Job’s Earnest Plea

“Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him: but I will maintain mine own ways before Him.  He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before Him.  Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.”  Job 13:15-17

As Job continued to speak, he was frustrated with the lack of sympathy and the numerous criticisms from his friends.  He let them know that he resented the way that they were speaking to him as if he was ignorant.  Everything that he had said about the sovereignty of God and His choices to do as He sees fit, Job had witnessed in his own life.  Job told his visitors that they didn’t know anything that he didn’t know.  He was not some uneducated, ignorant man who was uninformed.  They weren’t better, smarter, or wiser than him.

Job desperately desired to speak directly to God.  He was confident that God would hear him out as he tried to reason with the LORD.  He expected the One of whom he worshiped and made sacrifices would be fair and hand down the right judgment in his case.  He desired to know what sin he had committed that justified his misery.  He kept pleading with his friends to really listen to him and use some common sense.  Please put away your prejudices and biases and be reasonable.  He asked his friends if they were going to continue to pretend to speak for God as if what they had been saying about him came from God and not from their own ideas.

Job was adamant that he was going to have his say regardless of the outcome because he was so certain of his innocence regarding the punishment that he was receiving that he was willing to take on whatever further punishment or even death in order to prove his case.  He wanted his visitors to just shut up so that he could plead his case before the LORD without their interruptions, sneers, or a roll of their eyes.  Why should they be upset?  They weren’t the ones who were suffering.  Job was the one going out on a limb in speaking his peace before God.  What could he lose?  His life?  His life was miserable.  Death would at least stop the pain and despondency.  He had no other option but to throw himself on the mercy of God.

Where else could he go?  I am reminded of the time when Jesus asked His disciples if they were going to go away like some of the other followers had chosen to do.  Peter spoke up and said, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:68-69).  Job vowed that even if God chose to take his life, he would still trust in Him.  He still considered God his Friend, and One who would not punish him without a reason.  Job had to believe that his suffering was for a good purpose.  Job declared that if he was truly a hypocrite, would he dare come before God and present his case?  He believed that God would hear him out and make the right decision, that his defense would lead to his salvation, which, in Job’s mind, was a reinstatement of his righteousness before a holy and just God, a declaration of his innocence, and that God would be his Savior.

Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar had not been able to provide evidence of all the sins of which they had accused Job.  Even so, they would not speak up for him, thus he had to represent himself in God’s court of law.  If he didn’t speak, he would die unjustified.  If his friends could prove their charges, he would accept the verdict and die.  Job did desire for God to ease up on his physical pain so that he could focus on preparing and delivering his defense.  It is difficult to do anything well when the body is racked with pain.  He also desired that God would give him a boldness to speak so that he wouldn’t be so fearful of speaking directly to the LORD that he would not be able present a clear presentation of his case.  Job wanted God to let him know how to proceed.  Should God speak first and ask His questions of Job and then allow him to answer, or should Job speak first and lay out his case and then let God speak?  It sounds like Job had really thought this through rather than doing what many do, that is, come unprepared.

Job will not have his opportunity to speak directly to God until Chapter 38, however, in the meantime, he began to rehearse what he planned to say to the LORD.  He wanted to ask God for the number and identification of the sins that had led him to this difficult time of his life.  Then he wanted to know why God had seemingly withdrawn His presence from him as if he had become God’s enemy.  Job couldn’t reconcile his situation with God’s character.  He was already about as low as he could get and had no power to resist God, thus his spirit was crushed at the seeming inequity of his punishment.  Could it be possible that God had gone all the way back to Job’s youth and dug up some sins?  Job felt like he was under God’s microscope which God used to scrutinize every second of his life.  Job felt like he was wasting away.  After all the years of worshiping and serving God, Job’s life had come to this?  Job just wanted some answers.

Next week:  A Despondent Man