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Monday, 6 October 2014

Job 13 - taking your case to God

Job continues his response. He has just been declaring the greatness of God, but now he comes to the crux of the matter. He knows all this truth, he is not disagreeing with the basic theology of his friends. Yet circumstances do not seem to match these truths. So Job wants to speak directly with God, and to present his case. Now this is at the same time an act of faith and incredibly presumptuous. The Bible does not present a nice religious picture of what a person of faith is like. It does not fit any of our religious views of a man of faith, at the same time it does not fit any of our modern laid-back views either! 
Job then seems to turn his anger on his friends, basically asking who do they think they are? Job just wants to speak and will then take the consequences. 
The man of doubt turns away from God when he cannot understand, when he is frustrated or perplexed by life. The man of faith wrestles with God, as Jacob did. Job is looking to God and only Him. Even if his meeting with God would mean him being slain, he would still rather meet God than rely on anything else. Note that David did the same when he was judged for holding a census, he chose to entrust himself to God (2 Sam 24:14).
Job then turns directly to God, wanting to know what he has done that is so wrong that he deserves all this. Now remember that Job is not being punished for his sin. He is a sinner, as are all men, but this is not the reason all this is happening. Yet it is often our reaction when things go wrong, we think that God is judging us.

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