“I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees Thee; Therefore, I humble myself and repent in sackcloth and ashes” (Job 42:5-6).
Some things are so overwhelming and all-consuming that when they occur, they suck all the air out of the room and leave everyone stunned into silence.
Job received his comeuppance from the living God of whom he had spoken so freely as though he knew more about Him than he did.
As he ranted on and on, defending himself before friends acting as God’s prosecuting attorneys, at times Job became belligerent in declaring his innocence of any wrong which would have brought down divine judgement in the form of the various trials he was enduring.
Then God showed up and took over. In chapter 38, God begins asking questions like, “Joe, you seem to know everything; where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” Finally, in the opening of chapter 40, Job interrupts to say, “I lay my hand on my mouth! Once I have spoken and I will not answer; even twice and I will add no more.”
But God was not through. “Now, Job, gird up your loins like a man and instruct me!” (40:7) Oh my.
On and on the Lord went, blowing through like a storm (40:6), down through chapter 41.
Finally, He was through.
Whew, Job thought. This was no fun.
“I have declared that which I did not understand,” Job managed to utter. “Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” (42:3)
I can see some of us know-it-all preachers murmuring something similar one day when we stand in the Divine Presence.
A little humility is always the order of the dayfor anyone who believes in Almighty God and who would deign to do business with HIm and/or for Him.
I notice this morning that the Cheerios box suggests “More grain; less you.”
Less of me is a great idea. I’m all for that.
“So the helpless has hope, and unrighteousness must shut its mouth” (Job 5:16).
Wickedness does not like to shut its mouth. It enjoys spouting off as though it has something figured out about things that matter. Let a man or woman drift away from church and into a sinful way of living and soon they become know-it-alls about the church and preachers, hypocrites and God. Choosing the pleasures of sin (which are “for a season”–Hebrews 11:25) and cringing at the coming judgment they know in their heart of hearts is awaiting them, they go on the attack.
The day will come when every eye will behold Him, every knee will bow before Him, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. When that happens, all their arguments and attacks regarding the living God will dry up and fall away.
The fact is we are told what the rebellious and headstrong sinner will say to Jesus at Judgement.
People sometimes tell pastors they’re going to attack God for “the hell he put me through” or “the sin that was in the church,” all of which gives them carte blanche to live any way they please, I suppose.
We can actually know what the rebel will say when he/she stands before Jesus.
It’s all in a parable, found in Matthew 22.
The king was giving a feast for his son who was to be married. When the invited guests rejected his invitation and were dealt with, the king sent his servants out “into the highways and hedges” to find anyone willing to come. He said, “There will be guests at my banquet!”
This was the ultimate come-as-you-are party. No one left home that morning thinking, “I might be invited to the palace today, so I’d better take along my best suit of clothes.” No, they were in work clothes, everyday attire, some of it presentable and some an embarrassment.
As they entered the royal hall, the king’s servants stood by the doors to provide wedding clothes for each guest. (We are not told this, but it is inferred; without this, the story would make no sense. Neither are we informed as to the nature of the clothing provided, whether white robes or simply fine material, or whether the clothing went over their own or replaced it. We will not press the parable to make it say more than it was intended to say.)
When every seat was filled, the chief servant informed the king that everything was ready. Jesus said, “When the king entered to look over the wedding guests, he saw there a man not dressed in wedding clothes. He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And he was speechless.
The man had tried to get into the kingdom–salvation, Heaven–by means other than the door. He was deadsure he could make it on his own and needed no Savior. (Who is the door? See John 10:7,8.)
“Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 22:12-13).
There it is.
When the rebel stands before the Lord Jesus at Judgment, he’s not going to say a thing.
We will all be so overwhelmed by the glory and majesty of the Creator of the world, with the skies filled with angels by the millions, our speaking apparatus simply will not function.
I love the little statement toward the end of this same 22nd chapter of Matthew. “When the multitudes heard this (that is, Jesus’ answer to the smart alecks who knew everything while respecting little), they were astonished at His teaching. But when the Pharisees heard that He had put the Sadducees to silence, they gathered themselves (to plot His death).”
So, let’s have no more talk of what you will say to God.
Even those who have been saved will not be making a lot of speeches that day.
Hundreds of years before Christ was born, the Prophet Ezekiel gave the Lord’s pronouncement to His suffering people about a wonderful day coming for them. “‘I will remember my covenant with you…and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed…. You shall know that I am the Lord, in order that you may remember and be ashamed, and never open your mouth anymore because of your humiliation, when I have forgiven you for all that you have done,’ the Lord God declares” (Ezekiel 16:60-63).
Eventually, the Lord says, there comes a time when He wants to hear no more of this, “Lord, I’m so sorry for my sin.” Get over that, He is saying. You are forgiven and those things are in the past, forgiven and forgotten (see Hebrews 10:17).
The Lord wants His children to live so beautifully as to shut the mouths of the naysayers and critics.
“Such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men” (I Peter 2:15).
So, while the Lord will shut the mouth of most, it’s possible for you and me who call ourselves believers to so live as to quieten the critics. And how nice would that be!