Job 9

CHAPTERS 9 AND 10THEME: Job’s answer to BildadJob makes it very clear that Bildad has not met his need at all. He was not even talking in the field of his problem. At this point he makes it clear that he makes no claim to perfection, and he knows that he cannot defend himself before God. What he needs is someone on his side to present his case. We will hear Job’s longing for someone to be his mediator and his intercessor. In other words, we will hear Job’s heart-cry for Christ.

Job 9:1

That is, much of what Bildad had said is true. The problem is that his words haven’t met the need of Job, they haven’t spoken to the problem of Job. “I know that in a general way your words are true,” says Job, “but the question is ‘How can I be just with God?’” Job surely needed the gospel at this point. He needed to know how a man could be just with God. Job says he wants some questions answered, and his friends are not answering the questions.

Job 9:3

Job says, “I don’t pretend. If you think I am trying to put up a front before God, you are wrong. I know I cannot contend with Him. He could ask me a question and I would never be able to answer.” Job wants an answer to his questions, and he wants God to answer him. God is far removed from him.

Job 9:5

Here is a tremendous picture of God as the Creator. Job knows Him as the Creator but knows nothing about His tender mercy at this time.

Job 9:9

We can see that Job knew something about the stars. However, he is not attempting to say that he is in the situation of his misery because he was born under a certain star. That is without a doubt one of the most foolish things men say. Shakespeare had the answer to that when Mark Antony said, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in our selves, that we are underlings.” Job knew the stars did not account for his situation. He recognized God as the Creator of the stars.

Job 9:11

Job knows God as the Creator of the universe, and he also knows God is a spirit, and Job cannot see Him at all.

Job 9:13

Job knows that he wouldn’t stand a chance if he came into the presence of God. If God should speak to him, he wouldn’t know what to answer.

Job 9:16

Job couldn’t believe that He was really listening to him.

Job 9:17

Job asks, “How in the world can I plead my case before Him?”

Job 9:20

Job says, “If I try to pretend I am perfect, my own mouth will condemn me.” However, we will find later on that Job has a high estimation of himself. He is not the man who said, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing …” (Rom_7:18). Job does not say that he is a perfect man before God, but he does contend that he is a pretty good manin fact, a righteous man. Yet he recognizes that before God he would not be able to defend himself. There are many men today who, because they do not know the Word of God, feel that they will be able to stand before God and meet His standards and will actually be well-pleasing to Him. I remember an oilman in Nashville, Tennessee. He was one of a group of businessmen with whom I used to play volleyball three times a week. He was a godless man although he was a church member. He and I were always on opposite sides, and he didn’t like me to beat him. One night he had really been beaten, so he began to argue with me in the locker room. He said, “I heard you speak (I had a morning devotion on the radio in those days) about a religion that calls men sinners who need to come to Christ.

I don’t believe that stuff. I believe in helping people. In my business I give men jobs. I pay them money so they can buy beans to put on their tables. I think that is better than any religion you have to offer.” How do you answer a man like that before a group of men all gathered in the locker room? Some of the men were church members, but most of them were godless and unsaved men.

It was difficult to know how to answer thatuntil about a year later when we were in the locker room and that man was not there. He was in jail. He had been arrested for the way he had been conducting his business. He defrauded not only the government but also his own employees. I shall never forget that another of the men mentioned his name and said, “Well, I don’t think he’d have much of a chance before God. He didn’t do so well before Judge So-and-So the other day.

They found out he really wasn’t putting beans on the plates of his employees, but he was really taking them off their plates.” That really shook those men. Very candidly, I saw several of them in my church services, and I even had the privilege of leading one of those men to the Lord. But the point is that men have a misconception of God. They think they are good enough to stand before Him. Job is saying in effect, “If I come into God’s presence, He will think of something in me that I am not aware of, and I won’t be able to answer Him.”

Job 9:32

JOB’S HEART-CRY FOR CHRISTJob is saying in effect, “If He were a man, I could talk to Him.” This is the reason God became a Man, my friendso man could talk to Him and walk with Him and realize that he cannot meet God’s standards. The only Man who ever met God’s standards was the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what makes some of the contemporary plays and literature such a curse. They insinuate that Jesus was not only a man, but that He was a sinful man! Liberalism has been saying this for years. However, they cannot find in the Word of God that there was any sin in the Lord Jesus Christ. They find the sin in their own dirty hearts, because Jesus was without sin. Because Jesus was a Man, I can go to Him. He died for me on the cross! And He shows me by His life that I cannot meet God’s standards, that I need a Savior. By His death He can save me. This is what poor old Job was longing for.

Job 9:33

Job’s complaint was that there was no mediator between him and God. His cry is this: “Oh, if there were only Someone who could put His hand in the hand of God and who could put His other hand in my hand and bring us together. If He could do that, then I would have a mediator.” In the New Testament Paul wrote to a young preacher, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1Ti_2:5). The song that says, “Put your hand in the hand of the Man from Galilee” is only half true. The Man of Galilee has another hand, and that hand is the hand of God. Jesus is God, my friend; He is the God-Man. What a glorious, wonderful truth that is. Oh, how Job longed for Him!