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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Job 19
The book of Job is a bit of a mystery. Nobody really knows the details about its writing – the who, where, when and the like. We don’t even know for sure if Job was a real person or if the whole thing is something of a parable. I don’t suppose any of those details change the message in the story, but something Job said got me wondering. He said, “I wish that my words were written down, that they were recorded on a scroll or were inscribed in stone forever by an iron stylus and lead!” (Job 19:23-24). The first thought that flashed through my mind on reading that was that God fulfilled Job’s wish. One way or another, Job’s words have indeed been written down. That got me wondering about how.
Some think that Moses wrote this book. We know that he wrote the first five books. But how did he know a lot of that information? We also know that God gave Moses the Law and very specific instructions for building the Tabernacle while he was up on Mount Sinai for 40 days. If God gave him all of that information, could He not have also given Moses the rest of the material for those first five books as well? And could it also be possible that God gave Moses the story of Job? It makes some sense to me, especially since both Genesis and Job record some of God’s thoughts.
I may never know the answer to such ponderings this side of Heaven. But I do like the thought of God personally recording Job’s story, just as Job wished.
Job 20-21
I know that our God, the one and only true God, was not conceived in any man’s mind. I know because our God does not do things like any human would. Many gods actually reflect human nature and are thus corrupt and unreliable. In truth, they aren’t even that because they aren’t even real. They are merely figments of man’s corrupt and unreliable imaginations. If man did attempt to concoct a righteous god, though, that god still would not do like God does.
I believe such a god would be the very thing that Job’s friends depicted. The wicked wouldn’t last a minute before being crushed in their wickedness. And the righteous would ride the easy road to abundant blessing. They would rise to the top while the wicked perished. Our actions and our behavior would dictate God’s curse or blessing in our lives. This god is not our God. Our wholly righteous God is patient and full of mercy. He does not desire that anyone perish; does not delight in crushing even the wicked. He is good to all of men, even as they suffer the consequences of living in a good creation that is cursed because of them. And it’s a very good thing that our God is not like we want Him to be. Because if He were, He would crush us all.