Righteousness in a man is excellent but when one becomes too much aware of their own goodness, it reveals deep darkness as to their own real condition before God. If we really know God, we will be humble. If we really know ourselves, we cannot be proud.
Job 42
1 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
7 ¶ And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.
8 Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.
9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job.
10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
11 Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold.
12 So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.
13 He had also seven sons and three daughters.
14 And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch.
15 And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.
16 After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations.
17 So Job died, being old and full of days.
Job 42:1-6 – J. Vernon McGee
Job 42:7-17 – J. Vernon McGee
There can be no personal acquaintance with God until we have the sentence of death written upon self, realizing that in ourselves there is no good thing. All we are, we have by God’s grace in our Lord Jesus Christ.
The godly suffer that they might come to self-knowledge, 42:3; and self-judgment, 42:6; that they might repent, 42:6; and have greater fruitfulness, 42:7-17; and escape condemnation with the world. 1 Corinthians 11:32.
Job 42 – Restored to Right Relations with God
In complete surrender Job bowed before God, confessing his ignorance and owning that he had spoken glibly of things which he understood not. He had retorted to his friends that he was as good as they, but now he confessed, as did the Apostle after him, that he was of sinners the chief. It is one thing to hear of God, another to see and know Him close at hand. Well may we loathe our proud words and repent in dust and ashes, Job 42:6.
When Job was right with God, the Almighty took his side against his accusers and silenced them. It was through Job’s intercessions that they were forgiven. He himself was not fully forgiven till he could pray for them with loving forgiveness. But immediately he had done so God turned “the shadow of death into the morning” (Amos 5:8) and gave him the double portion of the first-born. Thus men, when forgiven and restored, are heirs of riches greater than they had forfeited. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Find the missing words then click and drag the letters in the grid below. Click “Start“
2 I ________ that thou canst do every thing, and that no ______________ can be ____________________ from thee.
5 I have __________ of thee by the ______________ of the ______: but now mine ______ __________ thee.
Job 42:5-6—Now mine eye teeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
This is the clue to the entire book. Here is a man, who was universally known as perfect and upright, one that feared God, and eschewed evil; who abounded in beneficent and loving ministries to all who were in need; to whom respect and love flowed in a full tide. He was not conscious of any failure in perfect obedience, or of secret sin; indeed, when his friends endeavored to account for his unparalleled calamities by suggesting that there was some discrepancy between his outward reputation and inward consistency, he indignantly repelled the charge, and repudiated the impeachment.
But there were inconsistencies and failures in him that needed to be exposed and put away before he could attain to perfect blessedness and enjoy unbroken peace. If man could not discover them, and if Job were unconscious of them, they were, nevertheless, present, poisoning the fountain of his being; as a hidden cesspool, whose presence is undetected, may be doing a deadly work of undermining the health of an entire household. So God let the man into His presence; and, like Isaiah, Ezekiel, Peter, and many others, he at once confessed himself vile. The light of the great white throne exposes all unsuspected blemishes. Have you ever seen God! Oh, ask for that vision, that you may know yourself! In proportion as we know God, we abhor ourselves. Then Jesus becomes unspeakably precious. Through His death we pass into the true life, and begin to intercede for others. We never have such power for the blessing of the world as when we lie most humbly at the feet of God. —Our Daily Homily
Job 42:12 – All the afflictions of the righteous open out into something glorious. The prisoner is not merely delivered, but he finds an angel waiting for him at the door. And with every deliverance comes a specific blessing. One angel is named faith; another, love; another, joy; another, long-suffering; another, gentleness; another, goodness; another, meekness; another, temperance; another, peace. Each of these graces says, “We have come out of great tribulation.” (Bowen)