“I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee.” Job 42:5
There is an underlying truth concerning God’s dealings with Job. Even though Satan has his way with Job to a certain point, and there is great suffering as a result, there is in the end, not only material blessing, but a blessing of the highest magnitude and worth. It is the knowledge of God. All else on this earth is subservient to this. So, we look at the story of Job, and wonder how a man could endure so much, even in the will of God. Perhaps the greater, and amazing thing, is to see how much God allows the suffering of Job, specifically with regard to that which he loses. It seems that, with the exeption of his wife, and his own life, Job lost everything. Or did he? When we approach the end of the book of Job, we discover something of what he discovered, or rather was revealed to him, even before the Lord restored Job to Himself in a most wonderful way, and also that which he had lost with regard to his family, friends, health, and all possessions. In God’s dealiings with Job, He brings him to begin to see something of the wonder, and glory of God. Twice in the last several chapters of the book of Job, the Lord addresses Job in this manner: “Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou Me.” (Job 38:3) Why does God address Job in this manner? It is because of the great importance of what He is going to say to him. He thus requires of Job that he be willing to “be a man” in receiving, and accepting, what God will tell him. So, what is the important thing that God will say?
The Lord spoke to Job out of a whirlwind, another evidence of gripping Job’s attention, in order to reveal something essential for Job, not only to hear and understand, but by which he must now live. He asked of Job: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding.” (38:4) In asking Job this question, God leads Job into a knowledge of things as they are from heaven’s standpoint, so that Job can know God according to the truth. What is it that He seeks to communicate to Job? It is that same truth, and reality, that He, through the prophet Isaiah sought to teach Israel: “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely this people is grass.” (Is. 40:6,7) The Psalmist would put it like this: “What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou visitest him?” (Ps. 8:4) Job, as is the case of Israel, and even unto this day concerning the whole of humanity, must be brought to see, believe, and live in the perspective of God, Christ, being ALL, Almighty, and All-knowing, to accomplish all that is according to His will.
Again, in God’s dealings with Job, He will use illustrations, and comparisons, to bring home to the heart His point. He reveals the littleness of Job, and his very finite limitaitons by asking him the question: “Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place?” (38:12) Who but God could ever command the rising of the sun, and all that the beginning of a new day means with regard to bringing together in one seismic event a unique dawn, the entirety of which shows forth the glory of God? Where is man in the picture? He can only observe it, and that with minute limitations, and a very small capacity to take it in. God takes Job beyond His blessings to “see” the glory of God, so that by faith, Job will KNOW Him. Job lost all to gain everything.
Dear Father, Show us Thy glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.