Page 154 - Job

call our opinions. His knowledge was confused and defective. But now
what he knows is not because of what he has heard or read, but because
of revelation. He has received the inner eye of faith or as the Apostle Paul
writes in the fully developed version in Ephesians 1:17-18

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may
grant you the Spirit to give wisdom and revelation which comes
through a growing knowledge of Him, by having the eyes of your
hearts enlightened “
Job 42:5 says: “Now my eye sees Thee.” That is the eye of his heart.
Before when his knowledge was theological, it stimulated knowledge
rather than devotion. His affliction obscured God’s gracious purpose. He
was accusing God of rash misappropriations of justice. He asserted his
innocence and righteousness. God asked this question in chapter 38,
verse 2, and now Job repeats it.

“Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore
I have declared that which I did not understand, things too
wonderful for me, which I did not know.”

In this verse Job is acting as his own Nathan. He points the bony finger of
truth at himself. He looks in the mirror and says, “I am the man”. He
learned the primary reason for his affliction; that he might see God. But
more than that, to see God as El Shaddai. To behold a loving God who is
more than enough. Not law or theology but a Father. He is seeing God
with the eye of faith, the inner eye of the spirit. Because of this, he is not
bewailing his suffering. He is now bewailing his sin. Look at verse 6

“Therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes.”
Look at verse 2. Here is his new attitude.

“I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of
Yours can be thwarted.”
Boy, that is a great verse to make the sovereignty of God real in your life.
I find myself half afraid to believe that with all my might. I find I am
trying to hold back, rather than pull out all the stops and believe it.
Let me suggest a simple outline of this last section, 42:7–17, the outcome
of the Lord’s dealings, taken from James 5:11 “You have seen the
outcome of the Lord’s dealings.” I believe there are two results of this
outcome illustrated in the life of Job. In other words, Job again is the
sample, the fossil, for all of us to dig up and behold the patterns of

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