Think Before You Speak!

5th Sunday after Pentecost, 6/27/21 Job 38:1-11 Think Before You Speak! I shouldn’t have said that. I shouldn’t have said it that way. At that time. Maybe I shouldn’t have said it at all. Have you ever thought that way? I know I have. More times than I can count. But I said it. Maybe it was out of my anger or frustration. I had had it. Up to that point I had kept silent, but I couldn’t keep my mouth shut any longer. So, I stated what I was feeling. And it didn’t help at all. It only made things worse. On this day in the life of the ancient believer, Job, I think Job was thinking to himself, “I shouldn’t have said that.” He had said something to God, and now God was replying to him. And it wasn’t pretty. In these words from Job 38 the Lord is firmly putting Job in his place. Well, just what did Job say to the Lord that got him to this point? The answer to that question is actually seven chapters earlier in the Book of Job. Here’s what Job had said, “Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense—let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing” (31:35). “Let the Almighty answer me.” You and I might advise Job, “Be careful what you wish for.” Perhaps some proactive advice would be more appropriate such as, think before you speak. There are times in our lives when we find ourselves in the same place as Job was. We want God to answer our questions about the way he is operating things in our lives. We want God to face us and tell us why he’s allowing such dreadful things to happen in our lives and in our world. We want to know why he isn’t using his almighty power to help us. After Job received what he asked for, I think he would advise us, “Think before you speak.” To understand why Job would want the Lord to answer him, you need to know his background. We think Job lived about 2,000 BC, around the time of Abraham. The beginning of the Book of Job describes him as a very pious man who was also very wealthy. He had a lovely family, and he was highly respected. He was described as “the greatest man among the people of the East” (1:3). You and I would say that he had it all. He was living the life we dream of. But it all came crashing down in a moment. God allowed Satan to take away everything that he had. And in one day, Job lost thousands of his animals—his oxen, donkeys, sheep, and camels. He lost all his servants as well, just like that. But the worst was still to come. All his children were together enjoying a banquet in a house, when a mighty wind struck that house and it collapsed on them and killed all of them. Obviously, Job was devastated. He sat in mourning. But he was careful about what he said. He said, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” An incredible response, even from a man of tremendous faith. I don’t think I would have responded the same way if I had undergone what Job did. But his troubles weren’t over. Job still had his health, but not for long. In short order the Lord allowed Satan to afflict Job with painful sores from head to toe. He was in such pain that the only relief he could get was by scraping his festering skin with a piece of broken pottery. Misery beyond belief! And his wife was no help. By this time, she had seen more than enough, and so she urged Job to curse God and die. At least then he would have the satisfaction of shaking his fist in anger at God as his final act on earth. But Job refused. Again, his words to her are remarkable, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (2:10). And then his friends appear. Having heard of the disasters that had afflicted Job, they appear to offer him some comfort and advice. But they could find no words to speak. They sat with Job silent for 7 days and nights. And when they finally do speak, they’re no help to Job at all. The Book of Job recounts their long-winded speeches to Job and all their words really boil down to one bit of advice: Job, the Lord only punishes evil people. God is surely punishing you for your sin. You need to come clean with God. They said this even though God had described Job as honest and upright. They should have thought before they spoke. At one point Job calls them miserable friends. They’ve brought him no comfort at all. In fact, they only added to his misery by asserting he must be an evil man for him to be suffering so terribly. Through it all, Job doesn’t insist he’s sinless, but he does maintain that he isn’t evil. He avoids sinning as much as possible and he tries to help others as much as he can. Anyone in our world today would call Job a good person. And Job is convinced that he is. And yet he is suffering as much, if not more, than anyone has ever suffered. And that’s what leads to his demand. I want to face the Almighty and make him answer me. Knowing what we do from this book, we would tell him, “Job, you better think before you speak.” Job 38 begins, “Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: ‘Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’” Job’s plan for this question/answer session was immediately turned on its head. God was asking the questions and demanding that Job give the answers. And the Lord’s opening sentence is packed with accusations. Job, you’re darkening my counsel with words without knowledge! To put it more simply, God told Job, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Given what Job had been through, isn’t that a little harsh? After all, he knew he hadn’t committed any grievous sin, but he was suffering terribly. God wasn’t treating him justly. The problem was that Job’s view of things was extremely myopic. He was only focused on himself. And he concluded that he knew better than God does how he should be treated. Job, you better think before you speak. God tells him, “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.” The Lord then launched into 8 verses of questions regarding his creation of the world, questions that Job couldn’t possibly answer adequately. Again, given what Job has been through, isn’t that rather harsh? Not at all. By this series of questions, God was showing him that he can’t explain creation, so how can he possiblly understand the Creator, who is eternally greater than creation? And four chapters later Job has to admit, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know” (42:3). Job couldn’t understand the Creator fully. And neither can we. But so often, when we’re in the middle of enduring a tragedy in our lives, we wonder why it’s happening. And our line of thought closely parallels Job’s and his friends’. God punishes evil people. I must have done something terribly wrong. Whoa! Back it up! The first thing we need to understand is that we deserve nothing good from our God. He owes us nothing for our good behavior, because, truth be told, our behavior isn’t good; it’s sinful. And sinful behavior deserves punishment—eternal punishment. That we can understand. But our God doesn’t punish us for our sins. He punished his Son. That’s what Calvary’s cross was all about. Jesus took the world’s sins to the cross with him and suffered the hell that we deserve. Jesus didn’t do that because he owed it to us; he did it because of God’s grace—his undeserved favor. And the way that God deals with us in his grace is another truth about God that we can’t possibly understand fully. God gives his Son what we deserve—punishment in hell—and gives us what we don’t deserve—forgiveness and eternal life. From a human standpoint, that’s backwards. It makes no sense. But that’s the way of our God. You see, Job knew God’s promise of a Savior. He even spoke of seeing that Savior in the resurrection on the Last Day. You and I know that Jesus fulfilled the promise of the Savior in every way. He did nothing wrong, and yet he was punished, to death. But he rose again and now lives and rules over all things for our good. But when bad things happen in our lives, we’re prone to question the ways of God, as if he doesn’t know what he’s doing. We want to know why our hearts are filled with pain over a strained relationship. We want to know why we try our best to do what is right and good, but we seem to get little for it in return, while others live openly sinful lives and seem to be flooded with blessings. And that’s when we come close to speaking as Job did. “Lord, I want to talk to you. I want some answers.” Think before you speak. Think about how you can never fully understand God and his ways. He’s so far beyond you. Think about how he showed how far beyond you he is when he, in his grace, sent his Son to be your Savior. Think about how gracious he has been to you by calling you to faith in Jesus as your Savior. Think about how that Savior will call you to himself in heaven where there will be no more sin, suffering, or sickness. Think about how he will return on the Last Day, raise you from the dead, glorify your body, and bring you to his new heaven and his new earth. Think about those things. And then speak. Speak words of praise to the God who is so loving, gracious, and merciful, that you can’t fully understand him. But you know him by faith! Praise God you know him by faith! Amen.