Job 23:1-24:25

Anyone else feel like saying, "Yeah, I hear ya, Job!" when reading these chapters?  Job laments that he looks for God and can't find Him, that he feels absolutely no response from the Almighty.  Haven't we all had times during prayer or worship or study or just daily life where we feel like everything we say and do hits the ceiling and goes no further?  (Which, really, doesn't matter, does it?  As God's omniscient, our prayers don't even necessarily go towards the ceiling....)  I wanted someone else's take on these verses, so I turned to the Bible Knowledge Commentary by Walvoord and Zuck (good stuff).  I liked what they said about God posting His schedule on a universal bulletin board so that we knew when and where to find Him.  That's what we want, isn't it?  Like our professors in college who post their office hours outside their door.  This is when they're available, otherwise, good luck.  That's how we feel, isn't it?  But this is truly one of those instances where man makes God to be a man.  God is not a man.  He does behave as human beings do; He doesn't have motives as human beings do.  He does not think or reason or respond as we do.  He is everywhere, omnipresent.  Which means, no matter how we feel (and let's face it, feelings are often deceiving), He's right there, right with us, whether we feel it or not.

So what about Job's other complaint?  That it seems at times that sin goes unpunished and justice unrewarded?  You might remind Job that God's thoughts are not ours; His ways are not ours.  We, really, don't always understand them.  But God knows what He's doing and knows far better than us.  God is just as well as compassionate.  He is patient as well as jealous (as in, He desires for us to love Him and serve Him before all things, which is His due).  You might.  But Job already knows it.  Here again he displays a great faith that the wicked will in fact, someday, be punished and that the Lord's justice will reign.  His friends claim that it is immediate, but Job says that it will happen at the right time: at the end of their life, if necessary, at the Great Judgement, but God will have justice when He will have justice, not according to our time tables.

It's a great thing to remember, especially for the flipside of the coin.  Just because we don't see God moving on a daily basis doesn't mean God isn't moving.  Just because we can't feel Him, doesn't mean He's not at our elbow.  God is not defined by our feelings or expectations, but by His Truth.  Which, thankfully, means that even when we are floundering, He is constant.  He is dependable.  We can trust Him.

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 25:1-6  (Yes, I'm serious!  We'll be making up for it soon.)