What’s at the Heart of JOB

This edition was written by my lovely wife, Alicia, and shared with her permission.

Anyone with a hint of biblical literacy knows that the God of the Bible has His reasons for what He does and allows, but His actions in the book of Job have certainly raised some eyebrows. Why would God point his finger at Job and brag on him before Satan? God has no need to prove anything to His already defeated enemy, so why does He single out this dear servant, almost as if to dare Satan to make his ugly move? Though we can never know the full mind and motives of our God, we can find evidence that He allowed these trials in order to purge Job of some mixed motives in his worship.

Satan himself has a keen knowledge of man’s weaknesses, not to mention a biblical record of speaking in half-truths - so his estimation of Job’s character, though flawed and ill-motivated, is still useful: “Job fears God - but not without good reason . . . [he] blesses You only because You bless him.” Job never curses God for his lost blessings, as Satan predicted, but the poor man does become increasingly agitated when he cannot recover what those blessings represented - his right standing with God. The face-saving tactics used by Job are symptomatic of a man who has lost his confidence in God’s approval. It is not his treasure he demands throughout the book but rather God’s attention. Satan had it half-right, it seems: when external evidences of God’s justification vanish and God remains silent, Job’s worship vanishes, too.

Nevertheless, Job’s trials eventually lead him back to worship – and this time to a more God-centered version. Although early in the story God commends Job’s integrity, which we see demonstrated in a systematic worship filled with sacrifice and concern for his children's purity, his worship seems to be based primarily on his fear of offending the Almighty (“perhaps my children have sinned”) and bearing His judgment (“What I always feared has happened to me.”) This stage of worship is essential to our growth, but after Yahweh thunders His true glory (“things far to wonderful for me,”) Job sits in awe and silence – not worried about his own sinfulness but convinced of it, and in full, bowed submission to his Creator. “I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.” Before verbally intervening, God was the Divine-at-a-Distance; we never read of Job having conversations with God like we do with Noah, Abraham, or Moses. Job isn’t even described as walking with God as He did with Enoch. Nevertheless, Job describes the change brought about by the end of the book: “I had heard about You before, but now I have seen You with my eyes.” God now has a personal voice and a personal message for Job which he will surely never forget, and, like anyone who’s heard God speak, Job will strain his ears again and again to hear from heaven.

Job willingly worshiped God based on the truths he understood about Him – and for that, God was pleased. God’s loving response was to give Job more truth – a deeper understanding of his own depravity and God’s glory. The trials Job endured were intended by Satan to prove his worship as insincere and thus put an end to it and any future relationship between him and God. We can have confidence that whatever schemes Satan means for evil, God intends for good; God used Job’s trials to purge him of an underlying self-focus and to release him to worship with true biblical humility focused on God’s great glory.