Job’s Big Question

Synopsis     Job 14:4-15:10     6/3/2021 

In this midst of his suffering, Job cried out to God. In his desperate questioning, he asked if any man remained undefiled. So, he answered his own question. He observed that all humans sinned.   

So, he questioned God. Specifically, he asked God why he cares about sin. He wanted to understand. If everyone is sinful, why punish sin? Why not, he wondered, just leave people alone until they die. 

Job’s friend Eliphaz decided to speak in reply to Job’s questions. Almost immediately, he rebuked Job for impiety because of the way he spoke. And he suggested that Job thought too much of his own intelligence, which deceived him into thinking his impiety was appropriate.  

Job’s Big Question 

In effect, Job wondered why God concerned himself about sin. If everyone sins, he reasoned, isn’t this just a part of human nature?  

Fallen Human Nature 

Does God punish my sins in order to get retribution? 

The idea of sin is not the idea of karma. With karma, I do something bad, I get something bad back. Or, I do something good, and good things will come my way.  

Sin literally means absence – the absence of good. My sin is the absence of the good that should be in me. 

So, I can see correction as a double negative – correction removes the absence of the good that should be in me. But, this is awkward and a little confusing.  

Or, I can see correction as a positive – correction completes that which is lacking in me.  

“At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.” Heb 12:11