Devotional Thoughts: Theoretically it is all pretty straightforward

Am looking at Job 11 this morning.

Zophar, the third of Job's friends spoke here.

Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
Are all these words to go unanswered?
Is this talker to be vindicated?
Will your idle talk reduce men to silence?
Will no one rebuke you when you mock?
You say to God, My beliefs are flawless
and I am pure in your sight.
Oh, how I wish that God would speak,
that he would open his lips against you
and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom,
for true wisdom has two sides.
Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.
Can you fathom the mysteries of God?
Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
They are higher than the heavens - what can you do?
They are deeper than the depths of the grave - what can you know?
Their measure is longer than the earth
and wider than the sea.

When I read Job, I sometimes think about what is needed in a pastoral sense. In most cases, a human response, an emotional response is the first response and are often wordless. When one sees pain in a beloved person, there is the desire to comfort with one's presence and to offer meaningful touch in a hug, in holding hands, in offering a shoulder to cry on.

One could then move toward a verbal response. These verbal responses would still be in the realm of the human and emotional response. They would include expressions of love, support, understanding and promises of continued presence.

When does one move to a verbal and theological response?

I suppose in fairness to Job's friends, Job did start talking in emotional as well as theological terms and thus opened the door to their responses.

We may fault the three friends for not being very sympathetic to the emotional parts of Job's tirades and going straight for the theological.

Indeed, Zophar has done this here.

To his credit, some of his response mirrors what God will say later on: God is beyond our full comprehension!

But Zophar couldn't resist going into ground trodden by the other two friends.

If he comes along and confines you in prison
and convenes a court, who can oppose him?
Surely he recognizes deceitful men;
and when he sees evil, does he not take note?
But a witless man can no more become wise
than a wild donkey's colt can be born a man.
Yet if you devote your heart to him
and stretch out your hands to him,
if you put away the sin that is in your hand
and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,
then you will lift up your face without shame;
you will stand firm and without fear.
You will surely forget your trouble,
recalling it only as waters gone by.
Life will be brighter than noonday,
and darkness will become like morning.
You will be secure, because there is hope;
you will look about you and take your rest in safety.
You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid,
and many will court your favor.
But the eyes of the wicked will fail,
and escape will elude them;
their hope will become a dying gasp.

The bottom line: you sin, you suffer, you do good, you are blessed.

Theoretically it is all pretty straightforward.

What Zophar says is usually true. What Job's friends have been saying is usually true.

One of the things in life is that we have our "big premise" which we hold to be true. However, individual cases will vary.

I can think of two films in recent memory where the film makers play with the idea of "you think this way about this person" and then they show you, yes, it is partly true but the story of their life is a little more complicated.

The films American Beauty and Crash very much played into stereotypes and dash those stereotypes to drive their stories. The films are R rated for all the reasons you would expect so I wouldn't recommend them to everyone. But the point of the films are that things aren't always what they seem. The "bad" guy might actually have some redeeming qualities. And the "good guy" might not be so good after all.

But back to Job ... when we see the righteous man suffering, we have a stone in our shoe. We feel there is something wrong with this movie. As humans, we naturally feel the need for an explanation and so we come up with some obvious one:
(1) Job messed up and he is now paying the price
(2) God messed up and we should walk away from God or accept there is nobody out there at the controls.

As humans living our day-to-day life, we do need to exercise discernment. We do need to the best of our ability, call them as we see them. God gave the 10 Commandments and other things like that as a guide for life. And to the best of our ability we make determinations in our life how to live up to it and how to what extent someone else is living up to it.

Theoretically it is all pretty straightforward but this must be all done with humility in recognition that things aren't always as they appear to be.

I do fault Job's friends for endlessly plowing the same ground. I do give them credit for showing up. So much of friendship is showing up. They did drop the ball on the verbal empathy part though!

Lord, some days I look around and see the unfairness of the world in the lives of others and sometimes I feel life has been unfair to me. At those moments, I feel sad. I do wonder if perhaps I have sinned in some way and I deserve my lot in life. But I bring my sin to you and trust that you forgive me of them. I desire to live as full a life as possible. Living in the USA, I have so many opportunities for which I'm grateful. As a sinner, I know I fall short of the high standard you set and am thankful for forgiveness. And I trust in your strengthening to help me live a life to do the right thing more often than not and to love the people you bring into my life. But I often feel that what I have to give them may not be what they need or what I have to give them is not wanted. Yet, you have called me to love others and I realize I may have to often love completely without complete understanding of those I love. And because of the mysterious of how you work and because of the illusiveness of the people I love, I am humbled and must walk in humility before you leaving into your hands so many things that are beyond my control. Please bless me today that I may be a blessing to others. And please bless me because I trust in your goodness to me for my true happiness. Amen.