Job 16-19
Job's Reply to Eliphaz Job 16:1-2
1 Then Job answered: 2 I have heard many things like these.
You are all miserable comforters. Job's Reply to Bildad Job 19: 1-2 1 Then Job answered: 2 How long will you torment me
and crush me with words?
Do not offer unsolicited words. Be a wise comforter not a tormentor. This applies to loss of employment as as well as loss that occurs through death or divorce. Being the “one with all the answers” is not comforting.
Job 16:18-20(HCSB) 18 Earth, do not cover my blood;
may my cry for help find no resting place. 19 Even now my witness is in heaven,
and my advocate is in the heights! 20 My friends scoff at me
as I weep before God.
Tears are a language that God understands. God gives us tears when there are no words to express.
Do not expect humans to understand your suffering. You will not be disappointed if you do not have that unrealistic expectation.
Job 16:21-22(HCSB) 21 I wish that someone might arbitrate
between a man and God
just as a man [pleads] for his friend. 22 For [only] a few years will pass
before I go the way of no return.
Arbitrator – this is Jesus at the right hand of God – Job had no way of knowing this truth, it had not yet been revealed – faith
Job has changed from wishing that he had never been born to looking forward to when death comes – this is progress – it is a small step – things are still hard but he is making progress.
Job17:6 (HCSB) He has made me an object of scorn to the people;
I have become a man people spit at.
No children, no wealth, no health; he is still struggling but he is dealing with where he is now – no longer groaning and whining for past. He has progressed to dealing with the present.
Job 17: 10- 12 (HCSB)
10 But come back [and try] again, all of you.
I will not find a wise man among you. 11 My days have slipped by;
my plans have been ruined,
even the things dear to my heart. 12 They turned night into day
and [made] light [seem] near in the face of darkness.
Job is acknowledging the actual losses and coming to grips with the fact that his children are gone.
Job 17: 15 (HCSB)15 where then is my hope?
Who can see [any] hope for me? 1 Corinthians 13:13 (KJV) And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.It is bad enough that Job has no hope but even his friends can see no hope for him either.Job 18: 2 (HCSB)2 How long until you stop talking?
Show some sense, and then we can talk.
“shut up and listen”
Job 18:18-21 (HCSB)18 He is driven from light to darkness
and chased from the inhabited world. 19 He has no children or descendants among his people,
no survivor where he used to live. 20 Those in the west are appalled at his fate,
while those in the east tremble in horror. 21 Indeed, such is the dwelling of the wicked,
and this is the place of the one who does not know God. Bildad is still trying to convince Job that it is because he sinned.
has no children – the greatest blessing a man can have is children – Job’s are all gone therefore he is dirt.
Job 19:3 –4 (HCSB)3 You have humiliated me ten times now,
and you mistreat me without shame. 4 Even if it is true that I have sinned,
my mistake concerns only me.
Friends???
They have criticized and humiliated Job enough! 10 times!
Enough is Enough!
“even if I sinned”
Job is not stating as God saying “I have no sin”, he is humble as he says as far as he knows there is no unconfessed sin in him but if he had missed confessing a sin then it is his mistake and concerns only him . He accuses them of sticking their noses in where they have no business.
The friends were wrong:
1. accusations that they cannot prove
2. no authority for their judgments (assumed positions that were not theirs)
Do not act or confront on feelings – yours or someone’s else’s – never intervene based on feelings - where is the hard evidence?
Job 19:25-27 (KJV)25For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: 26And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: 27Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
“REDEEMER” – this statement is madew before any written account of creation or the redemptive plan.
“worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: ” – Death and Resurrection
“see for myself” – face to face
Job has progressed now to looking toward the future. Job’s journey through grief is 3 steps forward and 2 steps backwards.
PAST – wish I had never been born
PRESENT – until I die; no hope
FUTURE – see GOD, REDEEMER, face to face
Life is not a constant incline, it is a series of ups and downs – no matter which though :
GOD IS REAL !
GOD IS THERE!
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