JOB’S “LIFE-LINE” – 23:11-12, 10

Job knew that he was obeying God to the very best of his ability. You know, we can’t understand a lot of the “why” of events in life. We just don’t know and we are not able to change anything much in life. But what we can know and what we can change or control is our response to God! Listen to Job’s thoughts in verses 10-12.

How is it that Job could survive with this tension in his life and heart? On one hand, he says God is absent from his life. He says that God is causing him to suffer more than he deserves. But at the same time, he is able to maintain his integrity and believes that if he ever has a chance to answer God face to face, he would be justified, acquitted of the accusations of the friends. How? How can Job maintain that tension in his heart?

Because he knows one thing – he is obedient to God’s commands! That’s the one thing we can know and its the one thing we can control! Our response to God’s commands!

Job’s “foot” walked the paths God had marked out. Job had “kept” God’s way without turning aside neither to the right nor the left. Job had not strayed from the commands coming from the lips of God. In fact, the words of God’s mouth, Job says, were “treasured” more than physical food that is necessary for life.

That is Job’s lifeline. Job’s lifeline was that he knew he had obeyed God and was living a life as God had directed. Job will get more explicit in a speech in chapter 31 where he gives us a list of those behaviors that God had commanded and Job had obeyed:

1. He had not lusted after virgins (vs 1).
2. He had not lied to or deceived other people (vs 5).
3. He had not committed adultery (vs 9).
4. He had not exploited his slaves (vs 13).
5. He had not abused the poor and widow (vs 16).
6. He had not coveted gold (vs 24).
7. He had not boasted of his wealth (vs 25).
8. He had not committed idol worship (vs 26).
9. He did not even rejoice when bad things happened to his enemies (vs 29).

What Job did know was that God commanded him to live a certain way, including worshiping through burnt offerings, which he did in 1:5. Job obeyed what God had commanded him. That was what was stable in Job’s life: God’s commandments and Job’s obedience. That was the safety net that caught Job when he fell from his rock-solid-faith in God’s operation of the world.

Of course even when Job felt that God was gone, in reality, He was not. Where is God when you are hurting? The same place He was when His own Son was hurting: ruling this world from heaven with all the wisdom and love that are the very essence of God’s nature. We have to trust Him. Let’s go back to 23:10 quickly and notice what Job says there. Job did not know why he was suffering the way he was. But he did know that eventually, things would be better. He would be a better servant of God after everything was settled. What a tremendous amount of faith in the middle of a tremendous amount of suffering.

It goes without saying that I do not understand this world and why different things happen. I do know that evil things happen because of Satan and good things happen because of God (James 1:17). I also know one thing – I know whether I am obeying God’s commandments or not. I can be saved without having all the answers. I cannot be saved without living an obedient life.

When you feel that God is gone from your life, trust His word and follow His commands as best you can. One day, perhaps, God will give answers to your questions.

Paul Holland