(23:1) Job Seeks Answers - Job continued his questioning, saying that his suffering would be more bearable if only he knew why it was happening. If there was sin for which he could repent, he would! He knew about the wicked and the fact that they would be punished; he knew God could vindicate him if he so chose. In all his examples of the wicked in the world, his overriding desire was for God to clear his name, prove his righteousness, and explain why he was chosen to receive all this calamity. Job tried to make his friends see that questions about God, life, and justice are not as simple as they assumed.

(23:9) We Can Count on the Lord - Job was saying that God appeared to be avoiding him or hiding from him. However, he also expressed confidence that God knew every detail about his journey and would come to his rescue (23:10). Sometimes our experience of God in this life leads us to doubt his constant presence or that he cares for us. We need to realize that sometimes our feelings lead us astray; we can always count on God's help and presence, even when we can't feel it.

(23:10) Job Trusts the Lord - In Job 22, Eliphaz had tried to condemn Job by identifying some secret sin that he may have committed. Here Job declares his confidence in his integrity and God's justice. We are always likely to have hidden sin in our lives, sin we don't even know about because God's standards are so high and as fallen humans we cannot attain them on our own. If we are true believers, however, all our sins are forgiven because of what Christ did on the cross on our behalf (Romans 5:1; 8:1). The Bible also teaches that even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings (1 John 3:20). His forgiveness and cleansing are sufficient; they override our nagging doubts. The Holy Spirit in us proves that we are forgiven in God's eyes even though we may feel guilty. If we, like Job, are truly seeking God, we can stand up to others' accusations as well as our own nagging doubts. God has forgiven and accepted us, so we are forgiven indeed

(23:14-17) Blaming God - Job wavered back and forth, first proclaiming loyalty to God and then complaining at being abandoned by him. His friends' words and his own suspicions were undermining his confidence in God. When adversity and suffering come, it is a natural response to blame God and to think our suffering must be divine punishment. But we must not assume that God is being hostile to us or has rejected us. His purposes go deeper than our ability to grasp all that is really happening. While this could sound like a pat answer, it is the same answer God gave Job in Job 38-41. We shouldn't expect to always know why certain calamities happen to us. Often we cannot or are not meant to know--at least in the short term. Whether later in life or in eternity when everything will at last make sense, we will gain a much better perspective on the difficulties we have faced on this earth.