Subject: Testing - Job 23

Job 23:10
But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.

Subject:  Testing

Job is unaware of the Satan vs God discussion of chapters one and two.   Job is only aware of the suffering he has been through.  He is not assuming that God is using all this for a test.  He is assuming that God knows.  God knows the path he takes in life.  Therefore, as Job's friends accuse him of wickedness and unfaithfulness, Job is stating, "Since God knows all, you guys can't be right.  If God knows all He will know the purity of my heart (and the sin in my heart) and will judge me faithful and I will be seen, by God, through Christ, as Gold."   Job knows that God, if He is giving a test, does not grade on a curve.  Job knows that God must make him righteous (we see this in other parts of the book).  There is a sense that Job is justifying himself and he may be, to his friends.  The friends are putting him in a place of defense.  They came to comfort him, but he is, instead, needing to defend himself.  The truth here, however, is that God does know that Job is blameless (see chapter 1).   Job has some credibility to say this, even if he is acting piously.  We have to be careful to remember that "coming out as gold" is a God thing.  Job must simply remain faith.  Which is what Satan is trying to demonstrate to God about Job.  Satan thinks if God allows this to happen to Job he will curse God.  Job is challenging God, but he is not cursing God.