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beyond ignorance

Job 11:1-20 (JDV)

Job 11:1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
Job 11:2 Should so many words go unanswered and such lips be acquitted?
Job 11:3 Should your babbling put others to silence, so that you can keep on ridiculing with no one to shame you?
Job 11:4 You have said, “My teaching is sound, and I am pure in your sight.”
Job 11:5 But if only God would speak and open his lips against you!
Job 11:6 He would show you the secrets of wisdom, because true wisdom has two sides. Know then that God has chosen to overlook some of your iniquity.
Job 11:7 Can you fathom the depths of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?
Job 11:8 They are higher than the sky — what can you do? They are deeper than Sheol — what can you know?
Job 11:9 Their measure is longer than the ground and wider than the sea.
Job 11:10 If he passes by and throws someone in prison or convenes a court, who can stop him?
Job 11:11 Surely, he knows which people are worthless. If he sees iniquity, will he not take note of it?
Job 11:12 But a stupid person will gain understanding as soon as a wild donkey is born a human!
Job 11:13 As for you, if you redirect your heart and spread out your hands to him in prayer —
Job 11:14 if there is iniquity in your hand, remove it, and don’t allow injustice to dwell in your tents —
Job 11:15 then you will hold your head high, free from fault. You will be firmly established and unafraid.
Job 11:16 Because you will forget your suffering, recalling it only as water that has flowed by.
Job 11:17 Your lifetime will be brighter than noonday; its darkness will be like the morning.
Job 11:18 You will be confident, because there is hope. You will look carefully around and lie down in safety.
Job 11:19 You will lie down with no one to frighten you, and many will seek your favor.
Job 11:20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail. Their way of escape will be destroyed, and their only hope is a breathing throat.

beyond ignorance

Zophar is guilty of only seeing what has happened to Job and assuming that it proved that Job has acted foolishly and brought this tragedy upon himself. He urges Job to repent. Job lived in ignorant times, and there was a lot about God and his plan that Job did not know. But he knew God, and had a relationship with him. God’s grace reached beyond Job’s ignorance and touched him. His sickness, and all the “bad luck” that he had did not change that relationship. Zophar did not see things correctly because he failed to see Job from God’s eyes. “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

LORD, give us insight into the hearts of people. Help us to see them as you do.