Know then that God has chosen to overlook some of your iniquity. (Job 11:6b CSB). We see pieces of the truth mixed in Zophar’s harsh speech. Zophar is letting Job know that God graciously is not giving Job all he deserves. According to Zophar, Job’s guilt deserves even more suffering...
I will say to God, “Do not declare me guilty! Let me know why you prosecute me.” (Job 10:2 CSB) We do not have to be as confused as Job was in times of trouble because we can reflect on the insight we receive from God’s Word. Romans 8:1 tells...
There is no mediator between us, to lay his hand on both of us. Let him take his rod away from me so his terror will no longer frighten me. Then I would speak and not fear him. But that is not the case; I am on my own (Job...
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with a shout of joy (Job 8:21 CSB). Job’s friend, Bildad, speaks up and rebukes Job for complaining to God and tells him that there is hope. Though Bildad incorrectly agrees with Eliphaz that Job must not be blameless,...
What is a mere human, that you think so highly of him and pay so much attention to him? You inspect him every morning, and put him to the test every moment. Will you ever look away from me, or leave me alone long enough to swallow? (Job 7:17-19 CSB) ...
Since I cannot help myself, the hope for success has been banished from me. (Job 6:13 CSB) Job speaks out about not having any way to help himself in his current situation. He is trying to define his life by the circumstance that he has been given. How often do...
See how happy is the person whom God corrects; so do not reject the discipline of the Almighty (Job 5:17 CSB). We should be very careful in looking at others’ suffering (or our own) with the assumption that God is taking them out to the proverbial woodshed. When we go...
In my experience, those who plow injustice and those who sow trouble reap the same (Job 4:8 CSB). There are consequences to sin. We know that God is not mocked and whatever we sow we shall also reap. But it is not necessarily true that everything a man reaps is a...
For the thing I feared has overtaken me, and what I dreaded has happened to me (Job 3:25 CSB). In this chapter, Job feels the pain and agony of his situation, irrationally questioning his birth and regretfully wishing that he had never been born. He let fear creep inside and...
Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very intense. (Job 2:13 CSB) Job’s friends got it right by saying nothing, sitting with him in silence, and just being there to...