Job 23-24--Job Replies: Where Is God?

Job Replies: Where Is God?
23 Then Job answered and said:

2 “Today also my complaint is bitter;
    my hand is heavy on account of my groaning.
3 Oh, that I knew where I might find him,
    that I might come even to his seat!
4 I would lay my case before him
    and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know what he would answer me
    and understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
    No; he would pay attention to me.
7 There an upright man could argue with him,
    and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

8 “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,
    and backward, but I do not perceive him;
9 on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;
    he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
10 But he knows the way that I take;
    when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
11 My foot has held fast to his steps;
    I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
    I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
13 But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back?
    What he desires, that he does.
14 For he will complete what he appoints for me,
    and many such things are in his mind.
15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
    when I consider, I am in dread of him.
16 God has made my heart faint;
    the Almighty has terrified me;
17 yet I am not silenced because of the darkness,
    nor because thick darkness covers my face.

24 “Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty,
    and why do those who know him never see his days?
2 Some move landmarks;
    they seize flocks and pasture them.
3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;
    they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
4 They thrust the poor off the road;
    the poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5 Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert
    the poor go out to their toil, seeking game;
    the wasteland yields food for their children.
6 They gather their fodder in the field,
    and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.
7 They lie all night naked, without clothing,
    and have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the rain of the mountains
    and cling to the rock for lack of shelter.
9 (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,
    and they take a pledge against the poor.)
10 They go about naked, without clothing;
    hungry, they carry the sheaves;
11 among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil;
    they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.
12 From out of the city the dying groan,
    and the soul of the wounded cries for help;
    yet God charges no one with wrong.

13 “There are those who rebel against the light,
    who are not acquainted with its ways,
    and do not stay in its paths.
14 The murderer rises before it is light,
    that he may kill the poor and needy,
    and in the night he is like a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,
    saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
    and he veils his face.
16 In the dark they dig through houses;
    by day they shut themselves up;
    they do not know the light.
17 For deep darkness is morning to all of them;
    for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

​18 “You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;
    their portion is cursed in the land;
    no treader turns toward their vineyards.
19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;
    so does Sheol those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them;
    the worm finds them sweet;
they are no longer remembered,
    so wickedness is broken like a tree

21 “They wrong the barren, childless woman,
    and do no good to the widow.
22 Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
    they rise up when they despair of life.
23 He gives them security, and they are supported,
    and his eyes are upon their ways.
24 They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;
    they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
    they are cut off like the heads of grain.
25 If it is not so, who will prove me a liar
    and show that there is nothing in what I say?”

---

Job returns to asking God for an audience, but this time instead of asking God to come to him, he says the He wishes he knew where God was so that he could go to Him directly and as Hebrews will say later, "boldly approach the throne of grace."  (See Hebrews 4:16).  Job knows that if he could just get to God and make his arguments and lay out his case before God that He would listen to Job and Job might finally be acquitted (found "not guilty").  While we may not be able to find God and plead our case before Him, this is what Christ does as our Mediator.  He enters the very throne room of God and by His blood makes intercession and atonement for us.  Our sin is remembered no more, and Christ acts as our Advocate (our defense attorney) so that all those who are in Christ have their case pleaded before God.  Even if we cannot go there to make ourselves heard, we know that the Spirit hears our prayers and intercedes on our behalf and the Son acts as Judge, Mediator, and Advocate on our behalf to say that our debt is paid in full and we are acquitted and found "not guilty" because our sin and our guilt was all laid on Jesus at the cross.

Job again declares his innocence that his actions have been blameless and upright according to the Law that has been given to the people at this time.   Job then says that God is sovereign and will do what He wants and accomplish His purposes--whatever they are.  Wow!  Now that's a statement of faith right there from someone going through a fiery trial!  Job has done a 180 from demanding an audience with God to submitting to God's perfect and sovereign will in just a few verses.  This reminds me very much of David in the Psalms (and David being called "a man after God's own heart").  Do not these words strike you as similar to Psalm 119 and others that speak about obedience to the law, the statutes and the precepts of the LORD and how good it is to walk in His truth and light of His Word?

Job worships God because of His attributes--his unchangeable nature and his power and sovereignty.  Job says that God's power and plan have made Job "fear Him" (show Him reverence and awe, and probably bend his knee to Him), but even though Job feels enveloped by darkness, it has not made Job want to stop speaking the praises of His great Name in worship and honor and praise.  This is the temptation that most of us face--to take our eyes off of God and His immutable attributes and focus on our ever-changing circumstances over which we have little to no control.  Instead we need to focus on the One who can walk on the water in the middle of the storm and speak to the storm, "Peace, be still!" and the wind and the waves obey His command.

Job then returns to his other burning question of when it appears that God does give His righteous judgement to the wicked in the here and now in a way that is more immediate and more visible for all to see?  We know that sometimes God's judgment on the wicked is less visible to others as He gives them more than they can handle with hopes that they will cast all their cares on Him because He cares for them (the first and most importance of which is their care for their soul because God has put eternity in their hearts and they know they cannot measure up to God's perfect standard to spend eternity with Him and men seem to know they are destined for an eternity of suffering and punishment for their rebellion against God and His perfect Law).  Job also wonders how God can allow the suffering of the righteous and allow His people who are blameless and upright to be poor, needy and servants of the wicked ones.  When will God do justice and put down the wicked and exalt the righteous?  The short answer is that this is not His purposes for this kingdom here and now, but all that will happen in the kingdom of God in eternity to come.

Job then talks about how those who are wicked love the darkness--both physical and spiritual, and will not walk in the light of God's law or His holiness.  They try to hide their evil deeds by committing them in the cover of physical darkness, pretending that if no man sees them, they will not be held to account, but God sees all and will not let the sins of the wicked go unpunished.  They will either choose to pay for their sins themselves in the lake of fire, or they will put their sins upon Jesus so He can pay their debt and take their wrath on the cross.  Job correctly calls what these men do "rebellion," and that they are "rebels" against God and the things of God (and the people of God).

Job repeats the worldly wisdom of his friends back to them as to say, "I just don't see it."  He does not see that the wicked suffer physically in terms of health or wealth in the here and now, and they seem to be at peace in their wickedness, and it doesn't even appear to him that their lifespan is shortened--they seem to Job to live long and prosperous lives (according to the standards of the world)--many times longer and more prosperous than the righteous man.  So Job rightly wonders what benefit there is to being righteous if the wicked live long and prosper and the end of the righteous and the wicked alike is death and decay?  Unless there is a different kind of afterlife for the righteous and the wicked, life doesn't seem to make any sense to Job and seems in conflict with what he knows about God and His invisible attributes.

This will be Job's last response to Eliphaz, and just like before Bildad will speak next.  How will he react to Job's argument and Job's response to Eliphaz?  If history repeats itself, probably not in a way that wisely reflects what God is up to here in this situation.  Let's continue to study as we look at that passage tomorrow and see what it has to say.