“That He would show you the secrets of wisdom! For they would double your prudence. Know therefore that God exacts from you Less than your iniquity deserves. Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven—what can you do? Their measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea” (Job 11:6-9).
Merciful God, here we are again seeking Your wisdom and Your justice! Your goodness surpasses anything we could imagine. You reveal the thoughts of humankind and our mouths lay bare our true feelings. So help us Lord to allow You to change our hearts, that our words might be life-giving. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray! Amen and Amen!
This is now Zophar’s opportunity to speak of God’s justice. What is so remarkable is that, these pronouncements of justice came right after he wished that God would open His lips against Job!
Can God double our prudence by showing us the secrets of wisdom? There is no doubt that He can. Isn’t it true that God does not deal with us as we deserve? Here it is in the Bible:
“He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10).
Then he proceeded to question Job, in the same manner in which God will question him:
“Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven—what can you do? Their measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea.”
I would like your opininon on this: Do you believe, that after these men have destroyed Job with their unfair judgment upon him and his children, their mention of God’s justice will have any redemptive effect upon Job?
After practically referring to him as a charlatan – empty words, an imposter, not at all who he said he was: “And when you mock, should no one rebuke you? For you have said, ‘My doctrine is pure, And I am clean in your eyes. Mercilessly, without having any proof, declaring, “Your children sinned against God, and He has cast them away for their transgression.” How inhumane!
How much better it would have been, if these three men who called themselves Job’s “friends,” would have used God’s justice to appeal to Job, if in fact, they believed he was guilty! Instead of judging him, as friends, they could have asked Job to reconsider what he was looking at as unjust punishment!
If they had indeed, believed in his integrity, once upon a time, this was their opportunity, to reason with their friend! Instead, they judged every word that came out of his mouth. They observed with zero sympathy, his pain (that is, after the first seven days and seven nights, in silence). They questioned his right to request an audience with the God who “does not deal with us according to our sins!”
Were these men ever, really Job’s friends? Not according to the way we have seen them treat him. But before the story ends, God will vindicate His child. And we are nearing the end of the series.