The Life and Times of Joe Suttle

Job hasn't let us off easy in chapter 27. He actually has a three part affair that is his rebuttal to his friends. As outlined in my last post, he states the obvious – "I haven't done anything to deserve this."

Here in part two, his aim is on a better definition of a wicked person. More specifically, the relation of a wicked person's life to that of a just God. Job is very clear in stating that his enemy, whomever they might be should be treated like the wicked and unjust.

The analogy here might be "will your voice-activated phone hear you [more]when you have thrown it away?" Or better yet, "will your friend hear you calling for help when you have hung up on them?" Job is clearly saying that the wicked and unjust (you add your own definitions for those two) will fall into the "I can't hear you" phase of life when they start to call out for help.

Even better, Job seems to make clear that even in the middle of problems, the question still pops us about how they (the wicked and unjust) will treat God. The question is will they/you "delight" or "honor" God and trust Him at all times? Think about some fo the things in which you take delight in your life – your car, fishing gear, golf clubs, or CD collection, kids, spouse or clothes. That is what he is saying about people. Will they take as much joy in their relationship with God as they do with "things?" Will they treat God the same way?

Job leaves us with the quandry – a rhetorical question. Something to think about. Even though he is talking to his three friends, it is as though he is talking to all of us, when in verse 11 he says "Let me tell you about God's power! Let it be clear that I will not hold back anything as I tell you about the Almighty. But why should I bother telling you, since you have already seen everything about His power and might! And even after seeing all that, how can you act so foolishly?" (my version)

The question is left for each of us to answer. The obvious is right in front of us, yet we still question how we ought to live.

Maybe Job's question should have been "So, knowin' everything you know, whatcha gonna do now?"

Storming through Job 27 wasn't easy. It actually required be re-reading a couple of times. There was so much to listen to in the words of Job.

Then, something started to nag at my brain. It was almost as thought I wanted to accuse Job of stealing words from someone in more recent history. Then it occurred to me, that the words from recent history had to be taken from Job. Yet the two voices at one point sounded like one.[more]

The words ringing in my head were Job saying in verses 3 and 4 "As long as I am alive and God gives me breath, I will not speak unfairly or unjustly, or complain about what has happened to me – I know what the rules of life are. I wont even try to speak behind His back about how wrong you or I think he might be." (Joe's translation).

What came to my mind were the words of Luther. No, not Lex Luther of Batman fame, but Martin Luther of the Reformation. Okay, so some of you need to go back and read history and find out who Martin was. This is not a reference to Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther, after posting his Theses on the door of the church, and being brought to trial said "…my conscience is captive to the word of God. To go against conscience is neither right nor safe. I cannot and I will not recant. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me." He too was being told that his reasoning might be "off", and he should consider other options. But he, like Job stood firm. Luther said "Unless I am convinced by Scripture and by plain reason…" his position was not going to change.

Job knew that the God in whom he trusted was not going to deviate. He knew that if he followed the way of the righteous, God would not desert him. Job's cry in chapter 27 is "I know what will happen to wicked people, but I haven't done any of that, so quit trying to get me to yell at God and blame Him for all this!"

We can be as sure as Job and Luther. John says (I John 1:9) that if we tell God we have sinned, He will be faithful to His word and forgive us and make us clean. Amazing that He will keep His promises, even when we don't. Thankfully, He is not like us humans.

After Bildad's short closing statement, Job's response sounded like someone who just got rejected by an old friend – you know, the cold shoulder.

In chapter 26, Job begins by saying his friend was no help. He even questioned that Bildad did nothing to give anyone any hope. Job says "it's as though you talk like somebody who doesn't know what they are talking about." Then after chastising Bildad for having nothing to say, he sarcastically says "thanks for lots of nothing.(v 3)"

The response to Bildad is topped off with "who did you think you were talking to, and who do you think you were speaking for?" Just by the way the words were spoken, you could feel the cutting edge of Job's words as he brought Bildad up with the truth. I wonder if Bildad went away with his "tail between his legs?"[more]

Even with so little encouragement from his friends, Job sang/spoke out about how great is the God he worships and serves. Note the present tense – God is not someone he used to serve and worship. Take note that Job has never stopped what he did before calamity struck!

As Job speaks, he leaves little to the imagination of those who are listening. He makes it plain that the God he serves is great! He talks about the one who had the power to hang the earth on nothing, and how He (God) "inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters." Then, as if those things were not great enough, Job caps it by saying "these are the fringes of His ways;". Now really, if those were on the outside of his powers, or did not take much power to accomplish, what then would the inside be. How much more wonderful and powerful!

Job has set a path – a standard. Wonder how his friends feel now? Stuff like this makes me wonder how much power do I ascribe to the God I worship and serve? It brings to mind the words of a song "Our God is an awesome God. He reigns from heaven above. With wisdom power and love. Our God is an awesome God."