Title: A Presumption Of Knowledge / Topic: Humility

Today’s Reading: Job 5; Psalm 108; Acts 10; Acts 11

Scripture: Job 5:8-9, 12-13
8 "But if it were I, I would appeal to God;
I would lay my cause before him.
9 He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed...
12 He thwarts the plans of the crafty,
so that their hands achieve no success.
13 He catches the wise in their craftiness,
and the schemes of the wily are swept away."

Observation: Job's friends came to comfort him and for seven days they simply stayed by his side and did not try to counsel him -- no one, not even Job, spoke. Then Job breaks the silence (chapter 3) and Eliphaz the Temanite can't resist the opportunity to give some advice. (Oh, that he had kept his mouth shut.) And most of what he says sounds pretty good. Take another look at the verses above. Sounds good, right? At first blush, yes. But notice verse 9: "He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed..." I believe that Eliphaz should have ended here with something like, "Since God's wonders cannot be fathomed, I won't pretend that I understand them." PERIOD. But he didn't. He went on to explain the wonders of God that cannot be fathomed. Dumb idea.

Application: It is always dangerous when one thinks he has a true grasp on God. God is beyond my discovery. (And yours too.) Yes, I can know many things about Him, but the more I truly understand about God, the more I will see that He is unfathomable. What can I know? I can know what the Bible tells me. God is good. God is love. God is mighty. And much more. But I cannot know how God feels about or will repond to every specific action of every person. In fact, in Job we are told that what God did to Job was for no reason whatsoever! The Bible says that! (So much for being able to understand God's ways.) The Bible tells me that His ways are beyond me.

Bottom line: Keep humble about your knowledge of God. Don't act like a know-it-all because if you do, you just demonstrate your ignorance. Show the loving character of God -- His kindness, grace, humility, and forgiveness. That is what will touch people and please God.

Prayer: Lord, thanks for helping us to understand what we need to understand. Help us to submit ourselves humbly to You and to face that fact that if we were given the full knowledge of You, our brains would explode. Lord, I ask You to show me how best to represent You, and to not worry about what I cannot understand.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.