Job 13—14: The Faith That Rebels
LOSS OF WORK, loss of loved ones, loss of opportunities, excruciating disease and withering judgments from close friends—these are experiences of the faithful. But how should we respond? Simply accept them, fight them or try to ignore them? No. Those who get blessed by God are not those who ask nothing of God but those who will do almost anything to know God. The kingdom is not for the mildly interested but the desperate (Ge 32:26). Jesus said it is for the hungry, the thirsty, the poor (Mt 5:3-6) and the bold (Lk 11:8).
Job is a case in point. He experienced the loss of everything, even the comfort of his best friends. Yet he refuses to accept his friends' explanations, or to accept the absence of God as God's final answer. There is more reverence in Job's "irreverence" than in the friends' deference. This study will show us that faith sometimes requires us to rebel—in the right direction!
Warming Up to God
In what life experiences have you been tempted to "lie down and take it" or give up compliantly?
Read Job 13—14. »
Discovering the Word
- The third of Job's friends, Zophar, has delivered his message (chapter 11). Why are the friends worthless physicians (13:4)?
- Job speaks directly to God in 13:20-28. What does Job request of God (13:20-22)?
- What makes Job feel hopeless (14:7-12), even though he claims to have hope in God (13:15)?
- In what ways did Job rebel in the right direction?
Applying the Word
- If you could speak directly with God, what unanswered questions would you ask?
- What unfair experiences would you want God to explain?
- What impact has this quiet time had on your own response to the hardest experiences of life?
Responding in Prayer
Ask God to give you insight into the hard times of your life that this passage may have brought to mind. Ask him to show you how he is leading you from that place into the future.
For Further Study
Waiting: Finding Hope When God Seems Silent by Ben Patterson