Job Again

So I've read further in Job now and realize he is more human than maybe I originally thought when I wrote about him yesterday. He actually does question God because unlike we, who have the benefit of knowing the scene as told in chapter 1, Job doesn't. As far as he knew, his life was upright before God (and God agrees) so he didn't understand why his children were killed, his fortune vanished and his health deteriorated while he was stuck with a foolish wife and self-righteous friends preaching to him about his sinful life. The thought back then was if you were suffering, obviously you were sinful. If you were blessed with children, wealth and health then you were pleasing God.

Things were going so well for Job until that one bad week in his life. Seriously, I cannot see myself handling all those things with grace at all. Job's heartfelt questions for God make perfect sense to me. He is a feeling, hurting piece of clay ... not an unfeeling inanimate object!

Here are a couple verses that stuck out to me as I was reading earlier. I'm only halfway done with the book thus far. It has 42 chapters.

The first passage has to do with God's authority over nations and leaders. You can see the preceding verses for even more. From Job 12:

²³ He makes nations great, and destroys them;
he enlarges nations, and disperses them.

²⁴ He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason;
he sends them wandering through a trackless waste.

²⁵ They grope in darkness with no light;
he makes them stagger like drunkards.

These verses were from one of Job's friends, Eliphaz, in Job 15:

¹¹ Are God's consolations not enough for you,
words spoken gently to you?

¹² Why has your heart carried you away,
and why do your eyes flash,

¹³ so that you vent your rage against God
and pour out such words from your mouth?

Maybe one day I'll make some sort of application here, but I just wanted to note these for now. Job 15:11 was like a question straight from God this morning....sweet.