Looking for Job

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 9:17

- Here we go: Now Job finally speaks about what happened to him. He lost everything and even his health and so on. And here is the point: he only knows God and he has always served him faithfully and he has been blessed by him. And he keeps being faithful and he has lost everything all at once and he knows that it is not natural! So he can only think about God and he doesn’t understand why!


- Think about the Israelites: they only knew God! When they acted according to God’s will, they were blessed, but when they acted against him, they were struck!


- So the devil is really tricky because he knows that and he knows that Job will think that God is against him without any reason! So it is really insane!


- NOT UNDERSTANDING THIS ESSENTIAL ELEMENT AND WE MISS THE WHOLE STORY!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 9:18

- Of course! And Job speaks about his physical and mental health!

- He speaks about his stress and his anguish and his lack of rest: In fact, he has no rest!

- It is worst than torture!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 9:19

- These words of Job clearly show his misunderstanding of the situation!

- Now think about God: For God there is no one like Job on earth, there is no one as faithful as him, and he must let Job think what he thinks because of the devil to show that he is a liar and also because all the angels are observing the situation!

The more we learn about God, the more we may understand it was a really difficult and painful situation for God because he really cares about his faithful servants!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 9:20

- Job has so few elements so he can only be lost!

- Once again he only knows God, his only reference is God, there is nothing else!

- It’s astonishing the consequences that missing two essential elements can produce!

- JOB ONLY HAS ONE REFERENCE: YAH.WEH!

- THE BOOK OF JOB SHOWS US ALL THE WEAPONS USED BY THE DEVIL!

- AND ONLY HIS WEAPONS!

- THIS IS A COMPLETELY UNBALANCED FIGHT!

- YAH.WEH CAN DO NOTHING TO DEFEND JOB!

- BECAUSE JOB’S LOYALTY IS AT Stake!

- JOB IS ALL ALONE FACING THE DEVIL!

- AND HE ONLY HAS ONE WEAPON: HIS LOYALTY!

- But even when we do not have these two elements, the words of Yahweh concerning Job should allow us to understand Job's attitude!

- THERE IS NO ONE LIKE HIM ON EARTH!

- It is probably because fidelity to Yah.weh is something extremely rare that we can allow ourselves to criticize Job!

- Normally it should be the opposite!

- He should be an example of faithfulness for all of us!

- But if Yah.weh does not do it, what right can we afford to do it?

- Nowhere in the Bible is there a faithful man who makes sacrifices taking into account the possibility of his children speaking evil of Yah.weh in their hearts!

- Nowhere!

- How is it possible to criticize him?

- Is this unforgivable?

- Such ignorance is beyond me!

- Especially when it is widespread!

- When infidelity is the rule everywhere, we seek to condemn fidelity!

- Find the error!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 9:21

- Job is faithful to God and he is not going to change!

- But he knows his situation and he can’t bear it, he has enough of it!

- The use of the two verbs keep / reject are clear: he makes a difference between his faith in God and his life!

- Remember his personal situation: month after month, nothing improves, on the contrary, everything goes worse!

- And the three individuals are there to make it worse so he doesn’t get any rest!

- But whatever happens, his faithfulness is not for sale!

- But he has no hope, so it would be better to put an end to it!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 9:22

- When Job thinks of his dreadful situation, knowing that he has done nothing wrong, there is no difference between being innocent and wicked!

-Think about Job’s feelings!

- He is bitter!

- He has no hope!

- And time is working against him!

- Yes, there is no one like him on earth!

- Thus, it is difficult to imagine!

- It is why we have a lot to learn from him!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 9:23

- Job can be killed, the innocent can be killed!

- But they will keep being innocent!

- It won’t change anything!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 9:24

- Here we are again: Job only knows God!

- He doesn’t know that the devil is controlling the world and he is the one who is responsible!

- In fact, in a way, the world is in Job’s situation, but it is the world, not only one man but the whole of humanity, and who is going to be faithful like Job?

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 9:25

- Whatever may happen to Job, in spite of his stress, his ideas about his personal situation are clear: every day is alike, Job doesn’t wait for anything, he has no hope!

- Whatever the three individuals say, Job won’t change his mind!

- He keeps straight in his boots!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 9:26

- Job’s mind is so clear!

- His images are so precise!

- What a man!

- Who in such a situation would be able to stand mentally straight!

- He always fights back!

- Nobody can stop him speaking and opening his mind!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 9:27

- Job knows he is faithful!

- But he also knows he is in trouble!

- And it wasn’t so before!

- So he can’t understand because it seems he is guilty but he doesn’t know what he has done wrong!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 9:28

- Job feels bad because of his physical and mental conditions

- But the worst for him is to think he has done something wrong against God and he doesn’t know what!

- Of course, physical and mental conditions are deeply connected!

- But having no hope is the worst!

- It’s really hard when everything is dark and you don’t see any light!

- You need to look to the future!

- Because you can’t change the past, you have to live with it!

- But you can build something on it so you can go on!

- You need a project!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 9:29

- When we just listen to Job, it makes him so powerful!

- What the three individuals say is so empty!

- And Job says it again, the worst for him is the feeling of being guilty and not knowing why!

- His relationship with God is so fundamental!

- It is like eating and drinking and sleeping and breathing: you can’t live without doing it!

- Thus the Book of Job is a good way to ask ourselves what kind of relationship we have with God!

- Are we foreigners or do we want to build a strong relationship with him!

- If so, we must study daily but we need more than that, we need to keep thinking about what we learn daily, it must feel our minds, our lungs, our bodies and help us to get up every morning!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 9:30,31

- “cleanse my hands in lye” is so violent!

- Job doesn’t know what to do!

- “detest” is also violent!

- It shows how much Job is affected emotionally!

- Is constructive dialogue or communication between two people essential?

- Well, Job says he can’t do it without!

- He needs to communicate with God!

- What about us?

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 9:32

- Of course, God is superior to us!

- But God finds pleasure and satisfaction when people serve him faithfully!

- Think about the devil’s jealousy about people worshiping God with faithfulness!

- We are made in His image!

- So it means we are able to develop a special relationship with him!

- Think about working with God forever in a world dominated by him!

- No more injustice and the possibility to live in a world where nobody can oppose him and make a world where it is impossible to live!

- On the contrary, living in a world where we can get up every morning and be sure that we can make it better and better!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 9:33

- In a relationship with God, there are only two beings: God and us!

- We mustn’t let anybody interfere with our relationship with God!

- People can help us make it stronger but at the end of the times, it’s up to us!

- We can only accuse ourselves, not the others!

- If we let others govern our relationship with God, it’s our own mistake!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 9:34,35

- The last verse of Chapter 9 is powerful!

- It tells us about Job’s relationship with God!

- A relationship based on confidence!

- “FOR IT IS NOT IN ME TO SPEAK OUT OF FEAR!”

- What a powerful feeling to be able to open our hearts to God and speak freely to him!

- It should be the rule!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 10:1

- On the one hand, Job “loathes” his life, he can’t bear being away from God!

- On the other hand, the only thing left to him is to “vent” his complaints!

- That’s what makes his strength in spite of his condition!

- He wants to speak to God about his own feelings and open his hearts to him as he has always done it!

- That’s the only thing he gets!

- And nobody can take it from him!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 10:2

- Job is used to communicate personally with God!

- He doesn’t know how to do it in another way!

- We don’t know when he started his relationship with God!

- We don’t know about his family!

- As far as we know, the relationship between Job and God has a strong foundation!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

Job 10:3

- Yes, Job is in bad conditions!

- Yes, Job feels bad!

- Yes, he wants to tell everybody!

- Yes, he wants to shout it to everybody!

- Yes, he doesn’t understand it!

- And yes, this misunderstanding IS GROWING AND GROWING INSIDE HIM!

- As if it was going to explode like a nuclear bomb!