It’s hard to believe that we are starting the second week of Blogging Through The Bible in 2020. I pray it has been and will be encouraging and helpful to you. Today’s passage is coming from Job 42. Job 42:1-2 says, “Then Job answered the Lord and said, ‘I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.'”
This is Job’s response to God after a 70+ question barrage from God directed towards Job to remind Job of who is in charge. I often picture Job here like a little child who has just gotten caught doing something wrong. They are standing in front of whoever caught them, confessing their wrongdoing with their head down, not making any eye contact. I’m not saying that is how Job was, but I can honestly say there have been times when I’ve had to go to God to confess wrong doing, that is exactly how I looked and felt.
What we see in chapter 42 is the result that God was after in the life of Job. Job had suffered immensely physically, emotionally, and relationally. He had friends who acted more like enemies, and then Job snapped and started questioning God’s goodness and justice. God then comes to Job and levels a lot of questions at him to remind Job of who is God and who is the One in control. And while, we can certainly see the authoritarian and disciplinarian side of God in chapters 38 and 39, we must also see the softer, more gracious side of God in those questions as well. Was God trying to put Job in his place? I would say yes. But God is also trying to call Job back to Himself, and show Job that he can trust God even when things don’t make sense. Job didn’t see God create the world, but Job sees that it has been created and it is orderly. Job didn’t see God tame the wild animals, but they are. Job didn’t see God put borders on how far the oceans could come, but Job can see that the oceans only come so far. Therefore, in this God is revealing Himself and His trustworthiness to Job. And it works. Job realizes the foolishness he has spouted off and the foolishness of his thinking towards God. God’s confrontation with Job produced what God wanted from Job, confession. Job acknowledges that God is all-powerful, and in doing so, Job also says that God’s will is going to be done, and there is nothing and no one on this earth who can stop it. It makes me think of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane the night he was betrayed. Jesus prayed three times, “Father is there is anyway this cup (of suffering via crucifixion) could pass from me, nevertheless, not my will but Your will be done.” The suffering of Jesus on the cross was necessary so that you and I could be forgiven of our sins, be redeemed, and be restored to a right relationship with God. Our suffering in this life is necessary to either draw us to God for salvation, or to purify our life from the sin that stains our life. Either way, suffering has a purpose.
You and I need to remember who God is as revealed in the Bible. We need to remember this, because we are prone to create an image of God in our head that is an allusion, that is a false God. We need to remember that God is sovereign and we are not. We need to remember that God is all-powerful and we are not. We need to remember that God’s will is going to be done, and nothing and no one will be able to stop it. Therefore, let us give our lives to knowing God’s will, and participating in accomplishing His will through sharing the Gospel with the lost to the ends of the earth.
By His grace and for His glory,
Pastor Justin