Jesus throughout the Scriptures: Job (7)
Pray Psalm 119.25, 26.
My soul clings to the dust;
Revive me according to Your word.
I have declared my ways, and You answered me;
Teach me Your statutes.
Sing Psalm 119.25, 26.
(Festal Song: Rise Up, O Men of God)
My soul clings to the dust; revive me by Your Word!
My ways I have declared to You; teach me Your statutes, LORD!
Read and meditate on Job 42.1-6.
Preparation
1. What did Job say about God?
2. How did he respond to that?
Meditation
Job has just endured a withering rebuke from the Lord, Who, out of a whirlwind, took Job on a whirlwind tour of creation. Why did he do this? To cut the legs out from under Job’s hubris, when he insisted that God should come down and give him a reason for his sufferings.
What Job failed to see in his demand was that he was insisting he should know like God knows, and thus be God himself. God showed Job that he could not possibly know as God does, that God’s knowledge is eternal, comprehensive, and perfect, and that by His knowledge the wondrous universe continues in its order, beauty, and fecundity.
Job had “darkened counsel” “without knowledge”. God the omniscient One came to set him straight (38.1-3). Two chapters of this rebuke and Job was ready to be done with it (40.3-5). But God was not finished withering his pride quite yet. Job’s hubris was tantamount to his thinking he could save himself by knowledge (40.8-14). Job had not yet seen this sin, so the Lord pressed on, finally demanding, “Who is able to stand against Me? Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine” (41.10, 11).
Withered and repentant, Job confessed his hubris, having gained a clearer sense of precisely Who God is (42.1-6). And that repentance, and the faith that accompanied it, led to his renewal by the Word of the Lord (42.12-17)—and a scathing rebuke for Job’s “counselors” (42.7-11).
Jesus is the Word Who shows us what God is like. In His righteousness, we are withered by our sins. In His power, we are humbled and fearful. In His death, resurrection, and reign we are renewed. And God promises to bless us with all His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil. 4.19).
Many today think they know God. Think they can defy, ignore, or reject Him. They need to hear of His all-surrounding and all-pervading Presence and power, and of His infinite mercy and love in Jesus Christ. And He has charged us with this calling (Acts 1.8).
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“Jesus is the Word Who shows us what God is like. In His righteousness, we are withered by our sins.”
To be truly appreciative of God’s forgiveness and salvation through Jesus, we must first be withered by our sins. We must be astonished by our desperate need for a Savior, and thus accept with much joy His merciful and gracious Gift.
“Are You not the One Who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep;
that made the depths of the sea a road for the redeemed to cross over?” (Is. 51.10)
Not the worthy to cross over, but the mercifully redeemed.
We do err, like Job, when we don’t repent, don’t appreciate, and don’t revel in the amazing love of God.
There is nothing, not one thing, that we did, are doing, or ever will do that could earn us salvation.
And God does not ever owe us an explanation for anything.
First off, how could we ever understand a Love that willingly, joyously, suffered and died for His enemies? (Rom. 5.8) And second, as His past enemies, shouldn’t we really be respectfully demanding an explanation for why anything good ever happens to us?
Because we are not God, and we may never truly understand much of anything about His amazing Love, wouldn’t it make more sense to glory in God and leave it all up to Him, resting in, and trusting and obeying Him? “God’s knowledge is eternal, comprehensive, and perfect.”
“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD.
‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways,
and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Is. 55.8, 9).
Yes. Job, and we, agree.
“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.
Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42.5 6).
Job’s repentance led him to the joy of anticipating Jesus (Job 19.25-27).
Our repentance leads us directly into the arms of Jesus. As He explained to Nicodemus:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through Him might be saved.
He who believes in Him is not condemned;
but he who does not believe is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation,
that the light has come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light,
lest his deeds should be exposed.
But he who does the truth comes to the light,
that his deeds may be clearly seen,
that they have been done in God” (Jn. 3.16-21).
“The Withering and Renewing Word”
Reflection
1. How have you experienced the Word of God “withering” you?
2. How have you experienced the Word of God renewing you?
3. Today, to whom will you bring the Word of God for renewal?
When the understanding is enlightened by the Spirit of grace, our knowledge of Divine things as far exceeds what we had before, as the sight of the eyes excels report and common fame. By the teachings of men, God reveals his Son to us; but by the teachings of his Spirit he reveals his Son in us, Galatians 1:16, and changes us into the same image, 2 Corinthians 3:18. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Job 42.1-6
Pray Psalm 119.27-32.
Pray that God will enlarge your vision of Jesus, show you more of His power and love, cause you to sink your roots deeper into His Word, and go forth to proclaim His judgments and love in Jesus Christ.
Sing Psalm 119.27-32.
(Festal Song: Rise Up, O Men of God )
Make me to understand Your precepts and Your ways,
as on Your works I meditate with wonder and with praise!
My soul weighs down with woe, I need Your strength, O LORD!
Remove from me all lying ways; grant me Your holy Word!
I choose the way of truth; Your judgments I proclaim.
Your testimonies I embrace, LORD, put me not to shame!
Command my course, O LORD; Your gracious truth impart.
I cling to You and know You will enlarge my seeking heart.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
