WWUTT 874 God Had Become Cruel to Job?

Trials as a Test and Conformity to Christ

All of us will go through trials, and even if life is good for you right now, you may still have a trial coming. All of this is a test that we may be shaped more in the image of Christ and rely upon God when we understand the text.

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Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the book of Job, and we'll finish up Job's discourse today, chapters 29, 30, and 31. Then after that, there is one more character in the company of men who are with Job that has yet to speak up, and that is a man whose name is Elihu.

Job's friends can't talk anymore. He's cut them off. They're not allowed to speak. Job is going to finish his lament, and then Elihu, who's been silent this entire time, is going to speak up with a rebuke of his own.

And then after him, God speaks into the situation, and that'll be coming up in a few weeks' time. As for today, let's finish up with Job's lament, starting in chapter 29. 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 hands on their mouth, the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouth,.

When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved, 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 mouth, 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.

This is very autobiographical in the life of Job, and it is actually the most insight we have seen into his past in this book thus far, and it's what Job is saying of himself. A lot of the things Job says also contradicts things that his friends have said about him, but his friends have not been kind.

They've been ignorant, they've been foolish, they have said of Job, the reason why all of this disaster has come upon you, you've lost property, you've lost servants, all your children are dead, you've lost your health, you are sick, you are without sleep, you are without appetite, all of these things have come upon you because you're a wicked, evil man.

That was their summary, that was their conclusion. Seeing all that has come upon Job, it has to be because he's done something really, really bad. And of course, Job in his defense against them has said, well, show me what my wrong is exactly.

If you say that I've done something evil, show me what it is. And of course, his friends can't do that. And Job has said, the Lord has done this to me. He has given and he has taken away. It is from God.

And so at the start of 29, Job says, oh, that I were as in the months of old as in the days when God watched over me. Now, the thing that Job doesn't understand is that Job or is that God is still watching over him at this moment.

And this is the Lord who is going to speak right into this situation. The very voice of God will speak coming up about eight or nine chapters from now. So in the meantime, Job is remembering the days when he walked in righteousness and the Lord's favor was indeed upon him when his lamp shone upon my head and by his light, I walked through darkness as I was in my prime.

And when Job refers to himself in his prime, it's not that he necessarily means when the times were happiest or when I had the most stuff, you know, when I was I was the most plentiful and prosperous.

But he's specifically talking about when his heart delighted in God. And at this particular place that he's in, he doesn't delight in God and doesn't think that God delights in him. So he's talking about prime in a spiritual sense, not necessarily in the sense that that he had wealth and abundance when his lamp shone upon my head, when the friendship of God was upon my tent, when the almighty was yet with me.

These are all spiritual references. When my steps were washed with butter and the rock poured out for me streams of oil. Now, here is where Job transitions into material blessing. So he's gone from spiritual blessing into material blessing because he was renowned for the amount of cattle that he had, as though he had his own dairy.

That's what the reference is to his steps being washed with butter. There was so much that was coming out from the cattle that he possessed that it was like the ground was just covered with milk and butter and cheese.

And the rock poured out for me streams of oil. Job had olive groves and the oil that was produced from the olives that were harvested and sold was the riches of his abundance that he had. 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.

He's talking about the respect that he had. So he spends significantly more verses talking about the spiritual blessings that he had. And then he also takes a moment to mention, I was prosperous as well.

I was abundant in wealth and I had much respect, much regard from people who were around me. And now they just look at me and pity. They just shake their heads at me, as what he said previously and in previous chapters.

The princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth. Even kings and princes wanted to hear what it was that Job said. Remember, we're reading wisdom literature. And as I said at the start of this study of Job, it's possible that Job is the one who is writing this and this all being after the fact, of course.

But the other possibility, and this is where I tend to lean to on the author of Job, is this is Elihu. Elihu, who is a young man, he's younger than Job and all of his friends, he's there witnessing all of this.

And Job has even made reference previously to how his words were the words that were written down. People would write down things that he said. And so Elihu may be there doing that. He's there to learn from this man, Job, and he learned from Job when he was in abundance.

But even now that disaster has come upon him, Elihu is still there learning from this man and how he responds to disaster, how he reacts to that. And so Elihu is writing down things that have come from Job's friends and come from Job himself.

Then Elihu is eventually going to speak. And then the very voice of God is heard. And so Elihu may be the one who is writing this down because Job was a man who spoke wisdom and what he said was worth writing down.

So here he continues talking about how there were plenty who loved to hear the words of Job. And he also mentions how kindhearted and how charitable he was. Now, remember, Job's friends said that he was not.

They said that Job robbed from the poor and took from the widow and did not consider the needs of the oppressed. And Job called them foolish. It's because he knew that that was not his reputation. He had a reputation for helping those.

In fact, he would even go out and look for people who were oppressed so that he might be able to help them. He says, when the ear heard, it called me blessed. And when the eye saw it approved 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. This means I help those who were perishing and they blessed me for it. And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness and it clothed me.

I've talked previously about how Job knew that the righteousness that he had was not his own. It came from God. He knew that. And the Lord says to Satan that Job is, even though you would afflict Job, he's not going to curse me.

And the reason is because God knows the righteousness Job has is a righteousness that God has given him. So Job even acknowledges that here. The righteousness of God clothed me. He gave it to me. It was his garment.

My justice was like a robe and a turban. It covered his body. It covered his head. It was his wisdom and his action that Job loved justice, that he displayed it with his life and he thought it with his thoughts.

He conformed his mind to God. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was father to the needy and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know. I broke the fangs of the unrighteous. I came against those who oppressed others and they released their prey from their mouths because Job acted.

My 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.

Have you ever had a counselor in your life who was like that or you had such a struggle or such a situation that you were in that you did not know the answer or the solution? How do I get out of this?

What is the resolve? And you know that there's just that one person who just seems to have wisdom to speak into situations like this. And you thought to yourself, I'm not going to act until I know what this person says, what their advice would be.

Or maybe you do try to do things yourself, but then this person comes along and gives you a different word and you realize, boy, they're just so much wiser than I am. How peacefully they're able to speak into these situations I struggle with.

Do you know somebody like that who has counsel for you in that way? Job was that kind of a guy. And whenever he said what what needed to be said, it was like the best word for the situation and everybody would remain silent.

Job has spoken. I smiled on them when they had no confidence and the light of my face. They did not cast down. It was his delight to serve others in this way. He was not doing this to boost himself up, but because he cared for other people.

I chose their way and sat as chief and I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners. And this is some scholars have speculated that Job may have been a general of some kind, may have been a leader of a king's armies or some kind of ruler, and at this point may be retired.

And that's why it says I chose the way and sat as chief and I lived like a king among his troops. So the soldiers look to Job for wisdom and guidance and direction. Chapter 30 now. But now they laugh at me.

So so once again, and this has been stated before, everybody once looked toward Job is now looking away from him because they they see how he has fallen into despair. God can't possibly be on his side anymore because of all this disaster that has fallen upon him.

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. In other words, these people who are just the most wicked of men, those who would otherwise be driven out of the land, they delight to see Job in the condition that he is in. Before, in his wisdom, it was their undoing.

Job sitting in the seats that he sat in, chief among soldiers, and the wisdom that he shared that people listened to, it was the undoing of the wicked. But now that Job has been brought down so low, it is their delight to see him in this condition.

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. They have, they're not intimidated by Job at all, that they would even spit in his presence now.

On my right hand, the rabble rise. They push away at my feet. They cast up against me in 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 horror is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud. 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. 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 my 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. So once a delight, once a joy, once pleasing for others to see and look at and seek counsel from, and now Job is nothing. And he furthermore in this soliloquy, in the conclusion of this particular refrain, verses 29 and 30, Job basically says to the Lord, what have I done to deserve this?

What have I done that you have turned yourself from me, that you've cast me into the mire? I cry to you for help, and you do not answer me. I stand, and you only look at me, and you've turned cruel to me.

You were once my delight, but now I look upon you as a cruel God, is the way Job says that. And he hates it. He doesn't want to. He doesn't want to look upon God as somebody who is a cruel dictator. But that is what God has become to him.

Job is wondering, what have I done to deserve all of this that has come upon me? But as we're going to find when we get to God's answer coming up toward the end of this book, God is basically going to say to Job, I test whom I want to test.

Everything is a test. Everything that we go through is a test. Would you trust God even in the midst of what it is that you are enduring, knowing that he has something better for you ultimately in the end?

Now, maybe what will come for you is not what ends up coming for Job. What we'll read at the end of the book of Job is that Job has all his possessions again. He has family again, and God prospers him again.

It's not like all of his dead children came back to life, but he is blessed to have family again later on. And so that's how God resolves to restore Job. But it may not be the same for you. You may not ever have great earthly wealth and possessions, but are you yet trusting in God in the midst of difficult circumstances, knowing that he's doing something great and good for you?

Now, you know, Romans 8, 28, I mean, it's like the Christian proverb. It's the thing that every Christian knows and says to one another and says to even people who aren't Christians. We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.

For those who are called according to his purpose. But to understand the good that God has in store for us, because it's so easy to take that verse and think that whatever I want is the good that God is going to give me.

To understand what good he has in store for us, we have to consider verse 29. For those whom he foreknew, remember he predestined, he elected from before the foundation of the world. Those whom he foreknew, those whom God placed his affections on even before they were born.

That's what it means for him to foreknow somebody. It's not that God looks down the tunnel of time and sees that a person is going to make a decision to follow him. It's because God has placed his affection on that person even before nobody knew them.

So God foreknew them. That's what it means for him to foreknow. Those whom he foreknew, those whom God is working all things together for good, called according to his purpose. Those whom he foreknew, he also predestined.

Those whom he foreknew, he predestined. So then we get to, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. Those whom he foreknew. There's automatically an inference of God predestining somebody there when it says those whom he foreknew.

But then he's talking about another predestination that we've been promised with the elect of God. Those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he, Jesus, might be the firstborn among many brothers, meaning there are many others who are going to be raised to life as Christ was and glorified with him.

Verse 30, and those whom he predestined, he also called. Here we have another also to predestination. Those whom he predestined, he also called. Those whom he called, he also justified. Those whom he justified, he also glorified.

We are glorified even now. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are already glorified. As Paul said in Colossians chapter three, if you've been raised with Christ, you are seated with Christ in God.

You have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. So we are seated with Christ now, but we have not yet received our glorified bodies.

So there is a greater glorification that is to come, but we are still enjoying the benefits of the glory of God even now. The promise, the seal of the Holy Spirit, the guarantee, predestined that we are going to be conformed to the image of Christ.

So whatever this situation is that you are going through now, or maybe things are great for you, but you may have a day of trouble coming. Know that whatever happens, God is testing you and is using this to shape you all the more into the image of Christ.

We are promised that in this world we will have tribulation, and especially as Christians, we understand the world is going to hate us because we are followers of Christ. Because we, as a follower of Jesus who says to the world, remember we read this in John chapter seven, Jesus who says to the world that its deeds are evil.

So we who trust Christ and speak his word are likewise going to say the same things when we know his word and we share it with others. We are going to reveal to the world that its deeds are evil and they need to repent and follow Jesus.

And the world is going to hate us for that message. Those who are elect will repent and follow Jesus, but those who are predestined for the day of destruction will not. And they will go to the wrath of God on that day when Christ's glory will be revealed.

But hold fast, my brothers and sisters, hold fast to Christ. Whatever the situation, if you know Christ and you know him as savior, God knows you. And that's the best news of all. And he is using this for something great to shape you into the image of the sun.

And a day is coming when we're going to see these things clearly now, though we may not see them face to face at the present. First Corinthians 13, 13. Now we see as though through a glass darkly, but soon we will see face to face and then we will know as we are fully known.

Hold fast to God. Trust him. This situation is for your good and for his glory that you may rely all the more fully on him who raises the dead. Second Corinthians 1 .9.

Amen. For more about our ministry, visit us online at www .wutt .com.