Job 12:13 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Job 12:13

Comments

Job now properly begins his eulogy on God’s government. He shows the friends that on this subject, he is not in any way inferior to them, and indeed understands more than they do. He now considers the attributes of God by looking at his acts of providence. Many of these highlight works of God which overturn human skill and bring about what is contrary to human expectation. How do we observe the wisdom of providence? It is visible to the eye of faith. It can be seen only by those who accept the Scripture’s analysis: that God made all things good in the first place and an enemy has come and sown tares among the wheat. If we accept this and the plan of redemption, and the outcome at which God is aiming in every purpose which forms part of this glorious plan, then indeed we can see the wisdom of God. To the unbelieving mind all things appear confused and inscrutable, but to the believer who has the light of special revelation, there is order and purpose. This does not mean that the believer grasps every detail of God’s plan and where it fits in; far from it. There are many perplexities for the believer also, and many unanswered questions that will not be resolved until we see God face to face. But we understand the broad outline of God’s plan and we trust that he is good in all the details that we do not yet have light on. In some cases, God has in his word gone down to the level of great detail, so that we should see how he works in certain examples and trust him in the rest. ‘With him are wisdom and strength.’ By wisdom God manages manifold purposes at the same time, dove tailing them together so that one wonderful purpose fits perfectly with another. He has strength also. How could any other take from him the burden of managing all the affairs of this world? The world does not run itself, but require his conscious steering at every point. He has counsel and understanding for he does not take advice from any other being, but makes all his decisions alone. He considers the effect of all he does and all the possible outcomes of everything. He understands and weighs up with such perfect skill which is best and what influence each individual event will have on the whole. None could do this but the Lord.

Application

God is concerned for all his creatures, but particularly for man, for whose sake the creation has been subjected to futility. His government includes judgments of the wicked as well as rewards to the righteous, but incomplete in this world, leaving room for the final judgment for which we must wait to see the whole picture. How could he govern the world without great wisdom? Wisdom is choosing the best means to reach our desired goal. It is the choice of those means which most efficiently and most effectively reach that goal. God has chosen to follow a pathway which defeats human wisdom, so that human wisdom judges his path and the gospel in particular to be foolishness. But wisdom is justified by her children and is made clear at the end. At the end we will see that greater foresight than we possess selected the means as well as the end, and that what appeared to be against the glory of God and to raise questions about his judgment, was actually the perfect means.

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Job 12:13 Commentary and Bible Study