Hi Sisters,
If you haven’t read the first post, I encourage you to read that first (click HERE) as it explains my approach to reading Job during my quiet times.
[Warning: heavy topics ahead. As you read, if you feel yourself becoming triggered or overwhelmed, please do not keep reading. If this brings up wounds in your life, please seek help from a trusted friend, mental health counselor, etc. Do not lose heart, healing from trauma is possible!]
Zophar Enters the Conversation
Zophar is the third friend to enter the back-and-forth with Job. The thing I noticed from Zophar’s input is not only does he also condemn Job, but he takes it a step further by saying God has given him less of a punishment than Job deserves.
Zophar further challenges Job, “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?” (11:7). This is ironic since Zophar is claiming to the know the things of God – the same simplistic if/then thinking his friends think.
I Am Not Inferior to You
I love Job’s response.
I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these?
I am a laughingstock to my friends;
I, who called to God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock. . .
With God are wisdom and might;
he has counsel and understanding.
If he tears down, none can rebuild;
if he shuts a man in, none can open.
If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
With him are strength and sound wisdom; . . .
Behold, my eye has seen all this,
my ear has heard and understood it.
What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you. (12-13:2)
Job gives a sandwich speech. He starts with, “I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you.” In the middle, Job recites facts about God: His wisdom, His life-giving majesty over all living things, His ability to give and take away, His power over weather, His sovereignty over nations and rulers. He ends with the same proclamation as the beginning: “What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.“
As I sat with Job in this pain (metaphorically of course), I thought about what emotions he was experiencing: shame, humiliation, isolation and at the same time boldness. I’m in awe of his boldness. Trauma induces shame. The “consolations” from Job’s friends add to the humiliation (feeling like a laughing stock) and furthering the sense of isolation. Yet, Job has a boldness to stand firm.
Job didn’t need to be told facts about God in that moment. He knew the facts. What he didn’t know was: Will this God, this Almighty God, answer Job? Will he show up for Job and offer an answer? We wait in anticipation!
I Have Prepared My Case
After the sandwich speech, Job continues:
But I would speak to the Almighty,
and I desire to argue my case with God.
As for you, you whitewash with lies;
worthless physicians are you all…
Hear now my argument
and listen to the pleadings of my lips. . .
Though he slay me, I will hope in him;
yet I will argue my ways to his face. . .
Keep listening to my words,
and let my declaration be in your ears.
Behold, I have prepared my case;
I know that I shall be in the right. . .
For you write bitter things against me
and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth. (from chapter 13)
Job begins by talking to his friends – again petitioning them to TRULY listen to him. He calls them “miserable physicians” because they aren’t listening! They are stuck in their presuppositions. Then Job turns his oration toward God.
Job has prepared his argument, his case, his declaration. He has reviewed the evidence and he is confident he has checked all the boxes. Though his case is set, he has this thought – God is punishing him from something he did way back in the past, when maybe he wasn’t as committed to God. The story Job is telling himself about God: Perhaps God is vindictive.
The brain in trauma frantically scans for answers, hoping it can quickly “fix” the issue and regain safety. We might ask: “God is the [trauma/pain] happening because I did [x,y,z] in my youth and now my punishment is coming due?”
Sister, I don’t know what you did before you lived for Jesus (or the blunders and failures even after you chose to live for Jesus), but if this type of thought has entered your mind, you are not alone. Job thought it and many others have thought it too, but that’s trauma talking. God is not a vindictive God. Remember:
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:18-19)
A popular quote from Job is, “Though he slay me, I will hope in Him.” But notice Job said this in the middle of his oration, meaning it didn’t make him feel better from then on out.
That’s another thing about trauma. One minute a person may feel hopeful, and the very next minute, she can feel panic (cross reference Lamentations 3). Hope comes and hope fades on the rollar coaster of trauma. Savor it when it’s there, and lean on other sisters when it’s dim.
This is why we need each other. God has created us for connection. When our hope is dim, we need the encouragement of others to press on – not miserable physicians, but healing balm.
I’ll end with a link to another good episode from the podcast “The Place We Find Ourselves” called “You Need More Than God” (Click HERE).
I hope you are encouraged by it!
By the River Together 