1 ¶ Then Job answered the LORD, and said, 2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and
that no thought can be withholden from thee. 3
Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered
that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. 4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I
will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the
ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. 6 Wherefore
I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
God did not explain the
circumstances by which Job had suffered his great losses. He did not relate the
events before the throne of the first part of this book directly. Job
acknowledges here that there is nothing that God cannot do and no thought that
is hid from Him. We are told;
2Corinthians
10:5 Casting down imaginations, and
every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and
bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
The fact that God knows our thoughts
is expressed throughout the Bible. Before the Flood in Genesis 6:5, under the
Law in 1Chronicles 28:9, with Jesus, because He is God, in Luke 5:22, and the
Scriptures themselves in Hebrews 4:12.
Hebrews
4:12 For the word of God is quick, and
powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of
the thoughts and intents of the heart.
There is no such thing as a human
mind-reader and Satan does not know your thoughts. However, astute persons and
Satan are great judges of human character or lack thereof and can anticipate
how we will respond to temptation because we are so predictable.
Job also acknowledges that he has
spoken about things of which he did not understand. We really don’t understand
God’s sovereignty or the deeper doctrines of the Bible like the resurrection of
the dead. Paul admitted that and that he hoped to know and understand Jesus as
Jesus knew and understood him. Keep in mind in the next verses that, “attain
unto,” is to wrap your mind around, to comprehend, defined in Psalm 139:6 and
Proverbs 1:5, and although apprehend is only used in the next verses one of the
early meanings of that word was, to understand or to know, which you can
confirm by Dr. Samuel Johnson’s dictionary or the Early Modern English Database
cited previously. “To attain unto,” and to, “apprehend,” then have similar or
synonymous meanings as evidenced by how they are used in contrast to each other
in the following with, “know,” as the foundation for interpreting the passage;
9 ¶ And be found in him, not having mine own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I
may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his
sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect*:
but I follow after, if that I may apprehend
that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I count
not myself to have apprehended: but
this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching
forth unto those things which are before, 14
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus.
Job finishes this passage by declaring that he
abhors himself and repents of his self-righteous ignorance in dust and ashes,
the statement of any understanding sinner saved by grace. We cannot stand before
a holy God except by virtue of our faith and trust in Christ’s resurrection and
in His deity. That is the fundamental proposition of Christianity.
The comparison we must make is not
between ourselves and another person. We aren’t judged by our relative goodness
or evil. We are judged purely by Christ’s righteousness and our faith in and
acknowledgement of it, His resurrection, and His deity. Compare yourself to God
and you will fall flat on your face.
*Perfect does not always mean to be
without sin or taint. It means to be complete, finished, entire, lacking
nothing you should know or possess. See 2Chronicles 8:16; Galatians 3:3; James
1:4; and Colossians 4:12.
No comments:
Post a Comment