Job 10-12

“I am a laughingstock to my friends …” (12:4).  Job’s complaint to God provoked his friends to rebuke him.  Job’s friends believed in a simplistic, karma-like version of God’s justice, and so they assumed that Job must have sinned to “deserve” such trouble.  They urged him to repent: “If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away” (11:14).  But Job argued that human behavior does not control the universe; God does. “If He tears down, none can rebuild … If He withholds the waters, they dry up” (12:14-15). 

“With Him are strength and sound wisdom” (12:16). Rather than simplistic answers to complex questions, we take comfort in God’s infinite wisdom.  We can trust Him to do what is right.