8 “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?
This chapter begins the LORD’s confrontation of the second challenge that Job has presented to the authority of the LORD. Job has challenged God’s justice. This is the more difficult challenge of the two. The first centered around God’s power and its availability to make things happen. This one centers around God’s justice and our view of that justice. The words that often come out of our mouths in these types of moments are that is just isn’t fair. Our kids have said it hundreds of times. Our sense of fairness gets challenged. I have had to go through this professionally recently. I was not chosen for a position because I lacked a certain qualification. Everyone else also lacked a qualification, but just a different, and in my opinion a more important one. I was the best qualified, but I was not offered the position. Justice was not served! My words are Job’s words. I want things to look fair from my perspective. I don’t want the government taking my hard earned money and giving it to able bodied people who are doing nothing. It isn’t fair. I don’t want disease to strike a small child. It isn’t fair. I don’t want crooks to get away with crime while I obey the laws. It isn’t fair. I want everyone to use their turn signals every time when they are changing lanes. (I just threw this one in for fun.) Job has wanted to stand before the LORD and get an answer for what is happening to him, why things are so unfair. He is getting an answer, but not the one he wanted. Maybe the answer we get from these big questions in life are not what we want, but true none the less. The lesson for today is this: life does not have to appear fair, and often is not fair, when we view justice from our limited 70 year lens. From God’s perspective, justice happens every time, sometimes in this life, and sometimes with the help of eternity.
The Arnold Journey 