Job 23:3 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters | Metropolitan Tabernacle

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Job 23:3

Comments

Job longed for God’s presence. He knew that only this could bring him relief. His whole world revolved around the Lord and as long as the Lord accepted him and loved him, all was well with his soul. How could any be against him if God was for him? Therefore his mind could have rest from all his fears if he could be sure that the Lord was favourable towards him. But the trouble was that he was not sure of this. He set his previous experience of the Lord’s love and the assurance of God’s promise, against the darkness of his present circumstances. Like Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, Job had difficulty understanding how God could allow such suffering in one whom he loved, and yet he knew that the accusations of the comforters were false. He still held to his integrity and was not guilty of secret hypocrisy, and yet he appeared to be abandoned by God. This conundrum plagued his mind. Therefore he longed to come to God’s seat and talk face to face, because he knew that the Lord would dispel this problem in a moment and that he would have no difficulty in accepting the Lord’s explanation if only he could hear it. He longed to present to the Lord the whole burden of his case and bring every troubling detail out into the open. He would do this with confidence that the Lord understood all that he was going through and that he would receive the perfect answer. He believed that answer would be consistent with the kindness of a loving Father for he was convinced that God could change in character. He just wanted to place the whole dilemma in the Lord’s hands.

Application

We need this confidence in the sympathy and kindness of our God in order to bring our innermost desires to him. Like Job we will share our innermost sorrows, fears, and hopes. You do not expose yourself to someone who you think is going to harm you, for you will simply set them up to cause you further pain. It is important for us to know that ‘we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin’ (Hebrews 4:15). There is a high degree of intimacy demanded by true prayer, for the petitioner hides nothing from the Lord, and even in his extreme anguish Job needed to come to God in this way trust the Lord with all his heart. The fact that he was ready to do so shows that in spite of all that had happened to him, faith was still operating in his heart and had not failed.

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Job 23:3 Commentary and Bible Study