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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 40-41
Job got the message! I like the way the CSB translates his first response to God. “I am so insignificant. How can I answer you?” (Job 40:4a). There was nothing Job could say that God didn’t already know; no argument he could make that God could not refute. No man can ever prove God wrong.
After revealing Job’s insignificance against the scope of His creation, God went on to humble him further against the might of His creation. God spoke of Behmoth and Leviathan, which He created right along with man. However, man is nothing against the power and might of these two creatures. Thus God points out, “No one is ferocious enough to rouse Leviathan; who then can stand against me?” (Job 41:10). Humbling.
And I believe humbling is the point. Job was proud in his self-righteousness. I guess he wanted God to be proud of it, too, and give him the justice he deserved. God let Job know that he deserved nothing. Even as righteous as Job was, he could not save himself. But God – even one small look at God is enough to drop even the haughtiest person flat on their face. This was God’s point in speaking of Behemoth and Leviathan. He said of Leviathan, “When Leviathan rises, the mighty are terrified;…He surveys everything that is haughty; he is king over all the proud beasts.” (Job 41:25a, 34). If one beast, whom God created, can put the mighty in their place, how much more can the one who created this beast?
Job 42
God’s beef with Job seems to be that he forgot his place. He thought that his righteous life earned him something from God, a thought which God equated to pride. God’s beef with Job’s three friends, however, seems to be that they tried to define him within the scope of their own ideas. God told them twice, “you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” (Job 42:7b and 8b). So where Job wrongly challenged God, his friends put themselves in the place of God to some degree. Not good!
Job then became the intercessor for his friends. Could this be yet another glimpse of our unity with Christ? It makes me think of what Jesus told his disciples when He commissioned them after His resurrection. He said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:22b-23).
One last thought concerns the purpose of this book. Many look to the book for an answer as to why bad things happen to good people. I think, though, that part of the purpose of this book is to show that this is the wrong question for us to ask. I think the question this book answers is how we should respond when bad things happen to good people. Our own “goodness” doesn’t earn us a thing in this life or the next. So the more accurate question would probably be why anything good happens to any of us at all. We need to come to terms with our insignificance. When we do, it will fill our hearts with gratitude that God thinks of us at all, let alone delights to give us His kingdom.