Job 42:2 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters | Metropolitan Tabernacle

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Job 42:2

Comments

Job summarises what he has learnt from the Lord’s illustrations: God can do anything he wills and no power can stand in his way, no unforeseen obstacle can arise to frustrate him: what he wills is as good as done.. God accomplishes the hardest and most complex of feats, and although he has given man creative ability in his own image, he reserves for himself the most wonderful things of all, things that far surpass the capacity of man. Job has been thoroughly convinced of the Lord’s matchless skill and is satisfied about what disturbed him so greatly. This knowledge has brought his mind to a state of peace and he now submits unreservedly to his Creator in spite of his prolonged hardship. He has been brought to repentance, the first part of which is to confess the truth about God which he has resisted and to acknowledge all the divine attributes. Why is it that what stands out for Job is the omnipotence of God and his irresistible will? Surely he had already previously acknowledged this (23:13), and what he had questioned was God’s fairness and justice (27:2)? Why doesn’t he now say that he is satisfied that God is also just and gracious in all his ways if that is what he needed to be convinced of? God has said nothing about his justice or fairness, neither has he explained what has happened to Job. At this stage Job has not been told the background to this trial or the confrontation between the Lord and Satan. These things must have been revealed to him later. He has not received the answer he was demanding and yet he seems to be completely satisfied. How is this? The explanation is that he had begun to trust God again and to be in submission to his Creator which is the only proper stance of the creature. Man will never be in a position to fully understand the works of God, for God’s thoughts are not as our thoughts and his ways are higher than our ways, and yet his works have the profoundest effect upon our lives and determine our future and the path that we take moment by moment. We can only reach a peace of mind about his providence if we have complete trust in him, if we are convinced that all things work for our good, even the hardships we encounter. Job had temporarily lost this trust and had begun to evaluate the Lord’s intentions towards him by sight and not by faith. Outward observation told him that he was suffering, that God knew he was suffering, and that he was being pushed beyond the limit of what he could bear. But faith would have told him that his heavenly Father loved him and could never forsake him or change his eternal good intentions towards him; that God was able to bring good out of any amount of apparent evil, and that even at this late stage God could cause him to recover and be healed. Nothing is too difficult for the Lord and that included Job’s restoration. Job no longer needed to know the exact reason God allowed this trial; it was enough that God could do him no permanent harm and that he worked with a skill that was beyond human reckoning. Job had taken for granted the magnitude of the Lord’s skill though it was before his eyes in many examples from nature. Perhaps, after all, God’s skill and sovereign power had provided the solution in Job’s mind, a power to take Job into such a trial and to bring him safely out again with the benefit of many lessons applied to his heart which he could not otherwise learn.

Application

From these firm rebukes of the Lord Job now says, ‘I know…’., but before he did not see God could do anything. He cried out, ‘Why doesn’t God deal with the wicked?’ Now he is ashamed of that sort of complaint. ‘Terrible things have befallen me, but I know the Lord is in control.’ He affirms what he can be certain of. It is good sometimes to see our lives in this way – to affirm the discoveries we make from God: ‘O Lord, I know this is true, that is true.’ When we see things like this, God does turn us. We must absolutely trust.

Questions

Some versions render this along these lines: ‘I know no purpose of yours can be thwarted’, but the KJV understands the purposes or thoughts to be those of men, not of God, and so understand it to mean that nothing can be hidden from the Lord. That would mean not that God knows every thought, and therefore we had better watch out, but that God knows your case, he knows your fears, troubles, what you are going through.

Calvin understands it to refer to God purposes and comments, ‘Many fanatical persons, when they talk of God’s almightiness, say, “If God is almighty why does he not do this, and if he is almighty he can do that. Yes, but we must not allow our imaginations to carry us away. God’s almightiness does not concern any common thing. God’s almightiness and his will are two inseparable things. God is almighty, but is it to do what man invents in his brain? No, but it is to accomplish whatsoever he has ordained in his own purpose … The things to which we should apply God’s almightiness is that he will keep his promise, and that because our welfare is in his hand we are sure that no evil can befall us’ (Calvin in modern English).

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Job 42:2 Commentary and Bible Study