Job 9:1-35
Job Maintains His Innocence
1 Then Job replied:
2 “Indeed, I know that this is true.
But how can mere mortals prove their innocence before God?
3 Though they wished to dispute with him,
they could not answer him one time out of a thousand.
4 His wisdom is profound, his power is vast.
Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?
5 He moves mountains without their knowing it
and overturns them in his anger.
6 He shakes the earth from its place
and makes its pillars tremble.
7 He speaks to the sun and it does not shine;
he seals off the light of the stars.
8 He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads on the waves of the sea.
9 He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
10 He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,
miracles that cannot be counted.
11 When he passes me, I cannot see him;
when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.
12 If he snatches away, who can stop him?
Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
13 God does not restrain his anger;
even the cohorts of Rahab cowered at his feet.
14 “How then can I dispute with him?
How can I find words to argue with him?
15 Though I were innocent, I could not answer him;
I could only plead with my Judge for mercy.
16 Even if I summoned him and he responded,
I do not believe he would give me a hearing.
17 He would crush me with a storm
and multiply my wounds for no reason.
18 He would not let me catch my breath
but would overwhelm me with misery.
19 If it is a matter of strength, he is mighty!
And if it is a matter of justice, who can challenge him?
20 Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me;
if I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty.
21 “Although I am blameless,
I have no concern for myself;
I despise my own life.
22 It is all the same; that is why I say,
‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
23 When a scourge brings sudden death,
he mocks the despair of the innocent.
24 When a land falls into the hands of the wicked,
he blindfolds its judges.
If it is not he, then who is it?
25 “My days are swifter than a runner;
they fly away without a glimpse of joy.
26 They skim past like boats of papyrus,
like eagles swooping down on their prey.
27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will change my expression, and smile,’
28 I still dread all my sufferings,
for I know you will not hold me innocent.
29 Since I am already found guilty,
why should I struggle in vain?
30 Even if I washed myself with soap
and my hands with cleansing powder,
31 you would plunge me into a slime pit
so that even my clothes would detest me.
32 "He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him,
that we might confront each other in court.
33 If only there were someone to mediate between us,
someone to bring us together,
34 someone to remove God’s rod from me,
so that his terror would frighten me no more.
35 Then I would speak up without fear of him,
but as it now stands with me, I cannot."
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Job is the Classic Book on Suffering...
We can bring our troubles, our pains, and our sufferings to God...Job learned this, and he did and he speaks to God...We can speak to God with our sufferings...We can get mad at God...As we read Job at the first of the book he was a rich man and everything seems to be going well in his life...I have to wonder, if we question God in these good times as much as we do when we are suffering and struggling, and as I read through the Book of Job, I think this plays out as we sometimes question our own faith in times of trouble...And should we ask, in these cases, why do good people prosper?...And the evil one plants that seed inside our reading of this book, that are good prosperous people righteous, and why does God allow good people to prosper?...Did God build a hedge around Job, and what would he do if it was not only cut down, but add tragedies and health issues with the God Hedge now gone?...Can and does prosperity cause us to be further from God or closer to Him?...And do we really trust God more in our good times, and our times of prosperity than we do in our suffering times, and our times of tragedy?...And does our faith diminish in our troubles?...
As Job loses his children, family, and wealth and his life dramatically change, we do see all the questions from Job...We hear from Job's friends who think God rewards the good, and punishes the sinners...And they think Job has done a sin of some kind...But throughout all the dialogue of the book, we are not told really one way or the other, what Job might have done...But Job maintains the viewpoint that he has not sinned and that he is innocent...Job directly talks to God about this justice and injustice and why he will maintain his belief of his innocence...If it is a matter of strength, He is mighty!...And if it is a matter of justice, who can challenge Him?...Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty...
So, we learn that the world will bring us troubles sometimes, but when God comes out of the storm, we see that it also has a world of beauty and order to it...And from out of that storm, we learn from God about this order and beauty, and maybe about trust, trusting in the LORD...God wants us to not only to talk to Him, to question Him, but also trust Him at all times, even in the very hard times...Job's viewpoint is one from an earthly standpoint...God view is one from a universal standpoint, an eternal standpoint, a Divine Standpoint...God does tell us that Job was right, but one might ask right about what...And I believe that it is that Job is blameless and believes in God and continues his faith in God...And after hearing from God, Job trusts God even in his suffering...