Job Replies Job 9

Job 9:2 "I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?"

Bildad has just finished his speech in chapter 8. Now Job replies and doesn't disagree will Bildad but goes on to compare the feebleness of man compared to God.

v4 "He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength; who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?"

There is a good question. Men and women are often heard these days questioning the wisdom of God or even denying his existence. In the end, it is each of us who will stand before him to answer for our life. For all the hardness of heart, it is feeble effort if ones purpose is to thwart the workings of God. He is the maker of everything and like the potter, he can do with the clay as he pleases.

v7-8 "Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not, and sealeth up the stars, Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea."

Luke 8:24 "And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm."

Matthew 14:25 "And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea."

Job has reached the point where he feels so insignificant that he thinks God will not talk to him and that even if he did, he could not plead his case. Remember Job is unaware of the meeting in Heaven and the challenge given Satan by God. He only knows he is suffering and that there seems no one to help.

v16 "If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice."

At the same time Job is magnifying God, he is admitting despair over the whole situation. Haven't we all been there?

v22 "This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked."

Luke 13:2-3 "And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

Job starts off answering Bildad but ends up praying in the last verses of the chapter.

v27 "If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort myself: v28 I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent."

v30 If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me." v31

Job speaks to the futility of man in trying to cleanse himself of unrighteousness. Even if one tries to change his ways, it is only a temporary thing. Without a change of heart by God, we are still prone to do wrong.

Romans 3:10 "As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one." v23 "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God;"

Job eludes to not having one to speak for him in verse 33. He sees the problem. If he is sinful and anything he says will make him even more guilty, he is better off not to speak at all. Yet if there one to speak for him, his case might be pleaded without further incrimination. But he say no one like that.

v33 "Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both."

The gap between a perfect God and sinful man was bridged when Jesus sacrificed himself for sinful man. He bore the penalty of sin so that man could again approach God. God does not see our sin but sees the blood of Jesus which was shed for our sins.

These things are written so that we might see the complete picture. All through the Old Testament, we see the nature of man which is to sin, and the nature of God which is perfect. We see a plan unfolding which will again bring man back into favor with God.

Romans 3:25 "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare righteousness for remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God, v26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

Job will continue in the next chapter then we will hear from his other friend.

Job replies to Bildad.

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