if you wonder what
an office job is like – consider this:
what if inside you lived a brutal death metal band, in your bladder, and its groupies – all wearing black and pierced – lived in your kidneys? every stroke of the space bar sounds like a zildjian trash cymbal, every time you hit “send” it feels like the strum of a tritone against your fingers.
the slow march to the bathroom, at 9:46 every morning, feels like advancing in line for a concert you know you’ll hate. you try to keep your cool going up the elevator, as working weary mumble how happy they are it’s friday like it was the only one history ever gave them.
imagine your favorite band tuning their guitars for 4 hours, taking a lunch break, and tuning for another 4 hours. they play a 45 minute set, but only of contemporary christian worship songs. and for the encore, the death metal groupies hang them by their hair until their scalps fall off.
if you still wonder what
an office job is like – i hear
microsoft is hiring.
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Job 14:15b-17 you will long for the creature your hands have made. Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin. My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin.
I have a feeling that in reality the measure of where we are boils down to two things: the revelation we have received and what we did with it. There was once a fascinating dialogue between Jesus and his disciples: “The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.” (Mt 13:10-12). Jesus spoke in parables so that only those with hearts that yearned to know and understand would receive what he was saying. As they received it and lived it out, so he gave them more revelation.
Jesus spoke another simple principle of spiritual life: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Lk 12:48). When we get revelation, the Lord expects us to respond to it. The Lord also measures accountability on the basis of revelation received. The Israelites at Sinai (Ex 19-) received an incredible revelation and so after Sinai the Lord held them to a stricter accounting than before. Job had very real revelation and, as we’ve noted before, if his book is one of the oldest in the Bible, he would not have had any of the revelation of God’s dealings with Israel and he certainly didn’t have the revelation of His Son that we have. That’s what makes some of the words in the next passage before us, so amazing.
“If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me!” (v.13). These two ‘if only’ desires are quite amazing. Job believes that he is experiencing the anger of the Lord, for surely, as his friends have been saying, suffering is a sign of God’s judgment, or God’s anger against sin. Yet he believes God’s anger will pass and then there will be a renewing of their relationship – then remember me. Until that anger abates, Job is quite happy to rest in death but what this clearly suggests is that Job believed in a life after death where it was possible to experience and know the Lord! Job is wiser than many people today!
Listen how he continues: “If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.” (v.14). The big question is all about whether there is something more beyond this life. This is Job in the midst of his pain and anguish, in the face of the negatives from his friends, who catches something in his spirit of the wonderful truth that we now know so surely through Scripture. Life may be tough on this earth, he feels, but there is going to come a time when he will be renewed by God; there is going to come a time of resurrection! This is incredible! Later he will refer to one who he considers will be his defender or redeemer before God (19:25). He, in the midst of his anguish, is catching something of reality that many people, even today, struggle with: God’s desire is to redeem or restore and reconcile people. Death is not the end.
He imagines this time of life after death, when God’s anger has passed and their relationship has been restored: “You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made.” (v.15) There will be a future interaction when the Lord desires to communicate with the one He has made, after the trial of earth has finished. In all this there is a clear and distinct and gradually emerging future hope. Listen: “Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin. My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin.” (v.16,17). That is incredible! He believes there will come a time when the Lord will look over his whole life (count my steps) but will not be concerned with Job’s sin. What revelation is this? Job’s friends have been going on about the God of Judgment but Job is speaking about a God who puts away sin and takes no more notice of it. How can this be? Is it because of the redeemer we referred to just now? Whatever it is, it is an act of God who will seal up his sins so they can’t be seen or referred to again, an act of God whereby He will cover or deal with those sins by some act of divine justice perhaps. God will deal with Job’s sin so that it will not hinder their relationship. THAT is the wonderful revelation Job is teetering towards.
There is a major lesson here. It is that we don’t have to wait until everything is right and the sun seems to be shining on our life until we receive revelation. This incredible truth that Job is receiving and speaking out, is coming in the midst of his anguish, in the midst of a time when he feels that God is against him. That is amazing. He is sensing truth in the most adverse of circumstances!
What do we fill our minds with? Paul said, “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” (Phil 4:8) If we do this we find our minds harmonizing with God. As Paul exhorted us, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Col 3:1). When we do this, we find the Father sharing His heart with us. If you never think on these things, don’t be surprised that you have so little understanding of these things – but be sad about that! Job didn’t have the Bible, but he sensed amazing truths. He was receiving revelation. We have a whole book of revelation. What do we do with it? Remember, as we said earlier, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Lk 12:48).
Last time we talked about a few cases of people who chose an altogether different career or made their own paths though remaining in the same industry. Some turned entrepreneurs while others turned back towards school, in search of more knowledge and hence finding out what they actually love in life. But can all of us do the same ? I guess not. It’s difficult to opt of a standard job and start your firm, and not everyone choses that way. More importantly not everyone likes or can afford to put, career or better said, the “source of income” at risk! Neither can everyone go back to college and pursue a course which doesn’t coordinate with their previous education (even though that education solves no purpose, yet we are afraid to change our line of education, social pressures primary reason).
So what do we do in that scenario. Put our heads down and just believe that this is what I will be doing the rest of my life even though I hate it ! Not a good option either, then what else can we do ?
Let’s discuss a bit on this question. Have you ever tried to find out why do I hate my job ? Surveys state that more than 90% of the people leave their jobs because of their bosses/managers! That’s a high number I guess but the bottom line is that that’s a fact. Do we really hate the job profile or we hate our company? Our we fed up of the restrictions imposed ? Are we irritated by our managers behaviour ? Is it that we are working very hard but my team does not appreciate me and as a result I get annoyed ? Is the dirty office politics that’s what is causing me trouble ? Has my repetitive work made me think I hate it ? Maybe my job profile is very good, a dream profile, but the environment has made it impossible for me to work, hence I may be feeling that this is not the correct job altogether ? There may be numerous reasons why we hate our jobs but do we workout to find out the problem itself ? let alone the solution ! No, is the answer to that.
The moment we stop enjoying our jobs or office timings, we start thinking or rather saying, “I hate my job” or “this profile is not for me“. But did we sit down and think what is making me say that? A person very good in programming is given the similar job to be done over and over again. How long will he enjoy that, but that doesn’t mean that he hates coding. It’s just getting repetitive has made him feel so. He loves his work after all.
Similarly there me hundreds of reasons for you to not like your job, the verdict is relax, sit down and try to figure out, who knows maybe you seriously are in the wrong industry and need to shift focus before it’s too late. What we’d suggest is rather share your problems with us, in the comments section below, and let’s try to find out what the real problem is. If you are not comfortable, you may avoid writing your real name.
after his friends spend the last round outlining the fate that befalls the wicked, Job argues that the wicked people, who do not serve God, do (and often) prosper: living on and growing old, increasing in power and seeing their children established around them, homes safe and free and the rod of God not upon them, spending their years in prosperity and going down to their grave in peace.
But he knows that their prosperity is not in their own hands, and that the might of God will come down on them. As God-rejecting people, they will end up in the lake of fire (Rev 20: 11-15)
Eliphaz, the Temanite, continues to accuse Job of wickedness e.g. not giving water and food to the weary and hungry despite being a land-owning powerful man. and that he should return to the Almighty for restoration. While it is indeed true that most of us we have some area in our Christian living that needs improvement and that we should confess that, ask for forgiveness and gain restoration, in Job’s case, God himself described Job to Satan by saying, “…there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?”
Based upon that, an admission to guilt where no guilt exists would be what? …an attempt to fool God? The Book of Job shows us that conventional wisdom about God’s nature failed – miserably failed! No one, including Job himself, could cite a substantive example of sin in Job’s life or character. And…that’s why Job did not feel it would be appropriate to confess sin that simply didn’t exist.
Job seeks to state his case before God and he is confident that if he does get a chance to prove his righteousness, he will be delivered and that after this test, he will come forth as gold. He has never departed from the commands of his lips and treasures the word more than his daily bread.
Job 14:1 Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.
When reading Scripture, it is important that we always examine the context and realise that words spoken in one context may have a different purpose than when spoken in another. We say this because similar words to those found here were spoken by Eliphaz (e.g. 5:7 “man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.”) and Bildad (e.g. 8:9 “our days on earth are but a shadow.”) but in their case they sought to show that Job is part of the sinful human race and that he should repent of his sin. Now when Job says similar words he is asking the Lord why He bothers with frail mankind.
“Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.” (v.1). This is his starting point and, as we’ve commented before, it is only half a picture, even though it is true. Living in this fallen world does mean that things go wrong and part of our life mission, if you like, is to learn to overcome difficulties. “He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.” (v.2) The older you get the more you realise just how fleeting life is. You look back over the years and wonder where they have gone. As you look around you, you see people who seemed to be snatched away by death in youth or middle age and realise that life is indeed very frail. You read of floods, hurricanes, train crashes and so on, and realise that we are not the masters of our destiny.
He wonders why God bothers with us. “Do you fix your eye on such a one? Will you bring him before you for judgment?” (v.3) It’s like he says, “When I look at our lives in this fallen world, our weakness and frailty, I wonder why you should bother to play around with us; you know what we’re all like.” He realises it is a fallen world and we are fallen people and so asks, “Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!” (v.4) Because we are fallen, how can God make us pure. We are inherently sinners and so it is a constant struggle to be pure – that is why he had continually offered sacrifices on behalf of his family. We are in God’s hands, so what’s the point: “Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.” (v.5) God can take us any time He wishes and indeed, He knows exactly how long He’s decreed we will be on this earth, so what’s all the fuss about! He concludes with a plea: “So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired man.” (v.6) In other words, please leave me alone and let me work out the time you have allotted me. There’s no point in anything else (implied).
Then he turns and considers the futility of death in humans. He compares us with trees: “At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.” (v.7-9). That’s the truth; cut a tree down and shoots will come forth and life will continue, but that’s not how it is with us: “But man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.” (v.10) When we get ‘chopped down’ and die, that’s it, the end! “As water disappears from the sea or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, so man lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep.” (v.11,12) In the same way that a water bed dries up, so when a person dies their life ebbs away and nothing is left.
Now as we’ve commented before, in the midst of his suffering, Job loses perspective and so only sees half a picture, and indeed, because he lives so early in human history he hasn’t the revelation of the Bible. What he has just said is only half true. Yes, we do life in a fallen world and we are inherently sinners and we will one day die, but there is very much more to the picture than that. We are creatures who are made in the image of God and although we are fallen, God has worked through His Son at Calvary two thousand years ago, to redeem us, so that we can be truly called children of God, so we can live out meaningful, purposeful and glorious lives for however long we have on this earth, with all of His grace that is available to us, and then we ‘emigrate’ and go to heaven to live with God for eternity. Now if you are unsure about this, please read back over this last paragraph for this is the clear and distinct teaching of the New Testament.
We may not always understand what is going on in life – and indeed some would say we never truly know what is going on this side of heaven – yet God IS with us and He IS for us, and His grace and wisdom and power IS there for us, to help us through. Yes we can blow it and we can mess up, but even in that He IS working for our good. Trials, tests, and temptations may come but His objective in allowing them, is to teach us to overcome with His help. So important was what I said in the previous paragraph, that I am going to conclude this meditation with it again, so please read it through carefully, for this IS the teaching of the New Testament:
We are creatures who are made in the image of God and although we are fallen, God has worked through His Son at Calvary two thousand years ago, to redeem us, so that we can be truly called children of God, so we can live out meaningful, purposeful and glorious lives for however long we have on this earth, with all of His grace that is available to us, and then we ‘emigrate’ and go to heaven to live with God for eternity. We ARE people of purpose, and as the Westminster Catechism starts out:“What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.”
Job 42:8
“Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”
—
Are God’s standards too high? Are God’s expectations impossibly high? “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2b) Give me a break! I’m no saint. How could I EVER be “holy”? Even if I always spoke fairly of God and men, even if I always treated people right, I don’t think I could ever live up to God’s high standards.
That is the thought process of a lot of people who waver on the fence of faith. They go from wanting passionately that closeness with God they see others enjoying, to doubting that anyone ever could experience that closeness and love. Many people give up on God because they can’t see any way they might “qualify” for that exclusive group of holy people who get to experience God’s love and blessings. Yes, there are many who simply refuse to give up the sinful things in their lives that they enjoy, but I think many folks just don’t even try to give up their sinning because they don’t believe they could ever live up to God’s measure of holiness. Why bother trying if you think you’ll never get there?
The good news of the gospel is that we don’t have to hit the high mark of God’s holiness, only have faith in Christ and keep aiming for that mark.
In today’s verse we see that the Lord is telling Job’s friends that in order to redeem themselves from their own lack of true faith, they must let Job intercede for them. What makes a mere human like Job any more qualified? “For I have accepted him,” says the Lord. The literal translation is more like “His face I have lifted up,” which is like saying God has elevated Job to a position where He will listen to what Job has to say. Not that Job has the right to pass judgment on these men, but more that Job has been given the right to speak for these friends of his, to be their voice before the Holy of Holies, to be their high priest before God.
Today, Jesus is the great High Priest for us. Job’s role was a one-time event on behalf of three men, but Jesus’ priesthood is for all men for all time.
—
Hebrews 7:24-28
24 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.
25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;
27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
28 For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.
—
But if Jesus always lives to make intercession for us, does that mean we can just go on sinning? Certainly not! (Romans 6:1-23) There is still the expectation that we should repent as we approach the Cross of Christ, that we should be working out our salvation “with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12-16), so that we do not fall back into a life of lawlessness and sin. As the Lord Jesus instructed us, we should be asking daily forgiveness for our “debts” (or “trespasses” or “sins”, depending on your translation of Matthew 6:12).
The simple truth is that none of us is without sin – no, not one. Only Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, could ever intercede for our fallen race, and so He does. OUR role is to come to the One whose face has been lifted up for all mankind, to keep our eyes fixed upon Him as we run this race called life. (Hebrews 12:1-2) OUR role is to come to the foot of the Cross broken and contrite, with a wholehearted desire to repent, to throw down the sins that have entangled us, for that is a sacrifice God will not despise. (Psalm 51:17)
Today, let us present to God all that we have that is holding us back, and give Him the chance to lift up OUR faces. Like Job’s friends, we must follow God’s explicit direction and come to the One who is exalted enough to face God on our behalf. When we come to God in such faith, humility, and reverence, His gentle hand will lift us up, too.
Lord God in heaven, I thank You that You have provided someone to intercede for us. I myself am not worthy to be called a “son of God.” And so I come to You today, O Precious Savior, and I lay down all that I have, my whole burden of sin and shame, so that You, my Lord, will speak for me before our Father. I praise Your Holy Name, Jesus Christ, Lamb of God, my High Priest for all time. Amen.
