Job pt. 3

If you read chapters 1 & 2, you should get into chapter 3 and do a spiritual "what the heck?". That's right, Job becomes a poem. What, you didn't notice? Maybe you were too focused on the first verse of chapter 3...

After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. Job 3:1

Yeah, that's right. After seven days of silence and support from his friends, he opened his dumb mouth and cursed his birth. Now, this is more than just Job saying he wished he didn't have to go through this pain. Job is connected to God in an intimate way. I can't say if the book of Psalms predates Job but....

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalms 139:13-14

God created Job and did so on purpose. For Job to curse the day of his birth is tantamount to Job telling God that He didn't know what He was doing. In other words, Job starts to show his arrogance and the attitude that he knows more than God.

I'll save you the long bits but most of the rest of Job goes like this...

Job's Friends: You must be a sinner. Look at your suffering. God would only do this to a horrible person. (translation, we are judging you although we have no idea what you may have done nor do we have any evidence to support these claims)

Job: I am perfect and undeserving of any punishment. I would tell God how wrong He is but God would just abuse his power and not listen to me any way. I didn't sin, I'm a perfect human being. (translation, I am the greatest thing since sliced bread and God's a mean kid)

Hmm, totally not the Job I remember hearing about. I would suggest you go through and read it if you haven't recently. The end of the story resolved with Job repenting of his sins and realizing that God is truly wonderful and his strength. What I find most interesting about the 40 some chapters in long..... LONG verbose prose that just never seems to go anywhere or stop talking and seems to make me painfully aware of my ADD is that it is how everyone talks. You just don't find this kind of stuff elsewhere in the Bible.

What I mean by this is Job and his friends are all apparently talkative people. Chapter 40 is the appearance of the Lord who speaks out of the storm and guess what.... talks in the same manner as Job and his friends. I find it interesting that God meets them on their terms and in a way that speaks to their hearts. Yup, God may not talk like this anywhere else in the Bible, but he talks like this to the people who need to hear like this. In short, God will speak to you in a unique way tailored to the person he has created you to be. Amen for that!!!