Job 23-24 - Complaining to God

Recap

We are in round 3 of the arguments against Job

If you remember

the arguments are more aimed and focused

as well as harsh

Eliphaz accuses Job of being a hypocrite

He builds on the statements from past arguments against Job

Bildad’s statement in Job 8

Job 8:13 NKJV

13 So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish,

Eliphaz previous statement in 15:34

Job 15:34 NKJV

34 For the company of hypocrites will be barren, And fire will consume the tents of bribery.

and Zophar’s statement in 20:5

Job 20:5 NKJV

5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?

Just a brief explanation of the hypocrite.

The hypocrite is actually a character in Greek drama

It was an actor

a person who would wear a mask

and then change masks to portray someone else

The word evolved into something more

and now represents someone who represents a false appearance.

The church often gets accused of being a bunch of hypocrites.

It’s the number one excuse for those in the world

not wanting to come to church.

We’ve been accused of being a bunch of hypocrites, actors.

We act one way in church

and then act differently the rest of the week.

In Job’s case, the hypocrite isn’t the person who fails to reach their desired goals

because we all fail in on e way or another.

The hypocrite is a person who doesn’t even try to reach any goals

but makes people think that he has.

His profession and his practice never meet.

That’s the ultimate compaint against Job

in the latest barrage of accusations,

Eliphaz throws all logivc to the wayside

and begins to make up stuff about Job.

To the point where Eliphaz actually believes

his own imagination is the truth.

Job 22:6–11 CSB

6 For you took collateral from your brothers without cause, stripping off their clothes and leaving them naked. 7 You gave no water to the thirsty and withheld food from the famished, 8 while the land belonged to a powerful man and an influential man lived on it. 9 You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed. 10 Therefore snares surround you, and sudden dread terrifies you, 11 or darkness, so you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.

None of this were true

but Eliphaz is trying to trip Job up

and admit to something

because only someone that has done incredibly bad things

would suffer as much as Job has.

What’s interesting about Eliphaz’s argument

is that from the first round of arguments against Job

He has maintained that

God blesses the righteous and punishes the wicked.

Now Eliphaz is stating that if Job

who was wealthy and had everything in life

was now being punished

so that makes Job a hypocrite

Someone who wasn’t even trying to reach spiritual goals

but just making people think that he was.

If that’s the case,

Eliphaz doesn’t have a very high view of God

because if God knew that Job was actually a hypocrite

would God have let Job prosper in the first place?

and that would make Eliphaz’s last argument

completely against his first two.

Job realizes this

and that leaves Job with three choices

Job could continue the argument and get nowhere

because how do you argue with someone that isn’t going to listen

and has said in one breath that God blesses the righteous and punishes the wicked

and in another breath that God blesses the hypocrite

and fills his house with good things.

Choice number 2 is to give in

or compromising to Eliphaz’s argument

and thereby compromising his integrity.

The last choice is to completely ignore the argument.

So Job’s 3 round speech completely ignores Eliphaz.

and instead directs his speech directly to the Lord.

After all, Job has made it clear

that his problem is not with men, but with God.

Might as well take it up with God.

Job 23:1–2 CSB

1 Then Job answered: 2 Today also my complaint is bitter. His hand is heavy despite my groaning.

Job begins by stating his premise for the rest of his speech.

Job’s premise in verse 2 is this,

Instead of giving into his pain

and do nothing but groan

I am going to master my pain

and not give into self-pity.

Suffering takes a lot out of a person.

It can drain a person’s energy

and make incredible demands on their strength and patience.

This is a reminder to someone in pain

be it chronic pain or emotional suffering.

As the second hand sufferer

our job is to be there to encourage and be there.

I remember at times when people I know

went through suffering and pain in their lives.

It’s so easy for me to want to

try to fix the pain.

We don’t want to see someone suffer, ever.

And sometimes trying to help fix someone else’s pain

is more of trying to help ourselves

than trying to help someone else.

Because we don’t want to see someone else go through pain

we will do anything we can to try to help.

It not only helps the person going through the pain,

but it also removes the pain from our view

so we don’t have to face it as well.

Then we can be the hero

and we don’t have to hear about it anymore.

In some cases, though

the pain and suffering is necessary for growth.

How are we ever going to grow throu

mistakes that we, or someone else has made

if our pain and suffering is fixed by someone else?

I think about people who win the lottery.

Many people who win the lottery

go on to live their life and do just fine.

Many people who win the lottery

have been given a quick fix to their life

and wind up bankrupt in the first year.

Why?

because a quick fix to someone’s bad character

isn’t the solution they needed.

If you are an incredible spender

and have never been taught how to save money

and have bad character choices about

who you are going to spend money on

The likelihood of getting a bunch of money

at that point in your life

isn’t going to help,

and it may actually hurt.

Trying to fix someone else’s problems

may not be the right solution for them

as it may only enable them to continue in bad habits

rather than teach them how to solve their own problems.

Job had to learn through two rounds of speeches

that arguing with his friends was useless.

His friends never learned that arguing with Job

was also useless

and that the pain and suffering Job was going through

was draining.

It would seem they were trying to fix Job’s problems

to make themselves feel better.

So Job decides to quit arguing with them

and take it up with the Lord

and he does it in three different complaints

Complaint #1 - God Is Hiding From Me

Job 23:3–12 CSB

3 If only I knew how to find him, so that I could go to his throne. 4 I would plead my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. 5 I would learn how he would answer me; and understand what he would say to me. 6 Would he prosecute me forcefully? No, he would certainly pay attention to me. 7 Then an upright man could reason with him, and I would escape from my Judge forever. 8 If I go east, he is not there, and if I go west, I cannot perceive him. 9 When he is at work to the north, I cannot see him; when he turns south, I cannot find him. 10 Yet he knows the way I have taken; when he has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold. 11 My feet have followed in his tracks; I have kept to his way and not turned aside. 12 I have not departed from the commands from his lips; I have treasured the words from his mouth more than my daily food.

In a way, Job knows now what he is asking

He wants to meet with God in court still.

He wants to state his case before God

Job is confident that if he were given the chance

that he could prove himself to be an upright man

and that God wouldn’t condemn the upright in heart.

What’s interesting is that Job answers his own argument

Job 23:10 CSB

10 Yet he knows the way I have taken; when he has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold.

God knows exactly where Job is.

God has placed him in the furnace.

This was a furnace of God’s appointment

not because of Job’s sin.

God will use affliction to purify Job

and make him a better man.

If you want to know the answer to the question

why do bad things happen to good people?

or why do the righteous suffer?

This is the best answer to give.

It’s also the best encouragement you can give someone

and bring a righteous sufferer great encouragement.

Isaiah 48:10 CSB

10 Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

Psalm 66:10 CSB

10 For you, God, tested us; you refined us as silver is refined.

Deuteronomy 4:20 CSB

20 But the Lord selected you and brought you out of Egypt’s iron furnace to be a people for his inheritance, as you are today.

1 Peter 1:6–7 CSB

6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 4:12 CSB

12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you, as if something unusual were happening to you.

What’s incredible about this

is that God has His eye on the clock

and His hand on the thermostat.

He knows how long and how much.

We may question why He doesn’t turn down the heat

or even turn it off,

but our questions become questions of unbelief.

Just as Job said in Job 23:10

Job 23:10 CSB

10 Yet he knows the way I have taken; when he has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold.

Gold does not fear the fire.

The furnace can only make the gold purer and brighter.

We must remember

that Job’s life was pleasing to God before he went into the fire.

Some people go into the furnace of affliction

and it burns them

Others go in and it purifies them.

What makes the difference?

Their attitude toward the Word of God and the will of God.

If we are nourished by the Word

and submit to His will,

the furnace experience

painful as it may be

will refine us and make us better.

But when we resist God’s will

and fail to feed on His truth

the furnace will only burn us

and make us bitter.

Complaint #2 - God is Frightening Me

Job 23:13–17 CSB

13 But he is unchangeable; who can oppose him? He does what he desires. 14 He will certainly accomplish what he has decreed for me, and he has many more things like these in mind. 15 Therefore I am terrified in his presence; when I consider this, I am afraid of him. 16 God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me. 17 Yet I am not destroyed by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.

This isn’t such a bad place to be

I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a place

where you come to the realization

that there are no other places to turn to.

Warren Wiersb e once said,

those that resist or deny the sovereignty of God

rob themselves of peace and courage.

Spurgeaon also said

There is no attribute of God more comforting to His children than the doctrine of divine sovereignty,”

“On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings.”

Why?

Because the human heart is proud

and does not want to submit to Almighty God.

People want to “do their own thing”

and “do it their way,”

rather than find delight in doing the will of God.

Job was genuinely afraid

Not because he didn’t believe in God’s sovereignty

but because he did

and was afraid of where God would take him next.

and so in his darkest pain

Job falls apart and became frightened.

That leads to the last complaint

Complaint #3 - God Perplexes Me

The entirety of Chapter 24 deals with this complaint.

this may be a complaint that we can identify with Job.

Job 24:1 CSB

1 Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment? Why do those who know him never see his days?

How come the Lord is so patient with people

Why don’t those who cause injustice

ever face their sins and punishments?

It’s a dangerous question to ask

because according the Bible

we all deserve punishment in Hell.

but still a question that we ask anyway.

Ironically in today’s political climate

Job starts with the injustices of the country.

Job 24:2–11 CSB

2 The wicked displace boundary markers. They steal a flock and provide pasture for it. 3 They drive away the donkeys owned by the fatherless and take the widow’s ox as collateral. 4 They push the needy off the road; the poor of the land are forced into hiding. 5 Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, the poor go out to their task of foraging for food; the desert provides nourishment for their children. 6 They gather their fodder in the field and glean the vineyards of the wicked. 7 Without clothing, they spend the night naked, having no covering against the cold. 8 Drenched by mountain rains, they huddle against the rocks, shelterless. 9 The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized as collateral. 10 Without clothing, they wander about naked. They carry sheaves but go hungry. 11 They crush olives in their presses; they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.

God promised to curse those that moved the boundary markers and stole property

Deuteronomy 27:17 CSB

17 ‘The one who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker is cursed.’ And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

Job tells his friends through this argument

if God punishes the wicked

why hasn’t He done anything against all these people

In Job 24:12-17 Job moves to crimes in the city

Job 24:12–17 CSB

12 From the city, men groan; the mortally wounded cry for help, yet God pays no attention to this crime. 13 The wicked are those who rebel against the light. They do not recognize its ways or stay on its paths. 14 The murderer rises at dawn to kill the poor and needy, and by night he becomes a thief. 15 The adulterer’s eye watches for twilight, thinking, “No eye will see me,” and he covers his face. 16 In the dark they break into houses; by day they lock themselves in, never experiencing the light. 17 For the morning is like darkness to them. Surely they are familiar with the terrors of darkness!

He speaks about murders in 12-14

He speaks about sexual sins in verse 15

he speaks about thieves in 16-17

Job says there is crime in the city

and the Lord doesn’t seem to do anything about it

Then Job moves to the curse on the wicked in 18-25

Job 24:18–24 CSB

18 They float on the surface of the water. Their section of the land is cursed, so that they never go to their vineyards. 19 As dry ground and heat snatch away the melted snow, so Sheol steals those who have sinned. 20 The womb forgets them; worms feed on them; they are remembered no more. So injustice is broken like a tree. 21 They prey on the childless woman who is unable to conceive, and do not deal kindly with the widow. 22 Yet God drags away the mighty by his power; when he rises up, they have no assurance of life. 23 He gives them a sense of security, so they can rely on it, but his eyes watch over their ways. 24 They are exalted for a moment, then gone; they are brought low and shrivel up like everything else. They wither like heads of grain.

This is a description of what happens to the wicked.

He basically says

may the wicked vanish like foam on the ocean

or melt like snow under the sun.

One of my favorite statements is in Job 24:25

Job 24:25 CSB

25 If this is not true, then who can prove me a liar and show that my speech is worthless?

This may be where Charlie Kirk got this from.

The point is

injustices in society cause a good deal of pain in people’s lives,

and we should certainly do all we can to uphold the law and promote justice.

But those that make the law

and those who enforce the law are only human

and can’t deal with everything perfectly.

One day, the Lord Jesus will return

He will judge the wicked

and establish His righteous kingdom

Until then

we have to accept the reality of evil in the world

and keep praying for His return.