Reflections

 7″Why do the wicked still live,
         Continue on, also become very powerful?
    8″Their descendants are established with them in their sight,
         And their offspring before their eyes,
    9Their houses are safe from fear,
         And the rod of God is not on them. Job 21: 7-9

⁶Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm and said,
    7″Now gird up your loins like a man;
         I will ask you, and you instruct Me.
    8″Will you really annul My judgment?
         Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?
    9″Or do you have an arm like God,
         And can you thunder with a voice like His?
    10″Adorn yourself with eminence and dignity,
         And clothe yourself with honor and majesty.
    11″Pour out the overflowings of your anger,
         And look on everyone who is proud, and make him low.
    12″Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him,
         And tread down the wicked where they stand.
    13″Hide them in the dust together;
         Bind them in the hidden place.
    14″Then I will also confess to you,
         That your own right hand can save you. Job 40: 6-14

Earlier Job complained that God had turned His anger on Job when Job did nothing wrong.  Job also complained that God seemed to let the wicked prosper.  Job argued that he was justified because he always did what was right, and God had no justification for “punishing” Job.

So God asks Job if he discredits God’s judgment.  Why does Job condemn God to justify himself?  God then asks Job if he is like God, can Job bring down the wicked, if so, and then God will admit that Job can save himself.

Job’s justification is not reliant on his works but solely rests on who God is.  God is the only one who can bring a proud man low and judge the wicked.  We are never justified by our works but by our faith in God.  God counted Job righteous because of Job’s faith in God.  Job feared God and shunned evil.  Job counted all of his good works and thought he was justified based on what he had done and how he stayed away from evil.  Job thought God was unjust since he believed God turned on him without cause. 

God demonstrates His glory and power to Job and shows Job that God is just and no one is like Him.  All creation is subject to God, and God deals with creation according to His will and purpose.  God can show mercy to whomever He wants including the wicked.  It is God alone that justifies man.