The Root Builds Character

When everything seems like they are going against us, we need to go to the root in order to grow. This daily devotional looks at how we should deal with the conflict caused by the trials.

Nuggets

  • There are times when we need to get to total despair so that God can step in and save us.
  • Job made a bold statement that he knew who his Redeemer was.
  • We must believe in God’s root to escape judgment and sword.

Devotions in the Job: The Ultimate Test of Character series

Job’s friends just kept after him. They were convinced that Job had done something wrong — was doing something wrong. That caused conflict between the four friends.

But Job wasn’t really in conflict with the others. Let’s dig in.

Let's Put It into Context #1

Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.

To read a related devotion, click the button below.

Let's Put It into Context #2

“Parts of his skin are eaten away; death’s firstborn consumes his limbs. He is ripped from the security of his tent and marched away to the king of terrors. Nothing he owned remains in his tent. Burning sulfur is scattered over his home. His roots below dry up, and his branches above wither away. All memory of him perishes from the earth; he has no name anywhere. He is driven from light to darkness and chased from the inhabited world. He has no children or descendants among his people, no survivor where he used to live. Those in the west are appalled at his fate, while those in the east tremble in horror. Indeed, such is the dwelling of the unjust man, and this is the place of the one who does not know God” (Job 18: 13-21 CSB)

In Job 19, Job is responding to Bildad’s speech. Bildad gets some of it right, but he got the main point wrong.

Job Identifies the Conflict

“All of my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me. My skin and my flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth. Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for God’s hand has struck me. Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?” (Job 19: 19-22 CSB)

There are times when we need to get to total despair so that God can step in and save us.

At this point in Job’s story, he feels like he has been beat up by all sides.

  • His wife was biting on him.
  • His three best friends were biting on him.
  • He was mourning the deaths of his children.
  • His health had taken a hit.
  • He was to the point he wanted to die.
  • Talmage said that he would have been in bankruptcy.

Resource

Job got to the point where he thought his trials were never going to end. We have to get that way, too, sometimes.

It is only when we stop relying on ourselves and totally looking toward God that He can step in and save the day. We have to take the focus off of us and our problems and look to Him. We have to worship Him even when we are ready to throw in the towel.

One of the things that is really weighing on Job, I think, is that he and his friends seem to be at opposite ends of the faith continuum. They more than anyone — as his best friends — should know what Job believed.

The friends kept giving evidence that they didn’t get Job.

Job Stated What the Root Is

“I wish that my words were written down, that they were recorded on a scroll or were inscribed in stone forever by an iron stylus and lead! But I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the end he will stand on the dust. Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh. I will see him myself; my eyes will look at him, and not as a stranger. My heart longs within me” (Job 19: 23-27 CSB)

Job made a bold statement that he knew who his Redeemer was.

Some think Job is talking solely of physical recovery. If Job was talking about physical recovery, I don’t think he would have said, “… I know that my Redeemer lives …” (Job 19: 25 CSB). He is expressing faith in a living Being.

I love Job’s strong conviction. “… yet I will see God in my flesh” (Job 19: 26 CSB). I don’t think this means Job felt he was going to succumb to his illness.

Coming described both meanings of the word redeemer. He wrote, “It means the avenger of blood, and it means the kinsman.”

Resource

We know the concept of the kinsman redeemer from the Book of Ruth. Boas was a kinsman redeemer.

The rest of Scriptures talk about Jesus being our Redeemer. He shed His blood on the cross so that we could be restored to relationships with God.

Remember, Zophar accused Job of hypocrisy — that his words were not backed up by his actions. Zophar thought this because he understood trials just to be punishment. Bildad thought the same way.

To read a related devotion, click the button below.

Glover said that Job’s goal was to clear his character. “I will see him myself; my eyes will look at him, and not as a stranger. My heart longs within me” (Job 19: 23-27 CSB).

Job knew that He would not receive acceptance from the Father until he had His character. The trio was trying to tell him that he didn’t have it.

Job’s words are strong statements of faith. Faith is the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives.

It was a personal relationship that Job had with God. “… I know that my Redeemer lives …” (Job 19: 25 CSB).

Job may have been longing for death, but he knew death was not the end. “… at the end he will stand on the dust. Even after my skin has been destroyed …” (Job 19: 25-26 CSB).”

We know without a shadow of a doubt that Job believed what he was saying. There was no hypocrisy here.

God will reward those who are not only doing His Will but also seeking Him. “I will see him myself; my eyes will look at him, and not as a stranger. My heart longs within me” (Job 19: 27 CSB).

Job Talks about Differing Roots

“If you say, ‘How will we pursue him, since the root of the problem lies with him?’ then be afraid of the sword, because wrath brings punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment” (Job 19: 28-29 CSB)

We must believe in God’s root to escape judgment and sword.

Blackburn stated, “A root may be employed for any principle from which effects proceed.” Spurgeon identified the principle in this way: “This is the root of the matter, to believe in the incarnate God, to accept His headship, to claim His kinship, and to rely upon His redemption.

Resource

This is an important concept because Job is responding to Bildad’s accusation that, because he is going through all of the trials, Job has lost his root. That would have made Job a hypocrite.

Evans contended that it is difficult for us to tolerate someone who does not share the same principles that we do — in the same way that we do. He wrote, to some, “According to their notions, you cannot be too intolerant, so long as you are orthodox; nor too illiberal, so long as you are correct; nor too uncharitable, so long as you are on the right side; which singularly enough, usually happens to be the strong side. Intolerance, in their eyes, is nothing but consistency.”

Resource

I think what Evans was trying to say is that we all see God differently. Bottom line is that, in order to become children of God, we have to

  • admit that mankind was separated from God after the original sin, making us sinners;
  • believe Jesus paid the penalty for those sins to become our Savior and Redeemer;
  • confess God as Sovereign God; and
  • demonstrate that commitment by submitting to living our lives following His laws and commandments.

Glossary

If we can agree on the bottom line (which Spurgeon called essential doctrines), the others are subsequent to that.

Let’s take a run at it this way. As Blackburn said, faith is the root. Faith has many doctrines. Spurgeon explained, “But we are ever ready to confess that there are many doctrines which, though exceedingly precious, are not so essential but that a person may be in a state of grace and yet not receive them. A man with weak eyesight and imperfect vision may be able to enter into the kingdom of heaven; indeed, it is better to enter there having but one eye, than, having two eyes and being orthodox in doctrine, to be cast into hell fire. But there are some distinct truths of revelation that are essential.”

Resource

We don’t have to believe every non-essential doctrine in the same exact ways. We do have to believe the essential doctrines in the same way.

This brings up a good point. We have faith. Some days, it may be stronger than other days. That is okay as long as we still have faith. We don’t want to lose the root.

TheRootBuildsCharacterPin

Making the Connections

We are talking character this series (and this year). What do we have to learn from this passage?

We have to be moved by Job’s plight. We shouldn’t see the pain of others and not feel anything.

We should love the sufferer as the three friends loved Job. We should not judge as they did.

We have to always remember that God corrects those He loves. “For the LORD disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child” (Heb. 12: 6 NLT).

Resource

We just have to realize that God’s correction isn’t always directed toward things we can see. God is correcting sin. Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.

That has to be our focus. We aren’t supporting others just so they feel better. We are preaching the gospel and making disciples of them.

The Disciple’s Job Description

Complete Job Description

Individual Description

Job Duty #4
Proclaim the Gospel (Mark 16: 15)

Job Duty #6
Make Disciples (Matthew 28: 19-20)

My Ladies and I talked last Sunday how Job even knew about God. If Job was not part of the Jewish nation, how did Job not only hear of God but decide to believe in Him?

Job may not have gotten everything down pat, but he knew enough. Clifford wrote, “It goes without saying that Job’s most far-reaching and comprehensive declaration falls unspeakably short of that abolition of death, and bringing of life and immortality to light, accomplished by the Gospel of Christ; but what it lacks in fulness and breadth, it gains in the burning intensity and glow out of which it springs, and the sublime motives which urge and impel him, not only to speak, but also to covet a monumental and immortal pulpit for his words. His sayings form a window through which we look into his soul; a lit lamp by whose clear ray we see the workings of his mind, and enter into partnership, not only with his ideas, but with himself, as those ideas are born in his soul, and take their place in his life.”

Resource

We have to believe enough to ABCD.

The ABCDs of Salvation

If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.

A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord

D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us

The Disciple’s Job Description

How Do We Apply This?

We must believe as Job did. Glover outlined that as believing

  • God is our deliverer.
  • God will bestow His mercies on us.
  • We will maintain our character after death.
  • We will see God.

Resource

We need to

  • Be better than Job’s friends. Enfield wrote, “These so-called friends, however, turned a deaf ear to his entreaties, and under the cloak of friendship continued to wound him by the most ungenerous and inhuman treatment.”
  • Be like Job in relation to his friends. Clifford called them victims. Job saw them as people to whom he should witness.

Resource

We need to watch how we interact with people when conflicts arise. We need to keep our focus on God and witness to them.

Father God. Thank You that You sent Your Son to be our Redeemer. Let us have the confidence that Job did. Amen.

What do you think?

Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.

If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.

If you have not signed up for the email daily or weekly providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.

If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.

Leave a Reply