Read Job 11
Questions from the Scripture text: Who now answers (Job 11:1)? How does he describe him in Job 11:2? What does he say about Job’s speech in Job 11:3a? And in verse 3b? What is he excusing himself for doing? What does he claim has been Job’s primary message (Job 11:4)? What does he claim to wish (though contradicted by his own behavior) in Job 11:5? What true, but utterly obvious, yet nonetheless cruel, point does he make in Job 11:6? What is his main theme in comparing Job’s knowledge to God’s (Job 11:7-9)? What does he suggest Job is trying to do by his own wisdom (Job 11:10-12)? What does he suggest Job could do (Job 11:13-14) to achieve what outcome (Job 11:15-19)? What does he conclude must surely be the case with Job thus far (Job 11:20)?
What hope can a sinner have before God? Job 11 prepares us for the opening part of public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that, though sinners may be tempted to find hope through their repenting, the only true hope that they can have is in God’s mercy.
Zophar now accuses Job of speaking too much (Job 11:2) and too foolishly (Job 11:3). But he hasn’t heard Job rightly at all. Zophar also accuses Job of claiming to know it all and do everything rightly (Job 11:4). But Job has actually openly confessed that his highest knowledge is infinitely below God’s (cf. Job 9:3–4, Job 10:4), and that his comparative righteousness cannot stand the scrutiny of God’s perfect justice (cf. Job 9:2, Job 9:15, Job 9:20). So, when Zophar waxes eloquent about God’s wisdom (Job 11:7-9) and God’s justice (Job 11:10-11), he is not saying more than Job has already said.
Zophar doesn’t seem to see that in excusing himself for answering for Him, Zophar accuses his version of God of failing to answer Job well enough (Job 11:5-6). In fact, God has spoken. He has spoken of the Mediator and mercy in which Job is attempting to hope, so that he might receive the opposite of what he ultimately deserves. But Zophar is either ignorant of that speech, or ignoring it. The end of Job 11:6 would be a cruel zinger “God is actually forgetting some of your iniquity!” But Job knows exactly what he actually deserves and has expressed it.
Where Zophar’s ideas and Job’s ideas diverge is in Zophar’s proposed solution. Like Bildad and Eliphaz, he thinks that if Job would just do better (Job 11:13-14), then everything would get better (Job 11:15-19). But this contradicts what he himself has said about man’s wisdom and righteousness. Job, much more wisely, has already ruled this out as a solution, because a man can never achieve the righteousness and justice of God (cf. Job 9:1–2). He can never repent himself out of the category of those in Job 11:20, who have no hope.
Job’s friends do not speak the truth about God (cf. Job 42:7). They do not assure Job of the reality of the Mediator, His atonement, His intercession, and God’s mercy in Him. But this is the only hope that sinners may have. If we are to be genuine comforters, whether of ourselves or others, it is the hope that we must offer.
What difficult situations are you in? What difficult situations are people you know in? In these situations, what does it look like to offer hope by doing better? And what does it look like to offer hope in God’s Mediator and God’s mercy?
Sample prayer: O Lord, we are unable to search out the deep things of God or to find out the limits of the Almighty. Indeed, they are higher than the heavens, and deeper than the grave, longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. We could never prepare our hearts well enough for You, or stretch out our hands with no iniquity. So, we come to You not by the worthiness of what we do, but by the worthiness of Christ, and what He has done. Through Jesus, we come to You with our faces lifted up—secure in the hope of the Mediator Whom You have provided. Receive us in Him, and give us help from Him by His Spirit, we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP80 “Hear, O Hear, Us” or TPH433 “Amazing Grace”
No comments:
Post a Comment