Job
21 reminds me of the old expression, “The rich get richer and the
poor get poorer”. Job’s friends have been trying to make the
point that evil men always suffer the consequences of their actions,
but experience teaches us otherwise. The
chapter begins, “Then
Job replied… Bear with me while I speak, and
after
I have spoken, mock on“.
He is frustrated by the situation, but he will not give in to his
friends’ slander. For the first time, Job questions God’s
fairness. He asks, “Is
my complaint directed to man?”
I have heard many people question why God would allow injustice to
prevail. Things are not always as they appear. Job begins his
observations noting his emotional state, “When
I think about this, I am terrified“.
Then Job begins to give examples of what he sees. “Why
do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
They
see their children established around them, their offspring before
their eyes“.
Job does not see every evil punished, instead he see the unjust
prosper!
“Their
homes are safe and free from fear; the rod of God is not upon them.”
Job’s children are dead, yet he observes unrighteous men, “They
send forth their children as a flock; their little ones dance about…
They sing to the music… they make merry“.
When we are facing difficulties in life, it sure seems like everyone
else is trouble-free. We are surrounded by examples of people that
profit from corruption. Does that mean that God is endorsing these
activities?
Job
had been very successful and undoubtedly he knew those that were
easily bribed and that dealt unethically in business. He says, “They
spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace“.
He also notes that often those with the security of financial
success trust in their own ability and resources. “They
say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways“.
They have a difficult time acknowledging the need for God in their
life. I’m sure Job dealt with men every day with this attitude.
He has certainly heard these exact words, “Who
is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by
praying?”
Job
expresses the reality of how often corruption goes unpunished. Job
points out to his friends, “How
often does calamity come upon them?”
Perhaps this is what Jesus was referring to, “it
is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a
rich man to enter the kingdom of God”
(Matthew 19:24). Financial success in not necessarily proof of God’s
stamp of approval.
There
was a time in my life when I wondered why God didn’t just “smite”
all the bad guys. I didn’t know what Smiting was, but I knew it
wasn’t good. Job also complained about God’s lack of action.
Job is a little angry about the idea that God would punish his
children for his sin as his friends had suggested.
‘It is said, ‘God stores up a man’s punishment for his sons.’
Let
Him repay the man himself…
Let
his own eyes see his destruction. For what does he care about the
family he leaves behind“.
For the rest of the chapter Job points out these cheaters don’t
get their punishment fast enough.
It
wasn’t until my late 20’s that I realized that what I saw as
God’s inaction was really God’s mercy. I was the recipient of
His patience. When we read Exodus
34:7 with that understanding, we see that God is not punishing
someone for what their grand-daddy did. Each of us has done plenty
wrong on our own. God is actually extending
His mercy
to the next generations allowing each an opportunity to turn from
sin. “The
Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the
guilty,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the
children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
I know this, when someone fully accepts God’s forgiveness, other
people notice. Other lives are changed, perhaps even for the next 3
or 4 generations.