He is wise in heart and mighty in strength.
– Job 9:4
I love this short phrase, this short description from Job of God and Job is obviously wrestling with the character of God in light of his circumstances, but he knows this, that God is, listen to this description, wise in the heart and mighty in strength.
Job 9:4 teaches us God is wise in heart and mighty in strength.
Just meditate on that for a moment. God is wise in the heart. The heart of God is wise. This is such a needed reminder for us, especially when we’re walking through difficult days, to remember that God is all-wise. And it’s not just regarding knowledge that he is wise. Of course, He is omniscient. He knows all things. He knows what is best in every circumstance. He’s wise, not just in His mind. The mind of God is certainly wise and so is the heart of God. His desires, His will.
What He wants is wise. God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. His strength knows no end. His strength is infinite. God is not only omniscient, He is omnipotent and all-powerful. And as I think about these together, the wisdom of God and the might of God, the heart of God, and the strength of God, I think about one of my favorite quotes from AW Tozer. He said, “With the goodness of God to desire our highest welfare, the wisdom of God to plan it, and the power of God to achieve it. What do we lack?”
Job 9:4 reminds us that we lack nothing.
Indeed, when you realize this, even in the middle of hard days when we don’t understand why this is happening, we can trust that the goodness of God, the heart of God, He desires our highest welfare. The wisdom of God to plan it. He is wise in heart and the power of God to achieve it. He is mighty in strength, we lack nothing.
And so we say together: God, we praise you for your perfect wisdom in your heart and your perfect might in your strength. You are wise in heart, infinitely wise in heart, and you are infinitely mighty in your strength. We praise you, oh God, for your goodness to desire our highest welfare, for your wisdom to plan it and for your power to achieve it. And so we say in our lives, we trust you God, we trust in you. We trust in your wisdom and the wisdom of your heart. We trust in the might of your strength that you are working all things together for our good to conform us more into the image of Jesus.
You’re working all things together for others’ good. God, that ultimately you’re working all things together for your glory as the Savior and deliverer and Lord and provider for your people. We trust in you, the God who is wise in heart and who is mighty in strength. And God, we pray that you’d help us to point others to you. We pray that as we spend time with others who are walking through suffering. God, we pray that you would help us to comfort them with wisdom from your heart… And with the strength and might that is found in you alone.
Prayer for the Southern Uzbek People
And God, knowing that this is only possible in you… We pray for those who not only don’t know you but would’ve never even heard the good news of your wisdom and heart and your might and strength. Jesus, we pray for the Southern Uzbek people of Uzbekistan and Afghanistan… For nearly 5 million of them… Hardly any of them having even heard the good news of Jesus and your love for them. God, we pray that Southern Uzbek men and women and children would be reached with the good news of your grace, of your love, of the gospel, of the good news of the God who is wise in heart and mighty in strength. God, we pray this in Jesus’ name, according to Job 9:4. 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.
