“My ears had heard of you … but now my eyes have seen you.” (Job 42:5)
The wise man Solomon tried to warn me in his inspired writings when he wrote: “…and those that look through the windows grow dim’ (Ecclesiastes 12:3). Trying to deny its arrival, pretending it’s not that bad were all efforts to avoid the coming of getting older!
Blurry vision … cloudy vision … filmy vision … changes in the way you see things … problems driving at night with the oncoming glare of headlights … trouble with your current eyeglasses not working as well. You see … this is what accompanies getting older and finding out you have cataracts! There I said it!
While reading from the Book of Job which is such an enlightening book, I came across the verse referenced at the top of this post. The Book of Job has long been viewed as a book illustrating the value and the place of patience, but this book really reveals the place of faith in a person’s life. We’re all familiar with the story of Job and all the calamities and hardships that he experienced … and what a wonderful story it is.
Found at the conclusion of this book are the words of a man that express his arrival at the place of confession and repentance. Found in Job 42 are the words of a man who still didn’t understand why he had suffered so much … but words of a man who realized that he needed to stop complaining, challenging and questioning God’s wisdom and justice.
Job was reduced to the exalted place of humility! You see, when Job compared his own finite limitations and knowledge to the greatness and knowledge of God Almighty he came to understand Who is really great and it is none other than the Lord.
Job without answers to all of his questions did what each one of us would be most wise to do … quietly and humbly bow before the Great “I AM.” And that is exactly what the passage in Job 42:16 shows.
There are many things that you and I will just not be able to understand this side of eternity (Deuteronomy 29:29). Our Adversary, the devil, is still doing everything in his power to discourage and dissuade us from having the kind of faith and trust in the Lord that we need to sustain us in life and get us to Heaven when life is over.
How compassionate and loving is the God that we serve. May we come to realize as Job realized that trust in the Lord will enable us to deal with any circumstance, malady, heartache or disappointment with clearer vision. Vision that recognizes He knows what is best and that“He will never leave or forsake us” (Hebrews 13:5).
Bill Fairchild, Jr.
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