“Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?”
– Job 11:7
So this is Zophar speaking to Job, and he’s basically telling him, “Job, you deserve worse than this.” We won’t get into that part of his counsel. The reason I want to read verse 7 and lead us to pray according to it is because it really is, out of the mouth of Zophar, a glorious picture of the limitlessness of God. “Can you find out the deep things of God?” he asks. “Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?” The reality is the answer is no. Job can’t understand all the deep things of God, and there are no limits to God. And these are reasons actually for faith in the middle of suffering, to know that there are no limits to God’s wisdom. His wisdom doesn’t run out.
Job 11:7 Reminds Us There is No Limit to God’s Love
There are no limits to his power. He can do all things. There are no limits to his love. He perfectly loves his people. Isn’t this good news? Just think, if we were praying to a God who had limited power or limited wisdom, limited love, then what reason for confidence ultimately would we have? Our confidence is grounded in his limitlessness. Our confidence is actually grounded in the fact that there are things that are deeper in God than we can fathom, see, know or understand.
And so we pray, God, there is no one like you. You are holy. You are in this sense totally unlike us. We have so many limits. God, there are limits to our wisdom, our power, our love, our knowledge, our everything. We are such limited people. We have so little of so many things, and yet you are limitless in all these things we’ve just mentioned in prayer.
Reminded that there is No Limit to God’s Power
God, there’s no end to your power. You’re omnipotent. All power belongs to you. All of it. And all of it, without end. You’re omnibenevolent, all loving. Your love is without end for all who trust in you. God we praise you. Your knowledge is without end, and there’s nothing you don’t know. You’re omniscient. You’re omnipresent everywhere. God, we praise you for the depth of your being, your character, that we cannot even begin to comprehend. So help us to remember this.
As limited people in a suffering world, there are so many things we don’t see or know, can’t control, that you, our God, the God who’s reconciled us to yourself, the God who’s called us your sons and daughters through faith in Jesus, that you, our God, are all these things. Oh. So help us to grow in faith, as we walk through suffering, as we fix our eyes on all of these limitless attributes in you. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
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.
