Job CXX

 A wolf never has the sheep’s best interest at heart. It doesn’t matter what words they use to beguile, seduce, or mesmerize; their purpose and intent are singular: to devour. A wolf will never look upon a sheep as anything more than a meal. Something to pounce upon, tear asunder, and consume. It is his nature. It is what he does, no matter how often he insists that he’s the only wolf in the history of wolves who’s a vegan or has no appetite for sheep.

A shepherd’s duty is twofold: to lead the sheep to green pastures, teach them the Word, and present Christ in all His glory, but also to keep the wolves at bay. One of the most heart-wrenching oratories in the New Testament is Paul’s warning to the elders of the church at Ephesus, knowing that once he departed, he would not be able to defend them from the wolves, and the wolves would waste no time in trying to devour them.

Acts 20:29-31, “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.”

He had laid the foundation of the faith for three years. He labored ceaselessly, he taught, he preached, he poured himself out, yet Paul knew that once he departed, the savage wolves would find a way in, and not only that, but even some from among them would rise up speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after themselves.

It’s easy to spot the enemy when he’s on the outside, teeth bared and hackles raised; it’s more difficult to discern it when he’s made his way into the household of faith, pretending to be something he is not, all the while dripping venom into the hearts of any who would hear.

Would I go so far as to say Job’s friends were wolves? No, I wouldn’t. They were, however, leaning on their own understanding and doing their best to demoralize Job and convince him that he’d brought offense to God to such an extent as to deserve everything that had happened to him.

Although they didn’t succeed in convincing Job to let go of his integrity or admit to something he hadn’t done, by Job’s words, it is evident that they were chipping away at his resolve. Their words, coupled with his worsening situation, were having an impact, although, given that this had been a protracted trial lasting for months, it may have seemed imperceptible to them.

It’s akin to living with someone who has gradually lost fifty, sixty, or a hundred pounds, seeing them every day, and acknowledging that something has changed but not realizing the extent of the change. Take that same individual and put them before someone who hasn’t seen them in six months, and their jaw is likely to drop to the floor because what they remember and what they are seeing before them seem like two different people.

Job 9:21-24, “I am blameless, yet I do not know myself; I despise my life. It is all one thing; Therefore I say, ‘He destroys the blameless and the wicked.’ If the scourge slays suddenly, He laughs at the plight of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, who else could it be?”

It is the natural tendency of man to put his best foot forward. We would rather project strength, ability, wherewithal, and grit than we would weakness and ignorance because we realize that, on some level, how we present ourselves to others will determine how they view us in the aggregate.

While some men are weaker than they project, there are others who, while possessing great reserves of strength, do not insist that others view them as such. Such individuals are not interested in how they are viewed by the world or those they come in contact with because they possess enough self-awareness to understand that the opinion of others regarding their abilities or aptitudes does nothing by way of making them stronger or weaker in any given area.

Given what I’ve been called to do, it may sound incongruous, but I’m not big on lengthy conversations or splitting hairs regarding issues that are undeserving of the time required to do so. I don’t walk around the grocery store glued to my phone, I don’t feel the need to have protracted discussions about the weather, and I’m a big fan of the tried and true adage that if you could say in five words what would take others fifty, you’re ahead of the game. If a yes or a no will suffice, rather than go on a lengthy oratory about why I gave a specific answer, I usually just answer in the affirmative or the negative, sometimes even just nodding my head.

Boastful people always have something to prove either to themselves or others. Whether they’re suffering from an inferiority complex and they need to reaffirm, if only to themselves, that they’re more than they know they are or trying to prove to others that there’s more to them than what meets the eye, you always get the sense that they’re trying too hard.

Job could have put on airs, but what would have been the point? His friends saw the condition he was in, and they’d known all the tragedies that had befallen him, so trying to convince them otherwise would have been a fool’s quest at best.

By this juncture, he was verbally processing, trying to get a handle on his circumstances, seeing everything through a haze of pain and grief, and even to his pain-riddled mind, what was happening to him didn’t add up. He couldn’t reconcile his suffering with the God he’d served for so long, but given his ignorance of the interaction between God and Satan, Job’s question remained: if it is not He, who else could it be?

Unbeknownst to him, Job was nibbling at the edges of an epiphany that would cast a light on his trial, a light that would chase away the shadow of doubt threatening to overwhelm him. If it is not He, who else could it be? If I am not being punished by God for something I didn’t do, then perhaps there’s more to this than what my friends have insisted upon for these many days.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Posted on 18 February 2025 | 12:40 pm