Job 38-42 -- The Only Answer We CAN Give

Job came up with the only answer he could:  “I am not worthy.  I cannot answer You anything.”

 

The barrage of questions begins again, and with each one, Job is made to understand even more how little he really knows.

 

God says at one point, “No one has ever given Me anything that I must pay back, because everything under the sky belongs to Me.”

 

Job goes back to one of the questions God had asked him:  “Who is this that made My purposes unclear by saying things that are not true?” and he truthfully and humbly answered, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand; I talked of things too wonderful for me to know.”

 

And now that he has encountered God, he says, “My ears had heard of You before, but now my eyes have seen You.  So now I hate myself; I will change my heart and life.  I will sit in the dust and ashes.”

 

When we encounter God, we can’t help but be humbled and changed.

 

God then chastised Job’s friends and even said that Job would pray for THEM and God would listen to his prayer!  Praying for them after how they’d treated Job was probably the last thing he wanted to do, but now that he’d encountered God, he was ready to eagerly do whatever God commanded.  And once he did pray for them, God gave him back twice what he’d lost.  The man who was ready to die lived 140 more years, and God blessed him incredibly – all because he humbled himself and accepted being used by God to teach Satan a lesson.

 

Father, I don’t even know what to say.  I guess that’s good, because that’s how Job found himself.  I recognize You as sovereign over my life.  Please help me not to want to control it again.  Be God to me.  Forgive me.  Thank You for loving me!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford