15 Though he slay me, I will hope in him;[a]
yet I will argue my ways to his face.
16 This will be my salvation,
that the godless shall not come before him. (Job 13:15-16 ESV)
I must admit that I have struggled with Job. Watching him be brought down, not from his own sin, but as a display of the strength of his faith. But Job sums up how this book must be read here in chapter 13.
Job’s faith is so strong that he states in these verses that though God may slay him, he knows that the godless will not come before God. Meaning, Job’s righteous faith has given him a position of honor with God, through salvation, even though God is allowing bad things to happen.
If we are honest, I think we all struggle a bit with the story of Job. Here is a man who is living a righteous life and becomes a bit of a pawn between God and satan. But we see in many situations in scripture where a persons affliction are used as a signpost to God. The problem with our fallen nature is that we do not recognize the sovereignty in these situations. We only struggle with the fairness behind it.
Job stays true and, in the end, is exonerated and given even more than he had before. However, this may never assuage the pain he felt from the loss of his first family. Regardless, he continued to trust in God’s sovereignty.
