Eating Humble Pie....
"Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." -Job 42:6
If you've ever read Job before, you know how Job gets to this point of utter humility and even shame. In the story of Job, Job was a man who had it all. He was wealthy, he had a great family, and he was healthy. He was also known as a "blameless and upright man (1:1), "the greatest of all the people in the East (1:3)" and "a servant of the Lord (1:8)." Satan, after roaming the earth, which he is allowed to do until the End, comes to God and requests to attack someone who is faithful to Him to prove that man is only faithful to God when things are going good. God allows Satan to attack Job's family, wealth, and health, but Job's life must be spared. Satan attacks under those parameters.
The vast majority of the book of Job after this episode is the scene of a very broken, depressed and physically miserable Job, surrounded by 3 "friends" who do nothing but put words in God's mouth and claim that all of this happened to Job because of his sin. In essence, to them, Job was being punished and he needed to repent. In several exchanges, Job would defend himself and question God's actions. He saw himself as a righteous man who was not deserving of the misfortune he had received, nevertheless, he never wavered in his faith.
Job is 42 chapters long and it isn't until chapter 38 that God shows up to put everyone in their place, including Job. God turns His attention to Job in particular and basically says, 'Now Job, you listen up. Now I have some questions for you! And you will answer them!' God proceeds to lay out an irrefutable, mouth-shutting case for Himself - 'I'm the Almighty Creator of all things. I make things go and stop. I make things happen. I'm the reason for everything! What have you done, Job?' Paraphrasing of course, but this is the essence of God's case against Job in chapters 38-42.
All of this is to say, Job realize rather quickly where man stands before Almighty God (Job 42:6, above). Job is brought to the point of humility and repentance. "...I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know." (Job 42:3) Job shared with God what God already knew about all of mankind, that man is totally insignificant and is ignorant when it comes to grasping all of Who God is and what He can do. Job had the right response in the end, a humble and repentant heart which brought about a restoration. In fact, God restored Job to double what he had experienced in life before all of this. God was gracious. God was kind. God was God, and Job was Job.
If you're dealing with pride today, or if you're in a place where you're constantly questioning God, do you perhaps need to eat some humble pie? "God resists the proud but gives grace to humble." (Proverbs 3:34)
If you've ever read Job before, you know how Job gets to this point of utter humility and even shame. In the story of Job, Job was a man who had it all. He was wealthy, he had a great family, and he was healthy. He was also known as a "blameless and upright man (1:1), "the greatest of all the people in the East (1:3)" and "a servant of the Lord (1:8)." Satan, after roaming the earth, which he is allowed to do until the End, comes to God and requests to attack someone who is faithful to Him to prove that man is only faithful to God when things are going good. God allows Satan to attack Job's family, wealth, and health, but Job's life must be spared. Satan attacks under those parameters.
The vast majority of the book of Job after this episode is the scene of a very broken, depressed and physically miserable Job, surrounded by 3 "friends" who do nothing but put words in God's mouth and claim that all of this happened to Job because of his sin. In essence, to them, Job was being punished and he needed to repent. In several exchanges, Job would defend himself and question God's actions. He saw himself as a righteous man who was not deserving of the misfortune he had received, nevertheless, he never wavered in his faith.
Job is 42 chapters long and it isn't until chapter 38 that God shows up to put everyone in their place, including Job. God turns His attention to Job in particular and basically says, 'Now Job, you listen up. Now I have some questions for you! And you will answer them!' God proceeds to lay out an irrefutable, mouth-shutting case for Himself - 'I'm the Almighty Creator of all things. I make things go and stop. I make things happen. I'm the reason for everything! What have you done, Job?' Paraphrasing of course, but this is the essence of God's case against Job in chapters 38-42.
All of this is to say, Job realize rather quickly where man stands before Almighty God (Job 42:6, above). Job is brought to the point of humility and repentance. "...I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know." (Job 42:3) Job shared with God what God already knew about all of mankind, that man is totally insignificant and is ignorant when it comes to grasping all of Who God is and what He can do. Job had the right response in the end, a humble and repentant heart which brought about a restoration. In fact, God restored Job to double what he had experienced in life before all of this. God was gracious. God was kind. God was God, and Job was Job.
If you're dealing with pride today, or if you're in a place where you're constantly questioning God, do you perhaps need to eat some humble pie? "God resists the proud but gives grace to humble." (Proverbs 3:34)
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