In this episode of ADDBIBLE, we delve into the heartfelt responses of Job in chapters 16 and 17. Experience Job’s struggle with anguish and despair as he wrestles with the accusations of his friends and the overwhelming challenges of his circumstances. Yet, even amid his sorrow, Job manages to cling to a glimmer of hope, directing his prayers to a Higher Power. This narrative not only highlights the human element in divine suffering but also provides an enriching perspective on maintaining faith when life offers no solace.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. Alan J. Huth shares a Bible passage with comments from over 35 years of his personal Bible reading journals and applies the Word of God to our daily lives.
Today brings us to Job chapter 16 and 17. These are Job’s responses to Eliphaz’s accusation that he did not fear God. So let’s listen in to Job in Faith Comes By Hearing’s recording of chapters 16 and 17.
Job 16 Then Job answered and said, I have heard many such things. Miserable comforters are you all! Shall windy words have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer? I also could speak as you do if you were in my place. I could join words together against you and shake my head at you. I could strengthen you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain. If I speak, my pain is not assuaged, and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me? Surely now God has worn me out. He has made desolate all my company. And he has shriveled me up, which is a witness against me, and my leanness has risen up against me. It testifies to my face. He has torn me in his wrath and hated me. He has gnashed his teeth at me. My adversary sharpens his eyes against me. Men have gaped at me with their mouth. They have struck me insolently on the cheek. They mass themselves together against me. God gives me up to the ungodly and casts me into the hands of the wicked. I was at ease and he broke me apart. He seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces. He set me up as his target. His archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare. He pours out my gall on the ground. He breaks me with breach upon breach. He runs upon me like a warrior. I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and have laid my strength in the dust. My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness, although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure. O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place. Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high. My friends scorn me. My eye pours out tears to God, that he would argue the case of a man with God, as a son of man does with his neighbor. For when a few years have come, I shall go the way from which I shall not return. Job 17 My spirit is broken. My days are extinct. The graveyard is ready for me. Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation. Lay down a pledge for me with yourself. Who is there who will put up security for me? Since you have closed their hearts to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph. He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property, the eyes of his children will fail. He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit. My eye has grown dim from vexation, and all my members are like a shadow. The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless. Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger. But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you. My days are past. My plans are broken off, the desires of my heart. They make night into day. The light, they say, is near to the darkness. If I hope for Sheol as my house, if I make my bed in darkness, if I say to the pit, you are my father, and to the worm, my mother or my sister, where then is my hope? Who will see my hope? Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?
In 1984, in the second journal I ever wrote, I read Job 15 through 17 on the same day, and I wrote, Job recognizes he has become the target of the enemy. God has lifted his protective hand, and the onslaught of the enemy has come upon him. Praise God for his mercy and grace, or we could all be subject to the onslaught Job has experienced from Satan. Thirteen years later, in 1997, I read Job 12 through 21 on the same day, and I made no notes concerning these two chapters. Eighteen years later, in 2015, I read Job chapter 16 and 17 on the same day, and I wrote in my personal Bible reading journal, So far, his friends have not been much help. Job recognizes God’s hand in his situation, and it has been rough. Then I quoted verse 17. Although there is no violence in my hands and my prayer is pure, he still appeals to God alone. Though he may be ready to escape the pain through death, he affirms his hope in God alone. He hangs on to hope even in desperation. Have you ever had a pity party? Oh yeah, sure, most of us have. Where we feel really sorry for ourselves. Here in chapter 16, Job does just that, doesn’t he? First he says that these friends haven’t been very friendly at all. Verse 2, I have heard many such things. Miserable comforters are you all. And then his pity party begins. Verse 7, surely now God has worn me out. Verse 8, And he has shriveled me up. Verse 9, He has torn me in his wrath and hated me. Verse 10, Men have gaped at me with their mouth, and they have struck me insolently on the cheek. They massed themselves together against me. Verse 12, I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Verse 14, He breaks me with breach upon breach. Verse 18, My face is red with weeping. But then he shifts gears in verse 17 and onward. Although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure. O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place. Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high. In every chapter, Job reaches out to God. Yet in chapter 17, the pity party continues. Verse 1, My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the graveyard is ready for me. Verse 6, He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit. And verse 11, My days are past, my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart. And lastly, verse 15. Are you in the midst of a pity party as you listen to Job 16 and 17? Are things not going your way? Do you blame everybody and everything around you? Job had a right to a pity party, didn’t he? He didn’t know that his circumstances were attributable to a battle in heaven between God and Satan. Maybe your situation is likewise. You may be suffering, but you are completely innocent. Take some advice from Job himself. Chapter 16, verse 17. Yes, don’t get so down. Don’t get so discouraged. Continue to pray. God is listening. Your answer is on the way. Father, we know that you blessed Job at the end of this book. So bless us too. In the midst of our pity parties, Holy Spirit, strengthen us. May you find no violence in our hands. May you find our prayers pure. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. You know, sometimes we need a plumb line, a true north, a solid basis of truth to live life. We’re not going to find it in the media or in social media or Google or your friends, but it is available right at your fingertips. Pilate asked Jesus in John 18.38, What is truth? The chapter before, Jesus had answered the question in his prayer to God for his disciples. In the 17th verse, Jesus pleads with the Father, Sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth. So what would it be like if everyone, everywhere, read the Bible every day? Wow, it might be heaven on earth. What would it be like if every Christian read the Bible every day? Would we be better ambassadors for Christ? What would it be like if everyone in your community read the Bible every day? Would we have greater impact in our communities? And what would it be like if you personally read the Bible every day? Could you use a closer walk with Jesus? Could you use a light unto your path and a lamp unto your feet to walk through this life? Could you use a spiritual power surge in your life? Matthew 22, 29, Jesus speaking to the Sadducees said, You are mistaken not understanding the scriptures or the power of God. Yes, the scriptures can give us power to live this life. So I’m going to give you three easy action steps to make the Bible worth your time each and every day. Number one, commit to daily Bible reading. Commit to seek God and His Word daily, every day. And if you miss a day, start again the next day. Change your belief about God’s Word to behavior in God’s Word. Use any of our Ezra Project resources to help you. Visit EzraProject.net to get an Ezra Project Bible reading journal or one of our day-by-day through the Bible books. Commit today and visit EzraProject.net for easy-to-use resources for your daily time in God’s Word. Number two, be intentional. Decide what you want out of your Bible reading. I got to visit the headquarters of Back to the Bible once in Lincoln, Nebraska, and in one hallway down one side, they had scribbled all the reasons people say they don’t read the Bible. On the other side were all the reasons people do read the Bible. And I want to give you some of those to encourage you. On that wall, it said, God wants me to. Yes, God wants you to read the Bible. Do you want to meet with Him daily? Because He’ll meet with you every day through His Word. Number two, it changes me. Where could you be in one year with more Bible reading in your life? Number three, it improves my outlook on life. Yeah, turn out the bad news and saturate yourself with good news from the Word of God. Number four, it keeps me grounded. Yes, when the storms of life come, and they will, can you stand? Yes, you’ll stand better and more solid because you’re in the Word of God. Next, it keeps my heart soft. Yeah, Nehemiah 8, when people heard the Word, they wept and they worshipped. You will do the same as the Word softens your heart. Lastly, on the wall, it said, it keeps my daily focus on God. Yeah, that’s a great reason to read the Bible. You’ll gain the spiritual power to live life in our secular world. And then thirdly and lastly, feed your soul. Let God minister to your soul. Hebrews 4.12 says the Word of God pierces between your soul and your spirit, between joints and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of your heart. Nothing else goes that deep. I don’t know where the place is between my soul and my spirit, but I want to put the Word of God there each and every day of my life. I hope you do too. God bless you as you spend time in God’s Word.
