God Chooses the GOAT

  NBA fans argue over who is the GOAT (the Greatest Of All Time). Is it LeBron, Jordan, Bird, Russell, Kareem, or Wilt? Considering their stats, impact on the game, and achievements, all of these men have a legitimate claim. But, what if there was a final arbitrator?

Imagine if God were to pick his GOAT--not in basketball, but the GOAT of righteousness. Jesus would be the obvious choice, but he's in his own special category. Say the choice was between all people on the earth excluding Jesus. Which person would be God's first draft choice for quarterback of righteousness? Certainly that person would have an interesting story.

God did choose a GOAT of righteousness. His name was Job. The Bible says he was, "perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil." (Job 1:1) The Lord said, "there was none like him in the earth." (Job 1:8)

At the beginning of his story, Job has a wonderful family, great wealth, health, and renown. That's likely what most people would expect. It's natural to think God would treat his head quarterback with respect.

In Job chapters 1 and 2 there are two scenes where the reader gets to see what is happening in God's courtroom in heaven. God brags about Job to Satan, who has shown up at court when God is meeting with his heavenly staff.

In the first courtroom meeting, Satan points out that God has blessed Job greatly. So, of course Job follows the Lord. But, if you take away everything he has, Job will curse the Lord. The Lord takes up the challenge, giving Satan power over everything Job has.

In a series of catastrophes, Satan wipes out Job's wealth and kills all his children. However, Job's faithfulness weathers the storm. He continues to worship the Lord.

In the second courtroom meeting, God again brags about Job. Satan has another challenge--if his health is taken away, Job will crumble. God gives Satan power over Job's health. Satan afflicts Job with painful sores over his whole body.

Job continues to be faithful--worshipping and serving the Lord. Job's wife even tells him to curse God and die.

It may be easy to assume she's a nagging wife, but is that fair to his wife? I've been through the death of both of my parents. There were times during their sicknesses that I asked the Lord that he would either heal them or take them home. No one likes to see a loved one suffer. So, a desire to see that loved one's pain ended is natural. While she may not be expressing those feelings in the most constructive fashion, she is likely expressing normal and natural emotions.

Let's consider the opening courtroom scenes for a moment. We see God is serving as Judge. Satan is serving as the Prosecutor. But, there's a few things missing. Where is Job? Doesn't the accused have a right for his day in court? Where are the witnesses? God's Word is clear about establishing guilt in court. Deuteronomy 19:15 says, "One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established."

In these initial courtroom scenes, the Prosecutor is drawing conclusions without offering adequate evidence. The Accused isn't present to defend himself. And, there are no witnesses that are examined.

Where is the Jury? When God established justice with the nation Israel, Scripture says, "Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges." (Deuteronomy 19:17) Notice, there isn't a single Judge.

One could argue that an infinitely wise God could serve as both Judge and Jury. Or, possibly the other heavenly staff could serve as Jury, but there's little evidence in Job to support that claim.

Another inconsistency is the lack of a defense attorney. Where is Job's Advocate? It seems Job is being tried, but he isn't given the opportunity to present an adequate defense.

With all these inconsistencies, what we'd expect (at least from our human perspective of justice) is that the court hearing would either be postponed or cancelled. But, that's not what happens.

Let's remember that we already know the Accused is innocent. He's God's GOAT of righteousness. Here things really conflict with our human sense of justice--the Prosecutor is given the opportunity to gather evidence against an innocent man by punishing the Accused.

The book of Job raises myriad questions about justice. What Job faced doesn't seem fair, does it? We're going to have to delve deeper into the book to see if there are any answers.