Job 18 and 19 - GOD, ARE YOU PLAYING FOR THE OTHER TEAM?

Job 18 and 19 - GOD, ARE YOU PLAYING FOR THE OTHER TEAM?

Reading Job 18 and 19 is like watching a game of RUGBY LEAGUE. The friends side has a bulldog called Bildad on their team. BILDAD THE SHUHITE maybe small (excuse the pun on his name) but he's built like a tank. He can parry the blows from Job's side and tackle a man with the ferocity of bulldozer.

But the other side has JOB. He looks like a weakling but surprisingly he has so far withstood some severe poundings and still got a few tries of his own. The man is quick in his defense tactics despite his injuries on the field.

The game rolls on. It's almost half time, and JOB HAS POSSESSION OF THE BALL. He charges down the line and only Bildad stands in his way. It looks like Job doesn't have a chance.

BILDAD DOESN'T FALL FOR JOB'S DUMMY PASS. He is not going to accept the "I'm innocent" assertion that Job gives. That doesn't add up in his way of thinking. Only the wicked could go through what Job is going through so he says, "Speak sense if you want us to answer! ...Do you think we are stupid?" (Job 18:2-3).

BILDAD IS READY TO TACKLE JOB! He starts trash talking to intimidate him. He yells out "I'm coming after you Job. Your light is about to be snuffed. In mid stride, you are going to hit a brick wall." (Job 18:5-7 - my translation)

Have you ever seen those huge animal traps with the iron jaws that snap shut. If they had been around then, then that's how Bildad would have described what Job has in store. Nice friend! He says "Terrors surround the wicked and trouble them at every step." (Job 18:11).

But he's not finished. He says in effect "Everything that's happened to you and your family - your diseased skin, your home and family destroyed, is an indication that you have ‘rejected God'" (Job 18:21).

THIS GUY INTENDS TO TAKE JOB DOWN. He says that Job is the kind of person who "...will have neither children nor grandchildren," and people will say when he is dead, "This was the home of a wicked person, the place of one who rejected God." (Job 18:21). So Job's reputation, according to Bildad, is up the creek. No-one's going to say, "Hey what happened to that man who loved God?" Far from it. Bildad says "All memory of their existence will fade from the earth, No one will remember their names." (Job 18:17). No-one's going to hang Job's jersey in the HALL OF FAME.

Bildad must have had a bad childhood. Try getting through this man and it's like trying to stand in the way of one of those HUGE DEMOLISHING BALLS on the end of a chain, swinging towards you. Let's put it this way, it's not as if you want to hug this man and tell him you never would have made it without him and his encouraging words.

Bildads words of encouragement are the lights of an oncoming train and not what you want to hear when you are on your death bed. As a Pastor, I am now a Chaplain of an Aged Care Facility. Reading to those who will soon die from Job 18 without explanation is not going to be all that helpful.

But Job still has all his mental faculties. Somehow after the blow he is still coherent. HE'S GOING TO TAKE THIS LYING DOWN, but that's only because he can't stand up properly. He's injured but not out cold. He says, "You should be ashamed of treating me so badly. Even if I have sinned, that is my concern, not yours. You think you're better than I am, using my humiliation as evidence of my sin." (Job 18:3-5)

Job says, "you spearheaded me into the ground and you know that is not fair, but that's nothing compared to the tackle I received from God!" Job says he doesn't understand. He is a man trying to play without a team. He can't pass the ball. "I cry out, ‘Help!' but no one answers me. I protest, but there is no justice. God has blocked my way so I cannot move." (Job 19:7-8)

EVER FELT THAT WAY? I have. God seems to be playing on the other team. You feel every bit of dignity has deserted you, no hope, and somehow the humiliation keeps coming. You hear the deep sound of roots snapping as you fall like a tree and the connections that you thought would stabilize your life are torn out and exposed. You feel like everyone has either turned against you or they just don't care about playing the game anymore. Each step you take is met with a challenge and you are pushed back with the force of a rugby player determined not to let you through. If you've been there, then JOB HAS IT 10 TIMES WORSE.

Job says, "My breath is repulsive to my wife. (My wife still says that to me sometimes). ...My close friends detest me. Those I loved have turned against me. I have been reduced to skin and bones and have escaped death by the skin of my teeth. "Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for the hand of God has struck me. Must you also persecute me, like God does?" (Job 19:17-22 NLT)

All Job has left is what HE KNOWS ABOUT GOD AND HIS WORD. Sometimes that's all I have left too. Everything else is stripped away and all I can say is what Job says in Job 18:25 (NLT) "But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, ... And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see Him for myself. Yes, I will see Him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!"

Me too! Oh, God, how amazing that will be! I love you Lord.

God bless you Church as you know without a doubt, no matter what your circumstances are, that "MY REDEEMER LIVES".

Pastor Ross

Created about 2 years ago