Job 9: 1 – 35
What Are You Doing?
1 Then Job answered and said: 2 “Truly I know it is so, but how can a man be righteous before God? 3 If one wished to contend with Him, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand. 4 God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered? 5 He removes the mountains, and they do not know when He overturns them in His anger; 6 He shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; 7 He commands the sun, and it does not rise; He seals off the stars; 8 He alone spreads out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea; 9 He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south; 10 He does great things past finding out, yes, wonders without number. 11 If He goes by me, I do not see Him; If He moves past, I do not perceive Him; 12 If He takes away, who can hinder Him? Who can say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’ 13 God will not withdraw His anger, the allies of the proud lie prostrate beneath Him. 14 “How then can I answer Him, and choose my words to reason with Him? 15 For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him; I would beg mercy of my Judge.16 If I called and He answered me, I would not believe that He was listening to my voice. 17 For He crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause. 18 He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness. 19 If it is a matter of strength, indeed He is strong; And if of justice, who will appoint my day in court? 20 Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse. 21 “I am blameless, yet I do not know myself; I despise my life. 22 It is all one thing; therefore I say, ‘He destroys the blameless and the wicked.’ 23 If the scourge slays suddenly, He laughs at the plight of the innocent. 24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, who else could it be? 25 “Now my days are swifter than a runner; They flee away, they see no good. 26 They pass by like swift ships, like an eagle swooping on its prey. 27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and wear a smile,’ 28 I am afraid of all my sufferings; I know that You will not hold me innocent. 29 If I am condemned, why then do I labor in vain? 30 If I wash myself with snow water, and cleanse my hands with soap, 31 Yet You will plunge me into the pit, and my own clothes will abhor me. 32 “For He is not a man, as I am, that I may answer Him, and that we should go to court together. 33 Nor is there any mediator between us, Who may lay his hand on us both. 34 Let Him take His rod away from me, and do not let dread of Him terrify me. 35 Then I would speak and not fear Him, but it is not so with me.
In today’s study we come across an accusation against our Holy Master –‘What are You doing?’ I believe I have shared this thought with you before. It is this. Often when I am studying certain sections of God’s Holy Word I experience firsthand the lesson brought out in the chapter.
I have had to deal this week with three people who have quoted to me “I despise my life’ or in our everyday language ‘ I hate my life and I want it to end.’
We live in a very violent and hostile world. We need to be reminded of this fact. We have three strikes against us before our feet even hit the floor. We fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Just going outside can be dangerous. We have had some pretty bizarre weather lately. We had a visit from the Polar Vortex where for three days the temperature was around zero degrees. Then this major rain storm cast on us ice. Then today the weather was going up past sixty degrees. I thank the Lord for the insight He has given animals. I took them out for a walk and do their business, once outside they would not budge. So, I brought them back into the house. Inside, as I took off their leashes, I saw a light flash and a loud boom. They were given insight from our Lord that the weather was dangerous and their resistance helped me avoid possible danger from being struck by lightning.
In verse 12 we will hear the words that possibly have been echoed out of our own mouths – “What Are You doing?’ Or on the flip side we demand from our Gracious and Merciful God, ‘How come you are not doing?’
So, as we start out here in our study, I want to say something to your right off the start. I want you to write these points down and review them a few times each day.
First of all we think the wrong thoughts about our Holy Maker. He Is Supreme. He does not have to answer for any of His Ways. He Is Infinitely Wise. He cannot make any mistakes. He Is Infinitely Kind. He can do nothing cruel. He Is Infinitely good and can do nothing wrong. Therefore, no one, and I mean no one, should ever question His motives or operations.
1 Then Job answered and said: 2 “Truly I know it is so, but how can a man be righteous before God? 3 If one wished to contend with Him, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
Back in chapter 8 Bildad rebuked Job for talking so much. Job made no answer to that. Job told Bildad that he acknowledge the general truth of the points he had made – ‘God will not ultimately punish a righteous person, nor shall the wicked finally triumph.
He lays this down for a truth, that man is an unequal match for his Maker, either in dispute or combat. We will see this point proven out in chapters 38 -39. God can ask a thousand puzzling questions which those that quarrel with Him and complain about His proceedings, cannot give an answer. We will learn when God spoke to Job out of the whirlwind He asked him a great many questions (Dost thou know this? Canst thou do that?) To none of which Job could give an answer. God can easily manifest the folly of the greatest pretenders to wisdom. Man then is easily put in his place for his arrogance against his Maker.
God Is so holy, and his law so strict, that if He will enter into judgment with His creatures, the most upright of them cannot be justified in His sight. Of a thousand offenses of which he may be accused he cannot vindicate himself even in one. How little that any man does, even in the way of righteousness, truth, and mercy, can stand the penetrating eye of a just and holy God, when all motives, feelings, and objects, come to be scrutinized in His sight, on this ground, no man living can be justified.
4 God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?
By His infinite knowledge our Holy Creator searches out and sees all things. He Is Omniscient. He Is All Knowing. In addition our Great Master Is Omnipotent and by His Almighty Power He can punish all sins and rebellion. He that rebels against Him must be destroyed.
This is a good point for us to stop and think about, ‘who has ever hardened himself against Him and has prospered?’’ The answer is very easy. You cannot produce any instance, from the beginning of the world to this day, of any daring sinner who has hardened himself against God, has obstinately persisted in rebellion against Him, who did not find God too hard for him and pay dearly for his folly. Such transgressors have not prospered or had peace; they have had neither comfort in their way nor any success. All the opposition given to God is but setting briers and thorns before a consuming fire; so foolish, so fruitless, so destructive, is the attempt.
5 He removes the mountains, and they do not know when He overturns them in His anger; 6 He shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; 7 He commands the sun, and it does not rise; He seals off the stars;
Here is another point that you need to take to heart. You all know the Scripture in Isaiah chapter 23 verse 3, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. “ God has given us the ability to think. We can either think about our Holy Creator or think of worldly things. If we keep our thoughts on the One Who made us and loves us then we are not thinking of all the issues of this world weather spiritually, emotionally, or physically.
Even with the extreme pain that Job was in, we see that when he had occasion to mention the wisdom and power of God he forgets his complaints, dwells with awe and thinks about God. As evidence of the wisdom and power of God Job draws from the kingdom of nature, in which the God of nature acts with an uncontrollable power and does what He pleases; for all the orders and all the powers of nature are derived from him and depend upon him.(
By the law of nature the mountains are settled and are therefore called everlasting mountains, the earth is established and cannot be removed and the pillars are immovably fixed, the sun rises in its season, and the stars shed their influences on this lower world; but when God pleases He can not only drive out of the common track, but invert the order and change the law of nature.
We are talking about earthquakes. By those strong convulsions, mountains, valleys, hills, even whole islands, are removed in an instant. The work is done in the twinkling of an eye; no warning is given; the mountain, that seemed to be as firm as the earth on which it rested, was in the same moment both visible and invisible; so suddenly was it swallowed up.
If you have ever experienced an earthquake sometimes tremulous motion [the pillars tremble] gives warning of the approaching catastrophe.
Nothing is more constant than the rising sun, it never misses its appointed time; yet God, when He pleases, can suspend it. He that at first commanded it to rise can countermand it. Once the sun was told to stand, and another time to retreat, to show that it is still under the check of its great Creator. Thus great is God’s power; and how great then is His goodness, which causes His sun to shine even upon the evil and unthankful, though He could withhold it! He that made the stars also, can, if He pleases, seal them up, and hide them from our eyes.
8 He alone spreads out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea; 9 He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south; 10 He does great things past finding out, yes, wonders without number.
It is good to go from chapter to chapter and verse through verse in the bible for in doing so we come across amazing truths about our Holy God. We need to stop and think a little regarding how awesome our Creator God Is. He Himself alone, by His own power, and without the assistance of any other spread out the heaven, not only did spread them out at first, but still spreads them out (that is, keeps them spread out), for otherwise they would of themselves roll together like a scroll of parchment.
He treads upon the waves of the sea; that is, He suppresses them and keeps them under that they return not to devastate the earth. He Is mightier than the proud waves.
He makes the constellations; three are named for all the rest (v. 9), Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and in general the chambers of the south. The stars of which these are composed He made at first, and put into that order, and He still makes them, preserves them in being, and guides their motions; He makes them to be what they are to man, and inclines the hearts of man to observe them. Not only those stars which we see and give names to, but those also in the other hemisphere, about the south pole, which never come in our sight, called here the chambers of the south, are under the divine direction and dominion. How wise is He then, and how mighty!
His works are so wonderful and are so many that we cannot number them and so mysterious that we cannot find them out. This is our Holy God and there Is no other.
11 If He goes by me, I do not see Him; If He moves past, I do not perceive Him; 12 If He takes away, who can hinder Him? Who can say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’
In the Gospel of John chapter 4 verse 23 we read, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” He acts invisibly and cannot be discerned. If our Holy Master takes away something no one can say give it back. In addition we also need to think about this when we are reminded by our Precious Holy Spirit that we cannot in disrespect say to Him – What are You doing?’
13 God will not withdraw His anger, the allies of the proud lie prostrate beneath Him.
Our Great God Is Almighty. He acts with an irresistible power, which no creature can resist. Proud men set themselves against God and His proceedings. In this opposition they join hand in hand. We read in Psalm 83 this, “1 Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold Your peace, and do not be still, O God! 2 For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head. 3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. 4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” 5 For they have consulted together with one consent; They form a confederacy against You”
If one enemy of God’s kingdom fall under His judgment, the rest come proudly to help that, and think to deliver that out of His hand: but in vain; unless He pleases to withdraw his anger (which he often does, for it is the day of His patience) the proud helpers stoop under Him, and fall with those whom they designed to help. Who knows the power of God’s anger? Those who think they have strength enough to help others will not be able to help themselves against it.
14 “How then can I answer Him, and choose my words to reason with Him? 15 For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him; I would beg mercy of my Judge.16 If I called and He answered me, I would not believe that He was listening to my voice. 17 For He crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause. 18 He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness. 19 If it is a matter of strength, indeed He is strong; and if of justice, who will appoint my day in court? 20 Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse. 21 “I am blameless, yet I do not know myself; I despise my life.
Job's situation has taken on the appearance of a trial. The three friends feel that Job has been tried and convicted. Job seems to feel the same and demands his day in court. Job is not in a legal trial however. His is a trial of faith. None of Job's arguments or those of his friends will bring him any closer to a resolution. God will come to resolve the trial when Job declines to answer his final accuser, Elihu (33:32-33).
What Job had said of man’s utter inability to contend with God he here applies it to himself, and in effect despairs of gaining His favor. Job is saying, ‘What can I say against that which God does? If I go about to reason with him, He will certainly be too hard for me. I cannot contend with my Maker. He Is both the Lawgiver and the Judge. How shall I stand in judgment before him? I don’t have a chance.”
When he says, ‘Though I were righteous’ in effect he states that though clear of all the crimes, public and secret, of which they accuse him, yet he would not dare to stand before God’s Immaculate Holiness. Man's holiness may profit man, but in the sight of the infinite purity of God it is nothing. Our finite understandings cannot fathom His counsels, apprehend His motions, or comprehend the measures He takes; we are therefore incompetent judges of God’s proceedings, because we know not what He does or what He designs. Human wisdom, power, and influence avail nothing before Him.
Job feels that God must have some reason for His conduct towards him; he therefore does not pretend to justify himself; the attempt to do it would be an insult to Almighty God’s Majesty and Justice. Though he is not conscious of any of the crimes of which they accuse him; and doesn’t know not why God contends with him; he reasons that God must have some reason, and that reason He does not choose to explain.
22 It is all one thing; therefore I say, ‘He destroys the blameless and the wicked.’ 23 If the scourge slays suddenly, He laughs at the plight of the innocent. 24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, who else could it be?
I am sure that you have heard of this quotation, “Do not judge a book by its cover.” We see this in actuality here in this Scripture. Job maintains his point that we cannot judge anyone’s character by their outward condition. Here Job touches briefly upon the main point now in dispute between him and his friends. They maintained that those who are righteous and good always prosper in this world, and none but the wicked are in misery and distress; he asserted, on the contrary, that it is a common thing for the wicked to prosper and the righteous to be greatly afflicted. This is the one thing, the chief thing, wherein he and his friends differed; and they had not proved their assertion.
God Is often stated in Scripture as doing a thing which He only permits to be done. So He permits the eyes of judgment to be blinded; and hence false decisions If God does not permit these things, who is it that orders them? He has stated in the book of Exodus chapter 4 verse 11, “So the LORD said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD?”
We all need to stop and think. The wicked have the earth given to them, but the righteous have heaven given to them. For us this is the worse it gets. For non-believers this is their heaven. So, which is better—heaven without earth or earth without heaven? I know as most people tend to think – ‘I want both – they want their cake and be able to eat it too. But as you and I know this doesn’t happen that way.
25 “Now my days are swifter than a runner; They flee away, they see no good. 26 They pass by like swift ships, like an eagle swooping on its prey. 27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and wear a smile,’ 28 I am afraid of all my sufferings; I know that You will not hold me innocent. 29 If I am condemned, why then do I labor in vain? 30 If I wash myself with snow water, and cleanse my hands with soap, 31 Yet You will plunge me into the pit, and my own clothes will abhor me. 32 “For He is not a man, as I am, that I may answer Him, and that we should go to court together. 33 Nor is there any mediator between us, Who may lay his hand on us both. 34 Let Him take His rod away from me, and do not let dread of Him terrify me. 35 Then I would speak and not fear Him, but it is not so with me.
Have you ever experienced being so overwhelmed that you cannot think straight? It these verse we see Job complain of the greatness of his troubles, the confusion he was in, and the loss he was at what to say or do.
Satan is licking his lips. We see through the constant bombardment of these three confused counselors that Job is appearing to turn in his position and thoughts toward God. He here grows more and more negative and does not conclude this chapter with such reverent expressions of God’s wisdom and justice as he began with. When we are in trouble we are allowed to complain to God as we see the Psalmists often do, but must by no means complain of God, as Job here leans towards doing.
Job is thinking ‘You know what God; I am just a piece of dirt, here today and gone tomorrow. As the bible says in the book of James chapter 4 verse 14, “whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”
The idea to be derived from the statement ‘As the swift ships’ is not so much the swiftness of the vessels, but as hostile ships that leave no trace or track behind them. Job is saying that his days are gone off like the light vessels of the pirates, having stripped him of his property, and carried all irrecoverably away, under the strongest press of sail, that they may affect their escape, and secure their booty. So too an eagle that hasted to the prey additionally displays the idea of robbery and spoil, prompt attack, and then sudden retreat.
Job’s three friends advised him that he should control his thinking and not let his thinking control him. He responded that he tried to quiet and compose himself as his friends advised him. That was the good he would do: he would try to forget his complaints and praise God, would leave off his heaviness and comfort himself, that he might be fit to converse both with God and man; but He found he could not do it
Isn’t this the truth? Isn’t it easier to say something than to do it? It is easy to preach patience to those that are in trouble and to tell them they must forget their complaints and comfort themselves; but it is easier said than done. Fear and sorrow are traumatizing things, not easily brought into the subjection
Job seems to speak here as if he despaired of obtaining from God any relief or redress of his grievances, though he should produce ever so good proofs of his integrity. He feels that he has been harmed and slandered so much that there remains no chance of all the damage done to him to ever be turned around. He says that whether right or wrong, he must from now on be treated as a wicked man; his friends will continue to think so of him, and God will continue upon him the afflictions which give them occasion to think so.
In a way there is a truth to what Job is saying. We cannot correct the evil others have caused us by their slander. We need to avoid the way of the world and sue them. Let our Righteous Holy Master take care of the matter. Put your trust in The One Who can right all wrongs.
‘If I wash myself with snow water’ is an allusion to the ancient rite of washing the hands in token of innocence. He saw his afflictions coming from God. Those were the things that blackened him in the eye of his friends; and, upon that point, he complained of them, and of the continuance of them, as the ruin, not only of his comfort, but of his reputation.
Job’s illness was so bad that he stunk. He feels that God has thrown him into a sewage ditch, which makes him so offensive in the nostrils of all about him that even his own clothes abhor him.
As if he despaired to have a fair hearing with God, and that were hard indeed. Job complains that he was not upon even terms with God (v.32): "He is not a man, as I am. I could venture to dispute with a man like myself (the potsherds may strive with the potsherds of the earth), but He Is infinitely above all created things.”
Our Holy God Is not a man as we are. His thoughts and ways are infinitely above ours, and we must not measure Him by ourselves. Man is foolish and weak, frail and fickle, but God Is not. We are dependent dying creatures; He Is the independent and immortal Creator. The consideration of this should keep us very humble and very silent before God. Let us not make ourselves equal with God, but always eye Him as infinitely above us.
The terrors of God, which set themselves in array against him, put him into such confusion that he knew not how to address God with the confidence with which he was formerly use to approach Him When a sinful soul sees God in His Majesty, terror seizes upon him, and prayer is impossible.
Given the injustice of his current situation, Job reasons, that he cannot get a fair trial, unless there is an arbitrator or mediator between God and himself. An arbitrator is one who is, by the consent of both parties, one to judge between them, and settle their differences. Job feels that he can speak without fear, only if God's heavy hand of judgment is withdrawn
From all this let us learn,
(1.) To stand in awe of God, and to fear the power of his wrath. If good men have been put into such consternation by it, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
(2.) To pity those who are wounded in spirit, and pray earnestly for them, because in that condition they know not how to pray for themselves.
(3.) Carefully to keep up good thoughts of God in our minds, for hard thoughts of him are the inlets of much possible danger.
(4.) To bless God that we are not in such a disconsolate condition as poor Job was here in, but that we walk in the light of the Lord; let us rejoice therein, but rejoice with trembling
I close with this Scripture verse from the book of Psalms 2 verse 11, “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
