Jan 8: Job 17-20

Jan 8, Job 17-20

Chapter 17. Job continues to cry out to God for himself. He gives God credit for closing his ‘friends’ hearts to understanding what was really going on - God has the power to accomplish anything for His purposes, including the hearts of man that He made. Job knows that he will be vindicated (or cleared) by God. Also, here we are confronted with the reality of death and the brevity of man. Something that we can not thwart. But something that we all must do. We also learn how hopeless death is, without God.

Chapter 18. Sometimes the book of Job can be confusing because, like here, we have scripture that states ideas from Bildad, but it is indeed wrong information about God. The Lord later rebukes Bildad for such wrong ideas about God. But what it does for us, is it lets up look at some ideas we have about God and we get to weigh them in truth. Here are some ideas that Bildad had concluded about God.

1. Bad things happen to evil people. 
2. If a man is wicked, his children will die and will not be liked by anyone.
3. Disaster is only for the wicked man. 
4. If you don’t know God, tragedy awaits for you. 

But we learn that these are false ideas about God. We know from Job himself, that the good men have evil things happen to them. We know that Job wasn’t wicked and had his children taken away. And we know that Job knew God and his life was full of tragedy. Here in this chapter, it teaches some wrong conclusions of life. That bad things do befall people who love God. 

Chapter 19. Job gave patient ears to the ramblings of Bildad. Job retorts with some strong statements about his sufferings, along with some good irony (vs 23 - a book was written about him!). Poor Job, just doesn’t get a break as it seems that everyone is against Job because he isn’t successful any longer… It isn't recorded that they had anything to say to him while he was rich and prosperous, but instead judges him when he is down, lost all his children, and broken. I want you to notice how it seems as though all of Job’s loved ones and friends have abandoned him, and yet we get a glimpse into the heart of Job. Vs 25 - ‘For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth!’ If you love God, this verse should make you rejoice. If you do not love God, this verse should make you tremble. I am learning so much in this, that even in Job’s lamenting, he finds solace in the hope of God. It’s good to lament, but don’t stay there! God will and does save us from our hardships, whether in this life or the next for those who love Him. Job then turns the tables on his friends and makes sure that they know that they are indeed the wicked ones for not representing God accurately and not supporting a brother when he needed help the most. And that they are indeed the wicked ones in this story and they should fear what God can do to them.

Chapter 20. Again, back to Zophar! We know that Zophar speaks falsely and later gets rebuked, and here we see his ideas are very much like his friends, and that only bad things happen to the wicked. Let us remember that Job has 3 ‘friends’ against him and the old saying has some truth - birds of a feather flock together. So, when they are getting amped up about what they consider Job’s wrongdoings - it just intensifies. I heard a statistic one time that you become the average of your 5 closest friends/associates. In this case, the 3 ‘friends’ are bringing down the average. We must be very cautious with who we spend a lot of time with, as we will become that average. I am sure the parents reading this will empathize with who they wanted to be the friends of their kids… Back to Zophar, it is interesting that he thinks and speaks so much like his friend, Bildad. Zophar spends a fair amount of time explaining again that Job is wicked and will perish like his own dung and a very long litany of accusations and assumptions against Job. I am sure Zophar was a pleasure to have in class… Again, Zophar makes the same mistake as his ‘friends’ did by assuming that only bad things happen to the wicked. We can all be thankful that we get to learn from Job that bad things do happen to righteous people and we can also place our hope where Job did - in the only true and real Powerful God, Yahweh!

To sum it all up:

• God has the power to do whatever He wants to do to accomplish for His Purposes. Remember we don’t see the whole picture but we must trust that God does and He will have it all handled. Think about it - your decisions and actions effect so many other people. Life is not a conglomeration of chances or luck, that just either work out or don’t. There is no possible way that we could be that good! Life is a process in which God is working things out in the lives of those who love Him according to His purposes for His Glory (Romans 8). It is not about us, it is about Yahweh.
• You become the average of the 5 friends that you have. Do you have friends that bring you closer to God or farther away? Friends that love to sin and you currently do not love to sin? Be very careful, because soon, whether you realize it or not, you may love to sin too. Realize, whether you like it or not that we get and share our ideas about life from our friends and learn with them. We see plainly that even wrong ideas are developed between friends and we need to be careful about that too.
• Be cautious on being quick to judge others and condemn them. Love is patient, love is kind… Sure, there is a time to give direction with swiftness and decisiveness. But, sometimes we are called to just love on those that God has brought into our lives and walk their season of suffering with them, with the understanding that bad things happen to good people all the time. And sometimes it isn't those who deserve it that lose the most in this life…