The Walk of Innocent Suffering - Job 23-24

 Job 23:11 (ESV)

My foot has held fast to his steps;

I have kept his way and have not turned aside.

Have you ever seen a child try to follow the exact steps of his/her parent as they walk through the snow?   Ever so precise, the child tries to step in each step, though the stride be long and the pace too quick.   That is the word picture that Job gives us in the first line of the above statement.    Job, trying to defend himself against the false accusation of his friend(s), states that he has held fast to God’s steps.   In this chapter of Job we read him talk about taking God to court to defend his life.  His friends have made major complaints against him.  Job wants his day in court.   Job would be glad to face God and show Him that he has strived to walk in the steps of God.   In the second line we read that Job tells his friends (and God) that not only has he tried to walk in God’s steps, he has not turned aside from doing so.   Like the small child trying to keep the pace of a parent, Job states he has kept the pace and the precision to stay in step with God.   That is a tall order, to stay in step with God.  But, we do read in the first two chapters of the book that this is exactly what Job was doing when hit with these many calamities.   Perhaps, by complaining however, Job has missed a step that God has made in the path before him.   If we are going to keep in step with God we have to know and accept that the steps will definitely include walking through suffering.   Job is using his obedience to God’s path as a defense.  But, he may have just given reason for his suffering.  Remember, Job is saying that his suffering was not due and that he is innocent.   He is telling us that he is walking in God’s steps and SHOULD NOT have to suffer while being innocent.   However, that is exactly what God will do through His Son, Jesus.  Jesus will walk through suffering as the ultimate innocent sacrifice for mankind’s sins.  So, Job’s defense actually becomes the prosecutions case.   Yes, Job, you are walking in God’s steps.   But, Job, you failed to realize that walking in God’s steps will lead you through suffering as an innocent.   That is the story of the Bible.   Jesus, the innocent Lamb of God, walked the steps to the cross.   So, in our walk with Him and for Him and toward Him, let us not fool ourselves that it, too, will be lined with the step of innocent suffering.   Let us not turn aside from even those steps.