Chapter 12

Job replies to Zophar, first with sarcasm, and then as an equal.  Job says he is as able to discern sin as they are, and there is no sin that warrants his suffering:

3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these? [Job 12:3 ESV]

"Tell me something I don't already know."

In vs 4, Job calls himself "blameless".  We have to remember that this is before the law.  We are under the Noahic covenant, which is unconditional.  Under that covenant, Job could truly claim to be blameless.

This phrase:

5 In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip. [Job 12:5 ESV]

Job goes on with a description of God's sovereignty over all that is. I liked these verses in particular:

10 In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. ...

12 Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days. ...

16 With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his. ...

20 He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders. ...

23 He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away. [Job 12:3, 10, 12, 16, 20, 23 ESV]

All these things he says about the greatness of God, pointing out that with great age, with time, comes wisdom, and so God has more wisdom than any can attain to since he has been there from the beginning.  The sovereignty of God in all matters is the thrust of what Job says.  This would all seem to show that Job has not lost his faith at all, nor is it even diminished.  He knows that God's ways are right, whether he can discern them or not.  We can watch a physicists write equations on the board, know that he understands them, but try as we might, we never can.  We don't resent the physicist.  Should we resent God when we don't understand his ways?

Possible FB post here.