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In today’s reading, Job is angry, tired, and frustrated, not just with God for his current life circumstances, but also with his friends. They come at him with “long-winded speeches,” arguments, and the same explanations for his suffering that he’s heard before. To sum it up using Job’s blunt honesty, his friends are “miserable comforters” (v. 2). They are so intent on arguing the reasons why Job is suffering that they forget to offer mercy and compassion.

Chances are, you’ve been let down by a friend, too. Probably not to the extent of Job here, but at some point or another, a person you trusted has hurt you. Humans are flawed and broken sinners and we unintentionally take our hurt out on each other. Job knows this firsthand. If we rely solely on humans to help us in our pain, we will always be disappointed. Even after spending verses 6-14 calling out in anger to God, Job speaks this: “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 one pleads for a friend.” 

This passage, written as far back as the time of Jacob in Genesis, speaks a truth foreshadowing Jesus. We know that Jesus is our advocate (1 John 2:1), interceding for us to the Father on our behalf (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:24-25). As if that’s not enough, He also calls Himself our friend (John 15:13-15). Job knows that because humans will always fail, we need a true helper and friend. In Jesus, we have that. 

Because Jesus was fully God and also fully human, He alone can mediate and advocate for us to the Father. The next time you feel alone, let down by others, or in need of comfort, make sure you go to the right source first. Friends and community can help you, but they will never be your Help. 

Eliphaz, who may be the oldest of the friends who counsel and rebuke Job, represents the voice and wisdom of the Edomites. Eliphaz shares several truths. We see how men condemn themselves with their mouths and actions. Withering and death come to us all. However, Eliphaz misses the essential truths that can be learned by considering Job’s tribulation:

• Job believes in the power of God and that we all (believers and unbelievers) belong to Him (Job 12:16).
• Man’s wisdom is not God’s wisdom. What we see in the world and the lives of men is not what we see through the eyes of faith.
• The words of men and wisdom of the world are not a comfort to us.  The only significance and comfort we can find in our lives is through the Word of God and our daily walk with him.

Instead of seeing these essential truths, Eliphaz paints Job as a presumptuous man who talks too much. Job is accused of being wicked, deserving of punishment, deceived by his own mind and lacking understanding. Eliphaz’s response represents how the world responds to trouble. How the world responds to trouble is very different from the response of believers. Yet, how often do we hear a worldly account of a situation and believe it? 

There is no shortage of non-believers with large platforms who share opinions on current events that include some truths but miss the essential truths going on at the same time. As believers, we should remember non-believers are unable to see what God is doing. We should remember to consider our circumstances through a different lens.

Job certainly sees his situation through a different lens than the world. Job’s security, even through his loss and pain, is found in God. Job stands within his core values by being faithful to God (Job 13:13-19) by acknowledging God’s sovereignty over him. We, as believers, can find the same security in His sovereignty. James, the half brother of Jesus, shared a similar point of view in James 1:2 saying, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” We would do well to remember we were created to worship and experience joy in all circumstances. 

This chapter is Job’s closing remarks of the first round of discussion between him and his friends. Since we’ve made it through many days of heavy poetry and debate, we’re going to do something different today. As we reach the end of this section of the book, we are going to try to think of this book in a different way, and hopefully reach a different perspective on this book. Picture this in your mind: The book of Job is like two court rooms, one in heaven and one on earth.

In heaven, God is in charge: the judge who controls the court and makes all the decisions, and because He is all-knowing and just, He has never made the wrong decision. His angels are there, to serve their King and give input. We saw in chapters 1 and 2 how one of these members of the heavenly court asks to afflict suffering and pain on a righteous man named Job, all to prove that this man only praised God because of all the things he had been given.

The second court is on earth, in the remains of what used to be all that Job had been gifted from God. Job is the defendant (the one being accused), and his three friends that had originally been there to mourn with him, are the prosecuting attorneys, arguing that Job must have done something to deserve what happened to him. At this point, each friend has spoken once, and Job is finishing up this round of arguments, responding to the friend that spoke directly before him, and to all three friends. 

The main point that Job is making in this chapter is this: Human life is extremely frail and temporary. People live for a short period of time, die, and don’t ever live again on Earth. In the second half of this chapter (v. 13-17), Job describes a hypothetical situation, one that he wishes could be true. He says that if the dead could live again, it would give him hope. If this were the case, God would guard his steps, and God would cover his guilt. This situation is hypothetical to Job, only wishful thinking, but to us it is real and available through Jesus! He died for our sins, so the dead could live again in Heaven with Him, taking on the punishment for our sin that we deserve.

When someone we care about is struggling, we want to help. Often that help comes in the form of a solution.

 “Have you tried _______________?”

“You should _____________!”

“If you had done __________, then this would not have happened.”

While problem-solving or offering perspectives can be helpful at times, Job 13 cautions us against this approach as a default response. This is the approach taken by Job’s friends, however, it does not prove helpful. So, what should we do? How can we be helpful in the midst of others’ suffering?

First, we admit humility and avoid prideful advice. In verses 1-2, Job declares that he knows what the friends know, he is not inferior to them. If offering advice, we must do so humbly, refraining from condescension, and turn our efforts to encouragement. We do not have an exclusive deal with God. Prideful advice is a form of judgement, and judgement is not helpful or loving to the suffering. Jesus declared, “For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world,” in John 12:47.

Next, we acknowledge we are not God. This sounds simple, but in our efforts to make earthly sense of situations, we often rely on our human reasoning and proclaim it as truth. In verses, 7-12, Job admonitions the friends for speaking for God, and we must be careful not to do the same. We like to have answers, but we are not God. In Isaiah 55:8-9, God declares  “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’”

Finally, we sit in the silence. Job declares, in verse 5, “Oh that you would be completely silent, and that it would become your wisdom!” When others suffer, they need sympathy and support, which often sounds like silence. We give them space to grieve, provide permission to be honest, and validate their difficult emotions. We remind them of God’s love through our love.

Job calls us to set aside what we know or think should be done in moments of others’ suffering. He begs us to sit in the quiet moments with others’ pain, acknowledge we don’t have the answers, and simply admit we don’t have any words, but we have His love to share.

Job 12 encompasses Job’s reply to Zophar, and he begins by stating that all men are limited in their ability to know wisdom by being human in a way that the Lord is not limited by. As the chapter progresses Job reveals that he has been falsely rebuked by his friends. These verses (v. 4-6) remind us of Jesus, because He was and is perfect and holy. Nevertheless, He was accused, rebuked, and ridiculed for sins He did not commit and yet He still suffered on the cross when He sacrificed Himself for all, defeating death, giving us an opportunity to be reconciled to God, and joining God the Father in heaven three days later for eternity.

In the second half of Job 12, Job begins to address the Lord’s character. Job urges himself to remember the faithfulness of God by speaking on how all creatures exist to worship Him. Worship is the natural expression of creation praising its creator, and the Lord constantly reveals Himself as sovereign to humans through His creation. Job, despite not fully understanding God’s motive, practices faith in this moment. He chooses to exercise faith in hard circumstances because of his dependence on the character of God. Even if present situations make it hard to trust that God is who He says He is, every believer can grow in faith by remembering creation and remembering His faithfulness to us in the past.

Why does this matter? We can easily become entangled in the circumstances of our lives and attempt to take control, believing that our plan is the best plan, despite the Lord having one for us before we even came to exist. In the times when our plan doesn’t happen how we want it to, it is easy to run away from the Lord or listen to what the crowd of people around us is saying. 

Yet through Job 12, we can see that the best way to handle things not going our way is to reflect on the past. It is then we can begin to realize how sovereign, faithful, and wise the Lord truly is in our past, present, and future circumstances. If life had always gone the way we wanted it to when we were younger, it would be a disaster because we are humanly limited and do not know what is best for ourselves. So, the times that things do not go the way we planned for them to go may be the exact times that the Lord desires to grow our faith and intimacy with Him.

Today we read Zophar’s response to Job. Job has experienced immense suffering from the loss of his children, his livestock, and even his health. Zophar’s response to Job’s experience is harsh. The title in the ESV translation is Zophar Speaks: You Deserve Worse. This should serve as an example to us when coming alongside someone who has experienced suffering the way Job has. 

We are to balance both grace and truth in our response to them. Zophar responded in such a way that was so heavy with truth it comes across as arrogant. We see Zophar draw a direct correlation between Job’s suffering and his sin, meaning that Job’s sin caused his suffering. However we know that it is not true. There are several examples throughout scripture: Paul in prison, Jeremiah being placed in a cistern, and even Jesus who suffered in the greatest possible way through being crucified on a cross for sins he did not commit. Jesus was blameless (2 Cor. 5:21).

Verses 5 and 6 Zophar gives a cutting response to Job, heavily laden with sarcasm as he delivers his heavy-handed rebuke to Job. This is the last thing we want to do when comforting someone. Often when we are with someone who is in a dark place like Job was, it is more the power of presence than it is the profound wisdom that can be shared. Sometimes the best thing you can do is give them a hug and be with them. 

In the Gospels when someone who is suffering encounters Jesus they experience his gentle and lowly heart. We can be encouraged that in the midst of suffering Jesus is gentle and lowly in heart (Matt. 11:28-30). We can also be encouraged that we have a high priest who can sympathise with us in our weakness, and that because of that we can draw near him in our time of need (Heb. 4:15-16). 

Chapter 10 is a continuation of the previous chapter, dealing with similar themes of the dichotomy of Job’s own sin and innocence. However, there is a shift in the purpose to his message. He says this all with the intent of it being directed towards God, and it is a brutally honest lament of how he is feeling. This passage is full of questions, and we know there is a lot of bitterness Job feels towards God. What is easy to forget as we read this is that Job doesn’t have any of the same knowledge we have.

He is stuck in this wrestling of knowing God, but not feeling like that remains true in his current circumstance. What is important to distinguish here is that how we feel about God is not the same as what is true about His character. Job feels like God is fighting against him, but that is not what is true. As the reader, we know that there is more to the story and that Job wouldn’t even be alive if it weren’t for God telling Satan not to harm him (Job 1:12). Though it felt to Job that God was nowhere to be seen in his struggles, and rightfully so, God was actually at the center of it all. 

What is so beautiful to know in this is that not only was God still present in this moment, but He also didn’t punish Job for being honest that it didn’t feel like God was there. God isn’t fragile; He isn’t going to break or be angry with us when we come to Him about how we feel. He desires for us to bring all of our thoughts and feelings to Him. He can handle our doubt. Because with doubt, comes faith. 

Drew Worsham, a speaker and pastor, says it this way, “As long as doubt exists, as long as the person is still uncertain, that is the only time that faith is needed.” But that doesn’t mean that we completely forget who God is. In his plea to God, Job still is thankful for what he knows about God, saying in verse 12 “You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.” We will not know all of the answers. But it is important that in our wrestling, we still remember God.

Reading Job 8 yesterday, we learned about Bildad’s theology: God rewards the righteous and God punishes the wicked. For Bildad, theology is simple. It’s an ancient version of the prosperity gospel: Do good, get good. Do bad, get bad. Reap what you sow. It’s black and white and neat and tidy. 

Job’s response to Bildad acknowledges that while God can work that way, it isn’t always true of how God works because Job cannot reconcile what he knows to be true of God with what he is experiencing of God. He wants to “contend” with God. Meaning, Job wants his days in court with God. He wants answers. He wants to know what he’s done to deserve this even though the first verses of chapter 9 recognize no one is righteous before God, and no one could answer God because God is wise and strong and beyond our ability to understand. And, God alone reserves the Sovereign right to shake the earth, command the sun, seal up stars, and do great and marvelous things (v. 5-10). 

We’ll see over and over again the sin of Job: he demands answers from God. And, we’ll see over and over again that God doesn’t shun Job’s questions, despair, and confusion. Job’s confusion is understandable. None of us wonder why Job wants a conversation with the Almighty. All of us understand the spiral of Job’s questions and commentary:

• How can a person be made right before God?
• God’s wisdom is vast (God knows everything).
• God’s power is profound (God is able to do anything).
• God’s might and vastness wasn’t a comfort to Job. It actually made Job feel more distant from God—confirming to Job that he cannot know or understand God.
• Job feels that God is distant and impersonal and unaware of Job’s suffering.
• Job cannot defend himself against God and longs for a mediator or arbiter for help, someone to plead Job’s case. 

Ultimately, Job cannot make sense of his narrative: “God rewards the righteous. I am innocent. God punishes the wicked. I am not wicked, yet God is punishing me with suffering, but God is good and does good. This is not good. I cannot figure out God.”

We get this circular thinking. We read Job 9 and want to make sense of the nonsensical. We don’t want to be confused by God. We want to understand God’s ways and how He defines good because it’s easier to have a neat and tidy faith than one that requires faith and trust in the midst of mystery and confusion. However, if we could figure out God, would we need Him? We’d reason God away. We’d explain away the miraculous. We’d become self-reliant and self-righteous. Our awe of the Almighty would be replaced with satisfaction of self. We need Something bigger than us. When we walk through the darkest nights, profound loss, unimaginable suffering, our souls long to rest in One who holds all things together, One who is making all things right, One who defeats the dark, One who is with us through it all. 

Job’s grief and confusion challenged—and eventually changed—his simple theology; but his acceptance and awe of God wasn’t quick and easy. His growth took time. Maturity isn’t instant. We’ll sit with Job in his pain and confusion and watch as some offer thin answers to thick questions. Let’s be patient with Job and ourselves as God grows our trust and faith in Him in the mystery of His ways. His ways are not our ways and we need Him to be bigger than our understanding.