Words Without Knowledge

Dear Weekly Readers!

Please enjoy this week's article!

May God Bless your week! 

John

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed? Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment. And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken. Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth? Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all. Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof, That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof? (Job 38:1-20)

Only a gracious God could have spoken such kind words. It is one of the greatest temptations known to human beings to try to speak for God, and Job and his friends had just succumbed. They had indeed spoken words without knowledge. Yet God in His infinite mercy responded with fatherly care by refocusing their attention on Him who knows all things because He made them. He confronts Job not with anger, but with correction. He restores Job to his right mind. God alone fixes and determines events; He alone knows a thing from beginning to end.

We often need the lesson of Job because it is too easy in today's world of mindless information to begin to think that we can speak for God. We utter words without knowledge and literally "darken counsel." Still God with a fatherly heart forgives our misspeak and brings us by His Spirit to the right mind of an obedient child. This is one of the reasons there is great comfort in reading Job: to see how our marvelous God and Father gently chastises His children, bringing them to repentance through kindness and renewing their steps on the path He has designed for them. Thanks be to our God and Father for Jesus' sake.

Pastor Jay Weidner