Real-life Knowledge - Job

“You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me.”

Job 42:3

“I thought I really knew Janet when we first got married,” a doting husband told his friends and family at his twenty-fifth wedding anniversary party. “But now I realize I didn’t know one thing about her. I only got to know her as we went through some ups and downs together. The more I realized I was married to a woman I could always trust and could count on to stick by me when things got rough, the more I loved her.”

You can get to know a person in the times when life is easy and enjoyable, but you really find out what he or she is made of when you’re not at your best.

After suffering through the loss of his property, wealth, health, and family, Job came to a better understanding of God. God had called Job “a man of complete integrity” (Job 1:8), but this up-close-and-personal understanding of God was new even for him.

Job suffered through a horrible set of circumstances for no apparent reason. When it seemed that things couldn’t get any worse, he began questioning God, complaining to God, and even accusing God of treating him unjustly.

When God finally entered into Job’s suffering and revealed himself, Job could do nothing but humbly retract the foolish things he had said: “I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance” (Job 42:6).

Job had seen and heard God as he really is. He had listened as God asked him some pointed questions. When that happened, Job came to the end of himself and began to understand his own smallness compared to God’s glory and power: “I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes” (Job 42:5).

You get to know about God through praying, reading your Bible, and fellowshipping with other believers. You come to know him more fully and personally when you apply your knowledge to real-life situations, especially the difficult ones.