Understanding Suffering: Job's Quest for Justice and Advocacy

"What's he saying? He's a little brasher than Eliphaz -- he's probably younger than Eliphaz -- and he's coming in and he's saying, 'Does God pervert justice? Does God put justice aside just for you, Job? There's a principle. There's an order in the world. And does He turn that order, does He turn that system upside-down just for you?' What is that order in the world? We saw it in our previous lesson. Eliphaz introduced it in chapter 4. You reap what you sow. You get out of life what you put into it. No more and no less." [00:00:53]

"The case that Job's friends are making is that suffering is always punishment. It is always, invariably, without exception, divine retribution. That's the law of the universe. That is their understanding of God. Now, you must understand that Eliphaz, and Bildad, and Zophar, and Elihu later on, they're not weak-kneed liberals. They believe in law, they believe in justice, they believe God is sovereign. They believe God punishes. They believe in the wrath of God, right? So, they're not lily-livered liberals. They're strong defenders of the sovereignty of God." [00:02:06]

"Drop down to verse 6 -- 'If you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation.' If Job's protestation of innocence is correct, God will come in and restore him. The fact that he isn't being restored, the fact that Job is continuing to decline into this ill health that threatens to take his life, is evidence that the judgment of God is upon him. And the judgment of God can only be upon him for one reason -- because he's a sinner, because he has committed some act of sin now, in the past, in his youth, he may have even forgotten what it is." [00:03:24]

"Well, Bildad, like his predecessor Eliphaz, has what you might call a 'cash register' understanding of justice. You get what you deserve. And so Job comes in in chapter 9, and I want to go right to the end of what he says, in verse 33 -- 'There is no arbiter between us.' Now, the ESV translates that. There's a translation issue here -- whether this is expressing a wish, or stating a fact. And if you have an ESV you'll notice there's a little footnote that says, 'Would that there were an arbiter between us.'" [00:05:22]

"Here’s Job. He’s pleading innocent. He has a case. Think of it as a legal case. Think of it as a court of law. And then there's God, who's the judge. There's no one in between. There's no arbiter. He needs somebody to represent him. He needs somebody to argue his case. He needs somebody to come and represent him before the Almighty. Job is saying, 'I wish I had such a person' or, as the ESV translation is saying, 'I don’t have such a person.'" [00:06:14]

"The heart of this book, you see -- behind that -- there's Job and then there's God. And this God -- yes, He's sovereign and He's just. The question that Job is wrestling with is 'Is God good?' And not just good in general but 'Is He good toward me?' And he's wrestling with that. Satan lies behind it. He's calling it into question. Satan has already laid down that thought in Job's mind -- 'God cannot be trusted. His justice may work one way with one person and another way with another person, and there is no standard rule. There is no predictability about it. Life seems unfair.'" [00:08:28]

"The problem here is the justice of God. How can it be fair, how can it be right that someone who hasn't committed any particular sin -- and we've been told that by God; he was a godly man -- how can it be fair that God should visit that person, and inflict upon that person, pain, and suffering, and disease? What is Job saying? What Job is saying is how can you ever have justice with God? Where can I find justice?" [00:10:28]

"Job believes in the sovereignty of God. He believes in the transcendence of God. Job believes, as we might say, in a 'big God' -- a God who is outside of creation, a God who is 'other,' a God who is transcendent. 'How can I get justice? How can I -- How can I even plead my case? How can I even get a hearing?' Well, do you ever feel like that about a certain issue? The only way that you can get a hearing is to pray. Correct? You pray." [00:12:35]

"Now, in verse 13 -- 'God will not turn back His anger, beneath Him bowed the helpers of Rahab.' We need to say something about this. In the ancient Near East, there were certain myths about creation -- Job is obviously familiar with them -- and one of them is the influence of Rahab. This is part of an ancient Near Eastern religious belief. The same is going to be true of Leviathan and Behemoth, perhaps, later in Job, the closing chapters of Job, and so on." [00:17:22]

"Yes, so Job wishes he had an arbiter. That's what suffering can do, do you see? It can make you cynical, cynical about God, cynical about ever getting justice, cynical about the order of the universe. Or perhaps just cynical about God's attitude towards you personally. You may believe that the gospel, and so on, is fine for others but, as far as you is concerned, everything seems to be, well, just turned upside-down." [00:20:45]

"Job wishes he has an arbiter. He wishes he has an advocate. He wishes he has a lawyer. That's what he wants. He wants somebody to represent him in a court of law, represent his case. And he wishes he could find one. And you could say, well, 'Jesus is our advocate. He is our lawyer. He is our representative.' But representative in what sense? Job isn't looking for somebody to forgive him his sins. That's not his point. His point is that he is in the right. 'Who's going to plead my case?'" [00:21:57]

"I think of a beautiful woman in Memphis to whom something truly awful was done. I think of a teenager who was tired of being picked on unfairly. I think of a widow bereft of her life partner and facing the future that seems full of, well, darkness and uncertainty. I think of a family trying to pick up the pieces after their teenage son has taken his life. Bruised reeds. Smoking flax. And I'm saying we have a Savior who heals the broken-hearted." [00:22:25]