Job 21

“Why do the wicked go on living, grow old and keep increasing their power? They see their children settled with them, their posterity assured. Their houses are safe, with nothing to fear; God’s rod is not on them.  Their bulls are fertile without fail, their cows get pregnant and don’t miscarry. They produce flocks of babies and their children dance around. They sing with tambourines and lyres and rejoice to the sound of the pipe. They spend their days in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace. Yet to God they say, ‘Leave us alone! We don’t want to know Your ways. What is Shaddai, that we should serve Him? What do we gain if we pray to Him?’” Job 21:7-15 (CJB)

I once heard Dr. Adrian Rogers say, “For the non-believer, this World is as close to Heaven as they are ever going to get, so they had better get all they can while they are here! But for followers of Jesus, this World is as close to Hell as they have to get.” Don’t worry about getting cheated here. Eternity in the Lord’s presence awaits you!

In a passage that could have been lifted from the book of Ecclesiastes, Job laments that, sometimes, the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer. It all seems futile, and it would be, were it not for the promise of Heaven. If we could keep an eternal perspective, we would realize this World is but a passing vapor.

“For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Romans 8:18 (ESV)

“For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond comparison…” 2 Corinthians 4:17 (NASB)

“Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His glory.” 1 Peter 4:13 (HCSB)

Nobody wants to suffer, but the believer knows their suffering is also an opportunity to give reason for the hope in them. The hard-hearted non-believer does not want to hear that sort of gospel! They want to “get all they can and can all they get.” To God, whose tremendous and holy plan would include suffering, they say, “Leave us alone!” This World is their “heaven,” and it is as close to the real one as they will get. They only want to know God for what He will do for them, not so they can know what He requires of them.

In today’s passage, the name “Shaddai” comes up in the original Hebrew. Often misinterpreted as “God Almighty,” Shaddai actually means “All-Sufficient One.”  “Shad” in Hebrew means “breast.” As a mother’s milk provides an infant with all the nutrition it needs, God provides His children all they need in this life and the next. Those who reject God feel they cannot live on His provision alone, so they must provide for themselves what the Lord is either unwilling or unable to do for us Himself.