Job 12:3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these
We live in a world of cause and effect. Many times, you see the effects and you assume you know the causes. The older I get the more I tend towards this. I have theories on everything from why people are the way they are to why a certain patch of ground has grass and other patches cannot grow grass. Sometimes you can accurately guess the cause and sometimes you really have no idea. You may come up with a number of assumptions, and maybe you are right and maybe you are not.
Someone has said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” In Job 11, Job’s friends seemed to know a lot. They had perceived the causes that resulted in the effects that Job was enduring. I don’t think Job really cared about how much they knew because he was going through difficulties and needed some sympathy.
In Job 11:6, Zophar says, “Know therefore that God exacteth thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.” He is saying, “Look, God hasn’t given you half the judgment you deserve.” In the largest of pictures that is probably true. None of us deserve what good we have. But in chapter 12 Job answered, “No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you. But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?” Verse 9 says, “Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?” Job 13:1 says, “Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it. What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you.” Job was saying, “You are not better than me just because you see all these things. Anyone can see all these things.”
What becomes clear as you read Job’s friends’ statements and Job’s responses is knowing the facts doesn’t always give you the big picture. You may have things figured out from all these different facts, but that doesn’t always mean you know the big picture. Some years ago, there was a popular game called Trivial Pursuit that was all about trivia, irrelevant knowledge. Who was the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys in 1974? What was the first car ever produced in America? Someone may know a bunch of facts, but does that mean they have wisdom to understand the big picture?
Job and his friends didn’t know the players in this story, how they were connected, or the reason for the calamity. God wasn’t the plaintive. The devil is called the accuser of the brethren and he was a player that no one even knew about in this story. The friends were not advocates for God. In Job 13:7 Job says, “Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?” They were not God’s advocates and Job wasn’t the suspect. In Job 13:23 Job asks God, “How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.” Job thought, “God may kill me, but I am going to trust Him and I want to argue my case in court.” The friends weren’t advocates, Job wasn’t the suspect, and God wasn’t the plaintive. Knowing the facts doesn’t always give you the big picture.
There are a number of things you may know about your life, your problems or prosperity, or someone else’s problems or prosperity, but there is a lot you just can’t know from the facts that you know. What should we do in regard to this truth? First, hold your peace. In Job 13:5 Job said, “O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.” To his friends who had so much to say he said, “The wisest thing you could say would be nothing.” Someone has said, “Better to be silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” If you don’t know the big picture, then there might be a time you should hold your peace. Oftentimes what people say is based on assumptions, bias, pride, or naivety. So, if you don’t know the big picture even though you know the facts, hold your peace.
Second, ask your questions. In Job 13:15, Job says, “Though he [God] slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.” He is saying, “I’d like to bring my case before God because I believe I am innocent.” Is there hope in times of trouble? In Job 14, Job says, “Man that is born of woman is of few days, and full of trouble.” Then he gives a number of natural comparisons between the natural world and the state of man. By the time you finish chapter 14 you wonder if there is any hope, but if you have questions, take them to God. God is up to your questions. For Job’s part, he said, “Even if he slays me, I’m going to trust Him and bring my case before God.” It takes courage to ask those questions. It also takes humility to hear what God may say.
So, it is good to know cause and effect, but knowing the facts often doesn’t give you the big picture. So, hold your peace and ask your questions, knowing that God knows what you need.