Job: Chapters 20-21

Zophar Speaks: The Wicked Will Suffer

The Moon

The thoughts within my head answer the questions I have about you. I must hurry this process along and end this debate. Do you not remember that since Adam was placed on earth that the wicked prosper for but a short time? They only experience a temporary fulfillment of joy that is not everlasting? Yes, as a mortal man he may reach new heights and experience happiness abounding - to a point - but he will perish forever like his cattle's excrement in the field. So temporary will his existence be that those who saw his attained glory will forget him like mist on the mountain. He does not lay a foundation, he merely builds up a house that shall soon be forgotten in his children and their children after them. Evil always comes to a stopping point and all who fell under his silver tongue will be forgotten. The stomach of evil prosper does not settle, it is uneasy and regurgitates all that he has swallowed during his tenure. He will not see the rivers of flowing honey or taste the everlasting life that can be found outside of himself. He yearns for a life of fulfillment but it never satisfies. After he has eaten and tasted the fruit, there is nothing left. All is vanity, in the end, he will ask questions about why life was seemingly wonderful from the outside but painfully empty within. God will reveal all his iniquity on the day of death and the earth that blessed him with riches will turn against him. All his possessions will flee from him like flowing water over the rocks and cease to be his. This is what the wicked man will receive from God - vanity of vanities on a foundation of vanity.

Job Replies: The Wicked Do Prosper

Listen to me, again. Find comfort in the words I am about to say, then continue to mock me after I have spoken. When did I say my complaint was against man? I am impatient with God - not man. Look at me! You see nothing but offenses and shudder at the condition of my flesh. You say the wicked suffer, but why do they grow old and fatten themselves on the fruits of God's creation? They grow mighty in power and prestige among the worldly. Their children are blessed before their eyes as well as their children. Their lineage does not even think about fear nor do they condone any idea of suffering, it isn't even in their language. Their cattle are fattened and produce great yields, their children dance in joy, they sing joyful songs and enjoy happiness while rejoicing in their splendor. They curse God and tell him to stay away from them. Why do we need God? Who is He? They say. This is their lot in life. Yet, how often is their luxurious livelihood taken from them? When does God snuff out their blasphemy of Him? You tell me that God stores up these iniquities and will bring wrath about their house someday. They do not care if their house falls after they have reaped what they sow, as you said, they seek everything they can in the moment. What is it to them if their children or grandchildren suffer pain due to their personal transgressions? They are not seeking to teach God, they are seeking to soak up as much satisfaction as they can for as long as they can. One man dies in prosperity and is placed in the ground the same way as the man who never experienced prosperity, both are bitter and to what end? There is merely foundational truth that satisfies any man, regardless of their lot in life. How are you possibly going to comfort me with empty nothings? You speak nothing but false utterances and hearken your ear to anything sweet that you hear from "spirits".

Dear Lord, it is hard to watch the wicked prosper. The idea that they are furthering themselves from you by never truly experiencing a "need" is not a comfort to my heart when I think about their actions (actions I to experience). Show me how to exercise humility and see that they have earned their blessings, even if they haven't earned it rightly, show me how to show them grace. Show them how to experience your grace even within their prosperity. We must stop drawing enemy lines and learn to hear before we speak, offer grace before critique. Lord help me to love anyway. Amen. 

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