Page 108 - Reading Job to Know God

through this?”
But God’s time is not yet. The cry of Job’s heart is unanswered. Eliphaz
gave him no answer, Bildad gave him no answer, Zophar gave him no
answer and God gave him no answer. In chapter 15 Job is left still crying
out, and it starts again. Eliphaz comes up with another bright idea, and it is
worse than all the rest, and Job responds and makes a terrible mistake in
chapter 17. Bildad pounces on it in chapter 18. Job makes another terrible
mistake in chapter 19, and Zophar jumps on that.

And then one day the dawn breaks, and God who never did this before,
shocks His favorite son. Job is crying out in his bedroom, “If God will only
come down and talk to me” and all of a sudden, guess what? There He
was!!! He said, “Okay Job, let’s talk!”

Reading JOB to Know God

Chapter 10 Getting to Job's Heart

Now, I realize that the bulk of commentators point out the self-
righteousness of Job. On the surface it certainly looks like he is. But if you
get into the spirit of the book, I do not believe self-righteousness was his real
problem. Now, of course, Job was a sinner, as all men are sinners. He was
proud, as all men are proud. He was unbelieving, as all men are
unbelieving. He was self-righteous, as all of us are self-righteous. I do not
believe, as I once did, that God allowed all this in Job’s life to take out that
deep, deep, rooted sin of self-righteousness. Job was really honest. Let me
give you an illustration.
If I say I am faithful to my wife, and I have no eyes for any other woman.
That I love her exclusively, and I never desire another relationship. Is that
self-righteousness? I don’t think so. That is my real heart. That is how I feel
inside; that is the truth. By saying I am true to my wife, I am not denying the
propensities of my wicked heart. I know the potential that is there. I have
seen some Godly men fall. I am not saying that my heart is untouchable. But
I am saying that I am true to my wife. I believe that is what Job was saying.
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