Job CLII

 Job 13:13-19, “Hold your peace with me, and let me speak, then let come on me what may! Why do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hands? Though He slay me, yet I will trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him. He also shall be my salvation, for a hypocrite could not come before Him. Listen carefully to my speech, and to my declaration with your ears. See now, I have prepared my case, I know that I shall be vindicated. Who is he who will contend with me? If now I hold my tongue, I perish.”

I can’t say I’ve ever reached the end of my tether, but I’ve come close enough to understand what Job was going through. He had reached the point in this back-and-forth between himself and his friends where the aftereffects of what he said and what followed were of no concern to him. Let me speak, then come what may. You can hate me, judge me, loathe me, unfriend me, but I’m going to speak my mind.

He’d tried to explain, tried to de-escalate, tried to make his friends see that they were judging him wrongly, but to no avail. It is said everyone has a breaking point, and Job had reached his. The dam had finally broken, and what were once fissures, cracks, and minor leaks in his resolve was now a torrent.

Although there are countless profound, thought-provoking, and inspirational things Job said that later laid the foundation of wisdom from the likes of David, Solomon, Paul, and others, there is one that, in my eyes, stands head and shoulders above the rest, especially given Job’s current situation and the sifting he was going through. Though He slay me, yet I will trust Him.

I’ve spent hours pondering this handful of words, and every time, they engendered a deep sense of humility. When Job spoke these words, they weren’t theoretical. He wasn’t being blessed coming and going, his cup wasn’t running over, everything wasn’t in its proper place, and the future didn’t seem bright. He was a man in pain, bereft of sleep, being accused of sin by his friends, covered in worms and open sores. He had reached the bottom, and there was no next tier of descent for him, yet at his lowest, in the depth of his sorrow and pain, he declared that though God saw fit to slay him utterly, he would trust Him because he knew the nature and character of the God he served.

When all your senses, circumstances, friends, and family insist that you have been forsaken, that God has turned His back on you, that you are alone amid the maelstrom with nothing to cling to and no hope of rescue, only an anchored and well-established faith can give you the strength to say you will continue to trust God and mean it.

It’s one thing to declare we trust God when all is well, when things are going right, and when anything we set our hand to grows, multiplies, and is met with enviable success. It’s another thing entirely to see everything you’ve worked for turn to dust and ash, having your body wracked with pain and your sleep invaded by nightmares, and still make the same declaration.

Were He to slay you, would you still trust Him? Were He to remove every safety net, everything you counted as constant, everything you held dear, would you still have the strength, faith, and presence of mind to declare as Job did that you will trust Him?

The underlying question is, do you know God well enough to trust Him in the valley just as readily as you do on the mountaintop? Do you know His character and nature well enough to trust Him in your trials as unequivocally as you do in your victories? Have you taken the time to build a true and lasting relationship with Him to the point that though He slays you, you will yet trust Him?

From an individual standpoint, the answers to these questions are far more imperative than who the Antichrist will end up being or whether praying while lying flat on your face will increase the chances of God hearing you more than standing up.

As an aside, either works, just pray. We get so caught up in the minutia that we fail to see the overall picture. There is no right or wrong way to beseech God. Hands clasped in front of you, hands raised in the air, hands hanging by your sides - it makes no difference as long as the desire of your heart is sincere and your supplications are heartfelt.

Yes, I will trust God, even if He chooses to slay me, but this does not mean I will admit to something I didn’t do, Job insists. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him. I know what I know, and no amount of you telling me I’ve sinned when I know I haven’t will change the reality of it.

I’m all for discourse and debate, for reasoning together as we ought, but when my disagreeing with your opinion on a non-salvific matter on which the Bible has no declared position automatically means that you consider me cast out, doomed to suffer the eternal anguish of hell, it’s no longer a debate, but you playing judge, juror, and executioner.

For some, their pet doctrine eclipses brotherly love to the point that they will cut ties, disfellowship, and shun anyone who is not in lockstep with them. Again, these are not salvific issues but rather appropriated nuances that are elevated to the status of canonical scripture, magnified in the eyes of those who insist upon them to the point of overshadowing Scripture itself. Pet doctrine doesn’t save; Jesus does. It’s the one thing anyone waking up itching for a doctrinal fight must be aware of, lest they reject Christ for the sake of their stated position.

Every day seems to bring about a new bone of contention, a new reason for division, and a reformulated theory that the Bible debunked long ago, but no matter, we keep going at each other as though this faith of ours was a blood sport, not fought between the household of faith and the hosts of darkness, but between each other.   

Job’s friends weren’t interested in discourse. They had no interest in hearing what Job had to say as long as it wasn’t an admission of the sin they imagined he’d committed for being brought so low. Their minds were made up, their positions firmly established, their conclusions unwavering. At this point, nothing Job could have said in his defense would have swayed them.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Posted on 28 March 2025 | 11:17 am