(REFLECTIONS ON Job 12:1-25; Job 13:1-28; Job 14:1-22)

Today’s Bible reading is 3 full chapters and is a bit much to try to work through in a single devotional. I understand the reason for it because it is Job’s long response to his friends and there is value to reading it through in one sitting. It is amazing that Job has so much breath to speak such a long response given his present suffering circumstances.

Rather than trying to capture all the nuance in Job’s response to Zophar, I will highlight two verses that stood out to me today.

15 “Though He slay me,
I will hope in Him.
Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.
16 “This also will be my salvation,
For a godless man may not come before His presence.

There is something very deep here that we should examine. Job is saying although God destroys his flesh, He is also the God of his hope. Job is making a profound statement, that I think is important for us to consider in our faith.

Is God our hope, only when He acts like the God that we think he should be? Do we worship God, glorify Him, exalt Him only when He acts in a way that we determine deserves that response?

Or, because He is God, no matter what we experience in life, good or bad, fair or unfair, comfort or pain, we will worship Him. This is important for us to see clearly. To put it plainly, will we hope in God, and worship God even if it seems like out of Him, His will, and His heart comes great physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual pain and anguish?

Perhaps this question is too offensive for us to even fathom, but isn’t this what Job is experiencing? For all that Job has endured, from the depth of the pain and anguish that he has experienced, He says that He will hope in God.

“Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.” Do we realize the magnitude of this statement? Even though Job says that he will still argue with God, but in the end, no matter what, He will hope in God.

Job also acknowledges that just to be able to make an argument to God, is a sign of his salvation because that means that there is a God to argue with, and also that he has an opportunity to be in His presence.

For us as Christians, are we willing to say that we have hope in Christ in all circumstances? No, I don’t mean only when things are going well, or even when things aren’t going well, but even when it seems like we are cursed by Him, or at least it feels that way.

Let us struggle with this today, because that perhaps is the key to our peace in Christ. That is in all circumstances, even when we cannot understand God’s purposes, and even when His providence seems contrary to our understanding of His goodness, can we still place our hope in Him?

Perhaps when we have reached a place in our faith when our hope, our belief, our faithfulness is no longer based on what we have received, what we will receive, but because God is God, that we have hope in Christ in all circumstances, that we will finally be able to find true eternal peace, love, and purpose in our life.

I know it might not make sense, because we want to associate peace, love, and purpose with what is beneficial for us, and not painful, but there is something about complete surrender to the will of God, and about hope in Christ in all circumstances, with no strings attached, that will finally bring us into the rest that God desires for us to have.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Job 12
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Job 13
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Job 14