The Devotional -39

The Devotional

Comment:

While growing up in Louisville, Kentucky, some may think (well, I did!) that Kentucky was filled with a bunch of country hicks. I was wrong! Kentucky folks are no different than the rest of the people of the world, we are all sinners and not one of us can say otherwise. Therefore if we try to say we have no sin, we may someone else a liar, namely God, 1 John 1:8-10. While reading Chapter 20 and 21 of Job and thinking about the words of Zophar the Naamathite, I was reminded of those days growing up. Maybe you have, if you are elderly like me seen those people we called “walking billboards”. Those big signs on the front and back of these people which read. “Repent or burn, or some other misquoted bit of scripture”! Well I said all of the above to say this. Zophar would have been a good candidate for a walking billboard.

Challenge: Job 20 - 21

Zophar admits that his observation of Job and Job’s comments have angered him. He says in verse 2, my thoughts are troubled and I am greatly disturbed. Ever get that way around a friend? Yes of course, we all have! Have you come to know that it is better to keep your mouth in neutral while your thoughts run in a negative way? Zophar failed that test. Note the list of venom flowing from his mouth. Something he has accused Job of in verse 14 has really turned Zophar’s stomach to be the very venom expressed his false accusations aimed at Job. 

He accuses Job of being wicked, godless and full of pride; verses 4-6. Also he continues to degrade Job by saying that his life up to this point is nothing more than “dung” that vanishes in time. Is this the first reference to our “biodegradable nature?” If so, this is the only thing Zophar says that could be true, but it is not true in the context of accusations of Job’s failed integrity or character. Job has not failed as we are seeing throughout the 42 chapters of Job which we should be halfway through this morning.

I would like for us to see that when we counsel people who are suffering, we need strongly to focus on the soul of the individual and not the visible circumstances or aftermath of why people suffer. I am reminded of an accident at a four way intersection and four witnesses, one standing on each corner, each will give a similar report, but there will be variations which can be alarmingly different than from what actually happened in the core or heart of the moment.

Job begins his discourse chapter 21 with, “Listen carefully at my words; let this be the consolation you give me. Bear with me while I speak and after I have spoken, mock on. In other words Job accepts the accusations regarding the wicked people of the world, but he also adds that what is missing from the accusations of his three friends is that most ungodly people prosper, verses 12-16. And to be aware that God will repay all ungodliness in the judgment, verses 17-26.

Then Job turns his thoughts to his friends and states clearly that he is aware of their schemes that judge him wrongly. They have said among themselves or in their mind that Job is no different than the ungodly, he has lost his estate and his family. Yet Job says that while they condemn him that they are doing so without the full knowledge of a worthy comforter, verses 29-33,

So Job concludes his rebuttal with, “So how can you console me with your nonsense? Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!” If you have ever faced the shameful counsel of someone you thought of as a friend and found them speaking to you from the outward or obvious details of life, things that they too struggle with, you also know that much of their chatter is nothing more than nonsense. If we are going to counsel people, we must be willing to look at the soul (heart) and not the outward appearances.