Chapter 1: JOB’S STORY

There was this good man Job, who experienced a number of calamities. He lost all his wealth, then all his children, his physical health, his status in society and all his friends except for three who came to comfort him. Drawing on traditional understanding, they explained suffering with a formula: “People suffer when they sin. You are suffering. Therefore there is sin in your life.” This is still the traditional view among people today. This is especially true in India, with the idea that the present conditions of someone’s life are determined by their karma (good or evil deeds done in an earlier life).

Job protested their judgement of him. He argued that they knew him and told them that they were indulging in unfair “judgementalism.”

As the argument progressed, it got more and more heated. Both sides took a hard line. The friends’ accusations and judgemental attitude became more and more strident. Job became equally strident in his defence of himself.

Something subtle happened in the course of the arguments. Job’s friends claimed to “speak for God”. As a consequence, Job identified God with their views and ended u0 faulting God’s judgement. The debate finished with Job dismissing his friends’ arguments. At this point, a young bystander picked up the discussion on the nature and causes of suffering. We do not know when he first got there. It is only when we read his speech that we realise he had been there for sometime. He challenged both Job and his friends about the things they said. None of them had an answer to what he said.

At the very end, God confronted Job. But God did not answer Job. Instead He asked him questions. In essence, God’s questions were: First, “Who are you? Do you know who you are?” Second, “I am who I am. Am I answerable to you?” The story ends with Job being restored, and interceding for his friends to be forgiven.

Job’s Faith

In spite of his doubts, Job’s faith shines through in the story. In order that we do not lose sight of this when we consider his doubts and questions, it is necessary to get an overview of his affirmations of faith.

Right at the outset, Job affirmed that the Lord is the source of everything in his life and the One Who determined the course of life.

The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;

may the name of the LORD be praised (1:21).

When his wife advised him to curse God for all that had happened in his life, he took the stance that we ought to be willing to accept all that comes from God, both the good that happens and the trouble that comes.

Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble? (2:10).

As he reflected on his troubles, he doubted his own ability to endure for long, and wished that all his trials would end soon so that he would not become guilty of denying God.

Oh, that I might have my request…

that God would be willing to crush me,

to let loose His hand and cut me off!

Then I would still have this consolation—

my joy in unrelenting pain—

that I had not denied the words of the Holy One (6:8-10).

Job is honest about his strengths and weaknesses. He feared that his strength would not be enough to withstand the weight of his troubles. He would rather keep his faith than live in unbelief induced by pain.

Wanted a Mediator

Job felt that he needed a mediator between him and God.

He is not a man like me that I might answer Him,

that we might confront each other in court..

If only there were someone to arbitrate between us,

to lay his hand upon us both,

someone to remove God’s rod from me,

so that His terror would frighten me no more.

Then I would speak up without fear of Him,

but as it now stands with me, I cannot (9:32-35).

The human longing for a mediator between people and God was what gave rise to all religions. Priestcraft assumes a mediatory role, but there is only One True Mediator between humanity and God—Jesus, the Great High Priest sent by God (1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 2:17-18)

Though Job didn’t have total assurance that there was any mediator standing between him and God, he was filled with a great hope.

Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him… (13:15).

Job had assumed that there was more to life than just this life. He anticipated renewal.

I will wait for my renewal to come (14:14).

His faith was surer, as he claimed that he had a friend on the other side, who would mediate with God on his behalf.

Even now my Witness is in heaven;

my Advocate is on high.

My Intercessor is my Friend

as my eyes pour out tears to God;

on behalf of a man He pleads with God

as a man pleads for his friend (16:19-21).

Job knew that he could not pay the price of his redemption and asked God to satisfy Himself.

Give me, O God,, the pledge You demand.

Who else will put up security for me? (17:3).

He knew he had a living Redeemer and that He will be there at the end of life.

I know that my Redeemer lives,

and that in the end He will stand upon the earth..

And after my skin has been destroyed,

yet in my flesh I will see God;

I myself will see Him

with my own eyes—I, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me (19:25-27).

Job believed that

• God would accept his Representative Advocate
• God would pay his Ransom
• God Himself would be his Redeemer.

Job’s faith anticipated the gospel that Jesus is the Redeemer who pays the redemption price and lives to intercede as our Advocate/Intercessor.

Faith on Trial

Job showed a keen understanding of what was happening to him. He saw it as a trial of his faith. He acknowledged that God was aware of what was happening to him and believed that his trying experiences would improve the quality of his life.

But He knows the way that I take;

when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold (23:10).

Job’s story is a wonderful source for learning how to cope with the trials and sorrows that we encounter in life. Despite all his mood swings, doubts, apprehensions, and misgivings, Job kept on believing that God was there in his life even though he couldn’t understand God’s ways. Job had his lover’s quarrels with God, but he didn’t give up on the relationship at any time. He just kept on clinging to God. He continued to be in love with God.

The remarkable thing is that Job lived on the other side of the Incarnation. Without knowing about Jesus, he longed for a God Who is human, and believed that God Himself could be His Intercessor.

We are on this side of the Incarnation. We know Jesus. We know that Jesus is the God whom Job longed for. Job didn’t know God fully because the revelation of God was not yet complete. In Jesus the revelation is complete. If Job, who didn’t have the full revelation of God, clung to Him, how much more we who know Jesus should cling to God.

Chapter 2: IS JOB FOR REAL?

When Raj’s mother died, his pastor counselled, “You mustn’t cry like this. As Christians we have a great hope. There is life beyond the grave.” Sometime later when the pastor’s mother died, he was crying bitterly. Raj reminded him that he had told Raj not to cry but to have faith in the resurrection. To this the pastor said, “That was your mother. This is my mother.”

When we ourselves experience terminal illness, severe pain, or the death of a dear one, we do not philosophise. We cry. When Job lost everything—his wealth, his children, his health, and his position in society, Job said,

The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away,

may the name of the Lord be praised (1:21).

When his wife urged him to curse God, he said, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (2:10). Job’s story seems to be too good to be true. Is Job’s a real life story?

A Historical Problem

Job is not mentioned in any genealogy in the Bible. On the other hand in the book of Job there is no reference to Abraham, the father of the Jews, or to Moses, God’s lawgiver. He just does not seem to fit into mainstream Old Testament history.

Who was Job? He is described as a man who lived “in the land of Uz” (1:1). The Bible says nothing about where this land was located, but there is a reference to one Uz being the grandson of Shem, the son of Noah (Gen.10:23). Those were days when lands took their names from those who settled in them.

Job is also described as “the greatest man among all the people of the East” (Job 1:3). When the Old Testament refers to “the East” it is referring to whatever was east of the Jewish homeland. After Abraham had become a sojourner in Canaan, and his wife Sarah had died, to ensure that Isaac’s inheritance would not be infringed on, he sent all his other children “away from his son Isaac to the land of the east” (Gen.25:6), back to where he had come from.

From the information we have on Job, we may therefore conclude that he was a good man before the time of Abraham. He was a holy man, who was extra careful about piety. While the Bible is otherwise silent about Job’s antecedents and descendants, he is affirmed by both an Old Testament prophet and a New Testament apostle, as a man held in high regard and one whose example is to be imitated. The prophet Ezekiel ranks him with Noah and Daniel for his righteousness (14:14,20), and the apostle James remarked on Job’s perseverance under trial. James said, “As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy” (5:11).

Is Satan Real?

There is also what appears to some people a rather unreal account of God and Satan in conference that makes the book of Job hard to believe. I think it has to do with the fact that for some people the whole idea of Satan’s existence is preposterous. They believe in God, but they just cannot accept the idea that all evil originates from one supernatural person. In the preface to his book Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis wrote, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”

Admitting the existence of Satan poses the problem that when we sin we become collaborators with him. That is probably one reason for the reluctance to accept the notion of his existence. The Bible clearly teaches about the existence of Satan, devils and demons. It also teaches that there is such a spiritual state as that of being demon-possessed. Of course, demons are not hiding behind every bush or under every stone. Demons do not lurk everywhere. But there are demons and they do possess people.

Another thing the Bible teaches is that Satan does involve himself in human affairs. He does have a personal interest in fighting a turf war with God. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph.6:12). It is because of this kind of spiritual warfare that we need to be clothed with the “full armour of God” (vv.11, 13).

Even when we accept the existence of Satan, we have a problem with him having such free access to heaven as we see in the book of Job. If Satan is Satan, how could he be in heaven? The trouble is that we think of heaven and hell as material places. But we have got it wrong. I believe in heaven, but I believe there will be no gold in heaven. Gold belongs in the material world and will have no entity in heaven. Why then does book of Revelation describe streets in heaven being paved with gold? That is just a picture of heaven using human colours and paints. How else can the Bible show us that heaven will be glorious?

While there may be people who will go along with what I have said above about heaven, what I say next about hell, may find me being categorised as a person who denies biblical truth. I believe there is a hell, but I do not believe that there is fire in hell. Believing that there is no gold in heaven is easy, but for evangelicals so used to preaching hellfire and damnation, the notion that there is fire in hell seems to be a fundamental tenet of the faith. Again we must recognise that fire belongs to the spatio-temporal world we inhabit. It has no spiritual entity. The Bible uses fire to graphically describe hell as a terrible state to be in.

Both heaven and hell are in the presence of God. To those who love Him, the presence of God is heaven, and to those who spurn Him in life God’s presence is their hell. God will be there in hell, because there is no place that is out of bounds to God. The Psalmist said,

Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, You are there;

if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there (Ps.139:7-8, NRSV).

Is God Playing Chess With Lives?

Even when we have resolved our doubts and questions about Satan, the book of Job presents the troubling picture of God and Satan fighting over a man. The fight between God and Satan turned Job’s life into a battleground and Job became a casualty. That is how it appears, but we have not understood what was happening if we hold that view.

What happened was that in effect Satan told God that He has to bribe people to be good. When God permitted Satan to prove that, God was not having a tug of war over the man. Job already belonged to God and God didn’t have to tug and pull at him. God had no doubts about Job. He was absolutely sure that Job was committed to Him and belonged to Him. God’s permission to Satan was thus an affirmation of Job. In effect He was saying to Satan, “No! I believe in Job.”

The book of Job describes the supernatural source of all evil as “the Satan”, which means “the Adversary”. What the book brings out is that God was Job’s Friend. It was Satan who was against Job. God was not against him, but for him.

God is never our adversary. In adversity, that is the one truth that you and I need to hold on to. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom.8:31) That is why it is possible for believers to face adversity, not as those who are beaten, but as those who are “more than a conquerors” (v.37), because there is nothing at all that can separate us from the love of God. There is no trouble or hardship that has the power to alienate us from our Divine Friend (vv.38-39).

Not only is God on your side, the great lesson of the book of Job is that trials and sorrows are a sign that God has faith in you. Seen thus, what happens in the life of Job is not a trial of strength between God and Satan. Rather, it is a trial of Job’s strength. In the context of temptations, the Apostle Paul wrote, “God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear” (1 Cor.10:13). When we are in sickness, pain and sorrow, or feel burdened and pressured, weary and weak, we are tempted to give up faith in God and renege on our commitment to godliness. But, says the Apostle, temptations come to us according to our strength. We will not be tested beyond our ability to cope with temptation and overcome it. When we look at Job’s life, we see that divine plan at work in his life. His trials came in waves. Only when he overcame one trial, did God give Satan permission to send the next one crashing on him. Only when he had triumphed over his loss of family and possessions and grown stronger, did God allow Satan to touch his personal health, and Satan then discovered that Job was able to withstand the pressure exerted on him to make him turn against God.

The Apostle James tells the Church, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (1:2-4, NIVI).

God is Our Source

Job’s great affirmation when his trials broke over him was,

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;

may the name of the Lord be praised (1:21).

Job has no complaints against the providence of God. Whatever he had was from God. It was God’s to give or take. “And so let’s just praise the Lord,” says Job.

We take pride in our achievements. There is a legitimate pride we can display when we rejoice in what God has enabled us to do. But when we imagine that we did it on our own, without help from above, our pride becomes illegitimate and an affront to God. How we need to learn today that whatever we are and whatever we have are all from God.

Job evaluated his entire life and said,

Naked I came from my mother’s womb,

and naked I will depart.

In the final analysis there are only naked lives. At the very end we are stripped of everything. We are minus all our possessions and positions. “For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it” (1 Ti.6:7).

In Job’s spiritual journey he reached a point where he was able to say, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (2:10).

He saw the hand of God beyond all that had happening to him. But do troubles come from God? No, He is not the source of evil (Jas.1:13). But yes, troubles come with God’s knowledge and mediation. They pass through His benevolent hands before they come to us. God is in total control. He is not out of control when bad things happen to us. Trouble can come only with His permission. The sore trials we experience are within the boundaries of His will.

Reflecting on this Paul wrote Romans 8:28. The King James Version translates that verse thus: “All things work together for good to them that love God”. People have mistakenly thought that to mean that everything that happens is finally good. That is definitely not true. Everything that happens is not good, nor does everything that happens tend toward good. The New International Version translates that verse thus: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (emphasis added). That is absolutely correct. There is no experience that is so bad that God cannot take it, use it, do something with it, and make something good come out of it.

Remember hell is not out of bounds to God. If you are going through some private hell, He’s there with you. Say to yourself,

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil.

For Thou art with me:

Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me (Ps.23:4, KJV)

Chapter 3: WHAT ARE FRIENDS FOR?

A magazine offered a prize for the best definition of a friend. Among the many submissions here are a couple:

• A friend is one who multiplies joy, divides grief.
• A friend is one who understands our silence.

They are good definitions, but the prize-winning definition was, “A friend—the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out”. When bad times come, we discover our fair-weather friends. Only true friends stay. Only they identify with us then and share our adversities, burdens, trials and griefs. Job too discovered how many were fair-weather friends.

Friends Don’t Desert

However, Job had three friends who were not at all fair-weather friends. They came to Job when his world collapsed and all his friends had deserted him.

Later on in the narrative, we find that Job feels that they are unsympathetic:

Have pity on me, my friends, have pity,

for the hand of God has struck me.

Why do you pursue me as God does?

Will you never get enough of my flesh? (19:21-22).

Bear with me while I speak,

and after I have spoken, mock on (21:3).

He talked about their unfaithfulness.

A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends,

even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams (6:14-15).

I have become a laughing-stock to my friends,

though I called upon God and He answered—

a mere laughing-stock,

though righteous and blameless (12:4).

All my intimate friends detest me;

those I love have turned against me (19:19).

But right at the beginning when we encounter them in the book of Job, we have much to learn about friendship from these men. To their credit, they did not turn their backs on Job. They were not ashamed to be associated with Job when he was down and out. They certainly did not neglect him and stay away.

Part of the pain of Christ’s crucifixion was the desertion of His disciples. It was not only the pain of physical abuse and the anguish of having spiritual filth piled on Him that He suffered. He experienced the distress of being without His intimate friends around Him, identifying with Him in His shame. Job did not have to go through that. But if you ever find yourself deserted by friends, remember that our Lord has been there and knows what you go through.

Friends Leave Their Own Comfort

Job sat on an ash heap. His body was covered with open sores that he had to keep scraping (2:8). That is the situation the friends came to. They left the security, conveniences and comforts of their own homes, to be with their friend.

Jesus once told a story about a man who refused to get out of bed when his friend came to him at midnight with a need. He finally did get out of bed, but only because the friend wouldn’t give up and go away (Lk.11:7). Friends are not like that. They are willing to leave their comfort zones to be with their friends and help them When our Lord was determined to go to Jerusalem even when His life was in danger, there was one occasion, when His disciples displayed true friendship. Thomas, whom we despise for his doubts, practical man that he was, set aside all his practicality and said, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him” (Jn.11:16).

Friends Respond Thoughtfully

Job’s friends gave thought to how they would respond to his needs and trials. When they heard of his trouble, “they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathise with him and comfort him” (2:11). It was not a reflex action to sorrow. They planned their response. They gave thought to it. They spent seven days with him in silence, before they even have a chance to say anything to Job. We do not know how long the discussions afterwards took. Anyway they planned to be away from their situations and occupations. As rich men they must have had things to do to keep on adding to their riches. But they were willing to set aside all that for an indefinite period to be with their friend.

We live at a time when people rely on store-bought cards to express sympathy. When someone is ill, we send a “get well” card. If someone is bereaved we send a condolence card to express our feelings. But the costliest card is cheaper than giving our selves. Think about ways to be there for people in need. Spend time with persons who are lonely in their illness or grief. Talk to them. Lift them up with helping hands. Hold a cup to their lips. Fan them when the electricity goes off.

Friends Feel For Friends

It is human to try to fill our lives with fun and laughter. We try to avoid sadness. As one poet has said,

Laugh and the world laughs with you.

Weep and you weep alone.

Job’s friends were not at all like that. They identified with him. “They began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him…” (v.12-13).

The shortest verse in the Greek New Testament is John 11:35, where it says, “Jesus wept.” Circuit-riding preacher Robert Stephens (AD 1551), who divided the text of the Bible into chapters and verses, was quite arbitrary. It has been suggested that as he did a lot of his reading and marking on horseback, some of the portions got marked as the end of a verse, when his horse stumbled, and his writing instrument inadvertently marked the page. But he got it right when he marked these two short words as constituting one verse. In doing so he turned this verse into one of the most powerful verses in the Bible.

Why did Jesus weep? After all, He told others not to weep and told them that what they thought was death was only sleep. He knew that He Himself had the power to raise people from the dead, and He knew He was going to do just that in the case of Lazarus. He announced, “I am the Resurrection and the Life” (v.25). Yet, He cried! In the light of all He knew and declared, that doesn’t make sense. His weeping makes sense only if we see it as a case of Him crying just to identify with the grieving family in their sorrow. That is what a friend does.

Friends Are There For You

Job’s friends sat in silence for seven days. Just their being there helped Job to break his silence and express his feelings of bitterness and frustration. Friends have that effect on friends. They don’t need to talk to show they care.

If you don’t know what to say when someone is hurting and grieving, don’t say anything. It’s okay not to say anything. How often I have sat with the bereaved and wished that some others who were there to comfort would just shut up instead of foolishly trying to console with inappropriate ideas and words. Friends don’t have to say anything to show that they care. Just being there will do.

Henri J. M. Nouwen said, in his book Out of Solitude, “The friend who cares makes it clear that whatever happens in the external world, being present to each other is what really matters. In fact, it matters more than pain, illness or even death. It is remarkable how much consolation and hope we can receive from authors who, while offering no answers to life’s questions, have the courage to articulate the situation of their lives in all honesty and directness…Their courage to enter so deeply into human suffering and to become present to their own pain gave them the power to speak healing words.

“Therefore, to care means first of all to be present to each other. From experience you know that those who care for you become present to you. When they listen, they listen to you. When they speak, you know they speak to you. And when they ask questions, you know it is for your sake and not for their own. Their presence is a healing presence because they accept you on your terms, and they encourage you to take your own life seriously…” (Excerpt published in the New Century Version Bible, The Answer, Word Publishing 1993, p. 293).

The next two characteristics of friends were not there in Job’s friends. We learn not to be like them in these two aspects.

Friends Listen

Job’s friends heard him, but they didn’t listen. It seems as though they were busy gathering their thoughts and arguments, and mentally preparing the speeches they were going to make as soon as Job finished speaking.

Sometimes the problems that arise in committee meetings have to do with the fact that members have been busy mentally preparing their speeches instead of listening to what someone else has said. Much time is wasted in committees because speeches get repeated when people don’t listen. Or, when they don’t understand the other’s point of view, they can easily make the mistake of tilting windmills.

In a group when people pray in turns, do you listen to others praying, or are you mentally preparing to pray when it is your turn? If everyone does that, what we have at prayer meetings is not corporate prayer. People are gathered in one room, but they are not one in spirit. Could this be the reason that our prayers are not answered?

Friends Are Not Judgemental

Job’s friends forgot to be friends and acted as his judges. Job had to say,

Relent, do not be unjust (6:29).

Have pity on me, my friends, have pity (19:21).

They had come to be with him and comfort him and encourage him. But they forgot about all that they had come to do. They were bent on proving him wrong and evil in spite of their past knowledge and experience. Friends are known for their faithfulness in defending their friends’ honour.

Contemporary novelist Walker Percy said, “We love those who know the worst of us and don’t turn their faces away.” George Elliot, from an earlier time, said, “Oh the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thought, nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away.”

Chapter 4: WHY WAS I BORN?

When life has lost its thrill, and instead wave after wave of trouble assaults you, haven’t you sometimes wished that you had never been born, or asked, “Why was I born?” That is the question that Job raises. His thoughts on birth and life are set forth in chapter 3: Job cursed the day of his birth (vv.1-10), questioned the purpose of life (vv. 11-23), and complained about his life (vv.24-26).

Cursed Birth

Job said,

May the day of my birth perish,

and the night it was said, ‘A boy is born!’ (v.3).

He wished it would be dark and joyless (vv. 4-7). Even in this depressed mood, Job did not curse God. He only cursed the day of his own birth. He wished that professional cursers would curse his birthday (v.8). There were those who made a profession out of cursing. Balaam was one such. He was summoned by the king of Moab to curse Israel (Num. 22:1-24:25).

In India there are tantrics who make a living out of putting curses on people. But often the effects of the curses do not lie in the future. Tantrics are notorious for engaging in bizarre, ghastly and gruesome ritual sacrifices that take the lives of young children in the superstitious belief that their ritual murders are harbingers of good fortune. The story of Balaam makes it clear that no one has the power to put a curse on others. Only God can control anyone’s future with a word.

Job said that when professional cursers did their cursing, they aroused Leviathan (3:8). Chapter 41 has a description of this creature. Some people have suggested that this creature is none other than the one we know to be the crocodile. But the passage 41:18-21 says that when this creature snorts there are flashes of light, fire shoots from its mouth, and smoke pours out of its nostrils. No crocodile does any of those things. This has to be the dragon of myths and apocalyptic literature.

Satan did not exit after the events of Job chapter 2. He simply went underground. His lurking, brooding presence continued to be there, and Job had a faint inkling that the source of the damned events in his life was Leviathan, the dragon, Satan aroused by curses. (For Leviathan’s identity as the dragon, see Isa.27:1).

Question of Purpose

In the first part of chapter 3 (vv.1-10), Job is seen in an aggressive mood. Then he gave up and sank into a questioning mood (vv.11-23). He questioned the purpose of his life. “Why am I alive? What’s the purpose of my life?” That in summary was what Job was asking.

Again, Job wished that he had been born dead (vv.11-12). Then, he desired death (vv.21-22). Though he wished he hadn’t been born and wished that he could die, remarkably he never contemplated suicide. He never once thought that he needed to take his own life though his wife seemed to have suggested it (2:9). It is obvious that even in his severe depression, Job never gave up hope. He never concluded that his situation was so hopeless, that it was beyond the hope of redemption. The man had lost everything, including what any man would hold dearest, his children. But he did not give up his faith in God, and so he did not lose hope.

While desiring death, Job described it as the thing that ends inequalities in life. The rich and the powerful, the wicked and the weary, the prisoner and the slaver, the high and the low, the slave and the master are all reduced to the same level by death (vv.14-15,17-19). Death is the great leveller. As we came into life with nothing, we go from this life with nothing. Job knew that. He said,

Naked I came from my mother’s womb,

and naked I will depart (1:21).

As for death , Job said that it ends troubles:

There the wicked cease from turmoil,

and there the weary are at rest.

Captives also enjoy their ease;

they no longer hear the slave driver’s shout (vv.17-18).

Job had it right there. When death ushers people into God’s presence, they do discover that

Never again will they hunger;

never again will they thirst.

The sun will not beat upon them,

nor any scorching heat…

and God will wipe away

every tear from their eyes (Rev. 7:16-17).

Complaints About Life

But Job felt that life itself had not been fair. When anyone says that, they mean that God has not been fair:

Why is life given to a man

whose way is hidden,

whom God has hedged in? (3:23).

Do you remember how Satan viewed Job’s situation? Satan had said that Job was under God’s protection. But according to Job’s assessment, he was confined. He seemed to have said, “God confines me…There’s no escape for me.”

How dismally we regard our life situations! What appears to be confining, when seen from a spiritual perspective, is really God’s protection. Even Satan knew that to be the case as he evaluated Job’s life. Satan resented the fact that Job was under God’s protection. He is still resentful of those who enjoy God’s caring guardianship in their lives and feels murderous toward them.

Job said,

Sighing comes to me instead of food;

my groans pour out like water.

What I feared has come upon me;

what I dreaded has happened to me.

I have no peace, no quietness;

I have no rest, but only turmoil (3:24-26).

Though blessed abundantly by God, he seemed to have lived in fear. He couldn’t have really enjoyed his blessings. He lived in fear that they would be taken away from him and he would be deprived. In effect he was suspicious of God’s goodness to him: “It’s too good to last” seems to have been the motto he lived by. That was a sad way to live.

If you live with the fear that your blessings will be taken away, you miss enjoying your blessings. Sometimes people’s notions of providing for the future prevent them from present enjoyment. While we must indeed learn from the ant (Pro.6:6) to provide for the seasons of predictable deprivation (v.8), we must not spend our lives in fear of all the calamities that we imagine could happen. God has given you blessings now to be enjoyed now. They’re yours now. God has given them to you now because He feels you need them now. You will not be deprived of any of God’s blessings until He has some new experience He wants to replace old blessings with. That will happen only in God’s ordained time. God is in control. Believe in His sovereignty.

In spite of his complaints, what comes through in chapter 3 of Job is the man’s honesty. He had questions that he wanted to ask God and he wouldn’t let go of them. He dared to question God, and we will see in our study of his debates with his friends that he refused to accept unsatisfactory answers.

Chapter 5: “I HAD A DREAM”

When someone says, “I wish I hadn’t been born”, or says, “I wish I was dead” how does one respond?

Chapters 4 and 5 of Job are one man’s attempts to answer these negative feelings. His name was Eliphaz. He was Job’s friend. He appears to have been a bit of a philosopher.

Physician Heal Thyself

Eliphaz began by asking that Job listen to him.

If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? (4:2a).

He asked to be heard, but as you study the man’s words, you have to wonder whether he had listened to Job’s heart cry. He went on to say that he was compelled to speak against what Job had said.

But who can keep from speaking? (v.2b).

Most of the time when anyone feels that they just have to counter what someone else has said, they have only been busy marshalling all their arguments instead of listening to the other person.

Eliphaz reminded Job that he had once been counsellor to others.

Think how you have instructed many,

how you have strengthened feeble hands.

Your words have supported those who stumbled;

you have strengthened faltering knees (vv. 3-4).

To remind someone of how they have been an encouragement to others is okay. But to scold them for having a moment of weakness, is to suggest that they have no right to be human. That, in effect is what Eliphaz said next to Job:

But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;

it strikes you, and you are dismayed (v. 5).

Of course, we counsel others when they experience trouble and sorrow. But that does not mean that we will never need counselling ourselves in similar circumstances. It will then be someone else’s turn to counsel us. That is what it means to be a Christian: to “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2, NRSV).

Not only did Eliphaz chide Job, but he virtually questioned his faith and piety.

Should not your piety be your confidence

and your blameless ways your hope? (Job 4:6).

Eliphaz seemed to be asking, “Where’s your piety now?” His attitude told Job that he was not allowed to have doubts. That was an absolutely unfair attitude to have toward someone going through spiritual turmoil. No one is so strong in faith that he or she can live free of all private anxieties, doubts and the murmuring of the soul. Sometimes it is only in the company of an understanding friend, that the soul is bared and feelings expressed.

John the Baptist proclaimed to the world that Jesus was the Messiah of God. He thundered against priests, soldiers and taxmen. He dared to tell a king to his face that he was guilty of adultery. Yet, when he was jailed and Jesus did not speedily deliver him from prison, his spirit wavered. He began to doubt if Jesus could be the Messiah. He sent his disciples to Jesus to ask him whether He Himself was the Messiah or would people have to wait for another. Jesus did not scold him or mock him for his doubts. Instead Jesus sent him a message filled with good news, hope and encouragement: “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not fall away on account of me” (Matt. 11:5-6, NIVI).

Just because we have put our faith in the Lord Jesus does not mean that we will never have doubts. We can have doubts. We are allowed to question. We will not be scolded for that, nor will we be mocked for our weakness. Jesus is our Friend who understands and cares. Songwriter Joseph Scriven (1820-86) has given us the wonderfully comforting hymn “What a Friend we have in Jesus”. He is the Friend who will carry us through our trials and temptations, troubles and discouragement, weaknesses and cares. “Can we find a Friend so faithful, who will all our sorrows share?”

The less known Frank E. Graeff (1860-1919) wrote in song,

Does Jesus care when my way is dark

With a nameless dread and fear?

As the daylight fades into deep night shades,

Does He care enough to be near?

Does Jesus care when I’ve tried and failed

To resist some temptation strong?

When for my deep grief I find no relief,

Tho my tears flow all the night long?

O yes, He cares— I know He cares!

His heart is touched with my grief;

When the days are weary, the long night dreary,

I know my Saviour cares.

Can’t Happen to the Innocent

Verse 7 of Job chapter 4 captures the essential view of all three of Job’s friends. Eliphaz said,

Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished?

When were the upright ever destroyed?

One after the other, Job’s friends seemed to declare in some way, “These terrible things have happened to you. Therefore Job, you are guilty.”

The Bible certainly teaches the law of sowing and reaping. “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. People reap what they sow. Those who sow to please their sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; those who sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Gal.6:7-8, NIVI).

However, the Bible definitely does not teach that everything that happens in life is a consequence of personal moral decisions and behaviour. Some things that happen are incidental to life in the present fallen world. They are consequential to our first parents choosing to go against the Creator’s directions for life. When these things happen the providence of God does not distinguish between good and bad people. Sunshine and rainfall come to both the good and the evil (Matt. 5:45). Neither does the dark side of providence differentiate between them when droughts, floods and calamities come (cf. Lk.13:1-5). However, the bad things that happen to good people work for the glory of God, because He is able to make something good happen out of the graveyard of our troubles (Jn.11:5).

Claims of Supernatural Revelation

Eliphaz claimed that what he was telling Job was told him by a supernatural spirit that came to him at night (Job 4:12-16). In effect he was saying, “God told me!” Did God speak to Eliphaz? Was God speaking to Job through him? Given the fact that at the end God did not approve anything that the friends said to Job, we must conclude that Eliphaz was trying to authenticate his ideas by claiming divine sanction and thereby implying that Job should not question anything that Eliphaz said to him

During my college years, many Christian young people fell in and out of love, all the while claiming divine guidance for their fickleness. Now I see evangelists and Christian workers claiming divine sanction for their luxurious, self-indulgent lifestyles, unscrupulous methods and egocentric and empire-building goals in ministry. When anyone says, “God told me,” they are in fact saying, “You can’t question me.” If anyone needs to “hide” behind claims of divine revelation, there is something terribly wrong going on. Being inspired by God does not preclude evaluation by fellow believers (1 Cor.14:29). We need to be accountable to one another instead of hinting that what we say and do are not to be questioned.

Management gurus are not the authors of the principle of accountability. They picked that up from the biblical principles disseminated by the Christianization of human societies through Christian missions that engaged in education.

• Kings were held accountable by the prophets of God
  • Saul was held accountable by Samuel
  • David was held accountable by Nathan
  • Ahab was held accountable by Elijah
• The number one Apostle, Peter, was required to give an explanation for venturing among non-Jews with the gospel (Acts 11:1-18).
• Paul, who came late to the apostolate, dared to challenge Peter about his double standards (Gal.2:11-14).
• Peter wrote to Christians, “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility towards one another” (1 Pet.5:5; “be subject to one another”—KJV).
• Paul wrote, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph.5:21).

The Bible clearly teaches that positions of authority do not place anyone of us above the law nor exempt us from being accountable to one another. We are answerable to the rank and file in the body of Christ.

Though he was wrong about Job, the things that Eliphaz had to say about God, did not need the defence of divine sanction. In summary he said, that no creature, not even angels, can be more righteous than God Himself (vv.17-18), and that humans are only mortals; they are not even angelic beings (vv.19-21).

Harmful Emotions

Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple (5:2).

Eliphaz had it right about the harm people suffer when they harbour bad emotions in their lives. Ill will toward another can colour how we view the whole of life and fill us with bitterness. Resentment kills. Envy slays. Harmful emotions do not kill the targets of negative feelings. Instead they destroy those who harbour such feelings. Negativity in the soul does no harm to another, but it will certainly hurt the self. When the soul shrivels up, life is shortened.

But was Eliphaz himself jealous of Job? He seems to have been filled with envy. He talked about the fate of a fool. It is obvious he was implying that Job was a fool. His house was under a curse, his children condemned, and the produce of his lands plundered (vv.3-5). Eliphaz then returned to his view of life that trouble doesn’t grow uncaused from the ground (v.6). There has to be a reason for Job’s troubles, is the unsaid implication. In the next breath he did say though,

Yet human beings are born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward (v.7, NIVI).

This is My God

From verse 8 to 19 of chapter 5, we have the best of Eliphaz’s views. What he said about God cannot be faulted. Instead it is very helpful. It will build faith in anyone who listens to him.

First of all God is approachable. He can be appealed to.

But if it were I, I would appeal to God;

I would lay my cause before Him (v.8).

God’s door is never shut against us. Jesus is the Door. We gain entry into God’s presence by Him. Jesus said that we could go in and out of His fold. That can happen only if the door is always open. (Jn.10:7-9).

How approachable Jesus is. He said, “Whoever comes to me, I will never drive away” (Jn.6:37). This is one of my favourite verses. It assures me that no matter how much and how far I wander away from Jesus, He will always take me back. Today I am in the ministry only because Jesus will not drive me away. Others may say that I am not worthy to be a minister of God. Sometimes I feel that way myself. But, praise the Lord, Jesus just will not reject me.

When the psalmist Asaph went through a period of doubt and depression, he said:

Will the Lord reject forever?

Will He never show His favour again?

Has His unfailing love vanished forever?

Has His promise failed for all time?

Has God forgotten to be merciful?

Has He in anger withheld His compassion? (77:7-9)

He did not answer the questions he asked. They are rhetorical questions. Everyone knows that the answer to all these questions is “No! No! No!”

In his book The Gift of Forgiveness, Charles Stanley writes, “…You have a forgiving Father whose love and patience are unlimited. You cannot push him too far. He is eager to have fellowship with you. You have a heavenly Father who is free to identify with your situation and who takes great joy in seeing you restored to your rightful place as His child. Your forgiving Father’s greatest concern is you, not your sin. His focus is on you and your willingness to comply with His will for your life” (published in The Answer, p. 399). He then prescribes that those who have difficulty accepting the forgiveness of God, could say the following prayer:

Heavenly Father,

Sometimes it is difficult for me to see You as You really are.

By faith in the testimony of Jesus, however,

I accept You as my forgiving heavenly Father.

A Father who loves with unlimited love;

A Father whose patience is inexhaustible;

A Father who focuses on me and my position as Your child,

not on my sin;

A Father who rejoices when I turn to You from my sin,

whether it be one single act or a season of rebellion.

Expose the errors in my thinking toward You and fill me with the truth,

for I know that in discovering the truth I will be set free. Amen

God of Miracles

The second aspect of what Eliphaz believed about God was that He performs miracles (Job 5:9-16). Eliphaz counted ordinary rain one of the miracles of God (v.10). Most people do not usually think of the rain as a miracle from God. We have a tendency to think of the natural order as being devoid of miraculous aspects. Nothing in nature fills us with wonder. We may admire a sunset for its beauty and capture it in film, but we do not experience the sense of wonder and awe that a miracle would summon. We ascribe it to some inherent beauty in nature. We are not used to exclaiming, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the Lord.” We are unable to think that something as commonplace as the rain has the mark of divinity on it. But it does have the touch of God on it. It is a miracle that God performs for us so that we are blessed. Yes, the providence of God is nothing less than a miracle.

The other miracle that Eliphaz refers to is that of divine interventions (vv.11-16). God intervenes in the affairs of humankind. He reverses the social order (v.11). He does not favour those whom human society tends to favour: the rich and the powerful (vv.12-14. Incidentally verse 13 is the only verse from the entire book of Job to be quoted in the New Testament in 1 Cor.3:19). God initiates rescue operations favouring the poor (Job 5:15-16). It began at the Exodus, when God set a nation of slaves free from their bondage to an oppressive foreign power. It has continued right down to our times when the anti-Semitism of Hitler and the Nazis was defeated, the colonialism and racism of white races brought to an end, and dictators like Idi Amin have been forced to flee from power. The march of history is surely according to God’s plan for the ages and for downtrodden peoples.

Discipline, Wounds and Healing

Finally, Eliphaz talked of the value of God’s discipline. There is blessing in being under the disciplining hand of God.

How happy is the one whom God reproves;

therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty (v.17, NRSV).

King Solomon said,

My child, do not reject the Lord’s discipline

and don’t become angry when He corrects you,

The Lord corrects those He loves,

just as a father corrects the child that he likes (Pro.3:11-12, NCV).

Commenting on these proverbs, the writer of Hebrews elaborated, “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as children. For what children are not disciplined by their parents? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true children. Moreover, we have all had human parents who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our parents disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (12:7-11, NIVI).

God who does the wounding, also does the healing. So said Eliphaz.

For He wounds, but He also binds up;

He injures, but His hands also heal (Job 5:18).

The Good News Bible puts it this way:

God bandages the wounds He makes.

His hand hurts you, and His hand heals.

A precious thought that! When God brings the hurt of His discipline into our lives, the soothing of His healing will surely follow.

God does not punish for pleasure. God said, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live…For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!” (Ez.18:23,32). “Son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offences and sins weigh us down and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?” Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’ ” (33:10-11). As the writer of Hebrews puts it, “God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness” (12:10).

Inflicting pain is not what gives God pleasure. The aim and purpose and final end of God’s activity in our lives is not that we should be wounded and in pain. Our healing is what He intends. It is our healing that pleases Him. That is the aim and purpose of divine activity in our lives. He who wounds us, will also heal us. He has pre-planned our healing.

Elphaz said that God will rescue us from six calamities and from seven (Job 5:19). That is just a Hebrew way of saying that God will do the perfect rescue, because the number seven was considered to be the number representing perfection. If six troubles weigh us down, we should be assured that when God does His rescue it will be the perfect one. Eliphaz then went on to enumerate the kinds of situations from which God will rescue people: famine, war, slander, predatory animals, loss of property, having too few children, and loss of health (vv.20-26). While it is true that God can rescue His people from such disasters, whether or not He will is entirely up to His sovereignty. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Daniel’s three friends, affirmed that as they stood before the king who threatened them with death by burning. They told the king to his face that they were not moved by his threats because they knew that their God was able to save them if He chose to (Dan.3:17). God, the Father, could have saved His Son from the suffering, shame and sorrow of dying for sin, but God did not do so.

At the end of his speech Eliphaz said,

We have examined this, and it is true.

So hear it and apply it to yourself (Job 5:27).

He was being pompous. He became a cold-hearted theologian, speaking of himself with the plural “we”. He comes through as a know-it-all. Eliphaz’s failure lay in that he had a simplistic view and presumed to speak for God. He failed to listen to Job and he certainly did not listen to God, and so was unable to recognise that there were spiritual forces at work in the drama of Job’s life.

In Eliphaz’s speech there is a mixture of truth and error. The divine spark in him as a man in God’s image was the source of truth, but as a fallen human, his wisdom was corrupted and mixed with error. We need to learn that everything we read in the Bible is not God’s truth. Some of the things we read are the speeches of men and women like Job’s friends, and we must learn to sift through the Word to get to the truth.

Chapter 6: HOW HARD! HOW LONG?

Are you heavy-hearted? Or, are you light-hearted? Many of the idioms in the English language are derived from the Bible. The concept of heaviness or lightness of heart has to be derived from Job 6: 2-3a, where Job wishes that someone would weigh his soul’s anguish.

The Anguished Soul

Job said that the load he carried is heavier than the whole world,

It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas.

Those who are troubled and anxious do have a tendency to think that there is no burden heavier than theirs. They do think that their troubles are greater than all other troubles put together. Ironically, when one member of her family was in a bedridden state, a friend once remarked that the trials of her family were more severe than those of Job, forgetting that the man was assaulted by calamities one after the other.

Job excused his impetuosity (v.3b). He was pleading for understanding from his friends. They had not seen the anguish of his soul. They had simply heard some words and proceeded to judge him, without sensing his feelings.

In Job’s first speech recorded in chapter 3, he had not accused God of tormenting him. He had only wished he were dead. But after Eliphaz’s speech assigning all his troubles to God as the source, Job agreed with him, and said that he was the recipient of God’s arrows, poison and terrors (6:4). Though he accepted the idea of God’s hand in his troubles, he maintained that he had the right to cry aloud, just as a donkey does not bray without cause, or an ox bellow when it is fed (v.5).

When blind Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was passing by, he cried aloud for attention so that the Lord would turn and heal him. Those near him, told him to shut up and not disturb the Master. But Bartimaeus would not be silent. He just cried aloud all the more, until he was heard and his request granted (Mk.10:46-52). Even when God Himself is the one disciplining us, we have the right to cry to Him.

Job refused to give up on seeking quality in his life. He said that he could not stand unpalatable food.

Is tasteless food eaten without salt,

or is there flavour in the white of an egg?

I refuse to touch it;

such food makes me ill (Job 6:6-7)..

What use is life without quality? Communism tried to quantify life in terms of bread. But the hunger for liberty could not be killed. In fact without quality in life, they could not even guarantee a fair quantity of bread for all. And so the day came when the winds of liberty blew all over the Soviet Union and swept away the Communist ideology that had tried to assassinate the soul of the people of the USSR.

When Job said that he could not stomach tasteless food, he could also have been referring to the poor quality of counsel and wisdom he was receiving from his friends. He was unwilling to accept their words lacking the qualities of compassion and mercy.

Death Preferred

Job went back to his favourite theme (vv.8-13). He desired death. He said that he wished God would grant his wish, that God would crush him.

Oh, that I might have my request,

that God would grant what I hope for,

that God would be willing to crush me,

to let loose his hand and cut me off! (vv.8-9).

He was saying, if life has to be filled with trouble, let God take it to its end.

When King David had committed the sin of numbering his army (to take pride in the strength of his kingdom and shifted his reliance from God to his army), God sent His prophet to announce the coming punishment. God gave him a choice. There would either be three years of famine, three months of being routed by the enemy, or three days of plague (2 Sam.24:10-13). David said then, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercy is great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men” (v.14).

In a similar sort of way, Job was saying, “If there must be trouble, let me be in the hands of God.” He prayed that God would crush him, loose His hold on Job, and cut him off. In that very prayer is the affirmation of Job’s faith that God would not crush him, would not let him go and would not cut him off. We can never go too far from God. We cannot go so far that His love will not reach us. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom.8:35-39).

If it was Job’s essential belief that God would not crush him, then why does he pray that way? His reason for praying thus was that he did not ever want to become guilty of denying God as a result of the pain in his life

I would still have this consolation—

my joy in unrelenting pain—

that I had not denied the words of the Holy One. (Job 6:10).

He feared his own frailty.

What strength do I have, that I should still hope?

What prospects, that I should be patient?

Do I have the strength of stone?

Is my flesh bronze?

Do I have any power to help myself,

now that success has been driven from me? (vv.11-13).

He said that he did not have the strength of stone or metal to withstand trials. Job’s paramount desire was that he would never deny God. He prayed that before that could happen, God would save him from that fate by taking him. Job saw death as his salvation from denial of the faith.

We live at a time when persecution of Christians is on the rise. Just a few year ago when churches were being destroyed and Christians persecuted and killed, former Prime Minister Vajpayee excused such acts by saying that they wouldn’t happen if Christians would stop converting people. In Islamic countries, governments make it easy to persecute Christians by passing blasphemy laws under which anyone so accused is guilty on the mere say so of someone whose real reason may be rivalry in business, lust for a Christian girl whose parents stand in the way, and so on.

When persecution comes my way, will I be strong and faithful, or will I cave in and deny Christ? Those who fear that they will lack the strength and courage to endure persecution when it comes their way, could well echo this prayer of Job. When we acknowledge our weakness the strength will come. It did for Job. He discovered that he did survive all his troubles. In the same way, when Paul cried three times for his thorn to be removed, the answer came. God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul’s response was “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Cor. 12: 8-9).

Though he belittled his endurance, he did talk of finding consolation and “joy in unrelenting pain” (Job 6:10). Is that possible? Those who have faith, do find this “joy in unrelenting pain”. After being flogged and their bodies contorted painfully by the stocks they were put in, Paul and Silas could still sing God’s praise in their prison (Acts 16:23-25). Their spirits rose above the pain and overcame it. Years later, from a prison cell, shackled to a Roman guard, he so vivaciously wrote to the church at Philippi, “Rejoice in the Lord!” (3:1; 4:4), and the church could accept his counsel, because they knew he spoke from experience. It is possible to find one’s joy in the Lord, even when the circumstances are against us. The Christian does not seek joy in the circumstances of one’s life, but in the Lord. It matters not whether the conditions are favourable or unfavourable, because there is the deep assurance that God is sovereign and present.

Disappointing Friends

Job was disappointed with his friends. He felt that they had failed him. Job said that the marks of a friend ought to be loyal devotion.

A despairing person should have the devotion of friends,

even though the person forsakes the fear of the Almighty (Job 6:14).

When something is devoted, it is set apart to someone or something. Devotion excludes everything else from the consciousness. That is why devotion can never ever be half-hearted. It has always got to involve total attention and commitment. A friend is someone to love and love involves the total heart, the total soul and the total mind. That is the nature of love, because love expends itself.

The idea that we owe friends our devotion is demanding enough. But Job went further and said something that goes against the grain of orthodoxy. He said that a person’s loyalty to a friend should be so total, that even when the friend has left being committed to God, the friendship remains unaffected.

That certainly is not how Evangelicals view their friends who go wrong. We feel that we should dissociate ourselves from them. After all Paul appears to have advised that. “I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat” (1 Cor. 5:9-11). It must be remembered though that this was a case of a whole church winking at sin (vv.1-2). What he was recommending in the case was redemptive excommunication, and as soon as the purpose of bringing about repentance was achieved, he urged the church to restore the man to reaffirm their love for him (2 Cor.2:6-8).

Jesus was the “friend of sinners” (Lk. 7:34). Though Judas betrayed Him, Jesus tried to reach him, by showing him the enormity of he had done. “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Lk.22:48). Can’t you hear the love in our Lord’s voice as He challenges Judas to consider the heinous fact that he had used a sign of love as a sign for betrayal?

View of Grace

One of the books that has impacted my life is Philip Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace, (Zondervan, 1997). In a chapter entitled “Grace-Healed Eyes” (pp.161-175), Yancey writes about his friend Mel White. The man was ghostwriter for some very well known evangelicals: Billy Graham, Francis Schaeffer, Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell, were some of those he wrote for. White also taught at that bastion of Evangelical scholarship, the Fuller Seminary.

After years of friendship, White one day told Yancey that he was a homosexual. Yancey writes about having been repulsed earlier by the very thought of having homosexual friends. Yet that day he learnt that White, a very close friend of his, was a homosexual. He was confused and disturbed.

Then he began his journey of understanding. Along the way he discovered that most Christians have a hateful campaigning attitude toward homosexuals. But he also discovered that some Christians demonstrated compassion. Among them were Tony Campolo, the well known Christian speaker and writer, and Dr. Everett Koop, at that time the Surgeon General of the US of A.

Soon after, Mel White went public with his story in the book, Stranger at the Gate: To be Gay and Christian in America. As a result he was in the news in the US. When a TV interviewer remarked that most Christians said that White is an abomination, his mother’s response was, “Well, he may be an abomination, but he’s still our pride and joy.” That line had a tremendous impact on Yancey’s thinking. He writes in his book, “That line has stayed with me because I came to see it as a heartrending definition of grace. I came to see that Mel White’s mother expressed how God views everyone of us. In some ways we are all abominations to God—All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God—and yet somehow, against all reason, God loves us anyhow. Grace declares that we are still God’s pride and joy” (p.171).

Yancey says the question is, “How do we treat sinners?” Do we treat them fairly? Do we love them? Yancey quotes the German theologian-pastor Helmut Thielicke, “When Jesus loved a guilt-laden person and helped him, He saw in him an erring child of God. He saw in him a human being whom his Father loved and grieved over because he was going wrong. He saw him as God originally designed and meant him to be, and therefore he saw through the surface layer of grime and dirt to the real man underneath. Jesus did not identify the person with his sin, but rather saw in this sin something alien, something that really did not belong to him, something that merely chained and mastered him and from which he would free him and bring him back to his real self. Jesus was able to love men because he loved them right through the layer of mud.” He ends the chapter with a quote from Dostoevsky, “To love a person means to see him as God intended him to be” (p. 175).

Caring to Listen

As Job considered his friends, he found them wanting in loyalty. He said that they were undependable and disappointing (Job 6:15-20). Up to this point only one friend had spoken, but he sensed that all of them were in agreement. He said that they were afraid to identify with him (v.21). He felt that it was because they were afraid of the cost of friendship. They were apprehensive that he might demand to be rescued at their cost (vv.22-23). While Job did not impose on his friends, we do need to remember that friendship may involve bailing out friends. Friendship is risky business. We have to be there for friends—emotionally and materially.

Job pleaded with his friends for understanding (vv. 24-30). He told them, “Teach me…show me…” (v.24) with painful honesty (v.25). He said that being argumentative would not do. When people are picky about spoken words without understanding the heart of a person, they do not take the person seriously. They treat his emotional words as nothing more than hot air (v.26).

Job told his friends not to view friendship from the point of view of commerce. Relationships are not to be entered into and maintained on the basis of how advantageous they are (v.27).

“Look at me!” said Job (v.28). They had heard the sound of his words but had not seen his heart. Listening with the heart involves seeing a person. A little girl was rattling away about all the wonderful things she had seen on the way home from school. Her mother carried on with her knitting. She would simply say, “Un-hunh” from time to time. The girl said to her mother, “Mummy, you’re not listening to me!” The mother said, “No dear, I’m listening.” The girl put her two little hands on either side of her mother’s face, turned the mother’s face toward her, and looking into her eyes said, “You’re not listening to me with your eyes.” Do you listen to people? They can tell when you listen to them and when you are distracted. Your eyes will give you away.

Job felt that his friends had not been fair in their judgement of him. He asked them for a fresh assessment. (v.29).

Addressing God

In chapter 6, we find Job rebutting Eliphaz. In chapter 7 we see him turning to God and addressing Him.

Job talked to God about how hard life is (vv.1-3), and said that he wondered how long it would go on that way (v.4). While the hardship is long, life itself is short (vv.6-10). Job came to the conclusion that in our brief life, there is suffering throughout life. When we go through trials and sorrows we too feel the same way. We do forget the moments of happiness. Only the sadness dominates all our thoughts and memories.

I will not keep silent;

I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit,

I will complain in the bitterness of my soul (v.11).

Job clamoured for God’s attention. He was insistent to the point of rudeness. But really it just shows his utter confidence that God would hear him.

Job had a question for God. Was he the raging sea or some kind of monster that God was putting him through such restrictive experiences (v.12)? He wanted to know why God had singled him out as though he was much more sinful than all others.

He told God that his experiences were frightening (vv.13-14). He talked of having nightmares. He felt it was God who was frightening him at night. The Bible does record instances of God guiding people through dreams. But God is not the source of nightmares. Whatever fills our thoughts in the last waking moments before we fall off to sleep come back in our dreams. Nightmares are the consequences of what we think about while awake. That is why it is important to think good, prayerful thoughts before falling off to sleep. That is the antidote for nightmares. Job’s thoughts were all about his miseries. He wondered about what new calamity would befall him. No wonder his sleep was disturbed instead of being restful.

In the end Job concluded that life is meaningless (v.16). He asked God, “What is a human being?” (v.17, paraphrased). When the Psalmist David asked that question, he expressed wonder that God cared for such insignificant creatures as humans (Ps.8:4). Job however asked the question in an altogether different attitude. His point was, “What is a human that you pick on him?”

He asked two more related questions. First he wanted to know whether it was possible for God to be affected or harmed by his sin (Job 7:20). Then he asked God whether his sin was too great for God to forgive (v.21). Job knew that the answer to these questions is “No”. That is the point he is arguing. He was a mere human, not worth God’s negative attention. Whatever he did could not diminish God’s glory and nothing that he did could put him outside the pale of God’s forgiving love.

What we learn from chapters 6 and 7 of Job is, that Job was in anguish. His soul was crying. When he rebutted his friend and when he pleaded his case with God, he was still filled with one assurance. He knew that God would not crush him, let go of him, or cut him off, because his sin is not greater than God’s power to forgive. When we are troubled and anguished this is something to remember. We are never outside the boundaries of God’s love.

Chapter 7: WANTED: A MEDIATOR

Kids in Bible clubs sometimes ask a trick question: who was the shortest man in the Bible? The answer is “Bildad the shoe-height”. Of course it is not true that he was only as tall as a shoe. But he certainly was the man who made the shortest speeches in the book of Job. Sometimes people say that a cruel man is a small man, meaning that he is a small-hearted person. If that was a sure way to measure cruel speech, then Bildad would win. His speeches were given in rapid fire, and were hard-hitting and cruel. Chapter 8 records the most cruel speech by Bildad.

Have you ever had the experience of someone telling you that the tragedy in your life is the punishment of God? There are people like that in the world. They seem to gloat over the misfortunes of others and immediately attribute it to divine punishment. Bildad was such a man. His speeches were accusatory and unkind.

Bildad asked the question,

Does God pervert justice? (v.3).

It is a rhetorical question. The answer is obviously, “No.” Anyway, toward the end of his speech he answers his own question:

Surely God does not reject a blameless man… (v.20).

In between the question and the statement, he said that Job’s children had died because of their sins (v.4). He then went on to say that if Job would pray, God would hear and if Job was pure then God would restore him (vv.5-6). Obviously he did not think that Job prayed or was pure. The implication was that all of Job’s calamities and tragedies were the consequences of sin in Job’s life.

Bildad claimed that he had learnt this piece of wisdom from the ancients (vv.8-10). He talked of the life situation and the destiny of the souls of the wicked. First of all their situation was not conducive to growth (vv.11-13). Secondly they had a tendency to put their trust in what was not ultimately dependable (vv.14-15). Thirdly they had no ability to endure hardship, because they did not take root in good soil, but preferred the shallow soil among rocks (vv.16-19). He concluded that God will not reject a blameless person nor give the wicked the strength to live (v.20). Once again he implied that the inability to endure hardship pointed to Job’s guilt, but did extend the possibility of restoration (vv.21-22).

Chapter 9 records Job’s answer to Bildad, and in chapter 10 we find him addressing God. He started by telling Bildad that he essentially agreed with him.

Indeed, I know that this is true.

But how can a mortal be righteous before God? (v.2).

No one can dispute with God

Though one wished to dispute with Him,

he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand (v.3).

When you consider God’s wisdom and power (vv.4-11), He is the one who makes the earth move and quake (v.6), commands the heavens (vv.7-9), walks the seas (v.8), and made the heavenly bodies (v.9). All in all He is the invisible performer of astonishing miracles (v.10).

When He passes me, I cannot see Him;

when He goes by, I cannot perceive Him (v.11).

Can such a mighty God be accountable to mere creatures (vv.12-19)? Even the sea monster Rahab is afraid of Him (v.13; Rahab was the mythological sea monster or dragon that represented Satan; see also 26:12, Ps 30:7; 87:4; 89:10; Isa 51:9). Human wisdom and eloquence cannot match God (Job 9:14). So all that one can do is enter a plea for mercy (v.15).

How then can I dispute with him?

How can I find words to argue with him?

Though I were innocent, I could not answer him;

I could only plead with my Judge for mercy (vv. 14-15).

Job anticipated the gospel when he said that he needed mercy. He admitted three things in verse 15.

First, that Job could not justify himself.

Second, that God is the Judge.

Third, that he stood before the Divine Judge in need of mercy.

This is the essence of the gospel. These same things are true for all people:

• Everyone stands in need of justification. No one is perfect or sinless. No one can rescue himself or herself.
• God is our judge. When we sin, we stand condemned. God does not view sin lightly. He will judge sin because He is righteous.
• All stand in need of God’s mercy mediated through Christ. We are sinful and are judged offenders in God’s judgement. He knows we cannot save ourselves. God Himself has to do the saving. That is why Jesus came.

Who is the source of evil?

Next Job considered the matter of whether God is the source of trouble. He observed that the providence of God made no distinction between good and evil people (v.22). Calamities have a way of sweeping all in its path (v.23). Mind you, those who are innocent, already suffer injustice at the hands of the wicked (v.24). The unfairness made Job wonder,

If it is not He, then who is it? (v.24b).

Is there someone else that is messing up life? Job was unable to accept the notion that God could be so unfair, and though he was not aware of Satan’s role, he suspected that there was someone else spoiling things for him. He did suggest that when people are cursed, Leviathan, the dragon, is aroused to baleful activity (3:8).

The Bible does not teach that God is the author of evil. He allows people the freedom to choose what they will because He will not infringe on the integrity of a creature’s will. They may choose His way or a way that goes against His rule. Opting for a way that goes against God will land people in trouble. God’s rules for living are like a manufacturer’s operational manual for a piece of machinery. The way a machine is made, if the consumer chooses not to follow the precautions for its use, it is bound to malfunction and get damaged. Unlike mechanical, electrical and electronic goods, in the case of humans the consequences of bad choices sometimes affect succeeding generations.

At the beginning of time, our first parents made just such a foolish choice that has affected all humanity. Their inspiration was the Devil. God was not the one who took them down the road of perdition and trouble. A lot of our troubles are just the natural consequences of the Fall. God didn’t want things to go this way, but He wouldn’t stop it. He wouldn’t interfere with human freewill.

Need a Mediator

The sum of what Job said in 9:25-35 is, “God is God, and I need a Mediator.” When one considers human life we note its brevity (vv.25-26) and even that short life is full of suffering (vv.27-28). So the question is, if one is already condemned to misery, why bother to try to find a way out (vv.29-31).

As he considered the miseries of human life, the thought that came to Job was that God not being human was a problem.

He is not a man like me (v.32).

He does not experience our misery. He does not feel things the way we do. He has no idea of what the human experience is like.

With this realisation, Job cried out for a mediator. He wanted someone to stand between him and God, someone who would arbitrate a settlement and remove the rod of God from his life. He said that if there was such a mediator, then, he could boldly confront God

If only there were someone to arbitrate between us,

to lay his hand upon us both,

someone to remove God’s rod from me,

so that His terror would frighten me no more.

Then I would speak up without fear of Him,

but as it now stands with me, I cannot (vv.33-35).

Though Job lived even before the Old Covenant was given, we find him expressing a longing for the New Covenant. He did not know the law, but he longed for grace! We are blessed in that we know about things that Job could only long for. We know Jesus came. He became the one and only Mediator between God and people. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have One Who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb.4:15-16). “Because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them” (7:24-25).

Still Talking To God

Job then turned and addressed God. In effect he said,

Show me my faults (10:2b, paraphrased).

When he said this there was no spiritual arrogance, because he said to God,

Do not condemn me (v.2a).

That plea acknowledged that God could find things to condemn. At the same time, he was saying to God, “How can I know what is wrong if You don’t tell me.”

He was only human, and so Job could not help comparing himself with the wicked and ask about the prosperity of the wicked. He said to God,

Does it please You to oppress me…

while You smile on the schemes of the wicked? (v.3).

Our own hearts have at times said that to God. We feel that it is so unfair that the wicked prosper, while we who serve God suffer trouble and sorrow.

Does God understand? Job returned to that thought which had occurred to him when thinking of how useful it would be to have someone act as go-between in his relationship with God.

Do You have eyes of flesh?

Do You see as a mortal sees? (v.4).

Since his friends had been bombarding him with suggestions that he was somehow guilty and that all his calamities were the results of sin, Job felt that God was scrutinising him closely just to discover sin in his life. He felt that God was no different than his faultfinding friends (vv.5-7).

He asked God what the purpose of his life was. He wanted to know if God had made him, only for the sake of destroying him (vv.8-9). Recalling that gracious providence had been his experience (v.12), he asked whether it had been God’s hidden agenda all the time to destroy him (vv.13-17). “Why was I made?” That is what Job was asking (vv.18-19), and he cried pathetically for “a moment’s joy” before death comes (vv.20-22)

As we consider this speech of Job’s, we could summarise it thus:

God is God, and there is no mediator.

But surprisingly Job did not stop talking to God. So in effect what Job said was,

God is God. Since I have no mediator, I have to talk to the Lord God myself.

As we consider the trials and sorrows that come to us during the course of our lives, we may experience the same emotional trauma that Job experienced. But as Christians we are those who can say,

God is God, but we do have Jesus as our Mediator.

How much more then we should be talking to God!

Chapter 7: WANTED: A MEDIATOR

Kids in Bible clubs sometimes ask a trick question: who was the shortest man in the Bible? The answer is “Bildad the shoe-height”. Of course it is not true that he was only as tall as a shoe. But he certainly was the man who made the shortest speeches in the book of Job. Sometimes people say that a cruel man is a small man, meaning that he is a small-hearted person. If that was a sure way to measure cruel speech, then Bildad would win. His speeches were given in rapid fire, and were hard-hitting and cruel. Chapter 8 records the most cruel speech by Bildad.

Have you ever had the experience of someone telling you that the tragedy in your life is the punishment of God? There are people like that in the world. They seem to gloat over the misfortunes of others and immediately attribute it to divine punishment. Bildad was such a man. His speeches were accusatory and unkind.

Bildad asked the question,

Does God pervert justice? (v.3).

It is a rhetorical question. The answer is obviously, “No.” Anyway, toward the end of his speech he answers his own question:

Surely God does not reject a blameless man… (v.20).

In between the question and the statement, he said that Job’s children had died because of their sins (v.4). He then went on to say that if Job would pray, God would hear and if Job was pure then God would restore him (vv.5-6). Obviously he did not think that Job prayed or was pure. The implication was that all of Job’s calamities and tragedies were the consequences of sin in Job’s life.

Bildad claimed that he had learnt this piece of wisdom from the ancients (vv.8-10). He talked of the life situation and the destiny of the souls of the wicked. First of all their situation was not conducive to growth (vv.11-13). Secondly they had a tendency to put their trust in what was not ultimately dependable (vv.14-15). Thirdly they had no ability to endure hardship, because they did not take root in good soil, but preferred the shallow soil among rocks (vv.16-19). He concluded that God will not reject a blameless person nor give the wicked the strength to live (v.20). Once again he implied that the inability to endure hardship pointed to Job’s guilt, but did extend the possibility of restoration (vv.21-22).

Chapter 9 records Job’s answer to Bildad, and in chapter 10 we find him addressing God. He started by telling Bildad that he essentially agreed with him.

Indeed, I know that this is true.

But how can a mortal be righteous before God? (v.2).

No one can dispute with God

Though one wished to dispute with Him,

he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand (v.3).

When you consider God’s wisdom and power (vv.4-11), He is the one who makes the earth move and quake (v.6), commands the heavens (vv.7-9), walks the seas (v.8), and made the heavenly bodies (v.9). All in all He is the invisible performer of astonishing miracles (v.10).

When He passes me, I cannot see Him;

when He goes by, I cannot perceive Him (v.11).

Can such a mighty God be accountable to mere creatures (vv.12-19)? Even the sea monster Rahab is afraid of Him (v.13; Rahab was the mythological sea monster or dragon that represented Satan; see also 26:12, Ps 30:7; 87:4; 89:10; Isa 51:9). Human wisdom and eloquence cannot match God (Job 9:14). So all that one can do is enter a plea for mercy (v.15).

How then can I dispute with him?

How can I find words to argue with him?

Though I were innocent, I could not answer him;

I could only plead with my Judge for mercy (vv. 14-15).

Job anticipated the gospel when he said that he needed mercy. He admitted three things in verse 15.

First, that Job could not justify himself.

Second, that God is the Judge.

Third, that he stood before the Divine Judge in need of mercy.

This is the essence of the gospel. These same things are true for all people:

• Everyone stands in need of justification. No one is perfect or sinless. No one can rescue himself or herself.
• God is our judge. When we sin, we stand condemned. God does not view sin lightly. He will judge sin because He is righteous.
• All stand in need of God’s mercy mediated through Christ. We are sinful and are judged offenders in God’s judgement. He knows we cannot save ourselves. God Himself has to do the saving. That is why Jesus came.

Who is the source of evil?

Next Job considered the matter of whether God is the source of trouble. He observed that the providence of God made no distinction between good and evil people (v.22). Calamities have a way of sweeping all in its path (v.23). Mind you, those who are innocent, already suffer injustice at the hands of the wicked (v.24). The unfairness made Job wonder,

If it is not He, then who is it? (v.24b).

Is there someone else that is messing up life? Job was unable to accept the notion that God could be so unfair, and though he was not aware of Satan’s role, he suspected that there was someone else spoiling things for him. He did suggest that when people are cursed, Leviathan, the dragon, is aroused to baleful activity (3:8).

The Bible does not teach that God is the author of evil. He allows people the freedom to choose what they will because He will not infringe on the integrity of a creature’s will. They may choose His way or a way that goes against His rule. Opting for a way that goes against God will land people in trouble. God’s rules for living are like a manufacturer’s operational manual for a piece of machinery. The way a machine is made, if the consumer chooses not to follow the precautions for its use, it is bound to malfunction and get damaged. Unlike mechanical, electrical and electronic goods, in the case of humans the consequences of bad choices sometimes affect succeeding generations.

At the beginning of time, our first parents made just such a foolish choice that has affected all humanity. Their inspiration was the Devil. God was not the one who took them down the road of perdition and trouble. A lot of our troubles are just the natural consequences of the Fall. God didn’t want things to go this way, but He wouldn’t stop it. He wouldn’t interfere with human freewill.

Need a Mediator

The sum of what Job said in 9:25-35 is, “God is God, and I need a Mediator.” When one considers human life we note its brevity (vv.25-26) and even that short life is full of suffering (vv.27-28). So the question is, if one is already condemned to misery, why bother to try to find a way out (vv.29-31).

As he considered the miseries of human life, the thought that came to Job was that God not being human was a problem.

He is not a man like me (v.32).

He does not experience our misery. He does not feel things the way we do. He has no idea of what the human experience is like.

With this realisation, Job cried out for a mediator. He wanted someone to stand between him and God, someone who would arbitrate a settlement and remove the rod of God from his life. He said that if there was such a mediator, then, he could boldly confront God

If only there were someone to arbitrate between us,

to lay his hand upon us both,

someone to remove God’s rod from me,

so that His terror would frighten me no more.

Then I would speak up without fear of Him,

but as it now stands with me, I cannot (vv.33-35).

Though Job lived even before the Old Covenant was given, we find him expressing a longing for the New Covenant. He did not know the law, but he longed for grace! We are blessed in that we know about things that Job could only long for. We know Jesus came. He became the one and only Mediator between God and people. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have One Who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb.4:15-16). “Because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them” (7:24-25).

Still Talking To God

Job then turned and addressed God. In effect he said,

Show me my faults (10:2b, paraphrased).

When he said this there was no spiritual arrogance, because he said to God,

Do not condemn me (v.2a).

That plea acknowledged that God could find things to condemn. At the same time, he was saying to God, “How can I know what is wrong if You don’t tell me.”

He was only human, and so Job could not help comparing himself with the wicked and ask about the prosperity of the wicked. He said to God,

Does it please You to oppress me…

while You smile on the schemes of the wicked? (v.3).

Our own hearts have at times said that to God. We feel that it is so unfair that the wicked prosper, while we who serve God suffer trouble and sorrow.

Does God understand? Job returned to that thought which had occurred to him when thinking of how useful it would be to have someone act as go-between in his relationship with God.

Do You have eyes of flesh?

Do You see as a mortal sees? (v.4).

Since his friends had been bombarding him with suggestions that he was somehow guilty and that all his calamities were the results of sin, Job felt that God was scrutinising him closely just to discover sin in his life. He felt that God was no different than his faultfinding friends (vv.5-7).

He asked God what the purpose of his life was. He wanted to know if God had made him, only for the sake of destroying him (vv.8-9). Recalling that gracious providence had been his experience (v.12), he asked whether it had been God’s hidden agenda all the time to destroy him (vv.13-17). “Why was I made?” That is what Job was asking (vv.18-19), and he cried pathetically for “a moment’s joy” before death comes (vv.20-22)

As we consider this speech of Job’s, we could summarise it thus:

God is God, and there is no mediator.

But surprisingly Job did not stop talking to God. So in effect what Job said was,

God is God. Since I have no mediator, I have to talk to the Lord God myself.

As we consider the trials and sorrows that come to us during the course of our lives, we may experience the same emotional trauma that Job experienced. But as Christians we are those who can say,

God is God, but we do have Jesus as our Mediator.

How much more then we should be talking to God!

Chapter 8: ARMCHAIR THEOLOGY

There is something romantic about train journeys with one’s family. Excitement starts with packing. Then there is the expectant wait on the crowded platform. Time was when trains used to be only a few minutes late. Indian Standard Time was really Indian Railway Time, because it was the one service that had to operate on a common time. People in different parts of the country needed to have an idea about the progress of the journeys and the arrival times of relatives and friends from other parts of the country. Nowadays trains can run up to 18 and 20 hours late…and our people all over the country wait to board trains, or receive people. How much time we Indians spend waiting at train stations all over the country, at bus stations, at government offices…We even waited for the former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to complete sentences he starts.

We wait. As a people, Indians have so much patience. I rather think that patience is the great Indian virtue. Why do we wait this way? The reason is that we have hope that in the end the train or bus will arrive, the government official will have to do the work and the Prime Minister will finish his speech. We wait in hope. Job’s reply to his third friend Zophar’s speech is about waiting and hoping.

Correct Theology

Zophar said that God was letting Job go unchallenged.

Oh, how I wish that God would speak,

that He would open His lips against you (11:5).

Zophar asserts that God is all-knowing to the extent that He knows both sides of every issue and question (v.6b). That is of course true.

Remarkably, Zophar said that this God who knows all, has forgotten some sin (v.6c)! How can that be? No one can determine to forget, because when you decide to forget something you have to remember it first. God Himself never said, “I will forget your sins.” Instead God said,

I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions,

for My own sake,

and remembers your sins no more (Isa.43:25).

When God says that, He means that He will not bring up our wrongdoing again. There are two books of records in the book of Revelation (20:11-15). There is a record of deeds and judgements. The other is the “book of life”. Those persons whose names are recorded in the book of life will have no record of sins and wickedness.

When a man may says, “I have forgiven, but I cannot forget,” what he really means is that he will not exact any more physical or material punishment on account of the fault in question, but he will go on holding it against the concerned person. He is going to drag it up whenever he can. Of course, no one can decide to forget because whenever one determines to forget something, in that moment whatever is to be forgotten must first be recalled. Neither can God who is omniscient forget. But when He forgives, the sin is wiped out. The cancelled sin will never again figure in His dealings with the forgiven one. Forgiveness that is true has this divine quality to it. When a misdeed is forgiven it will not be dragged up again and again.

Next, Zophar said that God is beyond all human comprehension.

Can you fathom the mysteries of God?

Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?

They are higher than the heavens—what can you do?

They are deeper than the depths of the grave—what can you know?

Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea (Job11:7-9).

Maintaining that God is ultimately incomprehensible will save us from doctrinal error. There is one thumb rule for discovering if a group preaches heresy. A heretical group will not leave the doctrine of the Trinity alone. Such a group will always attempt to explain it away or deny it totally. What they try to do is to make God completely comprehensible. Can we know and understand God analytically? Is there nothing mysterious about God? Sure the doctrine of the Trinity is full of mystery. That we cannot understand it fully is no reason for rejecting it. The Bible affirms both the oneness of God and the co-existence and co-operation of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in that oneness (Matt. 3:16-17; 28: 19).

After talking of God being ultimately unknowable, Zophar then went on to say that God’s judgement cannot be opposed (Job 11:10) and that He does take note of evil (v.11).

All that Zophar had said about God till then was absolutely right. But from these premises, he jumped to the conclusion that Job was guilty of some sin.

If you put away the sin that is in your hand… (v.14).

He presumed Job’s guilt, passed judgement, and proposed remedial steps that would bring blessing to Job.

Uncaring Theology

Armchair theology is arrogant. It has a know-it-all attitude. The armchair theologian thinks he alone is wise (12:2). Job reminded Zophar that he was not a mindless creature and that what Zophar had said was stuff that everyone knew (v.3).

When people do their theologising from an armchair, they make fun of human tragedy and spiritual experiences. Job said,

I have become a laughing-stock to my friends,

though I called upon God and He answered (v.4).

We have no idea of what were Job’s spiritual experiences during the early days of his misery. Surely a man of his piety must have had some deeply personal experience as he communed with God and reflected on the tragic events of his life. A curtain is drawn over the early lessons he learnt. How sad then that these friends who came to comfort him, hacked away at his personal spiritual experience, and eventually convinced him that God was against him because he was caught in the vortex of tragedy.

Men at ease have contempt for misfortune (v.5).

Any theology that denies the value of spiritual experiences that are not based on high flying lifestyle and activity forgets that the godly Job, and many others mentioned in the Bible, not only encountered God in the midst of tragedy, but very often because of it.

• Joseph who dreamed of personal glory, learnt to accept God’s ways through a series of setbacks that took him from the security of his home to slavery and prison.
• Moses who tried to wrest power by his own wits and stratagem, had to go into the wilderness to learn to rely on the power of God and then he discovered that he didn’t have to aid God in bringing liberation to people in bondage.
• It was as a refugee and a fugitive that David learnt to be a man who depended on God to maintain his rights.
• Paul’s thorn in the flesh, that he wanted God to remove, was the means to his learning to trust in the sufficiency of grace.

Job drew attention to the fact that the wicked do prosper (v.6a). They are the people who “carry their god in their hands” (v.6b). In Job’s day such people ensured their prosperity and security through their own swordsmanship. Their god was in their hand getting them whatever they wanted. In our day too there are people who become prosperous by their ingenuity and prowess. Sometimes evangelists and celebrity preachers make their calling serve their purpose to get rich quick, prosper and build their own empires, instead of building Christ’s Church and the Kingdom of God. They exploit the name of God to get rich. Job would say, “They carry their god in their pockets.”

What is God like?

God is the source of life (vv.7-10). All nature speaks of God’s creativity and power.

Ask the animals, and they will teach you,

or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,

or let the fish of the sea inform you.

Which of all these does not know

that the hand of the Lord has done this?

In His hand is the life of every creature

and the breath of all people (NIVI)

David said,

The heavens declare the glory of God,

The skies proclaim the work of His hands (Ps. 19:1).

Paul made the point that when we look at creation we have to conclude that the Creator is even more wonderful. He has to be eternal and powerful to be able to create so marvellously (Rom. 1: 19-20)

God is the source of wisdom (Job 12: 11-13). Wisdom is found among the aged (v.12), but the author of their wisdom is God (v.13). Again and again the Bible says,

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Pro. 1:7; 9:10; Ps. 111:10: Job 28:28).

This is fear that acknowledges God, holds Him in awe, and submits to His authority. The writer of Ecclesiastes says that fearing God is the whole of being human (12:13; the Hebrew text says that it is the “whole of man.” English translations supply words like “duty”, but in so doing diminish the thrust of what the writer said). We are not truly or entirely human if we are not godly. Paul insisted that God can be known by looking at creation. Created things point to God being even more wonderful. Idolatry is inexcusably foolish because it exchanges God’s glory with imitations. When humans swap the truth of God for the falsehood of idolatry, they give up what is normal to humanity and sink into perversion (Rom. 1: 18-32). Instead of being creatures in God’s image, they become creatures of instinct like unreasoning animals and do not have the Spirit of God (Jude vv. 10,19).

God is the source of power (Job 12: 13-25). In His power, God intervenes in human society. He displays His power in nature (v.15), He overturns social order (vv.17-18) and confounds human wisdom (vv.19-25). The Flood and the overthrow of the tower of Babel displayed God’s power in the ancient world. Centuries after Job, the Lord put on an exhibition of His power in Egypt as He freed His people from slavery. But it was when Jesus came as a poor man that the world saw the greatest evidence of God’s quiet power to turn things upside down.

Worthless Physicians

Job said to his friends,

What you know, I also know;

I am not inferior to you. (13:2).

So he did not want to talk to them as much as he wanted to talk to God about his life situation.

But I desire to speak to the Almighty

and to argue my case with God (v.3).

That is Job’s point. He felt that they were just “worthless physicians” (v.4) with all their armchair theology. They were men at ease, who had no idea of what he had been through. They had done nothing but “smear” him (v.4). He mocked them saying that silence would have been wisdom in their case (v.5). He challenged their thinking that they had to defend God (vv.7-8). How would they fare if they had to walk in his steps? Would they not be in the grip of terror? (vv.9-11). All they had given Job were “maxims…proverbs of ashes…arguments of clay” (v.12).

All that armchair theology can do is to produce worthless physicians and judgemental people. We need to learn theology in the arena of life, in the crucible of pain. Paul was the theologian par excellence of the Early Church. We learn so much from his letters. But his theological statements were not divorced from life and its troubles. He wrote out of his experience of “conflicts on the outside, [and] fears within” (2 Cor. 7:5). He wrote as one who was a “jar of clay” about the “treasure” in his life (4:7). He demonstrated that God’s power was in his life. He shared the same experiences as other Christians and said, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (vv.8-9) He was enabled to comfort people because he had himself been in need of God’s comfort and experienced it (1:3-4).

Chapter 9: LEAPING FAITH

The African impala can jump over ten feet high and clear a distance of thirty feet. Yet these graceful and swift animals can be kept confined by a wall that is only three feet high, because they will not jump if they cannot see where they will land. They don’t have faith in what lies ahead unseen.

The Nineteenth Century Danish theologian Søren Kierkegaard talked of a “leap of faith” because faith takes the risky step of commitment. Faith is not the product of mathematical certainties derived from calculations and proofs. It is only in the context of committed relationships that faith comes to the certainties of knowledge. Though faith may be based on experience and logic, in the end it has to risk a leap.

Faith Without Guarantees

Daniel’s three young friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, faced with being burnt to death for their faithfulness to God, told King Nebuchadnezzar, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Dan.3: 17-18). From the point of view of worldly wisdom, it is stupid to go out on a limb like that. If they had some guarantee from God that He was going to mount a rescue operation they could afford such bravado. To put their lives at risk without any guarantees from God was clearly foolhardy.

But that is what faith does and that is what Job did. He said about his relationship with God,

Why do I put myself in jeopardy

and take my life in my hands? (Job 13:14).

He took his life and put it at risk by putting all his faith in the invisible God.

Those three young friends of Daniel must have learnt their lesson in faith from Job. Centuries before they lived Job had said,

Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.

(That’s v.15: the Revised Standard Version following an alternate reading based on punctuation and pronunciation says, “He will surely slay me, I have no hope”. Even with that reading the RSV still concludes the verse with Job expressing the hope of defending himself before God, just like the other versions). Job was not sure how it would all end for him. Maybe he would never be healed of his ailment. Maybe God would let him die. Even if things were to turn out that way, Job said he would continue to hope in God. He simply affirmed the sovereignty of God.

Hope of Seeing God

Job believed that God had turned His back on him, but he was still sure that he would have his day in God’s presence, and he believed in his ultimate deliverance.

I will surely defend my ways to His face.

Indeed, this will surely turn out for my deliverance (vv.15b-16).

He was absolutely sure of being vindicated.

Now that I have prepared my case,

I know I will be vindicated (v.18).

He was virtually telling his friends, “Thank God, He is the Judge, not you”. Next, Job asked a rhetorical question:

Can anyone bring charges against me? (v.19).

The New Testament echoes that sentiment. Paul wrote to the church at Rome, “If God is for us, who can be against us…Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (8:31-34).

Hand of God

As with the other speeches made in response to his friends’ speeches, after rebutting them, Job addressed God (13:20-14:22). First, Job asked God to withdraw His hand from his life (13:21). On account of his painful experiences, which all his friends said were God’s punishment in his life, Job prayed that God would stop taking him in His powerful hand.

The writer of Hebrews does talk of how terrible it is “to fall into the hands of the Living God” (10:31). When we sin, God’s hand can be heavy on us as David discovered.

When I kept silent,

my bones wasted away

through my groaning all day long.

For day and night

Your hand was heavy upon me;

my strength was sapped

as in the heat of summer (Ps.32:3-4).

However that is not the only way the hand of God is manifested in our lives.

God’s Hand strengthens us. He lifts us up. He holds us up when it looks like we are going to fall.

The Lord makes firm the steps of those who delight in Him;

though they stumble, they will not fall,

for the Lord upholds them with His hand (37:23-24, NIVI).

God’s Hand guides us. When we stray from Him or get away from Him, God still stays with us to tug at our hearts.

Even there Your hand will guide me,

Your right hand will hold me fast (139:10).

God’s Hand blesses us. God holds out an open hand toward us. His hand has gifts for us. All of life depends on the benevolent hand of God. We are sustained by His gifts. His benevolence does not merely fulfil needs, but it satisfies us

You open Your hand

and satisfy the desires of every living thing (145:16).

Human Mortality

Job asked God again to show him his sin (13:23; see 10:2) and also that God would reveal Himself to him (v.24). He asked God to consider who the man Job is: only a wind-blown leaf and dry chaff (v.25), a moth-eaten garment (v.28), a withering flower (14:2). He reminded God that a human’s days are numbered (v.5). Job thought that God was fighting him and so felt that there was a need to remind God that he was not God’s equal. He was only mortal.

On the other hand, people today need reminders of their mortality. This life will not go on and on. All our medical discoveries and human gadgetry will not prolong life forever. Life on earth will come to an end all too soon if we are unprepared for the time of exit.

Once again Job longed for death (vv.7-22). A tree stump can sprout again (vv.7-10), but humans do not return to this life (vv.10-12). He pleaded for God to hide him in the grave till divine anger has passed (v.13). Job said that he would “wait for…renewal to come” (v.14). Even though he despaired of life, not once did Job contemplate taking his own life. But he wanted God to be the One who would end his life of trials and sorrows. He thought of the grave as a welcome hiding place from the wrath of God, but it had to be a place that God would provide. He still believed that it would not end with the grave. He could look forward to a new life beyond death and the grave.

Some biblical scholars say that the Old Testament saints did not believe in an after life. They say that those ancient people believed that it would all end here. I think all Old Testament folks meant was that humans do not return to this life. They did want to be blessed with prosperity in this life. They wanted to be healed and rescued in this life. This was the life they knew. Well, most of us are still like that. Don’t we still pray for healing and blessing in this life? Who among us doesn’t seek to go on living on earth for as long as we can?

Listen to testimonies that people share. They always talk of material blessings. No one talks in the language of Paul that they are blessed in the “heavenly realms” (Eph.1:3). When the leader throws it open for people to share about how God has blessed them, only those who have something fantastic to report give their testimonies. And the rest of us envy those who testify to how God blessed them with a high salary job in the country, or opened the door for them to go abroad to affluent countries, or blessed them with some other absolutely fabulous material benefit. No one ever talks of their trials and sorrows as blessings. Those are considered to be matters for prayer, not items for praise.

If some future generation reads our history, they too could conclude that we believed that there was only this life and had no great hope of heaven and eternity. In every generation the major focus is on life in the here and now. In a sense this is how it should be. We should be concerned about living in godliness now, and leave the afterlife for God to order when He wills.

The Longing Father

It is obvious Job believed that even if he did not come back to life on earth like a tree stump is able to, he would be renewed one day. Then God would call him, and he would answer (Job 14:15). Job drew a tender picture of God at this point (vv.15-17). He said to God,

You will long for the creature Your hands have made (v.15).

Did you know that God longs for you? His love for you is so intense it is a longing. Job said that God would watch his steps, but not track his sin. Our Lord told a story that has touched the world. It is the story of a father who waits for his long lost son to return home. The father saw him coming while he was still far away. For the father to be able to spot him at the moment of his coming, he would have had to keep returning to watch at the gate. He must have done that day after day. He kept that up for so long. That, Jesus said, is a picture of God (Lk.15:11-24).

During a troubled period in my teens I once tried to run away from home. I went to the home of Christian friends who counselled me and took me back home late in the night of the same day. Years later, my sister told me that my father had kept returning to the gate of our home to look out for me—just like the father in our Lord’s story of the prodigal son.

Job went on to say that God would take all of his sins and put them in a bag and seal the bag. God would cover his sin. God would forgive him (vv.16-17). The message of God’s forgiveness dominates both the Old and the New Testaments. The ritual sacrifices of the Mosaic Law were prescribed as a means of seeking forgiveness from God. But even in the Old Testament period there were people who grew aware that there had to be more than ritual before forgiveness would come. David said,

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;

You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart,

O God, You will not despise (Ps 51:16-17).

The prophets of Israel didn’t only announce judgement. They preached forgiveness.

Isaiah said that God had put Israel’s sins behind His back (38:17). What had stood between God and His creatures, He had taken out of the way and put it where He would not look at it. God said to His people,

I, even I, am He who blots out

your transgressions, for my own sake,

and remembers your sins no more. (43:25)

Micah said,

You will again have compassion on us;

You will tread our sins underfoot

and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. (7:19).

Holocaust survivor Corries Ten Boom imaginatively suggested that God has put a “no fishing” sign over the sea where He dumps people’s sins.

With the coming of our Lord Jesus, the forgiveness of God became even more assured and realisable. “He predestined us to be adopted as His children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will—to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Eph 1:5-7, NIVI). “He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:13-14)

Job was human. In his misery he would swing from a triumphant faith to depression (vv.18-22). Remember that we are studying the life of a real man. Life is not always pleasant and sometimes when things are rough, we can and do feel depressed. God has given us the story of Job to let us know that godly people do not always escape having problems and that it is okay for them to have terrible feelings. As Job swung from faith to depression, he was still talking to God and he was saying, “It shouldn’t be like this God!” He was asking God to respond. That is what is important. Talking to God about the problems we face and waiting for Him to do something about them is faith.

Chapter 10: THE ADVOCATE

Originally it had been my intention to preach one message on chapters 11 to 14 of Job. In the providence of God, it was preached in two parts. In the second part I began by talking of faith as involving risk-taking with reference to Job’s remark that he takes the risk of putting himself in God’s hands, though God could slay him. When Job prayed that God would withdraw His hand from Job’s life, I pointed out that God’s hand is not only heavy, but upholds, guides and blesses.

The Saturday before I preached that message, my son Ishaaq and I had gone to a doctor about some glandular swellings on his throat. Earlier, suspecting some infection as the cause, he had been given anitbiotic medicines. But when the swellings did not go down, the doctor ordered a pathological analysis of the fluid in the swellings.

After my message on faith taking risks had been preached, that Sunday evening, Ishaaq brought home the biopsy report. Most of it was in medical language. The last line gave the preliminary diagnosis and advice. It said that it was lymphoma and indicated the need to confirm this with a biopsy. Since the word “biopsy” is usually associated with cancer, I looked up the unfamiliar word “lymphoma”, and there was that word “cancer”. I did not have the heart to tell Ishaaq or Roshini what I had read in the report or what I had discovered about its meaning.

Next morning Ishaaq and I went to the doctor who had ordered the test and he sent us to a cancer surgeon. During that week other tests were done and they confirmed that Ishaaq did have this form of cancer. A biopsy was scheduled.

The message I preached on the Sunday before the biopsy is what forms this chapter.

On behalf of my family, I declared first of all that we were not changing our beliefs. Faith is based on experience and logic plus a step of risk, because it involves putting ourselves in the hands of God. Like those three young men facing the fiery furnace in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom (Dan.3: 16-18), we have to affirm, “Our God is able to save us from the fire, but even if He will not we cannot serve anyone else but Him.”

Ishaaq was the one who played the guitar and led the singing at church along with his friend Ashish Khan. Ishaaq’s polite and gentle ways endeared him to all in the church. We continued our study of the book of Job in the context of the church’s experience of coming to terms with a popular young man being inflicted with a terrible illness.

Daniel’s friends discovered that while God did not save them from the fire, He walked with them in the fire (v.25). The Psalmist said, “God is…a very present help in trouble” (46:1, KJV). Yes, God walked with my family in our crisis. He never left us to suffer alone.

Chapter 15 begins the second cycle of speeches. Eliphaz started it as he did the first. He was offended that Job rejected their collective wisdom. First, he accused Job of impiety and rage against God (vv.1-16). Second, he described the fate of the wicked (vv.17-35). In both parts of his speech he appealed to the wisdom of the ancients and the wise (vv.10,18).

Judging Job

Eliphaz said that Job could not be a wise man because his answer was full of “empty notions” and had filled “his belly with the hot east wind” (v.2). He was saying that Job was nothing but a bag of hot air.

It was Eliphaz’s opinion that Job undermined piety and was a hindrance to others’ devotion to God. That was Job’s ministry and role in human society (v.4). Whatever Job said had its source in sin (v.5).

Eliphaz took offence that Job had rejected his wisdom (vv.7-9). He asked Job whether he had been with God at creation (v.7) and whether he thought he knew more than his friends (v.9).

The question is whether God’s consolations are not enough (v.11)? What has caused Job to rage against God (v.13)?

Character of the Wicked

Job had said that the wicked prosper (10:3). So Eliphaz touched on the fact that the wicked are tormented souls all their lives (v.20). They spend their lives in fear. Their ears are filled with frightening sounds (v.21). They despair of escaping their end (v.22). They wander about in life knowing that the “day of darkness is at hand” (v.23b). They have a need to shake their fist at God in their attempts at leading self-assured lives (vv.25-26).

Though the wicked are in prosperity (v.27) they will come to ruin (v.28) for “wealth will not endure” (v.29). A breath from God will change everything and they will not escape the impending darkness (v.30) and are deceived in thinking that they can put their trust in what is ultimately worthless (v.31).

Miserable Comforters

Job’s rejoinder to Eliphaz is recorded in chapters 16 and 17. Job started by describing them as “miserable comforters” (16:2). Eliphaz had described Job as one with a “belly [filled] with the hot east wind”. Job’s retort was that all their speeches were nothing but “long-winded” (v.3) and wished their speech making would end.

Job said, “If you were in my place…”(v.4). People usually say “If I were in your place…” as a prelude to handing out unsolicited advice. Eliphaz had in fact done just that in his first speech. He told Job what he would do if it were he going through Job’s experience (5:8). When you are not in someone’s place it is a very easy thing to do to say, “If I were in your place…” No one should ever offer advice based on the speculation of what they would do under similar circumstances. It is presumptuous. Advice should be based on one’s own experience.

Job’s mastery at debate is seen in his subtle use of this form of argument. When he said, “If you were in my place…”, he was actually saying, “If I were in your place…”

Job pointed out that he could as easily make fine speeches if they were in Job’s place and he in theirs. He asserted that he would not do that though. Instead he would encourage and comfort (v.5).

Understanding Job

Why did the Job of chapters one and two start finding fault with God? Job said,

Yet, if I speak, my pain is not relieved;

and if I refrain, it does not go away.

Surely, O God, You have worn me out;

You have devastated my entire household (vv.6-7).

I can echo Job’s feelings. In 1997, after 23 years of being a pastor in a denominational church, when I was assigned to the job of looking after court cases in the pastoral district, I had to quit the denomination, as I did not perceive my calling to be one of majoring in administration. When I left the denomination we had to give up the security of what had been our home for years, and go through a period of uncertainty. Though I had resigned voluntarily, it was made out that I had been dismissed from service. Many believed whatever rumours were spread.

That phase of our lives seemed to pass and in 1999 my wife and I celebrated 25 years of pastoral ministry in Lucknow and 25 years of marriage. We thought we had put behind us the earlier upheaval in our lives. But then suddenly in 2000, without any warning, we faced the crisis of Ishaaq being diagnosed with cancer. It traumatised the whole family. In the words of Job, it “devastated my entire household”.

As I considered these events in our lives, I was disturbed and distressed by the thought that cruel and unkind acquaintances would be triumphant and delighted that we were being “punished by God” for daring to challenge the hierarchy of the denomination by quitting the denomination’s ranks. I could easily echo Job,

If I speak, my pain is not relieved.

If I refrain, the pain does not go away.

Surely, O God, You have worn me out…

How many troubles must our family go through, before it is enough?

Job said, “God assails me and tears me…” (v.9). He then specified that God was doing this by having “turned [him] over to evil men” (v.11) and “His archers surround me” (v.13). I do not think that Job was referring to the opening events when raiders had attacked his herds of cattle (1:15,17). Rather he was talking about the personal attacks on his character by his friends. They claimed that they represented God. They assailed Job for the sake of God’s glory and honour. Since they acted on behalf of God, Job thought of their attacks as God’s attacks. The agenda of Job’s life did not change. He was clothed in sackcloth, he lay in the dust. He was given to weeping until his eyes were red and dark shadows formed around his eyes (16:15-16). For all his anger and sorrow, Job did not resort to violence. He resorted only to prayer (v.17).

Circumstances should not change our philosophy of life. No matter what changes take place in our lives there is a need to hold on in faithfulness to God. When we believe in the sovereignty of God, we will not feel the need to fight those who cause us distress. When we commit matters to Him in prayer we affirm His sovereignty over our life situations. This is not easy. I know from experience. When I was attacked, I wanted to strike back. I wanted to go to court even though the Bible categorically prohibits Christians prosecuting Christians (1 Cor.6:1-7). I was tempted to justify entering into litigation with Christians, by saying that those who were against me were not Christians since they had done wrong. In the end, I had to admit that I was merely trying to justify going against the clear teaching of the Bible. I had to let go of my human desire for vengeance. It happened one Sunday. Right after I preached, I led the congregation in singing the gospel song, ”All to Jesus, I surrender all.” I did just that.

All to Jesus I surrender,

All to Him I freely give;

I will ever love and trust Him,

In His presence daily live.

All to Jesus I surrender,

Humbly at His feet I bow,

Worldly pleasures all forsaken,

Take me, Jesus, take me now.

All to Jesus I surrender,

Make me, Saviour, wholly Thine;

Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit,

Truly know that Thou art mine.

All to Jesus I surrender,

Lord, I give myself to Thee;

Fill me with Thy love and power,

Let Thy blessing fall on me.

All to Jesus I surrender,

Now I feel the sacred flame;

Oh, the joy of full salvation

Glory, glory to His name.

I surrender all,

I surrender all.

All to Thee, my blessed Saviour,

I surrender all.

—Judson W. VanDeVenter (1855-1939)

Job’s Faith in God

Job’s strong assurance that God is for him comes through in the section 16:18-17:3. He claimed that he had a “witness in heaven” (v.19). A witness is one who gives testimony in court, but Job’s witness was also his “advocate on high”.

Even now my Witness is in heaven;

my Advocate is on high.

My Intercessor is my Friend

as my eyes pour out tears to God;

on behalf of a human being He pleads with God

as one pleads for a friend (16:19-21, NIVI)

The New Testament says that our Advocate before the Father is Jesus Christ, the Righteous (1 Jn.2:1). We need an advocate in heaven, because Satan is the “accuser of the brothers and sisters” (Rev.12:10). Paul said, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” When Satan tries to bring charges against us, God Himself rises to our defence and justifies us. Who can condemn us, when “Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Rom.8:31-34). Jesus does this work of intercession all the time. The work of earthly pleaders terminates with their deaths, “but because Jesus lives for ever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them” (Heb.7:23-25).

As Christians we also have another Advocate or Intercessor. Jesus did say that He would send “another Counsellor [Advocate]” to take His place in our lives so that we are not left to fight our battles alone (Jn.14:16-18). The Holy Spirit is that other Advocate. “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will” (Rom.8:26-27).

Job described his intercessor as a friend.

My Intercessor is my Friend (16:20).

Most lawyers are not known for integrity. Many of them exploit their clients viewing them only as a means to making money for themselves. It is in the interest of such lawyers to drag out cases and some even take money from the other side to lose their cases.

People need lawyers whom they can trust like their friends. If trustworthy friends were their lawyers, people would repose their faith in them, because they are assured that their friends will always defend them.

Our Lord Jesus not only described Himself as the first Advocate when He described the Holy Spirit as “another Counsellor” (Jn.14:16), but also went on to describe Himself as the Friend of all His followers (15:15). Yes, “What a Friend we have in Jesus.”

Pledge and Security

Even though Job talked of having an Intercessor in heaven, he lapsed into depression:

Only a few years will pass

before I go on the journey of no return..

My spirit is broken,

my days are cut short,

the grave awaits me.

Surely mockers surround me

my eyes must dwell on their hostility (16:22-17:2).

However he still prayed. He pleaded,

Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.

Who else will put up security for me? (17:3).

He expected God Himself to meet whatever He required of Job. In effect he was telling God, “I can’t pay the price. You pay it Lord!”

What Job prayed for found fulfilment in Jesus, our Lord. He gave His life as a ransom for our salvation (Mk. 10:45). As Paul said, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished” (Rom 3:23-25).

While Job complained that God had allowed him to fall into disrepute (17:4-7), he affirmed that those who are “righteous will hold to their ways and those with clean hands will grow stronger” (v.9). Job teaches us something very precious here. Those who are righteous will stay righteous. Their righteousness does not depend on whether or not things are going all right. Even when everything goes against them and their lives are falling apart they stay the course. That is the characteristic of the righteous. The blessing of health and wealth is not necessarily the mark of the righteous. Rather it is their righteousness that is their badge.

When our Lord told us that we are to turn the other cheek, love enemies, and pray for persecutors (Matt. 5:38-44), He was saying that our behaviour ought not to be in reaction to whatever people do against us to hurt us or harm us. What we say and do ought to be determined by what is inside us. When hatred confronts hatred the fruit is more hatred. But when the love of Christ in our lives confronts hatred, it is love that should pour out from our hearts.

Though Job asked, “Where…is my hope if all I can hope for is death and the grave” (vv.15-16), the affirmations of this speech of his have been that

• Faith is putting oneself in God’s hands,
• There is an Intercessor in heaven, and
• God Himself must pay the ransom.

And as Christians we know that in Christ these things are realities. We do well to trust Him. He is our Intercessor. He is our ransom.

Chapter 11: LIVING REDEEMER

When we have painful experiences, the soul desperately longs for human friendship. We want people who will show understanding and care for us. We want them to just love us. Proverbs 16:7 says,

When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD,

He makes even his enemies live at peace with him.

When the opposite happens and friends forsake us, we can easily feel God-forsaken. That is how Job felt after Bildad’s second speech (chapter 18).

Bildad started by questioning Job’s intelligence just because he had dared to question the logic of his friends (vv.1-4). Bildad argued that what had happened to Job was what happens to the wicked (v.21): their lamp is snuffed out (vv.5-6); the vigour of their step is weakened (v.7); they live in terror (v.11); calamity is their lot (v.12); they suffer from skin disease (v.13); they are marched off to the king of terrors (v.14); they are burnt by fire (v.15); and they are deprived of their descendants (vv.16-19).

The references to a skin ailment, fire in the tent, and death of children were a concerted personal attack on Job.

Words Can Crush

Though Bildad’s speech is only the fifth one against Job, he felt that he had been attacked ten times (19:3). Each hurtful word uttered by his friends had double the force on Job. Words have the power to lift or crush people, to heal or destroy.

This is borne out by Proverbs:

12: 25 – Anxiety weighs the heart down,

but a kind word cheers it up (NIVI).

15: 1 – A gentle answer turns away wrath,

but a harsh word stirs up anger.

16:24 – Pleasant words are a honeycomb,

sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

25:11- A word aptly spoken

is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

The Apostle James wrote about the terrible power of the tongue (3:2-12): it has firepower, it is an entire world of evil, it corrupts the whole person and it sets life itself on fire

Job rightly charged his friends with using his humiliation to claim superiority (19:5). He felt that God had wronged him, by giving his friends such an opportunity to add to his humiliation (v.6). He felt that God was unresponsive to him (v.7), blocked him (v. 8), stripped him of honour (v. 9), tore and uprooted him (v. 10) and counted Job an enemy (v.11)

There was a pattern to Job’s earlier speeches. He always started by rebutting his friends (6:1-7:5; 9:1-10:1) and then ended by addressing God (7:6-21; 10:2-22). For the first time Job failed to address God. He felt abandoned by God.

Sometimes people feel God-forsaken. Our Lord, a real man, felt what humans go through. He cried from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Can God forsake God? Can the Father be separated from the Son when God is one? Yet Jesus did feel distanced from the Father. His humanness is seen in His experience. He shared the feelings of people who sometimes think that God Himself has forsaken them.

Loneliness Is Killing

Job enumerated all those who had left him (19:13-20): brothers, acquaintances,

kinsmen, friends, guests, servants, wife. Even neighbourhood kids who should respect their elders, despised him (v.18). He cried,

Those I love have turned against me (v.19).

He still loved them. That was why it hurt so much. The wounds inflicted by loved ones are the hardest to bear.

This sense of extreme loneliness was killing Job. He said that he had been reduced to “skin and bones”. He had escaped [death] only by “the skin of [his] teeth” (v.20). Loneliness can do that to people. Some years ago a book was published with the give-away title The Broken Heart: The Medical Consequences of Loneliness. It was based on a study of men and women who lived in total isolation after their life-partners died. Most of them died soon afterwards. People need people. Everyone needs at least one person to love him or her. Loneliness kills because it cuts one off from the living. How we need to be sensitive to the lonely!

Job pleaded that his friends should pity him because he had been hurt by God. They should not aim at adding to what God had done. That would be like cannibalising the one who is down (vv. 21-22).

Friends should not stop loving those who appear to be under God’s judgement. People ought not to turn judgemental toward those who are hurting. Friends must not stop being friends. (See comments on 6:14 in chapter 6).

Living Redeemer

After this cry for understanding, once again we get a glimpse of Job’s faith. It was rock-solid. He was willing for his affirmations to be put into writing and engraved on indestructible rock (19:23-24). Job confessed:

I know that my Redeemer lives,

and that in the end He will stand upon the earth.

And after my skin has been destroyed,

yet in my flesh I will see God;

I myself will see Him with my own eyes—I, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me! (25-27).

Mosaic Law provided for a go’el, a person to avenge a relative’s murder (Num. 35: 19,25,27). The go’el’s responsibility was to take care of the dead person’s unfinished business. The same word go’el is used to describe the kinsman-redeemer (Ruth 2:21), who comes to the rescue of the dead one’s family.

Job thought of God as his Redeemer. His affirmations of faith can be represented in tabular form:

Job affirmed these things about God, though he didn’t have the full revelation of God. As Christians we have a fuller revelation. We know about Jesus having come to bring us into a personal relationship with God.

Personal Redeemer

A person needs to be in a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. He must not merely be regarded as the Saviour of all the world, but be invited into one’s life and received as one’s personal Saviour.

Living God

Jesus died and rose again. He is alive today. He is not a lifeless and powerless idol. He is present in our world. Do you live in a way that says that Jesus is alive in your life?

Terminal Life

Life is terminal. When your life comes to an end, will you be ready to face what lies ahead?

Eternal God

God is our only hope. He will be there inhabiting the afterlife, for He is almighty, sovereign and eternal. He is the Lord of life and death and eternity.

Reality of Eternity

You will see, hear and feel in the afterlife. Ensure that the vision you see, the voice you hear and the presence you feel will be that of your loving Heavenly Father.

Heart’s Desire

Without God your life is off-centre and meaningless. Make connecting with God your aim.

Saving Faith

We will not go on living. One day everything will come to an end. Is that all we can look forward to? Or, is there life beyond this life?

Job believed that in spite of all the terrible things that had happened, he could look forward to a life beyond the grave because he knew for sure that his Redeemer lives, and he longed for eternity because of his personal relationship with the Redeemer. He was not fearful when he considered life after death. He knew that beyond the grave there was someone to welcome him home.

Whether or not a person can look forward to life after death depends on having a personal Redeemer. Job believed he had a personal Saviour even without knowing about Jesus. Today we are those who know that Jesus came to save people from their sins. How sad then that there are people who will not put their faith in the Lord who came to save us and will not make Him their trusted Saviour.

In the end, God will judge you for what you did with Jesus. Do you receive Him or reject Him? Have you asked Him to come into your life or have you kept Him out?

Chapter 12: GOD’S GOLD

Australia has the toughest laws of any country to prevent taking pets into the country. This is because Australia has no foot and mouth disease—a viral disease that attacks cattle. However no nation has escaped the foot-in-mouth disease. In fact every human being is infected with this disease. It is caused by hastiness in speech. The Apostle James wrote that a Christian ought to “ be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (1:19). This is the only antidote for the foot-in-mouth disease.

As we look at Zophar’s speech in Job 20, we meet a man who admits to hastiness in speech. He said,

My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer

because I am greatly disturbed. (v.2).

The New Revised Standard Version translates the second part as, “because of my haste within me”, clearly indicating his hastiness in speech. The New American Standard Bible affirms that translation in a marginal note.

Again and again, Job had said that his friends were bad counsellors, because they were not good listeners. They dishonoured him. They hurt his self-esteem. Yet Zophar claimed that it was his understanding that inspired him in his reply (v.3). Drawing on wisdom that he claimed was as ancient as creation (v.4), he observed that the mirth of the wicked is brief (vv. 5-10), they and their children have to pay back to the poor (v.10) and they will not enjoy unjust gain because what they consume will poison them (v.14), they won’t be able to hold on to their wealth (v.15), and they will not enjoy the streams of honey and cream (v.17)

Real Life

First Job asked to be heard. He pleaded that his friends would give him that consolation. He sarcastically said that they could go on mocking him after he had finished (21:2).

Job then said that his complaint is not against humans:

Is my complaint directed to a human being? (21:4, NIVI)

He defended his right to be impatient (v.4) and told them to shut their mouths with their hands (v.5)

Job dismissed these arguments of Zophar. He asked,

Why do the wicked live on,

growing old and increasing in power? (v.7).

He pointed out that in real life God’s rod is not laid on them (v.9). Instead they see their children well settled (v.8), their homes are safe (v.9), their cattle business is productive (v.10), and they make merry (vv.11-12). They are “blessed” even though they are indifferent toward God and say to Him,

Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways.

Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

What would we gain by praying to him? (vv.14-15).

However Job acknowledged that he did not think that the wicked are masters of their prosperity. He didn’t think that he would gain by turning to their ways and so he didn’t follow their ways (v.16).

How often are the wicked hurt and suffering? It happens sometimes. But most of the time they escape harm. That is the point Job made

Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?

How often does calamity come upon them,

the fate God allots in his anger?

How often are they like straw before the wind,

like chaff swept away by a gale? (vv. 17-18).

Bildad had said,

The lamp of the wicked is snuffed out;

the flame of his fire stops burning.

The light in his tent becomes dark;

the lamp beside him goes out…

Calamity is hungry for him;

disaster is ready for him when he falls (18:5-6, 12)

Job threw back those metaphors and expressions, and asked how often had anyone seen that happen.

Zophar had said that God’s judgement falls on the children of the wicked and their children have to pay back to those exploited by their parents (20:10). Job questioned the logic of this statement (21:19). Why make children pay for their fathers? He said that the wicked ought to be made to pay for their wickedness themselves

It is said, ‘God stores up a man’s punishment for his sons.’

Let Him repay the man himself, so that he will know it!

Let his own eyes see his destruction;

let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty (vv.19-20).

God does affirm Job’s view. “The soul who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them” (Eze. 18 20, NIVI; see vv. 1-20).

Job pointed out that the wicked don’t care what will happen when they are gone (v. 21). This is true. King Hezekiah showed off all his wealth to the Babylonians. God’s prophet told him that because he had done this, the Babylonians would return to plunder the kingdom and his descendants would be enslaved. Hezekiah’s response was, “ ‘The word of the LORD you have spoken is good,’ Hezekiah replied. For he thought, ‘There will be peace and security in my lifetime’ ” (Isa 39:8).

You can see the “Hezekiah Principle” at work all around us. People today deplete the earth’s resources and pollute the environment, knowing well that future generations will suffer, even their own great grandchildren. But do they care? Similarly there are spiritual leaders who do nothing to stop the corruption and injustice in the church’s institutions as long as they themselves can finish their term in office without their personal peace being disturbed, collect their retirement benefits and spend the remainder of their lives in comfort. Do they care that the future of the church is jeopardised by their turning a blind eye toward all that is wrong?

Job implied that when his friends talked of how judgement comes they were thinking that they could teach God how to judge (21:22). He pointed out that though some die in wonderful comfort and others die in utter misery, death and the decay that follows come to one and all (vv. 23-26). The final earthly end is similar for everyone. They are all reduced to the same level.

Job returned to his earlier question of whether there is evidence for their theory that it is the wicked that suffer. He challenged his friends to listen to the tales of world travellers (v.29). Everywhere the wicked are spared from calamity. No one dares to accuse them of wrongdoing. Instead when they die they are eulogised and their graves are venerated (vv. 30-33). Job ended this round by saying,

So how can you console me with your nonsense?

Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood! (v.34).

What’s the Benefit to God?

Chapter 22 begins the third cycle of speeches. Eliphaz asked Job,

Can a human being be of benefit to God?

Can even the wise benefit Him?

What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?

What would He gain if your ways were blameless? (vv.2-3, NIVI).

That sounds logical. God doesn’t need us in the sense of Him depending on us. But God does find pleasure in humans. The Psalmist said of God,

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;

You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart,

O God, You will not despise (51:16-17).

The prophet Zephaniah said,

The LORD your God is with you,

He is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing (3:17).

Eliphaz argued that God couldn’t be rebuking Job for piety (22: 4) and from that jumped to accusing Job of oppression and exploitation of the poor (v.6), cruelty (v.7) and unkindness toward the destitute (v.9). Eliphaz said that Job imagined God to be incapable of detecting wrongdoing (v. 13), and that he wanted to adopt the ways of the wicked (v. 15). Eliphaz said that in the end the righteous will see the ruin of the wicked (vv. 19-20). He was suggesting that Job was wicked and he and his friends were righteous, which is why they were well off and Job ruined.

He concluded by asking Job to submit to God if he wanted to be at peace with God (v.21) and find restoration (v.23). He told Job to throw away his gold and let God be his gold (vv.24-25). That sounds like such a lofty idea, except for the fact that Job was a man ruined and had no gold to throw away.

Job retorted that his complaint was still the same. In spite of all his suffering and groaning, God’s hand continued to be heavy on him (23:2). Job wished he knew where to find God to press his case and appeal for relief (vv.3-5). Then his mood swung to assurance that God would not play the accuser in his life. He would not press charges against Job. Instead God would hear Job, and he Job would find deliverance.

Would He oppose me with great power?

No, He would not press charges against me.

There the upright could present their case before Him,

and there I would be delivered forever from my Judge (vv.6-7, NIVI).

Search for God

Job asserted that he could not find God no matter where he turned, but was assured that God knew the way that Job would take. We may feel that we have lost touch with God, but no one is lost because God certainly knows where we are.

But if I go to the east, He is not there;

if I go to the west, I do not find Him.

When He is at work in the north, I do not see Him;

when He turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of Him (vv.8-9).

Job affirmed that when God finished testing him, he would come out pure like gold:

But He knows the way that I take;

when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold (v.10).

Proverbs 17:3 has a similar precious message that will comfort us when we undergo trials.

The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,

but the LORD tests the heart.

God doesn’t entrust our trials to harsh tools. He Himself is the tester. His hands form the crucible for our trials. That is why we can rejoice even in suffering. “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Job had said that he didn’t know where to find God (23:8-9), but he did have the assurance that God knew his way (v.10). Job was saying that he couldn’t find God, but God had found him. Once again Job anticipated the gospel of the Lord Jesus, who came to seek and to save the lost.

Job then claimed that his way was really the way of God.

My feet have closely followed His steps;

I have kept to His way without turning aside.

I have not departed from the commands of His lips;

I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread (vv.11-12).

But once again he suffered a mood swing and said that he was terrified of God (v.15; cf. 21:6).

In chapter 24, Job asked the age old question, “Where is God’s justice?” Why doesn’t God set a time limit for His judgement to fall? (v.1). Job listed all the wrong that he had witnessed during his life. Thousands of years later we would agree. The poor are oppressed (vv.2-12); their property encroached (v.2); their livestock seized (v.3); their right to liberty and dignity denied (v.4); they are in bondage (v.5); they are reduced to misery (vv.6-9); they are enslaved at birth (v. 10) and they are not rewarded for their labours (vv.10-11). God hears their cries, but He seems to do nothing. He holds no one responsible (v.12). In contrast, when Job looked at the wicked, he saw people living in a way that went against the light they had received (vv.13-21). They were the worst criminals: murderers (v. 14), adulterers (v.15), thieves (v.16), and exploiters of the needy (v.21). Though Job complained that they escaped immediate punishment, he acknowledged that in the end they are not assured of security, instead God would drag them away to the fate that is common to all:

But God drags away the mighty by His power;

though they become established, they have no assurance of life.

He may let them rest in a feeling of security,

but His eyes are on their ways.

For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone;

they are brought low and gathered up like all others;

they are cut off like heads of grain (vv.22-24).

In the end, in spite of all his complaints and mood swings, Job must be seen as affirming that God is active in his life and doing good. When Eliphaz told Job to throw away gold and make God the gold in his life (22:24-25) Job’s reply was that when God tests him, God will find gold in Job’s life (23:10). That is the essential thrust of Job’s belief and attitude.

Chapter 13: YOURS IS THE POWER, WISDOM AND JUDGEMENT

If you have ever been in an ecumenical gathering, and an announcement is made about joining together in the Lord’s Prayer, any Roman Catholic near you would not be heard ending the prayer with, “Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory.” That’s because it’s not in the original text.

It’s a funny thing. One of the points on which Protestants split from the Roman Catholic Church was its insistence on a two-source theory of authority, namely Scripture plus church tradition. On the other hand, the watchword of the Reformation was, Sola Scriptura! (Scripture Alone!) But in the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, we find the Roman Catholics doing a Sola Scriptura, while Protestants do a Scripture plus church tradition thing. What this shows is that no group can entirely escape mixing Scripture and tradition. There exists no such entity as a church that adheres purely and entirely to the biblical pattern.

What we need to learn is that traditions are not wrong per se. The important thing is to verify that our traditions do not go against biblical teaching. There is nothing wrong with the Protestant tradition of praying, “Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory.” That is a true statement. All prayer is an acknowledgement that all the sovereignty, power and glory belong to God alone. As we come to Job’s last speech, we find him ending on a similar note: “Thine is the power, the wisdom and the judgement.”

Job 25 records the shortest speech in the book. It is by Bildad. In essence he made just two points: dominion and awe belong to God (v.2) and humans are not righteous before God (vv.4-6). Job’s rejoinder was, “How helpful!” (26:2-4). He taunted that such statements help the weak and wondered about the source of such profundity.

Then Job turned his attention to the nakedness of death. None of the trimmings and trappings of our lives will cover us at the end or take away our mortality. A person lies stripped of everything when facing the Maker at the last (vv.5-6). At the very outset, Job had said,

Naked I came…naked I will depart…

The Lord gave…The Lord has taken away… (1:21-22).

When we are busy with life and fascinated with all its baubles, it is good to remember that there is coming a time when none of these things will matter. The only thing that will matter then is our standing with God.

The Creative Power

From considering the utter penury of human lives, Job turned to reflecting on God’s creative power. He said,

He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;

He suspends the earth over nothing.

He wraps up the waters in his clouds (26:7-8).

Can these be considered to be scientific observations? Probably not, because poetically he also talked of the “pillars of the heavens” (v.11). Of course, Job knew that there were no pillars rising from the earth to support the skies. Anyone could see that. He was not making scientific statements as much as using human language to express his ideas. Even today, newspapers that boast about being current with news and views, publish the times of sunrise and sunset and at times refer to the “four corners of the world”. That is no less unscientific than Job’s talk of “pillars of the heavens.”

Still, Job’s statement that the earth was suspended over nothing, clearly acknowledged that God did not need any supports for His works of creation. Whatever God made stood on its own just as He had created it.

After observing creation, Job made a profound statement that shows what a majestic view he had of God.

These are but the outer fringe of His works;

how faint the whisper we hear of Him!

Who then can understand the thunder of His power? (v.14).

We can observe only a tiny part of the world that God has created. Even the bits we see, make us exclaim with the hymn-writer Stuart K Hine (1899- ), “How great Thou art! How great Thou art!”

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy pow’r thro’out the universe displayed.

When through the woods and forest glades I wander

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,

And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee;

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!…

Though Job felt bitter toward God and felt that God had not done right by him, he affirmed two things: one, that God lives (27:2) and two, that he, Job, lived because God gave him breath (v.3).

To his friends he said emphatically,

I will never admit you are in the right;

till I die, I will not deny my integrity (v.5)

As long as his friends tried to prove that he suffered because he was wicked, he argued that the wicked prospered. But he didn’t really believe that the wicked would escape final judgement. He elaborated on the punishments likely to be suffered by the wicked (vv.7-23): they are without hope in God (vv.7-10); they are not protected from violence (vv.13-14); they are not saved from plague and no one mourns their passing (v.15); they cannot guarantee their children’s inheritance (vv.16-19) and they are filled with fears (vv.20-23). For all their prosperity, those who are ungodly live without hope, have no assurance of God watching over them and have to be fearful.

True Wisdom

Job said that humans dig for gold and silver and gems (28:1-11). But where is wisdom to be found? (v.12). In his opinion while they live on earth humans lack appreciation for wisdom (v.13) and there is no place for them to buy wisdom from (vv.15-19). Only God has all wisdom and knowledge, and the power to direct creation.

God understands the way to it

and He alone knows where it dwells,

for He views the ends of the earth

and sees everything under the heavens.

When He established the force of the wind

and measured out the waters,

when He made a decree for the rain

and a path for the thunderstorm,

then He looked at wisdom and appraised it;

He confirmed it and tested it (vv.23-27).

Humans must learn the great lesson of life that true wisdom begins in the fear of the Lord. God is the point of reference for all life. When we forget that, we mess up our lives, because our lives have got out of alignment at the centre.

[God] looked at wisdom and appraised it;

He confirmed it and tested it.

And He said to all people,

‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,

and to shun evil is understanding’. (vv. 27-28, NIVI).

When the wisdom of God is embraced, life is filled with His blessings. Job gratefully acknowledged that God had always been there in his life. He recalled

• God’s protection: How I long for the months gone by,

for the days when God watched over me (29:2)

Job had led a charmed life because God oversaw him. Nothing harmful

touched him because of God’s protection of him.

• God’s guidance: When His lamp shone upon my head

and by His light I walked through darkness! (v.3).

When at times Job was unable to see the way forward, God had shined

His light on Job, dispelling ignorance, confusion and foolishness.

• God’s presence: Oh, for the days when I was in my prime,

when God’s intimate friendship blessed my house,

when the Almighty was still with me

and my children were around me (vv.4-5).

Job exulted in the fact that God had not merely looked on from the outside. God had got intimately involved with him and his family. God was their friend.

• God’s abundance: When my path was drenched with cream

and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil. (v.6).

God brought the blessings of His presence. God doesn’t merely provide

enough. He provided more than enough. Job’s life was soaked with the cream

and the oil of God’s provision.

What Job enjoyed in his life we too can when God is there in our lives. His protection, guidance, presence and abundance are the portions of all who commit themselves to God.

True Goodness

The man Job continued to assert that he was as good as his reputation was (v.11) Job knew the meaning of true goodness. As evidence of his goodness he said that he was known to

• Rescue the poor (v.12)
• Oppose oppressors (v.17)
• Comfort people (v.25)

That is what it means to be good. It is not enough to not be an evildoer. Most people are not cruel to others. But they are indifferent witnesses to cruelty and injustice. They claim what could be called “negative goodness”. They say, “I didn’t do it. I’m not guilty.” But they should also say, “I allowed wrong to be done by my silence. I thought it was none of my business.”

Even when injustice touches another, it touches us. On October 18, 1954, Pastor Martin Niemoller said it well, “The Nazis first came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak up, because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Trade Unionists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I was a Protestant, so I didn’t speak up. Then they came for me…by that time there was no one to speak up for anyone.”

We need to be positively good. That involves counteracting what is wrong and evil. We need to be proactively good and not allow evil to thrive because of our failure to fight it. Hundreds of movies have been produced depicting the failure of the public to get involved when a few evil persons pick on one person or a minority. Self-interest and self-preservation are what prevents those who know right from standing up for what is right. God has given us this story of Job to show us what true goodness is.

The Judgement of God

Chapter 30 of the book is a summary of Job’s troubles: he said that even social outcasts harassed him (vv.1-15), his physical condition distressed him (vv.16-19), and most of all he felt alienated by God’s silence (vv.20-31). God didn’t answer him (v.20). It felt as if God had ignored this and gone to the aid of others in trouble (v.25). So when he hoped that something good would happen, evil came (v.26) and the music in his life was tuned to mourning (v.31)

Job said that he had made a covenant not to use his eyes lustfully (v.1). Our Lord said that lust is nothing less than adultery in the heart (Matt.5:28). The Apostle John warned in his first letter that lust is of the world and will not tend toward godliness (2:15-16).

When Job said that he guarded against lust, he was saying that he didn’t live his life focussed on pleasure at the cost of purity. He recognised that God rewarded righteousness and punished wrongdoing. He lived his life in the awareness that God watched over every step he took

What would be my portion from God above,

and my heritage from the Almighty on high?

Does not calamity befall the unrighteous,

and disaster the workers of iniquity?

Does not He see my ways,

and number all my steps? (31:2-4, NRSV).

Job affirmed his innocence by placing himself under a curse. Almost throughout chapter 31, Job’s speech is full of statements that are conditional: “If…let… If…then…” By invoking curses on himself, Job not only affirmed his righteousness, but challenged his friends to find him guilty.

• If he was dishonest…(v.5)

– let God weigh [judge]…(v.6)

• If he had strayed from God’s righteous ways (v.7)

– let others reap benefits (v.8)

• If his heart was enticed by another woman (v.9)

– let his wife be drawn to another man (v.10)

– it will end in shame, destruction and fruitlessness (vv.11-12)

• If he was unfair to his servants (v.13)
  • how could he face God (v.14)
  • who has made all equal (v.15)
• If he was unkind to the poor and raised his hand against them (vv.16-21)

let the uplifted arm be broken (v.22)

• • the fear of God prevented him from such cruelty (v.23)
• If he trusted wealth (vv.24-25)
• If he was idolatrous (vv.26-27)
  • they would be sins to be judged
  • it would be unfaithfulness to God (v.28)
• If he had been malicious toward an enemy (vv.29-30)
• If he had kept servants and strangers deprived of food and shelter (vv.31-32)
• If he had covered his sin to keep up appearances before others (vv. 33-34)
• If he had exploited his workers
  • let his land produce thorns and weeds instead of a rich harvest (v.40)

Job said that he had made his defence before God and that he expected to hear from God. If there was anything against him, let it be made clear in writing giving him an opportunity to answer the charges as a person who is honourable (vv. 35-37). With this speech Job ended all he had to say about his case (v.40).

Job was a man of integrity who was so sure of his character that he was willing to place himself under a curse while presenting himself for examination. Dare we imitate Job and say to God, “If You find me lacking in integrity and commitment, let me be accursed”?

In this last speech what Job declared to God was:

• Yours is the Power

[All that we witness] are but the outer fringe of His works;

how faint the whisper we hear of Him!

Who then can understand the thunder of His power? (26:14)

• Yours is the Wisdom

The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,

and to shun evil is understanding (28:28)

• Yours is the Judgement

What will I do when God confronts me?

What will I answer when called to account? (31:14; see also vv.4, 6, 35)

Chapter 14: GOD IS JUST

When I came to Lucknow as a pastor, I was only 25 years old. Every member in the church was older than me. (Children and youth are not counted in the membership of the church for all practical purposes such as voting, management, fund raising, etc). I felt that the older people didn’t give me the respect due my position as their pastor. It could have been just my own feelings of inadequacy and not their fault at all. Anyway, I grew a beard to appear older.

In the story of Job, we suddenly come across a new character. Elihu is a young man. He said that because of his youth he had kept quiet all this time. There is an element of mystery about him. We are not given any hint about when Elihu had joined the group. After he spoke, neither Job nor his friends responded. God did not refer to him when God made His speech. When the young man finished speaking there is no further reference to him, even when God deals with the others.

It has been suggested that Elihu’s speech is just an interpolation. There was no such character. Some scribe just added him and his speech to the book of Job at some later date. That is however not a satisfactory explanation.

Some commentators view Elihu as an upstart. They say that this is why God ignored him. God refused to acknowledge him because of his conceitedness.

On the other hand, God’s silence could be regarded as a case of God not rebuking Elihu. Whereas the others had to seek forgiveness for what they had said about God and Job, this man was not required to do so.

E. W. Bullinger (1837-1913), the man behind The Companion Bible, in his notes in that early study Bible, designated Elihu as “the Mediator”, who heralds Yahweh’s ministry. Matthew Henry prefacing his comments on Elihu’s speeches said, “The stage is clear, it is therefore seasonable for a moderator to interpose, and Elihu is the man.” At the end of Elihu’s speeches, Henry said, “In most disputes the strife is who shall have the last word. Job’s friends had in this controversy, tamely yielded to Job, and then he to Elihu.”

The key to understanding Elihu is in 32:2-3: “But Elihu…became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet had condemned him”. The footnote says that there is another reading that says “He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Job, and so had condemned God”.

What their arguments had achieved was tantamount to condemning God in Job’s eyes.

In summary, Elihu’s concern was to affirm God’s honour, while that of Job’s friends had been to defend their traditions and Job’s to defend himself. Both Job and his friends try to answer the question about why the things that happened to Job did happen, and all say God is the cause/reason for all that had happened. The sum total of what Job’s friends said was, “God is punishing you.” The summary of Job’s reply was, “Then God is not fair.” Elihu will be observed to be saying, as it were, “Now, wait a minute. Ask yourself this question: ‘What is God really like?’ ”

Elihu’s speech starts with 24 verses to claim his right to speak (32:6-33:7). Essentially he argued that wisdom comes from God, not with age (vv.8-9), and moreover he had the personal qualifications of a right heart (33:3), being made and inspired by God’s Spirit (v.4), he shared their humanity, and was like them (vv.6-7).

God’s Graciousness

Job had pleaded, “I’m innocent…but God is hostile toward me” (33:9-11). To this Elihu’s answer was that God is so great (v.12) that He is not answerable to humans (v.13). However God’s greatness includes His graciousness and so He does speak to humans in two ways, though they don’t usually discern the second way (v.14).

God speaks through visions and voices (vv.15-16). God’s purpose is neither to fascinate those who have such experiences nor to set them apart as specially blessed persons. When God speaks to people it is to turn them from sin (v.17) and save their souls (v.18).

God also speaks through His chastening in people’s lives (vv.19-22). Pain (v.19), loss of appetite (v.20), the body wasting away (v.21) and near death experiences (v.22), are all messengers from God to redirect our lives.

Elihu said that what a person needs is a mediator (v.23), who offers a ransom for his or her redemption (v.24). Then people experience healing (v.25), restoration (v.26), and redemption (v.28), and come to the realisation that God has not dealt with them as they deserve (v.27).

The kind of mediator Elihu described came only centuries later in the person of our Lord Jesus. Elihu, like Job, anticipated the Incarnation and said of God that He will act in His redemptive ways again and again, to save people and let His light shine upon their lives (vv.29-30). Elihu and Job were in harmony in their thinking. Job’s other friends didn’t ever wish for a mediator. They just regarded God as high and mighty—someone to be frightened of. But both Elihu and Job felt that there needed to be a way that God could be brought closer to people.

God’s Justice

Job had said,

I’m innocent but God denies me justice (34:5).

Elihu countered this by saying that when Job regarded good behaviour as unprofitable, he was no better than those who are evil (vv.8-9). What kind of judge is God?

God’s judgement is according to character

Far be it from God to do evil,

from the Almighty to do wrong.

He repays people for what they have done;

He brings upon them what their conduct deserves.

It is unthinkable that God would do wrong,

that the Almighty would pervert justice.(vv.10-12, NIVI).

What Elihu said was similar to what Abraham had said to God when he learnt that God intended to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah where his nephew Lot lived. Abraham said, “Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen 18:25). God cannot do wrong because there is no evil in Him. It would go against the very nature of God.

God’s judgement is sovereign

No one appointed Him judge. He is the Judge—the self-appointed Judge—in charge of the whole world (Job 34:13). If He decided to withdraw the right to live from people they would cease to draw breath (vv.14-15). Kings and nobles are not above His judgement (v.17) because He does not practise partiality that would favour the rich and the powerful (vv.18-20). God knows everything. Nothing is hidden from Him. He doesn’t even have to hold an enquiry to discover the truth (vv.21-24). He does punish wickedness and oppression (vv.25-30), though He takes His time in meting out justice (v.29). The Bible says that God delays His judgement to give people time to repent (Rom. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9). He is judge for all nations and every individual (v.29). In the end, He does prevent wicked people from derailing His kingdom (v.30). People won’t be allowed to mock God’s judgement (vv. 31-33, 37).

God’s judgement is transcendent

Job expected God’s justification but at the same time asked about the profitability of leading a sinless life (35:1-3). God is great and is unaffected by a person’s behaviour, whether good or bad (vv.5-7). A person’s goodness or wickedness affects only other humans (v.8). If we do well we do not benefit God. If we do evil we do not harm Him. God is transcendent. He is not enmeshed in the fabric of our world

God’s Loving Care

Next Elihu reflected on the question of why do cries for justice go unanswered, when God is supposed to be almighty (v.9). Elihu said that people needed to realise first of all that there’s more to the life of suffering than just the reality of pain that tortures us. God has made humans capable of singing during the dark night of the soul. Instead of asking “Why” the better question is “My God where are you” (vv.10-11). On the other hand, God will not answer prayers that are vain or do not acknowledge Him (vv.12-13) and He does not feel the need to refute false accusations levelled against Him (vv.14-15).

Elihu asked for more time to show Job what God was really like (36:1-2). He reiterated that God is just. “I will ascribe justice to my Maker” (v.3).

God is all-powerful but caring (v.5). While the Lord Jesus epitomises the love and compassion of God, both the Old and New Testaments show that God is kind toward humankind. Their cries reach His ears. His heart is moved and His hand reaches out to touch, comfort, strengthen and uplift.

God has absolutely no interest in protecting the wicked (v.6a). There is definitely no evidence that God is partial to the wicked.

God gives the afflicted their rights (v.6b). The Bible shows us that God has laws to protect the poor from oppression and to roll back their poverty by cancellation of debts. He is the original author of “affirmative action.” He does watch over the righteous (v.7) and He does reward the righteous (v.7b)

From talking about God’s character, Elihu urges all who would listen to him that when in trouble, they should look to God in order to go below the surface and discover meaning.

• God will show the cause of affliction (vv.8-9). Our suffering is of course not always caused by our own sinfulness. Sometimes it is consequential to life in a fallen world and at other times our personal sins are at the root of our troubles. We need spiritual discernment to be able to know why we suffer.
• When God corrects people, He brings blessing into their lives (vv.10-11). Suffering is painful, but when God is allowing it, He will also make it work for our good. “In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28).
• Refusing correction brings punishment and misery (vv.12-14). We will still suffer, but without being benefited.
• God is present in our suffering. This is something very precious about suffering. God’s deliverance and His message come to us in the thick of life’s troubles, miseries and anxieties.

Those who suffer He delivers in their suffering;

He speaks to them in their affliction. (v.15).

• God’s love for us is revealed in our suffering.. Elihu eloquently said that God woos us in our suffering. He is romancing our souls (v.16). Parents love all their children equally, but when one child is sick or has a handicap, there is an extra tenderness that they manifest toward that poor little one. So when we hurt, we should take heart because extra tender loving care is flowing from God to us at that very moment of trouble.
• Suffering is God’s road to freedom and plenty (v.16b). In our humanness, we will be tempted to escape pain and suffering. Corruption and wealth will seem more attractive (vv.17-20). We need to be careful to avoid ending up with having an attitude that shows a preference for the pleasures of evil rather than the affliction of the godly (v.21).

God’s Power

Elihu’s final affirmation is, “God is exalted in His power” (v.22). This means that we can neither tell Him what to do nor evaluate His performance (v.23). Instead we are to extol Him (v.24). God is totally beyond human comprehension (v.26; 37:5). His power is displayed in so many ways in the created world.

• God sends refreshing and replenishing to all people (36:27-28). He is everyone’s God and gives rain for the benefit of all. God is not a tribal god who is the sole magical possession of a small group.
• God rules over all nations. He gives everyone food (v.31). He supplies everyone. Everyone everywhere belongs to God and He takes care of all His creation.
• God is the author of all phenomena in the created world. He is behind thunder and lightning, rain and snow, gentle rain and stormy weather (36:29-30,32-37:18): in His sovereignty God can use rain to punish people or show them His love (37:13).
• God’s light is brighter than all things. He is brighter than the sun, which no one can look upon (vv.19-21). God is beyond our comprehension, His power beyond measurement, and His justice beyond violation (v.23):

The Almighty—we cannot find Him;

He is exalted in power

And He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness (NASU)

There can be no doubt that Elihu had an exalted view of who God is and what He does in our world.

All that Elihu said seems to be like fanfare heralding God’s arrival on the scene of the debate. Elihu was simply giving an extended introduction of the Main Speaker, God.

Elihu closed his speech by virtually announcing, “Here comes God!”:

Out of the north He comes in golden splendour;

God comes in awesome majesty (v.22).

Chapter 14: GOD IS JUST

When I came to Lucknow as a pastor, I was only 25 years old. Every member in the church was older than me. (Children and youth are not counted in the membership of the church for all practical purposes such as voting, management, fund raising, etc). I felt that the older people didn’t give me the respect due my position as their pastor. It could have been just my own feelings of inadequacy and not their fault at all. Anyway, I grew a beard to appear older.

In the story of Job, we suddenly come across a new character. Elihu is a young man. He said that because of his youth he had kept quiet all this time. There is an element of mystery about him. We are not given any hint about when Elihu had joined the group. After he spoke, neither Job nor his friends responded. God did not refer to him when God made His speech. When the young man finished speaking there is no further reference to him, even when God deals with the others.

It has been suggested that Elihu’s speech is just an interpolation. There was no such character. Some scribe just added him and his speech to the book of Job at some later date. That is however not a satisfactory explanation.

Some commentators view Elihu as an upstart. They say that this is why God ignored him. God refused to acknowledge him because of his conceitedness.

On the other hand, God’s silence could be regarded as a case of God not rebuking Elihu. Whereas the others had to seek forgiveness for what they had said about God and Job, this man was not required to do so.

E. W. Bullinger (1837-1913), the man behind The Companion Bible, in his notes in that early study Bible, designated Elihu as “the Mediator”, who heralds Yahweh’s ministry. Matthew Henry prefacing his comments on Elihu’s speeches said, “The stage is clear, it is therefore seasonable for a moderator to interpose, and Elihu is the man.” At the end of Elihu’s speeches, Henry said, “In most disputes the strife is who shall have the last word. Job’s friends had in this controversy, tamely yielded to Job, and then he to Elihu.”

The key to understanding Elihu is in 32:2-3: “But Elihu…became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet had condemned him”. The footnote says that there is another reading that says “He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Job, and so had condemned God”.

What their arguments had achieved was tantamount to condemning God in Job’s eyes.

In summary, Elihu’s concern was to affirm God’s honour, while that of Job’s friends had been to defend their traditions and Job’s to defend himself. Both Job and his friends try to answer the question about why the things that happened to Job did happen, and all say God is the cause/reason for all that had happened. The sum total of what Job’s friends said was, “God is punishing you.” The summary of Job’s reply was, “Then God is not fair.” Elihu will be observed to be saying, as it were, “Now, wait a minute. Ask yourself this question: ‘What is God really like?’ ”

Elihu’s speech starts with 24 verses to claim his right to speak (32:6-33:7). Essentially he argued that wisdom comes from God, not with age (vv.8-9), and moreover he had the personal qualifications of a right heart (33:3), being made and inspired by God’s Spirit (v.4), he shared their humanity, and was like them (vv.6-7).

God’s Graciousness

Job had pleaded, “I’m innocent…but God is hostile toward me” (33:9-11). To this Elihu’s answer was that God is so great (v.12) that He is not answerable to humans (v.13). However God’s greatness includes His graciousness and so He does speak to humans in two ways, though they don’t usually discern the second way (v.14).

God speaks through visions and voices (vv.15-16). God’s purpose is neither to fascinate those who have such experiences nor to set them apart as specially blessed persons. When God speaks to people it is to turn them from sin (v.17) and save their souls (v.18).

God also speaks through His chastening in people’s lives (vv.19-22). Pain (v.19), loss of appetite (v.20), the body wasting away (v.21) and near death experiences (v.22), are all messengers from God to redirect our lives.

Elihu said that what a person needs is a mediator (v.23), who offers a ransom for his or her redemption (v.24). Then people experience healing (v.25), restoration (v.26), and redemption (v.28), and come to the realisation that God has not dealt with them as they deserve (v.27).

The kind of mediator Elihu described came only centuries later in the person of our Lord Jesus. Elihu, like Job, anticipated the Incarnation and said of God that He will act in His redemptive ways again and again, to save people and let His light shine upon their lives (vv.29-30). Elihu and Job were in harmony in their thinking. Job’s other friends didn’t ever wish for a mediator. They just regarded God as high and mighty—someone to be frightened of. But both Elihu and Job felt that there needed to be a way that God could be brought closer to people.

God’s Justice

Job had said,

I’m innocent but God denies me justice (34:5).

Elihu countered this by saying that when Job regarded good behaviour as unprofitable, he was no better than those who are evil (vv.8-9). What kind of judge is God?

God’s judgement is according to character

Far be it from God to do evil,

from the Almighty to do wrong.

He repays people for what they have done;

He brings upon them what their conduct deserves.

It is unthinkable that God would do wrong,

that the Almighty would pervert justice.(vv.10-12, NIVI).

What Elihu said was similar to what Abraham had said to God when he learnt that God intended to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah where his nephew Lot lived. Abraham said, “Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen 18:25). God cannot do wrong because there is no evil in Him. It would go against the very nature of God.

God’s judgement is sovereign

No one appointed Him judge. He is the Judge—the self-appointed Judge—in charge of the whole world (Job 34:13). If He decided to withdraw the right to live from people they would cease to draw breath (vv.14-15). Kings and nobles are not above His judgement (v.17) because He does not practise partiality that would favour the rich and the powerful (vv.18-20). God knows everything. Nothing is hidden from Him. He doesn’t even have to hold an enquiry to discover the truth (vv.21-24). He does punish wickedness and oppression (vv.25-30), though He takes His time in meting out justice (v.29). The Bible says that God delays His judgement to give people time to repent (Rom. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9). He is judge for all nations and every individual (v.29). In the end, He does prevent wicked people from derailing His kingdom (v.30). People won’t be allowed to mock God’s judgement (vv. 31-33, 37).

God’s judgement is transcendent

Job expected God’s justification but at the same time asked about the profitability of leading a sinless life (35:1-3). God is great and is unaffected by a person’s behaviour, whether good or bad (vv.5-7). A person’s goodness or wickedness affects only other humans (v.8). If we do well we do not benefit God. If we do evil we do not harm Him. God is transcendent. He is not enmeshed in the fabric of our world

God’s Loving Care

Next Elihu reflected on the question of why do cries for justice go unanswered, when God is supposed to be almighty (v.9). Elihu said that people needed to realise first of all that there’s more to the life of suffering than just the reality of pain that tortures us. God has made humans capable of singing during the dark night of the soul. Instead of asking “Why” the better question is “My God where are you” (vv.10-11). On the other hand, God will not answer prayers that are vain or do not acknowledge Him (vv.12-13) and He does not feel the need to refute false accusations levelled against Him (vv.14-15).

Elihu asked for more time to show Job what God was really like (36:1-2). He reiterated that God is just. “I will ascribe justice to my Maker” (v.3).

God is all-powerful but caring (v.5). While the Lord Jesus epitomises the love and compassion of God, both the Old and New Testaments show that God is kind toward humankind. Their cries reach His ears. His heart is moved and His hand reaches out to touch, comfort, strengthen and uplift.

God has absolutely no interest in protecting the wicked (v.6a). There is definitely no evidence that God is partial to the wicked.

God gives the afflicted their rights (v.6b). The Bible shows us that God has laws to protect the poor from oppression and to roll back their poverty by cancellation of debts. He is the original author of “affirmative action.” He does watch over the righteous (v.7) and He does reward the righteous (v.7b)

From talking about God’s character, Elihu urges all who would listen to him that when in trouble, they should look to God in order to go below the surface and discover meaning.

• God will show the cause of affliction (vv.8-9). Our suffering is of course not always caused by our own sinfulness. Sometimes it is consequential to life in a fallen world and at other times our personal sins are at the root of our troubles. We need spiritual discernment to be able to know why we suffer.
• When God corrects people, He brings blessing into their lives (vv.10-11). Suffering is painful, but when God is allowing it, He will also make it work for our good. “In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28).
• Refusing correction brings punishment and misery (vv.12-14). We will still suffer, but without being benefited.
• God is present in our suffering. This is something very precious about suffering. God’s deliverance and His message come to us in the thick of life’s troubles, miseries and anxieties.

Those who suffer He delivers in their suffering;

He speaks to them in their affliction. (v.15).

• God’s love for us is revealed in our suffering.. Elihu eloquently said that God woos us in our suffering. He is romancing our souls (v.16). Parents love all their children equally, but when one child is sick or has a handicap, there is an extra tenderness that they manifest toward that poor little one. So when we hurt, we should take heart because extra tender loving care is flowing from God to us at that very moment of trouble.
• Suffering is God’s road to freedom and plenty (v.16b). In our humanness, we will be tempted to escape pain and suffering. Corruption and wealth will seem more attractive (vv.17-20). We need to be careful to avoid ending up with having an attitude that shows a preference for the pleasures of evil rather than the affliction of the godly (v.21).

God’s Power

Elihu’s final affirmation is, “God is exalted in His power” (v.22). This means that we can neither tell Him what to do nor evaluate His performance (v.23). Instead we are to extol Him (v.24). God is totally beyond human comprehension (v.26; 37:5). His power is displayed in so many ways in the created world.

• God sends refreshing and replenishing to all people (36:27-28). He is everyone’s God and gives rain for the benefit of all. God is not a tribal god who is the sole magical possession of a small group.
• God rules over all nations. He gives everyone food (v.31). He supplies everyone. Everyone everywhere belongs to God and He takes care of all His creation.
• God is the author of all phenomena in the created world. He is behind thunder and lightning, rain and snow, gentle rain and stormy weather (36:29-30,32-37:18): in His sovereignty God can use rain to punish people or show them His love (37:13).
• God’s light is brighter than all things. He is brighter than the sun, which no one can look upon (vv.19-21). God is beyond our comprehension, His power beyond measurement, and His justice beyond violation (v.23):

The Almighty—we cannot find Him;

He is exalted in power

And He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness (NASU)

There can be no doubt that Elihu had an exalted view of who God is and what He does in our world.

All that Elihu said seems to be like fanfare heralding God’s arrival on the scene of the debate. Elihu was simply giving an extended introduction of the Main Speaker, God.

Elihu closed his speech by virtually announcing, “Here comes God!”:

Out of the north He comes in golden splendour;

God comes in awesome majesty (v.22).

Chapter 15: IN TOUCH WITH GOD

Keeping in touch through letters is a thing of the past nowadays. People resort to the annual ritual of sending greeting cards that have beautiful words pretending to be the feelings of our hearts. The occasional phone call has replaced letters even between parents and adult sons and daughters, and between brothers and sisters. Form letters and general emails that don’t address anyone personally are mailed en masse. (When we ourselves don’t read such mail, why do we expect others will?) That encompasses all of this generation’s efforts at communication. But the need to be in touch with others presses in on us in a crisis situation. We need to feel that someone is there for us.

The book of Job is an account of one man’s cry from the heart for God to be in touch with him, to talk to him and give him some explanations about all that was going on in his life.

The book tells us that the Lord allowed Job to talk a lot of nonsense. When humans can’t make sense of pain and suffering, tragedy and heartache, distress and sorrow we are capable of behaving senselessly and speaking foolishly. When we hurt, sometimes we resent others not feeling hurt, and say hurtful things because we want others to hurt with us.

When we behave this way, those who love us, overlook our bad behaviour and allow us to hurt them. They make allowances and excuses for us. “It’s not really you. It’s just the grief in you that is saying that sort of thing.”

Right at the outset of the story, God had said of Job that there was no one on earth who was like Job. He was blameless and righteous, God-fearing and shunned evil.

Satan countering God said that Job was good only because of benefits from God. In the course of Job’s debates with his friends, he had said some things that seemed to prove Satan right. However God refused to judge Job on the basis of what he had said under the strain of trying to prove his innocence.

As God began to “answer” Job, He started by saying as it were to Job, “What you said in the heat of the argument can’t be really you. Be a man. Let the real Job stand up and answer some questions I want to ask.”

Who is this that darkens my counsel

with words without knowledge?

Brace yourself like a man;

I will question you,

and you shall answer me. (38:2-3)

In spite of all that Job had said in defiance and anger, the Lord did not change His attitude toward Job. Friends are like that. They don’t give up on you. They make excuses for your behaviour. They remain faithful. They go on loving their hurting, angry friends. “Love is patient, love is kind…It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…” (1 Cor.13:4,7-8). God was Job’s truest friend. The Lord is the truest friend we can have today. As the songwriter Joseph Scriven said,

What a Friend we have in Jesus

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit,

O what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged,

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful

Who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness,

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy-laden,

Cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Saviour, still our refuge –

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?

Take it to the Lord in prayer;

In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,

Thou wilt find a solace there.

The Lord answers every cry of the heart—even our nonsensical ones. His Spirit reinterprets the nonsense to make sense of it. “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will” (Rom. 8:26-27).

Even though the Lord answers every cry, His answers are not always what we would like to hear. Some people think that only when God says, “Yes!” is a prayer answered. They say that “No!” can never be an answer to prayer. It has been denied. That is not correct. While the prayer is denied, it has been answered. Prayer is petitioning God. When you petition a judge in a court of law, he or she may grant or deny the petition. Either way, an answer to the petition is delivered.

We need to understand that prayer is not merely the sum total of the words of our petitions.

Prayer is first of all a relationship.

It is the evidence of there being a relationship between petitioner and benefactor. We are able to pray only because we are able to believe that

• God is there at the other end—the receiving end of our praying.
• We have been given a basis for praying, a right to go to God and petition Him.

This is what underlies prayer. Without this belief we would not be able to pray. When we pray, we affirm belief in God and that the One we pray to is a loving, caring God who delights to hear us and to respond to us. We pray with faith and assurance because we know God is approachable in the name of our Lord Jesus.

Prayer is communication.

This follows the notion that prayer is first of all a relationship. Where there is a relationship there must be communication. Where there is a lack of communication there can be no relationship. Communication is of course a two-way experience. In prayer you are essentially discussing your case with God. You are sharing what is on your heart. You will be able to do that only when you can feel and know that

• God hears
• God understands
• God cares

Prayer is submission to God’s will.

It’s not about wanting your way, but desiring what God wants. When our Lord taught His disciples to pray, He taught them to say,

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done.

In every age and in all places all over the world those who are disciples will pray

Your kingdom, not my empire, be built.

Your will, not mine, be done.

That is the disciple’s prayer, because he or she has learnt it from the Master

who prayed thrice, “Father all things are possible with You. Take this cup from me.

Yet, not my will, but Yours be done” (Mk. 14:36, paraphrased). Was our Lord answered? Yes. “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission” (Heb.5:7). He drank the cup because He was answered. When He finished praying, He knew He had to drain the cup of suffering, shame and sorrow.

The Apostle Paul prayed for a thorn in his life to be removed. He prayed not once, but thrice. Just like the Master did. What Paul received in answer was not what he had prayed for, but he was answered. God said, “My grace is sufficient. My power is seen in fullness in your weakness” (2 Cor.12:7-10, paraphrased).

I believe in miracles. I believe God performed miracles in the past, performs them now and will go on performing them. Believing that, Ishaaq and my family prayed that even though the preliminary diagnosis indicated that our son had cancer, the biopsy would miraculously reveal the cancer gone. We prayed that he would not have to go through chemotherapy. When there was a delay in the pathology lab giving the biopsy report, we hoped that God had confused the doctors by discovering that there was no cancer. The day I preached the message of this chapter, Ishaaq had already had one dose of chemotherapy. After monitoring his response to the first dose, he was to get the second dose three weeks after the first. I preached that day, “I pray that the doctors will discover that just one dose has healed him. Am I being unrealistic? No, I am a realist, and that is why I pray this. I pray this way because I believe God is able, because I believe God does miracles. God is able to do this. But if He does not, it still does not change anything. It does not change the fact of God’s power to do miracles. That is what those three young men facing King Nebuchadnezzar’s threat said, ‘Our God whom we serve is able to save us from this fire. But even if He will not, O king we will not bow to you. We serve only God’ (Dan. 3:16-18, paraphrased). ”

When we are in the presence of God’s omnipotence, there is only one prayer we can pray: “Thy will be done.” And God will answer. You will be made aware that

• God is there for you
• God has heard you
• God understands you
• God cares for you

You will learn that God’s grace is sufficient.

Chapter 16: The Great Inquisition

Sometimes we say, “When I get to heaven, I’m going to ask God…” No, we won’t. In the presence of God there will be no more questions. Rather, pray that God doesn’t question you.

Job had been saying, “I want an audience with God. I want some answers.” He did get his audience with God, but when he did, he didn’t ask God any questions. Instead God was the One who asked all the questions.

God’s first question was, “Where were you at the birth of creation?”

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?

Tell me, if you understand.

Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!

Who stretched a measuring line across it? (38:4-5)

God’s Design

God asked Job whether he knew who gave the earth its “dimensions”. Hugh Ross writes that the earth’s position in relation to the sun, the moon and the stars is remarkable.

• If the earth was further from the sun, it would be too cool for a stable water cycle, if closer, too warm.
• If the tilt of the earth’s axis was greater or lesser the surface temperature differences would be too great.
• If the magnetic field was stronger, electro-magnetic storms would be too severe, if weaker, the ozone shield and life would be inadequately protected from stellar and solar radiation.
• If the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere was greater, a runaway greenhouse effect would develop, if lesser, plants would be unable to maintain photosynthesis.
• If the water vapour level in the atmosphere was greater, a runaway greenhouse effect would develop, if lesser, rainfall would be insufficient for advanced life.
• If the gravitational interaction with the moon was greater, there would be tidal effects on the oceans and atmosphere, and the rotational period would be too severe, if lesser, it would cause climatic instabilities and the magnetic field would be weak. (The Creator and The Cosmos, Navpress, 1993, pp.128-132).

Many scientists have had to declare that the universe shows clear evidence of “intelligent design.” Top notch university presses now publish books on the subject. For instance, William Dembski’s The Design Inference was published in 1998 by Cambridge University Press. Many scientists at the Discovery Institute’s Centre for the Renewal of Science and Culture in Seattle are people who believe in intelligent design. Richard Dawkins, a Darwinian, in his book The Blind Watchmaker defined biology as “the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose…What makes the question so compelling today is that design is no longer found only in living things but also in the physical universe itself. In cosmology, the so-called anthropic principle tells us the universe itself is finely tuned to support life…Astronomer Fred Hoyle, though an atheist, states the implications bluntly: ‘A common-sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with the physics’ ” (Nancy Pearcey, “We’re Not in Kansas Anymore”, Christianity Today, May 22, 2000, pp. 43-49).

God’s Control

God’s questions are interesting. God asked Job:

• Can you tell how the mighty sea is confined? (vv.8-11)
• Can you command time? (v.12)
• Can you comprehend nature? (vv.16-30)
• Can you direct the stars? (vv.31-33)
• Can you control the climate? (vv.34-38)
• Can you care for creatures in the wild? (38:39-39:18, 26-30)
• Can you give animals their strength? (39:19-25)
• Can you correct the Almighty? That is, can you improve God’s work? (40:1-2)

The last question is significant. The moment people are critical of what God has done or is doing, they are as it were claiming to be able to do a better job than God. The right answer to all of God’s questions is, “No. We can’t do any of these things. Only you can do all this and more.”

That’s what Job said at this point:

I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers?

I will put my hand over my mouth in silence.

I have said too much already.

I have nothing more to say (vv.4-5, NLT).

The Lord God then resumed His questioning:

• Would you discredit me to justify yourself? (v.8)

Humans don’t realise the enormity of this, but blame God for the eventualities of life in a Fallen World (the consequences of the rebellious choice made by our first parents) or for the consequences of our own faulty choices and decisions.

• Are you godlike? (vv.9-14)

This question takes humans back to the Garden of Eden. There our first parents wanted to be like God. That is what led to the Fall. God said to Job that if he thought he was like God, then he should display the power of God.

• Can you tame the behemoth (either hippopotamus or elephant)? (vv.15-24)
• Can you tame the leviathan (crocodile)? (41:1-17)

The Dragon

The whole of chapter 41 is about the leviathan. While verses 1 to 17 could well describe the crocodile, verses 19 to 34 talk of a fire-breathing creature. Ancient peoples had myths and legends about such a creature as the dragon. But is a dragon entirely a mythical creature? Isaiah 27:1 clearly identifies Leviathan as the twisting serpent, the dragon. The myths about dragons point to belief in the Great Serpent, the Devil.

God concluded what He had to say to Job about the Leviathan with these words:

Nothing on earth is his equal—

a creature without fear.

He looks down on all that are haughty;

he is king over all that are proud. (vv.33-34)

That has to be a description of Satan. Yes, the Devil is afraid of no other creature. But in the end that is all he is: nothing but a creature. He did not exist always and when he came into being he did not do so on his own. He owes his very existence to God. In spite of that, he is conceited and the king of all the proud. The Devil is shown in the Bible as the angel who wished to be as high as God.

You said in your heart,

‘I will ascend to heaven;

I will raise my throne above the stars of God;

I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,

on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.

I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High’ (Isa. 14:13-14).

In the pride of your heart you say, “I am a god;

I sit on the throne of a god…

Because you think you are wise, as wise as a god…

You were the model of perfection,

full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

You were in Eden, the garden of God…

You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you.

You were on the holy mount of God;

you walked among the fiery stones.

You were blameless in your way from the day you were created

till wickedness was found in you…

So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God,

and I expelled you, O guardian cherub…

Your heart became proud on account of your beauty,

and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendour.

So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.

By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries.

So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you,

and I reduced you to ashes on the ground

in the sight of all who were watching (Eze.28: 2, 6, 12-18).

When God described the Devil as the king of the proud, the Lord was giving Job a warning. God was saying, “Your debates have made you defiant toward God. Watch out that the Devil doesn’t become your king for he is the king of all who are proud.” That’s a warning to us too. Watch out that the Devil doesn’t take over your life and rule you because when you allow pride to find room in your life, you give the Devil, more than just room. You give him the throne.

God’s challenging questions confront Job with who God is:

• God is the Creator—He created animals, people, mammoths and the dragon
• God is the Caregiver—He cares even for creatures in the wild
• God is in Control—He controls sea and sun, the weather and the stars

Who is going to be king in your life? You have to choose between God and the Devil.

Chapter 17: God’s Servant Blessed

Do you experience a loss of faith when a loved one dies or property is lost or illness lays you low?

The story of Job is about how one man handled such losses of loved ones, material wealth, and personal health, along with false accusations and condemnations. It tells us that the man experienced distress and doubt, but through it all he remained committed to God.

Looking back on what we have seen in the life of Job we see that Job’s prayer was not for restoration of health and wealth. Rather it was for an audience with God. He desired only to continue in relationship with God. In the final analysis, as we saw earlier, prayer consists of a relationship with God, communication with the Lord and submission to the Almighty.

God answered Job’s prayer for a relationship. He came to Job and dialogued with him.

Our Lord Jesus is Emmanuel—God with us (Matt.1:23). The Lord promised to always be with His disciples wherever they went (28:20) and be present when His people gather in prayer (18:20). As believers we are assured that God will answer us when we call on Him. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him” (1 Jn. 5:14-15). We have this promise in God’s Word, “Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps 37:4). The Lord Jesus promised all His disciples that God would do whatever they asked in His name (Jn. 14:13; 15:7,16).

When God in all His majesty meet with Job, his response was

I know that You can do all things;

no plan of Yours can be thwarted.

You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’

Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me to know.

You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;

I will question you,

and you shall answer me.’

My ears had heard of You

but now my eyes have seen You.

Therefore I despise myself

and repent in dust and ashes (42:2-6).

What Job said should be what we say to God at the end of all our doubts and questions:

• God, You are all powerful and can do all things
• Your will is sovereign and no one can stop You
• You cannot be comprehended by mere humans
• You are far greater than what I had thought
• You are worthy to receive my humble worship and total submission

The story began with God describing Job as “My servant Job” (1:8; 2:3). It ended with God once again pronouncing that Job was His servant. Four times God referred to “My servant Job”, while talking to Job’s friends who tried to prove that Job was no servant of God (vv.7-8).

The three friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar are judged. But God pronounced no judgement on Elihu, who rejected traditional thinking and did not at any time accuse Job of being an ungodly man.

God did not pass judgement on Job. He counted him righteous. God clearly let everyone know through the story of Job that doubting is allowed. God is not offended by our doubts. Our doubts and questions do not destroy our relationship with God. If our doubts are honest they are only the evidence of our search for truth.

Job’s story tells us that God doesn’t discourage or condemn doubts and questions about Him. Sometimes God will answer our questions with questions of His own. When He does that He is inviting us to think. The Lord wants us to love Him with our minds (Mk.12:30). If the mind is active, there will always be questions that arise. That is unavoidable. But raising doubts and asking questions should not be a way of avoiding issues. “Honest doubts” are never excuses for refusing to commit to God and obey Him. The one who has an honest doubt is one who honestly seeks answers. That shows that he or she thinks a lot of God.

In the end Job was appointed intercessor for his friends (vv.8-9). A person who has gone through suffering and grief is particularly suitable to serve as a comforter and intercessor for people.

The day after Ishaaq was diagnosed with cancer, I read in the course of my devotions, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Cor 1:3-4). The Lord was telling me that the whole family was in training for a special ministry to those wounded and hurting.

Our Lord is supremely the Intercessor for all people precisely because He suffered. “We do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Heb 4:15). Now as the High Priest who lives forever “He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.” (7:24-25).

The story ends with Job being restored. It seems like a fairy tale ending. But this is no fairy tale. Real sons and daughters died. Job could never have forgotten that. He could never think of them without a sense of loss and grief. But the grief is less because God restored him.

Over the years I’ve lost my father, my maternal grandparents, my mother, my father-in-love (Roshini’s dad), and my brother from my immediate family. I will always feel their absence whenever my thoughts turn toward them. Sometimes when I see old photographs, tears spring to my eyes, not because I feel sorry for them, but because I miss them. However there is no denying the comfort that God has given through precious memories of occasions of joy shared with these loved ones who have departed this life, and the deep assurance that they are alive with God. And the Lord has given me older believers who parent me, and younger ones who are brothers, sisters, sons and daughters to me. Sickness and death cannot diminish my family because they are all still there—though on the other side. And on this side the Lord has increased my family with even more new members so that I am comforted by their love and care.

APPENDIX:

PROVIDENTIAL DISAPPOINTMENTS

Why did God allow disappointment after disappointment? We thought that our son Ishaaq would get into a bachelor of technology programme in computers after finishing high school. That did not happen. Instead he went to St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, for a bachelor’s degree in maths. After he graduated, we thought that he would be able to do a master’s in computer application. Once again there was disappointment.

That year (1997) I had to leave the work that I had been doing for approximately 23 years. Changing jobs at 48 is frightening, and it was a traumatic experience for the whole family. At the end of that year, in the light of that experience I realised that God had kept Ishaaq from being selected for an educational course that would have taken him away from Lucknow. If he had been away, he would never have experienced or understood our family crisis and would have ever after been distanced from the family emotionally. As it was, we saw both Ishaaq and our daughter Elishba going through the trauma with us, sharing in our anxiety, and then learning to trust God instead of being disgruntled, resentful and resorting to unethical means of fighting the odds. It was an experience of growth for the whole family.

Ishaaq settled down to an eighteen months’ course in software development. At the end of it he scouted around for a job. A month went by. A family friend, working in a high position in a top-notch computer firm, offered to have him placed either in Chandigarh or Delhi, but Ishaaq insisted that the kind of work the company had to offer was not what he wanted to be doing. As parents, Roshini and I were getting anxious that he was letting job openings go. Yet we did not feel we could pressure him into taking up a job he did not like.

Meanwhile, through a course mate, he was called in to contract with a local firm to clear up some bugs in their programme. At the end of the contract period of two weeks they absorbed him. Six weeks later, another firm he had interviewed with and liked and hoped to work for, finally got back to him and hired him. Four months into the job, two months before the probation period was over, he was confirmed in the job and his salary doubled. We were all very happy. It was February 2000.

Then, wham! Ishaaq was diagnosed with lymphoma (cancer affecting the lymphatic system).

A Casual Conversation

In 1999, in the course of a conversation with Cyril Shipstone, a member of Grace Bible Church, I learnt that his son Rohit had had a minor surgery to remove a persistent abscess on one leg. It was done by a surgeon near their home. The surgery had taken about twenty minutes and he had gone home some minutes afterward. I then mentioned that Ishaaq had a little lump just under the skin at the back of his head. He had had it for years and felt no pain. I asked if it needed to be removed. Cyril asked us to just show it to the doctor and see what he says.

When the doctor saw it, he said, “Yes, we can remove it.” He simply assumed that that is what we wanted . He did not clarify whether it was absolutely necessary to take it out. It was a fat deposit—totally harmless. It could have stayed. So Ishaaq had this unnecessary surgery in June ’99.

In April of 2000, Ishaaq casually said to me, “You remember Papa, that thing that was removed from the back of my head? The same type of thing has come up, and I have it on both sides of my neck.” He then pointed to two small swollen lumps. I knew he was implying that there was no use taking out that sort of lump, because they would just keep coming up somewhere else. I took one look at the lumps and said, “They’re not the same. You have glands there and they are swollen for some reason. We’ll have to see a doctor and ask him about them.”

Thank God for that “unnecessary surgery”! A casual conversation, and a surgeon’s predilection to operate, were the only reasons Ishaaq talked about those lumps just then. He had no pain. There was no fever or any kind of indisposition. Without the earlier surgery having taken place, he would probably have never brought up the subject until the lumps began to bother him. God surely was in control, and what I thought of as unnecessary, turned out to be God’s way of laying the foundation for a conversation ten months later about the lumps that Ishaaq had discovered while shaving.

Cancer!

Assuming that there was some infection, our family doctor first prescribed some antibiotic medication. When that did not work, he ordered a pathological examination of fluid drawn from one of the lumps.

Next day Ishaaq picked up the report from the laboratory and I saw it when Roshini and I got back from a pastoral visit. I read the words “biopsy indicated for further confirmation.” Those words terrified me. Another word in the report was “lymphoma”. It was an unfamiliar word. I looked it up in the dictionary, and sure enough it was defined as “a form of cancer”.

I asked Ishaaq if he had read the report. He said, “No.”

I was happy that he had not bothered to read or understand the report. I told him that we would go and see the doctor in the morning.

Ishaaq said, “Let’s do that in the evening after I finish at work.”

“No” I said emphatically. “Your health takes priority over your job.”

Meanwhile Roshini was in the kitchen. She asked me what the report said. I just quietly passed it off saying that it was all in medical language and we will have to wait and see what the doctor has to say. I did not want her to spend the night in an agitated state.

Next morning Ishaaq and I went to see the doctor. He made no attempt to hide the seriousness from us. I asked him some questions, about the kind of cancer, and the treatment. He then referred us to a specialist.

Ishaaq and I went home, because I needed to get more money for the specialist’s fees and any other medical tests that would be required. Roshini was still at home waiting to hear what the doctor had said. I now had to break the bad news to her, but also told her that our family doctor had said that there was treatment available for the kind of cancer Ishaaq had.

After the specialist doctor did a physical examination of Ishaaq, he treated Ishaaq as though he was a child or an ignorant and uneducated person, rudely ordering Ishaaq out of the room while the doctor discussed the case with me. He confirmed that by the looks of it, Ishaaq had cancer. He ordered more tests. The ultrasound examination showed that there were other affected lymph nodes in the chest and abdomen. The date of the surgery for removing one of the swollen nodes for a biopsy was fixed for some days later because the specialist was going out of town.

I was concerned about Ishaaq’s mental state. My apprehension was that he could be lying in bed troubled and anxious at night. Was he sleeping well? When I asked, he laughed and said, “Papa, if you’re thinking that I am lying in bed sleepless with worry, let me assure you that I am sleeping very well.” God gave Ishaaq peace. All through the period of treatment he manifested total confidence that God was going to heal him. He e-mailed my sister Sheila, that if God chose to take him, he hoped there would be a computer in heaven!

Treatment

Meanwhile Roshini’s older brother Appu and his wife Usha were urging us to get Ishaaq down to Madras because the Apollo Hospitals chain had a cancer speciality hospital there. We weighed the pros and cons and felt that we needed to continue in Lucknow, especially so that our lives could go on as normally as possible—including our being together as a family during this crisis and Ishaaq being able to continue with his work. If he did not have work he would be depressed and unable to fight the disease. Another consideration was the cost of treatment at an Apollo Hospital. On this last score, Appu and Usha told us not to worry and assured us of their help.

The surgery was done in Lucknow. The biopsy report was delayed by ten days.

Meanwhile because of his mercenary attitude, Roshini lost confidence in the integrity of the specialist. So finally we decided that since Appu is Roshini’s older brother, we would submit to him in the matter.

As a result of this turn of events, Elishba shelved her plans to pursue a master’s in social work in one of the prestigious institutions in Bombay, so that she would be with the family during this crisis. She started doing a bachelor’s in education, while waiting the year out before she decided about what to do next. It was a disappointment, but we prayed that God would turn it into His biggest appointment for her.

Roshini and Ishaaq flew down to Madras so that there would be no more delay in proper diagnosis and medical advice. Things moved quickly and the earlier diagnosis

was confirmed. The doctor in Madras initiated chemotherapy. Ishaaq needed to get the chemotherapy medication once every three weeks. The doctor indicated that he wanted to also give him the second shot in Madras, so that he would be able to observe Ishaaq’s reactions to the chemotherapy over a three-week period.

Roshini and Ishaaq stayed in Madras for a total of five weeks. That was a tough period of just waiting for Elishba and me, though we knew that Ishaaq and Roshini were getting all the moral support they needed through Roshini’s family and various friends in Madras. Meanwhile, the members of Grace Bible Church were very supportive of Elishba and me. Most of our meals were provided by various families.

Providence

If Ishaaq had got into a bachelor of technology programme or a master of computer application programme at some prestigious and reputed institution outside Lucknow, the on campus interviews that take place when courses finish, would have taken Ishaaq to other places for work. If Ishaaq had jumped at our friend’s offer to place him either at Chandigarh or New Delhi, he would have had a terrific opening right away. If Ishaaq had taken a job outside Lucknow the diagnosis and subsequent treatment would not have been timely. As a young person, given the fact that he was experiencing no distress (no fever, no pain, no abnormal weight-loss), Ishaaq would have casually ignored the lumps he had discovered. In God’s providence, Ishaaq was kept at home by earlier disappointments. Similarly, if Ishaaq had not had a bit of unnecessary surgery, he would not have talked about some painless lumps that he imagined were just as harmless as the fat deposit that had been taken out earlier. As the Bible says, “In all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Rom.8:28)

All things are not good and all things do not have the capability to work for good, though the King James Version suggests that in Romans 8:28. As the New International Version renders it: “In all things God works…” and He “works for the good of those who love Him” and “have been called according to His purpose.” As the Christian mystic Francois Fenelon said, “A life of faith…enables us to see God in everything and it holds the mind in a state of readiness for whatever may be His will.” Even when we are unaware of it, God is directing our lives. At times, we do not know that we have been under God’s direction, until we look back. Take time to look back in wonder.

I do not for a moment suggest that when God blesses people it will always happen in this sort of way. In Ishaaq’s case this is the way God worked. If He had worked another way, He would have still done good, because God is good and does only what is good. But bad things do happen, because we live our lives in a fallen, broken world. As Scripture says, “…Creation was subject to frustration…We know that the whole creation has been groaning…right up to the present time” (vv.20,22). Both sunshine and rain will come to everyone in the normal course of life on earth (Matt.5:45). However nothing that happens is comparable with “the glory that will be revealed” (Rom.8:18).

The Difference

Though there is no difference between the external circumstances of Christians and that of others, things are different on the inside for Christians. When we agonise in the midst of adversity, we know that we do not have to feel all alone and be depressed or discouraged. “…We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as [children], the redemption of our bodies…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (vv.23,26). We do not suffer alone. We do not groan alone. We have the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit to aid us and carry us in the hour of trial.

No matter what happens, there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God—neither trouble, nor hardship, nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor danger, nor sword (v.35). “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (vv.37-39).

This Scripture passage Romans 8:18-39 has captured the essence of God’s provision for the Christian. “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all–how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” (vv.31,32).

At the time when I wrote this piece on our family’s experience, the entire chemotherapy was over for Ishaaq. The check-up that followed showed that the cancer was “in remission”. That was all the doctor would say. But God had healed Ishaaq.

In the providence of God, Ishaaq (and our family along with him) experienced a number of disappointments and an unnecessary surgery. Thank You, Gracious God, Heavenly Father, for those experiences that we considered, to be disappointments and unnecessary at the time they happened, but they were Your way of directing the course of our lives. How mysterious are Your ways!

God’s Provision

In 1999 when Roshini and I were taking medical insurance, we decided that we would not opt to include our son and daughter. They were in their twenties and in good health. We were the ones getting on in years and likely to be afflicted with health problems related to aging. We just felt that we would be wasting money at that point in taking medical insurance for Ishaaq and Elishba.

We were making provision for medical emergencies in our own lives, but not for a moment did we imagine that one of our strong young adult children would have an emergency. So, when Ishaaq was diagnosed with cancer, we were totally unprepared.

Sometimes when we are worried we forget that making provision is not a problem at all for God. He owns everything. His riches are far greater than all of the needs of everyone everywhere put together. I know that. I have preached that. But when faced with a problem, after praying for God to intervene with healing, I simply got busy trying to juggle around with our own limited resources.

While I prayed for God to heal without the use of medical means, subconsciously I was thinking that if God chose not to heal in that way, I had to be prepared humanly. Somehow I never thought of praying for God Himself to supply us financially. But just because I did not think of asking God, did not mean that God would forget all about being gracious. “Before they call, I will answer,” is His promise (Isa.65:24).

All of the medical expenses incurred in Madras were paid by Appu and Usha. Their generosity was remarkable, considering that their son Anand was going to Australia for higher studies at their expense.

During this time, cousins and friends from India and abroad sent us gifts of money ranging from Rs. 1,000 to 25,000. We are grateful for every gift, because each of them represented love, care and a generous heart. May they be blessed in having given from their hearts freely. Others called us long distance. That cost money. Many prayed and kept in touch through letters or e-mail. That cost them time—which in our modern age is a very precious commodity and in very short supply.

The Church Family

Members of Grace Bible Church supported us with prayer and care. They prayed constantly. They kept up to date with enquiries about what was going on with the treatment. They spoke words of encouragement and reassured us with promises of prayer support. They gave us cooked meals.

When Ishaaq returned to Lucknow from Madras, the board of elders of the Grace Bible Church wanted to know the total of medical expenses connected with Ishaaq’s treatment till then. When I informed them that it had reached Rs 45,000 till then, the board promptly released Rs 50,000 as a medical grant to me. Roshini and I were not comfortable about taking so much from the church, while the church itself was meeting in the home of one of our members and raising money to have a place of its own. However we could not refuse to be receptive to the graciousness and generosity of the church.

A month later while I was in Kerala for a wedding, one evening the husband of one of Roshini’s first cousins, engaged me in conversation. In the course of our conversation, when he asked about the family’s wellbeing, I told him about Ishaaq’s illness. We then moved on to other things. He asked me about Grace Bible Church, because he had heard about the changes we had gone through as a family. The next day when he met me at the wedding, he said that he wanted to give me some money. I thought it would be for Ishaaq. After all he is a relative. He shocked me when he said that he and his wife wanted to support the ministry of Grace Bible Church. That was a surprise because just the previous day he had told me that he was not very involved with churches and their work. When I looked at the cheque later on, it was for Rs. 50,000, the very same amount that the board of elders had given me from church funds. I was very happy that God was enabling me to replace the amount of the grant that the board had given me.

God’s Riches

We had worried that we would have to exhaust the family’s savings for Ishaaq’s treatment. We never had to use any of our own savings. The Lord provided so much more than what we needed or asked for. How gracious our God is! He remains faithful even if we are faithless. He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim.2:13).

Not for a moment do I suggest that God’s blessings are measured in rupees. Sometimes God will take us through neediness so that we discover God’s riches. “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory” (Phil.4:19, KJV). Paul wrote, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learnt the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength” (vv.11-13). God deals with us individually according to what it is we need to learn in our personal lives. What one child of God needs to learn is not what everyone of God’s children needs to learn.

Exactly how God responds to our material needs is also a matter of God’s glory being at stake in a Christian’s life. As Christians you and I exist for the sole purpose of bringing glory to God. “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor.10:31). Sometimes God has to bless people by rescuing them from their circumstances. At other times He gives them the strength to endure a trial. Either way people are blessed. Either way God is glorified.

Hard to Just Wait

Standing by is the most difficult thing a parent has to do while considering a son or daughter’s plight, when it is something that is beyond their control.

When hurt, a little child always runs to mummy or daddy and they are always able to make things alright. But the day comes when that child discovers that there are some things that are beyond its parents. There comes a time when the parents are unable to make the pain go away. Sometimes that child senses that the parents need help themselves and is the one to help them deal with their pain of being totally helpless.

How often people face situations where they wish they could just do something, but there is nothing that can be done. Except, wait.

Standing by or waiting is difficult because every moment feels like eternity. The moment of distress goes on and on forever, and it is only filled with doubts and anxieties.

During the days when our Lord walked this earth, there was a father whose son had a distressing condition. He was possessed by a demon. The boy could not talk. All he could do was scream with demonic rage. His mouth would foam. He would gnash his teeth and grow catatonic. Sometimes while in this state, the demon would violently throw the boy to the ground to bruise him.

The man heard about Jesus, and brought his son to be healed by the Lord Jesus. when they got to the place where Jesus was supposed to be, they discovered that Jesus was not there. He was up on a mountain with Peter, James and John. The other disciples had no clue about when Jesus and the three would be back (Mk.9:2). So the man asked the disciples to cast out the demon, but they could not (v.17).

If You Can…

When Jesus came down from the mount of Transfiguration, the father rushed to Jesus and said, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” (v.22). The man had heard of Jesus healing various people of many different kinds of health problems. Jesus had healed demon-possessed persons (1:21-28,34,39, etc.), a man suffering from leprosy (vv.40-42), and a paralysed man (2:10-12), raised a dead girl (5:35-43) and healed many others of all kinds of diseases (1:33,34). After all that, the man still said to Jesus, “If you can…” Jesus turned to the man and said, “If you can?” (v.23).

That is just like us today. We have read all the stories of God’s healing power in the Old and New Testaments, and heard testimonies of how God has healed people in our own time. Yet we still have our doubts. So often we are still unable to affirm with the total assurance of unshakeable faith that miracles can and do happen.

Once before a person had approached Jesus hesitantly. He was suffering from leprosy. He came to Jesus and said, “If you will, you could make me clean” (1:40). Jesus had responded to this by saying, “I am willing. [You] be clean!” (v.41).

Mixed Feelings

We need to affirm that God knows everything, and God can do anything, and God is good, and God loves you and me. He knows everything there is to know about us and still loves us. All the power is His and He is goodness personified. His love focuses and directs all that power and goodness toward us. Why do we fear? Even when we do fear, we will not be rejected, but will instead hear Him say, “Fear not!” Jesus said, “Everything is possible for the one who believes” (9:23). Everything? Yes, everything!

The distressed father cried out, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief” (v.24). That cry has always struck a responsive chord in my own heart and life. I have endured the tension of mixed feelings. On the one hand, I believe in the omnipotent sovereignty of God. If I do not believe in His omnipotence and sovereignty, then my God would be small and weak, no better than manufactured gods who having eyes do not see the human condition, having ears do not hear prayers, having lips do not speak comfortingly, having feet do not move to be with you in your situation of need, and having hands do not touch you or lift you up. While on the one hand I believe in the almighty power of God, on the other hand I face the reality of troubles in my life. Somehow while going through them, troubles seem closer than the God who cannot be seen. They are more real than the invisible God. During the time of trouble they seem greater in power than the God who seems so distant and removed.

Between Anguish and Faith

Between the first Good Friday and the first Easter Sunday there was that first Saturday when the body of Jesus lay in a tomb. The disciples had heard Jesus say that He would be put to death. They had not believed that would happen. It did happen. But they were unable to recall that Jesus had also talked of coming back to life from the dead. As they pondered their Master Jesus Christ’s death by crucifixion and the fact that His body lay buried, all they could sense was that there was not a single sign of life. There was no stirring. There was no faint whisper. Their hopes lay buried in that tomb with Jesus. A whole day went by. The reality of the crucifixion and the burial clouded their thinking and they were just not able to focus on the promise of resurrection. So often in our human condition we are arrested between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Somehow we are unable to tear our thoughts away from the silence of the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. We are unable to hear the voice of God arising out of the silence of that Saturday.

Sometimes during the last few months of 2000 when I looked at my son Ishaaq, my eyes filled with tears and a sob rose in my throat. As a preacher and a pastor I had to keep up a brave front. I had to be strong for the sake of my people. But there were times when being a preacher and a pastor failed me, and I was just a parent with anxieties and tensions, caught between theology and reality, faith and anxiety.

It was a difficult time. It was especially difficult when I had to preach on the day before Ishaaq was to have a final check up after finishing all the chemotherapy. I was suddenly reduced to the state of a boy awaiting the results of examinations. All along the boy had felt that he had done well, but suddenly his confidence has left him and he wonders what the next day will hold for him. From the very first shot of chemotherapy medication, Ishaaq had responded well. He had remained well all through the period. He had never caught any infection, nor had a fever and always maintained a high white blood cells count that was considered safe for chemotherapy. The chemotherapy had gone according to schedule without any disruption whatever. The last CT scan (taken after the mid-point in treatment was crossed) had shown considerable improvement in Ishaaq’s condition. There was absolutely no reason to imagine that that trend had been reversed. Yet, I was filled with this unreasonable dread about the results of the next day’s check up. All I could do was cry out, “Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief.” That is what I preached that Sunday, the day before Ishaaq had his final check up.

Comforted to Comfort

The day after we learnt that Ishaaq had cancer, according to the Bible reading plan I followed that year, I came to 1 Corinthians 1:3-11. I had been reading the New American Standard Bible (Updated Edition). According to the wording of this version, the phrase “so that” is used three times in this passage. Talking about the suffering he experienced, Paul said that God takes us through such experiences and comforts us “so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (v.4). Faith needs a context of vulnerability. Without it, faith seems artificial as though it does not belong in the real world. Manifesting faith in the midst of human vulnerability makes faith more real to people and they draw strength from it.

Secondly, God takes us through such experiences “so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead” (v.9). When things go well, humans have a tendency to forget that their lives are totally dependent on the grace of God. We take grace for granted most of the time. We need crisis experiences to keep us reminded that without God’s presence and power in our lives, we are as good as dead. When He enters, we live. Crises are experiences that increase our awareness of grace.

Finally, God gives us experiences of His grace “so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favour bestowed on us through the prayers of many” (v.11). The first part of verse eleven says, “You also joining in helping us through your prayers…” That was one source of strength for our family. When all of the chemotherapy was over and the cancer was in remission we rejoiced that many who prayed could join us in thanking God “for the favour bestowed through the prayers of many.” Thank You, God! Thank you, people!

The Hem of His Garment

A woman had a persistent bleeding problem. She had tried many physicians over the years. No one had been able to cure her or help her in any way. When friends told her of the itinerant preacher who had the gift of healing, she went to see him. There was such a crowd that she was unable to get his personal attention. In faith, she went up behind him, touched the hem of his robe and was instantly healed (Lk.8:42-48).

In themselves the clothes that Jesus wore had no healing powers. All the power was His alone. His clothes served only as a point of contact for a woman who showed faith. When she touched the hem of the robe that Jesus wore, she released her own faith, and the healing power flowed from our Lord to her.

‘X’ Factor

Jesus, our Lord, is still the Healer. Only He can heal. No doctor, nor medicines, nor surgery, nor any other medical procedures are able to accomplish healing. If they could, any time and every time they are in operation, healing would take place. They would have a hundred per cent cure rate. However, there is always an ‘x’ factor in illnesses and cures. That ‘x’ factor is God’s will and power. Doctors and medicines are able to work a cure only when God wills it and empowers it. When God does not allow it, they do not work.

Since God Himself is the Healer, He may sometimes choose not to use medical means. People call such cures “miracles of divine healing”. But that is not correct. All the cures, even the ones that use medical means, are instances of miraculous divine healing. When a disease is rolled back and recovery occurs it is always a miracle of God’s power.

Praying for Healing

When our son was diagnosed with cancer, there were a number of people who tried to dissuade us from allowing the chemotherapy medication to be administered to Ishaaq. Some said that they had had a “word of revelation” that Ishaaq would be healed. They said that as a sign of our faith we had to refuse to take recourse to medical means.

We prayed for that kind of healing. We had heard so many stories of people who needed surgery, being spared the surgery. At the very last minute, one last examination would show that the previous health condition that required surgery no longer existed. The God who could do that could surely heal Ishaaq. We prayed right up to the very last hour that God would heal Ishaaq before he had to be subjected to the harshness of treatment by chemotherapy.

God’s Will

We did pray though for healing according to God’s will. Some people suggested that praying about God’s will, while we were praying for healing, was an expression of doubt. How could that be? It is God’s Word that exhorts us about praying according to God’s will (1Jn.5:14-15). In the final analysis, all prayer is a desire that God’s will would be done (Matt.6:10;26:39-44). If we do not seek or want God’s will, we do not pray at all. Affirming divine sovereignty is what prayer is all about.

When the initial pathological report indicated that only doing a biopsy would confirm whether the doctor’s suspicions were true or not, our prayer was that the biopsy would prove the doctor wrong. After the surgical removal of one of the swollen nodes from his neck, when the surgeon suggested that there was a 1% chance that it could have been caused by tuberculosis, we prayed that the biopsy would come out that way. We were desperate. We were like drowning people who clutch at straws. We prayed for anything and everything else to happen.

In the providence of God, it was confirmed that Ishaaq did have cancer. We prayed then that healing would come to him before the terrible chemotherapy started. But again, the providence of God was that Ishaaq would need to undergo chemotherapy.

I do not believe that there is any sense in refusing to take medication when God has chosen not to heal without its use. After God has made known that He will not heal without the use of medicines or surgery, it is not a sign of faith to refuse medical means. Rather it is a sign of foolishness.

“Faith Healing”

People like “Christian Scientists” (a heretic cult that is neither Christian nor scientific in its beliefs) are known for such foolishness. During the course of their history they have been known to refuse medication to their little babies and young children and as a consequence causing their deaths. In the United States of America courts have had to intervene to save their children from medical negligence in the name of religious faith.

On the other hand, I know a number of instances of mission leaders, pastors and evangelists who assert the case for divine non-medical healing who use spectacles for their weak eyes. I have known them to take their wives and daughters to gynaecologists for consultations and treatment when they have got pregnant. The women in their families follow the doctors’ orders during their pregnancy and take medication and vitamin and iron supplements for health problems during their pregnancies and they go in for deliveries (including those by caesarean section) at nursing homes. During serious illnesses these preachers and their families have sought hospitalisation and intensive care. I also know of Pentecostal assemblies where there are handicapped people who have long ago given up seeking healing and have instead learnt to cope with their handicaps. In Calcutta, the Assemblies of God, the Pentecostal denomination runs a full-fledged hospital, obviously doing God’s work of healing by medical means.

All of these are not lacking in faith. They have the spiritual wisdom and discernment to know when they need to turn to human knowledge and skills, inventions and discoveries. They do not hesitate to use them, because there is nothing that humans have been enabled to do which does not have its source in the wisdom and power of God. All wisdom and power flow from the omniscience and omnipotence of the Lord our God (1 Cor. 4:7). There is nothing of human ability that is not a gift of God.

Touch the Hem

Even though it was from physicians that that woman turned to touch the hem of Christ’s garment, I choose to use that metaphor for systems of medicine. Medical science (allopathic, homoeopathic, ayurvedic, or any other system) has no healing virtue. The various sytems of medicine are only the fringes of His presence and power. The knowledge of these systems comes entirely from God. Humans have only discovered the healing properties of herbs and roots, oils and minerals. It is God Himself who has invested them with their properties. It is also God who enabled their discovery.

The clothes that Jesus wore had no healing power. When the woman touched the hem of His garment, the power flowed from Jesus, not His robes. He did not say, “Who touched my clothes?” He said, “Who touched me?” When she touched His clothes, what she really did was to touch Jesus Himself.

Once we recognise that medical knowledge and healing properties all come from Him, then we will be given faith to reach out and touch the hem of His garment. When we reach for medical means in that frame of mind, we touch Him and the power flows from Him. He is the ‘x’ factor that is activated when we use doctors and medicines. They become a way of touching Him in all His creative and healing power. We touch Him. He will know and He will ask, “Who touched me?”

Point of Contact

It was not Jesus who needed the woman to touch the hem of His robe. It was she who needed it as a point of contact. It does not matter to God what it is that we use as a point of contact for our faith’s release. God does not need points of contact. It is we who need them to connect to His power.

There were times when Jesus used a medium to accomplish healing. He once used a paste made of saliva and mud to bring healing to a blind man (Jn.9:6). Jesus did not need to use that medium, but He did use it. It was not for His own sake that Jesus did that. He did it for the blind man’s sake. During the time when Jesus was incarnate among the Jews, there was the belief that saliva has healing properties. This view was not without basis. Animals lick their wounds. We suck on a cut finger. What Jesus did was to accommodate limited human knowledge and understanding to accomplish His purpose.

There was another time when healing came to a man in stages. He did not experience instantaneous healing. Jesus spat on his eyes, laid hands on the man and asked, “Do you see anything?” The man replied, “I see men, for I see them like trees, walking around.” So Jesus laid His hands on the man’s eyes again. This time the man began to see things clearly (Mk.8:22-25).

What Jesus did is so much like the routine an eye surgeon follows when a patient is ready to use his eyes after corrective surgery. The doctor removes the bandages or eye patch from the eye that has been operated on, and asks him or her to open the eye slowly. On enquiry the patient will say that things appear blurred. The doctor is satisfied, puts the cover back on the eye and after some more time has passed, lets the patient see a little more.

It is significant that this healing in stages occurred when Jesus used something that was believed to have medicinal properties. It was Jesus’ way of letting us know that healing can come through various means and in different ways.

Sometimes…Heaven

Have you ever wondered about the case of the paralysed man to whom Jesus said, “Son, your sins are forgiven” (Mk.2:3-5). What was his obvious need? Healing for his physical condition. What did Jesus offer him? Healing for his spiritual condition. The man himself did not protest that Jesus was mocking his helplessness or that Jesus was nothing more than a fraud pretending to possess healing powers. I cannot believe that Jesus “used” the man to drive home the fact of His own divine authority and power. I believe that Jesus met the man right at the point of his own deepest need. Jesus thought that the man’s first need was spiritual, and the man agreed. He lay there contented with the healing of his soul. In the end, when Jesus healed the man’s body of paralysis, it was only as proof that He had the right to forgive (vv.10-11)

Sometimes, when you seek healing, it does not come—at least not this side of heaven. That too can be the providence of God. Consider the case of Joni Eareckson Tada. After a freak accident while swimming, she was left paralysed from the neck down. For years she has had to have someone feed her and help her with every bodily need or function. During all this time, the Lord has been dealing with her and He has used her to touch others. She did pray for healing for her broken body. She touched the hem of the Lord’s garment, and the power of God has flowed through her, but without removing any of her disabilities and brokenness.

In Joni’s book Heaven she looks forward to healing that will come to her in the presence of God. Whatever healing we would receive while on earth will not last forever. Jairus’s daughter was raised to life by Jesus Himself, but still died one day. So did Lazarus and everyone else who was raised from death. We will never be totally healed here. We have bodies that will one day grow sick of this world and long for that other life where there will be no pain that brings tears to our eyes. Here when our tears are wiped away by human ministrations, we are not assured of total relief. The tears keep coming back from time to time when we are touched by disease, pain and sorrow. They will stop only when God’s hand wipes away our tears once and for all. What we suffer now is the sickness of longing for heaven.

Continuing in Faith

One of the good things that came out of Ishaaq’s cancer was his marriage to his childhood friend Jessica. Her parents had come as missionaries to Lucknow when she was five years old. At that age she had declared that when she grew up she would marry Ishaaq. After finishing their term in India and another term in Nepal, the family returned to Australia. We kept in touch through letters. Then in 1995, Jess came as a short-term missionary nurse to a village in West Bengal and journeyed to Lucknow to visit us. Later on when she was in Delhi for a few days, Ishaaq took time off from college to show her the sights. Their childhood friendship bloomed into romantic interest in each other. But in the end when Jess went back to Australia they concluded that there was no future to their relationship. They decided to be just friends.

They continued in that mode until Jess heard that Ishaaq had cancer. She decided she needed to come and see Ishaaq as she thought it could well be the last time she would see him. By the time Jess got her leave sanctioned and had her flight reservations done, it was January 2001. By then the chemotherapy was over and the cancer in remission.

When Jess and Ishaaq met, the old spark came to life again and they decided to get married. In July they got married. Ishaaq says the cancer brought Jess back into his life. Something good came from the disease.

Here’s something remarkable. When the first doctor told us to pray that it would be tuberculosis we had prayed desperately for it to be so, because we didn’t consider TB to be as life threatening or frightening. God didn’t answer our prayer. If it had turned out to be TB, Ishaaq would have been denied an Australian visa because the Australian government has laws against admitting people with infectious diseases. TB they would not tolerate. Cancer is tolerable. We prayed for what we thought was best. God knew what was best for Ishaaq. We were thinking only of the immediate moment. God saw both the present and the future and provided healing for the present and enabling grace for the future.

In November 2001, exactly one year after the cancer went into remission, Ishaaq discovered two small lumps on one side of his neck. When tested they proved to be cancerous. He went back to Madras to consult his oncologist. The doc said that the lumps were too small to do anything about. Ishaaq was asked to report after a month whether there was any significant growth. There wasn’t. He was asked to continue to wait and watch some more. Every three months he was told to wait. It was like a sword hanging over him.

We kept on praying that the lumps would not just remain small, but that they would go away without any treatment. Two years have gone by since the new lumps were discovered. All this time there has been no medical treatment or intervention. At the recent check-up the oncologist said that the lumps had become significantly smaller on their own. On their own? No, God made the body with inbuilt mechanisms for healing and has been carrying on His work of healing. Praise God!

God’s Appointment

This story would not be complete if I did not recount how things turned out for our daughter Elishba. We had prayed that her disappointment in having to set aside her plan for studies in Bombay would result in God’s greatest appointment in her life.

Elishba did her Bachelor of Education degree. She then went on to do a master’s in Economics. She did very well in both the courses.

Roshini and I used to worry about Elishba’s marriage. We didn’t believe in giving a dowry to get her married, not that we had the kind of resources needed for giving a large one. Without our searching for a suitable boy, the Lord brought a proposal for her.

Joe is a believer and he didn’t want a dowry. He is an elder and an occasional preacher in his church. If Elishba had gone off to Bombay, and picked up a job thereafter, her life would have almost definitely taken a different course. She could have met someone else in Bombay or wherever her career took her. God kept her home and brought Joe into her life. God did give her the biggest appointment of her life thus far.