A Lesson from Job

During my most recent reading of Job I was reminded that the icon for suffering and vindication was far richer and influential than I could ever dream of becoming. But, I have better friends! Reading Job is like watching a tennis match at center court. The wordy volley between Job and his three friends is a study of world class argument.

Job is able to say, "I’m innocent and will go into my grave without admitting that my present problems are a result of my sins." Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar are as adamant and consistent in their responses to Job with repeated appeals to, "Fess up! No one suffers like you if they are not guilty of some pretty bad stuff! Your sins brought this on!" The nettlesome trio plied their best cause and affect arguments to cause Job to acknowledge the errors of his ways.

In chapter nine of John’s Gospel Jesus addresses a similar simplistic response to an imponderable and troubling circumstance.
"As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’
"‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’"
"Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ‘Go,’ he told him, ‘wash in the Pool of Siloam’ (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing."

In our limited capacity to see and understand mere humans see "two dimensionally" as either -or. But God sees mega-dimensionally! He sees everything at once. We see blindness and want to know why. Our Sovereign sees the end from the beginning and has never been taken by surprise.

Remember that Job is playing three-on-one! Job’s best shot, an "ace" served into the questionable Magi’s back court, is in chapter 28.
"People know where to mine silver and how to refine gold. They know where to dig iron from the earth and how to smelt copper from rock. They know how to shine light in the darkness and explore the farthest regions of the earth as they search in the dark for ore. They sink a mine shaft into the earth far from where anyone lives. They descend on ropes, swinging back and forth. (NLT, Verses 1-3)
Men can build incredibly complex machines, erect bridges spanning miles of water, and can lift precious metals from miles below the earth’s surface. In spite of this, Job adds,
"But do people know where to find wisdom? Where can they find understanding?
No one knows where to find it, for it is not found among the living." (NLT, Verses 12-13)
Complicated actions are easy in comparison to understanding motives and reasons. In an environment where knowledge is multiplied at the speed of light we creep along in a moral morass unable to understand why men behave as they do. Why does a man of highest rank allow himself to be inanely entrapped in an extramarital affair? Why do the powerful find it so difficult to be candid and transparent? Am I the only one who wonders about the "double speak" of press conferences? Why has compromise for the common good become so hard to achieve? If we can fly unmanned planes with a mouse and keyboard from within the safety of an office, why can’t we discipline ourselves to listen to an opponent and reason with a person who sees the mountain from a different angle?
"And this is what he says to all humanity: ‘The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.’" (NLT, Verse 28)
It may be advisable to mute the media opinion mongers, analysts of the imponderable, and verbally slippery people of power and learn to listen to One who is Wisdom! It may be time to echo Job and say, "Sorry Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, you just aren’t getting it! Your opinions, your assessments and your counsel aren’t working."

My good friend Bob added, "God and Satan were having a battle. Job didn’t know that he was the battlefield!