cry for hope

...where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?
Job 17:15

Life has pain
we never saw coming
and we squirm
uncomfortably knowing
hope seems lost
gone
far-off

In suffering
there is a feeling
walls close in
purpose loses meaning
hope is a dream
hazy
half-remembered

Stifled by sorrow
a weight overbearing
oppresses the soul
diminishes the hearing
hope's distant light
faint
fire-flickers

Heartfelt tears fall
in our bitter crying
and we beg
just reaching... trying
to find some hope
somewhere
anywhere

Help those cries
that come from the hurting
by sharing hope
and simply empathizing
hope comes closer
warm
hand-held

Man of Sorrows
Who in His dying
made a way
for us to go on living
makes hope come alive
real
Jesus-brought

witness, lawyer, & judge

Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high. My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God, that he would argue the case of a man with God, as a son of man does with his neighbor.
Job 16:19-21

Job's hope is drawn to trust in the reality that God knows the truth about him. God has been witness to all of Job's life and every action he has ever taken. Job is confident that God can clear him of the accusations brought by his friends. His friends were putting him on trial over his suffering. And their attempts at comfort felt like scorn to him.

It is an insight into Job's character at this point to see him direct his appeal to God. When his friends turned his pain into attacks against him, Job poured out his tears, frustrations, and disappointments to God. He directed his hope to the only person Who would possibly help him now. And the request Job has of God is unusual, but not out of place for an upright man to make.

He knows God is the only true witness to Job's integrity. He also knows that God is the only Judge of the human heart. And so he puts all of his "case" in God's hands: God is the witness to Job's upright actions and can testify on his behalf; God is the Judge Who can clear Job of the accusations his friends have leveled; God is Job's defense attorney, arguing the case so that all may be convinced.

Job has no way to explain his present circumstances except to appeal to God. Job has no way of shutting down the accusing slander of his friends except God's vindication of him. And nobody is left to plead Job's case except God. Job is leaning hard by faith into the the arms of God to withstand his suffering and the sinful judgments of his friends.

good theology of suffering needs a robust eschatology

The wicked man writhes in pain all his days, through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless. Dreadful sounds are in his ears; in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
Job 15:2-21

Eliphaz is not talking to Job as a friend or a counselor. He is attacking him as an accuser. Right off the bat he swings at Job, accusing him of not fearing God (Job 15:4). From there he launches into a theology that builds a case for a God Whose primary relationship with humanity in this world is to punish sin.

When Eliphaz sees God as the Punisher, it follows that all suffering is thus God's way of getting back at sinful people. When people are sinful, yet prosper, it is because they abused others. And eventually when a prosperous man loses it all, it is because God is judging a great sinner. The logic of Eliphaz's theology thus points an accusing finger at Job, charging him with being an abusive sinner whose evil led to his loss of everything.

But there are some major problems with Eliphaz. He makes for a great fundamentalist hellfire and brimstone preacher. But he does not have a right understanding of God. His observations about humanity are conveniently skewed as well. I kind of see him as the Fred Phelps of Job's generation. "God Hates Job!" would be his placard. And conveniently, his punishing principles would allow him to subscribe to a theology that creates multiple protest signs. His is a "God Hates (fill-in-the-blank)" way of understanding humanity and our responsibility before God.

Of course Eliphaz has it all wrong. Nothing works as rigidly as he sees it. Sinners can appear to prosper until their end. People die in luxury all the time. Wise and righteous people may suffer affliction. If the world was as Eliphaz imagined it, utopia would be ours, for only the righteous would have money, power, and influence. But the opposite is the general norm. Eliphaz's theology proves itself to be a delusional pipedream.

The fatal flaw that I see in it is a lack of eschatology. Eliphaz can only see reward and punishment in this life. And that leads him to assume his absurd stance on sin, punishment, and suffering. However, if God can punish people or reward people beyond this life... the whole perspective changes. And that is why a good doctrine of future things informs our understanding of sin, life, our present circumstances, and our duty before God.

erosive effects of suffering

But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place; the waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so you destroy the hope of man.
Job 14:18-19

Job spends some time talking about the long term effects of the sufferings of life on a person. Part of God's purpose in suffering is to erode away the false hope of humanity. It isn't that God wants to destroy all hope. It is that the props we humans devise must be taken out from under us so that we might find true hope and life perspective in God.

Suffering is erosive. The longer it goes on, the tougher it is to manage. Every human resource eventually diminishes in effectiveness or disappoints us altogether. That is why we need an eternal perspective. And no strictly human philosophy can achieve that kind of hope. The effects of suffering wear us down over time, like water cutting a channel through rock over slow decades of time. But the effect is permanent. The rock will forever by changed through the erosion. The soil that is washed away cannot be brought back.

After the erosion of all our human efforts at hope, there is still the reality of God's sovereign care over us. Suffering and difficulty do not erode away God. Notice that Job talks about the loss of "the hope of man", while attributing the control over suffering to God. It is God Who uses difficulties to get us to the end of ourselves so that we can focus on His control over all things.

Lord,
You can bring perspective on both the massive catastrophe and the slow erosive trickle of pain and suffering that we experience. You are the God Who wears down mountains with Your rain. You control all things so that we might see and worship You. And in You we find grace, mercy, understanding, contentment, and joy. As You wear away my rocks of selfish trust, help me to trust You as I should.
Amen

The Hearing

But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God.
Job 13:3

Before the Judge of the living and the dead
I stand to know my end
and wondering why I've gone where I've been
I ask Him to show me then

I would speak to the Almighty
and to Him I present my case
I know He will treat me rightly
when I stand before His face

My defense is not my own to claim
for I have broken every law
but I humbly plead in Jesus' name
gospel's covering of it all

I would speak to the Almighty
hoping He will let me in
and in humble repentance crying
for forgiveness from my sin

The Judge is my Redeemer King
and the Savior is my only friend
He will pardon those who to Him bring
their lives to surrender to His ends

I would speak to the Almighty
and to His justice I will come
through my pain torments me nightly
He will safely bring me home

ancient wisdom > modern rationalism

With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his. He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools.
Job 12:16-17

Job's speech in chapters twelve and thirteen really is a sermon of worship and praise. It is pointed at the majesty, power, and wisdom of God... the God who wagered Job's life with Satan. Job would not let his suffering pull him away from worship. He would not let the ignorant theologizing of his friends keep him from worship. Worshiping God brought a balance to his grief and his attempts at making sense of his suffering. Worship, when done in a manner that focuses on God and desires Him above all else, is very clarifying for us. If it is only about people, it is not worship. That experience is really a false religion, sure to disappoint.

I personally love that sarcasm was a part of Job's wry observations on life and God. In the midst of this hymn of praise, there is a dry sarcasm directed at the misguided musing of his friends. It begins in verse one: "No doubt you are the people and wisdom will die with you." It continues in verse seventeen where Job exalts God for His sovereignty over corrupt human reason and power. God will embarrass the misguided advice of warped reasoning from human counselors. God will show the foolishness of human judges. The very best human reasoning is really just drooling infant babble compared to the wisdom of God.




The rising worldview in the western world exalts human reason as enlightened and pure. It seeks what only God can be and is just another variation on the pride in Satan's heart. But human wisdom, though technologically impressive, fails to compare with even the simplest wisdom of God. It seeks to replicate His wisdom as it is seen in the physical universe, to some small success. But it rejects His wisdom revealed in Christ and the Word of God. With no moral reality to guide it, science gives full power to any human atrocity. Hitler and Stalin were great utilizers of scientific advancement. They show us the extent to which blind faith in human reason deceives us to the point where millions die.

So when the Science Channel broadcasts that the Higgs Boson particle eliminates the need for a Creator, it simply just creates more chaos for atrocity. Only in God can strength and wisdom be found. And yes, no experiment can prove that statement. There is no need. God has already revealed it to a desert nomad sitting in the ashes of his losses thousands of years ago.

preaching a graceless guilt

But oh, that God would speak and open his lips to you, and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.
Job 11:5-6

Zophar's words to Job contain no comfort, only incomplete theology and this dark accusation that all of Job's sufferings do not add up to the punishments that his sins deserve. That may make for fiery fundamentalism, but it does virtually nothing to care for Job in any real fashion. It shows me that theology alone does not a good counselor make.

The real surprise in Job's story is the fact that godly friends with sound doctrine could not bring comfort to their suffering friend. They believed the truth (for the most part) but could not get past their locked down theology of suffering. They limited God's sovereign use of pain to just punishment over sin. They missed God's mercies as part of the equation. And this lopsided theology served to only further Job's torment.

Zophar dismisses the depth of Job's pain and in the process makes God out to be a punishing brute. He assumed that an omniscient God only doled out pain in order to punish sin. And he thought that God exacted suffering from mankind in proportion to their offenses. Since humans are born horribly twisted by sin, it is our lot to suffer intensely. By this reasoning, Job had it easy. God had only recently brought the hammer of justice down on his head. Zophar's twisted view would have Job be grateful for all his losses since he deserved so much worse.

We should always be careful about attributing to people a guilt that only God can know. We can lead people to consider their sins, but it is the role of the Spirit of God in the conscience of a man to convict him of sin. To presume to act as if we can do so is to go far beyond our human understanding. I can preach the guilt of sin, but I must balance it with the grace of the gospel. Guilt without grace is just a way for me to sinfully judge another person. Guilt with grace lets us both enter into the glory of the gospel and worship God for what He really has done for us.