Looking for Job

[JLG]

183) Looking for Job

Job 21

Can anyone teach knowledge to God,

When He is the one who judges even the highest ones?

One man dies in his full vigor

When he is completely carefree and at ease,

When his thighs are padded with fat

And his bones are strong.

But another man dies deeply distressed,

Never having tasted good things.

Together they will lie down in the dust,

And maggots will cover both of them.


- A man can have a good or bad life!


- But for Job one thing is clear!


- When a man dies, his end will be the same: dust and maggots!


- Before, he was looking for death!


- Because for him it was a relief!

- But now he doesn’t say that anymore!


- Only that death is the same for all people that is the void!

 

[JLG]

184) Looking for Job

Job 21


Look! I know exactly what you are thinking

And the schemes you devise to wrong me.

For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prominent man,

And where is the tent in which the wicked one lived?’

Have you not questioned travelers?

Do you not carefully study their observations,

That an evil person is spared on the day of disaster

And rescued on the day of fury?

Who will confront him about his way,

And who will repay him for what he has done?

When he is carried to the graveyard,

A vigil will be kept over his tomb.

The clods of earth of the valley will be sweet to him,

And all mankind follows after him

Like the countless number before him.

So why offer me meaningless comfort?

There is nothing but deceit in your answers!”


- According to Job’s experience, the wicked one thrives !


- Thus the men who are speaking to him are wrong !


- They are not helpful at all !


- Thus they should keep silent !


- But sometimes someone’s presence is better than words !


- Dogs don’t speak but their presence can do a lot !


- But empty words don’t bring comfort !

 

[JLG]

185) Looking for Job

Job 23

Job said in reply:

“Even today I will complain stubbornly;

My strength is exhausted because of my sighing.

If only I knew where to find God!

I would go to his place of dwelling.

I would present my case before him

And fill my mouth with arguments;

I would learn how he would answer me

And take note of what he says to me.


- complain stubbornly : Job can only complain !


- It means to keep being alive !


- Or feeling alive !


- He is looking for God !


- He wants to speak to God !


- And defend himself in front of him !


- But he is also ready to listen to God !


- And take into account his opinion !

 

[JLG]

186) Looking for Job

Job 23

Would he contend with me using his great power?

No, surely he would give me a hearing.

There the upright one could set matters straight with him,

And I would be acquitted once and for all by my Judge.


- Job knows his relationship to God!


- That’s why he is sure that God would listen to him!

- He knows that God won’t condemn him!


- Job has always thought that way!


- And he is not going to change !

 

[JLG]

187) Looking for Job

Job 23

But if I go east, he is not there;

And I return and I cannot find him.

When he is working on the left, I cannot look upon him;

Then he turns to the right, but I still do not see him.

But he knows the path I have taken.

After he has tested me, I will come out as pure gold.


- When you have a special relationship with someone, you get energy and strength and power from it !


- It is vital !


- You can’t live without it !


- Imagine what happens when this relationship interrupts abruptly !


- It is like a stroke !


- The devil knows perfectly what he does when he does it !


- The violence is unbelievable !


- Destructive !


- And Job knows he is tested and refined to become pure gold !

 

[JLG]

188) Looking for Job

Job 23

My feet have closely followed his footsteps;

I have kept to his way without deviating.


- His footsteps, his way!


- Closely and without deviating!


- It is probably difficult to understand what Job says here because we live in a superficial world!


- Job lives in a deep world!


- He is an upright man of integrity!


- fearing God and shunning what is bad!


- He is afraid of his children to sin against God in their heart!


- Many people probably can’t understand what it means because we live in a superficial world!


- And it is difficult to go deep inside!

- It requires hard work!


- And they will miss the trial!


- Job knows what he speaks about!

 

[JLG]

189) Looking for Job

Job 23

I have not departed from the commandment of

his lips.

I have treasured up his sayings even more

than what was required of me.

- “the commandment of his lips”!


- It tells about the kind of relationship between God and Job!


- From mouth to ear!


- Absolutely not superficial!


- but deep inside!


- And hard work!


- Something highly valuable!


- Exceptional and thus difficult to understand for human beings!


- “I have treasured up his sayings”!


- Who treasures God’s word like Job?


- The difference between superficiality and depth!


- “Even more than what was required of me”!


- A level far beyond what normal human beings can reach!

 

[JLG]

190) Looking for Job

Job 23

When he is determined, who can resist him?

When he wants to do something, he does it.

For he will carry out completely what has been

determined for me,

And he has many such things in store.


- In fact, very few faithful servants of God could prevent him from directly destroying the Israelites or acting in their favor!


- At the end they had to pay the price for their foolishness!


- Regarding Job, it is the devil!


- Regarding Job, the devil is in a rage!


- And he is ready to do anything that God tolerates him to do against Job!


- And the devil is in a rage against those who stay faithful!


- And he always wants more followers!


- He has never enough!

 

[JLG]

191) Looking for Job

Job 23

That is why I am anxious because of him;

When I think about him, my fear grows.

God has made me fainthearted,

And the Almighty has made me afraid.


- Yes, Job is anxious!


- But it is because of the devil!


- Yes, his fear grows!


- But it is because of the devil!


- Yes, he is fainthearted!


- But it is because of the devil!


- Yes, the devil has made him afraid!


- The devil has a lot of responsibility!


- And he keeps working hard!


- To help people opposing God!


- And destroying the relationship between God and Job!


- And destroying the relationship between God and us!


- And the stronger the better, like in the case of Job!

 

[JLG]

192) Looking for Job

Job 23

But I have not yet been silenced by the darkness

Nor by the gloom that has covered my face.


- But Job is still fighting!


- And he is not ready to do it!


- In fact, God knows Job!


- But the devil doesn’t know him!

- How could he know him?


- To really know someone, you need a personal relationship!


- And a deep one, not a superficial one!


- But it is hard work!


- No hard work, no deep personal relationship!

 

[JLG]

193) Looking for Job

Job 24

“Why does the Almighty not set a time?

Why do those who know him not see his day?


- The devil strikes Job again and again !


- And Job doesn’t see the end of it !


- It is really hard when you are in trouble and it seems it will never end !


- Of course, man is able to endure again and again !


- Men usually adapt to adversity !


- He is supposed to be flexible !


- But there is a limit !


- A mental and physical one !


- It is different for each individual according to his own experience !

 

[JLG]

194) Looking for Job

Job 24

People move boundary markers;

They carry off flocks for their own pasture.

They drive away the donkey of fatherless children

And seize the widow’s bull as security for a loan.

They force the poor off the road;

The helpless of the earth must hide from them.


- Job tells us about injustice on earth!


- He doesn’t see any justice at all!


- Usually people say there is a justice for the rich and another for the poor!


- The Bible is full of such examples!


- Real justice belongs to God!


- We can’t expect real justice in this world!


- It’s difficult to define man’s justice!


- It is made by men who are partial and who knows partially!


- We can only wait for God’s world and see what is real justice!

 

[JLG]

195) Looking for Job

Job 24


The poor forage for food like wild donkeys

in the wilderness;

They seek food in the desert for their children.

They must harvest in another’s field

And glean from the vineyard of the wicked.


- Job is in trouble so he can see injustice!


- When he was fine, he would do his best to help all kinds of people!


- Of course, it’s different when you can see injustice through your body and your brain!


- People are in trouble all around the world!


- It can happen to any of us at any time!


- Usually there is no alarm!


- When there is an alarm it’s another story!


- It’s like global warming and other stuff!


- We know it’s happening!


- Of course, there are always crazy people saying nothing is happening!


- And most of the time we wait when we are in trouble!


- It’s always difficult for men to react before getting into trouble!


- That’s why we need God’s world to take actions and to be told to take actions and do the right things at the right time!