August 15, 2018: Day 4 – Job 4
August 15, 2018Here is one of Job’s friends who tries to diplomatically tell him that he is suffering all of these calamities because he has offended God. You can see that argument starting to form in vs.7 when he asks the question, has the innocent ever perished, or the upright cut off? He goes on to state that in his experience those who sow trouble will reap trouble. So, Job, you have sown trouble even if you don’t think so.
Jesus has a response to this in Matthew 5:45 when he states that the rain falls on the just and the unjust and the sun rises on the righteous and the evil. This goes very much against what Job’s friends tell him, but does fit well into our theological framework that we serve a God who is righteous and just, but does not punish and does not reward. He simply tries to ensure that His kingdom comes here on this earth.
Now, he is correct in what he states in vs.17 that mortals, humans, cannot be righteous before God, nor can we be pure. But this does not cause God to crush us like moths or to be destroyed from one moment to the next. That is a fairly capricious and evil God in my sight. You might enjoy, or not, reading a classic from 1741 where we have Jonathan Edwards preaching on “Sinners in the hands of an angry God.” Enjoy!
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1053&context=etas
I read a book recently from someone who had an encounter with God and in this experience God told him that there will be evil in this world. The explanation went like this. We need to grow in our faith so as to obtain what God wants for us in this life. For us to enjoy His kingdom on this earth. We need free will to insure that we want to grow. God placed a “tiny” amount of evil in this world so that free will could exist. This evil of course we identify with satan in god’s story. I think this story of Job is about reminding us that we need to want to grow in our faith. Not just believe, but to want to grow. As pastor said “we serve a God who is righteous and just, but does not punish and does not reward. He simply tries to ensure that His kingdom comes here on this earth.”
The verses that really jumped out at me were 3 and 4 where his friend says to Job that you have encouraged many people, strengthened those who were weak, supported those who were falling and encouraged those with shaky knees. What a great example to follow! I, as a caregiver, want people to say that about me. I think, us as humans, we could all strive to treat other humans just like this, follow this example, especially in today’s world. Even just a small dose of this attitude/thought from one person to another in just one single and simple act or word of kindness each day can totally change someone’s day and/or life.