Job 9:1–19 - How Can Anyone Be Right with God? (Session 13)

In this verse-by-verse Bible study of Job 9:1–19, Reasoning Through the Bible follows Job as he answers Bildad and asks one of the most important questions in all of Scripture: how can a person be right with God? This session explores why Bildad’s works-based view of suffering fails, why righteousness has always been by faith, and why no human being can successfully dispute with God. 

This study also highlights Job’s description of God’s immense power over creation, including the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the constellations. But it also shows how suffering has clouded Job’s perspective, causing him to see God’s power almost entirely through the lens of pain, judgment, and loss. The passage speaks directly to those who are hurting and wondering whether pain can distort how they see God and the world. 

A major theme in this episode is the need for a mediator. Job feels like a man standing in a courtroom with no advocate, no defense, and no way to answer the Judge. That tension points forward to the New Testament hope found in Jesus Christ, the better mediator and high priest. This session also offers practical encouragement for anyone feeling overwhelmed by trouble after trouble and not able to catch their breath. 

Topics in this episode include:

•  Job 9:1–19 explained 
•  how a person is right with God 
•  righteousness by faith in the Old and New Testaments 
•  why disputing with God fails 
•  Job’s view of God’s power 
•  suffering and distorted perspective 
•  the need for a mediator 
•  God’s control over creation 
•  asking God for wisdom and peace 

Reasoning Through the Bible is a verse-by-verse Bible teaching ministry committed to careful exposition, biblical context, and faithful application.

Transcript

Job’s Friends And Bad Theology

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Is it true that God rewards the righteous and punishes the evil? While we would hold that to be true, we also hold that in Job, some of Job's friends take that to an extreme that is just not true. There's a limit to how much we can tell about what God does in the world, and we cannot take a mechanistic view of when God punishes and when he rewards. We're going to find out more about how God deals with the world today on reasoning through the Bible. Open your Bible to the book of Job, chapter nine. And as we've been going through, if you've been with us, Job has had a series of great tragedies, and he has had three friends that have come and started to give him advice. And the friends are giving advice that's often very hurtful and very painful and increase Job's pain rather than alleviate it. Well, today we're going to see Job answer his friend Bildad. We're going to go ahead and dive in. Steve, can you read the first three verses of Job chapter nine?

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Then Job responded, In truth, I know that this is so, but how can a person be in the right with God? If one wished to dispute with him, he could not answer him once in a thousand times.

How Anyone Is Right With God

SPEAKER_00 1:40

We have Job responding to Bildad. If you remember, Bildad had presented a very works-based view of God. Bildad taught that suffering was due to God punishing the wicked, that all suffering had to be because God was punishing the wicked. Bildad's view, while true to an extent, it takes away the need for God's mercy and grace simply because if we want good things, we simply do righteous acts. If we do evil things, then we can always expect punishment from God. And that takes away God's mercy and his grace. We know from the Old Testament and the New that we can not be righteous, that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Therefore, we would be doomed to suffer. Bildad's position works for people that have convinced themselves that they are not sinning or not as bad as the other person. But if we have a true mirror to hold ourselves up against God's righteousness, then we learn that we have all sinned. In Bildad's view, there's no room for God's grace. He asked in this verse, how can a person be right with God? So, Steve, what do we know from both the New Testament and the Old about how a person can be right with God?

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Well, we see that to be found righteous before God is to have faith in God and the promises. The most famous of that is Abraham. Abraham believed in the promises that God was given to him at the time, and it says that God reckoned that to Abraham as righteousness. We also see that Noah was righteous in God's eyes. And we also see here Job. Job is put up and offered by God in front of Satan as somebody who is upright and that fears God and tries to resist evil. And then over in the New Testament, what do we see? Jesus Christ comes, he ministers to the people, he is the Messiah, he is God in the flesh, he dwelt among us. And there are promises that he gives to us of eternal life, living water, peace, a light burden, other things, and that those belief in him and trust in him, we have salvation. That is then reckoned to us as being righteous. So the bottom line is both in the Old Testament and the New, we see that faith in God and the promises that he gives to us, we will find a righteous standing before God. Now, in our case, we're on this side of the cross. So that is specifically in faith and trust in Jesus Christ and what he did in this death, burial, and resurrection. But that is a way that we can have righteousness before God is through faith in him and faith in Jesus Christ.

Why Disputing With God Fails

SPEAKER_00 4:41

In this passage, again, Job is responding to his friend Bildad. He says here in verse three, talking about what would happen if we were to try to respond to or or answer God. Job says if one wished to dispute with him, he could not answer him once in a thousand times. He's saying we don't have a chance trying to correct God or question God or dispute with God. And I think Job is a little bit wiser than many people today in our day. There's many people who seem to think they can second guess God or question God. So, Steve, how far are people going to get when they start disputing with God?

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Well, they're not going to get very far for sure. God is omniscient, meaning that he knows everything. He knows our heart. He knows our thoughts. So trying to get in a dispute with him is fruitless. It's not going to happen because he is the creator. He's created everything, he knows everything, he knows the future. We don't know the future. And we're seeing that being played out here with Job. Job is not aware of the backstory of what's going on, of why his affliction is upon him. As we've seen him give answers back to his friends, he has basically held on to that. Earlier in the text, he says, At least I've held on and I still haven't cursed God. Job knows that he's innocent, that he hasn't done anything. What you talked about earlier, as his friends, as they come up to Job and they're giving him advice, so-called advice, they're basically saying, Look, God only punishes the wicked. Job, you are being punished, therefore you are wicked. There's something that you have done wrong. And Job is continuing to push back on that narrative because he knows that he is innocent. But throughout this, that's what Job is expressing, even though he knows within himself that he's innocent, he's basically saying is who's going to go up against God? Who's going to question God and the things that are going on? Nobody's going to get very far with God whenever they do that. So I think that's Job expressing that feeling that he's having there in verse three.

God’s Power And The Skeptic’s Box

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Job does indeed say, okay, nobody can really dispute with God. And as we're going to see as we go through the book, Job doesn't really argue back with God, but what he does do is lay all of his problems at the feet of God, saying, God is silent and he's caused this pain. There's nothing I can do. He sort of almost blames God for his troubles. But here he says, Who can answer back to God? Well, he's going to find out at the end of the book because God's going to show up and respond to Job from the whirlwind and say, okay, now here I am, Job, answer me now. And all Job does is cower because of the immense power and majesty of God. We can question God as long as he's not revealing himself right here in front of us. But as soon as he does, we would cower just like Job does. I'm reminded of the atheist today who comes up with all these criticisms of God, questions what God's going to do. They stand out in the middle of a field and scream and shake their fist at God. But yet, if God were to actually show up, they would do at least what Job is doing, which is apologizing that we ever asked the question in the first place and cowering trying to hide from the mighty power of an all-powerful God. Here in this passage, we see that because he will be having his chance to question God by the end of the book. As we move on to this next section, Job continues to describe God's knowledge and his power. This next section uses especially descriptive language. I want to start reading here in verse 4. Wise in heart and mighty in strength, who has defied him without harm? It is God who removes the mountains and they do not know how when he overturns them in his anger. It is he who shakes the earth from its place and its pillars tremble, who commands the sun not to shine and puts a seal on the stars, who alone stretches out the heavens and tramples down the waves of the sea, who makes the bear Orion and the Pleiades and the constellations of the south. It is he who does great things, the unfathomable and wondrous works without number. If he were to pass by me, I would not see him. Were he to move past me, I would not perceive him. If he were to snatch away, who could restrain him? Who could say to him, What are you doing? Verse 4 talks about God being wise and mighty. Reminds me of today we see people all around us defying God on a daily basis. What happens to people who defy God?

SPEAKER_01 9:47

People who defy God, Glenn, actually defy reality. I say that because the very first thing that they'll throw out is anything that could happen supernaturally. Well, if you throw that out, then you're essentially throwing out any type of miracles that oceans could be split and people could walk across on dry land, that people could be healed instantly, that storms could be calmed with a word from Jesus and other things. You throw out the supernatural miracles and they think through that that they're also throwing out any possibility of God. But in our lifetime, we have seen different things that have happened, and we have the scriptures here that tell us of these miracles that happened. God is a creation. If we just look at the DNA in human beings and how complicated it is, it's just defying logic to actually say that there's no creator or design. If we look at nature itself as Paul tells us to do in Romans, creation itself tells us that there is a God, that there is a designer. So somebody who is defying God, in my opinion, is defying reality. There is a God, there is a creator. Now, the question is once you come to that reality, is now how do we understand God? What do we do with God? What does he want to do with us? Those are all logical questions that come about from that understanding that there is a God. So I think that people that want to defy God want to push him out. They don't want to deal with those type of questions.

When Pain Distorts What You See

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Oh, I would agree exactly. He says here in verse 4, who has defied him without harm? Well, the answer to that is everyone who defies him will end up being harmed. I'm reminded that sometimes God punishes unjust people quickly here on earth, and sometimes he is patient and gives them a chance to repent and waits till eternity to punish unjust people. But we can be assured that God will indeed punish the evil person. He will indeed punish sin. We will not get away with it. Skeptics criticize God for him dealing with evil now by punishing people, and they also criticize God for allowing evil and being patient to give people a chance so God could then punish them later if they don't repent. So the skeptic puts God in a box whether he punishes them now or waits till later. But nevertheless, we look around us and we see people committing evil acts and not being punished. But make no mistake, Job 9.4 says, all who defy God will be punished. We have here in these next verses, it's very descriptive, but Job is looking at the world, I think, through very dark glasses. He says here, it is God who removes mountains. All of the power that he's describing here is negative, removing mountains, overturning mountains in his anger, shaking the earth. The pillars tremble, the sun won't shine. He's seeing God as a very powerful God, but he's seeing God only doing negative things. Job here can't see past his pain and suffering, and it has clouded his view of God. We have Job here as having a rather skewed view of God simply because he sees the world through his suffering. I think, Steve, that is one of the issues here, is it not? Can we be possibly guilty when we get into a painful circumstance? Does that shape our view of God and how God deals with the world? And perhaps we don't see the world rightly?

SPEAKER_01 13:45

If we insist that we can't believe in what we can't understand, then essentially we're logically excluding believing in a God. Another way to put that is that we don't know everything that's going on. We don't even know how things were actually created, but yet we know that they were created. So there's a lot of things that we don't understand in this world. And whenever we get to a position that Job is in, he is suffering. He has boils all over his body. He's lost his family, he's lost his livelihood, he's lost his livestock, everything has been taken from him. And he's trying to understand, I am a follower of God. I have worshipped him. I even was sacrificing on behalf of my children in case they had ever done anything against God. I had taken these precautions to honor God, but yet here I am, I'm suffering. And he has his friends coming to him, telling him that the reason why you're suffering is because you've done something wrong. So it's not just the suffering that he's experiencing, it's the reason why. That's what he is wrestling with. So I'm coming back to my initial statement. Just because we can't understand what's going on doesn't mean that we then throw out a belief that there is a God. That doesn't make sense to do that. What we should do is we should continue to honor God, to follow through, and to know that at some point we're going to understand why it happened. It might not be in this lifetime, it might be in the next lifetime, but we will understand why it happened, I believe. At that time, we'll look back on it and we'll say, okay, now I understand why this happened and what was taking place. We've got to trust that while we don't understand, God does understand. He has love towards us, he has mercy and grace towards us. And at that point, that's really where our faith kicks in. I think Job might have been thinking before he had faith in God. Well, his faith really kicks in when he's going through this type of suffering that he's going through. And lastly, to finish up with this thought, what started this? The challenge of Satan to God saying, Yes, if you take everything away from him, he'll curse you. Well, when that didn't work, Satan then said, Well, yes, if you inflict him personally, then he'll curse you. That's the backdrop that's here. Even though Job is questioning what's going on, acknowledging that God has transcended everything and who's going to stand before him, he still has not yet abandoned God. And that's a key thing to take away, I think, so far in this story.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Verse 8, Job tells us who or what it is that created the universe. So, Steve, what's the cause of the heavens?

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Well, God is the cause of the heavens. He's created everything, everything that we have, as I just mentioned, all of creation is here because of God. He's the one that has created it.

Needing A Mediator And Real Help

SPEAKER_00 16:58

I find it interesting here in verse eight, Job says, who alone, it's it's talking about God, stretches out the heavens. And I like that word simply because modern astronomy tells us that the universe is expanding. It's being stretched out, if you will. So I just find it quite interesting that these things align with what we know about modern reality. And then in verse 12, again, he says, Who can say to God, what are you doing? Many skeptics and atheists today do just that. My friend, whenever we meet God or whenever they meet God, whenever you meet God, you're not going to be so smug. You're not going to be so full of yourself. You're going to be cowering in fear as Job does at the end of the book. When God finally shows up, Jesus tells us that people will be calling for the mountains to fall on them to get away from the great and terrible day of the Lord in Luke 23, 30. So we find this to be great, profound teaching. In this next section, Job continues to talk about how futile it is to question God. Steve, can you start at verse 13 and read down to 19?

SPEAKER_01 18:13

God will not turn back his anger. Beneath him, the helpers of Rahab tower. How then can I answer him and choose my words before him? For though I were right, I could not answer. I would have to implore the mercy of my judge. If I called and he answered me, I could not believe that he was listening to my voice, for he bruises me with a storm and multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not allow me to get my breath, but he saturates me with bitterness. If it is a matter of power, behold, he is the strong one. And if it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?

SPEAKER_00 18:56

In the first of what we just read, verse 13, it mentions Rahab, the powers of Rahab, helpers of Rahab. This is not the woman from Jericho that we met back in the book of Joshua. Rahab here is a poetic reference to a myth about a dragon or a Leviathan, a creature of the sea, sea monster. What this is saying is that even the great sea creatures, the powerful mythical beings, will all be afraid of God when he is angry. There is no hiding and nothing will be able to stand up to him. The next question, verse 14, if the greatest things in creation will cower before God, then how can people be expected to answer him? How could we be expected to answer God if the greatest creations in the universe will cower before him? What response can we give to how God decides to run his universe?

SPEAKER_01 19:54

There is no adequate response, and that's the point that Job is making here. He sees himself in a way in a courtroom without any way to really argue with the judge as to what's going on. He essentially is going to throw himself at the mercy of the judge. He has nobody there to be an arbiter on his behalf or talk on behalf of him. And he has no answers to give back as to what's going on. So Job is actually posing the exact thing that you're asking here in verse 14. How can I answer him and choose my words before him? There is nothing that we can actually say to an almighty creator God.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

In verse 16, it says, If I called and he answered me, I could not believe that he was listening to my voice. Now that verse makes me think of two different groups of people. One is that we have people that are believers that pray, but they don't really expect God to be listening to answer the prayer. They'll pray to God, but they're not really expecting him to answer it. And they're almost surprised when he does. The second type of person that I think of are people that are so down in their own sin or their own circumstances that they really don't believe God would pay them any attention. To that group, I would say, my friend, God loves the world and he knows about the world and he cares about the world and he is listening. And he's not going to put up with a lot of nonsense. So you need to be straight with them. You need to be open and honest with them. But he will listen and you can believe that he hears you. Then in verse 17, here Job again makes an accusation saying that God has multiplied Job's misery for no reason. So this theme keeps coming up, Steve. Does God act arbitrarily without any reason for what he allows? No, he doesn't.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

We know that because we see these different stories in the Old Testament and the New Testament. And we know the background of much of them. And once again, we know the background here what's going on with Job. So there's there is a reason that's going on here and what's happening to Job. And I think Job is is asking in this section a pertinent question of him saying, if I go before this Almighty judge in this mock courtroom, and I don't have anybody there to advocate for me, and I have no answers or responses as to what's going on, I just have to plead my case before them and throw myself on the mercy of the court. He's bringing up a question that is answered where it's answered in the New Testament, whenever Jesus Christ comes and he is fully human and fully God. He has been tempted in every way that we have, as we've noted in Colossians and other New Testament texts. He is our high priest. He is our mediator. He's a better mediator, a better high priest, as it's put in Hebrews. So now we have an answer to some of these questions that Job is asking in this particular section here in chapter nine. We know that we have a mediator that can advocate for us in front of God the Father. We don't have to go about wondering, much like what Job was doing, wondering who is there to advocate for me. We know we have somebody to advocate for us. Isn't that wonderful?

Asking God For Wisdom And Peace

SPEAKER_00 23:40

We can indeed take great comfort in that. Job here doesn't feel that comfort, but the book of Job is one of these things that does indeed help us with comfort. Job in verse 17 accuses God of multiplying my wounds without cause. We know that that's not really true. The picture we see in the book of Job is that in earth there's all this pain and suffering and chaos, but in heaven, things are very orderly. God is in control, things are running very smoothly. Nothing's happening outside of his all-knowing and all-powerful hand. And so we see God in control of things and allowing things, but he doesn't always bring us into his conference room to tell us why. So we may not know what God's reasons are, but we can know that God has things under control. Nothing is escaping his glance. In verse 18, he says, He will not allow me to get my breath. Job here is saying that these wave after wave of problems are happening, and I can't even catch my breath. Every time I hook my head up from the last problem, another one hits me. He can't catch his breath before another tragedy occurs. So, just a question for each of us have we ever felt like problems come on us so quickly and so rapidly that we can't catch our breath?

SPEAKER_01 25:10

It seems many times, as we've said, that trouble comes in threes. Whenever something happens, it seems like there's a couple of other things that come along at the same time. Maybe that's just our imagination. Maybe sometimes it's true. But Job here, we know for sure, is telling us that this is a truth in his particular situation. Back in chapter one, as he had reports coming back from his servants, it says, and before that servant could finish telling him what was going on, another servant showed up of telling him of another disaster and catastrophe. And there it happens about three or four times there in the first chapter of Job. So Job here is relaying an actuality of something that's happening to him. I think sometimes we feel the same thing on problems and issues that come about in our life. And really, what's the constant in that? If we are a believer in Jesus Christ, then we go to him. That's what we do, or at least that's what I do. And through that, we get wisdom, we get understanding. And in fact, that's what it tells us in James. Whenever we come up on some of these situations that we find ourselves in of suffering, James tells us, you need to go to God and ask for wisdom as to an understanding as to what's happening. Why? Because that's where we're going to find an understanding is from God. He knows everything and he knows what's happening. Do things happen to us wave after wave sometimes? Yes. Is there a constant that we can do in order to get through them? Yes. Go to God, ask for wisdom. Go to God and ask for understanding as to what's happening. And also go to God to ask for comfort. Pray to Him and ask for that peace that surpasses all understanding.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

It's always amazing how the Word of God can give us such practical everyday advice on how to live in our human condition. We'll pause here for today. Be back with us next time as we continue to reason through Job's responses, and we're going to have even more very practical real world situations that we can reason through. Thank you so much for watching and listening.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

May God bless you.