1:1-2:13 - Satan is very busy - ‘going to and fro on the earth...walking up and down on it’. Why is Satan ‘roaming through the earth’? - ‘Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour’ (1:7; 1 Peter 5:8). If, like Job, you ‘fear God and turn away from evil’, Satan will make you his target. He will do all that he can to make you stop worshipping God and start cursing Him (1:1,11). Satan is very powerful - but he can only do what God allows him to do (1:12; 2:6). There is a greater Power than the power of Satan - ‘the Power of God’. When you face Satan’s onslaughts, remember - God is in control. His Power is at work in us to keep us in the way of faith, the way which brings ‘ praise and glory and honour’ to Him (1 Peter 1:3-7).
3:1-4:11
- ‘I’m reaching the end of my tether’ - Do you ever feel like this?
What are we to do when, like Job, we find ourselves sinking into a state
of deep depression? Remember Jesus. Remember His suffering - ‘My God,
my God, why have you forsaken Me?’ (Matthew 27:46). He suffered for us.
He suffers with us. In our suffering, we need Jesus. We need His love.
Some may say, ‘You’ve only yourself to blame’. They will tell us, ‘Pull
yourself together’. What good will this do - without the love of Jesus?
Without His love, things will only get worse. Jesus knows how we feel.
He’s been there. He went to the Cross - for us. Behind His suffering, we
see His love. He has ‘suffered’. He has been ‘tempted’. He feels our
pain. He comes to us with ‘mercy and grace’. He is our ‘Help in time of
need’ (Hebrews 2:18; 4:15-16).
4:12-6:7
- Eliphaz sounds so ‘spiritual’. He speaks of ‘a word’ being
‘brought’ to him. He speaks of ‘visions in the night’ (4:12-13). Sadly,
there is, in Eliphaz, a lot of pride and not much love. There’s no
suggestion, from Eliphaz, that Satan might be behind Job’s
suffering. ‘It’s all your own fault’ - This is what Eliphaz is saying to
Job. When we listen to this kind of talk, we become despondent - ‘What
have I done to deserve this?’. There are times when we cause
problems for ourselves. There are other times when we must say, ‘This is
the work of Satan’ - ‘An enemy has done this’ (Matthew 13:28). There
are times when we must pray, ‘Forgive us our sins’. There are times when
we must pray, ‘Deliver us from the evil one’. From the Lord, we receive
forgiveness and victory. Let’s give all the ‘glory’ to Him (Matthew
6:12-13).
6:8-7:21
- Job calls on God - and there is no answer. The happy days seem to be
gone forever. From the Cross, Jesus cries out in agony, ‘My God, My
God, why have You forsaken Me?’. There is no Voice from heaven, saying,
‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’ (Mark 15:34;
Matthew 3:17). What are we to make of this? Job is suffering. Jesus is
suffering. Where is God while all this is happening? What is He doing
about it? Shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus said this to His
enemies: ‘This is your hour, and the power of darkness’ (Luke 22:53).
God allows Satan to have his ‘hour’. ‘The power of darkness’ appears to
have the upper hand. This is not the end of the story. There is ‘a happy
ending’. Job is raised from his depression (42:10,12). Jesus is
‘raised’ from the dead (Acts 2:23-24).
8:1-9:19 - Bildad speaks as a ‘know-it-all’. He sees what has happened to Job, and he thinks, ‘Job must have forgotten God’. If Bildad had not been blinded by his own ideas of how things must be, he would have noticed that Job had not forgotten God and he would have realized that bad things can and do
happen to people who love God as well as people who don’t love Him.
When things are going badly, don’t forget God’s long-term purpose. He is
preparing us for ‘eternal life’ (Matthew 19:29). Sometimes, we wonder
what’s going on in our lives. We must remember that ‘God’s ways are
higher than our ways’ (Isaiah 55:8). We must learn to look beyond our
sufferings. They are ‘slight and short-lived’. We must look ahead to the
‘eternal glory that is greater than anything we can imagine’ (2
Corinthians 4:17).
9:20-10:22
- Job thinks that God is ‘against’ him. He thinks that he is condemned
by God (10:2). Where do these negative thoughts come from? Do they come
from God? No! God has a very positive view of Job - ‘My servant Job’
(1:8). Job is being attacked by Satan, ‘the accuser’ of God’s people
(Revelation 12:10). Satan puts negative thoughts into Job’s mind. What
are we to do when Satan attacks us in this way? Look to the Cross of
Christ, rejoicing in God’s love for us (Romans 5:8). Take our stand in
Jesus Christ - ‘There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus’ (Romans 8:1). Remind Satan of Christ’s victory - ‘the gates of
hell shall not prevail against’ us. Resist Satan - ‘Get behind me,
Satan!’ - , confident that ‘we are more than conquerors through Christ’
(Matthew 16:18,23; Romans 8:37).
11:1-12:25
- Zophar had all the answers - so he thought! It was all so simple -
according to Zophar. ‘He must have done something pretty awful to
deserve this’ - That’s what Zophar thought of Job and his suffering
(11:6). For Job, nothing was simple. He didn’t have any answers. He was
very confused. He had been ‘a righteous and blameless man’ (12:4). Now,
he was suffering. Was he being punished by God? Job listened to Zophar.
It didn’t ring true! Job didn’t fully understand what was going on. He
did know this: Zophar didn’t know what he was talking about. He was
shouting his mouth off about things he knew nothing about. Job was not
taken in by Zophar’s pious words. He responded with this ‘understanding’
- ‘The spiritual man judges all things, but is himself to be judged by
no one’ (12:3; 1 Corinthians 2:15).
13:1-14:22
- When you don’t really know what you’re talking about, it’s a case of
the less said the better. That’s how Job feels about his ‘friends’ -
‘Oh that would you keep silent, and it would be your wisdom!’ (13:5).
They are no help to him. What does he do next? He takes his problem to
the Lord. Nothing seems clear to Job. He seems to be bogged down in his
own suffering. There is, however, a glimmer of light. A question comes
into his mind - ‘If a man die, shall he live again?’ (14:14). Later on,
Job gives the answer of faith: ‘I know that my Redeemer lives...Even
after my skin has been stripped off my body, I will see God in my own
flesh’ (19:25). ‘Christ has been raised from the dead...Death is
swallowed up in victory...Thanks be to God who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Corinthians 15:20,54,57).
15:1-16:5
- After more of the same from Eliphaz, Job responds, ‘How often have I
heard all this before! What sorry comforters you are!’ (16:1). With
‘friends’ like this, who needs enemies? This was not what Job needed. He
needed ‘words of encouragement’ (16:5). Where does true comfort comes
from? It comes from the Holy Spirit - ‘the Comforter’ (John 14:26). If
we are to speak words of encouragement, we must listen to the voice of
the Spirit. We must learn to speak with His voice, the voice of ‘love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control’ (Galatians 5:22-23). Pray that ‘the meditation of your
heart’ and ‘the words of your mouth’ will be filled with the Spirit of
love. Remember - Without love, our words mean ‘nothing’ (Psalm 19:14; 1
Corinthians 13:1-2). Let there be more love.
16:6-17:16
- ‘There is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure’ (16:17).
Is this no more than Job’s own opinion of himself? No! It is much more
than that. It is also God’s view of Job: ‘my witness is in heaven, and
He that vouches for me is on high’ (16:19). When suffering comes our
way, we can become bitter - blaming God and turning away from Him - or
we can become better - ‘the righteous holds to his way, and he that has
clean hands grows stronger and stronger’ (17:9). What makes the
difference? - It is ‘God’s love...poured into our hearts through the
Holy Spirit’ (Romans 5:3-5). Seeing our suffering in the light of God’s
love, we say, with faith, ‘Nothing will be able to separate us from the
love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Romans 8:35-39). Let His love
lead you from the bitter way to the better way.
18:1-19:7
- Job listens to Bildad’s harsh words. He answers with a question:
‘How long will you torment me, and break me in pieces with words?’
(19:2). Job couldn’t make much sense of what was going on in his life.
He was sure of one thing. His ‘friends’ were missing the point of it
all. They had it all wrong. They were not speaking the Word of the Lord.
They were only making things worse for Job. We must be careful with our
words: ‘The tongue is a fire...set on fire by hell...With it we bless
the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the
likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My
brothers, this should not happen!’ (James 3:6,9-10). ‘Let your
conversation be always full of grace’ (Colossians 4:6). May our words
‘bring a blessing to those who hear’ them (Ephesians 4:29).
19:8-29
- Christ’s resurrection, Christ’s return, our redemption - All of this
is brought to mind as we read Job’s great words of faith: ‘I know that
my Redeemer lives...in the end He will stand upon the earth...in my
flesh I will see God’ (25-26). Jesus Christ ‘has risen’ from the dead.
He is ‘the living One’. He is ‘alive for evermore’ (Matthew 28:6;
Revelation 1:18). Jesus Christ will return ‘with power and great glory’.
‘He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him’ (Matthew
24:30; Revelation 1:7). The Day of Christ’s return will be the Day of
‘our redemption’. ‘When He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall
see Him as He is’. ‘We shall always be with the Lord’ (Luke 21:27-28; 1
John 3:2; 1 Thessalonians 4:17). Don’t forget the word of warning,
spoken by Job to his ‘friends’ - ‘There is a judgment’ (29)!
20:1-29
- ‘Fools rush in where angels fear to tread’. This is what we have
here. Zophar doesn’t stop to think. He’s ‘like a bull in a china shop’.
Zophar gives a detailed description of ‘the wicked man’s portion from
God, the heritage decreed for him by God’ (29). He does not stop to ask,
‘Does all of this apply to Job? Is Job a wicked man? Is Job being
punished by God?’. Before we rush into passing judgment on other people,
here are some things to think about: ‘There is one Lawgiver and Judge,
He who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you that judge your
neighbour?’. ‘Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Why do you
despise your brother? We shall all stand before the judgment seat of
God’. ‘Judge not that you be not judged’ (James 4:12; Romans 14:10;
Matthew 7:1). Think before you speak!
21:1-34
- Job has listened to his ‘comforters’, and he is not impressed: ‘How
then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of
your answers but falsehood’ (34). Job can’t make sense of all that is
happening to him. He doesn’t understand what it all means. In all his
confusion, there is one thing he doesn’t forget: God is in control. When
he asks the question, ‘Will any teach God knowledge ...?’ (22), what
he’s really saying is this: ‘I don’t understand what’s going on, but God
does!’. Later on, Job speaks these great words of faith - ‘He knows the
way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold’
(23:10). When you’re ‘going through the mill’, remember, ‘Those who wait
on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings
like eagles...’ (Isaiah 40:31).
22:1-23:7
- Job’s ‘friends’ assume that Job is being punished by God. They are
unaware that someone else is behind Job’s suffering - Satan! Job isn’t
sure what to make of it all. Is God punishing him after all? Deep down
in his heart, he knows that God loves him. Job asks the question -
‘Would He contend with me in the greatness of His power?’. He answers
his own question - ‘No; He would give heed to me’ (23:6). Job knows that
God is a God of great power. He knows something else about God. He is a
God of great love. He is not ‘all power and no love’. ‘God is love’ (1
John 4:8). What really lies behind Job’s suffering? - ‘The devil has
come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is
short!’ . The time will come when God will say to Satan, ‘Enough! No
more!’ (Revelation 12:12; 20:10)!
23:8-24:5
- Satan is working overtime! He is filling Job with fear. In his state
of deep depression, Job says, “God has made my heart faint; the
Almighty has terrified me; for I am hemmed in by darkness, and thick
darkness covers my face’ (23:16-17). Where do these thoughts come from?
Do they come from the Lord? No! They come from Satan! This is not ‘the
fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom’ (Psalm 111:10;
Proverbs 1:7). It is a very different kind of fear, a fear which comes
from Satan. How are we to overcome this fear? When depression threatens
to overwhelm us, what are we to do? Look to the Lord. He ‘has not given
us a spirit of fear’. He has given us His ‘Spirit of power and love’. He
gives us ‘a sound mind’. Look to the Lord. Let His ‘perfect love cast
out your fear’ (2 Timothy 1:7; 1 John 4:18).
25:1-27:6
- Job’s ‘comforters’ are no friends to him. They fail to discern the
presence and purpose of God in Job’s life. Job responds to them with
biting sarcasm - ‘How you have helped him who has no power! How you have
saved the arm that has no strength!’ (26:2). They’re hopeless - no help
to him at all! Why is their advice so useless? Job challenges them,
‘With whose help have you uttered words, and whose spirit has come forth
from you?’ (26:4). Their words do not come from the Spirit of the Lord.
They come from Satan. They are his servants. He is using them. He is
speaking through them. They are part of his evil plot to destroy Job. No
wonder their words are so useless! There is no way the servants of
Satan will ever help us to love the Lord better. We need the Word of the
Lord spoken in the power of His Spirit.
27:7-28:28
- ‘The fear of the Lord - that is wisdom, and to shun evil is
understanding’ (28:28). True wisdom is centred on Christ. He is ‘our
wisdom’. He is ‘the wisdom of God’ (1 Corinthians 1:30,24). True wisdom
leads us to put our faith in Christ. Through ‘the Holy Scriptures’, we
receive the wisdom which leads us to receive ‘salvation through faith in
Christ Jesus’ (2 Timothy 3:15). True wisdom leads us to become ‘mature
in Christ’, living a Christ-like life: ‘The wisdom that comes from
heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, gentle, obedient, full
of mercy and good deeds, straightforward and sincere’ (Colossians 1:28;
James 3:17). True wisdom gives glory to Christ. Our ‘faith’ does ‘not
rest in the wisdom of men’. It rests ‘in the power of God’. ‘Let him who
boasts, boast of the Lord’ (1 Corinthians 2:5; 1:31).
29:1-30:31
- Don’t forget to remember! In his time of darkness, Job remembers:
‘when His lamp shone upon my head, and by His light I walked through
darkness’. When God seems so far away, Job remembers: ‘when the
friendship of God was upon my tent; when the Almighty was yet with me’
(29:4-5). What are we to do when ‘the days of affliction come to meet’
us, when our days are full of ‘mourning’ and ‘weeping’ (30:27,31)? We
must remember the good times, the happy days. When you find yourself
wondering, ‘Why are these bad things happening to me?’, think of
something else - ‘Why has God blessed me with so many good things?’.
This will help you when everything seems so dark, when God seems so far
away. Remember to thank God for His good days. It will help you to trust
Him in your bad days.
31:1-40
- For a summary of all that Job says here, we may go back to the very
beginning of his story: ‘Job...was blameless and upright, one who feared
God, and turned away from evil’ (1:1). He is a fine example of the kind
of godly living which Paul made his ideal: ‘I strive always to keep my
conscience clear before God and man’ (Acts 24:16). How many times we
fall short of this ideal! Again and again, we must come to God with our
confession of sin . We ‘have sinned’. We ‘fall short of the glory of
God’ (Romans 3:23). How can our sins be forgiven? How can our guilt be
removed? There is only one way. It is through ‘the blood of Jesus’.
Through His blood, ‘our hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil
conscience’. Confess your sins to God. Let ‘the blood of Jesus cleanse
you from all sin’ (Hebrews 10:19-22; 1 John 1:9,7).
32:1-33:18
- ‘The Bible is the Word of God’ - What do we mean when we say this?
Two statements from Elihu may help us to think about this question. (a)
‘Understanding’ comes from ‘the breath of the Almighty’ (32:8). (b) ‘God
does speak - now one way, now another - though man may not perceive it’
(33:14). ‘The breath of the Almighty’ - This is where the Scriptures
come from: ‘All Scripture is God-breathed’ (2 Timothy 3:16). God has
spoken. He has breathed out His Word. ‘God does speak - now one way, now
another’ - There is great variety in the Bible. We have our favourite
passages. Let’s not forget the more obscure and difficult passages - He
speaks through ‘all Scripture’: ‘now one way, now another’. When the doubters fire their questions - remember: ‘God does speak...though man may not perceive it’!
33:19-34:20 - Things are going well. We say, ‘Thank You, God’. We rejoice in the Lord. We give praise to His Name. Everything seems
to be going so well - but we need to take care! In the good times, our
praise and thanksgiving can go stale. We take God’s blessing for
granted. Our rejoicing in the Lord becomes a superficial thing. Things
start going badly. We blame God. We say, ‘Where are You, Lord? What are
You going to do about this?’. What we must remember is this: The Lord is
with us - even when we’re going through hard times. He hasn’t stopped
loving us. He hasn’t gone away and left us. He is there beside us, every
step of the way. He wants to bring us closer to Himself, to give us
this powerful testimony: ‘He redeemed my soul from going down to the
pit, and I shall live to enjoy the light’ (33:28-30).
34:21-35:16
- ‘If you have sinned’ (35:6). Let’s think about Job, Jesus and
ourselves. (a) ‘Job feared God and shunned evil’ (1:1). He was not being
singled out for special punishment - because he was much more sinful
than anyone else. This does not mean he had never sinned (7:21; 13:26).
(b) There is only One Man ‘without sin’ - our Lord Jesus Christ
(Hebrews 4:14-16). Did this mean that Jesus did not suffer? No! - ‘He
suffered for us...He bore our sins...He died for us...He died for our
sins’ (1 Peter 2:21-24; Romans 5:8; 1 Corinthians 15:3). (c) There’s no
‘if’ about it! When we sin - What are we to do? Like Job, we must
trust in our ‘Redeemer’ - the Lord Jesus Christ (19:25). He gives
‘quietness’ and ‘songs in the night’ (34:29; 35:10). ‘Be still and know
that He is God. Shout for joy to Him’ (Psalms 46:10; 98:4).
36:1-33
- ‘God is mighty, and does not despise any’ (5). God is great - great
in power, great in love. How sad it would be if the God of great love
had no power to save us! How terrifying it would be if the God of great
power had no love in His heart for us! What a joy it is to know that He
is both the God of great power and the God of great love! He is
‘abundant in power’ - and He loves us: ‘He heals the brokenhearted
and...lifts up the downtrodden’. What can we say about this God of
great power and great love? - ‘Praise the Lord!’. Let us ‘sing to the
Lord with thanksgiving’. Let us ‘make melody to our God’. “It is good to
sing praises to our God’ (Psalm 147:1-7). ‘How good is the God we
adore! Our faithful, unchangeable Friend. His love is as great as His
power and knows neither measure nor end’ (Mission Praise, 244).
37:1-24 - ‘The Almighty is great in power and...He does not oppress’ (23). God’s power is loving power. His love is powerful
love. In Jesus Christ, we see God’s power - ‘He is able to save to the
uttermost all who come to God through Him’ - and God’s love - ‘I will
never turn away anyone who comes to Me’ (Hebrews 7:25; John 6:37). In
our world, the love of power has become a very destructive thing. In
Jesus Christ, we see something quite different - the power of love.
He uses His power to show us His love. He shows us His love when -
through His mighty power - He saves us. As you think of the Lord Jesus
Christ - His loving power, His powerful love - , let ‘His love and power
control all you do and say’: ‘More love, more power, more of You in my
life’ (Church Hymnary, 432; Songs of Fellowship, 392).
38:1-38
- The Lord has listened long enough! He’s listened to a lot of
‘empty-headed words’. He has listened to a long, heated debate. There’s
been a lot of heat and not much light. Everything seems to be as clear
as mud (2). Now, it’s His time for speaking! What does God have
to say? He invites Job to look at the bigger picture. Being preoccupied
with our own problems doesn’t really solve anything. ‘Why has this
happened to me? Why did it not turn out that way? Why this? Why that?’ -
We go round in circles, thinking about these kind of questions. We
don’t have all the answers. There are plenty of things we don’t
understand. Even when we don’t understand what’s happening, we can
still say, ‘I lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come
from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth’ (Psalm
121:1-2).
38:39-40:14
- ‘I am unworthy - how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my
mouth...I have no answer...I will say no more’ (40:3-5). God speaks to
us about our sin: ‘All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’.
He tells us that ‘all our righteous acts are like filthy rags’. Why does
God speak to us like this? He speaks ‘so that every mouth may be
silenced’ (Romans 3:23, 19; Isaiah 64:6). We must stop talking about our
own righteousness and start listening to what God is saying to us. He
speaks to us of ‘His love’. He tells us that, ‘while we were sinners,
Christ died for us’. This is Good News - ‘the blood of Jesus, God’s Son,
cleanses us from all sin’. No more excuses - ‘I’m not such a bad
person. I’m really quite good’! Let’s ‘confess our sins’ and receive
God’s forgiveness (Romans 5:8; 1 John 1:7-10).
40:15-41:34
- ‘Who can stand before Me?’ (41:10). God puts this question to every
one of us. God’s Word gives two answers to this question. The first
answer speaks to us of our sin. The second answer speaks to us of our Saviour.
The first thing God says to us is this: ‘There is no-one righteous, not
even one’ (Romans 3:10). The question is asked, ‘Who shall ascend the
hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in His holy place?’. The answer is
given, ‘He who has clean hands and a pure heart...He will receive
blessing from the Lord’ (Psalm 24:3-5). We read these words, and we
wonder, ‘Is there any hope for us?’. Our situation seems hopeless -
until we look to Jesus, the Man ‘without sin’, the beloved Son with whom
God is well pleased’, the Saviour who ‘died for our sins’ (Hebrews
4:14-16; Matthew 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:3).
42:1-17
- After so much suffering - a happy ending! Job has been brought
closer to God (5-6). His ‘friends’ have been forgiven by the Lord (7-9).
Everybody is happy about the way things have turned out for Job
(10-11). Is there always a happy ending? In this earthly life, we will
never reach a stage where there will be no more problems and everything
will be just fine. For God’s people, ‘redeemed with the precious blood
of Christ’, there will be a happy ending - but not until ‘the last
time’! For now, we must face many ‘trials’. Beyond our ‘little while’ of
suffering there is a happy ending - ‘salvation ready to be revealed in
the last time’. We must pray that our ‘faith, more precious than gold,
will be proved genuine and will result in praise, glory and honour when
Jesus Christ is revealed’ (1 Peter 1:3-7,18-19).
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