Job 16:21
That God would judge between a man and Himself,
As He would for a man and his neighbor.
Job sets out the reality: God is perfect, and He couldn’t rule against Himself. No matter how right man might be, God is better. Even if man got it 100% right, He would merely match God, not surpass Him, and would have the same answer.
The options among my sources for this verse are diverse and depend upon how that source translated the previous verse. My favorite matches what I used basically. Several assume the topic is still the advocate and not God. One puts the advocate in a position to judge God. Another puts the subject of the last verse in as someone praying for their neighbor (as Job ends up praying to God for his companions). As with many verses before and after, I think the regular ‘Joe’s’ have missed the point and will stick with what I have.
Without getting into details, the sermon this morning showed me the difference between my wanting to establish a routine and my desire to not get stuck in a rut. The gap is a paradigm that I think Satan through culture uses to keep us from becoming all we can be. The new idea is to not see the list as my goal, but as a guide. My goal is to follow the lessons of the Beatitudes and change who I am and want to be and not think about my routine as who I am or want to be. Yes, my actions show who I am, but they do not define who I am.
One of my long-time clients changed jobs earlier this year. Over the last three job changes, he has gone from a position with no power, to almost total control, to perceived more than actualized power, to almost no power at all. His level of power has defined how easy it is for him to use me as outside support. He has been trying for almost six months to get approval to use me, and still so far nothing. But from my perspective, it all models how I want to wait on God to provide a path and not charge forward on my own. I would have given up on him months ago, but here I wait.
Space on top of one of my cabinets is used to hold a tent and air mattresses. We bought these when the girls were little to use camping. We really only used the tent in the back yard and at a friend’s property a few times, but we have used the air mattresses on several occasions. Not nearly as often as things that used to be in those cabinets, but much more than the things that are in there now. Once we participated in the neighborhood garage sale day and sold some stuff we were past using. Our neighbor bought a few things but left them all when they moved. I thought it odd to leave something you paid money for. I’d chalk it up to being raised poor, but that applied to this neighbor as well, so the underlying motive is less clear.
In reflecting on these ideas, I have come to see that the experiences and skills we have picked up along the way are more useful to God than any of the things we might have gathered. Having a dozen old earphones is not nearly as useful as the ability to listen. Having kept supplies to eventually use and save money is not nearly as important as being generous with the money God has provided. Learning all these great things in the Bible is not nearly as important at relating to people about their needs and how Jesus might fill them. If we learn to understand how God operates, we can stop asking Him for things that He isn’t giving us.
Written 8/24/25, Posted 9/9/25, Job 394