Job 35

“Are you so convinced you are right, that you say, ‘I am more just than God’? For you ask what advantage is it to you, ‘How do I gain from not sinning?’” Job 35:1-3 (CJB)

When my wife and I moved from suburban Chicago to Southern California years ago, we were amazed at how many varieties of fruits and vegetables could grow in our backyard.  In Chicago, we only grew icicles. In the 1950s, my old So-Cal neighborhood was a fruit orchard; many of those original fruit trees were still scattered throughout the neighborhood. As a result, everyone in my neighborhood had more than enough oranges, lemons, walnuts, limes, pomegranates, etc., than they knew what to do with! The reason that the neighborhood has fresh fruit today is that someone planted seeds a long time ago.  

In today’s passage, Elihu rebukes Job for asking, “How do I gain from not sinning?” Job asks an honest question, especially if one cannot pinpoint the reason for their suffering. We have the benefit of flipping to the end of Job’s story.  From our perspective, we say, “Hold on, Job! It won’t be long until God restores even more than He allowed to be taken away.” But poor Job couldn’t see how his conditions would turn out. He was literally living on faith and trying to hold on to God’s Word, even when it didn’t feel right.

We would like to believe our faithfulness would be rewarded immediately by the way some sustained level of personal comfort or success. But sometimes, that faithfulness is never realized, at least in our lifetimes. Sometimes, we have to enlist the faith of a “patriarch.” That is, our faithfulness should set into motion habits and patterns of faithfulness that our children or grandchildren will implement. And they will see a level of blessing we only hoped to achieve. This is the story of Israel, leading up to Joshua’s leading Israel into the land of Canaan.

So, what does this all have to do with the fruit trees in my neighborhood and Elihu’s rebuke of Job’s question, “How do I gain from not sinning?” When we faithfully follow the Lord, He guides us by His Spirit. Our faithfulness is like good soil and His Spirit planting the good seed of God’s Word in us. If we continue in faith, God’s Word will develop roots, produce shoots and leaves, and, eventually, bear fruit.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 (HCSB)

The benefit of holding on to God’s Word, even when it isn’t comfortable, is that God truly does reward faithfulness, just not always in the ways or time frame we expect. But the more we wait faithfully, the more we experience God’s faithfulness, which builds our endurance and deepens our trust in His Word. That deepened trust manifests itself in love, peace, patience, kindness, etc. It takes soil, seed, water, manure, and time. In time, Job’s faith was realized. That is what Job gained from not sinning in the midst of his suffering. Faith isn’t fact until it’s tested, so hold on and let faith work!