Who is this God?

Well, I need to write about Job eventually so it might as well start now. Right away Job's story disturbs me because you have satan just hanging out with the heavenly court when they presented themselves to God. God and satan  have a little conversation in which God is basically bragging about this guy Job who is "blameless-a man of complete integrity." Satan says it's because of all his wealth, if God were to take everything away from him than Job would surely curse God to his face. So God tells satan to go ahead and do whatever he wanted to test Job except cause him physical harm. This starts Jobs first test where all his cattle were stolen, all the sheep and shepherds were burned up in a fire that fell from heaven, all the camels were stolen, the servants were killed, and all his children were killed. What is Job's response to this? He tears his rob in grief, shaves his head, and falls to the ground in worship to God. I don't know about you, but around this time most of us would be asking "why me?" not worshiping. This is Job's first lesson for us. Then what happens?

The heavenly court go to present themselves before God again and who just happens to be with them? Satan. He and God have another conversation where God brags up what a blameless man Job is. Satan says this is because he still has his health so God tells satan to go ahead and do whatever he wants to Job as long as his life is spared. Anybody else disturbed by this?! Who is this God? Is this the same God I have surrendered my life to? Is this the same God who I strive to honor and love with all my heart, mind, and soul?

First of all, it would be awesome if God was bragging up what a blameless woman I was and how I feared him. Not so awesome that because of that satan would be allowed to cause whatever harm he pleases as long as I'm not killed. To me it feels like a little game where Job is the pawn. Also, what in the heck is satan doing allowed to wander into heaven mingling with the court? He got his hinney kicked out of there! And let me just insert this little thought, I would much rather be suffering physical harm than watch my son or any other loved one killed. However, extended periods of dealing with physical ailments can cause a person great mental distress and induce severe depression. Job no doubt was struggling with this and didn't have much to fight for. Even his wife told him to give up and die!

Then what happens to Job? Well, his three good friends come to stay with him and after 7 days of silence, start accusing him of committing some sort of sin or sins to have caused all this suffering. Hence most of the rest of Job: his friends trying to comfort him by accusing him of wrong doing with Job steadfastly defending himself. Those friends should have kept silent! Reminds me of how if you are praying for healing and you don't see an immediate physical manifestation, some people will tell you it's because you have some sort of "hidden sin" that you need to be forgiven for. When you pray for forgiveness of your sins, they are forgiven by God "as far as the east is from the west," they are no more, you are forgiven, period. If there is a sin that you committed that you didn't know was a sin, it's still forgiven!

Even though I struggle with Job's story because of the portrait of God it depicts, there are some neat things that really stand out to me:

•  Job has a personal relationship with God. "Yet my friends laugh at me, for I call on God and expect an answer." Job 12:4 (emphasis mine)

• We have an assurance of what happens when we die, unlike those before Christ. "Can the dead live again? If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle, and I would eagerly await the release of death." Job 12:14
• But.....perhaps Job did know. "And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God." Job 24:26
• Look at how truths of the earth are revealed through scripture long before science.
• "God stretches the northern sky over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing. He wraps the rain in his thick clouds, and the clouds don't burst with the weight." Job 26:7 and 8  (emphasis mine). Job reveals right here, the earth is suspended in space. It is not some pizza resting on the back of a turtle or a great boulder resting on the shoulders of a mythical god. He also notes that the rain is in the clouds (evaporation is mentioned early in Job too). 
• We also see in Job that the earths core is liquid, "Food is grown on the earth above, but down below, the earth is melted as by fire." Job 26: 5 (emphasis mine).
• "For the water turns to ice as hard as rock, and the surface of the water freezes." Job 38:30. This is God talking now, but I can't imagine that a whole lot of people in the middle east knew this. Especially considering there are still people here in the states that can't believe the lakes freeze over enough for us northerners to drive out on it, put up little houses, and hang out and fish.

Here are a couple of verses that stood out to me:
25

"Who gives intuition to the heart and instinct to the mind?" Job 30:36

The last two chapters of Job give God's challenges to Job. God pretty much calls out Job, "Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them." Job 38:2 & 3 and 40: 7 Job's answer is pretty much how I think I would answer....basically, I'll shut up. This kind of bothers me too, the fact that God calls out Job. God is the one who was bragging him up to satan and letting satan do pretty much as he pleased with Job. I think Job had every right to take up his case before God. Also, in God's second challenge, two creatures are described the Behemoth and Leviathan. Footnotes indicate that the identification of these creatures is disputed, ranging from an earthly creature to a mythical sea monster in ancient literature. I find it hard to understand why God would describe a mythical creature as one of His own (...which I made, just as I made you. Job 40:15) if He truly didn't create it. To me these two beasts sound an awful lot like some ancient, massive beasts, oh I don't know, something like dinosaurs?
Job concludes with God calling out the three friends (and here is where Job gets some credit) by telling them they haven't spoken accurately of God as Job has. Because of this, God commands they take 7 bulls and rams to Job and offer a burnt offering for themselves and have Job pray for them. Once Job prayed for his friends, all that had been taken from him was restored to him twofold. He was even blessed with 7 more sons and 3 more daughters of great beauty. The only thing that strikes me about this is, even though Job was blessed with the exact number of sons and daughters as he lost, how could they possibly replace the ones that died? I wonder if there was a small piece of Job that was never fully restored.

So there you have it, my ridiculously long mental wanderings through Job. Though much was said, much remains unsaid. May we never fear bringing our case before the mighty Creator who loves us inexplicably, so long as or hearts are humbled and God is not our scapegoat.