Nov15
5. Be Slow To Judge
Series: JOB - GOD IS IN CHARGE
Leader: The Rev. Dr. William Norman
Scripture: Job 11
Date: Nov 15th, 2009
Listen to the audio (to save a file simply right click the link and select 'Save Target As...' or 'Save Link As...')
Job 11 (New International Version)
1 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied: 2 "Are all these words to go unanswered? Is this talker to be vindicated? 3 Will your idle talk reduce men to silence? Will no one rebuke you when you mock? 4 You say to God, 'My beliefs are flawless and I am pure in your sight.' 5 Oh, how I wish that God would speak, that he would open his lips against you 6 and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin. 7 "Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? 8 They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave —what can you know? 9 Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea. 10 "If he comes along and confines you in prison and convenes a court, who can oppose him? 11 Surely he recognizes deceitful men; and when he sees evil, does he not take note? 12 But a witless man can no more become wise than a wild donkey's colt can be born a man. 13 "Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him, 14 if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, 15 then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear. 16 You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. 17 Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning. 18 You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety. 19 You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor. 20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and scape will elude them; their hope will become a dying gasp."
Be Slow To Judge
Most people think they know how the world works. Most people don't write books about it like Richard Dawkins, the British biological theorist who retired from teaching at Oxford University in England in 2008. Dawkins is most famous recently for his book The God Delusion. Dawkins is convinced he understands how the world works and it has nothing to do with anyone or anything called God. As far as Dawkins is concerned, those of us who are people of faith are either more ignorant or less intelligent than those who deny God. "I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world," says Dawkins. I'm not sure if Dawkins hopes his family and friends will do something to mark the end of his life, but you can be sure if he has his way it will not be a funeral presided over by a member of the Christian clergy. "Religion teaches the dangerous nonsense that death is not the end." It is fascinating to me this sentence was spoken four days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Evidently the comfort which Christians take in the hope of the resurrection is "dangerous nonsense."
Someone like Dawkins makes the hair on the back of our necks bristle with his claim to understand the world, but at other times such a concept is used for humorous effect. If you were a fan of the television show Seinfeld, you might remember the final episode of season five, "The Opposite."
George becomes convinced that every decision he has made in his life has been wrong, that his life is the exact opposite of what it should be. Jerry convinces George that "if every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right."
Convinced by this logic George begins to do the opposite of his instincts and his life takes a sudden turn for the better. At the same time Elaine begins to experience a reversal of her fortunes, including being evicted from her apartment building, for, among other offenses, putting Canadian Quarters into the washing machines. It is revealed, however, the reason this happens, is that Jerry always "breaks even." If one friend's life is on the upswing, another's has to be on the decline, because Jerry is "even Steven."
The whole of the episode is played to wonderful comic effect, including the dressing up of Elaine to resemble George at the worst moments of his life. But behind the fun is the understanding that some people have of how the world works. It all evens out in the end.
How do you think the world works? In Job 11, the third of Job's friends responds to what Job has said when he broke his silence in chapter three and also what Job has said in his replies to Eliphaz and Bildad. Zophar is convinced he knows how the world works. As is often the case, I wish we could read this story without knowing the end. You may not know the details, but you know that in the end Job was vindicated. Knowing that makes it less likely, I think, that we are able to see ourselves in those who are of no help to Job. Let me show you what I mean.
Let's look first at verse seven. "Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?" Is there anything wrong with those questions? Absolutely not! Zophar appears to be pointing Job in a good direction. It can be helpful to be reminded that any box constructed for God by a human intellect is going to be too small. It is possible that Job, in trying to grab hold of some measure of understanding of what is happening in his life, is going to miss the contours of God's holy will and purposes.
Zophar is squarely within the bounds of orthodoxy. His statements would go unchallenged in any theology class. It is higher than heaven…deeper than Sheol…its measure is longer than the earth…who can hinder him? All of what this friend says is right and true and in this situation it is also completely sterile. It offers nothing of comfort for Job. But how can that be? How can it be that the truth is without merit in this conversation?
Let's look a little further. The problem is that Zophar is convinced he knows how the world works. We go back to the beginning of our text. Zophar says he cannot let the words of Job go unanswered. Why is that? Has Job cursed God? No. Has Job failed in some sort of ritual obligation? Again, no. But what Job has done is challenge Zophar's notion of how the world works.
Look at verse four. "For you say, 'My conduct is pure, and I am clean in God's sight.'" Now what is it you know that Zophar doesn't? You have had the advantage of being able to read the prologue. God himself said of Job that he was a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. This is not something that was written by a kind-hearted pastor who was asked to give a reference for a resume. This is God's judgement on Job's life. We know then that Job is right.
Zophar refuses to consider that possibility because he knows the way the world works. Look at what he says in verse 11. "For he knows those who are worthless; when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?" And then also the end of verse six: "Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves." (If you're open to a little pastoral advice: don't add that sentence to the list of helpful comments you might include in your next "Thinking of you" card.)
Zophar looks at Job and comes to the conclusion that Job is suffering because knowingly or unknowingly he has sinned and God is punishing him for it. That's the way the world works. Zophar knows this to be true and he will not consider any other possibility. His is a universe with no shades of grey. Listen again to what he says to Job.
"If you direct you heart rightly, you will stretch out your hands toward him.…Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure…And your life will be brighter than the noonday.
In other words, Zophar is telling Job that life is a very simple equation. If one is suffering, that must be a punishment for sin; therefore, repent and all will be well.
What can be learned by us as we drop in on this conversation that is both ancient and timeless? I want to point us in a couple of directions. First of all, let's be clear about our role as a friend or family member of someone who is going through a time of suffering and even despair. There are two jobs which we are inclined to take, neither of which are open. There is no vacancy either for God or for God's chief defender. The vacancy that is open for us is as one who listens and consoles and speaks the truth with love.
Zophar said to Job, "But oh, that God would speak, and open his lips to you, and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom." There is much irony in this statement because what Job was pleading for was an opportunity to hear from God and be heard by God. But what Zophar really meant was this, "If God would only speak to you, he would tell you that as his spokesman I have it right and you have it wrong." Those who are suffering sometimes need the assurance of our faith; they sometimes need to know if we have faced similar circumstances and how we have reacted. But they need anything that is said and done to be offered with compassion. Truth can be offered without love, but this is not the gift of God to anyone.
But, someone might say, what about the person who isn't like Job, whose choices have contributed to the negative circumstances in which he or she is now living. One question: how sure are you that you understand what is going on in that person's life? Zophar thought Job was a perfect illustration of how the world works. Job had been righteous; Job had been blessed. Job was suffering; therefore Job had been unrighteous. It must be. This is how the world works. In Job's story we have seen behind the curtain. We know what Zophar says is not true of Job. We might think that if only Job's friends could know what we know, they would be more compassionate, more helpful. What would we see if we were able to look behind the curtain of the circumstances of those who are suffering? Would this change our attitude?
The second suggestion I want to make is that when confronted by the suffering of another person we could all do with a little Christian agnosticism. Do you know what I mean by that? When Zophar had finished this first speech to Job, Job delivers a reply which begins with this wonderful bit of sarcasm: "No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you." Peterson in The Message gives it a little more bite. "I'm sure you speak for all the experts, and when you die there'll be no one left to tell us how to live." Job's friends left him with the impression that it was more important to let him know how correct they were about God rather than to let him know how concerned they were that he was suffering.
There are times when I am acutely aware that I am preaching at least as much to myself as I am to anyone else. You see in the face of someone's suffering, in the face of their questions about God, to not have answers feels threatening to us—not to them, to us. As I get older, here's what I'm finding: I am more certain all the time of God's love and of the the absolute centrality of Jesus to my life, and, I hold on to that with a growing tenacity because there are so many things that happen in life which leave me with questions for which there are no satisfactory answers.
What was wrong with Zophar's claims about God? Not a thing, except this. I'm not sure who first said it this way, but it was true for Job and it is true for any and all in the circles of our lives who are suffering: no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.
B
