That it’s a rhetorical question seems clear. It’s intent? Not as clear.
Hovering over Job 4 this morning. It’s round 1 with the “let’s comfort Job by condemning Job” tag-team triplet of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, EB&Z (has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?) And it’s a question asked by E that I’m unclear about.
After Job’s “curse the day of my birth” outburst in chapter 3, E says to him, “Whoa, that’s a little over the top, don’t you think?” Well, he doesn’t say that exactly. What he says is, “Will you be impatient?” (4:2).
Really? Impatient? Job’s been emotionally decimated by the loss of all his wealth and the soul-crushing news that 10 of 10 kids and their families are dead (Job 1). He has been physically assaulted with “loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” which are constantly irritated by the ashes he sits in as he mourns the loss of his family (2:7-8). And if that isn’t enough, he has to deal with a wife who questions him for continuing to worship his God (2:9). And “in all this Job did not sin with his lips” (2:10b). And he remains in suffering silence for seven days and seven nights (2:13). Impatient? Give your head a shake, E!
And then, E asks the question I’m questioning.
“Is not your fear of God your confidence,
and the integrity of your ways your hope?”
(Job 4:6 ESV)
Was it meant to encourage him? Is the implied answer, “Yes”? Job, come on man, you fear God . . . that’s your strength. You’ve walked in integrity your whole life (God would say “amen” to that, check out Job 1:8 and Job 2:3), that’s got to count for something, cheer up!
Or was it meant to judge him? Hey buddy, what’s happened to you doesn’t happen to those who fear God — a little boastful weren’t you? You wouldn’t be sitting in this current rubble if you were really walking in the right way. “Think! Has a truly innocent person ever ended up on the scrap heap? Do genuinely upright people ever lose out in the end?” (4:7 MSG).
Encourage or judge? Build up or tear down? Comfort or . . . not so much? Hmm . . .
But as I chew on it, I’m forming my own answer to E’s question. While a fear of God is a needful thing, and while walking in integrity is a good thing, ultimately, they are not where my confidence lies or my hope is fueled. Though I seek to live in reverent awe of God as I should and walk straight paths as they are revealed, my surety and my security are not in what I do but in what Another has done.
When what’s precious is stripped away, when life’s twists and turns discombobulate, when it’s hard to see clearly through the cloud of ashes, my confidence has to lie in something outside of me and my circumstance and my ability to step up and work through it. My hope needs to be found in more than my piety and my perseverance.
The Son of God is my confidence. Period. Full stop.
And my union with Him is my hope.
As Billy G. wrote it so well 45 years ago, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow!”
And that’s clear.
O’ that it would remain clear through all sorrow, suffering, and trials.
Only by His grace. Always for His glory.
