Job 13 WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE? As Job continues this lengthy discourse, he tells his friends they are like doctors who don't know what they are doing. That would be like a dermatologist doing open-heart surgery. They know a little about what needs to be done to repair the heart but they don't know how to apply what they know to the action needed. The three friends knew a little bit about God and His ways, but they didn't know how to apply what little they did know to Job's present situation.
Some of what they said was right. God is just. They were right, God does punish sin. But they were wrong in their assumption that Job was being punished for secret sin, hypocrisy and deceit. It is possible for any of us to take a tried and proven principle of life and apply it in the wrong way to suit all circumstances. There are differences in lives that have to be considered when we make judgments and seek solutions to problems. Being swift to listen and slow to speak, applies to any situations that is not open, plain and easy to understand.
After receiving no help from his friends, Job again takes his case directly to God hoping for understanding as to why the suffering he was going through had happened. He was quite disgusted with his friends who he called "forgers of lies," "worthless physicians." It would be like saying you don't cure heart disease by brain surgery. His point was, that if they kept quiet, they would be smarter and more help than for them to keep talking.
He goes farther and talks very strongly to them by saying they are not representing God appropriately. They had put him on the defense and made it look like God was to blame for all that had happened to him. In their simplistic view of things and the way they expressed their thoughts and words to defend God in their own minds was actually violating divine justice. So, he speaks to them about God in a series of questions.
- Will you speak wickedly on God's behalf?
- Will you accept His person and represent Him by showing partiality?
- Will you take the place of arguing my case as if you are doing it for Him?
- Is it going to turn out good for you when He examines you?
- Do you think you can deceive Him like you deceive men?
Job said that God would judge them for misrepresenting Him. They had sought to break Job down by their own simple concept of God, but they will be very surprised when God examines their conduct. "He will rebuke you," because they applied the truth of just rewards and justice carried out by God, in the wrong way. The ashes of platitudes do not stand against the hammer of truth. What they had said in their discourses was like clay that can be pounded to dust by the truth, because their so-called defense of God was really an offense to God. God will surely reprove them.
In verses 13-19 Job goes before God in the boldness of desperation and said in effect, "Come what may, I am going in faith, into the presence of God. 'Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.' " He believes God will judge him fairly and he believes God will execute whatever justice demands, and will still show mercy. Job consider a hearing with God his only hope.
Whenever a person goes into the presence of God, there will be justice. God is not a judge who can be manipulated, nor is He soft-hearted or hard-headed. God is not a pushover who folds because of pressure or tears. He is a God of mercy, and has provided, by His grace, an acceptable sacrifice who can meet the need of sinners. In the light he had, Job knew that God was his salvation. The light of salvation may have not been as clear to Job and the Old Testament patriarchs as it is to us who live in New Testament day. But they did know that salvation from sin is in a Person, not an event.
Job was sure he would be vindicated, but he knew it would only happen if God would justify him. We can't plead our own sinful case before a holy God. Thankfully there is a Mediator between God and men, "The man Christ Jesus." He does that for us on the basis of the sacrifice of Himself for us. "God is just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus."
However, Job had another problem. He also didn't know when to quit talking. This is a common problem among human beings. People are prone to use words to justify themselves even when they know they need a Person to justify them. So, he asks for two concessions from God even before he stands before Him. The first was, withdraw Your hand and end my suffering. The second was, do not make me so afraid that I can't speak and present my case. In his desperation Job spoke to God and directed his comments to Him as if he were talking to a man.
This last section of the chapter is like a courtroom scene where Job confronts God and accuses Him of allowing his suffering. He seemed to think that was his right. But he, like his friends, thinks his problem is because of iniquities and sins he doesn't know about, rather than God's sovereign will. How wrong it is to try to tell God what to do. People often think God does not answer prayer if the answer isn't what I want. "No" is as much of an answer as "Yes." Because God doesn't do things like our preconceived notions dictate, we may think prayer is a useless exercise.
The point of prayer is to get us in communication with God so that He can change us and our point of view to be in accordance with His. We live in a world of people who are very limited to what we experience. We are like ants living in the world of people by comparison to God and the universe in which He dwells. The whole earth is as a footstool to Him. So, we are not used to such a large view of things. However, we get glimpses of that world of divine habitation occasionally. It may be in a gathering of believers in worship. It may be in a divine "teaching moment" when we are made speechless before some evidence of the glory, power and plans of God. It may be when in the desperation of pain that is so great our voice is silent because we have said, "Please help me!" so often that we can't speak or think.
Job was still in the role of an accuser demanding answers and was not at an end of himself. God waited. He was like a leaf blown about by wind in his affliction, but was still talking. God waited. He was even making charges against God for writing things against him and still holding him accountable for sins committed in his youth. He accused God for prosecuting him for what he considered trivial things and never letting him step over the bounds of God's expectations.
When we look at life and all that happens through natural eyes only, we are limited to knowing only a small part of what is going on. Job had a similar view of life as his friends. "If you do this, then I'll do that." "If you help me, I'll help you." "If you hurt me, I'll hurt you." This idea of life overlooks that big picture of life as God sees it.
So, Job laments at the end of his outburst of frustration and anger, by saying in essence, "What's the use. I'm just rotting away little by little." How important it is for us to keep reading the word of God and maintaining fellowship and communication with Him in prayer. In that way our perspective is able to harmonize with divine purposes and we will get glimpses of God's light in the darkness of these last days.