God’s empathy towards the sufferer – Job 11:1-20

Hello, everyone…. a warm welcome to all of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you all can see a slight change in the preaching roster, I will be praying that God’s word really encourages you to see His glory.

So we’ve spent around 2 months now studying the book of Job in a series called “God’s blessing in Suffering”, to be honest, it is not an easy book to ready, when you read it in isolation it makes you weary, but god had a purpose to having this book in the bible, He is sovereign and sees us in our suffering.

Now let’s recap what has happened until now. Here we have Job, a man from the Land of Oz, He had 7 sons and 3 daughters, He had 7000 sheep, 3000 camel, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, he was the greatest in the land of east. a man that was blameless and upright in God’s sight, when scripture says Job was blameless it doesn’t mean that he was without Sin, it means that amongst his peers he was beyond reproach, that he was a man of integrity in his faith, family and business.

But what happens next is an ongoing conversation between God and Satan in God’s courts in the presence of the sons of God,

The Lord said to satan, “From where have you come ?”

Satan answered and said, “ From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down it. And God said to satan Have you considered my servant Job? There is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from Evil.

Satan then goes on to accuse God that, Job serves God for no reason he is a man who is blessed in every side, from his family to his possessions, and then Satan challenges God, to touch all that he has and take it away from him, and He will curse you to his face. And God permits satan to touch all that Job has, but not to harm Job.

Then in the blink of an eye, Job loses everything. He loses his wealth, his possessions, his servants, and his children.

How do you respond to such a drastic loss, all in a day? How did Job respond? He blesses the name of the Lord, he humbly breaks out in praise. He said, “ Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Then God, yet again, continuing the dialogue between him and Satan, witnessed Job’s faith, said to satan in his courts, Have you considered my servant Job? He still holds fast to his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.

Satan replied: Skin for skin! all that a man has, He will give for his life, but stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to his face. & the Lord said, Behold, he is in your hands: Only spare his life. & Satan went about and struck Job with sores, from the top of his head to the tip of his toe.

Then his friends Eliphaz- the temanite, biildad-the shuhite, and Zophar-the naamathite came to visit him, to show him sympathy and comfort him. “When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.”

Then there is this dialogue between Job and his friends, and most of the rest of the book continues with that.

Job 3 – Job’s Lament

After seven days of silence, Job finally speaks. He doesn’t curse God… but he does curse the day he was born. He wishes he’d never existed. His pain is so raw that he feels life itself is meaningless. He is troubled in his spirit, and you can see he longs for rest, but trouble comes.

Job 4–5 – Eliphaz Speaks

Eliphaz is the first of Job’s friends to respond. He tries to comfort Job. He also kind of provokes Job, who had instructed many during their time of weakness, but now, when calamity has struck him, he is impatient and dismayed. His main comfort to Job is that he must’ve sinned.

In Eliphaz’s response, there is an idea that good people always get blessings, and bad people get punishment. He persuades Job to pay heed to his advice because he has searched all of this out, and he knows that this is true.

Job 6–7 – Job Replies

Job then answers and says that his complaint is just, when weighing his suffering, it far outweighs the very sands of the earth,

Jobs’ friends don’t get it, He accuses his friends of offering cold comfort. He acknowledges that his pain is too heavy, and in his own awareness, he mentions that his unrestrained speech is from the anguish of his spirit and the bitterness of his soul.

He begins to question why God would even bother creating him if life is going to be this painful.

Job 8 – Bildad Speaks

Bildad takes it up a notch. He’s more blunt than Eliphaz. He says, “God doesn’t pervert justice. If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.” Ouch.

He urges Job to seek God, plead with God for mercy, repent, and return to God. He tries to become an advocate of God that God will not reject a blameless man, and that god will restore Joy in his life.

His response lacks compassion, or just plain awareness of the pain that Job is going through, so his comforting thought may sound right, probably brutal for Job, who is on the receiving end of it.

Job 9–10 – Job’s Deep Questions

Job responds with anguish and confusion. He acknowledges that God is great and powerful… but he wonders, how can a man be in the right before God? He doesn’t see how it’s fair. He says there is no arbiter between him and God, and wants God to take his rod away and let not the very thought of God terrify him.

He pleads with God: “Why did you create me only to crush me?” It’s raw. It’s honest. And it’s incredibly human. He wants God to leave him alone so that he can find a few days of cheer before he dies.

In short:
Job is grieving and questioning.
His friends are blaming and preaching.
And the tension is building about the understanding of suffering, repentance, God’s mercy, and Justice.
“Now we come to Job 11, where Zophar, the third friend, speaks.

Current chapter

Zophar, the third friend of Job, responds to Job’s cry. He is probably the youngest and theologically the most rigid.

Zophar’s response to Job

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
2 “Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and a man full of talk be judged right?
3 Should your babble silence men, and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
4 For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in God’s eyes.’
5 But oh, that God would speak and open his lips to you,
6 and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

Here based on what Job said, it feels like Zophar is offended by Job’s complaints. He has zoned out and loses track listening to Job’s lengthy replies and calls it a multitude of words and babble.

He feels like the goal of Jobs’ complaints was to speak against God and to silence men.

Zophar shows no compassion to the remarkable suffering endured by Job, he believes that Job said that he is pure and clean in God’s eyes.

But to be honest, Job doesn’t claim anywhere that he is pure, in Job 9: 20 you can see Job says, though I am blameless, He would prove me perverse. He meant it as the impossible task of defending himself before God in terms of Justice,

However, for us who have the benefit of reading Job in its entirety, we know that it is God who says that Job is blameless and upright, there is none like him.

Then Zophar continues to address what he believes is Job’s incorrect understanding of his standing before God. He says, “ God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.”

Such harsh and condeming words from Zophar to job, This actually touches the theme of all of Job’s friends replies, where they associate Job’s suffering with his spiritual standing before God, and so the tension is building between them where the third time in last few chapters one of job’s friends is going to say almost the same thing they have been contending with him, that he has been having some secret sin in his life which he has not repented off, which has caused him all the suffering.

Zophar’s rebuke lacks empathy and compassion. You would hope that when you are suffering, the words of a friend are measured and filled with Grace !! We show love by empathizing with the seasons of celebration and allowing ourselves to feel broken with our friends in their seasons of heartache.

As Paul writes in Romans 12:15
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 

Even Jesus Wept, along with Mary and Martha, when Lazarus died. even though Jesus promised that Lazarus’ sickness would not result in death, and that he purposed it for the benefit of all of us to see his work and glory. Yet, when he met Martha and Mary, he wept with them in their mourning.

John 11:35 – Jesus Wept.

There is a tension between their understanding of God’s justice and the expression of God’s mercy.

Now let’s see what happens next from v7-9

7 “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
8 It is higher than heaven–what can you do? Deeper than Sheol–what can 21you know?
9 Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.

Romans 11:33-34
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and
knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!

In Psalm 139, you get to see a similar description of God’s presence, where the psalmist says,

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, [1] you are there.9If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,10even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

He then proceeds to describe in human terms the length and breadth and depth of God’s wisdom. When Zophar says What can you do? & what can you know? He is challenging the limits of our understanding of God,

So yes, God’s power and presence are limitless, His wisdom is vast and beyond our measurement. There are mysteries of God that exist beyond our comprehension, our understanding is finite.

Then he goes on to say,

10 If he passes through and imprisons and summons the court, who can turn him back?

11 For he knows worthless men; when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?

12 But a stupid man will get understanding when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man!

Here, Zophar states that God has the ultimate authority in calling a court and presiding a hearing to judge and possibly imprison. Who can stop him? again a rhetoric,

Now here is where it is interesting, Zophar is presenting all these attributes of God, whilst passing a judgment on Job himself for his bitter lament. Although Zophar’s understanding of God’s mysteries is right, He has misused the theological truths to judge, shame, and guilt Job for his complaints.

Here he says, God knows the worth of man or the worthlessness of man,

when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it? Implying that Job here in question is the worthless man, and that He is suffering because of some iniquity, He is also responding to Job’s complaints because he feels Job is asking God not to consider his iniquities, and give him an easy way out.

Because, according to his simplistic understanding of God’s justice, everyone is dealt for their sins and they are dealt less than what they deserve, there is no room for understanding God’s mercy in light of his justice.

But in light of the Gospel, this truth of God extracting from us less than what we deserve is a display of God’s steadfast love.

Psalm 103:10-13

He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

Even Paul prays for the Ephesians that they would get the understanding of the limitlessness of God’s love towards them,

Ephesians 3:18-19

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

He then plainly calls Job dumb & stupid, that he will never understand the things of God, that he will get understanding when a wild donkey’s colt is born as a man.

And offers Job his ultimate solution as the answer to his misery. Let’s read from v13-20

13 “If you prepare your heart, you will stretch out your hands toward him.

14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not injustice dwell in your tents.

15 Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure and will not fear.

16 You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away.

17 And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning.

18 And you will feel secure, because there is hope; you will look around and take your rest in security.

19 You will lie down, and none will make you afraid; many will court your favor.

20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last.”

Zophar echoes the same words that Eliphaz and Bildad spoke, the answer is easy. Job should simply repent and seek the mercy and goodness of God.

He suggests that repentance would lead to restoration, where Job would forget his misery and would remember it as a moment in the past that had by.

He mentions that there is hope if Job repents of his Sins, this act of repentance will bring him rest and security

So the underlying themes of God’s Justice & mercy we see in Zophar’s understanding and also all the other Job’s friends’ understanding are that,

God is wise and omnipresent, he renders to those what they deserve based on their sins.

But he is merciful in the sense that when Job repents, God will restore his life, and his misery will be no more.

He continues to say how repentance will bring him restoration and security, that he will not dread sleep again.

Strangely, he ends with a warning to Job, it’s almost like a threat, that there is still time to repent, for the wicked, who is implied to be Job, and once the way of escape is lost, then the only hope for the wicked is death.

There are truths in Zophar’s understanding of God’s mysteries, but incorrect application of God’s justice. His assuption that Job’s security would lie in the repentance of his sins could not be farther from the truth of the gospel, we don’t come to God because we repented, we come to God because of what he has already done for us and what we get to enjoy as free outpouring of his grace towards us.

So, what are some takeaways from this passage for us?

Lament freely to God

If you are suffering, Lament, Lament is an outpouring of our hearts to God. Maybe it comes naturally to you, maybe it doesn’t, but it is an expression of our true emotions. I would go on to say that Godly lament is worship unto God.

If we don’t take our lamentations to God, the burdens of our suffering and pain will take us to other places. We will take our lament to relationships, habits, bitterness, and anger. Take your lament to God, don’t let it take you away from God.

We have the gift of Psalms to see a few people in history lament to God. Not all Psalms end with trust in God, there are 2 that just end as an expression of Anguish

Psalm 22, we hear David’s anguish: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry out by day but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent. Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. In you, our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: ‘He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.’”

Psalm 13,

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

2 How long must I take counsel in my soul

and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;

light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,

4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”

lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love;

My heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

6 I will sing to the Lord,

because he has dealt bountifully with me. (NLT)

Complaint to God the right place to complaint, and may be you are already bringing you complaints, groanings and laments to God, and are waiting for an answer from God,

continue to be at God’s throne of grace, He will not leave you, he will give you strength to endure through suffering. The lord is near to those who are brokenhearted, and cling to the promise from Matthew 5, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Be at it, we may not understand the manifold wisdom of God, but we can trust and rest in his steadfast love and hold on to his promise of Grace in our time of need.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16)

Listen without judging:

There is an insight here, when Zophar responds to Job, he is responding to a completely different conversation in his head, as compared to Job, his response is filled with Judgement. All of Job’s friends are trying to wrestle with his complaining, and they don’t have the answers themselves.

If you have friends or family coming to lament to you, we also would not have all the answers to suffering like Jobs’ friends, because there is unexplainable suffering in the world

The process of listening to someone’s suffering and lament can easily wear us down, it is emotionally a heavy weight to carry, and we can get into the state of projecting our framework of life onto the other person.

Every time I would have my wife, Jubi, come to me and share any of her troubles, I would often try to fix it, because I would have a certain framework in my mind through which I would look at her troubles.

We might not understand suffering, but keep coming to God in your suffering. And if you are being a faithful friend to those who are suffering, bring them to God’s throne of grace.

Paul writes in Romans 12:15

15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Lean on the finished work of the cross

As you find your posture in the midst of suffering, whether you are the person suffering or you are the person listening to the sufferings of a friend,

know that suffering is not directly caused by your Sin, it may be but God does not intend to permit suffering in your life as a way to even the scales of your sins.

Jesus died for us on the cross to give us something better.

Titus 3:4-7

4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

in Jesus, it has already been finished for us on the cross, where he took on the penalty of our sin, he took on the dread of our iniquities, and the retribution for our sins, so that he could restore our relationship with God.

1 Peter 2:24

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

As you think and reflect on today’s passage, we can take a moment to Lament, pray for our friends who need encouragement right now