Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
“Are all these words to go unanswered?
    Is this talker to be vindicated?
Will your idle talk reduce others to silence?
    Will no one rebuke you when you mock?
You say to God, ‘My beliefs are flawless
    and I am pure in your sight.’
Oh, how I wish that God would speak,
    that he would open his lips against you
and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom,
    for true wisdom has two sides.
    Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.
“Can you fathom the mysteries of God?
    Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do?
    They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know?
Their measure is longer than the earth
    and wider than the sea.
“If he comes along and confines you in prison
    and convenes a court, who can oppose him?
Surely he recognizes deceivers;
    and when he sees evil, does he not take note?
But the witless can no more become wise
    than a wild donkey’s colt can be born human.
“Yet if you devote your heart to him
    and stretch out your hands to him,
if you put away the sin that is in your hand
    and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,
then, free of fault, you will lift up your face;
    you will stand firm and without fear.
You will surely forget your trouble,
    recalling it only as waters gone by.
Life will be brighter than noonday,
    and darkness will become like morning.
You will be secure, because there is hope;
    you will look about you and take your rest in safety.
You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid,
    and many will court your favor.
But the eyes of the wicked will fail,
    and escape will elude them;
    their hope will become a dying gasp.”

• Job 11:1-20

Job 11:16  ”Job’s misery was extreme, and it seemed as if he could never forget it. He never did forget the fact of it, but he did forget the pain of it. That he had been utterly miserable would always remain recorded on the tablets of his memory; but the wretchedness itself would not remain. It would be so entirely removed that it should be as a thing that has been altogether forgotten. Nothing better can happen to our misery than that it should be forgotten in the sense referred to here, evidently, it will be gone from us.  It will be as it is when even for then, the flavor of the bitter drug I lingers no longer in the medicine glass but has altogether disappeared. So is it with the sorrow that has so effectually gone out of the mind that it is just as though it had never been there. When we are in pain of body and depression of spirit, we imagine that we never will forget such misery as we are enduring. The sharp plowshare has gone down so deeply that we think it has made a mark in the soul that can never be erased. We seem to lie all broken in pieces with our thoughts like a case of knives cutting into our spirit, and we say to ourselves, ‘I will never forget this terrible experience.’ And yet, by-and-by, God turns the palm of his hand toward us, and we see that it is full of mercy. We are restored to health or lifted from depression of spirit, and we wonder that we ever made so much of our former suffering or depression. We remember it no more, except as a thing that has passed and gone, to be remembered with gratitude that we have been delivered from it but not to be remembered so as to leave any scar on our spirit or to cause us any painful reflection whatever.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from his sermon notes

The Message

Zophar, the Naamathite, was the third friend to speak.  Again, nothing is known about the Naamathites today.

Zophar is either the brutally blunt one or having gone last of the three friends, he’d lost his patience.  Eliphaz beat around the bush. Bildad circled around the idea of not being perfect.  Zophar went in for the kill.

“How dare Job say that he is blameless?  I wish God would show up and set you straight!”

“Can you even imagine what God might be doing right now?  Worrying about you is not on His list!”

“You know, Job, you need to keep a low profile.  God may not care about you but He does care about liars.  And not one of us is believing the garbage you’ve been spilling out!  I hear they got a prison in heaven.  There’s a cell with your name on it!”

“But here’s what you do.  Throw away the sin in your hand and lift up your hands to God and stand firm.  Make sure that your tent is clean, no sin there either.  And for heaven’s sake, do not bring up your present troubles.  Then, your days will be rosy again.  You might feel the warmth of the sunshine.”

Okay, this is a bit of a sarcastic paraphrase, but it fairly well covers this short chapter.  No thought of accepting anything Job said.  He was guilty and he needed to clean up his act, and so far, Zophar had run out of patience.

And now let us sing.

The following song is Jesus, Friend of Sinners.  This is sung by Casting Crowns.  I thought I would take a break from the “suffering” and have us sing about what Job’s three friends missed.  The story of Job is an ancient one, even in the days of Jesus, but the three friends should know that God forgives.  God shows mercy, and so should we.

 

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord,
We need Your wisdom.  Lord, we suffer.  And to have three friends that refuse to listen does not help the situation.  Yes, we should confess the sin in our lives.  Yes, we should repent so that there is no sin left roaming around in the tent, but God, I am Yours and You have already forgiven me.  I may be a work in progress, but You care deeply about me.  And even in my suffering, I will praise Your name.  In thy Name we pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.