Job 20-21 Job Gets Personal

Job’s friends seem to think that if they pound him with their crazy logic long enough, eventually he will come to his senses!  But we have to remember that Job was a righteous man whom God was using to put down Satan, but Job didn’t know that.

Zophar’s descriptions of what happens to the wicked are idealistic, but unrealistic.  “Zophar and his two friends were certain that Job was a hypocrite, that his pious life was only a veneer to cover his secret sins … But God does not always judge hypocrites and other sinners immediately, and the death of a young person is no evidence that he or she was a hypocrite,” my commentary said.

“Job replied to Zophar’s statements and refuted each one of them … Point by point, Job took Zophar’s speech and shredded it into bits.”

“Job pointed out that his complaint was not against men but against God.  Men had not caused his afflictions, and men could not take them away.  If he was impatient, it was because God had not answered him.  The longer God waited, the worse Job’s situation became.”

“The saddest thing about the wicked is the way they leave God out of their lives and still prosper.”

“Job became very personal and asked his friends, ‘If you really believe that the wicked are destined for an early death, have you ever warned them?’   If his friends replied, ‘No, we have never talked to the wicked about their future,’ then Job could have said, ‘Then why are you warning a righteous man about his future?  How inconsistent can you get?’ … When the three friends attacked Job, they were breaking faith and trespassing against God.  Instead of helping Job, they were leading him astray.”

The takeaway was this:  “If you want to be an encouragement to hurting people, try to see things through their eyes.”

Father, there are so many hurting people I can help, and You’ve prepared me for that ministry by taking me through what they feel myself.  Help me to remember to see things through their eyes so that I can encourage them and not be like Job’s friends.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford