Job 11:5
But oh, if only God would speak,
Open His lips to you.
Today in Bible study, I asked everyone the worst thing they had ever endured. We all answered. It is a pretty good group to do that. Zophor is asking that God would speak truthfully to Job. Kind of funny to think that Zophar gets his wish and does not hear what he expects.
“But oh” was also “yet”, “But how I wish”, and “Oh how I wish”. I could not justify the I wish, but… “If only” was “that”.
“To” was “against”. I think the “I wish” and “against” are consistent with the intent, but I think they are implied to be inferred and not included.
Zophor’s “holier than thou” attitude matches that of a lot of people in the world. Some call it pride. It is of course the original sin that all mankind pays the price for. “I am glad I am not proudful.” says probably every person at some point.
I was speaking to a friend about the pressure people have to live up to the images set by older siblings or parents. My sister had to grow up with the “smart” and “good” image that I had during school. It is kind of sad how much effort our society puts into glorifying being smart and how little effort it puts into actually knowing what smart is.
Like my sister, my girls got to see the “not smart” and “not good” aspects of my life as they dealt with these pressures. Each has so far given a pretty good accounting of themselves in dealing with it, but none of them had to be a ninth grade boy.
We discussed this morning how “stupid” ninth grade boys are. It is astonishing the gap between what we as adults expect of ninth grade boys and what they can actually do. Seventeen years old boys do dumb things too, as do 54 year old ones, but I am sure every ninth grade teacher of boys in history has had this same thought as Zophor that if only God would speak to them, now.
As it turns out, God speaks to us all the time. Mainly he does so through our reading His word, but if we align our lives to seeking His will, we find that He will give us the necessary input to follow. As we know, Job was good. Satan accounted his goodness as a response the hedge God had placed around Job. And he was right to some degree, but the hedge got put in place because Job wanted to follow God. When I was in the ninth grade, I was a stupid boy too, yet God protected me because I wanted to be good and follow Him. Not everyone was as fortunate as I as to have been saved before being a ninth grade boy.
Zophor’s thoughts are actually the start of a good prayer. I wish that God would speak to you. It continues. I wish that you would listen to God. And it concludes. I wish that hearing God would lead to your salvation.
28 years ago today was a good day. Ask me how I know.
(Written 2/3/23, Posted 2/4, Job 235)