Job 42:6 “Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
Today’s verse takes us into the book of Job where we see him having a complete turn around, change of heart after having encountered God on a personal level. Up to this point, Job had only spoken of God from secondhand knowledge, while his friends sat judging him and saying his losses and suffering were due to his pride and sin. He had lost everything – his children, his wealth, his health, all but his wife who also criticized him and told him to just die already. Yet, through it all he pleaded his innocence.
What prompted this total change in demeanor from Job that caused him to say he despised himself and repented in dust and ashes?
He had experienced an intense and personal encounter with God. God spoke to him directly out of a whirlwind (Job 38-41), posing questions to Job that truly transformed his life. He demonstrated His absolute power and the limits of human wisdom with His response. And Job surrendered his demands for answers and humbled himself completely before God. He realized that his beliefs and judgements about God and His justice were inconsequential and insignificant. He said, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” And it shook him to his core.
Sometimes we find ourselves in the same mindset as Job, questioning the justice in what we are experiencing. We become critical and judgemental instead of accepting God’s hand at work in our lives. We respond with our limited, worldly views. And it is not the right response to have. We should trust Him instead of complaining, trusting that He has our best interest in mind and a plan for our lives. Yet, we sit and whine and complain about how unfair the circumstances are.
Do we really need a Job-like experience to change our hearts? Do we need to experience God in a personal encounter and hear Him speak to us from the storm?
Or can we trust that He is in control and at work in our lives?
Learn from Job. He sat in ashes and dust, in physical grief and despair. He met God in a personal, extraordinary way and he was changed as a result. He retracted all of his defiant arguments. He realized he was nothing before such an amazing, all powerful Creator. And his response came not as a confession of sin but as awe at His majesty and sovereignty as he repented before Him.
Prayer: Lord, Help me to set aside my selfish, worldly complaints in humble repentance and let me wait patiently for Your justice and Your plan for my life. Amen
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