Year 1, Week 3, Day 1 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 3, Day 1

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Job 21-24.

Today’s reading begins with Job’s reply to Zophar’s second round of speech recording in Job 20. Job 21 completes the second round of interchange between Job and his three friends. As the third round begins in Job 22, the responses of the friends become shorter (in fact, Zophar will say nothing in the third round). The third speech from Eliphaz (Job 22), is followed by Job’s words (Job 23-24).

Much of the same back and forth unfolds in today’s reading. Zophar had been continuing his insistence that the wicked experience the wrath of God: “To fill his belly to the full, God will send his burning anger against him and rain it upon him into his body…The possessions of his house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God's wrath. This is the wicked man's portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God.” (Job 20:23,28-29). Job’s body had been racked with pain and all of his possessions had been carried off. Zophar demands Job see that his loss and suffering stem from God’s immediate response to his wickedness.

Job restates observations that he has previously alluded to: “Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? Their offspring are established in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them.” (Job 21:7-9). Job contends there are wicked who are not under the immediate judgment of God. In fact, Job catalogs in chapter 24, many of the acts in which the wicked engage, while facing no immediate judgment. But Job acknowledges that anything he says to his friends will only result in their further mocking of him: “Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on.” (Job 21:3).

I was struck by what today’s reading reveals about God’s desire for us to trust Him, even when what we know and understand about Him does not seem to add up. God has revealed that there is a moral order and thus a moral reckoning to this universe: “The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” (Psalm 1:4-6). We know that “the wicked with not stand in the judgment.” And yet, we experience perplexity as we seek to square truth with experience. Job is not the only one to observe such perplexities: “Righteous are you, O LORD, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?” (Jeremiah 12:1). Jeremiah acknowledges that God is righteous and yet he is trying to square that with what he is observing. Such discrepancy between what we believe and what we see can affect our relationship with the Lord: “You have said, It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’” (Malachi 3:14-15). We can be tempted to grow weary as we try to reconcile God being righteous in light of the apparent success and benefits to unrighteousness.

God reveals through Job that His righteousness may not always be immediate, but it is settled: "Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life. He gives them security, and they are supported, and his eyes are upon their ways. They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like the heads of grain.” (Job 24:22-24). We can be assured that the wicked’s prosperity is not eternal: "they are exalted a little while.”

We can trust what God’s Word says about the eventual outcome of the wicked more than the conclusions we reach based on what we see—we are to walk by faith and not by sight. As we take our gaze off of the Word of God, weariness settles in: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9). As we stay focused on the Lord through His Word, our perspective is reset: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe