Robert Mueller III says, "If you have your integrity, nothing else matters; if you don't have your integrity, nothing else matters."
The context of Job is the premise that God always rewards good and punishes evil.
But we know that God prospers the wicked as well as the righteous, and the righteous suffer.
Job did just that in Job 31 where he delineates just how "righteous he is." He actually doesn't think he deserves all this torture, suffering, and trials he is undergoing without knowing why. His friend says he isn't getting less than he deserves and Zophar says, "...Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves" (Job 11:6, ESV). He sounds blunt and cruel but none of us get what we deserve if God meted out justice. He restrains Himself in mercy to all and awaits eternity to demand payment for sin. Self-righteousness is one of the sins that repels God and Job was full of it, actually challenging God to come up with a case against him. He stood fast to his personal integrity and fell into Satan's trap of pride that wouldn't let him admit he was wrong.
The problem with his friends was that the popular doctrine was that all suffering was caused by sin and we only got what we deserved in life, good or bad (sort of a belief in karma). The purpose of the story is to justify the ways of God to man and show that God doesn't have to explain Himself or answer to us, but we to Him. God never answered Job's queries and made Him realize that what mattered was that He is God and Job is a man. Job also realizes no one, including him, has a monopoly on wisdom and he has a lot to learn. There are behind-the-scenes reasons for suffering and God doesn't have to reveal His ways to us ("The secret things belong to the LORD our God..," says Deut. 29:29). The closer we get to God the more we become aware of our shortcomings and sins and see how unworthy we are (as Job finally confessed in Job 42:6). Samuel Rutherford said to pray for a lively sense of sin, the more the sense of sin the less sin.
Job suffers the consequences of challenging God and gets humbled, but we must all realize that we are not getting what we deserve and God is only showing mercy to us in sparing us the suffering we deserve. We are only ready for the grace of God once we have experienced the reality of mercy and put in our place, knowing that we don't want justice but mercy and grace. The reality of God's economy is that the way up is down and that we must confess with John the Baptist in John 3:30 saying, "He must decrease, I must decrease." James 4:8 says that "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
Job's spirit was broken by his trial and sometimes it takes a breakdown or coming to the end of ourselves to find God ("O that I knew where I might find Him," he says in Job 23:3). When we start thinking we deserve something or God owes us, we are no longer grace-oriented and lost track of God's grace that everything we have is from God and we are only stewards of his bounties.
Job teaches us we that adversity builds character in the crucible of life because the same sun melts the butter, hardens the clay and with the same event one becomes bitter and another better. Man's highest good may come from his deepest suffering. When Job asked,"Why?" God only answered "Who?" and revealed Himself to him. We are to have faith in God, and this pleases Him, not to second-guess Him and try to figure Him out or wonder why something happens. All suffering is providentially allowed and must be to God's glory, and have our best interests in mind and nothing can happen to us without His permission because there is a hedge of protection around us to protect us from Satan.
To conclude: God is the causa prima or sole primary cause of the universe and we are all His vessels, either of honor or dishonor. Satan and his subservient minions are subject to His Lordship and command and serve God too and cannot do independent mischief. They are merely his unwitting pawns doing God's will. God is not evil, but uses evil vessels as second causes to accomplish His will. Soli Deo Gloria!
The context of Job is the premise that God always rewards good and punishes evil.
But we know that God prospers the wicked as well as the righteous, and the righteous suffer.
Job did just that in Job 31 where he delineates just how "righteous he is." He actually doesn't think he deserves all this torture, suffering, and trials he is undergoing without knowing why. His friend says he isn't getting less than he deserves and Zophar says, "...Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves" (Job 11:6, ESV). He sounds blunt and cruel but none of us get what we deserve if God meted out justice. He restrains Himself in mercy to all and awaits eternity to demand payment for sin. Self-righteousness is one of the sins that repels God and Job was full of it, actually challenging God to come up with a case against him. He stood fast to his personal integrity and fell into Satan's trap of pride that wouldn't let him admit he was wrong.
The problem with his friends was that the popular doctrine was that all suffering was caused by sin and we only got what we deserved in life, good or bad (sort of a belief in karma). The purpose of the story is to justify the ways of God to man and show that God doesn't have to explain Himself or answer to us, but we to Him. God never answered Job's queries and made Him realize that what mattered was that He is God and Job is a man. Job also realizes no one, including him, has a monopoly on wisdom and he has a lot to learn. There are behind-the-scenes reasons for suffering and God doesn't have to reveal His ways to us ("The secret things belong to the LORD our God..," says Deut. 29:29). The closer we get to God the more we become aware of our shortcomings and sins and see how unworthy we are (as Job finally confessed in Job 42:6). Samuel Rutherford said to pray for a lively sense of sin, the more the sense of sin the less sin.
Job suffers the consequences of challenging God and gets humbled, but we must all realize that we are not getting what we deserve and God is only showing mercy to us in sparing us the suffering we deserve. We are only ready for the grace of God once we have experienced the reality of mercy and put in our place, knowing that we don't want justice but mercy and grace. The reality of God's economy is that the way up is down and that we must confess with John the Baptist in John 3:30 saying, "He must decrease, I must decrease." James 4:8 says that "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
Job's spirit was broken by his trial and sometimes it takes a breakdown or coming to the end of ourselves to find God ("O that I knew where I might find Him," he says in Job 23:3). When we start thinking we deserve something or God owes us, we are no longer grace-oriented and lost track of God's grace that everything we have is from God and we are only stewards of his bounties.
Job teaches us we that adversity builds character in the crucible of life because the same sun melts the butter, hardens the clay and with the same event one becomes bitter and another better. Man's highest good may come from his deepest suffering. When Job asked,"Why?" God only answered "Who?" and revealed Himself to him. We are to have faith in God, and this pleases Him, not to second-guess Him and try to figure Him out or wonder why something happens. All suffering is providentially allowed and must be to God's glory, and have our best interests in mind and nothing can happen to us without His permission because there is a hedge of protection around us to protect us from Satan.
To conclude: God is the causa prima or sole primary cause of the universe and we are all His vessels, either of honor or dishonor. Satan and his subservient minions are subject to His Lordship and command and serve God too and cannot do independent mischief. They are merely his unwitting pawns doing God's will. God is not evil, but uses evil vessels as second causes to accomplish His will. Soli Deo Gloria!