Self-Defense

     When it comes to court it is considered foolish to defend yourself.  That is because you are personally invested.  It is hard not to let your feelings get the best of you.  More importantly, a lawyer typically knows the law and how to fight using the law in a way that most people do not.

    When it comes to protecting yourself, God does not expect you to be a door mat.  On the other hand, things are not more important than human lives.  Fight for your life and the lives of other people, but don't go too far.  Don't go to a place where you kill another person unless it is not avoidable.

    Job's situation was more like the court room.  He was defending himself from his friends.  In a way he was standing alone against society and the judgmental nature of people.  Just because his life was horrible at that time, does not mean that he was a lesser person or deserved it.  He had to stand up for his conviction.

    Job was arguing his case with his "friends", but he wanted to lay it out before God.  He wanted to face God to get real answers and not just subjective ideas of why his life was this way.  If he was wrong, it was his life at risk and no one else's life.

    Job had had enough of his friends, so he told them to be quiet and keep their opinions to themselves.  The trust he once had in them was now broken.  He even comprehended that God would judge them for their judgments against him.  He had lost trust in people, but not God.  Any hope that he was holding onto was in God.  He trusted God to vindicate him one day.

    Job wanted God to withdraw this punishment from him.  Anyone that is sick or in pain wants the infliction to go away.  He just knew that if he could just layout his case before God, then everything would get better.  

    Job had already racked his brain before his friends arrived to try to find a sin to deserve his torment, but all he could come up was the sins of his youth.  He did not have any habitual sins.  He knew he was innocent and he had to defend himself even if he did not feel like it.

Job 13