Posts with the tag “job”

“Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?” (19:22)People are fond of posing the dual questions, “Why is there so much suffering in the world?” and, “Why doesn’t God do ...  Read More

“Have pity on me, my friends, have pity,  for the hand of God has struck me.” (19:21) Who is the most important person in a church? Is it the head of the denomination? Is it the local pastor? Is it th...  Read More

“God has stripped me of my honor  and removed the crown from my head.” (19:9) Job’s language in Chapter 19 is full of haunting premonitions of Christ’s crucifixion: “[God’s] anger burns against me; he...  Read More

“[God] has blocked my way so I cannot pass;  he has shrouded my paths in darkness.” (19:8) In the book of Numbers there is a well-known scene in which the prophet Balaam tries to make his way along a ...  Read More

“How long will you torment me  and crush me with words? Ten times now you have reproached me;  shamelessly you attack me.” (19:2-3) If we think of Job as a temptation story prefiguring the temptation ...  Read More

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“Only grant me these two things, O God, and then I will not hide from you:Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me with your terrors.” (13:20-21)These two prayer requests of Job’s happe...  Read More

“Now that I have prepared my case, I know I will be vindicated. Can anyone bring charges against me?” (13:18-19)There is a striking similarity between this passage in Job and a portion of one of the “...  Read More

“Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.” (13:15)With these words, God has just won His wager with Satan. On earth Job and his friends will continue to slu...  Read More

“Why do I put myself in jeopardy and take my life in my hands?” (13:14)Why am I doing this?” cries Job. “Why am I spilling out my guts to you fellows and making a complete fool of myself in front of y...  Read More

“You are worthless physicians, all of you!” (13:4)Job called them “worthless physicians.” Today we call such people “Job’s comforters”—a scathing little phrase which by dint of its sheer utility has f...  Read More

“I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God.” (13:3)Job really believes that if he summons God, God will appear and answer him. This is astounding. He seems obstinately determined...  Read More

   “Ask the animals, and they will teach you,or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,or let the fish of the sea inform you.Which of all these does ...  Read More

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“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.” (10:15) The relationship between faith and doubt is often misconstrued....  Read More

“You gave me life and showed me kindness,  and in your providence watched over my spirit.” (10:12) The word translated here as “kindness” is the great Hebrew word hesed—a word so rich in its connotati...  Read More

“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?” (10:10-11) Are these the words of a doubting and rebellious ...  Read More

“I loathe my very life;  therefore I will give free rein to my complaint  and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.” (10:1) Most of the complaining that people do is petty and sinful, arising in one...  Read More

But as for me, I would seek God, And I would place my cause before God; Who does great and unsearchable things, Wonders without number. He gives rain on the earth, And sends water on the fields. Job 5...  Read More

“Surely God does not reject a blameless man  or strengthen the hands of evildoers.” (8:20)Bildad is perfectly correct. Far from rejecting the blameless God says, “Never will I leave you; never will I ...  Read More

“When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.” (8:4)Bildad strikes a low blow indeed when he tries to drag Job’s children into the argument. Whether or not the...  Read More

Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:  “How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind.” (8:1-2) The cumulative weight of Job’s arguments in Chapter 7 ought to have been enough to driv...  Read More

“Why do you not pardon my offenses  and forgive my sins?” (7:21) Job believes and knows that his God is a forgiving God. His problem is that right now he does not feel forgiven. The very crux of the t...  Read More

“I have sinned, [but] what have I done to you,  O watcher of men?  Why have you made me your target?” (7:20) Was Job a sinner? Do the righteous continue to sin? All such questions should be clearly re...  Read More

“Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath.” (7:7) This may well be the most significant verse in the entire book. Why? Because this is where we first hear Job break into prayer. Even his great pr...  Read More

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“When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up? ’ The night drags on, and I toss till dawn.” (7:4) There are some aspects to the suffering of Jesus on the cross that are less obvious than others....  Read More

“Does not man have hard service on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired man? Like a slave longing for the evening shadows . . .” (7:1-2) Like so many passages of great lyric poetry in this bo...  Read More

Click here to access The Message Bible.A Perspective on the Clarity of ScriptureAs believers, we hold dearly to the doctrine of the clarity of Scripture (perspicuity). The Bible, while deep and rich i...  Read More

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“How painful are honest words!  But what do your arguments prove?” (6:25) Where Eliphaz has been evasive in his accusations, Job is forthright, and Chapter 6 ends with a blunt, staccato summary—as pla...  Read More

“Teach me, and I will be quiet;  show me where I have been wrong.” (6:24) When it comes to isolating and naming the actual sin they believe to have led to Job’s downfall, his friends beat about the bu...  Read More

“A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends. . . . But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams . . . that cease to flow in the dry season.” (6:14-17)In many ways the myst...  Read More

“We have examined this, and it is true.  So hear it and apply it to yourself.” (5:27) The remainder of Eliphaz’s opening speech trails off in a string of spiritual banalities, each one as patently tru...  Read More

“If only my anguish could be weighed  and all my misery be placed on the scales!  It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas!” (6:2-3) Job’s immediate response to his friend’s callous words is a he...  Read More

“‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?’” (4:17)Lest we have any doubt as to the questionable nature of the mystical communiqué received by Eliphaz, we need o...  Read More

“Amid disquieting dreams in the night,  when deep sleep falls on men,  fear and trembling seized me  and made all my bones shake.  A spirit glided past my face,  and the hair on my body stood on end.”...  Read More

“Should not your piety be your confidence,  and your blameless ways your hope?” (4:6) Just six verses into his opening harangue, Eliphaz inadvertently broaches an issue that happens to be of signal im...  Read More