Job 42:5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
My perceptions of self are not to be trusted. One day I can be on top of the world, and the next day I can feel like I am at the bottom of the heap. Some people spend their entire lives trying to find themselves and are completely lost. The reason is that you don’t find yourself by thinking obsessively about yourself. You will never see yourself until you see God.
That is exactly where Job found himself by the end of his own story. When God finally confronted Job personally, Job said, “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.” Job says, “I am just going to shut my mouth. I’ve got nothing to say. I’ve wanted to bring my case before God and be judged by Him.” But, when push came to shove, Job realized he really had nothing to say of his own merit in comparison to such a powerful and holy God.
Our problem is that we compare ourselves to the things that we easily see. But our friends can’t tell us who we are. Job’s friends tried and failed. Our experiences can’t define who we are completely and accurately. Job had gone from riches to rags. No, you will never see yourself until you see God.
In Job 42:5-6 Job says, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job said, “I’ve got to have a change of mind because I’ve never thought of myself in comparison to You. I thought of myself in comparison to people who are guilty of specific wrongs and to the falsehoods my friends have alleged, but I just didn’t know Who You are.” Who is God? He is the Creator, He is the Lord, and He is good.
He is the Creator. In Job 40:15 God says, “Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee.” God talks about behemoth and leviathan, and whatever these are, they are amazingly powerful beasts. Well, the same God Who made the most powerful beasts known to mankind made you. You are not the result of insufficient funds! The creation is just a reflection of the Creator. God made you. You don’t find yourself by merely obsessing about yourself. You find yourself, if that is to be done, by seeing God. You will never see yourself until you see God as the Creator.
He is the Lord. God says about His mighty beast, “He that made him can make his sword approach unto him.” In other words, the mightiest beast is not a threat to God. God made the beast. He is the Creator. He is the Lord. Later Job 41:11 says, “Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.” If God made us, then God should be the One Who sustains us and has the right to guide us.
God is good. Just as God had in the very first verse of this book, He tenderly calls Job “my servant.” He confronts Job’s friends for not speaking of Him the thing that is right as “my servant Job hath.” Job was far from perfect and he was nothing in comparison to God, but compared to his friends’ conception of God, Job actually seems to have had an advantage. God is good. More than once the Bible tells us that the Lord accepted Job. You too are accepted of God in the beloved One, the Lord Jesus.
Job 42:10 says, “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job.” Verse 12 says, “So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.” There are still mysteries about God in this book, and we cannot totally comprehend such a God. But if I am ever going to know the purpose of my life, then I must trust God one step at a time, realizing Who He is because you will never see yourself as you are until you acknowledge God as He is. He is the Creator, the Lord, and very good.