Job 14:16–17

And so we read, in Job 14:16-17, "For now you number my steps; do you not watch over my sin?" Certainly He does! God knows all!

He says, "All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come" — that is, wait for death, but not wait patiently! Meanwhile God was numbering Job's steps. But Job did not want Him to watch over his sins. He considered them "sealed up in a bag," out of sight, needing only God Himself to cover them. He was right to think God could do this.

Yes, there it lies in a bag, or bundle — a great, heavy bundle, too... The smallest bundle of sins is unbearable once it is really felt. Sin's load is leaden! A guilty conscience is a bag of vile filth. It is sealed up, sewed up; you cannot open the bag's mouth and shake out the evil contents. No, they are tightly enclosed, and your tortured conscience has to carry them. No one is so wretched as the one who carries the load of unpardoned sins.

In the presence of the Lord the repentant soul learns three great truths. First, no sinner can stand before God on the ground of his own merit. If the Lord marks iniquities in the sense of observing them, or keeping them in memory so as to punish, there is no hope for man — none can stand (Job 10:14; Job 14:16). Second, if there is no standing before God through our own merits, there is forgiveness through His mercy. Third, if God forgives it is so that He may be feared, and not so that men may think lightly of their sin or of His mercy.

Job turns from this very solemn scene in his mind to call on the Lord. He says, "You would call, and I would answer You; You would long for the work of Your hands." His heart is beginning to get a little courage... But the Lord does not leave Job until he sees more. He was not merely a man looking up to God. He was a man who knew God's love — a love that was taking him up and chastening him, so that he might be blessed more than ever before. That is the great object of the Book of Job.

His interest is the first thing to consider: "He never withdraws His eyes from the righteous." In his distress, even a Job might find this a painful trial rather than a gain... But Job, with all his outward perfection, had not yet seen God as he was to see Him... How blessed, then, when we have truly seen Him, to know that every step we take in the way matters to Him! — that there is not an hour of the day but He has some thought about how we should spend it!

Yes, there it lies in a bag, or bundle — a great, heavy bundle too… The smallest bundle of sins is unbearable once you really feel it. Sin's load is like lead! A guilty conscience is a bag of vile filth. It is sealed up, sewn up; you cannot open the mouth of the bag and shake out the evil contents. No one is so miserable as the person who carries the load of unforgiven sins.

Meanwhile God was numbering Job's steps, but Job did not want Him to watch over his sins. He considered them "sealed up in a bag," out of sight, needing only God Himself to cover them. He did rightly think God could do this.

We have a nature which, sadly, hates God and could not enjoy His presence. On top of that, we are guilty of sins as well. And He who knows how corrupt our fallen nature is knows also the great number of our sins. We may have forgotten them — He has not!

Though he has said that death is the end of everything, Job pleads with God that he might die. He thought that death might hide him until God's anger had subsided. For he thought his troubles came from the wrath of God. In this he was totally mistaken. His words show the state of confusion he was in, which caused him to often speak inconsistently.

Job next seems to express a hope of a bright hereafter — vague, and spoiled by evil thoughts of God. He wants to hide from God in Sheol until this mighty Being had changed His mind and stopped pursuing His creature. Job would wait patiently till that change came. Then God would regard him; but now He only watched him as an enemy! This is unspeakably sad for a man who knew God. But such is unbelief even in a saint. We can catch the gleam of faith in the desire and the question, and know that one day Job will see clearly and regret these words.

His heart is beginning to get a little courage… But the Lord does not leave Job until he sees this. He was not just a man looking up to God. He was a man knowing God's love — a love that was taking him up and chastening him so that he might be blessed more than he had ever been before. That is the great object of the Book of Job.

It does not say that God forgets them, it says He remembers them no more, and the difference is important. I might owe a large bill to a shopkeeper, and he might forget all about it and never present it for payment. That does not cancel the debt. But if he presents it and I pay it, it is finished. He does not send it to me again. He remembers it against me no more. The sins were not forgotten; the full account of them was presented for payment at the cross, and the blood of Jesus has wiped out the dreadful record. Justice is satisfied, and the question will never arise again.