In Job 4 & 5, Eliphaz speaks to Job first. He starts gently, but soon use eloquent and flowery language to state the “obvious” to Job: misfortune is the result of sin. Eliphaz reminds Job even God’s angels are not without error, so how can he, a mere mortal, be without sin. If Job will repent, God will restore him. Eliphaz’s comments are well-reasoned and seem to hit on the source of Job’s calamities as well as the solution for overcoming them. We would probably have reasoned in a similar way if we had the opportunity to speak to Job. We would have been wrong, too. From here to nearly the end of this long book, the monologues will go back and forth between Job and his friends, with the gist of them being the same: Job’s friends accuse him of sin, and tell him to repent, and Job responds he has not sinned.
In Job 6 & 7, Job responds. He calls on God to end his misery, but he does not repent, nor can he. He has done no wrong. He states his willingness to suffer, but he wants to know what he did wrong. We often refer to the patience of Job, but Job says, “I will not be patient.” Job sees no reason for patience, because he has done no wrong. He is the one who has been wronged. If you have never read the Book of Job before, you might be thinking, “How could anyone say such a thing? How could anyone say he or she is right before God?” Yet, as we will see at the close of the book, God agrees with Job. God doesn’t give Job an explanation for what he has gone through, but he tells all Job’s friends they are wrong, and Job has been right all along. It is a dangerous thing for us to claim we are righteous when we are not, but we must learn this lesson from Job: Never agree with the enemy! Satan is our accuser. He will seek to make us feel guilty even for sins for which we have received forgiveness, and even in moments when we have not sinned. If he can get us to feel guilty, we will dwell on what we have done wrong, on our lack of standing before God, and we won’t live in the present. We won’t live in the joy of our forgiveness, and the power of our obedience. Let’s let Job’s righteous indignation remind us, because of God’s grace in our lives, and particularly because of the Holy Spirit’s presence within us as Jesus’ followers, we can have victory over sin. In those moments we must not let Satan’s accusations stop us from living in that victory, even if the victory feels like defeat, as Job’s must have felt in his suffering.
As we return to Matthew 14, we read the account of John the Baptist’s murder by King Herod. It is one of the most cowardly acts ever carried out by a king. Because he was pleased by his step-daughter’s entertainment at a party, he promised to give her whatever she wanted. She asked her mother, a woman John had condemned for leaving her husband and marrying the king, what she should say? The mother asked for John the Baptist’s head on a platter. The king knew such a request was heinously wrong, yet “because of his guests” and the promise he had made in front of them, he had John executed. Matthew tells us when John heard of this, He withdrew by Himself into the wilderness. Jesus knew John’s death was a result of his righteousness, of his bearing testimony to Jesus, and preparing Jesus’ way. Jesus didn’t stop John’s death from happening, but He was impacted by it. Many have died in Jesus’ name from that moment until today. When they do, they advance God’s Kingdom. Early in church history, as thousands of Christians were martyred for their faith, it became clear by these believer’s manner of death, and their certainty of the future in the face of death they held true hope in eternal life. The blood of the martyrs became the “seed” of the church, as more and more who witnessed the noble manner in which Christians died wanted the same assurance for their lives. Only Jesus can bring such assurance.
As usual, crowds gathered, and Jesus healed the sick and taught them. At the end of the day, Jesus told the disciples to feed the crowd, which was quite large. With only five loaves of bread and a couple of fish, Jesus fed 5,000 men along with women and children. As He often did after carrying out amazing feats such as this, Jesus withdrew by Himself to pray. He sent the disciples on ahead of him in a boat. Jesus came to the disciples in the middle of the night, walking on the water. The disciples were afraid, thinking it was a ghost. But Jesus calmed them by speaking to them and identifying Himself. Peter shouted, “If it’s You, Lord, tell me to come to you on the water.” Jesus called Peter and he walked to Jesus on the water. But Peter became distracted with the wind and waves and started sinking. In that moment he offered my favorite prayer, “Lord, save me!” It’s my favorite prayer, because it was so short, so heart felt, and Jesus answered it immediately. Jesus reached out His hand and grabbed Peter. I have often thought of Peter and Jesus walking back to the boat together. I’m sure Peter walked beside Jesus. Jesus didn’t have to carry him, because Peter held firmly to Jesus. In our lives, we often start to sink, and might try many other things before crying out to Jesus, “Lord, save me!” But when we do, Jesus is always there. He does save us. It won’t likely be as dramatic as Peter’s rescue on the sea, but Jesus promised never to leave us nor forsake us, and He doesn’t!