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Then Job answered the Lord and said:
“I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
Job 42:1-6
If you read my blog on a regular basis, you will realize this was the passage brought to us at our Ash Wednesday service on Wednesday night. If you aren’t very familiar with Job, take a look back and review a bit. Job had been reminding GOD about how much he didn’t deserve all this adversity.
In Job 38, GOD started talking back to him. He offered rhetorical and at times, somewhat sarcastic questions reminding Job that HE was the one who had marked off the universe. He was the one who knew where all the snow was stored…
This is Job’s response. As I think about Ash Wednesday and the days of Lent ahead, I have to stop and remember this awesome GOD of the universe. The One who knows all the nooks and crannies of it. The One who controls every bit of it.
This GOD loves me and wants to relate to me. The idea of this is totally mind-boggling!
Yet amazingly humbling!
“Now I see you and repent” should be our default setting, Martha. We should be quaking in our boots, literally, at the greatness and majesty of God and His willingness to converse with us. May this Lenten season be such a time of repentance and of a surge of holiness unto the Lor.d
You are so right alison! unfortunately, our natural default is so opposite of that. even after all these years of being a believer, i struggle to bow in this way before my Maker on a daily, hourly way.
Yes, I need to repent, but the truth is, i will always need to repent…and realize my need for Jesus and His redemption.
After all these years, i am more aware of my weakness in this area. I do wish my heart went this way as a default. life would be much easier wouldn’t it?