Faithful on Fridays Blog

As we come to the close of this drama it’s evident that it hasn’t been about suffering but about righteousness. Now at the end God takes His turn to interrogate Job with over fifty questions. Job isn’t given a chance to answer since God raised the bar higher than anyone’s efforts to be self-righteous. No one compares to Him and His creation; He makes that crystal clear.

The last four chapters (38-41) are focused on God’s self-disclosure of His greatness. Interestingly, God instructed Job to prepare for His questions like a warrior getting ready for battle:

Dress for action like a man … 38:2

He needed the equipping of courage and strength to stand up under the intense questioning of the Almighty. God recounted creation and used it as His measure of power and authority expecting an explanation from Job.

“Tell me, if you have understanding. Declare, if you know all this.” 38:4, 18

Of course, Job has no answer, therefore, in chapter forty God continued his indictment:

Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it. Job 40:2

The Hebrew word for ‘faultfinder’ can also be translated critic or instructor and ‘contend’ means to strive in opposition; will Job continue to criticize and oppose God?

The breaking process had begun by the comparison of God’s greatness to his smallness and Job decided to be quiet. However, God’s not finished with him yet; He continued to pummel Job with questions.

Will you even put Me in the wrong? Will you condemn Me that you may be in the right? Vs. 8

Let’s remember this drama began with a conversation between Satan and God, now God uses a sea creature, Leviathan, to remind us of that beginning. Leviathan is like a dragon; God dedicated an entire chapter to describing him: why? Undoubtedly because we can never forget our enemy that draws us away from our Maker. The temptation to become self-righteous and self-justified is magnetic, therefore, we must stand in His righteousness opposed to Satan.

Jesus is returning in force:

In that day the Lord with His hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and He will slay the dragon that is in the sea. Isaiah 27:1

Until that final day of Christ (Rev. 20:2) we stand positioned in His righteousness as we find Job; he finally arrived at repentance (42:6) and received forgiveness. God instructed Job, now called My Servant, to pray for mercy for his friends as forgiveness could also be granted to them, and He restored to Job a family and double his wealth. That’s true grace.

The daunting length of this book is an analogy of the hard-heartedness of mankind and our need for mercy. May we come to repentance and humility, recognizing God’s greatness and the forces of Satan opposing us, much sooner than Job.