Chapter 24 finds Job pointing out all kinds of sin that goes on in the world seemingly unchecked. Job does not deny that judgment comes but that man knows not when....God's timing would be perfect.
Seeing the wicked prosper is irksome for any of us. In our flesh we want to see judgment fall. This must have been particularly painful for Job to watch. Job was righteous and was among the most tested of God's people. The wicked were prospering all around him AND YET JOB WAS STILL ABLE TO SAY SAY, "THOUGH HE SLAY ME, YET WILL I TRUST IN HIM!" I love to remember and really think on what Job went through when I begin to question God and what He might be doing in my own life. What do WE do when we don't understand God. We fall back on what we do know about God.
And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,
I remember that His ways are not our ways and His thoughts not our thoughts. and that HE IS GOD! I think on His mercy and read Hebrews 11. I remember what Abraham said when he was interceding with God for the wickedness of Sodom. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? I go to the Servant songs in Isaiah...Isaiah 52-53 in particular and I remember the cross.
All it really takes is to look to the cross and remember what He has already accomplished for us and that when we were still His enemies. Shuts my mouth every time.
Love
Mom
I have copied Psalm 73 below....David speaks to this very thing. He begins to understand in verse 17.
1 Truly God is good to Israel,
To such as are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
My steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the boastful,
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no pangs in their death,
But their strength is firm.
5 They are not in trouble as other men,
Nor are they plagued like other men.
6 Therefore pride serves as their necklace;
Violence covers them like a garment.
7 Their eyes bulge[a] with abundance;
They have more than heart could wish.
8 They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression;
They speak loftily.
9 They set their mouth against the heavens,
And their tongue walks through the earth.
10 Therefore his people return here,
And waters of a full cup are drained by them.
11 And they say, “How does God know?
And is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are the ungodly,
Who are always at ease;
They increase in riches.
13 Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain,
And washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all day long I have been plagued,
And chastened every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
Behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children.
16 When I thought how to understand this,
It was too painful for me—
17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God;
Then I understood their end.
18 Surely You set them in slippery places;
You cast them down to destruction.
19 Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment!
They are utterly consumed with terrors.
20 As a dream when one awakes,
So, Lord, when You awake,
You shall despise their image.
21 Thus my heart was grieved,
And I was vexed in my mind.
22 I was so foolish and ignorant;
I was like a beast before You.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You hold me by my right hand.
24 You will guide me with Your counsel,
And afterward receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but You?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
26 My flesh and my heart fail;
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish;
You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry.
28 But it is good for me to draw near to God;
I have put my trust in the Lord GOD,
That I may declare all Your works.
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