Job 9:1–4

Answering Bildad the Shuhite in chapter 9, Job said, "Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be in the right before God?" (verse 2). Job knew that much of what Bildad said was true: that God will not reject a blameless man, and will fill his mouth with laughter (Job 8:20–22). This is what happened to Job after his days of testing were over. But Bildad did not understand that God can test a man whose life pleases Him, and test him hard, so that his life may please Him still more.

In our day the short sentence, "Get right with God," has stirred interest in the gospel message. It might well bring the reply, "Yes, but how is it to be done?" This is exactly the question Job asked in verse 2. The rest of the chapter shows how earnest and sincere he was in asking it, for he put forward and examined four possible answers. Each one starts with an "If."

There is more emphasis in this chapter than we often notice. "How should a man be just with God?" The weight falls on "with God." A man may be just in a certain sense — he may not fail in any way that troubles his conscience in his dealings with other people — but being just with God is another thing.

What does the expression "be just with God" mean? First we must remember that in God's vocabulary there are no words of uncertain meaning. There is no room here for "more" or "less." What is good in His eyes needs no improvement. To be just before Him means to think, to speak, and to do what is right, and to be what one ought to be before the eyes of a thrice holy God. He alone holds the standard of measure.

Although he speaks quietly, there is deep bitterness in what Job says here. He seems to agree with Bildad that God is just. Job says, "Of course He is just, for there is no appeal from whatever He does. He has both wisdom and power, and He can crush any attempt to reason with Him." This is terrible. This is not a man humbly asking God for a reason, as Jeremiah does in a similar situation (Jer. 12:1-4). It is the hardness of despair — might is right, and God has the might on His side.

It is clear that Job knew he was a sinful creature before his holy Creator, and that he had in himself no way of getting right. So his only hope was that a third party would step in. But he knew of no such third party, no "daysman." His three friends could not play that part, and neither could any other man. The daysman must be great enough to lay one hand on Almighty God, and gracious enough to lay the other on poor, diseased, sinful Job.

Compared with other men, Job knew he had been righteous, and God Himself had confirmed this when He spoke to Satan (ch. 1:8). But only the New Testament gives a full answer to Job's question. Scripture says of believers, "you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30). Christ's sacrifice on Calvary laid a righteous basis for our eternal salvation, so that God counts us righteous through faith in Christ. Job could not understand this at the time, for Christ had not yet died for us.

The question here is, how a soul can stand before God. Where is righteousness to be found? ... He was convinced that God hates evil and loves holiness. His friends looked at Job's condition and said he must be a hypocrite. He must have done something very bad, they argued, for God was against him, and prosperity is the mark of God's favour. But Job insisted that this is no adequate test.

In moral terms, this is the vital question of human life on earth since the fall. The peace of the human heart depends on the answer. Here lies the mystery of a conscience brought to rest. Believers in Old Testament times, from Adam onwards, tried to solve this problem. Both before and after the flood, before and after the Law, every sincere soul puzzled over this question.

There is more emphasis than we are often aware of in this chapter. "How should a man be just with God?" More emphasis on "with God." A man may be just in a certain sense. He may not fail in any way that troubles his conscience in his dealings with other people. But to be just with God is another thing.

A person who lives for a good reputation with people never has a conscience before God. Anyone who thinks that way about his own character is always wrong. He is only acting to please himself and the world, and not God.

Job has thrown out three suggested answers to his question: defiance, self-justification, and careless forgetting. What about a course of self-improvement? ... He knew that melted snow gives the purest kind of distilled water. It has the greatest power to absorb and remove dirt... If he achieved something like this in his own character and life, what then? Why, God would plunge him in a dirty ditch as the only fit place for him. And even then, he himself, beneath his clothes, would be dirtier than they! The dirt was in him, not in his surroundings.

Self-justification is a very attractive idea, yet Job stated it only to reject it as unworkable. He knew he had only to open his mouth to condemn himself. And anyone who would justify himself under God's searching eye must be able to prove his own perfection. Nothing short of that would satisfy.

Job did not know what was in his heart till he was put to the test... Job had a kind character, high position, great wealth and many possessions. People thought well of him, and he ended up thinking well of himself. God must break all this down. Trials come, and then self breaks out, because it was inside.

Read Job 9 and you can see Job's tries at answering this question. He throws them out one by one as worthless. He ends with a cry for a "daysman," or mediator — a cry that would not be answered for perhaps two thousand years.

Christ lays His hand upon the sinner, having been made sin for him. How could a man as he is be made righteous? Impossible; but Christ could be made sin with God for man... Now we find in the gospel, not the righteousness of man with God, but God's righteousness for man.

"How should man be just with God?" This is the guilty man's "hard question." Bildad's remarks drew this out of Job... It was all very well for Bildad to say "God will not cast away a perfect man." No one ever supposed He would, but where is the perfect man to be found? Job felt that he was not that man. Romans 3:21-26 gives the divine answer to the guilty man's "hard question." The redemption that is in Christ Jesus lets God justify by His grace, as a free gift, everyone who owns his guilt and believes in His Son.

The first is of course verse 3. Supposing man adopts a defiant attitude and contends with God; what then? Disaster, and no justification! Sin has made mankind into rebels, so defying God is their first instinct. But Job saw how ruinous such an attitude would be. God is so infinitely great that no rebel can prosper, and down to verse 19 he continues this theme.

The instant the soul is awakened, it sees with God's eye, and this is the only way of seeing right. When that happens, the soul stands in the light of God's judgment and says, "I could not answer him one of a thousand." God is infinitely good; but His way of goodness is not that of allowing evil. Could you answer for yourself in the day of judgment for everything you have ever said or done?

Our consciences may be quite at ease while we are far from God and not yet awake. But the moment we have to face what we are in the presence of God, we see that our case is desperate. We all know, more or less, what self-righteousness is, and we can get along with it well enough until God's eye is upon us. A man may have an excellent character, and deserve it too, but he does not have a perfect conscience... the moment we recognise God's presence, the veil is off. We see God, and His word searches the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Then we can understand the words of poor Job (and there was no one like him in all the earth), "He cannot answer him one of a thousand."

Job was a most righteous man, and God bore witness to him as such. He was no Pharisee, and he used language no Pharisee would use. Yet when he was put into the crucible, he was found to be secretly clinging to a testimony from his fellow men. In his heart of hearts he knew that testimony would not stand before God (Job 9:2-3, 20, 30, 31). And is there not a hidden root of self-confidence in every heart? Is there not a longing to compare ourselves with others, sure that the comparison will favour us, with God Himself as the Judge?

If we look at Christ, we shall find that He exactly meets the need that Job felt. I cannot answer God one in a thousand — but what do I find in Christ? God in His person came to me in this world because I could not do anything. The blessed Lord did not wait up in heaven, but came to these unrighteous people. He never said "Come to me," until He had come Himself.

We can see how immense the difference is when the gospel reveals the righteousness of God. It is no longer the question, How shall man be just with God? ... Now the gospel reveals God's righteousness. That shuts out everything on man's part except faith, so that it might be wholly grace on God's part. Yet it rests on the foundation of Christ's suffering for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.

Job's reply starts quietly, moves on to bitter charges against God, and ends in a wail. It falls into seven parts. In this full survey of his case he sounds all the heights and depths of misery. (1) God supreme; who can contend with Him? (Job 9:1-4). (2) His unstoppable power (verses 5-10). (3) He cannot be reached, and He deals as He pleases (verses 11-24). (4) Job's utter weakness (verses 25-28). (5) Longing for someone to arbitrate between them (verses 29-35).

Although he speaks quietly, there is an intense bitterness in what Job says here. Apparently agreeing with Bildad that God is just, Job says, "Of course He is just, for there is no appeal from whatever He does. He has both wisdom and power, and can crush any useless effort to reason with Him." This is terrible. It is not someone humbly asking God for a reason; it is the hardness of despair — might is right, and God has might on His side.

In verse 3 Job admits that even if he wanted to argue his case with God, the odds against him were at least 1000 to one! There was evidence enough that God was wise in heart and mighty in strength. If one hardened himself against God he would certainly not prosper. God could remove mountains by an earthquake. He shakes the earth and makes its steadiest parts tremble. He could also tell the sun not to rise, at least as far as our sight goes, and seal the stars off from view. He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. Whether earth or sky or sea, He is in perfect control.

"Who has hardened himself against Him, and had peace?" (or, "has prospered"). Job well knew there was neither peace nor prosperity in seeking to refuse obedience to God. Jonah (and you and I) should know this same great truth, and yet how slow we are to learn it!

The folly of rebellion shows up at once: "who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?" The folly is so great that men have to hide from themselves the truth about what they are doing, and the "heart is" indeed "deceitful above all things"... Only one reason can be given for the insanity of rebelling against Him: "the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot." (Rom. 8:7.) Satan is the determined enemy of the Almighty, and he knows it.

The frogs died, and Pharaoh hardened, or made heavy, his heart. But "who has hardened himself against Him and has prospered?" (Job 9:4). Job said it, and Pharaoh was no exception to the truth of that ancient saying. And God was not going to waste time with the king. He was in earnest.

Suppose a man takes a defiant attitude and argues his case against God. What then? Disaster, and no justification! Sin has made mankind into rebels, so defying God is their first instinct. But Job saw how ruinous such an attitude would be. God is so infinitely great that no rebel can prosper.

There is more emphasis than we are often aware of in this chapter. "How should a man be just with God?" More emphasis on "with God." Man may be just in a certain sense. He may not fail in any way that troubles his conscience in his dealings with other people. But to be just with God is another thing... This chapter works that out, though Job does it in impatience. In the end he arrives at a need — the very need the Saviour met.