Job 9:1-21
Bildad has emphasized God’s inflexible righteousness. Job can only agree with him. But then he raises the great question: "How should man be just with God?" (v. 2). This question has tormented many wise men and thinkers from the beginning of time. The answer is not in the arguments of philosophers or moralists. It is not even in the mighty works of the Creator, of which Job here gives several examples. We find it in the Word of God! After having established that "there is none righteous, no, not one", the Word gives us the good news: we are "justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" . . . and at the same time: "a man is justified by faith . . ." (Romans 3:10; Romans 3:24; Romans 3:28 – see also Titus 3:7; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Galatians 3:24).
From v. 15 onwards, Job expresses his complete helplessness. The struggle between himself and God is quite unequal. He considers himself crushed by a merciless Judge, who is multiplying his wounds without cause (vv. 15, 17). What sad thoughts these are for a believer!
Through the Lord Jesus, we know God as a loving Father. No circumstances, however painful, should make us forget this.