Maintaining Composure: the story of Job (part 4) - 29 October 2006

scripture focus

Job 42:1-17

theme

blessing the righteous

summary

Job maintained his composure in the face of great suffering. how might we please God similarly?

Many people try to find a common element, or teaching, in the world’s religions. If such a thing exists, it will be in the seeming consistency of religions to encourage equanimity, the state of being evenly composed, whether one experiences suffering or pleasure.

He who hates no creature, is friendly and compassionate towards all, who is free from the feelings of “I” and “mine”, [who is] even-minded in pain and pleasure, forbearing, ever content, steady in meditation, self-controlled, and possessed of firm conviction, with mind and intellect fixed on Me —he who is thus devoted to Me, is dear to Me.

I respect this encouragement to be “even-minded in pain and pleasure”. It may surprise some to realise that this same sentiment is found in the story of Job; indeed, it is the whole point of the story. Sadly, though, Christians mostly miss this point and do not themselves typify this equanimity.

²“I know that you can do all things;
no plan of yours can be thwarted.
³You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.

⁴“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
⁵My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
⁶Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”

⁷After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. ⁸So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” ⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

¹⁰After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. ¹¹All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought upon him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.

¹²The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. ¹³And he also had seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. ¹⁵Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.

¹⁶After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. ¹⁷And so he died, old and full of years.

In this passage we come to the conclusion of Job’s debate with God. Job humbly acknowledges his presumption. Having been goaded into strong and passionate language by the ridiculous counsel of his so-called ‘friends’, Job has been confronted by God and surrendered, yet without sorrow.

Most Bible translations and commentators twist verse 6 to make Job’s speech an acknowledgement of sin in challenging God. In reality, the original Hebrew is uncertain, insofar as the word nacham, here translated “to repent”, is not commonly associated with sin, but with a change of mind or with finding comfort. The majority of its uses in the Bible are actually applied to God (as in Gen. 6:6; Jon. 3:9-10). Thus, alternative, more clear translations have been suggested: “Therefore I retract and change my mind, being but dust and ashes”, or “I yield, and am comforted, being but dust and ashes”.

Job has had a life-transforming visitation with God (Job 42:5): the god whom Job worshipped, based on what he had heard of him, has now made himself known through a face-to-face encounter. Job had earlier expressed his belief that he would see God at the future resurrection (19:25-27); that expectation was brought forward in an unexpected way.

We can thus imagine this scene as Job having presented his case for why he should not be suffering, God then responds to Job by asking, “What exactly is it that you think you know?” (38:1-41:34), and Job then expresses his satisfaction “with the humble knowledge that his sufferings were all part of the purposes of God —even if he could not understand those purposes with his finite mind”.

It is simply incredible to realise that Job was proved correct in his righteousness and assessment of the situation (42:7-8); thus, he offers no admittance of wrongdoing, despite the more traditional exegesis of this passage. Instead, God challenges the bad theology and counsel of Job's friends and requires their confession to and submission before Job. Job's prayer for them brings forgiveness from God (:9). This is a complete reversal of our expectations for this story of suffering.

On one hand, the formula, “good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people”, is completely disproved and disqualified. On the other hand, Job is not ‘blasted’ for questioning God, he is corrected for his presumption and arrogance in asking such questions. Our suffering does indeed lead us to question our situation, but the story of Job promotes equanimity in suffering as in celebration.

Job is blessed after praying for his friends' forgiveness, not after his own surrender. This could simply be a matter of timing or it could be a consequence. Would Job have been blessed to the same degree if he had not prayed for the forgiveness of his friends? While we cannot answer this question, it does suggest a standard set by this passage for the care provided by Christians for brothers and sisters in faith. There is blessing in serving the spiritual needs of others.

Job’s fortunes and position are restored. He is first restored to his spiritual authority (:10a). Then, his prosperity is restored doubly (:10b), a possible reference to the law of Ex 22:4, “When the animal, whether ox or donkey or sheep, is found alive in the thief’s possession, the thief shall pay double”.

Then, his status is restored as his ‘fair-weather’ family and friends acknowledge him with gifts (:11).

In addition, Job’s financial means are increased beyond his starting fortune (:12). Even the regard and provision for his daughters is beyond expectation; interesting for the comparative value of girls to boys (:13-15). This total scenario provides a wonderful closure to Job’s story, reflecting cultural norms rather than spiritual norms.

Can we expect the same kind of material blessing if we're righteous? One possible answer is, “no”, because we cannot possibly imagine the same level of righteousness for ourselves, that we could ever display such brash confidence before God.

Another answer is also, “no”, because, if nothing else, Job’s story reminds us that our life’s circumstances are consistently uncertain. Not that God is arbitrary, but that we are not privy to the “big picture”; our confident faith in God does console us when we accept that “all things work together for good for those who love God” (Rom 8:28).

As one commentator acknowledges so well, “The final irony of the book is that the author has used a traditional story about a holy man, a non-Israelite named Job, to explore the mystery of suffering in a very untraditional manner”.

Despite arguments for or against Theodicy,

biblical Christianity is the only worldview that confronts the problem of suffering ‘head-on’ and resolves the problem.

The Bible does acknowledge a connection between sin and suffering.

God did not intend for his creation to suffer; yet, our rebellion against him places under the influence of all kinds of evil.

This observation cannot be absolutely applied. There are too many exceptions to this rule. Jesus acknowledges that “you will always have the poor with you” (Mk 14:7). Are they poor because they sinned? No, but they were born into a state of sinfulness, into a broken relationship with God.

Suffering is a mystery. To reduce suffering to the simple formula, “do good and good things will happen to you; do bad and you will suffer”, is to ignore the complexity of the human condition. We will apply human standards to God, in order to understand him better. Yet, God cannot be so easily understood, nor manipulated.

Nevertheless, I am reassured by the story of Job to note that God was aware of Job’s righteousness and boasted about it. Oh, that I could please God enough for him to boast about me! Even though Job was allowed to suffer at the hands of God’s enemies, God cared for Job and helped him to appreciate better the condition of the world in which Job lived. Perhaps here is the source of Job’s prosperity, that he had a wise understanding of his position in the world and a healthy appreciation for the difficulties that could befall him at any time. Job maintained his composure in the face of his suffering and maintained his trust in the God who is far beyond all understanding.

sermon delivered by Ian Forest-Jones
at Hurstville Church of Christ
on Sunday, 29 October 2006 at 10am
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