Humbleness
Finally we
get to Job 42. Finally we see Job driven
to the brink of repentance. Finally we
see Job respond to God as he should.
Finally Job gives up his self-righteous call to God and settles in on
humbleness.
I think
Job’s confession has some nuggets of truth to which we should pay
attention. Obviously, Job gives credit
where credit is due: God’s superiority.
Then Job speaks about himself. He
confesses that he spoke words that he did not understand. How many of us have ever been in that
situation?
This is
common among human beings. In the past
few days I’ve spoken a few times at the human inability to truly grasp the
totality of our circumstances. Job
finally gets it. He understands that he
has spoken about things that he cannot possibly grasp. He might know how he is reacting to his
circumstances, but he cannot know his circumstances in totality. Job now knows this and confesses.
I think it
goes deeper than this, though. We often
don’t realize the thrust of our words as we are speaking them. We cannot know how people will hear and
interpret our words until after they are spoken. We often don’t even consider how people will
hear our words until it is too late. I
believe this to be a part of what Job is confessing as well. He knows what he felt, but he didn’t realize
the full force of his words until Elihu and ultimately God came and responded
to his words. Then he heard the depth of
what he was actually saying and he knew it was time to repent.
Job’s
confession is good for us to hear. Job
knows it is time for humbleness and he acknowledges it.
The Final Tally
Then God
steps up and starts handing out consequences.
Notice that God hands out judgment against Job’s three friends, but not
against Elihu. Also note that Job has
already received judgment and he repented, so God does not need to continue to
burn with anger against him. Job’s
friends are accused of handing out unrighteous advice, and they are guilty.
But, note
that God does not require them to stand permanently condemned. God is a God of forgiveness. God hands out judgment and a process for
repentance to happen for Job’s three friends.
As Job repented, so do the friends.
As God accepted Job’s repentance, so does God accept the repentance of
Job’s friends.
Notice
that the Bible is clear that the restoration of Job’s fortune don’t happen
until after the repentance has been dealt with.
There is a process. God desires –
even expects – repentance. It is up to
us to meet that expectation. When we
genuinely repent, then God’s anger no longer burns. Once His anger no longer burns, we are primed
to feel His presence in our life once again.
Job is
restored. He gets his possessions
back. In fact, he gets double. His wealth is completely restored. And why should it not be? Of course, God didn’t need to restore
it. Job is a sinner, after all. But God knows that Job was righteous and the
reason that his health and wealth was taken from him was because of his
righteousness. God desires to make
things right with Job. Not because Job
deserved it, but because it is God’s character.
That’s the
really neat thing about this story. This
story begins with God trying to prove a point against Satan, a battle that God
comes out as the victor. In the process,
Job demonstrates that He is flawed and could use some spiritual
realignment. God does that and comes out
the victor. Job’s friends show their
need for spiritual realignment. God again
comes out the victor. In the end, God
has all the cards. He’s got all the
power. Nobody has any ground to stand
upon against God. How does God handle
it? He forgives. He restores.
It is
God’s character to forgive and to restore.
Yes, it is character to judge and hold accountable. But once accountability has been dealt with
and repentance has been the result, God forgives. It is who He is. God has always forgiven. This is the reason that Jesus Christ came to
the world. This God that we see at the
end of Job is consistent with the God who sent Jesus Christ to us. God forgives.
God restores. God loves.
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