The Reason For My Faith

While I will agree that in mainstream Biblical theology, self-righteousness was not Job’s initial sin, but rather a flaw that emerged during his severe trials. This understanding is totally based upon the narrative we are given in the introduction of Job that his suffering was not a punishment for any prior sin. “Prior”, signifying before Satan attacked him with GOD’s approval. What came later is all based upon, in my opinion, how Job responded to his troubles, of which GOD knew ahead of time how he would. To say otherwise is to deny GOD’s omniscience.

Omniscience of God refers to His attribute of possessing total, perfect, and infinite knowledge. It means God is aware of everything, the past, present, future, and possible future, including the intimate details of our thoughts, words, and hearts, existing completely outside the limitations of human time and learning.

After reading my response as to Job’s sin, which in reality are two sins, him depending upon his own righteousness against God’s, and the fact that in doing so he was bordering on blaspheming GOD for daring to accuse HIM of an evil deed by wrongly punishing him.

My stance is that God knows everything that was, will be, and what might be. I get this from understanding the omniscience of GOD. A perfect example of this would be an incident that took place with David when Saul was hunting him down. You can read the account at 1Samuel 23:1-13 where GOD responds to David’s prayer about whether or not the citizens of Keilah, the town he saved from the Philistines, would or would not betray him to Saul. Read the account and you will understand my thinking and why I use the logic here as to GOD knowing even the what if’s of life that we cannot even fathom, and thus my conclusion on Job’s sin.

Thus GOD knew that in Job’s heart there was a little problem. A problem Job did not even consider, a problem GOD knew existed. Many times we do not realize we have a problem until things go bad. Well, I believe from all I read in Job, that GOD allowed Job to suffer because HE wanted to point out that one flaw Job had. As usual, GOD played Satan like a fool in HIS lesson to JOB, because in all that transpired Job never cursed GOD. It may seem cruel to us that GOD would use such methods, especially considering the loss of Jobs’ children, his wealth, and the good standing he had amongst everyone who knew him. Yet, GOD always knows what is best for us, and lessons do not always come cheap.

I also want to make the point that the story and the lesson of Job should not be limited to just one ancient man living in the land of Uz. This account of the mysterious relationship between God’s sovereignty, human suffering, and personal righteousness speaks to larger universal issues related to the human condition and offers a corrective to bad theology. The story of Job does this by establishing the principle that suffering is not always tied to sinfulness. Job teaches us that righteous people will also suffer in a fallen world. We read in Job 1:1 that he was an upright, blameless, and righteous man. Yet, as the rest of the book reveals to us, he suffered greatly.

In Job 7:11-21. We see Job turning directly to God and bringing his complaint right to HIM. He starts using bitter sarcasm by questioning the attributes of God, his goodness, his mercy, and justice. This questioning of God will increase as the book goes on. And it is the very thing that he’s going to repent from at the end of the book, but we see the seeds of it in 7: 11-16,

“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I a sea, or a sea serpent, that You set a guard over me? When I say, ‘my bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’ then You scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that my soul chooses strangling and death rather than my body.”

(Job 7:11-17)

To repeat Job’s word, he says,

“I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit.”

As I read this, I could not help but be reminded of the part in Psalm 114, that says,

Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;

Keep watch over the door of my lips.

(Psalms 114:3)

It seems to me that Job does not want a guard put over the door of his lips. He wants to say what’s on his mind. And he wonders why God feels it necessary to deal so powerfully and vigorously with him. Jobs calls himself a serpent of the sea, like one of the beasts of many ancient stories that claim God conquered to create the universe. He feels like a sea serpent that’s like a cosmic enemy of God that has to be captured and put in chains and guarded night and day. He wonders if GOD thinks of him as a danger to others. Sarcastically he wonders if he is that much of a threat to GOD’s mighty throne. He wonders how GOD could think him to be such a threat in the midst of his disease.

One can only imagine the torment Job had to go through. Especially in the light that his suffering was not just physical and emotional, but it even attacked him in his sleep. A time when one would hope to find escape from the pain of reality, his pain continues in his dreams. He lies down in his bed, and even when he does, all that happens is more agony. Job is describing to GOD what it’s like and probably wonders why GOD will not give him a moment of peace, because even at night the terrors continue. Nightmares, physical and mental pain, and now night terrors that leave him in a cold sweat that will not end for a brief moment so he could just rest. It’s as though these nightmares are the evening’s guard rails set over him to make sure that he doesn’t have a moment’s peace. Imagine trying to breathe and you get strangled by the agony as you’re panting trying to catch your breath.

Then we get to verses 18-21 of chapter 7 and Job continues by saying,

“What is man, that You should exalt him, that You should set Your heart on him, that You should visit him every morning, and test him every moment? How long? Will You not look away from me, and let me alone till I swallow my saliva? Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, so that I am a burden to myself? Why then do You not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust, and You will seek me diligently, but I will no longer be.”

(Job 7:18-21)

Job finishes his lament by wondering what God gets out of staring at human beings so intently. Why do you care so much about us, God? You’re exalted high above the heavens. The heavens, even the highest heavens, can’t contain you. All the nations are before you like grass hoppers and like dust on the scales and like a drop of water from the bucket. So why do you zero in on me he asks? That’s what whole nations are like. Why do you care about an individual little peon, a flickering flame with nothing left to offer? Why do you stare at us? Why do you examine us? Why do you test us? Why do you orchestrate trials specifically tailored for our lives? I feel naked before your gaze, O God. Your staring at me makes me terrified. Would you please, for a moment, turn your gaze away? Look somewhere else. At this point, Job seems to become increasingly disrespectful of God in some sense. He says, “If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of men?”

Consider Job’s words well, and one response should come to mind, which it did to me. “Sufferers should not give themselves permission to blaspheme God. Instead we should be at the feet of Jesus, thanking HIM for the right to suffer for HIM.” One day a man named Paul, will suffer much for Christ, and after pleading for a thorn to be removed from him, the response was not what he expected, but he gladly relished in it and moved forward.

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

(2 Corinthians 12:7)

As the grueling debates with his friends progresses, Job continues in the defense of his own innocence by shifting into more problematic spiritual territory, when he begins justifying his own upright character to himself rather than to GOD.

In Job 32:2, he inadvertently implied that God was being unjust or acting as his enemy after his friends accused him of being guilty of sinful acts. (22:5-10). In his defense Job argued that he had done nothing wrong implying that Jehovah was not right to punish him. In this Job was wrong to try to justify himself and suggest God was wrongly punishing him.

He has cast me into the mire, And I have become like dust and ashes. “I cry out to You, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You regard me. But You have become cruel to me; With the strength of Your hand You oppose me.

(Job 30:19–21)

This is Job justifying himself before GOD.

“Does He not see my ways, And count all my steps? If I have walked with falsehood, Or if my foot has hastened to deceit, Let me be weighed on honest scales, That God may know my integrity. “

(Job 31:5-6)

Rather than trying to prove himself righteous before GOD, he should have defended Jehovah against what they were wrongly accusing him of doing. This is when Elihu stepped up after being silent out of respect for the older men, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. Elihu does confront the three friends for their accusations against Job, but he also chastises Job for daring to defend himself before GOD.

To these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was aroused against Job; his wrath was aroused because he justified himself rather than God. Also against his three friends his wrath was aroused, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.

(Job 32:1-3)

Now mind you, I can honestly say I have never been in Jobs’ shoes, yet I have had my share of pain, sorrow and sadness, yet not even close to Job’s degree. I readily admit that I too blamed GOD for not stepping in to help me in my trials, and accused HIM of attacking me when I felt innocent. Which is wrong. The definition of blasphemy is to equate GOD with an evil deed. In my recovery of my pain and suffering I realized that I too had crossed a line I never should have even approached. Yet thanks to HIS love and grace, HE gave me a chance to repent. As Job too will repent for his words by the end of the book.

Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me. ’I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

(Job 42:1-6)

Well, I could go on and on, but as I said in the beginning that, at least from Job’s point of view, he did nothing to deserve what he went through. I also must state that for years my biggest response to the book of Job was, “OH LORD, please don’t brag to Satan about me.” That being said, Job did not realize the sin that was in him, because it seems he lived such an upright righteous life that he was never in danger of trouble, but GOD knew what was in him, and it was not what Satan expected at all. It was Job’s belief that his salvation was secure because he was a righteous upstanding guy. Now we know that all our good deeds and righteousness means nothing. Only the blood of Jesus matters, and we are all human and will all eventually sin and miss the mark. Thus without the blood of Christ, even the great Job is lost. Men like Job looked forward to Christ, while today we look back to Christ, but ultimately we all must look to Christ.

In reading GOD’s response, we see that God did NOT chastise Elihu. Nor did HE order Elihu to sacrifice or to pray for Job as HE did with Job’s three fair-weather friends. Out of respect and kindness, Elihu may have  prayed and blessed Job with gifts and a sacrifice to GOD for him, but we don’t read that he did. Another factor in me believing what I do, since Elihu and GOD both agree with me on Job’s self-righteousness. Now while Elihu correctly diagnosed this specific error. He did not say Job was a lifelong wicked man, but he rightly pointed out that Job’s current defensive rage was drifting into sin and self-righteousness. When God finally spoke from the whirlwind, He echoed Elihu’s point when HE spoke to Job,

“Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me: “Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?

(Job 40:8)

What I shared was my reasons for claiming Job’s ultimate problem was his self-righteousness, which was manifested during his suffering, that highlights the tension between human morality and God’s sovereignty. Pushed to his limits, Job vigorously defended his innocence, essentially arguing that he did not deserve his suffering, which indirectly accused God of injustice. This attitude was eventually dismantled when God spoke from the whirlwind.