If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
It does not surprise me in the least that the word contest is found only once in the ESV.
Lest we forget ourselves let us look at context.
Job 9:18-20 English Standard Version
18 he will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
19 If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
20 Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
Job makes an emotional response to a physical sensation. That is of the world, the flesh and he blames God for how he feels and therefore subject to all the ill will that comes with living. It is a feeling of helplessness, a loss of hope.
What I see in these verses is what I see. What I believe is how I live and breathe. I am accountable to God for what I say in this world.
What I see is that I can take what I know to be true in Kingdom Living into the world but I cannot take that which I see and believe in the world and infect Kingdom Living. The Sword of the Spirit protects the Way.
He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
That has not changed from the very beginning. God does not change.
When we are in fellowship with one another we must remember we do not summon Him. He is there to serve the Father’s will. We will be held accountable for what we say to one another.
We should confess our weaknesses but in doing so be careful not to accuse God. I may not like what is going on in the world but it is not God’s fault. The God of justice will adjudicate justice on His terms, not according to our wishes.
I would hope that no one would be proven to be proverse. If it is so, let it be the hand of God to prove and not we ourselves.