“But now I am mocked by people younger than I, by young men whose fathers are not worthy to run with my sheepdogs. [Job 30.1]
Regardless what was said about Job in the beginning of his story, it is not possible to read the statement above without seeing spiritual arrogance in Job.
No one but God could have known about the nasty pride that lay deep within Job's spotless facade. In fact, all of today's One Year Chronological Bible reading reveals just how spotless Job was in the eyes of every beholder - albeit it told by Job himself.
Look back at what God said to Satan:
Then the LORD asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.” [Job 1.8]
How do we know if God was making a declaration about Job or simply stating what everyone could see? Before we answer, we should consider God's use of sarcasm when He confronts Job later...
But of course you know all this! For you were born before it was all created, and you are so very experienced! [Job 38.21]
Job 38 begins a scalding rebuke of Job for his arrogance. God unapologetically uses sarcasm as seen in verse 21.
Is it not entirely possible that God was utilizing sarcasm when He addressed Satan too? As time goes, Satan had already done his nefarious work in the Garden of Eden, so for us to think for a moment that Satan was in God's good graces regarding their conversation about Job is baseless. We must understand that God's interaction with Satan was not a casual conversation but instead a confrontation. None of Job's arrogance would have "come out" had God not accosted Satan about him setting in motion the events that eventually led to Job's glaringly telling outbursts (like Job 30.1).
God is so faithful in His love for man that He would "deal with" issues that lie deeper than any human or angel could see. To think for a moment that God did not know Job's pride would reveal itself is to grossly underestimate God's omniscience. As "perfect" as Job appeared on the outside, God knew there was an unseen issue of arrogance in Job that would separate Job from Him for eternity if not dealt with - regardless how good Job looked to everyone else. God sees the heart.
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? [Jeremiah 17.9]
The answer to Jeremiah 17.9's question is, "God, and God alone." For this reason, God cannot be called to reckoning by any human or angel because only He knows the human heart and therefore, in His love, God remains fixated on restoring relationship. God's interaction with Satan was purely about Job's restoration from the very beginning. Because Job's damning pride was so firmly and deeply rooted, it would take extreme measures to elicit his repentance, evidenced in Job's relentless and mind-numbing defense of his innocence...
Fast forward to today...
Even with the record of Jesus Christ having suffered extreme pain and suffering on our behalf, the human heart today still attempts to conceal its pride. All the things Job suffered back then, have reasonable scientific explanations today that successfully preempt spiritual repentance with academic remediation. In short, the symptoms are treated while the source of their existence (pride) is ignored thus disregarding the broken body and spilt blood of Jesus Christ in arrogant secularism with no thought whatsoever of repentance.
Like Job, people today defend their innocence in their pain and suffering. Instead of identifying with Jesus in pain and suffering through repentance and faith, foolish doctrines like Job adopted in his pride are embraced in brazenly unrepentant (albeit emotional) religion.
God's timeless rebuke of Job in Job 38-41 very much applies to us today. Job's spiritual arrogance (evidenced in the subject passage of this article above) must be identified in our own hearts and humbly rejected through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ - the Mediator between God and man that Job only wished for.
If, in our own pain and suffering, we do not identify with Jesus Christ through repentance and faith, we remain in spiritual arrogance and will not be restored. While Satan merely does what Satan does (lie, steal, kill and destroy), repentance and faith in Jesus remain the only means to restoration (however under-utilized today).
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor. [James 4.10]
Father, I have been spiritually arrogant. Like the book of Job, I fear my countless arguments reveal spiritual pride more than humility. My physical and material circumstances reflect the unrepentant Job. I have obviously been to busy justifying myself instead of submitting entirely to You. Please forgive me - heal me - restore me - for YOUR glory. So be it.
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