Job 13:1 (Job Continues: Still I Will Hope in God)
“Behold, my eye has seen all this,
my ear has heard and understood it.
Tag: Observation is Not always the Best Doctrine
Our world is very data driven. It is hard to argue against “hard” data. After all, if you see ten rocks and not one of the rocks has water coming out of them you would probably convinced by the “hard” data that rocks can’t produce water. (Yet, read Exodus 17). If you stood in front of a thousand seas and rivers for a thousand years you would collect data that would prove, beyond a doubt, that seas and rivers don’t dry up on one side and hold back on the other to allow dry ground to show. You would not be able to argue against the “researchers” data (Yet, read Exodus 17 and Joshua 3). If you were to watch 100 men attempt to walk on water you would have hard data that demonstrated they sink every time. You can’t argue against the data. (Yet, read Matthew 14). In the above passage, Job confronts his latest “friend” (Zophar) who has told Job that his suffering is a result of his unconfessed sin. His three friends have confronted him based upon their observations. If we observed Job we would all believe he is in his state due to his sin. But, we know from chapters 1-3 that this is not the case. Their observations (hard data) don’t match the real story. When God intervenes the hard data isn’t always reliable. What would the data say if you watched 1,000 men tossed into a den of hungry lions, overnight? What would the data say if you tossed three young man into a flaming fire? What would the data say about a man swallowed by a fish? What would the data say about a walled in city that had 1,000,000 people walking around it for seven days? Six days of data would say that nothing happens. But, with God, something happens. What would the data say about a man who died on a cross and was buried in a tomb? When God intervenes, the data is not always right. Job begins to defend himself with his own “observations.” Too bad ... the data would prove to be false. Job and his friends had real observations that meant nothing in the eyes of God.
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