RR Job Thoughts By David Harwood

Shavuah Tov,
 
What I see is this: Job's suffering is a picture of God's suffering.
 
Job was happy. Judging by the number of children he had, he was happily married. He was righteous. He provided for the poor and people sought him for judgment because he was wise – He knew God’s ways. He was healthy. He loved his children. He provided for them materially and spiritually. Oh, and Job was really wealthy, honored, popular, and influential. It was heaven on earth.
 
This changed.
 
Due to Satan, Job lost
·      his possessions,
·      his children,
·      his health,
·      his wife (his first accuser),
·      his reputation,
·      and became subject to theologically grounded accusations from friends who provided one explanation after another as to ‘why’ this happened to an apparently righteous man.
 
What fault was there in Job that all this happened? What unrighteousness was there that he should lose his children, his possessions, the respect of his wife, his reputation, his health?
 
The answer Adonai gave was that there was no fault in Job whatsoever. He had done nothing to deserve it. He was a righteous man.
 
Yet Job heard this: “What happened to you is your own fault. You are being judged. You are not righteous. Stop defending yourself.”
 
Consider …
 
·      What fault was there in God that His angels should rebel?
·      What fault was there in God that He should become bereft of His children?
·      What fault was there in God that His cosmos would come under the sway of the evil one?
·      What fault was there in God that He should be subject to accusations of angels and men, that He should be subject to the loss of His reputation?
·      What fault was there in God that He should have to be defended weakly by His “friends” seeking to divine a good “reason” that “He allows” evil to run rampant?
 
What unrighteousness was found in God that He should lose His children, see His cosmos immersed in darkness, lose humanity’s trusting love, become open to slander, and suffer for the sake of His creation?
 
Here are some things said by God’s “comforters” to explain why bad things happen:
 
·      “Before the foundation of the world You willed that humanity’s fall, and all the pain that follows it, would happen.”
·      “You cause bad things to happen for Your greater glory.”
·      “You determine the bad things that happen to us for the sake of our sanctification.”
·      “God allowed this atrocity, or tragedy, to happen.”
 
And then, there’s this:
 
·      “God is not good. If God were good, why would...?”
 
Job’s friends reasoned that his suffering proved his guilt. The world reasons the same way, only pointed at heaven. Fill in the blanks: _________________
 
·      It is God’s fault mom died.
·      It is God’s fault people are cruel.
·      It is God’s fault I lost my money.
·      It is God’s fault that there is sin in the world.
 
You’ve heard it. You may have felt it. You may have said it.
 
I was teaching in Florida, and a brother accosted me: “If God were affected by anything outside of Himself, He would not be God!” I replied, “Says who?”
 
Well, I found someone in the Bible who said it. In one of Elihu’s soliloquies we find this:
 
If you sin, how does it affect God?
If your transgressions are many,
what does it do to him?
If you are righteous, what do you give to God,
or what does he receive from your hand?
(Job 35:6-7 TLV)
 
This misunderstanding of transcendence was known to ancient Israel. But the prophets rejected it. The Son of Man destroyed it. The apostolic writings oppose it. It is plainly written that God experiences grievous loss and takes sin personally.
 
Job suffered loss through no fault of his own. He interceded for his accusers and experienced double restoration. In the same way, God’s loss shall be eclipsed by what shall happen due to Yeshua’s intercession.
 
Consider Job. His dark hour is a silhouette outlining God’s experience.
 
Of Yeshua, the image of God, it was written, “Scorn has broken my heart, so I am sick. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but found none” (Psalm 69:21).
 
But David said...
 
I love You, Adonai my strength! (Psalm 18:2)
 
This “love” – “racham” – is practically always used of God’s compassion towards humanity. Here it is directed towards the one who comforts us.
 
If we’re pointing a finger at God, let’s change our posture and lift our hands in surrender and supplication. Let us identify with God in His affliction and pray for His every desire to transpire.

Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Sun     27 Sep 2026             16th of Tishrei, 5787 Sukkot II
Le 22:26-23:44, Nu 29:12-16        1 Ki 8:2-21    Lk 13:22-30