How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
Tue, 21 February, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.
27 “Behold, I know your thoughts
and your schemes to wrong me.
28 For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince?
Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’
29 Have you not asked those who travel the roads,
and do you not accept their testimony
30 that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity,
that he is rescued in the day of wrath?
31 Who declares his way to his face,
and who repays him for what he has done?
32 When he is carried to the grave,
watch is kept over his tomb.
33 The clods of the valley are sweet to him;
all mankind follows after him,
and those who go before him are innumerable.
34 How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”
Today we finish round two of the friends discussion with Job. It is interesting to note how Job’s friends take the argument personally, and as Job refuses to repent after their first round of arguments, they begin to get more personal in their attacks on Job. In round two, they drop the call to repentance and simply state that the wicked are punished in the way you are treated; therefore YOU ARE WICKED.
In the previous chapter, Zophar says the things that are happening to Job are the heritage of the wicked: swift, complete destruction. In other words, Job, you’re just getting what you deserve.
Job destroys the argument of his friends by again calling them to just look around. The wicked grow old enjoying their power. Their flocks flourish. The wicked enjoy life until the day they die while others die in pain and sorrow, never having enjoyed life.
Not all the wicked suffer in this life as you claim. Just ask the travelers and you will see that this is true.
How can you comfort me when your arguments are so obviously false? The wicked do not always suffer.
What do we learn from this?
What we see in this life isn’t the whole story. The premise that the wicked always suffer and the righteous always prosper in life is false. There is life after death, and it is in eternity that all things are made right. The wicked who has enjoyed a full life of ease will no longer be at ease, and the righteous person who has suffered for their whole life will suffer no more. Everyone is destined to die and then to face judgment. At their death, the wicked will be condemned and the righteous will be justified. It is then that justice is ultimately accomplished, and not always before.
Where is Christ in this passage?
Why will the righteous be justified? Will it be based on their good works? Will it be because they have earned God’s favor by doing enough good works?
No. We can never be good enough to cancel out our sin. The sins we have committed must be punished, either in ourselves or in a substitute. And not only must our sin be punished, but we must also have perfect righteousness to be accepted by God. If we have committed even one sin, that sin must be punished, and we lack the positive righteousness required. We will be condemned by God when we stand before Him in judgment if we come based upon our own inherent righteousness.
Our only hope is in what God has done for us. Jesus Christ lived the perfect life, earning the righteousness that we need. He offers to take the punishment for our sins upon Himself and to give His perfect righteousness to any and all who come to Him trusting in Him for their salvation.
