In verses 1-11, Job answered his friends’ comments and allusions to God who punishes the wicked for their sins. He also asked, “How could a man be right with God?” He is a wise and powerful God who could do all the things illustrated in verses 4-11. He could not understand the ways of God and what He does at all.

In verses 12-24, He says no one can question God or change his mind as well. So, what can he say to Him even if he thinks he is right? He can only appeal to Him to be merciful if He is angry with him. In terms of strength, God is mightier than anyone else. In terms of justice, he cannot summon God to do anything. Even if he was right, he would condemn himself with what he says. God would prove him wrong. He is not the person to regard himself as blameless, but God is the One. God has the authority to destroy both the blameless and the wicked. Even though the earth is in the hands of the wicked, God is sovereign over everything on earth. He is in charge, no one else.

In verses 25-35, Job says his days are ending faster than others. If he were to act as if nothing had happened, he feared that his friends would not be satisfied or leave him alone. They would still think that he is guilty. So, why should he bother to prove his innocence? Since there is no mediator to help. He can only leave it to God to be His Judge since he is already condemned by his “judges.” What is there for him to say?

Job’s friends had been arguing on the ground that no one suffers unless they had done something wrong. In other words, only the guilty suffer, we suffer because we have sinned. Job’s counterargument was God is sovereign. In other words, He can do whatever He wants no one can stop Him or challenge Him even if he thinks he is right. To insist or argue with God that you are right we are insisting and saying that God is wrong.

Job said that God can do as He likes. He can do whatever He wants to do to both the blameless and the wicked. If He cannot then He cannot be sovereign. However, God is not the One who causes us to suffer, He may allow us to suffer because this earth is in the hands of the wicked. As said before, we cannot stop the wicked from doing evil against the righteous. Even if God did not allow Satan to harm Job, Satan would still harm him just as he chose to rebel against God even when God created him to serve Him.

However, being sovereign, He chose to allow it for a reason and purpose. At the end of it, we find God restored what Job had lost as well. The perseverance of faith on the part of Job saw God restoring all that he had lost before. If Job had not persevered in his faith or he had spoken evil against God, his faith then he has become evil and wicked like the devil. But he did not curse God and die as his wife suggested that he did as she said.

Let us not just learn from Job but we should also follow Job if we wish God to consider us blameless too.

Prayer: Dear God, I acknowledge that You are the sovereign God who is in charge and in control of the world that You have created. As the Creator God, You have every right to do anything even destroy both the blameless and the wicked. Grant mercy to us when we are suffering, and grace to persevere to the end.