The Confidence of the Righteous - Job 13:15-18; 19:23-29
by David Woods
The following is an excerpt from an article on Focus on the Family's Focus on Your Child web site.
A team of doctors decided to conduct an experiment to study the ways in which group pressure influences young people. To accomplish this, they invited 10 teenagers into a room and told them they were going to evaluate their "perception" to learn how well each student could "see" the front of the room from where he sat.
Actually, all the teenagers were very close to the front of the room and everybody could see quite easily. What the doctors were actually studying was not the eyesight of the students, but the effects of group pressure.
The doctors said, "We're going to hold up some cards at the front of the room. On each card are three lines - Line A, Line B, Line C, each of different length. In some cases Line A will be the longest; in other cases Line B will be the longest, and in still other cases Line C will be the longest. Several dozen cards will be shown with the lines in a different order. We'll hold them up and point to Line A, Line B and Line C on each card. When we point to the longest line, please raise your hand to show that you know it is longer than the others." They repeated the directions to make sure everybody understood, and then raised the first card and pointed to the top line.
What one student didn't know was that the other nine had been secretly informed earlier to vote for the second longest line. In other words, they were told to vote wrongly.
The doctors held up the first card and pointed to Line A, which was clearly shorter than Line B. At this point, all nine students cooperated in the scheme and raised their hands. The fellow being studied looked around in disbelief. It was obvious that Line B was the longest line, but everybody seemed to think Line A was longer.
He later admitted that he thought, I must not have been listening during the directions. Somehow I missed the point, and I'd better do what everybody else is doing or they'll laugh at me. So he carefully raised his hand with the rest of the group. Then the researchers explained the directions again: "Vote for the longest line; raise your hand when we point to the longest line."
It couldn't have been more simple! Then they held up the second card, and again, nine people voted for the wrong line. The confused fellow became more tense over his predicament, but eventually he raised his hand with the group once again. Over and over he voted with the group, even though he knew they were wrong.
This one young man was not unusual. In fact, more than 75 percent of young people tested behaved that same way. They sat there time after time, saying a short line was longer than a long line! They simply didn't have the courage to say, "The group is wrong. I can't explain why, but you guys are all confused." A small percentage - only 25 out of 100 - had the courage to take their stand against the group, even when the majority was obviously wrong. This is what peer pressure does to an insecure person.
The pressure that those going through this "game" felt was very great. I wouldn't be surprised if many decided it was just a momentary test; they could answer wrongly even though they knew it was wrong, but it wouldn't matter.
In actuality, their integrity was on the line. It was an important test of their commitment to the truth.
While their test was important and I do not mean to underestimate the stress that these participants felt, I think I can safely say that the man in our scripture text was under a much greater test and experienced many times as much suffering and stress as the participants in that scientific experiment.
Job had done nothing wrong. But God had allowed Satan to deprive him of almost everything. Last week, we asked some questions about why God would allow such suffering to overcome a person.
Job had many questions. In the latter part of the book we see how he began to question God in a way that is not right, and he later repented of those questions. But Job maintained his integrity. He had a spotless testimony before God and he maintained that blameless testimony.
Read Job 13:15-18
In verses 15 and 16 I note three things about Job that are themes that run throughout our scripture text and also throughout the whole book of Job.
- Job had a great trust in God.
- Job had great self-confidence concerning his spiritual condition.
(Note that the word "maintain" in verse fifteen actually means "defend." Job felt confidence he had a great defense of his life.) - Job knew God would be his salvation.
Discussion: Do you have as great confidence in your righteousness as Job did in his own righteousness?
Discussion: Can we have such great confidence? Why? How?
Discussion: Why do you think many do not feel such great confidence in their righteousness?
(Some Christians are not truly living Christlike lives. Some people's theology teaches a sinning religion, so while they may believe they are saved, they do not feel confidence of their righteousness. Some just have trouble feeling great self-confidence concerning their spirituality, etc.)
Read Job 19:23-29
Discussion: Job wanted his words recorded for posterity. He felt like they would teach all generations a great lesson. What lesson(s) do we learn from Job's experience?
Discussion: What affect on others does a spotless Christian testimony have?
Read Job 19:25-27
Job lived before Moses' time. Job was very much pre-Christ. Yet these verses teach accurately several very important doctrines.
They teach that God - Christ - will be our redeemer. The verse comments say: "How Job expected to be redeemed is not clear. He may have been referring to being restored to health, to the resurrection of his body, or to the redemption of the race by Jesus Christ."
But the Holy Spirit's inspiration of these words is clear. For while Job may not have understood exactly what the Spirit was revealing to him, he did believe that God would be his redeemer.
Also, these verses teach accurately about a resurrection in which the Christian will see God in a glorified body.
I would like us to especially focus on verse twenty-six. Note that Job was not running away from death. Instead, he was embracing death. No, I don't think Job wanted to die, yet his words do not betray a fear of death. Rather, they really betray an anticipation of death.
Discussion: Why was Job so confident in fearing death?
Discussion: Do the redeemed really have such great confidence in the face of death? Why?
Although my beliefs concerning the end times are pre-tribulation, pre-millennium, my opinion is that many Christians look to the Rapture in an escapist attitude.
They have become fearful of our world and fearful of the future. They do not want to suffer great hardship. They do not want to engage the world. They just want to escape. So they hope for the Rapture to come quickly.
Discussion: How might we be changed as individuals and churches if we, like Job, embraced our coming death? How would our attitudes and actions be changed? How would our actual testimony be changed? How would the testimony that the world receives from us be different?
Before we conclude this lesson, I want to take a short detour to consider a problem that is connected with this lesson, but not the primary focus of it.
That is, I wonder if we, the Church, are sometimes like Job's friends. I wonder if we at times see other Christians who are suffering hardship - or may not be suffering - but we feel like they have sinned.
Discussion: Do we really believe that the Holy Spirit convicts of sin? If we do, is it our place to confront others concerning sins we think they are committing?
Discussion: At what point is there a proper place for church discipline?
Discussion: In our attempt not to be judgmental or usurp the Holy Spirit's role of conviction how can we avoid the pitfall of overlooking sin?
Okay, after taking that detour let us now return to the main point of the lesson. The writer of the "Doctrinal Discussion" points out that Job believed God would defend him from the attacks on his integrity, God was His redeemer - from sin, but also from death, and God would resurrect him from the dead.
Here is what I see God teaching us in this lesson:
Big Idea: The confidence of the righteous is that God never fails.
God never fails. So He will defend us from all attacks. He has redeemed us from sin and He will one day deliver us from this sinful world. He will resurrect us and we will see Jesus face to face in a glorified body.
Job had great confidence in God because he knew that God never fails. So my final question must be:
Reflection: Do you have such confidence in your salvation?
You can have such great confidence. You can know that you have been forgiven of all your sins. You can know that you have been cleansed of all unrighteousness.
You can know that you stand before God blameless. You can, because God never fails. God offers each one of us forgiveness of sins and cleansing of inbred sin. You can be confident of your spiritual condition before God!