Job 9:1-35

Job answers Bildad by agreeing with the majority of what he said but taking issue with the accusation of his personal guilt.  Job’s language is deep and beautiful but it is full of pain and sorrow.  He describes himself and God in accurate terms but his attitude in light of what he says about God is not consistent.  Job recognizes that there is a great chasm between himself and God and that God does not owe him an explanation.  Job would love to be able to have a justification for his pain from God but he recognizes that he has no right or ability to expect such treatment from God.  Job is hopeless because he feels that he has no ability to gain an understanding of his circumstance from God and because he has no expectation that his circumstance will somehow get better apart from death.  Job is focusing on only one aspect of God and has forgotten that God is also love, grace and mercy.  Job’s argument here has two basic themes that keep repeating themselves.

JOB DEFENDS HIS FAULTLESSNESS: Job does not consider himself to be sinless.  He does, however, consider that his current circumstances are not his fault.  He is absolutely correct in his statement.  Job comes across as prideful in this statement, and he admits that his friends will naturally interpret his words as being prideful.  Job is very much aware of the fact that he is an imperfect man and that his children were imperfect, but he is not willing to admit that these imperfections were the cause of the suffering, heartache and death that had come to Job’s family.  If we say that all suffering is punishment for sin than we must also affirm that all blessing is merited by obedience.  This cannot be true!  All of our blessings are the result of God’s grace.  We must be careful not to take too much blame for our sufferings or too much credit for our blessings.


JOB DECLARES GOD’S FREEDOM: Job is very aware of the fact that God does not answer to man and that he has no ability to call God to account for what He is doing in this situation.  God is free to do as He pleases with the people He has created.  God can bring great suffering on those who are living in rebellion against Him just like He can permit great suffering to occur in the lives of those who live in fear of Him.  There are no innocent men, but God is not bound to respond to man’s behavior.  God is free to do as He sees fit for His ultimate glory even when His choices do not make any sense to us.  The prosperity “gospel” teaches that if we do something or give something then God is somehow obliged to give back to us in abundance.  This is very poor theology because it makes God dependent upon man instead of the other way around.  We must not fall into this trap.  God is worthy of our worship because He is free not because He responds to our actions in a way that pleases us.

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