By now, as we come to the middle of the book of Job, we are either becoming more and more annoyed at Job and his predicament of suffering through losses because it makes us uncomfortable; or we are becoming increasingly angry at this friends who mock him while he is in misery.

We may wonder ourselves what side of the argument we are on; Job or his friends? His friends seem to know the right words.  But Job is not completely wrong in his responses either.  So, maybe it is time now to take a step back for a moment to remember what happened at the beginning when God allowed Satan to administer this suffering to Job to test Job’s faithfulness.  “Job was a man who lived in Uz who was honest inside and out, a man of his word, who was totally devoted to God and hated evil with a passion.” (Job 1:1, MSG)

However, it is we who are not comfortable with undeserved suffering!  Our first thought is to remedy it in some way as quickly as possible.  We seek to fix it by any means possible, right or wrong.  When our efforts fail; we turn on each other with beams of light to inspect and judge each other to find out who has angered God the most.  So you, you see, there is more to the book of Job than Job. There are Job’s friends. 

Eugene Peterson nails the problem as he introduces us to Job and his friends;

“The moment we find ourselves in trouble of any kind—sick in the hospital, bereaved by a friends’ death, dismissed from a job or relationship, depressed or bewildered—people start showing up telling us exactly what is wrong with us and what we must do to get better.  Sufferers attract fixers the way roadkill attracts vultures.  At first we are impressed that they bother with us and amazed at their facility with answers. They know so much! How did they get to be such experts in living?

More often than not, these people use the Word of God frequently and loosely. They are full of spiritual diagnosis and prescription.  It all sounds so hopeful. But then we begin to wonder, ‘Why is it that for all their apparent compassion we feel worse instead of better after they’ve said their peace?’

The book of Job is not only a witness to the dignity of suffering and God’s presence in our suffering but is also our primary biblical protest against religion that has been reduced to explanations or ‘answers.’  Many of the answers that Job’s so-called friends give him are technically true. But it is the ‘technical’ part that ruins them.  They are answers without personal relationship, intellect without intimacy. The answers are slapped onto Job’s ravaged life like labels on a specimen bottle.  Job rages against his secularized wisdom that has lost touch with the living realties of God.

In every generation there are men and women who pretend to be able to instruct us in a way of life that guarantees that we will be ‘healthy, wealthy, and wise.’  According to the propaganda of these people, anyone who lives intelligently and morally is exempt from suffering.  From their point of view, it is lucky for us that they are now at hand to provide the intelligent and moral answer we need.

On behalf of all of us who have been misled by the platitudes of the nice people who show up to tell us everything is going to just all right if we simply think such and such and do such and such, Job issues an anguished retort. He rejects the kind of advice and teaching that has God all figured out, that provides glib explanations for every circumstance. Job’s honest defiance continues to be the best defense against the clichés of positive thinkers and the prattle of religious small talk.

The honest, innocent Job is placed in a setting of immense suffering and then surrounded by the conventional religious wisdom of the day in the form of speeches by Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu. The contrast is unforgettable. The counselors methodically and pedantically recite their bookish precepts to Job. At first Job rages in pain and roars out his protest, but then he becomes silent in awestruck faith before God, who speaks from out of a storm—a ‘whirlwind’ of Deity.  Real faith cannot be reduced to spiritual bromides and merchandised in success stories. It is refined in the fires and the storms of pain.

The book of Job does not reject answers as such. There is content to biblical religion. It is the secularism of answers that is rejected—answers severed from their Source, the living God, the Word that both batter us and heals us.  We cannot have truth about God divorced from the mind and heart of God.”—Eugene Peterson, Pastor, Theologian and Translator, The Message Bible.

Job 22

Eliphaz

Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

² “Can a man be of benefit to God?
    Can even a wise person benefit him?
³ What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?
    What would he gain if your ways were blameless?

⁴ “Is it for your piety that he rebukes you
    and brings charges against you?
⁵ Is not your wickedness great?
    Are not your sins endless?
⁶ You demanded security from your relatives for no reason;
    you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked.
⁷ You gave no water to the weary
    and you withheld food from the hungry,
⁸ though you were a powerful man, owning land—
    an honored man, living on it.
⁹ And you sent widows away empty-handed
    and broke the strength of the fatherless.
¹⁰ That is why snares are all around you,
    why sudden peril terrifies you,
¹¹ why it is so dark you cannot see,
    and why a flood of water covers you.

¹² “Is not God in the heights of heaven?
    And see how lofty are the highest stars!
¹³ Yet you say, ‘What does God know?
    Does he judge through such darkness?
¹⁴ Thick clouds veil him, so he does not see us
    as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.’
¹⁵ Will you keep to the old path that the wicked have trod?
¹⁶ They were carried off before their time,
    their foundations washed away by a flood.
¹⁷ They said to God, ‘Leave us alone!
    What can the Almighty do to us?’
¹⁸ Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things,
    so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.
¹⁹ The righteous see their ruin and rejoice;
    the innocent mock them, saying,
²⁰ ‘Surely our foes are destroyed,
    and fire devours their wealth.’

²¹ “Submit to God and be at peace with him;
    in this way prosperity will come to you.
²² Accept instruction from his mouth
    and lay up his words in your heart.
²³ If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored:
    If you remove wickedness far from your tent
²⁴ and assign your nuggets to the dust,
    your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,
²⁵ then the Almighty will be your gold,
    the choicest silver for you.
²⁶ Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty
    and will lift up your face to God.
²⁷ You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
    and you will fulfill your vows.
²⁸ What you decide on will be done,
    and light will shine on your ways.
²⁹ When people are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’
    then he will save the downcast.
³⁰ He will deliver even one who is not innocent,
    who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

Job 23

Then Job replied:

² “Even today my complaint is bitter;
    his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
³ If only I knew where to find him;
    if only I could go to his dwelling!
⁴ I would state my case before him
    and fill my mouth with arguments.
⁵ I would find out what he would answer me,
    and consider what he would say to me.
⁶ Would he vigorously oppose me?
    No, he would not press charges against me.
⁷ There the upright can establish their innocence before him,
    and there I would be delivered forever from my judge.

⁸ “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.

¹³ “But he stands alone, and who can oppose him?
    He does whatever he pleases.
¹⁴ He carries out his decree against me,
    and many such plans he still has in store.
¹⁵ That is why I am terrified before him;
    when I think of all this, I fear him.
¹⁶ God has made my heart faint;
    the Almighty has terrified me.
¹⁷ Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,
    by the thick darkness that covers my face.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The best friend is the one who sits beside us as we suffer, holds our hands, and listens to our story even though they do not need the details to care for us with compassion.  A great friend prays while silently listening without judgement, only God’s love.  This friends prays unceasingly for God’s wisdom and help to be of real help. Be that friend. Embrace that friend. 

God’s Word cannot be delivered without an intimate relationship with God.  Friends will know the difference. God sees our hearts and knows if we are real or not.

God’s Love, unlike the world’s view of love, is the only way to the intimate relationships that the world desperately seeks.  Jesus commands it; the world needs it.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”—Jesus, John 13:34-35

Oh Lord,

Cleanse our hearts of all that does not belong in them. Renew our minds with knowledge of your Word given to transform our thinking and behaviors. Refresh our souls with today’s tender mercies. Restore the joy of your salvation at work within us.  And may your peace rule our hearts. May your love be seen in us.

In Jesus Name, Amen