Can anyone bring charges against me? If so, I will be silent and die. – Job 13:19

Today's Scripture Reading (August 24, 2024): Job 13

In the society in which I live, there is a belief that we are innocent until we have been proven guilty. I say belief because that is pretty obviously not true. Right now, I have a few friends going through a legal dispute. Admittedly, this description doesn't really measure up. The accused crime was breaking and entering. Both sides blame each other, and friends take one side of the dispute or the other. I am stuck in the middle, and it has been a painful place to be as people on both sides have blamed me for not taking a side. I have refused to take one version of the facts over the other. Friends have already decided that one side is guilty even though there has yet to be a trial. And anyone who maintains that we don't know the whole story is immediately maligned as unloving and out to lunch.

It can be a frustrating place to be, and we have all probably been there. I remember the O. J. Simpson murder trial, and I am not sure that I know anyone who lived through that trial and did not have an opinion about the guilt or innocence of O. J. Usually, anyone who believed something different was classified as an idiot.

Job is having a conversation with his friends. And while the conversation is convoluted and sometimes confusing, one thing is clear. As the friends gather around Job, there is no assumption of innocence. Job's friends believe that Job is guilty. But there is a problem: no one knows what he is guilty of.

So, Job brings a request. He would like to be charged with a crime if he is guilty. He maintains that if he is charged, then he will stop proclaiming his innocence and simply die. It is likely an exaggeration, but it is harmless since Job is pretty sure that his friends have no idea what the charge should be. All they know is that God has delivered his verdict.

Job maintains that he will maintain his innocence until charges can be laid, even though he doesn't understand the charges or what he has done to justify the verdict brought against him. 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Job 14