*Old Testament Reading: Deuteronomy 29-30
*Poetry Reading: Job 42
New Testament Reading: Romans 10
“Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live” – Deuteronomy 30:19b (ESV)
In chapter 42, Job again responds to God. He is humble, accepting that he cannot understand God nor His ways. He repents for speaking about what he doesn’t understand. He responds just as God wanted him to, in humility.
Job’s friends first made their appearance in Job 2. They “made an appointment together to come show him sympathy and comfort him” (Job 2:11b). The first thing they did was an outward display of sharing his pain (wept, tore their robes, sprinkled dust on their heads). Then they just sat with him. In silence. For seven days.
If you’ve been reading along in Job, you have heard their advice. Much of it sounds good. Much of it would likely be great advice in a different situation. Their focus was on what Job had done wrong to incur God’s wrath. They couldn’t see any alternative to Job’s suffering. Yet they gave up their silence and tried. They did their best, but it turns out, they were wrong. And God wasn’t about to let them get away with it.
We’ve all been there….sitting (in person, via text, on social media, over the phone, etc.) with a suffering friend not knowing what to say. Eventually, the silence drives us to speak. Our desire to help is strong and pushes us to try to solve the problem, to figure out the “why” so they can fix it, or at least understand it. Our hearts are in the right place. I think Job’s friend’s hearts were in the right place, too. They wanted to help.
God says that His anger burns against them and that they haven’t spoken of Him what is right. I don’t want to be in that place with God. While He does offer them a way out – a way to repent – it is humbling, and likely even humiliating. They thought they were offering good advice to their friend and now they have to humble themselves and ask him to pray for their misspeaking.
What can we learn from this exchange? First, reaching out to a friend who is suffering is good. Sitting in silence is good, too. But what I take away from this is that we need to seek God before we respond on His behalf. Before we tell someone what God would have them do, we should ask God. That can be in prayer or in reading His Word. Someone once said that God will never contradict His Word, so whatever you “hear” him saying, cross-check it in the Bible.
And a quick dip into Deuteronomy for some great thoughts to meditate on today…
Deuteronomy 29:18b-19a says, “Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.”
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 says, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
I think Job chose life. Even though he didn’t do anything really big to sin, God called him out on his attitude and words. He didn’t bear poisonous and bitter fruit and he didn’t hold on to his stubborn heart. He humbled himself.
Amy Blanchard
Reflection Questions
- Do you know a friend who is suffering? What can you do to help them? Remember to start with asking God.
- Do you have a stubborn heart that thinks you’ll be safe from God’s wrath? Consider what choice you are making – life or death, blessing or curse. Remember that your choice not only determines if you will dwell in the land of God’s promise, it also affects those following you – don’t make it harder for them to choose life and blessing.
Seek Grow Love 