When All Seems Hopeless
Study Scripture: Job 14:1-2, 11-17; 32:6, 8; 34:12; 37:14, 22
Background Scripture: Job 14; 32:1-8; 34:10-15; 37:14-24
Lesson 6

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Key Verse

If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

Job 14:14

 

INTRODUCTION

The Book of Job brings into focus an issue that has perplexed man for centuries, this is the problem of the suffering of the innocent, or the perceived innocent. Why does God allow the righteous to suffer?" Job the main character of the book sees himself as an innocent who is subjected to grievous sufferings and seeks to bring his case to God and get an answer. If ever a man was justified in asking why he was afflicted with sorrow and suffering, Job was that man. He was known for being faithful. The text calls him perfect, meaning he was blameless and upright (not sinless). No one could point a finger at him and accuse him of any wrongdoing. He was ethically upright, morally above reproach and religiously devoted to God. Job had a deep and devout reverence for the Lord. His consistent practice was to hold God in the highest awe and respect. He was an oriental tribal chief, esteemed by all, pious and upright before God and a man of great substance and fame. Suddenly he suffered a complete reversal of fortune and in quick succession he lost all his property, all his children and his body became afflicted with a loathsome disease. Job was abruptly plunged into wretched grief and sorrow.

Some of his friends visited to console him but their words were of no comfort, as they insisted Job's tribulations were the just result of some secret sin in his life and they urged him to repent. This was a long held belief that survives to this day. Many believe extreme misfortune is either a result of personal evil or that of one's parents. Job's wife offered even less help, her advice was curse God, and die. A large part of the book records these accusations of Job's friends and his defence of himself.

Finally a young friend of Job arrived on the scene after the other three, Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad, and after listening to their attacks on Job, he rightly rebuked them, but rebuked Job also; as he perceived Job's insistence on his innocence to be arrogant and actually accusatory against God.

He too urged Job to repent but for different reasons and in so doing raised some interesting questions regarding the suffering of the righteous, the nature of God and His purpose in these situations.

One writer notes: Man is unable to subject the painful experiences of human existence to a meaningful analysis - God's workings are beyond man's ability to fathom. Man simply cannot tie all the "loose ends" of the Lord's purposes together. We must learn to trust in God, no matter the circumstances.

An interesting matter raised in the book and worth considering is man's view of himself regarding righteousness, in the light of an infinitely Holy God.

In Job's mind and certainly in the minds of many who read this book, God was unfair to 'righteous' Job. This is an almost blasphemous thought, since the Scriptures clearly teach that God is just, a fact emphatically stated by the young Elihu.

The discrepancy in God's standard of righteousness and that of man is an unbridgeable gulf as Job will come to learn. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 57:8-9.

Do we need to be taken to another level of spiritual maturity regardless of how spiritually mature we might be?

Do we want to stay as we are? Or do we think we should be the ones to define our direction and pace of change?

Would we listen and change our ways if we were told where we are and where we should be going?

Is Israel's history a clear lesson to us? Is there some reason we know that would make suffering necessary and the good it can do to us and so we should not shy away from it?

The lesson here seems to be that whether or not we consider ourselves very righteous, from God's viewpoint we need to be even more righteous.

Taking this line of reasoning to it's logical conclusion points to our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, since only his righteousness satisfies God. Job's sufferings will lead him down this path and to his need of a Redeemer.

Job rejected the inadequate explanations for suffering offered by his friends and called for a response from God himself. He was clearly at the end of his rope as he attempted to deflect the accusations of his 'friends' and come to grips with his crushing grief.

Job was under so much stress that he experienced long hours of anguish that led him to reprove his friends and he began to behave in a way that seemed he intended to prepare as it were a legal case before God, if God ever gave him a chance to appear in his court of justice.

In doing this and preparing for his argument with God Job puts a couple of conditions before God. He wants God to show him mercy, by first stopping the deathly pain, anguish and torment he was experiencing and then secondly, veiling his presence so that the awesomeness of this dreadful God would not terrify him and stop him from speaking, (13: 19-21).

Job cried out to God, to make him Job know what the charges were against him (vs. 23) and that God would not hide his face from him. Then he went even further protesting the silence of God (vs. 24 through 27) and suggested that God was holding the iniquities of his youthful days against him.

Notice how serious this is, for he was really saying that all the sacrifices that he had offered as instructed by God to cover his sins had been useless. God had given him a program, and when he had followed it faithfully, God had turned away from him.

In his soul baring soliloquy and the refutation of his friend's accusations, Job delved into what he saw as the futile existence and hopeless condition of sinful man, in the light of his infinitely holy and awesome Creator.

He questioned his very reason for being. Given his impossible and pathetic fate, why would God even bother to let him suffer. This sounds like the pit of depression and despair.

Clearly everything looked so hopeless!

Job is still ignorant of the behind the scenes drama; steeped in self-pity and self absorbed with his good record, he sought an audience with God, to present his case but was met with a deafening silence by God.

Job found God's silence most disconcerting and finds company with many Christians, who confess that often when they are at their wit's end, God's answer is not as timely as they would like.

Is God's silence in our sufferings and desperate situations a necessary part of a Christian's exercise in spiritual growth?

Note, in the absence of God's answer, our faith hangs totally on his promises and faithfulness to those promises.

Job was without a doubt at the point that could reasonably be called hopeless but even in his deepest suffering and despair, his wailings and complaints are dotted with expressions of God's awesome power and mercy.

Job still found hope in the mercy and justice of the One that was his Creator and in so doing, he set the high mark for the patience and endurance of the saints under suffering, a point not lost on the New Testament writers, (James 5:11).

He never forgot the character of God, even though he wondered what God was doing and felt he was being mistreated.

Providentially Elihu began to speak at this point and enlightened Job to other perspectives on his situation and pointed him and us, to what our response should be in the day of our calamity. It is here that we see God's first open intervention in Job's situation, to stop him from sliding too far.

God eventually responded to Job's plea, that he be allowed to see God and hear from him the cause of his woes. Interestingly, God answered not by justifying his action before men, but by referring to his own omniscience and almighty power and man's inability to understand the reality in which he lives and to make proper assessments of his situation and proper decisions about his life. Job was immediately chastened by the contemplation of God's infinite attributes and instantly did a make-over of his attitude. He became content, recovered his attitude of humility and trust in God, which was now deepened and strengthened by his experience of suffering.

Our particular text for today's study moves from Job's depressing view and assessment of man's impotence, regarding his sinful condition, his insignificance and hopelessness relative to God; to Elihu's good advice to consider God's attributes. Surely in the time of hopelessness God seeks to strengthen his people.

THE TEXT.

14:1. This verse continues a train of thought steeped in pathos from chapter 13:25, where Job began to lament his feeble and vulnerable state and wondered why God would even bother to persecute one as insignificant as he, Job.

He now expressed in beautiful language that man was helpless and hopeless before God.

Poetically he likened man's conditions to images that speak to frailty, weakness and what is transitory. His mention of ..born of woman..is likely an allusion to the then prevailing view of women as weak. The thought was, being the offspring of one so weak must necessarily mean that he himself must be weak also.

Some think it's a reference to Eve, the first woman, who was first to fall to temptation into sin and so all those that she bore are naturally into sin, under death and doomed to trouble.

Job's former days were anything but full of troubles but here he makes troubles an inevitable experience of man's oh so brief existence. It is amazing how we tend to forget the days of plenty and concentrate on and lament over the days of empty.

We should remember to keep on counting our blessings.

Admittedly remembering the bad times is the experience of many, and even the Patriarch Jacob said:…The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been…Gen.47:9.

His choice of days as the unit of lifespan is a lead-in to verse two.

Verse 2. Job employs two images that are common in poetry and elsewhere to express human life as delicate, frail and brief. This is probably the first use of these metaphors to represent human life and they are commonly employed in the Psalms and have since become a staple in literature at large.

Its hard to find more dramatic pictures to capture a sense of the brevity of life than presented here in a flower and a shadow. Beyond the flash of their existence, they are totally inconsequential, leaving no trace of their ever having existed.

It is most important to note, that while these expressions are beautiful and poetic, they are the view from the natural man or of the 'flesh', a man under intense pain and torment and definitely not the view of the Word of God or the view of God.

Job had strayed at this point and we should be careful not to follow this particular path.

Verse 3-10. In these verses Job questioned God's attention on man; suggesting man did not warrant that close scrutiny and accountability, given his insignificance. Is one so frail as man worthy of such constant watching on the part of God?

If man is such a weak and here today gone tomorrow creature, why is God bothering to bring him into judgment and to take his faults seriously!

In any case, given his sinful ancestry, an allusion to Adam and Eve, why is any good expected of man and his sins punished with such severity.

If man or he specifically is so unclean, why single him out for heavy suffering. No one can make something clean out of the unclean, so why bother with judgment in this way.

His days are determined and his life circumscribed tightly by God, (vs. 5).So why doesn't God not bother with him and let him enjoy his short life which he lived like a lowly hireling.

Note that Job is here saying that man: -can't really do anything of himself, -he is a victim -things happen to him that he cannot help -he is born into a situation and so is subject to circumstances.

Job strayed close to the edge, portraying God as overbearing. For him, since God had circumscribed and predetermined every aspect of man's existence, God should leave him alone and let him live his life as already charted by God. The jealous attention was unwanted.

Human life was so meaningless and temporary. When he looked at nature and compared himself to things, he realized that even a tree had more potential of revival and permanence than man. Unlike a tree, when man is gone, he is gone!

In fact, Job was saying that man had no chance to go back and live and make a better record for himself. (Note that this denies the foolish reincarnation argument).

He cannot clear up past mistakes. That was unfair.

Verse 11. Job continued to belabour the point of the brevity and transient nature of human life and here used the illustration of bodies of water, ponds, lakes which were made by torrents pouring down from the mountains and which would after a little while totally evaporate, leaving the dry bed. Such an occurrence would be common in the parched countries of the East, where stagnant surface water is soon lost to evaporation. The word translated sea is elsewhere rendered lake or a stagnant pool, (Isa. 11:15; 19:5, Num. 34:11).

Verse 12. Once man was laid in the grave that was it! He will not rise or spring up on this earth again ever. The heavens are thought to be the ultimate symbol of permanence and like them the final end of man is set, once he is in the grave.

One writer notes: This verse, therefore, is simply a solemn declaration of the belief of Job that when man dies, he dies to live no more on the earth. Of the truth of this, no one can doubt-and the truth is as important and affecting as it is undoubted. If man could come back again, life would be a different thing. If he could revisit the earth to repair the evils of a wicked life, to repent of his errors, to make amends for his faults, and to make preparation for a future world, it would be a different thing to live, and a different thing to die. But when he travels over the road of life, he treads a path which is not to be traversed again. When he neglects an opportunity to do good, it cannot be recalled. When he commits an offence, he cannot come back to repair the evil. He falls, and dies, and lives no more. He enters on other scenes, and is amidst the retributions of another state. How important then to secure the passing moment, and to be prepared to go hence, to return no more! The idea here presented is one that is common with the poets.

This definitely does not mean that Job did not believe in the resurrection; for later on he emphatically stated that he would rise. The idea was that once he died, life on this earth, in human flesh, with the human type enjoyments were over. There was no possibility to correct mistakes made in the previous life. He definitely did not expect annihilation. But everything seemed to be gloomy and though he was innocent, God was silent. Job had a pessimistic and uncertain outlook.

Verse 13. …..grave (sheol) means place of no return, the abode of departed spirits, though some take it to be the physical 'grave'. Either interpretation is not material, the point was Job desired a haven, a refuge, a hiding place until the fury of God's wrath had passed. So Job wished that the grave, into which the wrath of God had consigned him for ever, may be only a temporary place of safety for him, until God's anger turned away. If God would verify what he intended to do, it would make his suffering bearable.

"A set time" means something decreed, prescribed, appointed and here Job desired an appointed time, when God would remember or revisit him. 'Beaten down' by his dreadful misfortune Job had longed for death (Job 3:20-22) but his instinctive love for life had him ask that: God would appoint a time, though ever so remote, in which he would return to him and permit him to live again.

Similarly to how God remembered Noah (And God remembered Noah…Gen. 8:1). Noah was not only hid him from the destruction of the old world, but was kept reserved him for the reparation of a new world. The thought is reminiscent of Psalms 27:5, For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me…

Job cherished the hope of some future life however remote and he was willing to be hidden for any period of time, until the wrath of God had abated, if he might only live again.

Note it is so, that even at the times when all seems hopeless, because God has put eternity in the heart of man, even in the darkest hour of despair, hope for life still flickers.

Verse 14. Under the stress of his sufferings, Job seriously entertained the thought of man living again on the earth. He would have God hide him someplace then bring him back to life in his flesh. The question "…shall he live again?" is a strong form of expressing denial. Job soon faced the reality that there was no life after death. He would not live again on the earth.

He might have ruled out another life on the earth, the thought however was none the less a craving of his heart and so he anticipated some kind of change and resolved to endure his determined fate, until the change come, whatever that may be.

All the days of my appointed time-my warfare; my enlistment; my hard service. He likened his life to the service of a soldier or of a servant, that was subjected to an inevitable destiny of suffering.

Job was unsure of what the change might be; maybe a relief from sufferings, or it might be happiness in some future state but he would not try to cut short the time of his affliction. He resigned himself to quietly wait for any change.

The hope of a change must have provided some comfort to Job after his friends had failed so miserably. Christians now have the revelation of a more sure blessed hope!

This reflects Job's joy to stand before God after God's wrath is gone.

Now let us be candid for a moment. Every human being feels helpless and guilty before God. Mankind therefore comes up with many ways of dealing with this massive problem.

Some have developed the idea that there is something called purgatory after death, where you pay for some of your sins and have your living relatives help you pay for the rest of sins.

We must realize that the Word of God tells us the truth and denies all the false systems and errors.

Verse 15. Thou shalt call…Job's thoughts lingered on the prospect of the change and he envisioned God finally calling him from the depths of Sheol, at the appointed time of release. He would answer. God's anger having past, God would treat him kindly as the loving Creator that cared for his creatures. One writer notes: "Job must have had a keen perception of the profound relation between the creature and his Maker in the past, to be able to give utterance to such an imaginative expectation respecting the future."

Verse 16. Here Job reverted to the present and saw God as severe (thou numberest my steps), keeping a very close watch on him to make a note of every sin, for which Job will have to give account.

Verse 17. Job expanded on the idea of verse 16 about God's severity in dealing with him. The thought was that God had collected all Job's sins and sealed them in a bag, as a person might collect valuables and secure them in a bag. Of course such a treasure would have the constant attention of the owner and so Job's sins were constantly before God. According to Job, God had made an accurate count of his sins and seemed to carefully guard and observe them as a man would do to bags of gold. Job's sins were summed up and marked with reference to his future judgment.

Let us understand what we are seeing. Job was looking at life the way the world sees it. Never feel that all of life is for the present!

This life is really A SCHOOL, A PREPARATION TIME.

The real life is ahead. There is something beyond death that is beautiful and glorious. But like us Job is to become aware that we must do specific things now.

God has laid out life in this way; though there is no way back, there is a way forward. We are forced by life to make major decisions when we are not well prepared and sometimes things do not go well, but we must look forward. This was the direction in which God was moving Job.

Chapter 19 shows clearly that Job was slowly learning to trust God and feeling that God was working out his purpose. So we now move on to a break in the gloom.

CHAPTER 32.

Verse 1-5. At this point Job's three friends refused to continue the dialogue because Job was insisting on his own righteousness.

Elihu a young friend that had happened on the scene but who had kept silent in deference to the older men began to speak.

He had become angry at Job's attempts to justify himself rather than justifying God. He was also angry at Job's other three friends because as he saw it, they had no explanation for the situation but had condemned Job none the less.

Verse 6-7. I am young…we are not sure of his age but it seems he was considerably younger that the others. Through the discussions they had laid claim to great experience and presented themselves as having had opportunities of long observation and it is probable that they were regarded as sages

Elihu had formed his opinions as the discussions progressed but was timid or bashful in such august company. He did not think it proper or appropriate that one so young as he should interrupt, even when he thought he perceived that others were wrong.

Elihu was disappointed with the arguments of the older men, because he expected their years would have given them a certain wisdom, of which he saw no evidence in their discourses. It is a time held belief that age and wisdom go together. We now face an unexpected development in the book: Elihu was young. He spoke not from experience but from revelation. He was courteous and sensitivity to Job, not sarcastic. He displayed understanding that Job was really suffering. Accordingly, we see that when God finally answered Job and rebuked his three friends, he did not include Elihu in the rebuke. Neither did he ask Job to pray for him. God however directeded Job to pray for the others.

Verse 8….there is a Spirit…refers to a Spirit from God and is tied to the phrase, the inspiration of the Almighty. Elihu had noted one should expect to find wisdom in the aged and experienced but was disappointed in this instance.

His thought now was that wisdom was not necessarily the province of rank or station but was the gift of God and so could be found in the young. One commentator writes: Elihu undoubtedly means to say, that though he was much younger than they were, and though, according to the common estimate in which the aged and the young were held, he might be supposed to have much less acquaintance with the subjects under consideration, yet, as all true wisdom came from above, he might be qualified to speak. The word "spirit" here, therefore, refers to the spirit which God gives; and the passage is a proof that it was an early opinion that certain men were under the teachings of divine inspiration.

This young man was pointing everyone to God, for he alone can explain what was happening. He repudiated the narrow and limited view of God in both Job and his friends, which looked at God as acting without good reason and out of feeling, without justification.

Even when God was silent, we must look beyond the silence, Elihu continued. (Read chapter 33).

So he tells us that God also speaks through pain, not only to punish but to help us understand something we do not understand.

By the end of Elihu's speech a chastened Job is ready to listen and God is ready to speak. This is truly remarkable theology, especially in a young man.

Chapter 34:12. Elihu makes a strong statement in defence of God's integrity and justice, as he refuted Job's accusations that God had dealt with him unjustly and that he was not deserving of his fate. Elihu surmised that under the pressure of his sufferings, Job had disregarded the principle that God will not do wickedly. It was absurd to think that God would pervert justice.

Job's accusations that God was being unfair in his dealings with him were ridiculous, for God who is Almighty is just and there is no reason why a Being who is Almighty would not be just, says Elihu in effect. People with limited power or who are weak can play games, but God has no need to do that nonsense. He is Almighty.

Job was painting himself into a hopeless corner but God sent Elihu to bring him back to the right course.

Elihu is saying the same thing that we are always warned about. To get at us, Satan make us begin to distrust God and feel that He is treating us unfairly, for only then can he succeed in making us curse God and turn our backs on him, which is what Satan ultimately wants.

So this young man had to insist to these older men that ultimately God is always going to treat the wicked with judgment and bless the righteous. That is God's character and nature from which he will never deviate.

God is sovereign, in charge of the earth, and he does not have to account to us. (vss.10-12).

We learn our sense of justice from him, and though we and rulers violate his rules of justice, God always acts in a just way. (vss 16-20).

God has no need to investigate or hold a trial to condemn us, for he knows what is going on. (vss 21-24)

So when God is quiet as vss. 28-29 states, who can condemn God, or call him to account, or appeal his decision?

God only seeks repentance and submission to him and that is all, the surrender of the right to run our lives for that is the only basis for relationship.

So having established what God has revealed to him, Elihu then proceeded to deal with Job's argument in some detail in succeeding chapters.

Chapter 37:14. Elihu steered Job to contemplate the wondrous works of God, but first he advised Job to comport and compose himself in a posture of reverence and attention.

He pointed to how God used his power and operated in His creation. He showed dramatically how man was frail and was nothing before God's infinite greatness and glory. Man's knowledge was clearly very limited for he did not understand the actions of God

Job could do none of the things that God did. Job cannot explain them. (14-16) He cannot do anything similar to them. (vss 17-18). He cannot control and command anything, save himself, teach anything, or arrange his thoughts. (vss 19-20)

God will take Job along the same path when he speaks to Job. Job should consider the works of God and contemplate His Person from those works.

Verse 22. There are several opinions to the meaning of this verse. In light of the preceding verses however, It appears that Elihu continues to poetically present God as the majestic and omniscient Creator, to whose person Job should give serious contemplation and turn from his erroneous ramblings.

CONCLUSION

Just remember that the Bible teaches that to receive anything from God one must come with a humble and a contrite heart.

Never think that we have something to offer God. Or that we have ability which is so great that we can do for God but nobody else can.

So let us come to God: - humble - contrite - waiting upon God - asking him to teach you. Then God will hear us, pick us up, and restore us.

Many Christians have questioned God and have ventured down the path of Job, under the unbearable pressures of sufferings and pain but God does not abandon his own. As in the case of Job, even when all seemed hopeless God sent a ray of light in Elihu, to turn Job's thoughts to the right direction.

Let us not say that we will never make the mistakes that Job made. This Book was written to teach us what to do and what not to do, how to think and how not to think.

It teaches us about the character of God, and that we should never lose sight of this no matter what is happening to us. David puts it all very beautifully in Psalm 23.

Sooner of later troubles and baffling circumstances enter the life of believers and at those times we do well to remember the lessons of Job. We should consider the works of God and his person and realize we have a sure hope. We should take Elihu's argument that we cannot blame God for injustice. We have to assume that He can do no wrong, even when it does not make any sense to us. So, the only thing left for man to do is to trust and obey; to submit and wait patiently. It is better to submit than to demand an explanation. It is better to fear God than to be wise in our own eyes. Elihu saw only two alternatives for man before God: obey and be blessed, or disobey and perish: Let us embrace this understanding. Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord! Or who has been his counselor?" (Romans 11:33-34).