Job 13:15
Every Dysfunction Comes Out in a Crisis
It is true, that God said of Job, that he was blameless and upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. God said there was no one on earth like Job. However, God did not say that Job was perfect.
The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 NASB
The crisis that Job is in, and the attacks from his so called friends, is bringing out Jobs sin. By arguing with his friends he is slowly shifting from trusting in God and beginning to trust in his own righteousness and works to save him and keep him from harm.
Though he says, “I will hope in Him” Job is not trusting God in this crisis, he is accusing God of slaying him and wants to argue his case before God. He thinks that if he can argue his case before God, surly he will be declared not guilty, because of how he has conducted his life.
Job’s friends are doing the work of the adversary and accuser. Jesus taught in the parable of the Wheat and the Tares found in Matthew 13, that God had sown good seed in His field but an enemy had sown weed seed in the same field. In the parable the field is the world, the good seed is the Word and wisdom of God and the tares is the wisdom of the devil. That which spring forth are the people whose core beliefs are based on the wisdom they have believed. Therefore the good seed sprouts the sons of the kingdom and the bad seed sprouts the sons of the evil one. Whether we know it or not, when we speak according to our “wisdom” we are planting seeds in the lives of others. We need to be careful what we plant.
Job’s friends are planting seeds of wisdom based on what they believe. (We will examine the source of their wisdom at the end of our study.) In so doing their wisdom is sprouting and starting to take root in Job’s heart as are the seeds of anger and bitterness. What is sprouting and growing in Job’s heart is going to cause him to stumble. That stumbling block is called pride, pride in self. God hates pride because pride is so difficult to remedy. Pride blinds a person to their actions and attitudes and causes them to focus on those very actions and attitudes of others. In this case Jobs friends are suffering from pride as well so it is quite the marry-go–round.
The good thing that is coming out of this is that Job is starting to realize he needs an advocate to represent him before God. In the book of Exodus God will provide an advocate, the Priest, and the structure by which the Priest may approach God and represent God to man and man to God.
In Job’s day there was no priest or priesthood, so what can Job do now? Well, he can approach God at his altar, the altar he was presenting sacrifices on for his children back in Chapter 1:5. Pride is not going to let him do that. After all, his kids may have done something wrong, but Job, not him, he has done nothing wrong. God has slain him. So Job wants to be his own advocate before God. The seeds of the enemy have taken root.
Today, we have an advocate through whom we can boldly approach the throne of grace and who will intercede with God on our behalf. His name is Jesus and He is our High Priest. But, just like in Job’s day, pride will keep us from coming to Him, so this is still a real danger that we need to be aware of. So, the next time we find ourselves in a crisis, we need to look at what we are saying and doing and ask ourselves if that is coming from God or from pride? Is God allowing this crisis so we can see what is really in our heart?
Pride is a stumbling block on the pathway to our advocate. Here are some verses about pride from Proverbs to consider.
Proverbs 8:12-13
Proverbs 11:2
Proverbs 16:18
Proverbs 18:12
Proverbs 29:23
May the Lord bless your steps today.
Pastor Dave