God in His World

JOB 38:1-7; 16-18, 22, 28, 31, 41

GOLDEN TEXT: “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.”—Proverbs 20:12

THE Book of Job is devoted to a conversation between Job and his three “comforters,” Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, followed by a statement on the part of Elihu, and by God. While Job did not understand why God was permitting him to suffer, and longed for rest in death, he maintained that he had not sinned against God and hence that his affliction was not in the nature of punishment from the Almighty. Three of his comforters, on the other hand, insisted that Job had sinned, and that the calamities which had come upon him were direct retribution for his iniquity.

For beauty of language, eloquence, and veiled sarcasm the conversation is unsurpassed in any of the world’s literature. When the three comforters had exhausted all of their arguments by which they endeavored to convince Job of his iniquity, another character appears, namely, Elihu.

Apparently Elihu had been listening to the conversations and was surprised that the three comforters were unable to give a satisfactory answer to Job’s reasoning, but at the same time, he reprimanded Job because he “justified himself rather than God.” (Job 32:2) While much that the original three had said to Job is true in principle, yet the Lord later stated that he was on Job’s side of the argument, saying to the others, “Ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.”—Job 42:7,8

The Lord offers no comment concerning the reasoning of Elihu, so we may assume that his viewpoint was more correct than that of the other three. Although Job was not a willful sinner, and had not knowingly practiced iniquity, Elihu reminded him that his righteousness came far short of the divine standard, that he was not so perfect that he could expect to go through life without any suffering. From listening to Job, Elihu got the thought that he was stressing his own righteousness a little too much. In the heat of argument one is liable to be somewhat extreme in presenting his view, and apparently Job was not immune to this weakness.

But the Lord had a more effective way of helping Job to recognize his own nothingness. After Elihu had made his speech, the Lord entered the discussion and addressed Job with a series of pertinent questions, the true answer to any one of which was calculated to put righteous Job in his place. Often the question form of instruction is the most effective, and it proved to be so in the case of Job.

From the Lord’s standpoint the questions he asked Job were simple. Job had done the best he could to answer his comforters, but his knowledge was limited. Deep down in his heart he knew that he loved God and had not knowingly transgressed against him. He held to this position despite the third degree tactics of his comforters to obtain a confession of guilt from him. Nevertheless, he was unable to give them a real reason for his suffering. His patience kept him from cursing God, but he longed to die and be at rest. Apparently his inability to find the answer to his problem had failed to impress him with the fact that he was not really very wise. Had he been more conscious of God’s superior wisdom he would have at least reasoned that there was some wise purpose back of the permission of the evil which had come upon him.

It was this “blind spot” in his outlook that God corrected by questioning Job: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare if thou hast understanding? … Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who hath laid the corner stone thereof? … Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hest thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? … Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew? … Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?”

Through four entire chapters (38-41) these questions continue. There was not one of them for which Job had the real answer, for they all pertain to a sphere of understanding beyond that of man. Pondering what might be the answers to these questions gives us a little inkling of the mind of God, and the world in which he dwells. The mere asking of them had the designed effect upon Job. It caused him to understand how little he really knew, how truly limited was his knowledge.

So with this corrected viewpoint, Job spoke again, and this time in true humility, not to his comforters, not to Elihu, but to God, saying, “I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. … I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

There is nothing that can convince a man of the sense of his own imperfections more effectively than to reflect upon the purity and majesty of the Creator. No amount of philosophizing will take the place in this respect of a knowledge of God.

QUESTIONS:

Did Job’s three comforters speak the truth?

Was Job’s viewpoint wholly right?

What was the purpose of the questions God asked Job?

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