Job 21:20

Let his own eyes see his downfall,

   Let he himself drink the wrath of Shaddai.

 

Yesterday was a great day in me not getting upset by outcomes. I learned I made mistakes, learned others I am not a fan of made mistakes, and learned others I am a fan of made mistakes. All will cause responses, but I did not let my emptions get away with my ability to move on. The negative refrain in my head is I am learning not to care, but I still care and I am just not allowing circumstances to get the better of me.

‘Downfall’ was also ‘destruction’, ‘ruin’, ‘doom’, and ‘collapse’.

‘Wrath’ was also ‘rage’ or ‘venom’. ‘Shaddai’ was also ‘Almighty’.

Job is directly taking on the fallacy of others getting what they deserve. It would be nice if the wicked got caught every time and the punishment was met out right then. My wife watches enough cop shows for us to know that most crimes go unsolved and even when caught, a large percentage of trials do not mete out adequate punishment for the victims. I am continually amazed that real crime begets so little punishment.

I grew up with the concept that God had one name and that Jews were not supposed to say it out loud. The response was for them to give Him a bunch of other names that would represent a certain characteristic of God that they could name. Shaddai or Almighty is one of those. Lord and Lord God are English substitutes for other names of God. I have grown up with the concept of calling on Jesus’s name for anything, so I never understood why not calling out God’s name wasn’t also the thing to do when the commandment is not to take the Lord’s name in vain.

The overwhelming idea I pull from this verse is drinking the wrath of God. This is what Christ did for us. Only He in His perfection could do so. The rest of us, even if we were willing to do so, would be devastated by doing so. This was the part of paying the penalty for our sin that we could not. Our sins would have not satisfied the wrath, and it would have continued on for eternity. Christ was able to satisfy the wrath of God and let us live on eternally. Praise God for that.

 

Written 5/16/26, Posted 7/13/26, Job 506/~1070