Job Answers Job 16

Job 16 1-4 "Then Job answered and said, I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all. Shall van words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest? I also could speak as ye do; if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you. v5 But I would strength you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should assuage your grief."

assuage: make grief less, lighten, mitigate, ease alleviate

I noticed that Job does not attack his oppressor personally by pointing out past sins, instead he addresses the immediate situation. Job says that if the situation were reversed that he could also use hurtful words but would not, instead he would try to ease the grief of his friend.

Job goes on to say that whether he is silent or whether he speaks, he has no relief for his grief. Job's words were thrown back at him in previous chapters. Now, he accepts what he believes to be true that God has left him to destruction.

v14 "He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant."

One thing after another has come upon me, Job says. He can no sooner get adjusted to one agony before another hits him. Remember it is Satan that is putting Job through these agonies. He operates under the permissive will of God but the tactics are his own. He is trying to break Job.

v19 "Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high."

Job has done his best in his life to honor God. He now stands on that record. He accepts that what he has done is done and is willing to face what ever judgment is there. It is not what people think, but what is written down in God's records.

Job's testing time is a good example of what Satan would do to all of us if God took his protective hand from us. Satan shows people a pretty picture but he is evil and will use up a person then abandon them to live out their life in a wrecked body with a wrecked life. Satan is a friend of nobody.

v22 "When a few years are come then I shall go the way whence I shall not return."

Job not only accepts death but embraces it as his relief from suffering. Some would call that dying grace. I agree.

Psalm 39:7 "And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee."

Job speaks of death.

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