When I was an engineer at Ford Motor company, one of my products was the Wiper Control Module. It was considered a safety critical item. It had to work under extreme conditions. One failure meant that a driver could not see clearly out of the windshield.

Job doesn’t see everything clearly, but he sees much more clearly than his friends. In Job 21, he refutes Zophar’s line of argument of the wicked being ruined in this life. Job lays out example after example of the prosperity of the wicked. They grow old and increase in power (v. 7). Their homes are safe and free from fear (v.9). They spend their years in prosperity (v. 13). They say to God, “Leave us alone!” (v. 14). From Job’s perspective, the wicked and ungodly live a pretty good life.

This sounds very similar to the argument stated by Asaph in Psalm 73. Asaph entered the sanctuary of God and understood the ultimate end of the wicked. He stated, “When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!” (vv. 16–19). Asaph realized that his reasoning was clouded: “When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you” (vv. 21–22). In the end, he reaffirms his faith, “It is good to be near God” (v. 28).

Job had lived a godly life and yet had been ruined. Ungodly people, he observed, are prospering. His friends’ arguments do not hold water. Maybe if his friends were quiet or left, Job could spend time with the Lord and begin to see even more clearly.

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