Title Judgment/Job 20:1-11
Content Job 20:1-11
judgment
--A large ship carrying a gang of criminals was punished by the gods and was completely wrecked. Of course, everyone on the ship was annihilated. Not only the sinners in the ship, but also other people who had nothing to do with these sinners died along with them. A certain man, who heard the story of this incident, cried out in great anger.
"God's judgment is so futile. It is so unfair to treat people who have not sinned the same as criminals."
But at that very moment, an ant crawling under the person's feet came up to the person's ankle and bit him tightly!
"Oh, it stings, you naughty ants."
Angered by an ant bite, the man crushed and killed not only the ant that bit his ankle, but also dozens of other ants crawling on the ground. Still, he couldn't get his stomach out, so he looked everywhere to see if there were any ants left.
Then, all of a sudden, the staff hit him on the shoulder. "Oh, who are you?" and looked back at the man. But there, the god Hermes was holding a staff.
Startled, the man asked. "No, why?" Then, waving his staff, the god Hermes said.
"Really, human beings have no sense of humor. How can you only know the faults of others and not your own, and now you have killed dozens of ants when one ant made a mistake. How can you shout out that only God's judgment is wrong? "
Hearing the words of the god Hermes, the man could not say anything.
--On the battlefield, if a commander misjudges the enemy's movement, he can drive all his troops to death. In this case, a momentary judgment is to put the lives of countless soldiers at the crossroads of life and death, regardless of whether the war is won or lost. Even if it is not in such a serious case, one big or small judgment in our daily life will inevitably bring a corresponding result.
And for some people, such a judgment can be the crossroads of ups and downs, or even the crossroads of life and death.
##### 1. Refrain from making hasty judgments
The text is the introductory part of Zophar's second accusation against Job, and it shows the attitude of Zophar's wrong judgment. In other words, he was very impatient.
<My thoughts answer me, because my heart is on the basics> (verse 2). Because I was so anxious, I had no choice but to make hasty judgments.
If you are confident in anyone's words, you will have a calm attitude and there will always be some coherence in their words. However, on the contrary, words without certainty naturally tend to be wrapped in a feeling of insecurity, and there is no choice but to have a small attitude. What more can we say when it comes to making hasty judgments by threatening the other side?
Being hasty implies anxiety and has already lost the standard of fair judgment. The high priests and Pharisees condemned Jesus is a typical example of that. So, they were focused on protecting their vested interests, so they rushed to attack the Lord, and they crucified Jesus because of their tremendous misjudgment.
There is a story that Don Quixote drew his sword and rushed towards the spinning windmill with a majestic sound. A hasty judgment can cause not only laughter, but also great misfortune.
##### 2. We must refrain from making malicious judgments
Zophar's second mistake was to deliberately and maliciously judge Job's answers. This is exactly what it says, 'Because I have heard a reproof that puts me to shame' (verse 3). So, Zophar only heard Job's sincere answers as accusations against him. It is evident that he even humiliatedly listened to Job. No matter how precious and true a word may be, if it is judged maliciously and heard, it is bound to sound harmful.
That is why, at times, even the most good words can be heard as shame and disgrace.
In the book of Acts, Stephen proudly testified of God's truth, but the Jewish religious leaders who heard this all covered their ears and threw him out of the city and stoned him to death. It is a representative example of maliciously judging good words. That's right. No matter how good a word may be, if it is judged maliciously, it will sound absurd, vile, sophistry, obscene, gossip, and even self-defeating words. That's why we even kill ourselves with good intentions, and even get heard. That is why we must say everything with good intentions, but we must also listen to and judge others.
##### 3. Avoid self-centered judgment
Sobal's third mistake was to judge himself to be good. Such is the case with the saying, 'My prudent heart answers me' (verse 3). Calling himself wise was an exaggeration of self-esteem, and it was a completely egotistical judgment.
There are many misjudgments in this world, but no misjudgment is so unfortunate as self-centered judgment. This is because if you set standards for yourself, you will already see things that are right for you, and things that don't fit you will look wrong. Nevertheless, many people base all their judgment on themselves. That is why these people misjudg their entire life. Therefore, when we are going to judge something, we should not set the standard on ourselves but only on God.
Because God's view is always the best.
Saints!