Job 42

Job is justified, but not mollified. God apparently takes his side against his friends, but upon seeing God Job can only repent. Job is declared righteous, and has the opportunity to question God, but never gets his answer.

Remember the theme of the book: God is God, and Job is not.

Psalms starts on Monday.

Job 41

Leviathan is described to illustrate the power of God.

It's described as terrible beyond imagining, but completely under the control of God. Whoever could tame such a beast must have been extremely powerful, and that's who Job wanted to challenge.

Job 40

The second verse of this chapter answers the problem of evil.

If you don't know what I mean by the problem of evil, it's best summed up by the question,"Why do bad things happen?" If God is all-powerful and all-good, how is there evil? This isn't the best answer, but it's an answer.

Job 39

This chapter consists of more unanswerable questions, this time focusing on the animal kingdom. These questions are meant to lead to one inescapable conclusion:

God is God, and Job is not.

Job 38

It isn't one of his friends Job faces in this chapter, but God.

He basically tells Job, "Okay, bigshot. You think you're tall enough for this ride? Then I'll be happy to answer your questions, as soon as you answer some of mine." (That's my own translation, which I don't expect to catch on.)

Job 37

Elihu asks Job to think about the majesty of God. Have you ever done that? It's not something I've ever made a habit of. But think about it. God made every tree, every flower, every molecule of Earth. Astrophysicists like to say we're all made of star-stuff, but even if that were true, God still made the star-stuff.

And that's the one who wants to get to know you.

Job 36

God gives people what they deserve.

That's Elihu's rather simplistic argument in this chapter. The problem is that it's not quite right, and we know it. We've all known decent people who were poor or who died young, and bad ones who seem to do just fine. Not everyone gets what they deserve in this life.

Job 32

Elihu was the youngest of the four friends who came to comfort Job, and as such waits for his friends to speak. When they weren't able to rebuke Job, Elihu lost his temper,

After all, it was God's honor at stake.

Job 35

The biggest difference between God and man is that God doesn't need man. The inverse isn't true.

That seems to be the essence of Elihu's argument so far. Everything he's said to this point has boiled down to one thing: God is God, and Job is not.

Job 34

God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good, and Job has absolutely no right complaining.

That's the essence of what Elihu says in this chapter. He confronts Job with what he sees as his own hypocrisy. If his starting point had been right, it seems he would have been a fearless advocate for God. But it wasn't. 

Job 33

Elihu preaches the gospel.

Not exactly, but close. His biggest problem -- though not what was missing from what was almost a presentation of the gospel -- is his assumption of Job's guilt. When he starts from the same point as everyone else, it's not surprising when his destination is the same too.

Job 31

Job finishes his final defense by saying that he should be punished, but only if he deserves it.

He makes a number of statements, then agrees that if he's done those he should have gotten what he did. But he continues to insist that he hasn't done anything wrong, which begs the question: if God punishes the innocent, isn't he unjust?

Job 30

From being a great man, Job fell to become worse than nothing.

To be nothing, to be forgotten, would have been bearable. As it was, he was mocked and made fun of by men he'd always considered worthless. Worst of all, when he turned to God for help, there was no help to be found.

Job 29

Job begins his summary defense, and focuses in this chapter on what his life was like before he lost everything. He was not only a spiritual leader, but a financial and political one as well, loved and respected by everyone.

He knew God had allowed that to be taken from him, but he never blamed God.

Job 28

Where does wisdom come from? Only God knows.

Long ago, someone explained the difference between intelligence and wisdom this way: intelligence is what you can know, while wisdom is what you can do with what you know. The Bible has very little to say about intelligence, but a lot to say about wisdom.

Job 27

Job maintains his own integrity, and refuses to compromise his honesty, even this late in the game. Though his chances of getting a hearing before God appear increasingly remote, he still insists on both God's and his own integrity.

When all else fails him he can still believe in that.

Job 26

God is great.

By that I don't mean he's really good. I mean that he's great: unfathomable, unknowable, and unimaginable. Despite that, he loves people and wants to spend eternity with them. Because he's good, too.

Job 25

In this very short chapter, Bildad says that there's no way man can be righteous before God. If even the moon and stars aren't pure in his sight, what chance does Job have?

It's another variation on what we've already read, but at least it's short.

Job 24

Being upright doesn't seem to do anyone any good. Go ahead and prove me wrong. That's what Job's arguments are in this chapter.

Even though he's clearly getting angry, he never curses God. 

Job 23

God isn't afraid of our questions.

He's big and tough and can handle them. He created the universe and keeps it going, so he can handle anything you've got. I will warn you about  one thing, though: be as good as Job before you start asking.