Job  

Chapter  23  

"Job's answer to Eliphaz's third address"  

Job  23:1   "Then Job answered and said,"

Job  23:2   "Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning."

The strokes coming against me are stronger than what I am complaining about. 

Job  23:3   "Oh that I knew where I might find Him! that I might come even to His seat!"

Job is speaking of the Father.  Job was seeking to be judged only by God, and not by any man, for Job knew that God knew the intent and innocence of his heart and mind.   

Job  23:4   "I would order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments."

Job desires to present his case right before the throne of God.  Are you ready at this time if God calls you home to present your case at the throne of God.  Job was ready to go a any moment in time, for he wasn't ashamed of anything that he had said or done. 

Job  23:5   "I would know the words which He would answer me, and understand and He would say unto me."

Job knew that he was a righteous man, and he is saying here that he would learn to know those words that God must have him to say. 

Job  23:6   "Will He plead against me with His great power? No; but He would put strength in me."

Job is telling us that God is not going to knock me down for those things that I have said, for he knows that God knows the intent of His heart.  Job knew that he has not lost any of faith in Father, and God will strengthen him for that faith.  Job lived right and he knew that God will judge him right.  God is fair.

Job  23:7   "There the righteous might dispute with Him; so should I be delivered for ever from my Judge."

Job is saying that before the throne of God, he will be found innocent. 

Job  23:8   "Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him:"

No matter where Job goes to look for God, he cannot find Him anywhere at this time. 

Job  23:9   "On the left hand, where He doth work, but I cannot behold Him: He hideth Himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him."

Though Job could not find God at this point in time, some day shortly he will find God.  Stop for a moment and ask yourself, who is at the right hand of God?  Of course it is Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ went to be on the right hand of the Father when he ascended into heaven.  I Peter 3:21  "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:"

I  Peter  3:22   "Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him."

Jesus the Christ is the Savior that gives us the power to become the sons of God, and to overcome the evil that is upon the earth.  The resurrection is 1500 years after Job.   

Job  23:10   "But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."

Job is saying that I don't know where He is, but He knows were I am.  Don't you wish that you could be as sure as Job was, that when he is tried, he would come forth as gold?  Job had no doubt, for he knew that he had a destiny with God. 

Job  23:11   "My foot hath held His steps, His way have I kept, and not declined."

Are your feet on the solid path of righteousness?

Job  23:12   "Neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."

Job is saying that He doesn't let anything come before God.

Job  23:13   "But He is in one mind, and who can turn Him: and what His soul desireth, even that He doeth."

Job is telling these three friends of his that God has a plan, and what happens to us is in accordance to God's plan.  Job had sores on himself from head to toe, but still Job knew it was all part of God's plan.  Christ had not come to earth as a baby, nor suffered death on the cross at the time of Job's life, so Job did not have the power and authority that you and I have today.  Job knew that God had a complete plan, and Job knew that he was a important part of that plan.  Can you say the same?  Job didn't know what was happening, but he knew that God did.   

Job  23:14   "For He performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with Him."

Do you understand that God has a purpose in your life, as one that is predestined, as in Romans 8.  God's Will will be done just as God spoke it.  If you want to know how that will is going to take place, it is all written in His plan, the Word of God. 

Job  23:15   "Therefore am I troubled at His presence: when I consider, I am afraid of Him."

Job is saying; When I think of God in My presence, I revere Him.

Job  23:16   "For God maketh my heart soft, and The Almighty troubleth me:"

Job  23:17   "Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath He covered the darkness from my face."

Job knew that before this trouble came upon him, he was not cut off.  What Job is saying here is that he is not so much troubled by His calamities, but by my ignorance for the reason that God does afflict me.  Though all these afflictions came upon Job, Job held firm to his convictions.  When affliction comes into your life are you intelligent enough to know whether the trouble comes from Satan or God correcting you?  God allows trouble to come into your life to test you, however, God also has given each of us the power and authority to order those things out of our lives.  Do you have the sense to take command over your life when Satan is putting trouble in your life?  Anytime you start to drift off of God's overall plan, and get all tied up with words that have no purpose, you are in trouble.  Stick to the facts that are backed up within the Word.