Job's Faith in God
"Weeping may endure for a night,
—Ps.30:5
In the last several chapters we jumped over, Job's friends responded a second and even a third time with the same indignation, criticism, sarcasm, condemnation, and disgust.
Job continued to defend his "honor" by holding to his contention that he was treated unfairly by them and by God.
"Whether I talk about it or not it really doesn't matter, I am not eased" (16:6). "God has worn me out. He has even allowed my friends to deal with me harshly and leave me desolate and without human sympathy." "My opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes." Job is obviously referring to the adversary at work through human instruments because he goes on to say “’They’ strike my cheek in scorn and 'they' unite themselves against me" (v.10).
Satan watches very closely the individual in the furnace of trial; even "sharpening his eyes," as one translation puts it, to watch the man fall.
Jeremiah cried, "I have heard many whispering, 'Terror on every side!' . . . All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying, 'Perhaps he will be deceived; then we will prevail over him and take our revenge on him'" (Jer.
No faithful servant of God has ever yet escaped this aspect of the fiery trial. King David found that "all day long they twist my words; they are always plotting to harm me. They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life."
"God has turned me over to evil men and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked."
And on it goes . . .
Job's humiliation
Job finally says, "I have humbled myself before Him. I have covered myself with sackcloth, and laid my horn—or I have laid my dignity and authority—in the dust. I have wept before Him until my face is foul, and my eyelids are swollen with deep rings under my eyes, even though I haven't done anything . . . my hands have been free of violence, and my prayer is pure."
"Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high."
It was this persistent clinging to the fact that God knew his life, and God would vouch for him that aroused the indignation of his friends.
What else could Job say? He knew that his prayer was sincere, and pure in its motive, even when they said it was mockery and cunning! He knew he had the witness of God in his heart, despite how his friends scorned him, and condemned him as a willful, presumptuous man.
Job Quits Struggling
Job finally gives up and reminds himself that it really does not matter what his friends think. "My spirit is spent with all the conflict," he says. It was stupid to keep arguing about it. His friends could not answer for him. He had to simply let God work it out. He is the one that had closed their minds from understanding his position. It was their loss, because God would not exalt them after they had condemned him for their own gain—just so that they could prove themselves right.
After all, it is better that they should say what they think than deceive him with flattery. God is the one that has allowed all this to happen. He has allowed Job, a man that has walked in fellowship with Him, to endure open ridicule, to become, literally, "a man in whose face people spit."
Nevertheless, the truly "righteous" can "hold to his ways," even if his body grows weaker. If his hands are clean and his conscience is clear before God, his spirit will grow stronger and stronger.
"Guys, you may as well take off," Job says. "I don't find a wise man among you! Let me be with God . . . My days have passed, my plans are shattered, and so are the desires of my heart. There is nothing left except the grave."
So we watch Job slowly stop struggling and come to a place of rest. The longer we keep struggling in our afflictions the longer they are going to last. God wants us to just lie down and trust in His faithfulness. Sometimes we need to take our stand against the devil's schemes, take up the shield of faith and take up the Sword of the Spirit. After we have done everything to a standstill, we need to stand!
Just like Job, sometimes we need to take our place in the dust and acknowledge that we are corrupt in our natural state.
If you have found yourself in the midst of deep darkness, then just quiet yourself on your God, don't try to kindle a fire by you own efforts. Just wait and you will be empowered.
