Job 9:11-20 - Homiletics

Job to Bildad: 3. Creator and creature in conflict.

I. THE DIVINE ASSAILANT .

1 . His mysterious movements. "Lo! he goeth by me, and I see him not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not" (verse 11). The language, recalling Eliphaz's description of the shadowy spectre ( Job 4:15 ), recognizes:

2 . His resistless power.

3 . His unanswerable charges.

II. THE HUMAN COMPLAINANT .

1 . Mistrusting the Divine condescension. Putting the case that he had summoned God into court, and that God had appeared, Job appears to conceive that a Being so infinitely exalted as he would not listen to the complaint of a frail mortal, or, if for a moment he did, would immediately break off in impatience and decline to listen further (verse 16). A total misrepresentation of the Divine character, contradicted alike by God's descriptions of himself ( Isaiah 57:15 , Isaiah 57:16 ; Psalms 91:15 ), and by the saints' experience of his grace ( Psalms 34:6 ; Psalms 40:17 ; Psalms 86:13 ).

2 . Impeaching the Divine goodness. Describing the treatment he would meet at God's hands, Job insinuates that it would be the opposite of kind; that God would u break him with a tempest," "multiply his wounds without cause," "not suffer him to take his breath," "fill him with bitterness" (verses 17, 18). As a matter of fact, the words present a literal account of Job's sufferings, and the aspect in which they were beginning to look to himself. Conscious that his calamities were causeless so far as any wickedness on his part was concerned, which God also testified ( Job 2:3 ), and unable to discern the secret purpose for which he was being subjected to such excruciating tortures, he can only fall back upon the hypothesis that God has turned to be his enemy. Faith would have kept him right; but Job's faith, though not extinguished, was at this time suffering an eclipse. Sense and reason always misinterpret God. God never treats either saint or sinner as Job describes, aimlessly or maliciously, but always with tender love and for the loftiest ends ( Hebrews 12:6 , Hebrews 12:10 ).

3 . Challenging the Divine equity. Practically he represents God as stifling the creature's attempt to maintain his integrity by overpowering him with the dazzling magnificence of his Godhead; by rushing as it were into the open court of justice, and shouting to the poor bewildered appellant, "Is it a question of strength? Here am I. Is it a matter of right? Who will challenge me?" (verse 19). But this, again, was a distorted view of the Divine character. God has no need to be afraid of any investigation into his conduct, and just as little to apprehend that puny man could cure, it his infinite wisdom or overreach his almighty power.

4 . Despairing of Divine acceptance . So hopeless does the contest seem to Job between a poor suffering creature like himself and a Being of infinite majesty like God, that he confesses the dire impossibility of being able to establish his innocence before the tribunal of the skies. God's insufferable glory would so confound and stupefy him, that even if he were innocent, his own mouth would condemn him; were he guiltless, it would betray him (verse 20); i.e. he would, through sheer terror and amazement ( 1 Peter 3:6 ), stumble out his own condemnation, and, conscious of his integrity, would yet confess himself guilty. What Job here asserts concerning his integrity or freedom from such transgression as Eliphaz and Bildad charged against him is certainly correct in the case of every one who would dare to maintain his moral purity in the sight of God. The clear revelation of God's majesty and holiness imparted to the awakened soul, when it appears as if standing face to face with God, renders it a hard task for man to uphold his sinlessness. If he attempted it, he would only stultify and condemn himself. Nay, he should not know his own soul (verse 21), but only thereby demonstrate his ignorance of himself (cf. 1 John 1:8 ).

Learn:

1 . It is impossible to entertain too exalted a conception of the great and holy God with whom we have to do.

2 . It is quite possible, even for the best of men, to misconstrue God's dealings with the soul, and to regard him as an adversary who is really a Friend.

3 . It is well to remember, in every appearance of conflict between the Creator and the creature, that all the right lies upon the side of the former.

4 . The nearer saints advance towards perfection, the readier they are to acknowledge their imperfection.

5 . A humble and self-abased spirit before God is quite compatible with the maintenance of one's blamelessness before men.