Job Is Sure He Will Be Vindicated
13 “Be silent before me so that I may speak;
Then let come on me what may.
14 “Why should I take my flesh in my teeth
And put my life in my [c]hands?
15 “Though He slay me,
I will hope in Him.
Nevertheless I will argue my ways [d]before Him.
16 “This also will be my salvation,
For a godless man may not come before His presence.
17 “Listen carefully to my speech,
And let my declaration fill your ears.
18 “Behold now, I have prepared my case;
I know that I will be vindicated.
19 “Who will contend with me?
For then I would be silent and die.20 “Only two things do not do to me,
Then I will not hide from Your face:
21 Remove Your [e]hand from me,
And let not the dread of You terrify me.
22 “Then call, and I will answer;
Or let me speak, then reply to me.
23 “How many are my iniquities and sins?
Make known to me my [f]rebellion and my sin.
24 “Why do You hide Your face
And consider me Your enemy?
25 “Will You cause a driven leaf to tremble?
Or will You pursue the dry chaff?
26 “For You write bitter things against me
And make me to inherit the iniquities of my youth.
27 “You put my feet in the stocks
And watch all my paths;
You [g]set a limit for the soles of my feet,
28 While [h]I am decaying like a rotten thing,
Like a garment that is moth-eaten.
As we saw earlier, Job reiterates in verse 13 that he is tired of listening to men’s arguments. He doesn’t want to hear any more human logic about what is going on or why he is suffering. The tragedies in Job’s life don’t line up with the wisdom of man anyway, and so he appeals directly to God.
He is willing to take whatever God deems necessary, even to the extreme that if God were to kill him, Job will still put his hope in God. We need to have Job’s faith and trust in God, that we are willing to accept whatever God deems best for us.
Job goes on to implore God, that if he has sinned, that God would show Job his error. Why? Because then he can repent of it, and stop sinning unknowingly. Even though Job is pretty confident that he hasn’t sinned against God, he asks God anyway. This is something we all need to do on a regular basis.
That is, we need to examine our hearts, and ask God to show us if there is anything in our lives that he wants to change or remove. Or maybe we aren’t doing something that God has asked, and we’ve forgotten all about it. Whatever the case, none of us are perfect, and so we ought to ask God where we can improve.
It should be our guiding goal to be more like Jesus, and there is no room for complacency in that pursuit. If ever we think we have arrived, we should stop at once and take an honest inventory of our lives to see how we can be more like Him. Seek God first, put Him at the center, and work continually to let Him shape your heart to be like His.