Job 19:23-24 (ESV Strong's)
23 “Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
24 Oh that with an iron pen and lead
they were engraved in the rock forever!
We All Want Proof
In the above two verses, Job is responding to one of his friend’s (Bildad) comments. Bildad is quit harsh with Job. His philosophy is that wicked people suffer; Job is suffering; therefore, Job is wicked. Bildad has little variation to this syllogistic reasoning. Job, like us all, wants to vindicate himself. He is NOT disputing Bildad’s words of “wisdom” - that wicked people will suffer. Job is simply disputing that that truth does not apply to himself, because he is NOT wicked. Because we have the beauty of reading the beginning and the ending of this story, we can sympathize, and even find ourselves empathic, to Job’s thought. Job is wishing that someone would record this for history so that, when he gets a chance to pled his cause before God (face-to-face), he can stand on his own merits. That is not unlike most of us. Job is saying he wants a legal document drawn up to plead his cause. He believes that this plight is going to cost him his life. He wishes, in the above verses, that this story of his life would be the proof he needs to get mercy from God. He cares not for the judgement of men. He is getting that through his three worthless friends. Job wants vindication from God. He is inviting God to judge him and show that he is truly a faith based guy. That is why, right after this cry for a documentation of his woes, he says:
Job 19:26-27 (ESV Strong's)
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,
27 whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!
He believes, because of his faith, he will be redeemed. We have no idea if Job understood that his entire story would be a documentation of his plight in this Bible book called Job. But, we certainly do have his story “inscribed in a book.” We also, because of the entire story being recorded, know that Job was declared righteous and Bildad was not applying his truth accurately to Job’s situation. This is what we all do with our truth at one time or another. We take perfectly great truth and make the entire wrong application. Job was vindicated, by God. For that we can rejoice with him. The story of our lives may not be the same, or written in God’s Word. But our stories can end the same way if we have the faith of Job and allow God to write the ending. That will be our proof.
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