Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?
– Job 40:8
These are penetrating questions from God to Job in which God reminds all of us that he is righteous. That he is perfectly good and perfectly wise, and all that he is and does is right. When we walk through suffering, even if we walk through suffering that’s not a result of our sin like Job did, we must be careful never to assume that we have the knowledge or the power to be able to stand in judgment of God himself.
Job 40:8 teaches us to come before God with humility.
The way Job 40:2 puts it is, “Shall a fault-finder contend with the Almighty?” In other words, shall a sinful person who is not completely righteous, whose mind is finite, who does not know or understand everything, shall this kind of person, shall you or I contend with the Almighty God who has no sin in him? Who is completely righteous? This is where we need to remember amidst questions we have and the suffering we face to make sure to ask those questions with a spirit of humility before God. To express our emotions before God with a spirit of humility and honor that recognizes that every moment we are the creature. He is the Creator. We are the sinners. He is sinless. We are prone to unrighteousness, and he is completely righteous.
Just remember this, when you and I walk through hard days and we’re pouring out our thoughts and questions and emotions to God, to do so with recognition of who he is and who we are. Oh God, we pray that you would forgive us for our pride. Any times that we have given into a temptation to contend with you, to argue out some matter with an assumption that we know better than you. We confess together right now, oh God, we have neither the knowledge nor the power to stand in judgment of you, and it’s our sinful nature that even causes us to want to judge you.
Job 40:8 encourages us to trust in God’s righteousness and goodness.
To insist that what you are doing might be wrong. God, help us to repent of that and to wholly trust in you. Teach us to trust in you and your righteousness and your goodness, and your power and your love and your wisdom. All the things that you are, that we are so glad you are. We praise you because you are all these things. So help us remember that you are all these things, even when we don’t understand why this is happening, where this is going in our lives.
Help us to always remember who you are and who we are, and in the process to remember not just who you are and all your power and your sovereignty, but who you are in your love for us. Your pursuit of us and your promise to follow after us all the days of our lives with your goodness and mercy. Yes, God, we praise you for who you are. We humble ourselves before you for who you are. God, we pray you to help us to point others today to who you are. Help us to encourage those who are walking through hard days with reminders, gentle reminders of your love. To be an expression of your love and your mercy and your comfort, all that you are.
Prayer for the Ryukyuan People
God, we pray for people who don’t know who you are, have never even heard of who you are. In Jesus, specifically for the Ryukyuan people of the Ryukyu Islands of Japan, this indigenous people group, Buddhist people group. God, we pray that the gospel of who you are, the good news of your grace, and your mercy, and your power in Jesus would spread to the Ryukyuan people that they might know who you are.
That they might experience salvation from your hand. Please God, may it be so even as we pray that people around us today would experience salvation through the proclamation of the gospel in our lives. Lord God, we praise you for who you are. You are God, and we are not. Help us to glorify you, to trust you, and to lead others to 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.
