I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
– Job 42:2
These are the first words that Job speaks to God after multiple chapters of God speaking directly to Job after this incredible revelation of who God is, that transcends Job’s suffering. Job looks up to God. And the first words out of his mouth, he says, “I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted”. So just let that soak in.
Job 42:2 shows that no circumstance is beyond God’s control.
Two truths here, one, God has all power. There is nothing that God cannot do. He is omnipotent. And you think about it, when we walk through suffering, we start to wonder about this. We question, does God have power to change this or that circumstance? And the answer after 41 chapters of suffering that Job comes to is: absolutely, God has power.
He has all power. “I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted”. In other words, God will accomplish all of his purposes, which makes sense. If God didn’t have all power, then he might not be able to accomplish all his purposes, but he does have all power, and as a result, no purpose of his can be thwarted. Do you realize what this means as a child of God, as someone who knows God through faith in Jesus?
Job 42:2 declares the certainty of God’s sovereign work in our lives.
And if you have never put your trust in Jesus and entered into relationship with God as his child, then I urge you to do that today. And when you do, and for all who have, you are a child of the omnipotent King God, Lord overall, who has good purposes that he’s accomplishing in your life. In my life. It’s what he promises in his Word in Romans 8. “All things working together for good”.
And we can know that is certain. No matter how dark the days get, no matter how hard the suffering might be, we can know beyond the shadow of a doubt his good purposes will be accomplished. They will not be thwarted. So there is so much here to rest in and trust in and to praise God for. No matter what we walk through in our lives to know what Job confessed. The first words out of his mouth, “God, you’re all powerful and you’re accomplishing all your good purposes”.
And so God, we praise you in the same way that Job did. We praise you right now in these words. Lord, we know that you can do all things, and we are so thankful that your power is not limited. We praise you as the all-powerful God, and we know that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. We praise you that all your good purposes will be accomplished.
This verse explains why we can trust God’s will, even in hardship.
And so we say we trust in you and we rest upon your power that ensures the accomplishment of your purposes. We pray that you would work those purposes out and each of our lives, God, that you would conform us more into the image of Jesus, that you would draw us closer to yourself. We know these are your purposes for our lives.
So do it God, no matter what we’re walking through. Do that in us, in our lives today, by your power. Accomplish your purposes in us and around us and in the world. God, your purpose to spread your goodness and your grace and your mercy and your love and your glory to all the nations. Bring it about.
Prayer for the Nai People
We pray, God, we pray in line with that purpose. Right now, we lead on behalf of the Nai people of India, the Sikh people group speaking Eastern Punjab, 369,000 of them, no known followers of Jesus.
God, we know your purpose is to save people from the Nai people. So bring it about. We pray. We’re asking and knowing that as we ask, our prayers are the means. Part of the means by which your purpose, by your power, will be accomplished among the Nai. Draw them to yourself. We pray. We know you can do all things. No purpose of yours can be thwarted.
So we say today, we trust in you. We praise you. We rest in you and your power and your purposes, and we praise you, Jesus, for how you showed Job 42:2, and your power over sin and death and the grave, your purpose to bring about salvation in our lives and salvation among the nations. Yes, we say today, no matter what we’re facing or what we might face, we know you can do all things and no purpose of yours can be thwarted. And so we praise you, we rest in you, and we trust in you. In Jesus’ name, we pray according to your Word in Job 42:2, which we love. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
