A True Believer

Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him. Job 13:15


Oswald Chambers calls this statement, "the most sublime expression of faith in the entire Bible". In understanding the story of Job we have to keep the context of his suffering in mind, Job's trials began in Heavenly places. Job was a pawn in a cosmic dual between God and satan.

Satan's accusation in chapter 1, "he only serves you because you are so good to him" implies that Job is not really as good as he seems and it puts God's judgement, that Job is good, into question. In one swoop satan attacks the integrity of Job and makes God look like a fool. If Job is really just self-serving, serving God because it pays well, then God's pleasure in Job has no reality to it. If satan's accusation can be established then Job is a phony and God is a fool. This is the theme of the story of Job and every statement in the story has to be understood with that in mind.

Job's statement here comes in his response to Zophar, the cruelest of Job's friends. While Eliphaz tried to explain that God was some how just in taking everything away from Job, for his own good and Bildab blamed the sins of Job's own children for the suffering, Zophar attacked Job himself. Zophar's explanation for Job's problems was that Job is the problem. Zophar longed to see God speak against Job. He believed that despite the severity of the suffering Job was experiencing, it was not enough, that God was actually holding back and Job deserved even more. Zophar is a cruel man. "Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin." Job 11:6.

In chapter 12 -13 Job defends himself yet again against the unbelievable cruelty of his friends who thought they had it all figured out. Their logic is simple, live right and God will bless you, do wrong and God will make you pay. This ironicly, is also the logic of satan in his original attack on Job. The Job's friends seem to mean well, they seem to speak truth, they seem to be good but they have actually become allied with satan with a pragmatic view of spiritual things. These men believed the only reason to give, was to get.

Job was breaking because of the pressure his friends were putting on him. And some how, he reached down inside and found more faith than they had, more faith than even Job knew he had.

Job said, "Though he slay me yet will I hope in him". The pressure of Job's friends was pointing him heavenward. He sure couldn't hope in them; he couldn't hope in his wife. Job's only hope of vindication, deliverance or future happiness was God. And deep down inside, Job decided that no matter what God did, God was still his only hope. That is a gut check from a true believer. "Though he slay me... " For a true believer what God does is meaningless, all that matters is being right with God. These are the heights upon which Job walked.