Calendar

JOB PLEADS FOR JUSTICE
LORD’S DAY, MAY 22
Job 23:11-17

Psalm 70

 

“…Let God be magnified.”

 

JOB PLEADS FOR JUSTICE
 
Eliphaz had challenged Job to accept and meditate on God’s Word (Job 22:22). Job was confident that he had obeyed the Lord and walked in fellowship with Him. He was not claiming perfection in any sense but a judicial righteousness. His heart was right before God and all his sins were confessed but, because of his tremendous physical suffering and emotional confusion, Job was not resting in God’s justice and righteousness. If he had been able to do that, even though he could not understand why he was suffering, he would have known that it was not because of some shortcoming of his own (Job 23:11-12). The Psalmist speaks of the value of the believer knowing and obeying God’s Word (Ps 119:11).
 
As Job viewed the situation, he saw God sometimes allowing the wicked to prosper and the righteous to suffer. Job did not understand why but he recognised that God was sovereign and could not be questioned or changed from His course. Job’s friends had worked diligently to make God like man in both His actions and thinking, but Job realised that this was not true. He spoke out about the fear that he had when he saw the righteousness and power of God. He was troubled in God’s presence and afraid of Him (Job 23:15). The Scriptures tell us that an honest fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Job 23:13-17; Prov 9:10).
 
Despite Job’s terrible suffering and the fact that he believed God had abandoned him, he still spoke out against what he saw as a lack of justice on this earth. Job is not alone in his feelings. Many of God’s people through the ages have been troubled with this fact. The Psalmist, however, knew the reality of what God was doing and reminds us not to worry ourselves because of evildoers. God will take care of them in due time (Ps 37:1-2).
 
THOUGHT: What can you learn from Job’s troubled state?
PRAYER: I thank Thee, Father, that when I pray, Thou hearest me. (Ps 40:1)

Search