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Job 24:1
1 Why, seeing times [`eth] are not hidden [tsaphan] from the Almighty [Shadday], do they that know [yada`] him not see [chazah] his days [yowm]? KJV-Interlinear
1 'Why are times not stored up by the Almighty, And why do those who know Him not see His days? NASB
Jobs friends have suggested that the times of the righteous are not interrupted, and the times of the wicked are. And, all of these events occur in this lifetime at some time prior to ones death.
Job disagrees, and Job is going to list many instances where this is so. In doing so he will also teach us that even though there are folks who know substantial amounts of doctrine, when their life resides outside of the spiritual sphere, their conclusions in life can and will be wrong.
This is the case of Jobs friends. They have substantial academic knowledge, but lack wisdom and therefore cannot match their knowledge with the real world. They see only what they wish to see. They are blind to the facts of life, which as Job will illustrate, are all too obvious for all to see and nearly impossible to miss, unless of course, you do not want to see them.
And for folks who function in life, but outside of their spiritual life, seeing only what they want to see becomes the norm. It isn't that they cannot see truth, they just have other priorities or agendas, driven by there adopted beliefs or desires or motivations, which lead them to errors in their perceptions. And sometimes these errors are intentional deceptions aimed at misleading others.
God operates on a timetable which we do not have access to. God possesses foreknowledge and therefore knows many things, actually everything that will occur in history. Many folks in history will be evil, and yet they will live prosperous lives. Many folks in history will live good spiritual lives, and yet they might have more problems than seems fair.
But God looks not only at the individual events in a persons life, but also at all of the current events as well as all future events. Many generations will follow ours, and those generations will be affected by the patterns of history which precedes them.
You and I cannot figure it all out. No super-computer can fabricate algorithms to predict the future. But God knows all of the facts, and He has known them since eternity past.
God could gather up everyone into an assembly say the week before Christmas, and judge those who have been naughty, and give gifts to those who have been nice. But then if that day were known, then wouldn't everyone be nice? And likewise, many months prior to that date, wouldn't folks try to take advantage of the delayed evaluation?
Just as with the Rapture, if that date were known, then those folks who lived in prior generations would not try quite as hard, as those folks of the actual Rapture generation. That date is therefore always imminent and also unknown.
Likewise, too, your life span is an unknown quantity. Most folks believe that they will live to the see or beat the averages. And since those years are generally far off, people have a tendency to ignore them until they have a major injury or at least get old.
Unfortunately, when that time comes along, their spiritual neglect might very well have shut down all of their spiritual perceptive abilities. Their indifference has taken hold and they just ignore the repercussions.
So, Job states flat out, that God does not set an assembly date for all to see and be judged. And yes, there are many folks who will live their entire lives with little or no observable punishment during this life.
But as we all know, no one gets away with anything. And whether or not you live a charmed life now, when you advance into the next phase of your life, life after your death, you will come face to face with Christ, and that is when everyone will get their due.
