Have We Eaten the Wind? Reflections on Job 15–23

Prattling reveals foolishness, for true wisdom carries the dignity to know when silence is more powerful than words. Arguments apart from reverence for the Almighty are empty and futile. As Scripture teaches, "The awe of the Holy One is the beginning of wisdom." To honor the Lord is to give meaning to knowledge, for without Him, knowledge becomes hollow. The Israel Bible reminds us on Job 15:4:

“Without awe of God, knowledge is empty and can be twisted for any number of negative purposes. However, knowledge rooted in fear of Hashem leads to scrupulous attention to His word, for which one is rewarded in both this world and the world to come.”

Sin fuels the speech of fools, twisting even beauty into destruction. Rashi comments on Job 15:6, “Give me an answer to my question; the result will be that your own mouth will condemn you, for it is better for me that your mouth should condemn you and not I.” Sin not only deceives—it also makes us proud. Pride distances us from the Holy One, though God longs to bless His people. Yet, like stubborn children, we rebel against His mercy. John Calvin, in his sermon on Job 15, recognized this human tendency:

“Seeing that men have at all times been stubborn against God, and he could never yet make them to receive that which were for their behoof [advantage]: let us not think it strange that we also must part the same way, and then the authority of God and of his word is debased by our stubbornness and by the malice of men considering that their judgment is so awk and that they cannot give themselves to goodness.” (265–266, Arthur Golding 1574, Lucus Harris)

Our hearts condemn us when we sin, but through repentance, we encounter God’s peace. Even suffering cannot rob the children of God of this true peace. Rabbi Eliezer Parkoff explains in Fine Lines of Faith:

“Therefore, He unsettles the heart and thoughts of the wicked with fear and trembling. For real success is tranquility of spirit, peace of the soul, and joy of the heart.” (Pg. 93, Feldheim Publishers © 1994)

Yet pain defies counsel. Words, however eloquent, cannot erase grief. Both silence and speech seem inadequate before suffering. Still, the Lord’s righteous anger stands firm, and at times the innocent may be handed over to the unjust. Misfortune comes to all, for all must die. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, in his sermon Our Last Journey (Sept. 9, 1877), spoke with piercing clarity:

“We own ourselves mortal, but do not expect to die just now. Even the aged look forward to a continuance of life, and the consumptive dream of possible recovery… ‘I,’ the preacher; you, each one of you looking upon the preacher now,— ‘I shall go the way whence I shall not return.’ As surely as you live you will die.”

The righteous endure mockery, while the wicked seem to prosper. Yet human wisdom is empty—true hope is found only in Heaven. Hell is real, and though every person is given a Light to choose God, sin dims that Light. The one who fully rejects God extinguishes it entirely, falling into self-deceit and, ultimately, eternal ruin. At death, the sinner faces hell; at the end, those who rejected the Lord face the Lake of Fire.

Thus judgment belongs to God alone. Our sin is ours to bear, not another’s to condemn. Instead of exalting ourselves over the broken, we are called to compassion. John Calvin, in his sermon on Job 19, exhorts:

“But yet nevertheless we must still have pity of the miseries that we see him in, and if we be kindhearted, there will be some mitigation and gentleness, and we will use him after some quiet fashion.” (pg. 223, Arthur Golding 1574, Lucus Harris)

God, who creates and destroys, gives and takes away in mercy. As Deuteronomy 8:3 declares:

“He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.” (NASU)

To purge pride, God humbles us again and again. Though men scorn the destitute, hope rests in the Messiah. Job himself declared with confidence:

“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God;” (Job 19:25–26, NASU)

This hope drives us to action. God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked—not always in this life, but certainly in eternity. The joy of the hypocrite is fleeting; the word of God endures forever.

The wicked may live long and die with wealth, but their memory will rot, their riches fall to the poor, and their eternity be spent in torment. The oppressor will never know rest. On Judgment Day, all will stand naked before the Lord.

Therefore, let us not mock the suffering but learn from silence, for wisdom is born there. Though horror often engulfs the righteous while the wicked prosper, the final word belongs to God. As Job observes:

“They spend their days in prosperity, And suddenly they go down to Sheol.” (Job 21:13, NASU)

In the end, the righteous and wicked alike face death. One may die rich, another poor, but both stand before the same Judge. All men will die, and all men will be judged. Our only hope is to cling to the Redeemer who lives.

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Application

What then shall we do with this sobering truth? First, we must learn humility—silence before God teaches us that wisdom begins with awe, not argument. Second, we must cling to repentance, for only in returning to the Lord do we find true peace of soul. Third, we are called to compassion: instead of judging the broken, we must be quick to comfort, slow to condemn, and eager to show mercy. Finally, we must live with eternity in view. The wicked may prosper now, but their joy is fleeting; the righteous may suffer now, but their hope is everlasting. Therefore, let us anchor our lives in Christ, our living Redeemer, so that even in suffering we may echo Job’s words: “I know that my Redeemer lives.”

Is not Your Fear of God Your Faith? (Job 4-5)

 

God has given everyone free will, that each may choose to serve Him or to turn away. Yet, this freedom is not without trials. Trials are not accidents but are designed by God as testing grounds of our faith. As Rashi comments on Job 4:2:

“Because He tested you with one thing, should you weary? With one rest that the Holy One, blessed be He, tested you, you have become weary. From now on, who will be able to withhold his words from answering you?”

Suffering, then, is not meaningless—it is a revelation of endurance and trust. True faith does not collapse at the first sign of affliction but learns to endure.

The Midrash (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 22) observes that trials are not punishments, but opportunities:

“The Holy One, blessed be He, tests the righteous not because He does not know what is in their hearts, but in order to make them an example for the world.”

This is precisely what happens in Job. His trials reveal to all generations that faith grounded in reverence for God does not depend on prosperity or ease.

In seasons of darkness, the teacher becomes the student. Even the righteous, who seem firm and unshakable, are not exempt from hardship. Yet, paradoxically, suffering becomes their teacher. Hardship drives the faithful to prayer, humbles them before God, and refines their character. John Calvin, in his sermon The Fourteenth Sermon which is the first upon the Fourth Chapter of Job, emphasized this very point:

“Here upon we pray unto God and make our moan unto him: and yet never the less, if it please him punish us, we are ready to receive his stripes with meekness: Low how we ought to deal.”
(Arthur Golding, 1574; Lucus Harris ed.)

Calvin reminds us that the faithful do not pray merely to escape suffering. They pray to remain steadfast under it. To receive affliction with meekness is not weakness but a testimony that faith rests upon God’s wisdom, not man’s strength.

The sages also reflected on this tension. The Talmud (Berakhot 5a) teaches:

“If a person sees suffering come upon him, he should examine his deeds… If he examined them and found no sin, he should attribute it to neglect of Torah study. And if he did, and found none of this, he should know that these are sufferings of love.”

This rabbinic teaching shows that suffering is sometimes corrective, sometimes educational, and sometimes an expression of God’s mysterious love—a means to draw one closer.

When God tests us, discouragement often comes quickly. It is always easier to prescribe comfort to others than to practice it ourselves. Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary (1859) on Job 4:5 captures this human tendency:

“We may easily prescribe for others, but when we are sick, we know not what to do.”

How true this is! Words flow easily when pain is far from us, but when sorrow grips our own hearts, our tongue falters. And yet, this is where the integrity of faith shines brightest. Integrity means standing firm in the hope of God when every earthly prop has been removed. The “artisans of iniquity,” as the commentary notes, will fall, but those who cling to the Lord will endure.

The Jewish exegete Ibn Ezra saw in Job’s trials a profound lesson: man cannot measure divine justice by human standards. He wrote that Job’s suffering was not meaningless but a divine mystery—“for the ways of God are hidden, and man’s wisdom cannot encompass them.” Similarly, the Ramban (Nachmanides) stressed that trials are for the perfection of the soul, not merely the punishment of the flesh.

God, in His mercy, grants flashes of His Light to reveal our sinfulness and weakness. These glimpses are humbling, for they remind us that man is not greater than God, nor are angels His equals. Human wisdom and strength collapse when compared to His majesty. If we are to teach, preach, or minister, it must be by His Spirit alone. Charles Haddon Spurgeon expressed this with piercing clarity in his sermon “So it is” (November 30, 1890):

“His own utterances concerning Christ crucified had been to him the power of God unto salvation. O beloved, no man has any right to teach in the Sunday-school, or preach, or pretend in any other way to be sent of God, unless he has been so taught of the Holy Spirit that he has an intimate acquaintance with the gospel.”

The rabbis, too, stressed this dependence on divine wisdom. The Malbim, commenting on Job, wrote that human knowledge is always partial, while divine wisdom embraces the whole: “Man sees one link of the chain, but God holds the entire chain of creation in His hand.”

Spurgeon’s words and the rabbis’ insight bring us back to the essence of faith: to fear God is to know Him truly. Fear here is not terror, but reverence—the recognition that He alone is holy, sovereign, and worthy of trust. Faith, therefore, is inseparable from this reverence. One cannot claim to trust God while dismissing His majesty.

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Application

The story of Job, and the reflections of both Jewish and Christian teachers through the centuries, remind us that suffering tests the authenticity of our faith. When affliction comes, the shallow heart despairs, but the faithful learn to bow in humility, saying, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15). Our fear of God—the reverent awe that recognizes His sovereignty—anchors our faith.

The rabbis taught that suffering, when received with humility, refines the soul and elevates the righteous as examples to the world. The Church fathers and Reformers preached the same: endurance under trial is not wasted, but the very soil in which faith takes root and grows deep.

So, let us not shrink from trials, but receive them as opportunities to deepen our dependence on God. When comfort seems far, may we remember that the Lord Himself is our comfort. When our wisdom fails, may His Spirit instruct us. And when suffering tempts us to abandon hope, may we look to Christ crucified—and, in Jewish teaching, to the God who disciplines His beloved—as the ultimate proof that divine love is present even in the darkest night.

Faith and fear of God are not separate paths—they are one. For to fear God rightly is to trust Him fully.

Have You Considered my People? (Job 1-3)

 

Everything in life—both what we call good and what we call bad—can be a blessing when placed in God’s hands. The Lord desires to bless His people, and His blessings are always aimed toward our ultimate good. A life that pleases God often experiences such blessings, but our service to Him is never meant to be a mere transaction for material gain. When we serve Him with pure hearts, we may indeed receive material provision, but it is the spiritual reward that endures. Rabbi Eliezer Parkoff, in his book Fine Lines of Faith, observed,

“For you will never find the existence of material beings without the previously assumed concept of deterioration, constantly throwing off one form and taking on another.”
(p. 22, Feldheim Publishers, 1994)

The angels marvel at those who choose to love the Lord, for such love stands firm against every trial. The Adversary—once an angel of light—now seeks only to accuse, to sift, and to undermine. C. H. Spurgeon, in his 1865 sermon Satan Considering the Saints, described the wonder with which Satan beholds the faithful:

“When Satan looks at the Christian, and finds him faithful to God and to His truth, he considers him as we should consider a phenomenon—perhaps despising him for his folly, but yet marveling at him, and wondering how he can act thus. ‘I,’ he seems to say, ‘a prince, a peer of God’s parliament, would not submit my will to Jehovah.’”

Satan’s tactics are predictable: strip away possessions, health, and comfort under the pretense of testing love’s sincerity. His hope is to expose faith as self-interest. But true love for God endures even when blessings are withdrawn. Job expressed this truth with timeless conviction:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21, NASB)

Flesh is flesh, and every human has limits. Our bodies and souls can only bear so much pain before they reach breaking points. Yet, even in moments of collapse, God’s mercy covers His children. The affliction of the present moment is nothing compared to the joy of eternity. However, in the midst of suffering, the cruelest wounds are often inflicted not by enemies, but by friends who come to “help” with judgment and suspicion rather than compassion. In such moments, the truest ministry is found in silent presence, not in endless speeches.

The faithful must also guard their hearts against the allure of pagan mysticism, empty superstitions, and the chaotic darkness that seeks to replace the Creator’s light. Faith cannot be divided—our trust must be in God alone. Human achievements, however impressive, will crumble into dust. The grandest monuments to self will stand as ruins in time, a silent testimony that our days are numbered.

Yet God, in His mercy, still reveals light to the poor and to the innocent. His justice is not blind; His compassion is not absent. Job’s story is not merely about enduring hardship—it is about the cosmic reality that faith is tested in the crucible of suffering. And when that faith emerges refined, it speaks louder than any sermon. It tells the watching world—and even the heavenly hosts—that God is worthy of worship, not because of what He gives, but because of who He is.

In our own lives, the trials may not come as dramatically as Job’s, yet the principle remains: faith that only thrives in comfort is not faith at all. When the bottom falls out—when loss, illness, or betrayal strike—our response becomes the true measure of our devotion. Will we cling to God when the blessings are stripped away, or will we accuse Him of neglect? The call of Job’s life is to worship not for what we gain, but for who God is. This means resisting the temptation to explain away another’s suffering, and instead becoming a quiet, steady presence that reflects God’s compassion. It means rejecting the false lights of worldly wisdom and standing firmly in the unshakable truth of God’s Word. Today, choose to serve Him in the valley as you do on the mountaintop, declaring with unshaken conviction: “Blessed be the name of the LORD.”