“And the Lord said to Job, ‘Shall a fault finder contend with the Almighty?’ He who argues with God, let him answer it. Then Job answered the Lord and said, ‘Behold, I am of small account. What shall answer You? I lay my hand on my mouth. I’ve spoken once and I will not answer. Twice, but I will proceed no further.'”
– Job 40:1–5
This is in the middle of God’s response to Job and before we go into the last couple of chapters, God basically says to Job, “Do you want to contend with Me as the Almighty?” and Job says to God, “My hand is on my mouth. I’ve spoken once.
Job 40:1–5 Helps Us Realize God is Almighty
I’ve spoken once, twice, but I will proceed no further,” and basically the picture we’re beginning to see in Job that’ll come to culminating climax in Job 42 is the reality that God, the Almighty is indeed righteous, that God, the Almighty is indeed wise, that God, the Almighty is indeed powerful and loving and good and majestic and awesome, beyond words, beyond our understanding.
It is good for men and women who are not these things, who are not perfect, who are not ultimately in every way good, that men and women who don’t see all things and know all things, who are not all wise, who are not all powerful, it is a good thing for men and women like you and me to be silent before God in trust of God, instead of contending with Him to humble ourselves before Him and not to presume that we would stand in judgment of God.
Job 40:1–5 Teaches Us God is All Wise
How easily this can happen in any one of our lives to think that we know better than God. After all, isn’t this the essence of sin? Isn’t this what happened in Genesis chapter three and what we’re tempted to do all day long, today, to think that we know better than God? Oh God, we repent of this in this moment. We come before You in silent awe and we trust that You are God.
You are wise, all wise. And you are all powerful. You see things, know thing we don’t see. All these different themes we prayed through in the book of Job, God, we are still and know that you are God and we are not. God keep us from contending with You, from pointing the finger at Your character and questioning who You are. May it never be so in our lives, even when we walk through the hardest difficulties and the hardest pain and the hardest suffering. God, help us to be still and know that You are God and know that this is good, that You are God.
Help Us to Trust God’s Judgment
Help us not to stand in judgment of You, but to trust Your judgment, Your justice, Your righteousness in all. Oh God, even now in this moment, as we pray this, just provoked and I would encourage everyone who’s listening to this, could we just sit for a couple of moments in silence even after this podcast episode is over, in silence with our hands over our mouths and just instead of contending with God, to contemplate the power, the wisdom and the goodness of God in ways that are far beyond what we can fathom.
God, teach us. Help us to put our hands in our mouths and be silent before You in reverent fear and awe of You in Jesus name, we pray. Amen. Would you do that now? Instead of just moving on to whatever’s next, would you just sit in silence for a moment and contemplate the wonder and majesty and greatness and goodness and power and love and wisdom and justice and righteousness of God? Just do that in silence for are a moment now.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
