Wed.’s Devo - Job’s Rebuttal 7-3-13

Read Job 21 All of these arguments seem a little senseless to me but apparently this is what the sages did in their time. They voiced their thoughts hoping they would say something noteworthy. It’s Job’s turn and even though he is about to take the stage, he already knows that they will be forming a rebuttal. He calls their rebuttal mocking. He tries to explain that he is not complaining to man but to God so they don’t need to feel the need to answer. Job has a different view of the wicked. He sees them and their children prospering. He doesn’t see God’s hand mightily upon them. They party and enjoy their wealth and when they die, they die. They have no need of God and don’t want his dealings or help. They don’t do good and Job has nothing to do with their counsel. They die like grass and are blown away and pass on their sinful ways to their children. They will get their eternal reward. The wicked die just like the righteous: some die in the prime of life fully satisfied and others die poor and bitter. They all die and are buried. But the wicked will be judged one day and then he will reap what he sowed. What Job is trying to say is sometimes you can’t tell on the outside what is on the inside. In Matthew 13, Jesus told his disciples to let the tares grow up with the wheat lest you try to uproot the tares and get some wheat also. Then, in the harvest the harvesters (angels) will gather the tares first and burn them then the wheat will be gathered into God’s barns. Only God knows the heart of man and whose are truly his disciples. Our job is to live the truth so that they can’t point to us as their stumbling stone but as Jesus’ example. Lord, help us to be mature wheat that spreads your truth to all who see us.