Job’s cries, answered
Posted: February 7, 2012 Filed under: Bible | Tags: Job Leave a comment »Last week, I completed reading through the book of Job. In the New Testament, he is held up as an example of perseverance (James 5:11). I’ll admit I had some trouble seeing that as I read through all the times he expressed his desire to die.
As the book progresses, Job talks less to his friends (who it seems weren’t listening to him anyway) and more to God. He asks lots of questions. He asks for an audience with God (e.g. Job 31:35-37). He gets no answers, and his meeting with God leaves him speechless and repentant (40:3-5, 42:4-6).
I reflected on how much more divine revelation we have than Job and his three friends, and I came up with the following:
| What Job said | What we know |
|---|---|
| Job 7:7 – I’ll never see anything good ever again | Job 42:10-17 – The Lord restored Job’s fortunes, and the last part of his life was more blessed than the first |
| Job 19:23 – Oh that my words were recorded! | They were, Job. Chapters upon chapters of them! |
| Job 10:4-5 – God, you’re not human | John 1:1, 14 – God became a human and lived among us |
| Job 9:33-34 – I’d like there to be an arbitrator between me and God | 1 Timothy 2:5 – There is only one intermediary between God and men, Jesus Christ the man |
| Job 24:1 – Why does the Almighty not set time for judgement? | 2 Corinthians 5:10 – Every one of us will have to stand before Christ our judge |
Job’s story is book-ended by God interacting with His creatures (Satan at the beginning and Job at the end). And that’s what we need to remember: despite God’s apparent silence, He’s still very much involved.
Postscript: Ever heard a sermon series on Job? I highly recommend this 6-part sermon series by Christopher Ash (each message is less than 40 minutes).
Reflections on March’s readings (1)
Posted: April 3, 2010 Filed under: Bible in a year | Tags: 2 Corinthians, Exodus, Job, John, Luke 2 Comments »I’m reading through the Bible in a year, and every month I (try to) post about what I’ve read.
Three months down, nine to go. This past month, more than in the previous two, I had to fight familiarity. Anyway, now I’m in Leviticus, so things are going to be a little different. 
Back to the recap: In March, I completed 1 Corinthians, Luke, Job, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Exodus and John in that order. I began and hadn’t completed by month’s end Proverbs, Leviticus and Colossians.
For my reflections of 1 Corinthians, as well as the first parts of Exodus, Job and Luke, see last month’s post.
Exodus: It took a night to part the Red Sea, and not 2 minutes like in the movies (14:21)?
It is so easy to judge the Israelites for their fickleness; even after all the spectacular displays of God’s power and provision, they complain. We’re not immune, though.
Why should people who have witnessed so spectacular a display of the grace and power of God slip so easily into muttering and complaining and slide so gracelessly into listless disobedience? The answer lies in the fact that many of them see God as existing to serve them. He served them in the Exodus; he served them when he provided clean water. Now he must serve not only their needs but their appetites. Otherwise they are entirely prepared to abandon him. While Moses has been insisting to Pharaoh that the people needed to retreat into the desert in order to serve and worship God, the people themselves think God exists to serve them.
—D. A. Carson, For the Love of God, entry for March 5.
Another “discovery”: In 24:10, Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and the seventy elders “…saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.” Sound familiar?
Another parallel: Both Moses (Ex 32:32) and Paul (Rom 9:3) were willing to be cut off from God for the sake of their people.
Reflections on February’s readings (2)
Posted: March 10, 2010 Filed under: Bible, Bible in a year | Tags: 1 Corinthians, Exodus, Job, Luke Comments OffI’m reading through the Bible in a year, and every month I (try to) post about what I’ve read.
Note 1: This is post #200!
Note 2: I had originally planned to write this post last night, but just as I was eating my dinner, there was a blackout. A blackout in this house not only means no electricity, but also no phone, no hot water and no heating. Hooray for technology.
In part 1, I looked at the books I completed. In this post, I’ll examine those I started and hadn’t completed by month’s end.
Job: I wonder why God didn’t intervene sooner. Job and his companions would have said a lot less, and consequently we’d have a lot less bad theology to read. Why did God wait until chapter 38? Indeed, why does God often seem to delay and/or be silent? Quoting someone who was quoting someone else, with God, “Silence is not absence. Hiddenness is not abandonment.” Read the rest of this entry »
