Job 21.4 Is my
complaint directed to a human being? Why should I not be impatient? – Job
Ah Job, what are we going to do with you? You do have
quite a case, but we’re having trouble buying the whole: all of your troubles were
brought on by the God; and somehow you deserve special restitutive treatment from Him… C’mon Job! Man up and admit you’re
wrong!
If we read Job as if we’d never read it before, it might
take on a different meaning. If we read Job exclusive from the rest of the
Bible, it would take on hugely different meaning. Nothing like what happened to
Job had ever happened before, and those who sought to arrest Job from his mentality
were having difficulty believing him that God
was somehow “at fault”.
I have thought about Job’s relationship with God and I
think I have come to a new place in my thinking in that: I think Job (a
non-Jew) viewed God much like Muslims view Allah. Job believed there was a God
and that God was supreme. Job believed God was involved in his life, but I
believe he saw God at a distance. Job knew he was an upright soul, but he only
knew that because of how he lived his life: he
lived to keep God happy. He had a very uncomfortable view of what happened
when God wasn’t.
Yes, Job judged himself by his righteousness, but he was,
in his own way, righteous. And when it all hit the fan Job had only God to
blame; so, he asked God, “Why!?” Followed with: “What have I done!?” Job knew
this: there was a God, and he wasn’t Him;
and he was seeking God for answers to his plight.
Job’s friends perhaps knew of God but if Job’s view of
God was stunted, his friend’s views were infantile. So, Job’s response is: “Is my complaint directed to a human being?
Why should I not be impatient?” In other words, I am asking God for an answer and He isn’t cooperating! There it is,
an uncooperative God.
Job knew of God, and respected Him. Job lived a decent
life and treated people well. He was also well thought of – but his respect for God wasn’t necessarily
translated into love for God. I think
love for God was outside of Job’s wheelhouse. I think Job’s concept of a love for God might be like that of
many moderns: silly, goofy, effeminate, and unmanly! Job needed a God to come
to his rescue. Moderns think that way too. Job needed a God to keep the wheels
of his life from falling off. We think that way too.
So, what is our
response when the wheels do fall off?
God, where the (bleep) are You!?
Since we do read Job in context with the rest of Scripture,
God’s love is a concept that is presented in the rest of scripture. Our love
for God is awakened in the Person of Jesus Christ. Jesus enables us to love
God, and to love others. Job didn’t know of Jesus, but he did know of God. Job
knew God. Lived for God. But Job didn’t know of God’s love and got frustrated
when God didn’t come to his rescue as quickly as he thought He should. Sounds an
awful lot like us. Impatient, impatient, impatient…
Father, may my life
with You be reflected in my love for You and may my love for You be reflected
in my cooperation with You. Help me to hear, and to see, and to do, because You
command it, and expect it. Like Job, may I accept the good and the bad, but may
I do so with a heart that understands Your love for me, and somehow may that be
translated in my love for You. Our life together is a partnership. Long live the
partnership! Amen
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