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I would plead my case

Job 23:1-17 (JDV)

Job 23:1 Then Job answered and said:
Job 23:2 My complaint is bitter today as well. His hand is heavy despite my groaning.
Job 23:3 If only I knew how to find him, so that I could go to his throne.
Job 23:4 I would plead my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
Job 23:5 I would learn how he would answer me; and understand what he would say to me.
Job 23:6 Would he prosecute me forcefully? No, he would certainly pay attention to me.
Job 23:7 There an upright man could reason with him, and I would escape from my endless Judge.
Job 23:8 If I go east, he is not there, and if I go west, I cannot perceive him.
Job 23:9 When he is at work to the north, I cannot see him; when he turns south, I cannot find him.
Job 23:10 Yet he knows the way I have taken; when he has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold.
Job 23:11 My feet have followed in his tracks; I have kept to his way and not turned aside.
Job 23:12 I have not departed from the commands from his lips; I have treasured the words from his mouth more than my daily food.
Job 23:13 But he is unchangeable; who can oppose him? He does what his throat desires.
Job 23:14 He will certainly accomplish what he has decreed for me, and he has many more things like these in mind.
Job 23:15 Therefore I am terrified in his presence; when I consider this, I am afraid of him.
Job 23:16 God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.
Job 23:17 Yet I am not destroyed by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.

I would plead my case

Job’s therapists insist that he is going through a time of judgment, but Job argues that people usually do not see that kind of judgment. Job wants to have his time before God, and is assured that his righteousness will be vindicated. Instead most of the innocent will have to wait until the resurrection to see vindication. From God’s standpoint, judgment day is not far off. But most of us will have times where we wish it were here already. We see the helpless being exploited, and we cry out for vindication.

“he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31).

LORD, give us patience to wait for the time of judgment.