January 11, 2017 – Job 29-31 – Job Rests His Case

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from Job 29-31. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read His Word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan.

What Does This Passage Say?

• Job is now done debating with his three friends. You can almost sense a shift in tone as he begins to think about life before the calamities struck. Life was good. God had blessed. Men honored him. You can almost sense that Job is happy, if for just a brief moment in time. Job knew and understood that he was a good man. Notice, recognition is not the same thing as arrogance.
• But Job moves on, just as life continues to move on. And now, the people he treated so kindly, those whom he had helped time and again, are nowhere to be found. Instead of helping Job in his time of need, they mock him. Not only does he suffer the mocking of those around him, but God is silent. Job hurts and yet Job doesn’t even hear from God. At best this perplexes Job.
• As Job concludes this final speech he turns to the way he has lived his life. His friends have accused him of sin, but Job knows that is not the case. Sure, there have been moments of sin, after all Job is human. But his desire has never been to sin. He has worked hard to live a life that honors God. He knows that God could weigh his sin and Job would come out victorious. Job says all this to silence his critics. He knows he stands righteous before God. With this Job stops talking.

What is This Passage Teaching?

• When you are suffering, where do you turn? What does your focus become? After talking and listening Job has come to a very good place. He has looked back on the blessings and he has looked at his current situation. He knows he stands before God righteous. He knows he stands before God as a faultless man (as much as one can be). This is where we should all strive to be. Will there be sin in our lives? Absolutely. Will there be moments we don’t always live up to be the people we want to be? Yes. Will there be times in life we look back and see how life was better? I am confident. Will there be season of life where people mock us and look down on us? Perhaps. What we must do is continue to look forward and try our best, while we may not always understand, to stand righteous before God.