CONTENDING FOR GOD
Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God? Job 13:8.
In Job we find a story of four very religious men. One of them, Job, found himself subjected to a series of unexplainable tragedies. To his three God-fearing friends, these signaled that God was punishing Job for having done something extremely wrong. And they wanted him to make it right--if they could just get him to admit what it was! They felt compelled to explain the character of God to Job, who seemed to have forgotten. But he just didn't get the point. Instead, he told them that they make miserable comforters! (Job 16:2).
The fact is, Job had incredible faith in God. Every outward evidence that he was in right relationship with God had vanished, yet he knew that God would not deal with him as his friends represented. In our text today, Job challenges his friends, "Will you accept his person?" That is, will you accept who God really is? [Do you even know who He really is?] How can you contend for Him if you don't even grasp what He is like?
Job knew what God was like, in spite of his current circumstances. "If you and I were to change places," he told his friends, "I could talk like you; how I could harangue you and wag my head at you! But no, I would speak encouragement, and then my condolences would flow in streams" (verse 4, 5, N.E.B.). That's how God is, even when we have done wrong!
Though Job experienced bouts of terrible weariness and sometimes uttered words of despair, he always cried out to God, never against Him. Listen: "If only I knew how to find [God], how to enter his courts, I would state my case before him and set out my arguments in full" (chap. 23:3, 4, N.E.B.). He knew that God was reasonable! He was not afraid to talk to Him about his problems, or his feelings and ideas.
"Then I should learn what answers he would give and find out what he had to say. Would he exert his great power to browbeat me [as my friends are doing]? No; God himself would never bring a charge against me" (verses 5, 6, N.E.B.). The King James Version says, "He would put strength in me" (verse 6).
Was Job right? To his friends God said, "You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has" (chap. 42:7, R.S.V.).
Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God? Job 13:8.
In Job we find a story of four very religious men. One of them, Job, found himself subjected to a series of unexplainable tragedies. To his three God-fearing friends, these signaled that God was punishing Job for having done something extremely wrong. And they wanted him to make it right--if they could just get him to admit what it was! They felt compelled to explain the character of God to Job, who seemed to have forgotten. But he just didn't get the point. Instead, he told them that they make miserable comforters! (Job 16:2).
The fact is, Job had incredible faith in God. Every outward evidence that he was in right relationship with God had vanished, yet he knew that God would not deal with him as his friends represented. In our text today, Job challenges his friends, "Will you accept his person?" That is, will you accept who God really is? [Do you even know who He really is?] How can you contend for Him if you don't even grasp what He is like?
Job knew what God was like, in spite of his current circumstances. "If you and I were to change places," he told his friends, "I could talk like you; how I could harangue you and wag my head at you! But no, I would speak encouragement, and then my condolences would flow in streams" (verse 4, 5, N.E.B.). That's how God is, even when we have done wrong!
Though Job experienced bouts of terrible weariness and sometimes uttered words of despair, he always cried out to God, never against Him. Listen: "If only I knew how to find [God], how to enter his courts, I would state my case before him and set out my arguments in full" (chap. 23:3, 4, N.E.B.). He knew that God was reasonable! He was not afraid to talk to Him about his problems, or his feelings and ideas.
"Then I should learn what answers he would give and find out what he had to say. Would he exert his great power to browbeat me [as my friends are doing]? No; God himself would never bring a charge against me" (verses 5, 6, N.E.B.). The King James Version says, "He would put strength in me" (verse 6).
Was Job right? To his friends God said, "You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has" (chap. 42:7, R.S.V.).
RSS Feed
