Job 13 – 14
Job continues to plead his case before his friends and God. He immediately attacks them in verses 13:4 & 5:
4 As for you, you whitewash with lies;
worthless physicians are you all.
5 Oh that you would keep silent,
and it would be your wisdom!
Have you ever been where the last thing you need to hear is your friends wrong advice? Often times we get swept up in listening to them and ignoring the lesions learned through our reading and studying the Word of God. I hear this often throughout my life and many times from trusted or responsible sources. Often my sanity goes into question and I often wonder what is right in this world? But then I fall back on scripture to determine the right path.
As Job continues forward he is starting to prepare a case to present before God in verse 13:18:
Behold, I have prepared my case;
I know that I shall be in the right.
Having personally prepared many cases before the courts, my confidence was like Job’s, but often my preparation and execution were flawed. My cases were before man, I can’t imagine trying to ensure my case was complete before God, although can assume God will give more grace for errors in the documents.
Job has a distorted view of life having dealt with so much misery as seen in verses 14:1 & 2:
1 “Man who is born of a woman
is few of days and full of trouble.
2 He comes out like a flower and withers;
he flees like a shadow and continues not.
What a bleak view of life, especially how blessed he was before his problems started. Sure we are born and then we die, but what happens in between is special. Sure sometimes life just sucks, but more often than not it’s wonderful. We get to experience sensations that only God could imagine. Breathing fresh mountain air or getting a cool sea breeze on your face are just samples of the wonders we get to experience. Sure life may be short, but enjoy the gift while you are here.
I think the crux of Job’s complaint comes clear in verses 14:16 & 17:
16 For then you would number my steps;
you would not keep watch over my sin;
17 my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.
This becomes clearer and much easier since the blood sacrifice of Jesus removed the need for constant sacrifices. God is not keeping track of each time we get out of line. God does not have a score card with our name that determines our relationship with him. He “bags” up our sins and forgets them. We just have to accept that we have done them and confess them before God.
Now this does not end the consequence of the sin, just God keeping it over our heads. If this were the case one could become a thief or a murderer and just confess the crime before the resulting harm came. Sin is like Newton’s third law of motion, “for every force there is an equal and opposite force.” Or for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Unfortunately the third law is not perfect as respect to sin, but there are consequences to our actions we must accept.