22. Why Me?
Job 7:17-21
17What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? 18And that thou shouldest visit him every morning,and try him every moment? 19How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? 20I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself? 21And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shallnot be. (Job 7:17-21 KJV)
Why Me?
OUTLINE
- Subject of God’s Abounding and Abasing (v17-19)
- God’s Target to Suffer Affliction (v20-21)
INTRODUCTION
We cannot even begin to fathom our preciousness in the sight of our Almighty God until we come to understand what He is doing on our behalf in this world. This is what we are doing in this camp. And yet, why has He allowed His own children to go through such great suffering?
We are here to study the deeds of God in this world to help us to see our preciousness we are in His sight amidst suffering. Why did God allow the Jews to go through the Holocast? Why would a loving God allow such suffering to befall His own people? You see, God is making for Himself a people for eternity.
Not just in this temporal earthly sojourn but for the blessings of eternity to come. We need to see God’s plan and working in totality to understand His heart for us.
The writer of Hebrews observed in Hebrews 11:8-10 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as ina strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker isGod.
Hebrews 11:11-16Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so manyas the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that countryfrom whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
Hebrews 11:17-19 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19 Accounting that God wasable to raise himup, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
When we have understood the truth of our great worth in God’s sight, it will bring to our life a new purpose and meaning for His glory. It will cause us to praise Him and glorify in every aspect of our being and every season of our life when we are abounding or abased.
Romans 4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Galatians 3:6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
James 2:23-24 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
The psalmist understood this truth when he extolled God in Psalm 8.
Psalm 8:1<To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.> O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. 2Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
He instructed us that God gives strength to His people so that He mightest still the enemy and avenger. Who is this? None other than Satan. The one who at the throne room of God challenged the devotion and integrity of Job toward God. Job was precious in the sight of God. He was one who fear God and hate evil. A man whom God described as perfect, not sinless, but steadfast in his faith toward his Giver.
3When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 7All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 8The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 9O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! (Ps. 8:1-9:1 KJV)
The LORD revealed that man was made to have dominion over His creation. We are the only ones who can appreciate the beauty of God’s creation – the mountains and the seas, the flowers and the animals of the land, the birds in the air and the fishes in the sea. We are the only ones who takes time to build an aquarium whether in the home or in Sentosa to appreciate the beauty of the underwater world.
We are made in the flesh though we are also in the spirit. Man consist of two parts, the physical and spiritual. The angels are spirit beings. Man is special because man is made in the image of God. We bear the likeness and image of our Creator.
We are made to enjoy followship with the Godhead, to experience the joy of the blessed fellowship of the Godhead.[1]
The creative purpose of God is for the sons of men enjoy the fellowship with His Creator, Jesus and vice versa. It was a relationship of greatest joy for man to commune and fellowship with His Creator, until the fall.
Only man in all of God’s creation, possess the communicable attributes of God and fellowships with Him like no other of His creation. The angels were not made in God’s image. Only man is!
Proverbs 8:27When He (God the Father) prepared the heavens, I wasthere (He, Christ alone, witnessed all.): when He set a compass upon the face of the depth: 28When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: 29When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
Verse 30a tells us that the Son was by the Father’s side, having delight continually as the Master-Workman, the Architect.
Hebrews 1:2 reveal to us “by whom also he (Jesus) made the worlds” that Jesus is Creator.
John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
The Father created through His Son. Proverbs 8:31 affirmed this truth.
31Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights werewith the sons of men.
As the Workman, Jesus’s joy was consummated with the completion of the dwelling place of man and man himself. Man was the last and noblest work of creation.
Christ’s delight was in fellowship with man…and my delights werewith the sons of men (Prov. 8:31).
And there is not a verse that is more expressive of the conveying of the impartation of this joy from Jesus Christ to man. True joy found its source in that fellowship between man and His Creator, Jesus!
The word “delight” means the object and subject of love. This delight characterized the love relationship between God the Father and His only begotten Son (Prov. 8:30) and it is the same word that described the love relationship between the Son and the prized jewel of His creation, man made in His image. Jesus is the source of true joy. Jesus is the joy of living. Why so? Joy is the by-product of life with God. Joy is not found by seeking it as an end in itself. But given by God when man acknowledged Jesus by believing His life-giving Word!
Psalm 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence isfulness of joy; at thy right hand there arepleasures for evermore.
Psalm 4:7 Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time thattheir corn and their wine increased.
Psalm 36:8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
In 6 literal days out of nothing, Jesus completed His creation of the universe. In the first three days, Jesus forms His creation, transforming it from a state “without form” (Gen. 1:2) to where it can support animal life on Earth. He created light and darkness, day and night (day 1), sea (waters below) and the sky (waters above – clouds) (day 2), land and vegetation (day 3). Then Jesus created in the last three days sun, moon and stars (day 4), birds and sea creatures (day 5) and land animals and finally man (day 6)!
God makes man last for a good reason. His love, care, and special delight (v31), was with man, for He will dwell with man. The tabernacle of God is with man.
Creation and Redemption is for the purpose that God may dwell with man. It is a relationship that gives man the utmost joy. This camp we focus on God’s redemption plan through the ages.
Revelation 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God iswith men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and betheir God.
That state of matchless happiness, intimacy, dearness and oneness between the Father and the Son is imparted from the Son to the sons of men. His delights were with the sons of men. The Son was so delighted to dwell with man. This is the fullness of joy for man!
And for man to not recognize His Creator, Jesus, is indeed great ingratitude. Therefore, it behooves us to set our lives in order by coming back to Jesus, the Originator of life.
Jesus foresaw how men would despise, reject and put Him to shame. Yet they were the objects of His everlasting love (Jer. 31:3). We shall see this unfolding for us in the messages of this camp.
Therefore, man must accord due worship to Jesus, his Creator. As we think of Jesus as Creator we must acknowledge He created the world for man’s enrichment and enjoyment.
Man was asked to name the animals God created. It was a great honour given for man.
Genesis 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought themunto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that wasthe name thereof.
It’s like the father giving the name to the son. It was his honour to give the son his name that he has brought forth. God gave to man this great honour because the creation was made for man to enjoy.
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominionover the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
The world was made for man’s enjoyment. God made the world for man’s pleasure, for his delight. Only man can appreciate the beauty around him, its beauty and grandeur.The animals cannot appreciate beauty like man does. The created world is for man to appreciate, for his pleasure, for his enrichment and enjoyment.
We have spoken of man’s worth in the sight of God. How God has magnified man above all His creation. And yet, how is it that man is also so sorely tried.
We see this in Job’s predicament. We see this in Israel’s history which we will unfold in this camp. What is God doing? Can we seek to make a head or tail of God’s dealing with man?
- Subject of God’s Abounding and Abasing (v17-19)
17What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?
And so, for Job to ask in verse 17“What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?” May we say is an inappropriate affront to our God! Yet, in the thick of his trials, amidst weakness and even the prospect of death before him, is he asking faithless and ignorant questions?
We may admit that Job does not know as much of what we know in his time concerning trials and spiritual warfare and battles in the heavenlies. Remember the Book of Job is the first book of the Bible. He lived before the time of Moses. He does not have as much light of the truth as we have, especially for us living in the latter days of human history, nearer to the day of consummation than ever before!
The psalmist David asked in his trials recorded in Psalm 144:3-4 LORD, what isman, that thou takest knowledge of him! orthe son of man, that thou makest account of him! Man is like to vanity: his days areas a shadow that passeth away.
Before this he recounted in faith God’s working in his life – Psalm 144:1-2 A Psalmof David. Blessed bethe LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, andmy fingers to fight: My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and hein whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.
He realized that he was a feeble instrument for God’s glory in his lifetime to manifest the presence and power and preciousness of God.
His role was to unite Israel as a nation under God as a witness to the nations of the world the living and true God.
Psalm 144:5-15 Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. 6 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them. 7 Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children; 8 Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand isa right hand of falsehood. 9 I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery andan instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee. 10 It is hethat giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword. 11 Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand isa right hand of falsehood: 12 That our sons may beas plants grown up in their youth; thatour daughters may beas corner stones, polishedafterthe similitude of a palace: 13 Thatour garners may befull, affording all manner of store: thatour sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets: 14 Thatour oxen may bestrong to labour; that there beno breaking in, nor going out; that there beno complaining in our streets. 15 Happy is thatpeople, that is in such a case: yea, happy is thatpeople, whose God isthe LORD.
He tells us in conclusion, to know that we are a happy people under the care of God. And nothing can separate us from the love of God for His people.
The Apostle Paul testified in Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shalltribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This was what God wanted Job to experience in all his sufferings. God did not abandon him. He was not forsaken by God even in the midst of the worst trial that has befallen him. That has befallen you! Dear friends, we must remember this!
18And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?
The “irony”, as it were, of life with God! On the one hand, we find ourselves in our devotions, prayer and communtion to be lifted to the very presence of God to enjoy sweet fellowship. And on the other hand, He should also try us sore.
Man is regarded the prized of God’s creation, yet he is treated with such as it were contempt!
Matthew Henry puts this thought well, “That thou shouldst visit himwith thy compassions every morning,as we daily visit a particular friend, or as the physician visits his patients every morning to help them?
That thou shouldst try him,shouldst feel his pulse and observe his looks, every moment,as in care about him and jealous over him? That such a worm of the earth as man is should be the darling and favourite of heaven is what we have reason for ever to admire.”
It is asked well by Job here, “Why will God thus pour all His forces upon one that is such an unequal match for Him?”
For Job, we have understood that it was not because he sinned against God but God has allowed Satan to prove His servant’s integrity! God Himself has vouched for Job’s integrity. This is the reason for Job’s trial that he may be proved a genuine lover of God.
Similarly, God said to Israel in Deuteronomy 8:2-20 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, andto prove thee, to know what wasin thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every wordthat proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. 4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. 5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, sothe LORD thy God chasteneth thee. 6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. 7 For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; 8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; 9 A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thingin it; a land whose stones areiron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. 10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. 11 Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: 12 Lest whenthou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; 13 And whenthy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; 14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; 15 Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein werefiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there wasno water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; 16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; And thou say in thine heart, 17 My power and the might of minehand hath gotten me this wealth. 18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it ishe that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it isthis day. 19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. 20 As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God.
19How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
This is so true of the sick, he has not strength in him to spit out his spittle but to swallow it.
Job’s distemper lay much in his throat, and almost choked him, so that he could not swallow his spittle. [Matthew Henry]
… for a little time; or that I may have a breathing time: a proverbial expression, like that Spanish proverb, I have not time or liberty to spit out my spittle. Or this expression may have respect to Job’s distempered and calamitous condition, wherewith he was so overwhelmed, that he either had not strength, or could not take heed, to spit out his spittle, as he should have done, but swallowed it down, as sick and melancholy persons often do. [Poole]
- God’s Target to Suffer Affliction (v20-21)
20I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?
Job admits his guilt of sin before God. He boldly declared to God that he has sinned. And yet, we know that Job was, in the sight of God, a perfect and upright man. How do we sqaure this? Well, Job was a man of integrity but he was still a sinner. The difference as Matthew Henry rightly pointed out, he was a sinner, sincerely penitent. May I add, a sinner saved by grace, justified by faith.
He ingenuously owns himself guilty before God: I have sinned.God had said of him that he was a perfect and an upright man;yet he says of himself, I have sinned.Those may be upright who yet are not sinless; and those who are sincerely penitent are accepted, through a Mediator, as evangelically perfect.
Job maintained, against his friends, that he was not a hypocrite, not a wicked man; and yet he owned to his God that he had sinned. If we have been kept from gross acts of sin, it does not therefore follow that we are innocent. The best must acknowledge, before God, that they have sinned.
His calling God the observer,or preserver,of men, may be looked upon as designed for an aggravation of his sin: “Though God has had his eye upon me, his eye upon me for good, yet I have sinned against him.” When we are in affliction it is seasonable to confess sin, as the procuring cause of our affliction. Penitent confessions would drown and silence passionate complaints. [Matthew Henry]
21And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
He sought the Lord for relief from his suffering as he pleads as a sinner before God. He saw himself in such a terrible physical state of health, he might not awake the next morning from his sleep. He saw the precarious state of his condition, he is critically ill. He felt as if death would befall him anytime.
He pleaded for God’s pardon of his transgression – rebellion against God, and his iniquity – the crooked ways of sin in his life. He approved God with a poverty of spirit, mourning for his sin. Indeed, as our Lord promised, He belongs in the kingdom of God and he shall be comforted.
Poole said well, “Seeing thou art so gracious to others, so ready to preserve and pardon them, why may not I hope for the same favour from thee? If thou dost not speedily help me, it will be too late, I shall be dead, and so uncapable of those blessings which thou usest to give to men in the land of the living. When thou shalt diligently seek for me, that thou mayst show favour to me, thou wilt find that I am dead and gone, and so wilt lose thy opportunity: help therefore speedily.”
CONCLUSION
May His people rejoice in Him in their trial trusting the Lord as Peter so aptly puts it in Peter 1:5-8 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see himnot, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Amen.
[1] You would recall during our first church camp, we spoke concerning the origin of biblical joy is traced to the Godhead, in the relationship between God the Father and God the Son, Jesus Christ. The text in Proverbs 8:22-31 tells us (1) Jesus co-existing with the Father before Creation (v22-26; cf. John 1:1-2) and (2) Jesus was the Master-Workman in Creation (v27-31; cf. John 1:3). The first three verses of the Gospel of John are but the condensation of this passage of Proverbs.