"I had heard of you, but now I have seen you."

Job 42:1-17

Context
Having lost family, wealth, and health - through no fault of his own - Job has had to endure advice from his friends, who have assured him he must have done something to deserve his calamity. Job has simply wanted to argue with God that all is unfair. God suddenly appeared, and said to Job "The universe is really amazing." And thus we reach Chapter 42.

Listening to the writer
Hebrew doesn't have quotation marks - in fact, it doesn't even have vowels. Sometimes this makes it difficult to figure out just who is saying what. Job's opening speech makes much more sense when we realize he is quoting God in the first half of verse 3, and in verse 4.

God said Job was talking about things he didn’t understand, and Job now agrees. When you complain to God, does the act of complaining help you understand how limited your knowledge is?

What is God's view of Job's friends?

Verses 10-17 are written in prose form (similar to Chapters 1 and 2). What does the ending do the story as a whole? Would the story be any different if Job was destitute at the end?

Listening to God
God told Job that God was going to be in charge of the conversation. Job is satisfied; he didn’t get to argue with God, but he did experience God, and this seems to be enough. When you have asked deep “Why?” questions, do you usually receive a satisfying answer? Do you come to experience God’s presence in spite of your questions?

Job had heard of God; now he experiences God (verse 5). Do you spend more time learning about God, or actually experiencing God? If the former, could you make your devotional time really time with God? The point of all this Bible study isn’t just to learn things; it’s to love God!

Verse 7 gives God’s brief judgement on the words of Job’s “friends.” All of their high-sounding speeches, their insistence that Job really should get his act together, are rejected. Are there people in your life who are always telling you that life is your fault? Would you like God to speak verse 7 to them? Does God need to speak verse 7 to you?

Note that, although the Adversary (Satan) did the dirty work, the author has no difficulty describing what has happened to Job as "evil" and giving God the credit (verse 11). Does God bring evil upon us? Does God allow evil to be brought upon us?

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