In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. (Job 1:22)

What a statement. Job was careful in what he said about God. Yet job is guilty of something that God later rebukes him for. However he was not guilty of anything his friends charge him with. Job is guilty of presuming he knows more than he knows about God. That is he thought he understood God’s ways completely. He thought he had God in a box. Job is described as having mastered what he knows about God: developed above his fellows, disciplined over his flesh, devoted in his faith and diligent to avoid evil. And for all 42 chapters, these 4 things remain true about Job. Job is guarded against sinning because, unlike his friends, he never went beyond what he knew about God and never thought that God was mistreating him in anyway.

Make no mistake about it, this is a divinely glorious description of a man. Yet no matter how glorious a man is, he is still infinitely short of God’s glory. Job has mastered what he knew about God, and yet in all that he had mastered, he had only mastered kindergarten. Remember he would sacrifice for his children not because he knew they sinned, but just in case they sinned. The effort seems to lend itself to the notion of warding off any consequences of his children’s miss behavior. Why so diligent? Because Job has an incomplete premise about God. Job’s error is revealed in God’s rebuke of Him. “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?” Because he could not see beyond the horizon, Job had limited the knowledge of God to his own experience.

Job believes, and taught his friends, “if you do good no evil will befall you and that bad things occurring in one’s life is a result of misbehavior.” This is why his friends are so hard on him. They were taught this notion by him. So they were convinced the Job had to have committed a misdeed of some sort. Herein is the meaning of “Out of the abundance of the heart flows the issues of life.” Job’s trials are tied directly to his beliefs.

The Book of Job is concerned with the question of Theonomy: why do bad things happen to good people? The answer to that question is not an anomaly in the course of the good person’s behavior. There was no such glitch in Job’s life. Job was nothing but consistent and consecrated. The book of Job highlights no sin of Job because the point is godly people do face adversity. Job learned that for all his virtue, it does not guarantee that his possessions wouldn’t be lost, his children wouldn’t be killed, his body wouldn’t become sick, his friends would believe him, and his wife would stand by his side. Job declares this lesson learned, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.”

Finally when God has revealed more about Himself through the trying of Job’s faith., Job confesses his erroneous teaching, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”

Yuri Solomon holds degrees from Gospel Ministry Outreach Theological Institute and the College of Biblical Studies. He is author of the book Biblical Masculinity. More info @ www.wordtalkonline.org