Job 24

Where is God in the middle of widespread injustice, poverty, oppression, suffering, heartache, trials, persecution, calamity, struggle…? Job wants to know if God keeps office hours so he can ask God about all of the suffering around him.

“Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days?”

Job 24:1

Great question, Job. I hear you. I hear that you feel unheard, unseen, unconsidered, neglected by God. So many can relate to you in this, Job.

I think of Hagar, pushed into sexual slavery by the man and woman God had made a covenant with. But, who was she? Just a woman, serving her mistress, Sarai, and carrying Abram’s child. Hagar ran for her life into the wilderness, and God was there in the wilderness with her. He sends His angel to comfort her and instruct her. And that is when she knows – she is seen. God sees her. He hears her. She is looked after, cared for, by the One who sees everything about her (Genesis 16, 21).

So, Job, I know that God sees you too. He saw you, covered in boils and ashes, weeping for the children you buried. He saw you, afflicted by the drone of comfortless friends, and He sees all who suffer.

Job gives a detailed description of the condition of the world, his world then, and even more so, our world today. We are not getting better. We are not improving. The Second Law of Thermodynamics has a tight grip on us all, body, mind, and soul. Every part of our world is affected. Without an outward force acting on our behalf, we would be lost to degradation, decay, disorder and eventually, death. Humanity is not evolving; we are dying. Job lists the signs of entropy he sees: oppression of the poor, theft, suffering, death. We face these same struggles today, thousands of years later. Job’s perspective is that God does not address these injustices.

“From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with wrong.”

Job 24:12

Job then gives a description of those who seek evil, pursuing it with drive and passion. He names those who murder, commit adultery, thieves, those who wait for the cover of darkness so they won’t be seen.

“There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths.”

“…they do not know the light. For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.”

Job 24:13-17

These are the ones who walk in darkness (Isaiah 9:2-6), those who love the dark because they want to do sinful things (John 3:19-21), and those who trip and fall because they can’t see the truth in the dark (Proverbs 4:18-19). But the children of God are not like this. We are are the children of light who walk in the light with God (Ephesians 5:1-14; I John 1:5-10).

Job repeats what his friends say about the wicked, those who walk in darkness and love it like a dear friend. His friends have the view that the wicked will get their due in this life and will be forgotten when they die.

“You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards. Drought and heat snatch away snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned. The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like a tree.'”

Job 24:18-20

But Job says something different (vv. 21-25). He views the wicked as recipients of God’s provision and protection while they live. Then, once they die, they are forgotten. He seems to have the idea that they live it up in this life and are none the worse for wear because of it. YOLO, as the Millennials used to say. Both Job and his friends are missing some key pieces of truth. Here is what God says about, or rather says to, the wicked:

“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:6-9

His ways are not our ways indeed. His thoughts are far above ours. We are Boanerges (Luke 9:51-56; Mark 3:17), desiring fire and brimstone on the heads of the wicked, when God would send the rain of mercy and healing (Isaiah 55:10-11). So, yes, He sees; He knows; He cares for those who suffer, the oppressed, the poor, the weak, the trampled. He is El Roi, so named by Hagar; He is the God who sees. God hates the wickedness of those who walk in the dark; He sees that too. He calls to all – seek Him. He will show mercy.