Job 42:5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
An Accurate Perspective of Myself
We all look in the mirror and then at others to see who we are. We have to compare in order to know where we stand in life. We think we are really something or we think we are nothing depending upon what we see in other people and how we compare that to ourselves. For instance, I came home last year from a very poor area, and I felt like a king living a rich life. Now I don’t have a mansion or a fancy car, but I felt rich. In fact, I really am if I compare myself to the vast majority of people in this world.
On the other hand, I‘ve driven through Beverly Hills and thought, “Man, what are these people doing?” We very quickly have a flawed perspective because it is based on flawed and changing people. I cannot know who I am merely by looking in the mirror and then at other people. That causes either pride or jealousy: pride about myself or jealousy of others.
Job, in the last chapter of the book bearing his name, came to view himself clearly as he really was. The reason he finally saw himself clearly is because, for the first time he saw God for Who He is. He says to God, “I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak…I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eyes seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
Now God did not abhor Job. In fact, God speaks to Job very tenderly in the following verses, but Job realized who he was in comparison to God Almighty, an absolute fixed and perfect standard.
It is so easy to compare our past self against our present self. That’s where Job was. In Job 29 he says, “Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me.” He goes on to talk about how young men, old men, and even princes used to take notice of him. “But now,” Job says, “they that are younger than I have me in derision.” He also compared himself against other people, and that is also a flawed perspective. A clear view of God gives me an accurate perspective of myself.
God is powerful. In chapters 40-41 God goes through a whole laundry list of marvels in creation and says, “Job, what do you know about these?” The answer was that Job knew nothing. God said, “Hast thou an arm like God? Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.” God is powerful and can do everything. Job says in Job 42:2, “I know that thou canst do every thing.” Job could do nothing but God could do everything.
God is knowledgeable. Job 42:2 says, “No thought can be witholden from thee.” God knows about you.
God is loving. Numerous times Gods calls Job, “My servant Job.” The book of Job ends by saying, “After this lived Job.” Job lived on long after this story ended.
God is powerful; God is knowledgeable; and God loves you.