One of the take-aways we get from reading Job is that he argued with God. In other words, he pushed back, claiming he didn’t deserve what he was forced to endure. Obviously, when we disagree with God, we’re the ones who are wrong. Sometimes we even know we must be wrong, and even admit such, but we still push back anyway, because we simply don’t understand what’s going on. Certainly, “he” understands, but he hasn’t revealed that to us. Perhaps, we feel betrayed, because God is bringing us through this trial, and we simply cannot fathom the reason why. All we really know is that the status quo isn’t acceptable. He is our Friend, yes; we love him, yes! But, friends talk, yet the heavens are like iron. “Am I getting through? Why don’t you tell me what’s going on. I love you, but you treat me like an enemy. Why, God? Why?
This is the kind of thing that the Book of Job is about. Job is a wealthy man, but not like most folks we know today who are wealthy. Wealth today is gained for its own sake. It is like a game the rich play, and the winner is the one who ends up with all the wealth in the end. As a rule, no thought is given to the common folk, and what they must endure for the sake of the games the wealthy play. However, Job isn’t like this. He is a good man who honors God by making the poor his responsibility. He cares for the widow and the orphan, and he treats the stranger, the immigrant or traveler with respect and protects them. Nevertheless, sudden personal tragedies have taken away Job’s wealth and his social position. With that, he has also lost his authority as a mover and shaker in his community. He is left alone; he has lost his family, and even his closest friends will blame him for the tragedies that have swallowed him up. His servants pay no mind to him, and his wife despises him. He treated others with compassion and respect, but now, without any power, without any influence, without any wealth, he finds himself alone, without a friend to comfort him. What is he to do?
Job prays, but the heavens are like iron. He doesn’t seem to get through to God, because all he receives is silence echoing in a vast emptiness. It’s an is-there-anyone-there moment! Job’s tone grows hotter; he feels betrayed by the one he had chosen to serve and obey. Job was righteous, because God is righteous, but is this righteousness? Shouldn’t the Lord of all treat Job according to his deeds, according to how he has served him? After all, Job had treated his own servants with respect and didn’t walk all over their feelings and hopes. He treated them, as he knew he was treated by the one whom he served. Isn’t that the way things are supposed to work? Shouldn’t God reciprocate and treat Job likewise? What’s going on? Are you there, God? Do you hear me?
It seems that Job was always in submission to God, but I have to ask: is that really what God wants? Certainly, he wants our respect. Certainly, he wants our friendship, but does that come through a servant/master relationship or a child/parent relationship? This may have been Job’s real problem. It was how he understood his relationship with God.
Consider how Abraham treated the Lord. At first, he obediently left Mesopotamia, believing God would make him a nation, but after several years had passed, Abraham still didn’t receive any children. How was he to build a nation with no children? So, he pushed back, asking the Lord:
“What will you give me, since I am going childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? You have given me no seed, and one born in my house is my heir! (Genesis 15:2-3).
Consider Jacob’s relationship with God. God promised to protect him and make him a great nation (Genesis 28:13-16), but he was his father-in-law’s servant for 20 years, and when he tried to escape, not only had his father-in-law followed after him to kill him, but when that didn’t occur, Jacob’s own brother came with an army of servants to wipe out Jacob and his family (Genesis 32:6). Jacob did what he could to protect his family, but when he met with God that evening, he wrestled with him until daybreak (Genesis 32:22-24) and wouldn’t let him go until he blessed him (Genesis 32:26). The Angel of the Lord blessed Jacob by dislocating his hip and changing his name. Jacob/Israel pushed back with the Lord and never walked the same afterward.
Jesus said in Matthew 11:12 that the Kingdom of God is taken by those who press into it (cp. Luke 16:16). In other words, it isn’t taken by servants who obey without complaint, who never challenge what they’re commanded to do. Instead, it is taken by folks who push back, folks who seize it, who force themselves into it. They are folks who aren’t willing to take no for an answer. They want it and will suffer any problem in order to attain it. This is what God does in order to regain the Kingdom, which had rebelled against him. He was willing to go to the cross in order to redeem it. And, this is what Job’s suffering is all about, teaching him, that a relationship with God doesn’t merely involve complacent service, not even the kind of service that bravely endures trouble in order to obey one’s master. Rather, it involves the willingness to risk losing everything one has attained in life, in order to gain something far better from the hand of God.
Smoodock's Blog 