Links for today’s readings:
Jan 9 Read: Job 9 Listen: (3:22) Read: John 9 Listen: (4:56)
Links for this weekend’s readings:
Jan 10 Read: Job 10 Listen: (2:12) Read: John 10 Listen: (4:44)
Jan 11 Read: Job 11 Listen: (2:01) Read: John 11 Listen: (6:37)
Scripture Focus: Job 9.24
24 When a land falls into the hands of the wicked,
he blindfolds its judges.
If it is not he, then who is it?
Reflection: If Not Him, Who?
By John Tillman
One thorny issue Job and his friends wrestle with is God’s sovereignty.
The friends express a simplistic theology where God says, “You do A, and I’ll do B,” and never breaks this formula. Their version of “sovereignty” makes God transactional and predictable—a machine-god who outputs blessings when you input righteousness.
Job rightly calls the machine-god a lie but struggles to reconcile God’s sovereignty with the reality of evil. God seems to destroy the blameless and the wicked without distinction. Job lays human corruption at God’s feet, saying that God blinds judges, causing nations to fall into wicked hands.
“If it is not he, then who is it?”
Good question. Does God cause evil? If not, who does? If God is sovereign, how can it be anyone else?
The book of Job reveals that God’s sovereignty restrains evil, it doesn’t motivate it. From the beginning, Satan complained that God protected Job from Satan’s evil influence. God allowed Satan greater freedom to harm Job to test Job’s faith, but never completely removed his protection. Evil is limited by God’s sovereignty, not caused by it.
God did not choose or carry out Job’s sufferings. He did not command them nor did they enter his mind. (Jeremiah 19.5) Satan chose Job’s sufferings and carried them out within God’s limits. Satan’s purpose went beyond destroying Job. Satan wanted to prove that God buys faith with blessings and bribes worshipers with wealth. “Does Job fear God for nothing?” (Job 1.9) Satan wanted to prove God to be exactly the transactional, machine-god Job’s friends described.
God’s sovereignty is not a simple topic with easy, comforting answers. When (not if) we suffer illnesses, losses, or living in a corrupt country with wicked leaders and blind judges, our faith will struggle. Like Job, we may never be satisfied with why God prevents some evils and allows others. We may never understand how present evils will be twisted by God to bring about a future good. (Romans 8.18-28)
To begin to understand, look to the mediator Job called for. Jesus is God’s sovereign answer to evil. God steps in for Job, overturning evils with new life, relationships, joys, and growth. Jesus steps in for us, crushing the serpent’s head, defeating death, wiping tears, and bringing eternal and abundant life.
Not only does God’s sovereignty limit evil, it ends evil through Jesus. Come Lord Jesus. All our answers are in him. If not him, who?
Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on me.
O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on me.
O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, grant me your peace.
– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.
Read more: Christ, Our “If Only…”
Thank God that he is the God who does the unthinkable on behalf of the unworthy.
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