January 28, 2025 -What We Think We Know

JOB 32:1-34:37

One Year Bible Audio & Daily Reading (oneyearbibleonline.com)

Every time I read the book of Job, I wonder why is it so long? Why does it go on and on. We hear every speaker talking like they know and understand God. But they can't really understand Him. They go on and on about what they think they know. But who can really know the mind of God?

Job 33:12 “But you are wrong, and I will show you why.

    For God is greater than

any human being.

Everyone thinks they know God and they get some things right. Yes God is greater than any human being. But that also means that His ways and reasons are greater than any human beings.

Job 33:17 He makes them turn from doing wrong;

    he keeps them from pride.

18 He protects them from the grave,

    from crossing over the river of death.

Looking at things from a human perspective good people should be protected. That's fair, right? I wish God would keep me from doing wrong and keep me from pride but wouldn't that take away free will? Being that God is greater than us means that He can and does do this sometimes but it's not about our goodness it's about His goodness, His grace and His providence.

Job 33:19 “Or God disciplines people with pain on their sickbeds,

    with ceaseless aching in their bones.

Human perspective, bad people should suffer. But sometimes even good people suffer.

BTW I have a headache and body aches as I sit on my sickbed writing this. Should I be asking what I did to deserve this? lol

Job 34:10 “Listen to me, you who have understanding.

    Everyone knows that God doesn’t sin!

    The Almighty can do no wrong.

True God does not sin. He is all good and all righteous. He can do no wrong.

Job 34:11 He repays people according to their deeds.

    He treats people as they deserve.

12 Truly, God will not do wrong.

    The Almighty will not twist justice.

But that doesn't mean that from God's perspective "He repays people according to their deeds". Seeing good people suffer and bad people prosper might look like twisted justice from our perspective but if He repays people according to their deeds we would all suffer. Thankfully we have Jesus and the New Testament to help us better understand His grace and providence. None of us is without sin so what we all deserve is to suffer. If God functioned according to human justice we would all be condemned and Job and all his friends knew that. That is why they had the sacrificial system. They knew that they had to atone for their sins. Job offered sacrifices not just for himself but for his children wanting to protect them. I see the error of inexperience in this younger man's words. He doesn't seem to know what he thinks he knows.

Job 34:30 He prevents the godless from ruling

    so they cannot be a snare to the people.

For example he makes statements like this and others in these chapters you can see his lack of understanding the providence of God. There is no one who can say that they have never known of a godless person being a ruler. They were surrounded by godless people who had rulers. Even if he is only talking about those ruling the Israelites just read Judges. But as I think about the fact that we are reading this chronologically this is before the time of the judges. We just finished the story of Joseph before this so the Israelites would be in a time of prosperity and growth and in safety. They are not yet in bondage to Egypt. So maybe what we think we know is based on what we are living at the time. But we can't put that on God. He is eternal and has always existed so what He knows is everything so we should not try to put Him in a human sized box of understanding. What we think we know is nothing compared to what our great God knows.