Herein lies a point that is hard to take, especially in our western culture today: God does not owe us an answer, nor does He ever owe us an explanation for anything He does. He IS GOD and we ARE NOT! He is holy, just, perfect, righteous, and all-powerful. God does what He does because He sees the big picture, and we do not. He always has our best interests at heart.

If only Job’s friends had stayed silent after those seven days! Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for sympathy to turn to hostility and comfort to turn to condemnation! In these three chapters, Job crafted a sort of defense, starting with his bona fides.

One of my favorite Christmas movies is It’s a Wonderful Life. In the movie, George Bailey is in such dire straits that, while standing on a bridge, he contemplates jumping into the water below. After being rescued by his guardian angel, George says, “I suppose it would have been better if I’d never been born at all.” Job knew that feeling! Things were so bad that Job came to the point of cursing the day he was born. 

WHAT IN THE WORLD!! Imagine this: Your whole world has fallen apart! Everything that is important to you and everything that has sustained you is completely gone!

My how the tables have turned! This phrase actually came from a sermon by Robert Sanderson in 1634, “Whoever thou art that does another wrong, do but turn the tables’ imagine thy neighbour were now playing thy game, and thou his.” It was in reference to the table games that people played (backgammon, chess) and the idea of switching sides in the middle, so you were stuck with the set-up you had designed now working against you.