An encounter with God like this is surely extraordinary. Imagine pouring out your heart to God, and you suddenly hear an audible voice call out to you. I’m sure just the sound of it would jolt enough electricity through our veins and make your hair stand on end!
So envision how Job must have felt when God not only showed Himself, but also started to give an astonishing description of His works, as though His presence wasn’t overwhelming enough. God kept elucidating the extent of His power to Job until finally Job said:
“I had only heard about You before, but now I have seen You with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in the dust and ashes to show my repentance.” (Job 42:5-6).
He could no longer take it. Job was so utterly besieged by the presence of God that his once vociferous claims of innocence now seemed like pitiful whimpers against the immense wisdom of God.
He saw his life in the light of God’s infinite plan, and there his eyes were opened.
In his previous life of bounty, Job savored the physical blessings that came from the hand of God. But it was at this lowest point of his life that he received something better – he caught a glimpse of the kind, wise, and irreproachable God first hand. As if scales had been taken from his eyes, Job realized he was not merely a recipient of God’s goodness. He was, in fact, the very object God had chosen to display His sovereignty! This newfound consciousness was more than enough to erase all his queries; this realization silenced all his apprehensions.
Like what He did to Job, God sometimes brings us into situations that we do not understand. Many times these problems are so overwhelming that they cloud our vision. Everything we do is seen in the light of these trials, and because we hurt, everything that happens to us seems like salt rubbed in our wounds.
Job’s story clearly tells us that God’s ways are higher than our own. In His preeminence, the answer that He provides us does not always come in the form of a solution or an end to our problems. Sometimes, God answers by showing us the bigger picture and giving us an avenue through which our faith can grow.
[Excerpt from The Mark book]