Job 38:1-11 - Unfair Grace

God's grace is inherently unfair. Praise God for that!

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Job 38:1-11, 41:11 (NIV)

CONTEXT: Job’s friends had accused him of secret sin that God must be punishing, while Job had gone so far as to question whether God was acting justly. Today’s passage marks the beginning of a four-chapter monologue in which the LORD confronts Job’s ignorance and humbles him. These chapters offer some of the most profound insight into who God is and how He rules the world found anywhere in Scripture.

Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

² “Who is this that obscures my plans

with words without knowledge?

³ Brace yourself like a man;

I will question you,

and you shall answer me.

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?

Tell me, if you understand.

⁵ Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!

Who stretched a measuring line across it?

⁶ On what were its footings set,

or who laid its cornerstone—

⁷ while the morning stars sang together

and all the angels  shouted for joy?

⁸ “Who shut up the sea behind doors

when it burst forth from the womb,

⁹ when I made the clouds its garment

and wrapped it in thick darkness,

¹⁰ when I fixed limits for it

and set its doors and bars in place,

¹¹ when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;

here is where your proud waves halt’?

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^41:11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay?

Everything under heaven belongs to me.

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Canons of Dordt

Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election

Point 2 - Limited Atonement

Point 3 - Total Depravity

Point 4 - Irresistible Grace

Article 15: Responses to God's grace

1. God does not owe this grace to anyone. 

   1. For what could God owe to those who have nothing to give that can be paid back? 

   2. Indeed, what could God owe to those who have nothing of their own to give but sin and falsehood? 

2. Therefore 

   1. those who receive this grace owe and give eternal thanks to God alone; 

   2. those who do not receive it either 

      1. do not care at all about these spiritual things and are satisfied with themselves in their condition, 

      2. or else in self-assurance foolishly boast about having something which they lack. 

3. Furthermore, following the example of the apostles, 

   1. we are to think and to speak in the most favorable way 

      1. about those who outwardly profess their faith and better their lives, 

      2. for the inner chambers of the heart are unknown to us. 

   2. But for others who have not yet been called, we are to pray to the God who calls things that do not exist as though they did. 

4. In no way, however, are we to pride ourselves as better than they, as though we had distinguished ourselves from them.

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Summary

Job finally thinks he's going to get some answers. His friends had blamed him for the immense suffering he'd endured, but Job knew he harbored no secret sins that would have warranted the pain and loss he'd experienced, or, at least, that his sins were not any worse that anybody else's. Now he's put God in the dock, so to speak, and the question's been called.

So the suspense as chapter 38 begins is massive. People throughout all times and places have wondered right along with Job why so much suffering occurs, especially by those who don't seem to deserve it. As the chapter begins, all eyes are on God; what will He say in response to this age old question? But right off the bat, it becomes apparent that God's response will be different than anyone expected.

The first clue comes in the abrupt shift in how God is referred to. For most of the book of Job, the narrator refers to Him simply as God, using the Hebrew word Elohim, the plainest and most common of all the Hebrew names for God. But suddenly YHWH - the LORD - shows up, speaking out of the storm.

It immediately becomes clear the premise of Job's (and often our) question - these words without knowledge - is completely wrong. We operate under the assumption that we're owed a certain amount of blessing and grace in life, and anything short of that is negligence on God's part. But God reminds Job - and us - that He doesn't owe a thing to anybody. Who has a claim against me that I must pay, the LORD rhetorically asks, before supplying the only possible answer: Everything under heaven belongs to me.

  Dig Deeper  

These last few weeks we've been learning that the only reason we've experienced God's grace is because He's regenerated our hearts, opened our eyes and liberated our minds from their bondage to sin. With our new found ability to recognize the truth of God's grace, it's become irresistible to us and we quickly and gratefully accept what's been offered to us, knowing that we didn't deserve it.

But the seemingly arbitrary nature of God's gift - the fact that only some of us, but not all, have been chosen by God to receive it - sits smoldering in the back of our minds, sometimes even fanning itself into the flame of resentment against God. How can God be so unfair?!?

But demanding that God treat all people fairly is a dangerous request, for as the Canons remind us here, God does not owe this grace to anyone... what could God owe to those who have nothing of their own to give but sin and falsehood?

The fact of the matter is that if God were to treat all people fairly, we'd certainly all get the same thing, but it would be nothing but the punishment and wrath we deserve. The grace that we've received instead from God is inherently unfair, and praise God for that. As our week continues we'll learn the proper way for us to respond to God in regards to those who it doesn't seem have been treated as unfairly as we have.

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who laid the earth's foundation and marked off its dimensions;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you would humble yourself before God's sovereignty as Job ultimately did;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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Read the New Testament in a year! Today: 2 Corinthians 12