Hearing His Voice #220

I have not departed from [God’s] commands, but have treasured his words more than daily food.

Job 23:12

No one can honestly claim to have never departed from God’s commands, but Job wasn’t saying he had never made a mistake. He was saying he had not willfully rebelled against God’s ways. Even so, he found himself in a dreadful situation, having suffered the loss of property, the death of his children, and the ravages of life-threatening illnesses. Now his friends were assuming that his calamities were the result of his sins. Clearly, God wouldn’t deal with a faithful servant so harshly, would He? Therefore, Job must have offended Him. That seemed to be the only explanation for the suffering of an apparently godly man.

But Scripture tells us the story behind Job’s trials, and he wasn’t to blame for them. He was right: He had treasured God’s words more than daily food. He had been careful to follow all God had said, relentlessly clinging to the divine will. He was a model of submission to God’s written Word.

What does Job’s situation tell us about hearing God’s voice? That it’s possible to follow the revealed will of God and still have no insight into His hidden purposes. God wants us to heed Scripture faithfully, but that doesn’t mean we’ll always understand what He is doing in a given situation. Job spent a lot of time lamenting his trials and defending his reputation, but instead of looking at his past and his peers, he might have better endured by focusing entirely on the behind-the-scenes heart of the Father. Even in God’s silences, He can be sought. Even when we’ve read the Word, we can search out the heart behind it. Even when we’ve been obedient to God’s instructions, we can explore His ways more thoroughly. And when we do, we find treasures we never before imagined.

Father, let me never waste my pain. Use it to draw me deeper, to show me hidden treasures of Your ways and Your Kingdom. Give me glimpses behind the scenes of my life.