Job 42:5 - Forerunner Commentary

Job 42:5

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Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain Job 42:5:

Job 42:1-6
Excerpted from: Do You See God?

Brethren, this is the conclusion, the climax, of this long and detailed story. Now Job can see God. From the context, properly seeing God involves getting the self out of the way! As long as the self was in his line of vision, Job judged God by his own perspective. We see what we want to see. We see what we are educated to see. So Job saw his own wisdom, his own works, before he could see God in His greatness. This is because the carnal mind is trained to do so.

Brethren, it takes determination - it takes discipline in study and in prayer and meditation - to break oneself of that natural mode of thinking. And, even when we do succeed, we have to understand that our vision of God still has to be constantly replenished - day by day, Paul said - and upgraded, exercised, as it were, in the truth.

This is particularly interesting in light of Job. Job was a man who thought he knew God well, but there was still much that he did not know. During his sufferings, he threw an awful lot of direct challenges at God in an effort either to justify himself or to understand why he was going through this thing.

Did you know that God never directly answered any of Job's challenges? Instead, what God did was, beginning in about chapter 38, He indirectly led Job to see his own insignificance. Do you know that Job never repented of sin? That is because that was not the issue. The issue was that, despite Job's knowledge of God, he did not really see God as all powerful! That is, that God alone puts down evil and brings to pass all of His holy will.

You can tell the real issue in the book of Job by what God says beginning in chapter 38. God made two speeches there. It was not Job's self-righteousness - that was there - but Job's problem was that he questioned God's justice in the governance of His creation.

When Job opened his mouth to speak here in chapter 42, it was to tell God that he got the point. The point is that God's purpose is all that counts! And since He is God, He can bring it to pass. That God has the right, the will, and the loving nature to do anything He pleases to anybody, at any time - and good will come from it.

Do you believe that? Let me caution you. A man as spiritually mature as Job did not . . . until the end of the book.

Articles

'Behold, He is Coming with Clouds'
An Unpayable Debt and Obligation
Do You See God? (Part Two)  (2)
Don't Be Cruel!
Fully Accepting God's Sovereignty, Part Three: The Fruits
Heirs of Salvation
Job, Self-Righteousness, and Humility
Passover, Obligation, and Love
Sovereignty and Its Fruit: Part Ten
The Christian Fight (Part Six)
The Sovereignty of God: Part Six
Why Does God Keep Secrets?
Worship God!
You've Examined Yourself—Now What?

Bible Studies

The Miracles of Jesus Christ: The Great Catch of Fish
The Model Prayer (Part Eight): Testing and Deliverance

Essays

Let Us Examine Ourselves
Reasons for Optimism
Repentance: The Genuine Article (Part Five)
The Relationship Deficit (Part Two)

Sermons

Marriage and the Bride of Christ (Part 7)
The Witty Side of God's Inspiration
Does Doctrine Really Matter? (Part 8)
Debt and Obligation
Prepare to Teach
A New Beginning
A Contrite Heart
Whom the Lord Loves He Chastens (Part 1)
God Will Understand
We Must Learn to Fly
The Fruit of Repentance
Fully Accepting God's Sovereignty (Part Three)
The Healing of a Man Born Blind (Part One)
Malachi's Appeal to Backsliders (Part One)
Facing Times of Stress: Persecution
Hebrews (Part Thirteen): Chapter 2, A Mind-Bending Purpose (Part Two)
From Both Sides Now and the Greatest Day
Patiently Waiting for Christ's Return
God's Good Work in Us
The Providence of God (Part 1)
Trials: Much Needed Experiences
Repentance and Righteousness (Part 1)
The Sovereignty of God (Part 10)
Lonely, But Not Forsaken
God's Glory in a Volcano
Secret Faults and Presumptuous Thoughts
Job and Self Evaluation (Part Three)
Spiritual Strongholds (Part Three): God's Intervention
Job: Things Left Unsaid
Lessons from the Count to Pentecost
Ecclesiastes Resumed (Part Thirty-One)

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