Seeing beyond this world.

The biggest difference between Job and his friends is that Job had the hope that he would one day see his Redeemer face-to-face - in the flesh. His friends, on the other hand, didn't seem to be able to see life beyond the few short years that man has on earth. Because their sole focus was on what they see with their physical eyes, they had no hope. And that really clouded their view of God and of life.

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How to Know God

One of the things we see consistently in the book of Job is that Job and his friends make the mistake of determining what they think they know about God strictly from their own personal experiences. We should not be quick to condemn, however, since we often do the same thing. We cannot truly know God apart from His revelation of Himself that is found in His Word. We have to evaluate our experiences in light of God's Word, not the other way around.

Whenever I hear someone begin with "The God I know..." or "The Jesus I know..." my antennae immediately go up, because it is likely the person is about to make some statement about God that is based on personal experience and not the Bible. 

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Knowing God vs. Knowing About God

It is really interesting to watch Job's journey as the book of Job progresses. At first we see he knows a lot about God and for the most part that understanding is pretty accurate. He certainly has a much more accurate picture of God than his friends, for sure. He understands God's sovereignty and accepts that the struggles he is experiencing are under God's control. Yet at this point Job still lacks a relationship with God.

We need to be careful not to get caught in the trap that Job experienced early in the book of Job. We need to move beyond just knowing about God to really knowing Him and having an intimate relationship with Him. What are some of the ways that you do that in your life?

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The Theology of Job

In reading the book of Job, we need to be careful not to use it alone as a source for our theology. Job, like many places in the Bible, merely records the conversation between Job and his "friends" without commenting for most of the book on the accuracy of their theology. In some places, they exhibit an accurate understanding of God, but their main premise that Job is being punished by God because of his sin, is totally wrong. 

To me, Job is a book about Job's journey from knowing about God to really knowing God. And while God uses others in that journey, they don't always get it right when it comes to God's purpose in Job's suffering. Job eventually understands that and then God uses him to minister to those "friends".

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