Job 22-26 The argument between Job and his friends wages on.  They are getting angry at Job, for he will not be persuaded that they are right.  He has not done the things they have accused him of doing.  They want him to repent, but he has nothing to repent of.. or so he thinks.  Eliphaz's criticism is almost vicious.  Yet, Job does not respond in anger.  Instead, Job turns back to his yearning to seek God, to find Him, and to learn what He is doing. 

"Oh that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come to His seat! I would present my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would learn the words which He would answer, and perceive what He would say to me. Would He contend with me by the greatness of His power?" (23:3-6) 

Job believes that he is completely innocent and that God is acting in a way that terrifies him. "It is God who has made my heart faint, and the Almighty who has dismayed me..." (v15-16) 

In chapter 24 Job wonders at the ways of God that seem to favor the wicked and fail the poor.  The more he talks, the more discouraged they all become! 

Bildad begins to sink into a depression.. .. "How then can a man be just with God?..If even the moon has no brightness and the stars are not pure in His sight, how much less man, that maggot, and the son of man, that worm!"(25:4-6)

Job rebukes Bildad, "To whom have you uttered words? And whose spirit was expressed through you?"

Job reminds him that God is great...."He stretches our the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing. He wraps up the waters in His clouds; and the cloud does not burst under them." (26:7-8) 

God covers the moon. He makes a boundary for light and darkness. He quiets the seas. He clears the heavens.  "His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent. Behold these are the fringes of His ways; and how faint a word we hear of Him! But His mighty thunder, who can understand?"

When things don't make sense in our world.. when the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer.. when we can't hear God's voice and we start to feel terrified or deserted.. may we be like Job in this moment.. remembering Who God is.. the power of His might.. His greatness and His goodness. May we encourage one another with the message of God's love and grace. 

"Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.."

Father in heaven, teach us to seek You with all our hearts and to never give up. Show us Your glory in the midst of our sorrows, pain, depression.. or whatever is blocking our path to You. We desire to draw nearer to Your heart, to be filled with Your love, and to lay everything else down at Your feet.  Spirit of God let the power of Christ work in us today. We ask this in the wonderful name of Jesus. Amen.