Job Pt 12 – STOP IT! STOP in the name of Love!

In the most recent blog about Job he was defending himself against the monologue delivered by his friend Zophar who in essence compared Job to a person of histrionic character because he pretended to be sinless, self-righteous and innocent.  Zophar also accused Job of being stupid because he wouldn’t go along with their plan (the Three Amigos) for him to repent from the heinous sin that they could not define, describe or recall.  Both Zophar and Job presented elegant cases about the splendor, majesty, power, authority, creativity, etc. of our God, ElShaddai.  The tragedy is that the initial intent to comfort their friend was lost after the Amigos aggressively tried to force Job to repent.  Job would have definitely sinned had he went along with their scheme and repented for sins he hadn’t committed.  Sinned how?  He would be lying, giving in to peer pressure and he would have been a “men-pleaser”.  The initial intent of the Three Amigos to comfort their friend turned into a disastrous visit ushering Job to the door of depression that he fell through head first so deeply that each time he attempted to explain his position we find his ending statements full of blame and accusation at God.  Job’s most recent defense sent Zophar over the edge because he viewed it doltish, ludicrous and preposterous.  Job’s last cry for help before ending his defense really spoke to me:  “Earth, don’t muffle my cry! There must be someone in heaven who knows the truth about me, in highest heaven, some Attorney who can clear my name—My Champion, my Friend, while I’m weeping my eyes out before God.  I appeal to the One who represents mortals before God as a neighbor stands up for a neighbor. ” Job 16:18-21 (The Message) 

Chapter 17, Job continues to lament about having no friends; that he was once respected as a blessed man but now he is viewed as a curse.

Chapter 18: Bildad speaks for a second time verbally attacking Job for playing word games and for addressing them (Three Amigos) disrespectfully.  Can you believe that?  They (the Three Amigos) are all insulted.  That is absolutely asinine to me.  He condemns Job to die because of his wickedness when in actuality everybody dies at some point and to add insult to injury he calls Job “God-ignorant”.

Tania Not Tanya Moment:  Their theory that God curses the wicked seems contradictory at best.  Think about it.  How does Job go from being: a wise trusted man of God; upstanding member of society; member of the elders council; trusted advisor; amazing employer; priest of his household whom no one ever, ever, ever found any fault with and whom they all befriended to: a liar, self-righteous, histrionic, stupid and God-ignorant man?  Using their own beliefs as a model, if Job was so wicked why was he blessed for all that time?  I don’t mean ordinarily blessed, I mean like being the wealthiest and “most influential man in all the East!” (Job 1:3 The Message).  Was Job such an incredible manipulating prankster that er’body missed it (i.e. the Three Amigos, all of his business constituents, elders, and God himself?)  That doesn’t make any sense.  I’m Just Sayin’.

Chapter 19: Job is completely vexed by the time Bildad is done with his rhetoric.  In anguished pleas he says that he cries out for help but no one, get this, no one comes to his aid.  We have talked about the physical pain he must have been in but can you imagine how painful the isolation must have been?  How much it must have hurt, especially when he considered allllllll of the people he had helped in his life time.  I believe without question Job’s help was authentic because he was an upright man and honest man as described by God, and people of that caliber do the right thing authentically which includes helping people. Unfortunately for Job (at least the way he saw it) those that would have probably helped, his children, were all dead; poor MJ had checked out mentally and to make matters worse, his servants wouldn’t help or listen to him. 

The word vex means:  to irritate; annoy; provoke; to torment; trouble; distress; plague; worry; to discuss or debate (a subject, question, etc.) with vigor or at great length; to disturb by motion; stir up; toss about; to afflict with physical pain. 

It’s a noun, a thing, and I believe that’s a fair assessment of his position with his friends at this point and that’s putting it nicely.  But the Three Amigos were angry because Job was blaming God for his calamities.  As much as we don’t like their dogmatic, self-righteous, insensitive approach, they have a valid point.  Job is accusing God unjustly based upon his perceptions.

Chapter 20:  Zophar the traditionalist, again accuses Job of being wicked, histrionic and evil but this time he insinuates that Job has somehow exploited the poor and taken their belongings.  Could that be the heinous sin they believe him guilty of?   Throughout these past 20 chapters, the Amigos hold fast to their belief that Job is a hypocrite, liar, wicked and evil.  You would think that after all of this redundancy that we could change the subject and move on to something else, but I do believe there is a method to their repetition.  There are people today that still believe that the only reason Believers suffer is because they have done something wrong.  Some of you may even be reading this blog and just like the Three Amigos you have or are telling fellow Believers they need to repent, forsake all of their sins, etc. so they can be forgiven causing instant restoration with God.  STOP IT! STOP, STOP, STOP in the name of Love!!! 

Righteous people suffer. Evil people prosper. Righteous people prosper. Evil people suffer. We don't know why righteous people times suffer. We just don't know. It is wrong to assume things about a person: because s/he's suffering; that they don't have the faith, and so s/he is sick; or that if they had enough faith, they would never be sick, because it isn't true.  Perhaps, just maybe God allows the Amigos to stay on this point to demonstrate our true ignorance of God’s purpose and plan for our lives. The question of the book of Job is: Why do godly people suffer? The question is not really answered but there is one certainty we have and that I have decided to settle on, God rules our lives so I don't have to understand the “why”.  All I have to understand is the fact that God is in control and I rest in and on that thought.  If we could just rest in the fact that God controls the affairs of our lives we would be faith giants doing far more than we are now because we would be unstoppable.

I’m out of time, we’ll have to pick it up tomorrow.

In His New Excellence,

Tania Not Tanya