Job 17-19
Job’s friends continue to attack him based on what they believe to be true – that Job would not be suffering if he was innocent. But Job, though he insists that God is attacking him without cause, says that God is his Redeemer and that he will stand before God at his end and behold Him with his own eyes. It is Job’s friends, not Job, who are in the wrong.
Matt. 10:21-42
Jesus continues with words that, to me, shut down the idea of appeasement. “I have not come to bring peace to the earth.” (Matt 10:34) Jesus tells His disciples (and that means us) that we will be hated and persecuted because of Him but not to fear them. Instead, we are to fear God and to stand with Him no matter what people think of it. If they do not accept God’s Truth, nowhere are we told to accept or appease them, even if they are close to us.
But aren’t we supposed to love everybody, even our enemies? Of course – but we must first and foremost love and serve God. And it is important to understand what love is…and isn’t. Clearly, loving somebody does not mean keeping the peace at any cost. When Jesus was born, there was indeed “peace on earth” – that peace was (and is) Jesus – but Jesus brought His peace, not to the whole earth, but to those who would follow Him.