Job 23:14 | KingComments | STEP | Job comes back to God as the unique, unchanging God ( ). He does not yet realize that he did not perish precisely because of the unchangeability of God ( ). He still feels himself the target of God’s wrath. God is against him and no one can make Him change His mind. What He desires He does, for He is sovereign ( ). God has allotted or prescribed something to him – disasters and misery – and He executes it ( ). It also happens not only incidentally, but often, because God has many of these things in stock. This also means that the terrible suffering of Job is not yet at an end. To us, believers who belong to the church of God, it is a tremendous joy to know that God executes all His purposes and that nothing and no one is able to stop Him in this. We may know that He is fulfilling all His promises. The foundation of this is the work of His Son that has been accomplished once and for all. Whoever believes in it is once and for all perfect before God ( ). The value of Christ’s work will never change. Therefore, it is impossible for the believer to lose his perfection in Christ. He may lose his enjoyment of it through all kinds of circumstances, but that is something else. The thought of the so exalted and unapproachable Majesty acting with him according to His will becomes too much for Job. He is overcome by fear ( ). Job does not repress the thought of God’s sovereignty. He notices it, he has an eye for it, with the result that he is terrified of God. Although we may know God as a loving Father and have no fear of Him, we should be in deep awe of Him ( ). He certainly is love, but He is no less light ( ). When we think about God, as Job does here, both features of God will impress us. God has made his heart faint with everything He has brought over Job ( ). The heart of Job is still beating, but the strength is gone. He is still alive, but it is all extremely difficult. The terror is in Job. This is what “the Almighty” has done, He Who has all power and against Whom no one can resist. This thought has made his heart faint. The circumstances, the darkness in which he finds himself, have not silenced him ( ). He has not lost everything because of what has happened to him, but because God has taken it away from him. Job sees his circumstances as the actions of God. The darkness that covers him is suffocating, yet he is not killed by it. What makes his circumstances dark and gloomy is that God remains hidden. That is the need of his soul.

‏ Job 23:14

Afraid of God

Job comes back to God as the unique, unchanging God (Job 23:13). He does not yet realize that he did not perish precisely because of the unchangeability of God (Mal 3:6). He still feels himself the target of God’s wrath. God is against him and no one can make Him change His mind. What He desires He does, for He is sovereign (Psa 115:3). God has allotted or prescribed something to him – disasters and misery – and He executes it (Job 23:14). It also happens not only incidentally, but often, because God has many of these things in stock. This also means that the terrible suffering of Job is not yet at an end.

To us, believers who belong to the church of God, it is a tremendous joy to know that God executes all His purposes and that nothing and no one is able to stop Him in this. We may know that He is fulfilling all His promises. The foundation of this is the work of His Son that has been accomplished once and for all. Whoever believes in it is once and for all perfect before God (Heb 10:14). The value of Christ’s work will never change. Therefore, it is impossible for the believer to lose his perfection in Christ. He may lose his enjoyment of it through all kinds of circumstances, but that is something else.

The thought of the so exalted and unapproachable Majesty acting with him according to His will becomes too much for Job. He is overcome by fear (Job 23:15). Job does not repress the thought of God’s sovereignty. He notices it, he has an eye for it, with the result that he is terrified of God. Although we may know God as a loving Father and have no fear of Him, we should be in deep awe of Him (1Pet 1:15-17). He certainly is love, but He is no less light (1Jn 1:5 ; 1Jn 4:8 ; 16). When we think about God, as Job does here, both features of God will impress us.

God has made his heart faint with everything He has brought over Job (Job 23:16). The heart of Job is still beating, but the strength is gone. He is still alive, but it is all extremely difficult. The terror is in Job. This is what “the Almighty” has done, He Who has all power and against Whom no one can resist. This thought has made his heart faint.

The circumstances, the darkness in which he finds himself, have not silenced him (Job 23:17). He has not lost everything because of what has happened to him, but because God has taken it away from him. Job sees his circumstances as the actions of God. The darkness that covers him is suffocating, yet he is not killed by it. What makes his circumstances dark and gloomy is that God remains hidden. That is the need of his soul.