Job 9:15 Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.
The Relationship between Supplicant and Master
America is full of the stories of entrepreneurs who built great things and changed the world. We admire people who build amazing wealth. But what about people who go from hero to zero, from great wealth to nothing? You know, the higher we are the less likely it is that we are going to ask anyone for anything because we feel like we can get things on our own.
Job’s story was the exact opposite of our perception of the “American Dream.” Job had both great wealth and a great family then lost everything, including the estimation of his friends. Throughout the book, Job declares his innocence. Yet Job could not reconcile the heartache he was facing with the clean life he felt he had lived.
In Job 9:14 he says, “How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him? Whom, though if I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.” Job says, “Despite the fact that I feel like I am innocent, I wouldn’t tell God that I was. I would ask Him.” The nature of the relationship between a supplicant and a master is to ask. That is the nature of prayer.
Prayer is coming to grips with who you are, which is needy, and Who God is, which is the Provider. The nature of our relationship to God is our need and not our virtue. Verses 19-20 say, “If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead? If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.” Verse 21 says, “Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.” “I don’t even know myself,” Job seems to say.
My relationship to God is not what it is because of my virtue or power but because of my dependence. I am not good. He is, and that is why I pray.
We cannot possibly comprehend all that God is or all that God is doing. Job didn’t know or understand what was going on. In fact, Job was flummoxed. All Job knew was that his days were short and passing away and that God seemed to be distant. But, God was not.
Prayer is coming to grips with who you are and Who God is. It is not being good, powerful, or wise. It is acknowledging that God is, and asking Him for what you need in life.