Job 16:19 Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.
Do you realize just how much you are on camera every day? At the stop light, at the grocery store, at the gas station, and probably at a lot of places you have not even considered, you are on camera. Now we all know that they tell us we are on camera for our own safety. That may well be true, but the problem is that though technology may be getting better, mankind is not. Eventually, anything invented by man will be used for bad. I’m not trying to make you paranoid. I’m simply trying to make you think that there are many times when we wished we were not being observed when we are, and surprisingly, there are many times when we wish we had a witness and we do not. Friends misunderstand us. Associates mistake something we said. Many times people will say something like, “God is my witness.” Friend, He is.
In fact, in the book of Job, Job was going through a lot of difficulties and God seemed to be judge, jury and executioner. The fact is, many times Job seemed to be one way and the next minute he is the other. He says, “God is for me,” then he says, “God is trying to kill me.” It is almost as if Job wishes that God would speak to him on behalf of God. The bottom line is that God was the judge and the jury, but also God is the witness. When friends had accused him, when injustice seemed to be his lot in life, in Job 16:19 Job says, “Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.”
Your witness is in Heaven. My witness is in Heaven. In the first place, God sees what no one else can. Was Job perfect? No, he was not, and in comparison to God he was vile. But, was Job a man of integrity? Yes, he was. Sometimes people read evidence and it may even be accurate evidence, but it leads them in the wrong direction because it is not all the evidence there is to see. God doesn’t just see one part that misleads Him, He sees everything, good or bad. So, God sees what no one else can.
God knows what no one else can. One of the ways to understand the book of Job a little better is to read the bookends first, Job 1 and Job 42, because everything in between is man’s perspective, which is very limited. On the bookends you have God’s perspective and God’s commentary on what happened to Job. God knows, and God knows my heart. Others can’t see my heart, but God knows.
Finally, God hears. In Job 16:20 Job says, “My friends scorn me.” That’s an oxymoron. It’s a friend and a scorner at the same time. It continues, “But mine eye poureth out tears unto God.” In the book of Psalms, prayers are often called “cries.” That is because God understands our words, our unutterable cries, and He even understands our tears. God hears. He hears our prayers.
I don’t know what you may be going through today. I don’t know what you think you may be getting away with today, but for good and for bad, God is your witness and my witness. That should change the way we feel, think, and act today.