An Answer for Job (1)
Who will bring charges against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; Romans 8:33 NASB
Bring charges – The lessons from the first ten chapters of Job are discomforting. Maybe even despairing. If the perfect man suffers for unknown (to him) reasons, if God plays chess with His creation, if the heavens are silent, if the righteous are constantly misunderstood, then what hope can we, the unrighteous, possibly have? Job puts us in the box.
Paul takes us out of the box.
“Who will bring charges against us?” writes Paul. Perhaps he had Eliphaz in mind. Only God can accuse His servants of misdeeds. The religious crowd is not allowed. If Job stands in the dock and faces the divine accuser, then he has something to fear. But if he is surrounded by “friends” who blame him for his circumstances, he is justified in rejecting their claims. God alone is the true Judge.
Paul uses the Greek verb enkaléō (“to accuse”). The choice is instructive because the same root (kaléō) is behind the familiar derivative ekklēsía. Yes, that’s right. The “accused” are also the “called out ones.” How familiar is that! Job teaches us that God’s elect are very often in the crosshairs of humanity. Paul points out that this only means God has chosen them. The righteous suffer, not because God willingly punishes but because they stand up for the Creator in a broken creation. Far too often it seems that the religious act as prosecutors rather than defense attorneys. Paul’s answer to Eliphaz and all the rest is straightforward. The righteous answer to God alone.
Does this help us understand Job’s dilemma? It certainly clarifies why his friends are wrong. From their perspective, any sign of affliction must be caused by sinful actions. Job claims otherwise. Paul justifies Job’s claim. The connection between catastrophe and sin is not bilateral. The “prosperity Gospel” crowd is wrong. So is the claim that everything bad happens because we deserve it. Catholic guilt is a mistake.
Job will still have his day in God’s court, and that day might not go as he hopes, but he can walk away from the human religious inquisition and not look back. We wait for the answer to the question, “Why does God allow good people to suffer?” but we no longer entertain the answer “because there is unforgiven sin somewhere in their history.” God calls us out. In doing so, He removes the “called in question.”
Topical Index: enkaléō, accuse, ekklēsía, called out, assembly, Romans 8:33
God [himself] calls us out. In doing so, He removes the “called in question.” Emet!… and amen.
Yes, here is the one who forms the mountains, and the one who creates the wind, and the one who reveals to humankind what his thoughts are… Yahweh, the God of hosts, is his name!” (Cf. Amos 4:13)
The thoughts of the righteous are just; the advice of the wicked is treacherous. (Cf. Proverbs 12:5)
We wait for the answer to the question, “Why does God allow good people to suffer?” but we no longer entertain the answer “because there is unforgiven sin somewhere in their history.”
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,”⌊declares⌋ Yahweh.
“For as the heavens are ⌊higher⌋ than the earth, so my ways are ⌊higher⌋ than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For just as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and they do not return there
except they have watered the earth thoroughly and cause it to bring forth and sprout,
and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall be my word that goes out from my mouth.
It shall not return to me without success, but shall accomplish what I desire
and be successful in the thing for which I sent it. (Cf. Isaiah 55:8-11)
The “prosperity Gospel” crowd is wrong. So is the claim that everything bad happens because we deserve it. Catholic guilt is a mistake. Emet.
He who will speak truth will reveal righteousness,
but the witness of falsehood, deceit. (Proverbs 12:17) Amen.