Today’s passage: Job 12
Helpful thoughts:
- Zophar’s poignant rebuke took one chapter. Job’s response will take three.
- In this chapter, Job calls on his friends to remain humble and reiterates (Or defends) his understanding of the greatness and sovereignty of God.
- Verse 6 reminds Job’s friends and the reader that there are plenty of wicked people who are presently experiencing some earthly comfort (Psalm 73).
- It is too simplistic to view a life of apparent ease as an absolute confirmation of reward from God.
- It is also too simplistic to view times of suffering as an absolute confirmation of judgment from God.
Questions to consider:
- What can we learn from the fact that Job felt like a laughingstock during his suffering (Verses 4-5)? Why do we sometimes distance ourselves from people (Or “ghost” people) who are suffering? When we see people suffering, how can we minister to them in a way that doesn’t make them feel “lower” (More inferior) than they already feel?
- When did God do exactly what Job describes in verse 24 (See Daniel 4:33)? What was the purpose of this humiliation, the intended result (Daniel 4:34-37)? In Job’s state, what would be a humble response before God? How did his friends’ counsel make it tempting to not respond in humility?
- If we take the examples from verses 13-25 of all the things God can do, how could we see Him moving throughout the week of the passion of Jesus Christ to bring about our salvation through His death and resurrection?