Surely God will never do wickedly, nor the Almighty pervert justice. Who gave Him charge over the earth? Or who appointed Him over the whole world? If He should set His heart on it, if He should gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust. “If you have understanding hear this; listen to the sound of My words: Should one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn Him who is most just? Is it fitting to say to a king, ‘You are worthless,?’ And to nobles, ‘You are wicked?’ Yet He is not partial to princes, nor does He regard the rich more than the poor; for they are all the work of His hands…” Job 34: 12-19, NKJV.
Gracious God, as we begin our study of Your Word today, we pray that Your Holy Spirit will stand by us; and direct this study to Your honor and glory. In the name of Jesus we pray! Amen.
Before we get into the study proper, of the Book of Job, it is good for us to know that this book is categorized in religious literature as Wisdom Literature; rich in poetry; and makes use of the psalmic tradition, as well as hymns. Some proverbs will be recognized in the dialogue between characters (Commentary from the NRSV annotated Bible). I do not claim an authoritative view on the insights that I intend to share with you. But by God’s grace, my intention is to share what I perceive as impressions received from the Holy Spirit, as I study the Word of God. No philosophical point of view is intended; just a sharing of God’s Holy Word, with “whosoever will;” to address many of the issues we face as human beings as we struggle with life as it “happens.”
Yesterday, we laid the foundation for our study of the Book of Job. Today, we want to begin to look at where it all started, as far as the narrative goes. We know that the controversy that we are about to see, began a long time ago; not on this earth, but in heaven; and is known as, “The Great Controversy Between GOD and Satan” or, The Great Controversy Between Good and Evil.” What we will look at is one scenario of how this controversy has extended to the earth, and affects humankind. This is not intended as a great theological debate, but rather, as a more existential study of this book; that is, as it may be applied to us today.
We will begin our study by dealing with some of the *Unknowns. But before we get there, let us take a look at Job. A non-Israelite male, from the land of Uz; as Scripture describes him, “This man was the greatest of all the people of the East” (Job 1: 3). He was married (2: 9), and the father of ten children; “seven sons, and three daughters” (1: 2). Job was no ordinary man! He was rich, well known, and respected! But he was also blameless, in the eyes of God (8)! After all, He is the only One who can declare us blameless, anyway!
And then one day, unknown to Job, or the rest of the world, GOD and the Adversary, is in dialogue. Upon accusation of Job, “Does Job fear God for nothing” (9)? the Adversary is granted permission, by GOD, to touch Job’s possessions, “all that he has is in your power” (12). And in one sweep, the enemy wipes out almost everything, and everyone, who means anything to Job (13-19). Let me just pause here to remind us, that there is so much more to this story than we will ever be able to understand in this life! Let us not try to come to conclusions on our own, about what is taking place behind the scenes. If an explanation is warranted, let us pray that the Holy Spirit of GOD, might be the One who does the explaining! GOD’s actions are much too great for the minds of mortals to try to comprehend; and the language of human beings too limited, to try to explain!
Tomorrow we will say more about the *Unknowns, before continuing with our study.
*For an explanation of the term, please see yesterday’s devotional.