Job 38:1 – Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

Job 38:2 – Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

Job 38:3 – Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

Hello readers, hope you are all well, and once again from Job today. You know how when you read the Bible, it can be puzzling some of it? For instance, Job’s going through this immense trial of his faith… he’s lost his business, his sons and his health… this is a guy going through the fire. And when God answers Job at the back end of the book… you’d think God would’ve said something to him other than… Job man up! We would naturally think God should have been all soft and cozy and apologetic and sympathetic right… but Job didn’t need the mollycoddling like we would think he should have got. We have a tendency to think we know better than God. So we would say… God, don’t speak to him like that!

And in this all is a great truth of the gospel. What we want is not necessarily what we need… and vice versa. Yes, sometimes we do need a soft touch. Remember when angel of the Lord awoke Elijah (1 Kings 19), who had been driven to the point of despair by circumstances of life, and the angel touched him to wake him up so he would eat and drink for sustenance for the journey he was on. But more often than not in life, we need to man up. Job, be a man… is what God was saying here. Job, you’ve been talking a lot, but you don’t know a lot, man up and let’s talk. Job had wished for this very conversation, and when he got it he had nothing to say. Often we don’t need the soft touch… God doesn’t want us to wallow in self pity or to wallow in all sorts of garbage. It doesn’t help us. We have a nature that blames, that excuses, that justifies, that wants sympathy, that wants to be pandered too… but what we need is actually far different. We don’t need people to go along with our rubbish, rubbish needs to be rebuked.

You’d think God would’ve taken a different tact with poor old Job right? But God says… man up Job. Don’t talk to him like that is what we would exclaim! You know, what we need most is the truth of God’s word. It is the entrance of God’s word that giveth light. It sure gave light to Job here. It sure set the record straight and it set him straight. So much dialogue, so many opinions, so much expertise… but God’s word sorted it all out. There’s a world out there that needs God’s word. It doesn’t need our rubbish, it needs God’s word straight… the truth. The truth is what will set you free, why would you want anything other than truth? And if you don’t think God loved Job you have no idea, God is love after all. He is the standard of love. We can only hope to attain to a measure of the love of God both towards him and towards others. So many people are so self righteous they think they can love better, they can do better than God’s word says. They’ll help a Job out their own way… and are about as useful as Job’s friends. You’re kidding yourself. People need the truth of God’s word. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is our need, we need our sin exposed and rebuked and confessed and forgiven and delivered from through him. It’s not always easy. The world lies in darkness, and God’s word is light in that darkness… but people don’t like it. Light exposes, it reveals, it convicts… these are all unwelcome to dark hearts that love darkness.

Job could’ve been offended by God. The Bible says  in Psalm 119:165 – Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. Job did love God’s word, the law of God. But we live in an easily offended world that hates God’s word. They don’t want the man up Job message. The Bible says the preaching of the cross is offensive. The gospel is the savor of death to them that believe not. God’s word really does flesh out what’s deep within us. It brings out what is within to the fore. It tries and proves us. Job wasn’t offended because he wanted the truth. He had a heart that could embrace the stinging rebuke and wake up call God gave him. Bear in mind he still had boils at this point, yet we see repentance on his part. It’s incredible. Job embraced the truth, boils and all. Would we do the same in our affliction? Job got real help from God. We need real help from God’s word God’s way, and we need to share that same word faithfully to others so they can get real help for their lives. Life is tough, we need substance not fake vain rubbish. We should help people the way the Bible says to help people. We need truth, and we need to help people with charity by telling them the truth. It’s what we all need.

The whole point of this blog post is to realize what’s going on here at the end of the book of Job. Job was mired in arguments and self justification and self pity, sure he had it tough, but God said to man up. It’s what Job needed. Girding up your loins is preparing yourself for activity, to run or fight or work. We are to run with patience the race that is set before us… looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. We can’t do that sitting down and bemoaning life, blaming and excusing, feeling sorry for ourselves… God knew what Job was going through, God was sovereign over it. And God would fix it all up, and God was trying Job’s faith in the fire, and Job would be better for it. What we don’t need is people to go along with our rubbish, God doesn’t go along with ours… we all need to get our sin right with God, to acknowledge, confess and forsake it at the cross of our Lord. So while we would think and say… God, don’t speak to him like that! Well actually we all need to get in God’s word, we need truth, we need to get up and get going, and even if the salt and light stings us, it’s what we need, and what will set us right in this race of life that we all in. Never forget, God’s way is the way that works, you may think you could’ve helped Job better, but no, you never could. Noone knew what to say to Job, but God did, and how to speak he also knew… so get to what God’s word has to say.

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