Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Then Job replied:
“I have heard many things like these;
    you are miserable comforters, all of you!
Will your long-winded speeches never end?
    What ails you that you keep on arguing?
I also could speak like you,
    if you were in my place;
I could make fine speeches against you
    and shake my head at you.
But my mouth would encourage you;
    comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
“Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved;
    and if I refrain, it does not go away.
Surely, God, you have worn me out;
    you have devastated my entire household.
You have shriveled me up—and it has become a witness;
    my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.
God assails me and tears me in his anger
    and gnashes his teeth at me;
    my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.
People open their mouths to jeer at me;
    they strike my cheek in scorn
    and unite together against me.
God has turned me over to the ungodly
    and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.
All was well with me, but he shattered me;
    he seized me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me his target;
    his archers surround me.
Without pity, he pierces my kidneys
    and spills my gall on the ground.
Again and again he bursts upon me;
    he rushes at me like a warrior.
“I have sewed sackcloth over my skin
    and buried my brow in the dust.
My face is red with weeping,
    dark shadows ring my eyes;
yet my hands have been free of violence
    and my prayer is pure.
“Earth, do not cover my blood;
    may my cry never be laid to rest!
Even now my witness is in heaven;
    my advocate is on high.
My intercessor is my friend
    as my eyes pour out tears to God;
on behalf of a man he pleads with God
    as one pleads for a friend.
“Only a few years will pass
    before I take the path of no return.

• Job 16:1-22

My spirit is broken,
    my days are cut short,
    the grave awaits me.
Surely mockers surround me;
    my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
“Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.
    Who else will put up security for me?
You have closed their minds to understanding;
    therefore you will not let them triumph.
If anyone denounces their friends for reward,
    the eyes of their children will fail.
“God has made me a byword to everyone,
    a man in whose face people spit.
My eyes have grown dim with grief;
    my whole frame is but a shadow.
The upright are appalled at this;
    the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.
Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways,
    and those with clean hands will grow stronger.
“But come on, all of you, try again!
    I will not find a wise man among you.
My days have passed, my plans are shattered.
    Yet the desires of my heart
turn night into day;
    in the face of the darkness light is near.
If the only home I hope for is the grave,
    if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness,
if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’
    and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’
where then is my hope—
    who can see any hope for me?
Will it go down to the gates of death?
    Will we descend together into the dust?”

• Job 17:1-16

Job 16:15  ”Eliphaz condemned Job for rejecting the conventional wisdom, as if he had more insight than other men (vv. 7-9) and could reject the wisdom of the aged (v. 10) and the kindness of God (v. 11).”

• Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Constance N. Wieler, Poetry contributor)

The Message

Most of the book of Job is summarized in Job 16:2:  As comforters, you are miserable.  Pathetic comes to mind.  They hardly had any words of comfort, nothing about encouraging unless it was encouraging him to confess the deep dark secrets of Job’s sinful life.

Then Job says that their speeches are winded.  That reminds me of an early philosophy discussion.  Arthur Schopenhauer would lecture to a classroom that was mostly empty, while Georg W.F. Hegel’s classroom would be standing room only.  In jealousy and arrogance, Schopenhauer referred to the philosophers at the other end of the hallway as “Mere Windbags.”

Job is speaking from a standpoint of pain and exhaustion.  The three “friends” who pretend to be mere windbags do not have the right things to say.  But they have a lot of unfounded accusations.

But then Job speaks of being exhausted.  He has been beaten down, his family gone.  He is vulnerable so that the wicked can take advantage of him.  He pleas with God to not let his blood vanish.  He wants to be vindicated, and his Witness is in heaven.  Although Jesus as our advocate before God is a New Testament concept, Job understood that much in his day.

At this point, Job is drained in spirit, and he prepares for the grave.  He is made a byword by his neighbors.  There is no wise person to speak for him on earth.  But he is ready to go to that place of darkness in the grave.  He has no other hope.

And now let us sing.

The following song is Lord, Renew My Hope.  This is sung by Risen Tunes.  I used this song with Stinkers Sunday school class this past Sunday.

 

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord,
We need Your wisdom.  Lord, we suffer.  And sometimes our suffering comes from misguided “comforters” who say the wrong thing.  At some point, we think there is no end to the pain and suffering other than going Home to be with You.  But, Lord, You are in control.  In thy Name we pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.