Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Then Job replied:
“Indeed, I know that this is true.
    But how can mere mortals prove their innocence before God?
Though they wished to dispute with him,
    they could not answer him one time out of a thousand.
His wisdom is profound, his power is vast.
    Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?
He moves mountains without their knowing it
    and overturns them in his anger.
He shakes the earth from its place
    and makes its pillars tremble.
He speaks to the sun and it does not shine;
    he seals off the light of the stars.
He alone stretches out the heavens
    and treads on the waves of the sea.
He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion,
    the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,
    miracles that cannot be counted.
When he passes me, I cannot see him;
    when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.
If he snatches away, who can stop him?
    Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
God does not restrain his anger;
    even the cohorts of Rahab cowered at his feet.
“How then can I dispute with him?
    How can I find words to argue with him?
Though I were innocent, I could not answer him;
    I could only plead with my Judge for mercy.
Even if I summoned him and he responded,
    I do not believe he would give me a hearing.
He would crush me with a storm
    and multiply my wounds for no reason.
He would not let me catch my breath
    but would overwhelm me with misery.
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.
“Although I am blameless,
    I have no concern for myself;
    I despise my own life.
It is all the same; that is why I say,
    ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
When a scourge brings sudden death,
    he mocks the despair of the innocent.
When a land falls into the hands of the wicked,
    he blindfolds its judges.
    If it is not he, then who is it?
“My days are swifter than a runner;
    they fly away without a glimpse of joy.
They skim past like boats of papyrus,
    like eagles swooping down on their prey.
If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
    I will change my expression, and smile,’
I still dread all my sufferings,
    for I know you will not hold me innocent.
Since I am already found guilty,
    why should I struggle in vain?
Even if I washed myself with soap
    and my hands with cleansing powder,
you would plunge me into a slime pit
    so that even my clothes would detest me.
“He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him,
    that we might confront each other in court.
If only there were someone to mediate between us,
    someone to bring us together,
someone to remove God’s rod from me,
    so that his terror would frighten me no more.
Then I would speak up without fear of him,
    but as it now stands with me, I cannot.

• Job 9:1-35

“I loathe my very life;
    therefore I will give free rein to my complaint
    and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.
I say to God: Do not declare me guilty,
    but tell me what charges you have against me.
Does it please you to oppress me,
    to spurn the work of your hands,
    while you smile on the plans of the wicked?
Do you have eyes of flesh?
    Do you see as a mortal sees?
Are your days like those of a mortal
    or your years like those of a strong man,
that you must search out my faults
    and probe after my sin—
though you know that I am not guilty
    and that no one can rescue me from your hand?
“Your hands shaped me and made me.
    Will you now turn and destroy me?
Remember that you molded me like clay.
    Will you now turn me to dust again?
Did you not pour me out like milk
    and curdle me like cheese,
clothe me with skin and flesh
    and knit me together with bones and sinews?
You gave me life and showed me kindness,
    and in your providence watched over my spirit.
“But this is what you concealed in your heart,
    and I know that this was in your mind:
If I sinned, you would be watching me
    and would not let my offense go unpunished.
If I am guilty—woe to me!
    Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head,
for I am full of shame
    and drowned in my affliction.
If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion
    and again display your awesome power against me.
You bring new witnesses against me
    and increase your anger toward me;
    your forces come against me wave upon wave.
“Why then did you bring me out of the womb?
    I wish I had died before any eye saw me.
If only I had never come into being,
    or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!
Are not my few days almost over?
    Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy
before I go to the place of no return,
    to the land of gloom and utter darkness,
to the land of deepest night,
    of utter darkness and disorder,
    where even the light is like darkness.”

• Job 10:1-22

Job 10:12-13  ”Job is appealing to God’s pity and this is the form of his argument: “You are my Creator-be my Preserver. You have made me-do not break me. You are dealing harshly with me. I am almost destroyed beneath the pressure of your hands. Remember that I am your own creature. Weak and frail as I am, I am the creation of your hands. Therefore, do not despise your own work. Whatever I am, with the exception of my sin, you have made me. You have brought me into my present condition. Consider, then, what a poor, frail thing I am and stay your hand and do not utterly crush my spirit.” This is a wise prayer, a right and proper argument for a creature to use with the Creator. And when Job goes still further and addresses God not only as his Creator but as his Benefactor and mentions the great blessings he had received from God, his argument still holds good. Even if we have forgotten all that God has done for us, God has not forgotten. Many children forget all the kindness and love of their mother, but the mother remembers all she did for her children in the days of their helplessness, and she loves them all the more because of what she did for them.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from his sermon notes

The Message

With the charges leveed against him by his “friends” Job would like to take his case before God, but God is God.  Who can do that without incurring some type of injury.  God is everywhere, all powerful, and He is the Creator.

It is interesting that he uses terms for some of the constellations.  Knowing the constellations does not make you guilty of false god worship (astrology – having the stars determine your life course instead of going to God).  But the constellations have been identified since early in time.

And if we question what God has done, His anger might burn due to us being too proud.

Thus, Job laments that he has no means to take his complaint to God.  He remains humble, but he asserts that he is blameless.  He thinks about an intermediary, but none is found.

Job again hates his life, but he thinks of his beginnings.  God molded him like clay, but then he uses the metaphor of cheese instead of clay.

Job wants to know what his sin is.  He knows of nothing.  He is so ashamed of his present plight, he cannot raise his head to God to inquire.

And now let us sing.

The following song is Take This Pain.  This is sung by Jake Bakefield.  Unlike Job, this song talks of someone who has made a lot of mistakes.  He just wants to change.  But like Job, he sees that God is the source of restoration.  Can God help him?

 

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord,
We need Your wisdom.  Lord, we suffer.  And whether we know we are on the right track with You or not, we sometimes want answers.  But who are we to ask You?  You have Your reasons.  Help us, Lord.  Guide us toward the answer to the question of Why?  But with or without that answer, we trust You.  You have a divine plan for our lives.  We are Yours.  In thy Name we pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.