The wisdom of Job's friends
In the past I have always been taught to disregard what Job's friends say to him because they are mistaken in assuming that God is punishing him for his sins with the suffering he has to endure. Whilst the book makes it clear that Job was righteous and therefore the terrible things that happened to him were not because of any sin he had committed, I have been really struck that other things his friends say do contain helpful truths, backed up by other parts of Scripture:
Don't lose heart when trouble strikes: let your reverence for God give you confidence (4.5-6)
Know that resentment and jealousy destroy people, so don't fall into these traps when bad things happen to you and you look at other people's lives and start wishing you were in their shoes (5.2)
Know that God does great things beyond our understanding (5.9) This is really the core message of the book, because it is God's own answer to Job later on.
God may wound, but He also bandages. He keeps his people from evil (5:18-19) Rather than meaning He stops his people ever coming into contact with evil, I think this means He helps us to stand whenever evil comes.
God doesn't twist justice (8.3)
Remember that the hopes of the godless [that is, those who have no thought of God, just live their lives without thinking about Him or giving Him time. It doesn't necessarily mean wicked people] evaporate. They are leaning on a spider's web. They cling to their home for security, but it won't last. (8.13-15)
Job's friend makes a prophecy which does come true by the end of the book: 'If you pray to God and seek His favour, if you are pure and live with integrity, He will surely rise up and restore your happy home. And though you started with little, you will end with much.' (8.5-7) And again: 'God will not reject a person of integrity, nor will He lend a hand to the wicked. He will once again fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.' (8.20-22)
The gospel in Job
Job's problem is essentially the gospel problem: how can men approach God? He needs a gospel solution. The advice of his friends on its own is not enough ('prepare your heart and lift your hands to Him in prayer. Get rid of your sins and leave all iniquity behind you' 11:13-14); he needs Jesus to get rid of sin for him! Job recognises that he needs a mediator to come between him and God (16.21), even though he is righteous, because he is just a man. Just dust. Even if we never sinned (which is not the case), it wouldn't be our right as humans to know God and be in relationship with Him. It's a gift.
But let's take this further. Even if we never sinned (again I stress this is not the case!), it wouldn't be our right to enjoy blessings and privileges from God - like children, a home, wealth, possessions... Just like Job had at the start of the book, then lost when God allowed Satan to test him.
The warning of Job
The sober message of Job is that those who trust in the Lord are not exempt from tragedy. If your situation is like Job's in his days of glory, this book gives a warning to you. At any time, God could take it all away. It's His prerogative, and He would still be righteous and just if He did, because we don't deserve all the blessings we have. Read Chapter 29 and see if you identify with Job's enjoyment of being able to bless others (v13) and his respected position where everyone listens to his advice (v21,25). I was really struck by this! It feels like a warning not to become arrogant in this or attribute these gifts to your own merit or as something you deserve. I'm not saying Job did, but he really struggled when God took those things away and suddenly, he was the one who needed to be blessed by others (and unfortunately, he had friends whose advice wasn't always the most sensitive or helpful!). It was very humbling for him. It's an inspiration to see how he still chooses to worship and he catches glimpses of the gospel's solution in the midst of his suffering:
'Can the dead live again? If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle, and I would eagerly await the release of death.' 14.14
'For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.' 19.25-27
The key to Job's problems is not to know all the answers, but to know that in this life we have suffering, but in eternity we will be freed from all death and pain forever (Revelation 21). That's why we can trust God now, because He's made promises which He will keep. Jesus has dealt with our sins on the cross, so that our death will not be final: like Him, we will be resurrected and given glorified bodies to serve God forever in the new creation. (1 Thess 4, 1 Cor 15)
(Just as an end note, I've been really challenged recently by the story of Keith Green and the testimony of his wife, Melody. He was killed in a plane crash with two of their children when he was just 28. That is such a terrifying thing to go through and yet she has still trusted God and has an incredible ministry. There are so many examples of Christians today who are going through such tough times, like Job did. And God is still faithful!)
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2 comments:
Dear Sophie,
Back into my bad old ways of responding, but I can't help it, I'm afraid - it's a bit of a compulsion when I see a new blog post ;)
I was just reading this and interested in your emphasis of 'Just dust'. If Job is 'Just dust', then Jesus is 'Just dust', both being fully human. This is clearly not the case: indeed, Job has a soul. I may not be reading you correctly, but I understood you as saying here that it was because Job was only a man, he could not approach God? If this is the case, I do not understand how we could say the Our Father - Jesus taught it, but we are instructed to go directly to God the Father Himself.
Perhaps you are saying, however, that it is Job's inability to save himself that requires a mediator - I have much more sympathy with this, but I don't know whether this comes from this verse: "O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!".
This does not say that the mediator must be divine, although Jesus as mediator was. All Job is asking for is intercession of others, isn't he? Yes, from the preceding verse, his friends were not much help, but in Christianity from the most Early times, humans are not the only possible intercessors - what about the angels, for example?
This may all be by-the-by for you, but I am just trying to get across that I do not believe that it was because Job was just a man that he needed a mediator. Indeed, we do need mediation with the Father because of sin, but not because we cannot approach God the Father in our human state. Does that make sense?
I think a response to this will be your following statement that it is because we as humans do not have a right to know God, but as to this, I go along with the Penny Catechism's first two questions:
"1. Who made you?
God made me.
2. Why did God make you?
God made me to know him, love him and serve him in this world, and to be happy with him for ever in the next."
Whilst we have no right to God, we inherently do have a knowledge of God precisely because we are human - this seems to come from Creation itself. St Augustine puts this as the 'God-shaped vacuum' - "You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they come to rest in you". Yes, it is a gift, but I might argue that it is not a gift beyond our Creation itself - the fact that we have been created is the gift for knowing God. As the Penny Catechism says, we are made precisely for this purpose!
I think this would prompt me to ask more about your views of what mediation actually is, but I fear I should stop.
I hope all is well with you - and Megan, who has a very good birthday!
All the best,
Phil
Thanks so much for this Phil. You've inspired another post! I hope I've answered your questions in the post, but basically I do think it's because of sin that we need a mediator, but I also think that beyond that, our knowing God can only be due to His grace anyway, because by very nature He is so far above us.
I do totally agree that God made us to know and enjoy Him forever, and this is all part of His creation gift, but also part of His passion for His glory. He created us so that we would give Him glory. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him (see John Piper's site, desiringgod.org)
I would say that the Bible shows we can only really come to God through Jesus. Human mediators aren't perfect and were there for the time before Christ- after Christ, there aren't any examples of other mediators in the Bible. I'm wary of the early church's standpoint on this, because I think there have always been heresies of elevating angels beyond their given role (see Col 2:18, Heb 1:4-14) The basic idea in the New Testament is that when you've got Christ, why would you need any other mediator?
Feel free to come back at me with your thoughts!
Take care
Sophie
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