Read Genesis 43, Job 9, and Psalm 41.
This devotional is about Job 9.
Because of the strange supernatural ways in which Job’s life had collapsed, there were no easy answers for what happened to him. If a tornado levels a family’s house, leaving only one survivor and a stock market crash on the same day wipes out their life’s savings, that’s bad. But in that case the tornado probably destroyed and damaged other homes in the area and other people for sure would have lost money in the market. Those people might think God is out to get them but the reality is that God allowed some painful tragedies to happen to many people.
By contrast, Job’s life was surgically detonated–like a skillfully imploded skyscraper that levels the target building while leaving the others around it unaffected. His friends came to show their support but they couldn’t empathize with him because they hadn’t experienced even part of Job’s traumas. The strategic nature of his calamity, and the thoroughness of it, would cause anyone to think that God was out to get them. It was designed to strip Job of every blessing. Then his theology–his understanding of God–would be exposed, like tearing the bricks and siding off a house so that you can see the framing beneath it.
We see that theology–the infrastructure of Job’s faith–here in Job 9. In verses 2-13, he lauded the Lord’s wisdom and power as unparalleled in the universe. As I read those verses, my heart was moved to awe at the majestic massiveness of God, particularly in verses 4-10. Then, in verse 11, Job points out that God is invisible so we are unaware of his presence even as he goes about blessing or wrecking our lives. Job’s theology revolves around the greatness of God and it is rock-solidly biblical. Because he understood God so well, he was painfully aware of the futility of challenging God. Consider:
- “How can mere mortals prove their innocence before God? Though they wished to dispute with him, they could not answer him one time out of a thousand” (vv. 2b-3).
- “If he snatches away, who can stop him? Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’” (v. 12).
- “How then can I dispute with him? How can I find words to argue with him? Though I were innocent, I could not answer him; I could only plead with my Judge for mercy. Even if I summoned him and he responded, I do not believe he would give me a hearing” (vv. 14-16).
Job was right and, as a result, we’re all in big trouble. Although he was a very righteous man, he was not perfect in his righteousness. If Job knew that he could not stand before God, then none of us has even a ghost of a chance.
His good theology and his terrible circumstances, however, led Job to an important conclusion: “If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot” (vv. 33-35).
This is where Jesus comes in. He came to do what Job knew that he needed someone to do. He came to “mediate between us.” And he did more than Job could have expected. If Jesus came to mediate for us based on our own righteousness and good behavior, he would have nothing to argue. By becoming our righteousness, however, Jesus could make peace with God for us and he did. This is our hope. This is the core of our faith. This causes us to worship God thankfully, not fearfully. Although we are guilty, our advocate made peace with God for us.