Job desires to have his case put before the Lord. The Lord knows the truth and his friends know
nothing at all. His friends speak
falsely of Job and for the Lord. Job's
hope is in the Lord, come what may. What
he knows and believes of the Lord causes him to have hope that is if he were
able to dispute with God that he would get a fair hearing and could acquit
himself. Searching back into his life,
Job ultimately asks if he is being punished for the sins of the past, the sins
of his youth. There must, even for Job,
be some reason for this situation. He wants
two things, to have a hearing before God and to understand why this is so, why
God pursues him of all people on earth. Have
you ever been in a place where it does indeed feel like the Almighty has
singled you out and there is no hope, no end to the pain? If so, it is likely He was trying to
accomplish something in your life rather than destruction.
“We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to
anyone." What in the world are they
thinking? The story of the nation is the
story of slavery in Egypt and the deliverance of God. Without the backdrop of slavery there is no
nation, no Law, no Land. Israel's story
is largely the story of an enslaved people set free to be God's people. The statement, “We were not born of sexual
immorality. We have one Father—even God", may serve two functions. First, is it a hint at Jesus' own
origin? The rumor seems to have been
current that He was the product of some tryst Mary had prior to her
marriage. Second, it is ironic in the
extreme as Jesus is the one here with one Father-even God, more literally than
anyone there can possibly claim. When He
says that the Father sent Him, Jesus is pointing beyond even the incarnation to
a time before that, to the sending prior to the birth. His final words in this reading, "Whoever
is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that
you are not of God", are a stunning rebuke, similar to the words Job has
spoken to his friends and would-be counselors.
What would you think if an angel struck you on the side,
woke you and told you to "Get up quickly"? Step by step the angel guides Peter, get up, dress
yourself, put on your sandals, put on your cloak and follow me. All through this, the chains falling off, the
leaving of the prison, passing two sets of guards, entering the city by the
gate which miraculously unlocked, and then the angel leaving him, Peter
presumed he was asleep and having a vision, that it wasn't really
happening. Sometimes we live as if in a
dream rather than actively living. Job knew that his suffering was real and it
was this which got him to think and to seek.
The people who argue with Jesus are living as though they are in real
life and have forgotten that they are God's people because He delivered
them. They see the world they are in as
good enough and aren't longing for better.
We can easily lose sight of the reality that this world is fallen and broken
and sometimes the only way to awaken us to that reality is suffering.
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