Job 12:1-15:35 Throughout our lives there is one goal God has for us. His goal is that we become totally dependent upon Him. There is also one goal Satan has for us as we live our lives on earth. His goal is that we become totally independent. Interdependency is God’s heart for us. Independence is Satan’s plan for us.
Here in this passage from Job we see how Job knew he could do nothing without God. He had to trust God in everything simply because everything that exists came from God. Job says with God is strength and wisdom. He has the power to make the weak strong and the strong weak. He is in charge of nations. Our days are determined by Him.
Because Job knew the power and greatness of God, his only choice in this life was to trust Him with His life, possessions and everything. Job says, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).
Knowing God’s power and wisdom caused Job to acknowledge that his own ways were ever before the Lord. He was completely dependent upon the Lord. He says, “The hand of the Lord has wrought everything and the soul of every man and every living thing is in His hands. He gives breath to every living thing.” (See Job 12:9-10.)
Job was able to get through his trials because he knew his life was in God’s hands. He had to depend upon Him and Him alone. This is called the gift of helplessness. God gave Job the gift of helplessness that opened the door for him to have the revelation of the Lord of lords, King of kings, his redeemer and his restorer. Job had nowhere to go but the Lord. His friends offered little comfort, and his wife exhorted him to curse God and die. Job had no where to look but up. His circumstances were so traumatic that if he dwelled on them, he would be swallowed up with cares. Because of God’s beautiful gift of helplessness, he had no other choice but to release all of his cares to his redeemer. The rest of Job’s story reveals God’s love and care for Job.
Catherine Marshall, the author of many books and wife of Peter Marshall, a well-known Presbyterian pastor and one time chaplain of the Senate, tells the story of when she contracted TB. She could do nothing but lie in the bed for several years. Then one day she recognized that she was closer to God than she had ever been in her life, and she thanked God for the gift of helplessness. She told the Lord if she had to be bed bound the rest of her life, she was willing to be if she could continue to know His presence as she did. Shortly after this declaration to the Lord, Catherine was healed and raised up off her sick bed. Helplessness brings total release.
READ: Job 12:1-15:35; 1 Corinthians 15:29-58; Psalm 39:1-13; Proverbs 21:30-31
