Job 24 Devotional

When Judgment Seems Slow

““Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment? Why may those who know Him never see His days?”Job 24:1 (BSB)

Job asks why the Almighty does not set times for judgment that those who know him can see (24:1). Then he describes, in unflinching detail, what injustice looks like. Boundary stones are moved and flocks are stolen. The orphan's donkey and the widow's ox are taken (24:2-3). The poor forage in the wasteland, sleep exposed in the cold rain, and carry sheaves while going hungry (24:5-10). The wounded cry out, and it seems that God holds no one to account (24:12).

Scripture does not look away from any of this, and neither does Job. But the chapter also says that God's eyes are on the ways of the powerful, and that they are cut off like heads of grain (24:23-24). Both things stand side by side: the delay and the certainty. Peter says that what looks like slowness in the Lord is patience, giving people room to repent (2 Peter 3:9). God's timing is not indifference. Naming injustice honestly before him, and trusting him to answer it, is part of faith.

To think about: What injustice in the world could you name honestly before God in prayer today, trusting him to answer it?