May 15, 2025 - Job 20-24

Job’s friends continue to speak (Zophar in chapter 20).  You know, these guys sometimes are not completely off-base:  indeed, the godless will be judged in eternity.  But Job has noticed, in this life, that the wicked often prosper even as they reject God.  Eliphaz is way off-base with his evaluation of Job’s situation.  To Job, he asks:  “Is not your evil abundant?  There is no end to your iniquities” (22:5).  He then goes on to detail what he believes are Job’s sins and shortcomings.    He calls for Job to repent, but the charges do not stick, and Job struggles even to know where to find God.  His plight is that of the poor and the dying and the oppressed.  Bildad (tomorrow) agrees with his companions that Job’s claim of righteousness cannot be substantiated.  Yet, Job maintains his integrity and argues that, surely, there must be better answers to his predicament than those given by his friends.  And so, the debate goes back and forth.  In the end, though, God will settle matters as he always does.

My times are in Your hand;

my God, I wish them there!

My life, my friends, my soul, I leave

entirely to Your care.

My times are in Your hand

whatever they may be,

pleasing or painful, dark or bright,

as You know best for me.   -- William Freeman Lloyd (1824)