Job 29-31: Once More with Feeling
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· 640 viewsThis Week's Sermon looks at Job's final statment's concerninghis current lot in life. He longs for the old days where he was friends with God and all was well, but now sees that his life has been turned on its head. No one comes to his assitantance, he is treated worse than a criminal, he has become nothing in the eyes of all who held him in high regard, and now one last time he turns back to God with a simply yet compolex cry, WHY?
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Intro: Last Week Connection & review
Intro: Last Week Connection & review
And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’ ”
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”
Now the text for tonight is a long one. We will tackle it section by section as Job gives his final plea to God. We will read each section as we come to it, because no matter the words I say it is essential that we read and see the words of scripture and let them penetrate our minds, as we see God reveled in the life and groaning of this long gone saint, whom God has used to teach us much about suffering.
So Here we are at the end of Job’s long day or series of days with his friends, they’ve argued back in forth about Job’s apparent sin after seeing his current state and hearing his cry of lamentation.
We’ve journeyed along way with Job from words that God said about him in chapter 1 & 2 and God’s challenge to Satan that no matter what happens to Job he will not Curse God or turn away. In that time we have seen much transpire the loss of All Job had, and even his own health failing, he has been tormented by the “false comfort of His friends” and now he will make one final plea to God.
And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’ ”
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”
Once more with Feeling he will plead to God, and what is so important about this final plea and lament is that it followed the wisdom hymn of Chapter 28 that concluded with the the reality that Job is a man of Wisdom and Understanding.
And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’ ”
And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’ ”
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”
Job is not a sinner seeking to be ride of His consequences. He is not a wretched man seeking God to dismiss the case against him. No he is a man who has been by all accounts and the word of God himself seeking God with His whole heart and now has lost it all, and in that loss we now see his final plea develop over 3 chapters with 3 distinct movements, each revealing the attitude of Job in His misery:
First: He Ponders the Past
Second: He Laments the Present
Finally: He Pleads for a Future
I. Job Ponders the Past (29)
I. Job Ponders the Past (29)
As Job begins is final lament by looking back at everything he believes he has lost through this ordeal.
What is clear though is that the things he is going to list are not material possessions: It his His friendship with God, His love and help of the broken, and the position he held which granted him room to speak and assist others.
He doesn’t yearn for the wealth and possession he once knew, but the more intangible things based on his character. His yearning points to the things that flow from a life in service to God and love for Him. This is evident right from the start for he will ponder over the apparent lose of friendship with God.
A. His former Friendship with God (1-11)
A. His former Friendship with God (1-11)
And Job again took up his discourse, and said: “Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me, when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent, when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me, when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil! When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square, the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood; the princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth; the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved,
-The very first thing that strikes his heart when looking back is what appear to be a separation with God. In the midst of his suffering he can’t see past the cloud:
For most believers we are encouraged in these seasons by brothers and sisters who point us back to the truth of Christ His suffering his abandonment on the cross where he two feels forsaken, we are reminded in the Darkness the Son of God was Forsaken for us, far more than earthly suffering. But Job does not have the scriptures to remind him of the truth, and his friends have pushed him further from the truth through their own vain attempts at showing Job comfort with words of fear and falsehood.
We wish Job knew the truth that Sam talked about a few weeks ago in the life of William Cowper.
The final Hymn he wrote before being commit for the final time “God moves in Mysterious Ways”features a wonder line that reflects this idea plainly:
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
We wish Job was singing this Song (and to be sure in a little while he will be when the smiling face breaks forth from a whirlwind and responds)
-However when we look at the song he is singing we still see that glimmer of Hope has not left Job, he is still clinging to God. He is still crying out to God, He is still pondering the work of God. He does not understand it He cannot fathom how he got to this place in life by Gods hands, but he does understanding tit is God at work, and that he needs God.
So He he yearns to have the smiling face of God shine once more. He again yearsn for the words of Aaron in numbers
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Before the face of God is comfort and peace the very things Job has looked for through out.
He has defended his state before God becuase it doesn’t match what he has been told, but he has stated more than once that its by Gods hand Good and evil come, but now he wishes it would pass sooner.
Like p[aul and the torn he wishes God would give him relief, but as we see God’s face is upon Job, but the blessing she has yet to be hold.
But
So from His longing for God he turns to the effects that his friendship with God had on His life. The first thing we see is his love for God was displayed in a love for People:
B. His care for the defenseless (12-17)
B. His care for the defenseless (12-17)
because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him. The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know. I broke the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
Job was a man of character:
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
Eccl.
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
1 John 5:2
Job lays before God how he has walked in His ways. How he was honored not for his wealth, but for his love of neighbor. His character was impeachable.
He was a righteous Leader who executed Justice fairly and without favoritism.
“He was Friendly neighborhood Job who persecuted the unrighteous and helped the needy”
Job lays out his case that He is not what Eliphaz has accused him of, his life is quiet the opposite.
Job is a man who went above and beyond for the good of the defenseless.
His character and love for the broken made him a men well spoken of by the people.
C. His Place among the People (18-25)
C. His Place among the People (18-25)
Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand, my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches, my glory fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.’ “Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel. After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them. They waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain. I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and the light of my face they did not cast down. I chose their way and sat as chief, and I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.
Main Part of 1: In His description of his pas life we see a glimpse of a man who should be honored and loved in a perfect world where these things are loved and honored. So too we see these characteristics echoed in the life of Christ.
(here is where the story of Job and Christ shows the divide: Christ knew why he was to suffer. He knew that as the Son of God his righteousness would shock the world and be despised by certain evil men. Christ Knew what was to befall him, but it didn’ make the pain less real the pain of the suffering, the pain of betrayal, the pain of loss, the pain of the Father's hidden face. were real and painful, and yet for us he endured with knowledge the pain set before him so that we may have life. He suffered and died so that the veil would be ripped and mankind would now have access to the smiling face of God on the other side of the veil.
He suffered died and rose that we could be assured that it was a true reality that he suffered for us and gained victory over the evil that still seeks to destroy us. the same adversary who unleashed these things upon Job,
And He now reins as proof that all that cam to be would be for our good and for our true and eternal prosperity where we will sit with him before the smiling face of God, for all time.
TR: These are true realities that came to Christ despite his righteous life and in Job we see he foreshadowing of this truth, this is even more evident as he transition sin chapter 30 to speak of the outcome of his downfall.
The righteous suffer
I. Job Laments the Present (30)
I. Job Laments the Present (30)
A. He Is despised by men and Criminals (1-15)
A. He Is despised by men and Criminals (1-15)
“But now they laugh at me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone? Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation; they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food. They are driven out from human company; they shout after them as after a thief. In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks. Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together. A senseless, a nameless brood, they have been whipped out of the land. “And now I have become their song; I am a byword to them. They abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me. Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence. On my right hand the rabble rise; they push away my feet; they cast up against me their ways of destruction. They break up my path; they promote my calamity; they need no one to help them. As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on. Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.
“I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high? Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity? Does not he see my ways and number all my steps? “If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit; (Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!) if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands, then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out. “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her. For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase. “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me, what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him? Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?
There very first part of his lamentation of his current circumstance is in regard to those who have now made him their joke and mockery.
-The visual here is f men who are the worst of society: Not the downcast, but criminals and thieves
-The world around him has turned on him, and now even the sinner mocks his way of life and righteousness. (Sound familiar)
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
(Talk a bit more about this)
TR: The fact that his character has lead to disrespect of the world around him leads to an inner turmoil
B. He is in inner Turmoil (16-23)
B. He is in inner Turmoil (16-23)
“And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me. The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest. With great force my garment is disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic. God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me. You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me. You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm. For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living.
Job 30:
Job takes stock of all that has transpired looks around and once again asks God why?
He loved God he kept his commandment everything in the book points to how great a man Job was.
He is not self-righteous, but truly God-righteous.
And so in the midst of it all one last time he cry’s out why, Job is a real person with real emotions that in the text shows us how the most righteous of humans responds to suffering: why? (again Job doesn’t have the scriptures on his memory and love for God, which after talking to his three friends has become hazy.
He can’t see as clearly now as he once did, but his plain is not to forsake God or curse him, but rather to push further on with his lament, hoping through it all it will become clear.
App: There is some great wisdom when we stop and linger here a moment. Job has no knowledge of the courtroom of God. He has no apostles, He has no Knowledge of the Christ who suffered and died to grant life, he has no knowledge of the Torah.
And here he doesn’t forsake his God.
How many people when God doesn’t act like they think he should with all this knowledge turn and reject him, How often is the slightest bump in the road lead some into a spiritual train wreck because “this isn’t what I signed up for.” He has clung to God through a storm none in this room has fully experienced , all while being the most godly and righteous man on the earth.
So while Job doesn’t have all the answers he goes to the one who does so ch 30 concludes with a final plea for comfort and answers
C. He is in Need of Comfort & Answers (24-31)
C. He is in Need of Comfort & Answers (24-31)
“Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help? Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy? But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came. My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction come to meet me. I go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches. My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat. My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”
Job
As we have worked out Job is lost in the situation.
1 sam 12:24-25
He helped the needy and now in his suffering where is his comfort. Everything he touches turns to ashes in his hands and now he is left with nothing. His soul is now as downcast as his body. He can no longer see by the lamp in the darkness
when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,
jpob 29:3
His question here his a plea: “God where are you?”
Heal me of my affliction and set my feet on the rock again.
The world attacks me and flees from me, no help can be found in man, I need you.
And, as we will see in the end it is not the knowledge of why God acts that will still jobs soul, but that God is with Him.
So in his need for God he will turn from the present and pleads for a future
III. Job Pleads for a Future
III. Job Pleads for a Future
Job in Chapter 31 will make his final statement to God: which is in short:
“My life is one of righteous love for you and others, as such my current circumstance don’t add up, where are you?”
A. He Doesn’t understand his circumstances
A. He Doesn’t understand his circumstances
“I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high? Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity? Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?
Job Opens his case with the base line that he doesn’t understand what has befallen him. He is trying to get his mind around why God has poured out his wrath on him. (as we have said, suffering and wrath are not the same things. we live in a fallen world. Bad things does not equal the wrath of God)
Job
This begins by setting up the original point that for all my life I have been commited to you and seeking you. He has a lot to still learn about God.
-He here seems to be attesting to the “Retributive Theology” his friends where outlining in the beginning, but here he points out that that can’t be the case. He is asking God to Vindicate him and his life
Job here seems to shows us a bit of a picture of what it means to have right faith, and a skewed theology so he will defend himself
B. He defends his way of Life (5-34,38-40)
B. He defends his way of Life (5-34,38-40)
“If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit; (Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!) if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands, then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out. “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her. For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase. “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me, what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him? Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb? “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow), if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering, if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep, if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate, then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket. For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty. “If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence, if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much, if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor, and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand, this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above. “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him (I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse), if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’ (the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler), if I have concealed my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my heart, because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors—
“If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together, if I have eaten its yield without payment and made its owners breathe their last, let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.
He identifies roughly 10 areas of sin (again to a comprehensive list)
1-4 Lust,
5-8 Dishonesty
9-12 adultery,
13-15 Oppression.
16-23 Greed,
24-28 Idolatry,
29-30 Vindictiveness,
31-32 Inhospitality,
33-34 Hypocrisy,
38-40 Exploitation of the ground (possibly covenant breaking)
Job is pointing out that if he had done any of these things then what has befallen him would make sense
Once interesting is though he has misjudged the situation his pointing out this list puts forth very biblical ideas of following the commandments of God, and living rightly before him
Job’s list hits us in the heart especially in the 21st century church as many things on this list can be the reality of our own lives, the list like the lists throughout scripture call us to self evaluation as Job. Could anyone here claim to God that these things were far from us. That we have never dealt with them as realities.
Again while Job claim direct innocence we claim Christ’s innocence. we needed his imputed righteousness to say these things do not define us, and in his initial imputed righteousness we now walk and flee these things. Just As David spoke in Psalm 17
You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night, you have tested me, and you will find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.
ps
Job would be reaping what he had sown, but Job has not done any of these things.
(Also we know these event came because he had not done anything that was wrong or sinful)
C. He Knows Only God can Grant it (35-37)
C. He Knows Only God can Grant it (35-37)
Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary! Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown; I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him.
Job 31:
In the ends Job is making one last case before God he wants a future with God, but needs to know what is separating them.
And, as we will see in the end it is not the knowledge of why God acts that will still jobs soul, but that God is with Him.
a few things this text as a whole leaves us with:
An Appreciation for the pain in suffering righteously with the full revelation of God before us.
God is not God based on our theology, but based on his revelation of himself. In a few weeks Job will get a bigger picture of the God he has worshiped and served, that will change his perspective on suffering.
The Beauty of a life of faith and righteousness should not be determined by the circumstances of our lives
The Work of Christ that has saved us from a far greater suffering in eternity