I recently got to thinking how I have left off this series of my thoughts while going through the Book of Job. I was thick into the book of Job last summer, and also during parts of 2019.
This series seems to be more of my personal, responsive thoughts chapter by chapter and not necessarily something intended to theologically or otherwise explain the book of Job. And all sorts of ups and downs and other courses of thought have seemed to interrupt wherever I was in this book.
But I dislike unfinished tasks and a few days ago I thought of this with discouragement: will I ever finish this? I felt that the past several years of my life with a variety of intensities and difficulties plunged me into this biblical narrative in a way that had not previously resonated with me so deeply.
In trying to recall my main thoughts on this book, off the top of my head I was drawn in to the onslaught of endless difficulties, and the responses of his comforters and those he had previously trusted. At the beginning of this series, and in other places, I recall emphasizing that this well-remembered biblical book feels hard to apply or identify with in many ways, because at the onset we are presented with Job’s starting point: blamelessness.
And none of us can say we are blameless when certain hardships come our way, at least not in the way that Job is described. From the beginning, we are told that Job is about to be severely tested by Satan himself, and it is not long into the narrative before we find Job sitting in the dust, wishing he had never been born.
I have a version/translation of this narrative in my Audible collection, and occasionally during very difficult times, I will listen aloud and I believe the whole book can be read in about 2 hours or so. I do like hearing it read aloud.
It’s getting late on this Sunday evening, but my thoughts prompted me to find where I left off.
I’m tired and weary in a number of ways. And so I’m just going to go with the thoughts that leap out to me in this chapter, as I try to pick back up. We were in the middle of what seems like rounds of assaultive, interrogative accusations toward Job by his friends, concerning all his troubles.
Job is trying to tread water in this discourse in a variety of ways.
I do recall that one aspect I was interested in, as I wanted to explore this book, was word count.
When we are suffering, there is a type of hemorrhaging found in the person’s words. Surely some people hold it all inside, but it seems that there was some kind of compounding of voluminous words being put forth by both Job and his inquisitors.
As I read thought Chapter 9, I took a phrase and created the title, from verse 24: “If it is not he, then who is it?”
It seems to me this chapter describes the immense power that God Almighty wields that renders humans at His mercy and powerless, in fear of the forces of God’s frightening decrees and judgement. Who can argue with God, or assert themselves absolutely without any fault in any matter?
I think that Job’s speech describing the Almighty is actually beautiful; he grabs on to the immensities of the Creator of the Universe and rightly depicts the smallness and insignificance of man in any way, shape and form. In this speech, he makes a clear distinction between God and man.
Yet, as I read through this passage recognizing such ultimate truths that should rightly bring us to our knees in fear of the living God, my mind brings up passages such as from Psalm 8, “What is man that you are mindful of him?”
It is late, and I don’t want to overthink this segment here. I simply pause and close my eyes, and contemplate the immensely deep pains and frustrations and losses in life and unlike Job, I identify how we all on some level cry out, “Why? Why all this suffering and brokenness and…and…Who can (or will) come to our aid?”
As I re-read parts yet again, this part also stands out to me as worthy of some focus:
“16 Even if I summoned him and he responded,
I do not believe he would give me a hearing.
17 He would crush me with a storm
and multiply my wounds for no reason.
18 He would not let me catch my breath
but would overwhelm me with misery.”
This back-and-forth with Job and his friends in the middle-thick of this narrative is difficult. It is like a huge can of worms has been dumped out upon the ground from the moment his friends saw Job (from afar)1 in all of his misery…and this verbal can of worms just keeps going and going and going….
Job 9 (NIV)
~ (583 words)
Then Job replied:
2 “Indeed, I know that this is true.
But how can mere mortals prove their innocence before God?
3 Though they wished to dispute with him,
they could not answer him one time out of a thousand.
4 His wisdom is profound, his power is vast.
Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?
5 He moves mountains without their knowing it
and overturns them in his anger.
6 He shakes the earth from its place
and makes its pillars tremble.
7 He speaks to the sun and it does not shine;
he seals off the light of the stars.
8 He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads on the waves of the sea.
9 He is the Maker of the Bear[a] and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
10 He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,
miracles that cannot be counted.
11 When he passes me, I cannot see him;
when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.
12 If he snatches away, who can stop him?
Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
13 God does not restrain his anger;
even the cohorts of Rahab cowered at his feet.
14 “How then can I dispute with him?
How can I find words to argue with him?
15 Though I were innocent, I could not answer him;
I could only plead with my Judge for mercy.
16 Even if I summoned him and he responded,
I do not believe he would give me a hearing.
17 He would crush me with a storm
and multiply my wounds for no reason.
18 He would not let me catch my breath
but would overwhelm me with misery.
19 If it is a matter of strength, he is mighty!
And if it is a matter of justice, who can challenge him[b]?
20 Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me;
if I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty.
21 “Although I am blameless,
I have no concern for myself;
I despise my own life.
22 It is all the same; that is why I say,
‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
23 When a scourge brings sudden death,
he mocks the despair of the innocent.
24 When a land falls into the hands of the wicked,
he blindfolds its judges.
If it is not he, then who is it?
25 “My days are swifter than a runner;
they fly away without a glimpse of joy.
26 They skim past like boats of papyrus,
like eagles swooping down on their prey.
27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will change my expression, and smile,’
28 I still dread all my sufferings,
for I know you will not hold me innocent.
29 Since I am already found guilty,
why should I struggle in vain?
30 Even if I washed myself with soap
and my hands with cleansing powder,
31 you would plunge me into a slime pit
so that even my clothes would detest me.
32 “He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him,
that we might confront each other in court.
33 If only there were someone to mediate between us,
someone to bring us together,
34 someone to remove God’s rod from me,
so that his terror would frighten me no more.
35 Then I would speak up without fear of him,
but as it now stands with me, I cannot.
1 “When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize 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 for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.” (Job 2:12-13)
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