Chapter 18

They will say, 'This was the home of a wicked person, the place of one who rejected God.'"

(Job 18:21)

No wonder Job is getting so exasperated, these guys are like a giant one string guitar, and the song they sing has one verse “The wicked will be judged, and the righteous will be vindicated”. This principle isn’t FALSE; it is true in the ETERNAL SCHEME OF THINGS. But as far as life on earth goes, it doesn’t always work out this way. It is true, the wicked WILL be judged one day, and the Righteous WILL be blessed one day… But this doesn’t mean that when we see a person suffering they are wicked, and when we see a person being blessed they are righteous.

I hope that if we see a home that has burnt to the ground, we don’t respond like this… “This is the home of a wicked person, the place of one who rejected God”. There are segments of the church that act like this. They talk as if any sickness or suffering ONLY comes as a result of a major lack of faith. On the contrary, we see here that Job was suffering BECAUSE he was a man of faith. He was going through all of this because God was demonstrating HIS OWN RIGGHTEOUSNESS in the heavenly realms.

Whether we like it or not, the universe is locked in a cosmic battle between good and evil, and that battle often takes place in the hearts and lives of BELIEVERS. We need to remember the way that Job begins when we go through difficulty… we never know what is taking place in the spiritual realm as we go about our lives. All that Jesus asks is that we be FAITHFUL. In good or bad, we just keep trusting HIM.