God answers Job: Part 3

As we have been looking at God’s answer to Job, we have seen so far that God’s “godness,” or, the fact that God is God (and we are not) is seen in his

power in creation

providential care

good character

Consistency is the key.

As a parent, a lesson you have to learn very quickly is that your children need consistency. They need you to do what you said you were going to do, whether that has to do with keeping a promise or following through with a consequence. Consistency leads to respect and trustworthiness in that relationship, and it fills in the gaps where there are questions.

The same is true of other close relationships. A wife has no need to fear her husband’s faithfulness when he is gone on business, when he has consistently shown and proven his faithfulness in consistent and positive displays of it. Displays of love, affection, and selflessness.

A parent has less need to be a “helicopter” with their teenager when there is an inherent consistency in their behavior and attitude at home.

An employer has less need to “babysit” his employees if they show a good track record of productivity, honesty, and integrity.

We all desire to see consistency in others, and we all desire to be seen as consistent and trustworthy by others.

Human consistency can be faked, unfortunately. Those with enough with and slyness to know what is expected and display that at the right times can gain trust but abuse it behind closed doors.

Deceit is the enemy of consistency and trust. Breaking trust is a more devastating blow the longer you have been in relationship. The more roots of trust that have grown in a relationship, the more painful it is to pull them out with an act of deceit.

When the time came for Moses to step off the scene and his successor, Joshua to take his role, Moses left the people he had led with a song about God.

He left them with a song about God, because of all the things Moses wanted the people to know about, he wanted them to know about the consistency and faithfulness of God’s character.

Deuteronomy 32:4 ESV

“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

Human consistency can fail and be feigned, but God’s character does not fail. His consistency in goodness and justice fill in the gaps when we cannot see clearly his actions or intentions.

So, as God’s answer to Job continues, we see that his character comes into play.

Can we rightly question God’s intentions and judge his motives? Are we in the place of proper perspective to do so?

The fact that God is God is seen in his Good Character. We must not define God by perceived goodness, but rather define goodness by knowing God.

1. Who am I to Judge God’s Intentions?

“can a reprover reprove God?”

Can one, whose job it is to get down to the answer, find that the final answer is evil with God?

Job’s attitude has clearly changed when we read his reply in the following verses. It is hard to judge tone from text, but I am convinced that this whole speech comes as a firm but lovingly gentle rebuke from God.

Job, I want to ask you honestly. Having heard what you’ve heard, and knowing what you know, do you still question my intentions and character?

Notice that before God asks this question, he gives him line after line of his track record to consider. Again, his power in creation and his providential care.

We stand now thousands of years later, and we have not line upon line, but lines upon lines, book upon book, of God’s track record. Remember that Job lived before the story of the exodus, or the life of David, or the story of Daniel in the Lion’s den, before the return from captivity, before Peter walked on water and James and John left their nets to fish for men for God’s kingdom. Job live before the Son of God walked on the face of the earth, died and rose again as deliverer.

Yet, the power of God in creation and his providential care of all that is in creation, here, is enough to say, “Job, seeing all you see and knowing all you know, can you say that I am not good?”

Can a faultfinder find any way for God to improve?

Mark 9:3 ESV

and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.

Nothing to improve. No flaws to find. Not imperfections to filter out. Total trustworthiness, total goodness, total consistency.

2. Who am I to Speak out Against Him?

Job’s response, then, is fitting. For when we have a renewed vision of God’s good character, of his power and care, then we are left silent on the front of accusations.

“behold, I am of small account.”

I am relatively insignificant.

To be at a place of humility, where we are at once recognizing our insignificance, while also being in the presence of God, hearing from Him, is a picture of Grace.

God, I am small and insignificant. I have a limited perspective.

Yet, you’re speaking to me. You took time to reveal yourself to me, even though my perception was horribly skewed. I spewed out words in my frustration that didn’t represent you well at all, yet here you are, correcting me as a father corrects his son.

3. Who am I to Save Myself, or Anyone?

When you have the wisdom to have the final word, when you are the almighty deliverer and judge, then you too can be a wonderful savior.

1. Pointless Accusations

When our goal is to be “right” we stop seeking the truth, and start seeking ourselves.

We see this in life and relationship, we also see it in church teaching and theology. It is one thing to say about a scripture or a teaching, “this doesn’t make sense to me.” And it might not. It is another thing to say of scripture or a plain teaching of it, “this can’t be true!”

To argue with God is to argue with the one who is, remember, perfect, just in all his ways, truth, and without iniquity/sin. So to argue with God is always to argue against the truth.

2. Impotent Exaltations

When we argue with God, we falsely bolster our position to be one of equality with Him, or even superiority.

But what foolishness is that?

strength

beauty/majesty

righteous insight

just assessment

righteous indignation and judgment

Can we claim all these things?

Can we operate under the immense load of being the judge and deliverer?

3. Empty Salvation

Does it seem strange to you that here, to Job, a man who was introduced to us by God as just and blameless, one who feared God and turned away from evil, one of the key lessons is “Salvation belongs to the Lord?”

Yet, how often do we need to be reminded of that fact?

Humans are endowed by God with amazing creativity and the ability to do all kinds of incredible things. But even the most highly achieved person is still “relatively insignificant” before God, and needs to know that salvation, deliverance, belongs to God alone.

And that is a good thing. Because when you know that God is perfect, and just, and upright, and without iniquity, then you don’t want anyone else to be your savior. Whether from sin or suffering.