mediator could make God stop beating me,
and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment.
35 Then I could speak to him without fear,
but I cannot do that in my own strength.

Also 16:21 - "I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends."

Compare that with1 Tim 2:5, "For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus".


Job 13:16 - "But this is what will save me - I am not godless. If I were, I could not stand before him".

Compare this with 2 Tim 2:11-13
11 This is a trustworthy saying:

If we die with him,
we will also live with him.
12 If we endure hardship,
we will reign with him.
If we deny him,
he will deny us.
13 If we are unfaithful,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot deny who he is.

But the one verse I have taken away with me is 19:25-27, which gives a clear a statement of believe in the resurrection as anything in the Old Testament:

25 “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
and he will stand upon the earth at last.
26 And after my body has decayed,
yet in my body I will see God!
27 I will see him for myself.
Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.
I am overwhelmed at the thought!