Job 11:7-9

“Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.”

We are grieved to see a godly man, under circumstances that should have called forth nothing but tenderness and compassion, run down and persecuted by his own friends, and those friends men of great intelligence and real piety. But human nature, notwithstanding it may have been renovated by divine grace, is still imperfect; and, if left under the influence of any mistaken principle, we may pursue evil with earnestness under the semblance of good, and may provoke God to anger, while we imagine that we are rendering him the most acceptable service.

The friends of Job were eminently enlightened men; yet all in succession act towards him the part of enemies; and each in succession, with increasing acrimony, condemns him as a hypocrite before God. How painful is it to hear this address of Zophar, “Will your idle talk reduce men to silence? Will no one rebuke you when you mock? verse 3.”

But, while we lament the sad misapplication of their arguments to the point in hand, and the bitterness of spirit with which they were urged, we must still avail ourselves of the instruction they afford us, which in some respects is equal to any that is contained in the sacred volume.

Zophar supposed that Job had complained of God as acting unjustly towards him; and, if he had been right in his interpretation of Job’s expressions, the reproof he administered would have been just and beneficial. His error in relation to Job’s real character divests his observations of all force in reference to him; but they deserve the strictest attention in reference to ourselves. From them we are naturally led to notice:

I. The incomprehensibility of God.

Well does David say, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; his greatness is unsearchable! Psalm 145:3.”

1. God is unsearchable in his attributes.

Men will often talk of God, and lay down laws for him, just as if they had the most perfect knowledge of him, and of everything relating to him. But our knowledge of God is altogether negative: we know that he is not unwise, not unholy, not unjust. But we have no definite understanding of his attributes. What notion have we of his natural attributes of eternality or immensity? None at all. So of his moral perfections, of justice, mercy, goodness, truth—we, in fact, know as little. We contemplate these qualities as existing in man, and are enabled to estimate with some precision their proper bearings; but, when we come to transfer these qualities to God, we are much in the dark. We are guilty of great presumption when we prescribe rules for him, and bind him by laws that are suited for the restrictions or human actions. “He dwells in the light which no man can approach unto;” and presumptuously to ascend the mount of his habitation, or to look within the ark, is death, Exodus 19:12-13. 1 Samuel 6:19.

2. God is unsearchable in the dispensations of his providence.

These we see; but no one of them do we understand. This was as strongly affirmed by Job himself as by his friends. Compare Job 5:9; Job 9:10 with the text.

Who will pretend to account for God’s conduct towards our first parents, in allowing them to be overcome by temptation, and to entail sin and misery on all their posterity?

Who will undertake to declare all the consequences that may arise from anyone event, however trivial, or all the motives which exist in the divine mind for the permission of it?

We are apt to speak of things as great and small, because of the degree of importance that we attach to them; but there is nothing great, nothing small, in the estimation of God. Whoever meditates on the history of Joseph, or the facts recorded in the Book of Esther, will see that the most casual and trifling circumstances, as they appear to us, were as important links in the chain of providence, as those which bear the clearer marks of counsel and design

The rejection of the Jews, the calling of the Gentiles, and the restoration of the Jews to the favor of their God, are events of vast magnitude in human estimation; but what the Apostle says in reference to them, is in reality as applicable to the events of daily occurrence, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. Romans 11:33-36.”

3. God is unsearchable in the operations of his grace.

Let that first act of grace be surveyed—the destination of God’s only dear Son to be the surety and substitute of sinful man;

let the whole covenant of grace be contemplated;

let every act of grace from the foundation of the world to this present moment be scrutinized

—what do we know of any of this?

Let it be inquired, why God puts a difference between one nation and another, and between one individual and another;

let the mode in which divine grace operates upon the soul be investigated, so as to distinguish in all things the agency of the Holy Spirit from the actings of our own minds;

who is sufficient for these things?

Who is not a child and a fool in his own estimation, when he turns his attention to them? We would address our text to every man, “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea! Job 11:7-9.” “Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out! Job 37:23.” “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God! 1 Corinthians 2:11.”

II. If God be so incomprehensible, then we may see the folly of presuming to sit in judgment upon Him.

This was the particular drift of Zophar’s admonition. He conceived that Job had complained of God as unjust towards him; and therefore, having solemnly warned Job, that “God had exacted less of him than his iniquities deserved,” he proceeded to elaborate upon the character and ways of God as far exceeding all human comprehension, and to show unto Job the folly of arraigning the conduct of the Most High God. In prosecution of his argument, Zophar shows:

1. How impotent we are to resist his will.

God is almighty; and, if he is pleased “to cut off” a man’s family, “or to shut him up” in darkness and distress, “or to gather together” his adversaries against him, then “what power has any man to hinder him?” We may dispute against him; but we cannot divert him from his purpose. We may complain and murmur; but “we cannot stay his hand.” “He does according to his will in the armies of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth;” and, “whatever his counsel may be—that shall stand!”

What folly then is it to be indulging hard thoughts of him, and to be maintaining a stoutness of heart against him, when we know beforehand that we can never prevail, that we only kick against the goads, and that the only way of averting his wrath is to humble ourselves before him! Think, all you who now repine, “Will your hands be strong in the day that he shall deal with you! or will you thunder with a voice like his!”

2. How impotent we are to escape his judgment.

God sees all the rebellious motions of our hearts, and will certainly call us into judgment for them! Here then, is a strong additional reason for not presuming to condemn him. To know that the indulgence of such a rebellious spirit will not avert his displeasure, is quite sufficient to suppress all risings of heart against him. But to know that it greatly increases his displeasure; to know that he marks every rebellious thought that springs up in our minds, and “that he considers it” with a view to a just and awful retribution—surely this should make us extremely cautious how we thus ensure and aggravate our eternal condemnation! On this subject we shall do well to remember the warning which God himself gave to Job, “He who reproves God, let him answer it! Job 40:2.”

3. How destitute we are of anything that can qualify us to presume to sit in judgment upon God.

What is “vain man, that would be wise?” What? “He is born” as stupid, as unteachable, and as refractory “as a wild donkey’s colt! Jeremiah 2:23-24.” Were he of the first order of created intelligences, he could know nothing of God any further than God was pleased to reveal himself to him. But he is a being of an inferior order, and that too in a fallen and degraded state, “having the eyes of his understanding darkened” by sin, and “blinded by the god of this world;” yes more, having also a thick impenetrable “veil over his heart.”

What then can such a creature pretend to know of God, that he should presume to sit in judgment upon him, and to arraign his conduct?

We know how incompetent a little child would be to comprehend and sit in judgment upon the designs of a great statesman; yet is there no distance between those, in comparison with the distance which exists between God and us. Let us bear in mind then what we ourselves are; and that will most effectually repress our arrogance, if we are tempted to judge God.

As the obvious improvement of this subject, let us learn,

1. To receive with meekness whatever God has revealed in His Word.

We are no more to sit in judgment upon God’s Word, than upon his providence or grace.

If once is be ascertained that the Scripture is a revelation from God—then we are to receive it with the simplicity of a little child. We must indeed use all possible means to attain a clear knowledge of the meaning of Scripture, as well as to assure ourselves that it is of divine origin. But we must never twist the word, and put an unnatural construction upon it—simply because we do not fully comprehend it. We must rather look up to God for the teachings of his Spirit, and wait upon him until he shall be pleased to “open our minds to understand the Scriptures.”

Did we act thus, setting ourselves against no truth that God has revealed, but receiving with humility whatever he has spoken, then we would no longer behold the Church torn into parties, and the minds of men embittered against each other by controversies. Let us remember:

that “the riches of Christ are unsearchable!”

that “his love surpasses knowledge;”

and that however deep our knowledge of Scripture may be, there will always remain many things difficult to be understood;

that our wisdom is, first, to improve for our benefit all that is clear;

and then, in reference to the rest, to say, “What I know not now, I shall know hereafter.”

2. To bear God’s afflictions with patience.

Our impatience does, in fact, reflect upon God either as unjust or unkind. But if we considered how “little a portion is heard of him,” that “his footsteps are not known,” and that those things which we deplore as calamities are sent by him in love for our eternal good—then we would not only submit with patience to whatever he might lay upon us, but would adore him for it as an expression of his love.

The outcome of Job’s trials is proposed to us in this very view, as the means of composing our minds, and of reconciling us to the most afflictive providences, James 5:11. If Job were now to live on earth again, and were to see all the benefit that has resulted both to himself and to the Church, and all the glory that has redounded to his God from the troubles that he endured—then how differently would he speak of them, from what he did when under their immediate pressure! What he has seen of God’s unerring wisdom and unbounded love, would make him justify God, yes and glorify him too, for all those trials which once he felt so insupportable.

Just so, if we now by faith learn to estimate the divine character aright, we shall welcome every dispensation however afflictive, and glory in our present troubles, under the sweet assurance that “our light shall before long rise in obscurity, and our darkness be as the noon-day.”

Charles Simeon