Reflections

 1Then Job answered the LORD and said,
 ²“I know that You can do all things,
    And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.
 ³‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
   “Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand,
    Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”
   ⁴‘Hear, now, and I will speak;
    I will ask You, and You instruct me.’
   ⁵“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
    But now my eye sees You;
   ⁶Therefore I retract,
     And I repent in dust and ashes.”  Job 42:1-6

Job had said things about God based on things he did not understand.  Job did not understand why he suffered the way he did.  He thought he knew it all and knew God well.  Job based what he knew on what he had heard about God.  When God finally answers Job and declares His glory, Job realizes that he really did not know God.  Job sees God’s glory and how wonderful He is.  Even though Job has heard about God now Job has seen God.  So Job repents and changes his mind about God. 

Many of us base our beliefs about God on what we have heard.  Churches even religions have based their doctrines and theologies on things they have heard and believed.  Many of us need an encounter with God like Job.  Job was reminded of God’s majesty and glory.  God never answered Job’s questions, God simply showed Job who He was.

We may not know why we suffer, or why tragedy or calamity comes into our life.  God does not always give the answer.  What we can know is that God is God and there is no one like Him.  He is the one that sets everything in motion and in place.  He is the creator of all.  Even Satan is subject to God.

Job did not suffer because of sin.  We don’t really know why God allowed Satan to do the things he did to Job.  We can take comfort in knowing that God was always in control of Job’s life.  God never stopped loving Job and Satan was not able to snatch Job out of God’s hand.  God has us in His hands and He will never let us go no matter what happens in our life.  We may not have all the answers or fully understand the “why” in life but God is always there holding us up even in the times of trouble.

In the time that Job saw God his circumstances no longer seemed important.  God was bigger and better.  It is the same with us.  Whatever you are going through God is bigger and better.  The best is yet to come.