Job
7 – 8
Before starting today … I have to wonder was Job the reason
employment in English is job. Verse 7:9 reminds us how brief our life is on
this earth:
As clouds thin and
finally vanish,
so it is
when people enter the land of the dead.
As a fan of Robert Frost, this reminds me
of one of his poems, Out, Out. The little boy dies and everyone just goes about
their business, a sad commentary, but so often true. The poems title came from
Macbeth’s soliloquy where he says “out, out brief candle, life is but a walking
shadow.” As depressing as death may be here on earth it’s a release of our
earthly meat suit for time with God. How cool is that?
Job through this is asking why and he too
is wondering if he did something “inadvertently” that he is being punished for.
In Chapter 8 his friends Bildad and Shuhite come to visit and push this theme
even more. Verse 8:3 has Bildad starting to tell him the problems:
Does God corrupt justice,
or does the Highest One corrupt the good?
That is an interesting question when one is
in misery. I know when jobs are lost, house sales fall through and despair sets
in, I ask what have I done? Was it just bad timing, or is God teaching me a lesson?
Is He correcting sin in my life or is this the hand of Satan or Lucifer? What
will happen on the other side to show God’s glory? As I sit typing on my
computer each day these questions run through my head, much like Job must have.
As you read, Bildad is less effective than
Eliphaz since he implies this may be the sin of his children. Imagine having
someone come to you and imply the reason you are sucking right now is little
Bobby had premarital sex. This even becomes more absurd when you get into it.
God does punish, God does correct, but God is also graceful and will forgive
the repentant heart.
Now does this make things rosy on the flip
side or repentance? Not always since oftentimes our “punishment” is not because
of our sins but rather by our sins. Since little Bobby is sleeping around, we
will look at his sin. Bobby takes his sin to an extreme and starts sleeping
with other men. One has HIV and infects little Bobby, now this will take its
toll. Little Bobby realizes his sinful ways and whole heartily repents of his
sins. Does that mean his HIV is wiped clean, most likely no.
That is where we get all messed up, we think
God will fix things and make it better. Well oftentimes the resulting mess
cannot be cleaned or will not be cleaned by God. Little Bobby’s HIV is a result
of his leaving God’s will. Our nation’s current fiscal mess is a direct result
of spending more than we make. We can repent all we want, but the hand of God
is not going to come down and pick your lottery numbers. As I have prayed for
that over and over, it “ain’t gonna happen.” Now I have tried following God’s
principles in money management and a $576k debt is not down to $340k in 5 years
with NO lottery win. So remember we are often not punished for our sins but
rather by our sins. Now in Job’s case his is being messed with more than
punished.
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