The book of Job is a puzzling one for most people. It begins with a conference in God’s presence including some vaguely identified beings, one of whom is “the satan.” As I explained in “Understanding the Book of Job: the Heiser Effect,” the Hebrew word from which we get the name, Satan, means accuser and was linked to the serpent in Genesis which was probably not a serpent at all, but a “watcher.” This fits the context of Job because when God asks the character what he has been up to, he admits to watching what is happening on earth. This is what brings up his accusation of Job: he only trusts you, God, because you have him hedged in with divine protection.
This is where the trouble begins for most of us when we see
what God does. He basically turns Satan loose to afflict Job, though within
certain limits. We have to ask ourselves why God would do that. We know the end
of the story, so we can at least see that if God was testing Job’s faith, he
passed and was blessed abundantly in response. But for Job, the end was not at
all clear. Job’s suffering was both physical and mental. His body was afflicted
with painful lesions, and his soul was wounded because he knew he had been
righteous in his behavior before God.
I am not alone in thinking that God does test His people.
John MacArthur says, “When God wants to prove the quality of one’s
commitment, He tests it. The test may come directly from Him, as with Abraham
when God asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac (Gen. 22:1–2), or it may come
through difficult circumstances, as with the Israelites during their wilderness
wanderings (Deut. 8:16), or it may even come from Satan himself, as God
permitted with Job (Job 1:12; 2:6).”
As we know from Job’s speeches, there was little comfort in knowing that
God’s hand was on him.
And yet, Job displays his true faith when he says, “But I myself know that my redeemer is
alive, and at the last he will stand up upon the earth. And after my skin has
been thus destroyed, but from my flesh I will see God, whom I will see for
myself, and whom my eyes will see and not a stranger.” This is an amazing statement of faith when we realize that Job lived
long before the Cross on which his Redeemer died and even long before the God
he worshipped revealed Himself to Moses.
When God did speak to Moses centuries later, He gave a provision in His
law to correct a potential injustice. The concept of a redeemer, a go-el (גְּאוּלִים),
was part of Jewish law. We see it in the story of Ruth when Boaz redeems
Naomi’s inheritance on Ruth’s behalf. Of course, the ultimate demonstration is
God’s provision of His Son as our Redeemer. We are redeemed, bought out of
slavery to sin by the payment Jesus made on the Cross.
What is amazing about Job is that he had the confidence that
God would provide a redeemer for him even though there was no written promise
to do so. Job’s friends thought he was crazy. Even
his wife told him to curse God and die. Job’s
answer to his wife is another expression of his deep
faith: “You speak like one of the
foolish women speaks. Indeed, should we receive the good from God, but not
receive the [adversity]?” He told his friends that even if God should take his
very life, he would still put his trust in God. That’s crazy, or else it is the
ultimate statement of confidence.
Here is MacArthur again: “When you are tested, remember that God is working
on your spiritual maturity and that He will never test you beyond what you are
able to endure and will always provide a means of victory” When we face trials, we must be sure we are like Job: righteous in our
behavior. God does chastise His children when they stray, but we cannot be like
Job’s friends and assume that a trial necessarily means we have sinned. (Although,
if we have transgressed, God’s discipline brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness into our lives.) James confirms what MacArthur says: trials work for our
maturity. You can be confident of that. That is not craziness.
Related posts: Understanding the Book of Job, Finally; The
Goodness of God in the Bad Times; The
Winnowing Fork of God;
No comments:
Post a Comment