Job does not deny that God is almighty and powerful. He says of God, "He is wise in heart and mighty of strength, He who removes mountains... who shakes the earth out of its place... who commands the sun... who alone stretched out the heavens... who does great things beyond search out." These are things Job knows about God. He knows that He is powerful, Creator, and frankly, beyond our ability to comprehend in all that He is. This, for Job, proves his point all the more: if God is so amazing and transcendent, then what is man to Him? How could any man stand righteous before God? All would be condemned. So, then, though Job is blameless, of course he is found perverse before such a God. Job's issue, he feels, is there is no one to speak for him. He can call out to God all he wants, but God does not turn back or pay mind, who, even, could catch his attention? What Job wants is someone to stand between him and the Almighty, someone who would "lay his hand on us both." Then, Job, feels, he could bring his complaint before the Lord.
This complaint, essentially, is essentially why he was born to only have God contend against him. Job has been blameless and upright, but what did that matter? Job acknowledges that God saw fit to bring calamity on him, and that is God's prerogative. But Job would rather have never been born than to suffer as he has. Job has still not cursed God, but he does acknowledge a bitter spirit and a longing to be released from his sufferings through death. He acknowledges he could put on a happy face, but what good would it do him? He would still suffer, and he feared his cheerfulness would only bring further disaster.
Here we see the case throughout the Old Testament: that the were no arbiter, no go-between for man and God. In the Garden, man had walked with God side by side, but not now. After the Fall and sin had entered the world, our face-to-face connection with God was severed. God might appear to men in visions, dreams, or send messages, but there was no one to stand before the Almighty in Heaven and plead our case. At least, not yet. Throughout the Old Testament there are hints of the Messiah, the Christ who is to come and of the expanded function of the Holy Spirit, His permanent in-dwelling of God's people. We will see some of those hints later on in Job. But this passage makes me all the more grateful that I have Christ now. I do not have to wait, I don' t have to look in the future and reassure myself, "Someday". Even now, the Holy Spirit speaks on my behalf before the throne of God with groans too deep for comprehension. I'm so glad that He does!
Tomorrow's Reading: Job 11:1-20
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