Job 40-42:1-6
Last week we considered the way in which God spoke to Job from a whirlwind, God's authoritative questioning and in particular his first question to Job, "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?"
Job, who had been so self-assured of his own righteousness, who was broken in body and heart by all he had gone through, bereft of family and condemned by friends, now experiences the voice of God which appears not to know him and demands he answers question after question concerning God's creation of earth and life.
What is the effect?
Does Job try to stand up for himself and say, "But I've always tried to be upright and moral, I've looked out for the poor and helped the needy. I didn't do anything to deserve all this. I thought you were a God of love!"?
No, not at all. He says,
"I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice: but I will proceed no further" (40:4).
"Vile." Job couldn't describe himself as any worse.
This was the effect of God's answer on him. He saw what he was in relation to God, what he as a sinner was in God's sight, and he had nothing to say in his defence.
Have we ever known this? Do we feel it now?
Recently after a Lord's day of services, playing the organ and entertaining the minister I felt I had gleaned nothing from that day. As I sat having my quiet time the next morning I was just conscious of my sins - the sins of pride, of anxiety, of worrying what people think and my human weakness of consequent tiredness and indigestion! And my worship of the Lord and feeding on his word and ministry seemed non-existent.
Do you have times like this? You despair of your human nature and tendencies. Although outwardly you may be performing as a 'good Christian' you know that God sees the vile wickedness of your heart.
But then as I sat sadly before the Lord - nothing to say in my defence - he brought back to my mind the minister's text of the morning service:
'For he (God) hath made him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him' (1 Corinthians 5:21).
Dear believer, our sins are covered by a righteous robe given to us by Jesus. What a comfort, what healing, what peace that brings when we see and confess our sins to our loving Heavenly Father.
When we, like Job, realise what we are in God's sight, it brings us to confess our sins before God. The Holy Spirit working this in us brings us to repentance, as we see in chapter 42.
God had continued speaking to Job, asking him more questions about God's judgement and power to save, and then a multitude of questions about two of his creatures, 'behemoth' and 'leviathan' , describing their greatness and strength.
The subsequent effect on Job:
"I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me which I knew not...wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes' (42:2-6).
We see confession, humility, self-deprecation, reverence and repentance.
Has God spoken to us recently?
Perhaps not audibly, but have we had any whirlwinds in our life recently? Events that have whipped up the dust of our existence into chaos and darkness, whose noise we couldn't block out of our ears, events which have turned our lives upside down?
Let us consider what effect this has had on us - whether we have heard the Lord's voice in it - his reproof maybe. Had we become too self- assured, too assumptive or presumptive, losing our reverence of the greatness of God and thinking he is as we are?
Let us consider whether we have come before him in appropriate confession, supplication, repentance and thanksgiving.
Let us pray that we might not be like King David who was left for quite some time perhaps thinking he had nicely covered his tracks of adultery and murder. Until, God sent Nathan the prophet to him to show him his sin, and the child of his adultery dies.
The effect? David then realised his wickedness in God's sight and had to call for mercy, forgiveness and restoration.
May our ears be opened to hear God's voice in our lives, guiding, lovingly reproving and teaching us, and may the effect be to cause us to turn to him, and to grow in our knowledge of him and what he has done for us.
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