28th October 2025

28th October 2025


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Job 12) 


Message (Scott Woodburn)


It is incredibly difficult to sit quietly as criticism is poured out upon you. There are certainly times that we need to hear the hard words of a friend but there are also times that such words are unjustified and unhelpful. I think it is clear that Job’s friends loved him as they had traveled many miles and sat beside him for seven days and nights. But they could not get past their assertion that Job was suffering because their friend had done something that he was unwilling to admit.


In response Job sarcastically suggested that his friends were the only wise people in the world and no doubt wisdom would die with them (v2). But for sure they weren’t the only wise people - Job also had understanding and he was by no means inferior to Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar (v3). Even so, Job had become a laughing stock to his friends, he was both just and blameless but also a figure of scorn (v4). Robbers were at peace, those who scorned God were secure and idol worshippers had no fear (v6), but Job was in the depth of despair.


The theology of the counsellors was that bad things happened to bad people and good men experienced no hardship. God therefore was easily managed - stay on the straight and narrow and you’ll have nothing to worry about. Job wasn’t convinced with their shallow approach. He was sure that creation knew all about God’s sovereignty (v7-8) - no drop of rain falls without the will of God. In God’s hand is the life of every creature and every person (v10). Therefore Job agreed with his friends that God had brought calamity to his life (v10) but he disagreed as to “why” God had done this.


What Job did understand was that the Lord cannot be withstood. If He tears down, it can’t be rebuilt (v14) and if He withholds the waters then the land drys up (v15). He is both strong and wise holding both the deceived and deceiver in His hand (v16). God leads counsellors, He makes judges fools (v17), he turns the decisions of kings upside-down (v18) and He overthrows the mighty (v19). It is the Lord God who causes the greatness of nations and it is the Lord who ends empires (v23). Job’s point is clear, the simple wisdom of his friends was no wisdom at all - God cannot be manipulated or managed and His ways cannot be tied up in a neatly packaged box.


Brothers and sisters, it is good to remember the unknowability of our God. What do I mean? The Lord is knowable and has revealed much in His Word which should be believed and proclaimed. Yet may we never be so arrogant to believe that we have mastered the Lord and can easily explain His ways. May we remember our place and rest in the goodness of God who keeps the secret things as His own possession (Deuteronomy 29v29). 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q4 What is God?
God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
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