Job 42:5–6

Previously he had known of Him by "the hearing of the ear"; that is, by tradition. But now, said he, "my eye sees you"; that is, he grasped God in a new and living way. He did not "see" in a literal sense, as 1 Timothy 6:16 assures us, yet the eye is only the organ of sight and it is the mind that sees. Again and again we say, "I see," when something that made no appeal to our eyes has sunk into our minds.

He perceived God in his soul, by his enlightened reason and above all by conscience. God had drawn near, personally near, and Job was conscious of that indescribable holiness, as well as power, that belong to Him. Previously he had been in the presence of man, and could more than hold his own with the best of them. In God's presence no creature can boast... All the "filthy rags" of an imagined personal righteousness dropped from him.

Though Job had heard something about the Lord, it was not enough to meet Job's actual need. Now he came face to face with the greatness and glory of the Lord. The result was, "I abhor myself." He did not abhor only what he had done. He abhorred himself. That self was the root of whatever he may have done, and God was dealing with the root: the pride of Job's very character.

There was a time when things were very different for Job. He was prosperous, flourishing, and very pleased with what he had done. Then he stated, "when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me it gave witness to me." Now he says, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." When the eye was filled with Job there was one story to tell. When Jehovah filled the vision, and Job appeared only in the light of His presence, the story was quite another.

The light that shows us what we are is the light of God. So our knowledge of Him always runs ahead of our knowledge of ourselves: "My eye sees you: therefore I abhor myself." Peter learned what a sinful man he was in the presence of the Saviour. This is what holds us up as we come to know ourselves.

This is the effect of having seen God, and of finding himself in His presence. God's work was finished — the work of His perfect goodness. That goodness would not leave Job until it had made him know himself, and had brought him into God's own presence. The discipline reached its object, and Job now has more blessings around him than before.

We do not underrate the importance of Bible study... There are things that can only be learned in God's Bible-study School... But to graduate in the knowledge of God that comes by experience, we must enter His school of discipline — a school whose course lasts a lifetime.

"I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you." It was nothing external now; no mere distant rumour. "Now my eye sees you. Therefore I abhor myself." Do you think that searching into the structure or habits of behemoth and leviathan would have led to anything of the sort? Certainly not. He was dealing with God Himself, who used them for that very purpose, and so turned Job from everything else to Himself.

Before this, Job had been in the presence of men, and he could more than hold his own with the best of them. In God's presence no creature can boast, and Job was at last in that glorious, holy Presence. All the "filthy rags" of an imagined personal righteousness dropped from him, and he stood in all the naked horror of pride and rebellion against God. "Therefore I abhor" — what? The whole past, every unjust suspicion, every hot accusation, every despairing, restless lament? Yes, more, the author and source of these — "I abhor myself." Who can doubt that Job's repentance goes beyond judging his words? He judged himself. The very absence of the pronoun stresses the thought: "I abhor." I stand out before everyone, described by one word — "abhor."

Now it is not a question of condemnation but of sin. When the sinner has judged himself, the fear of condemnation has passed away... So Job takes God's side against himself. He laid himself before God, and abhorred himself; and then he repents in dust and ashes; for it is only in the presence of God that we learn repentance. True repentance, at its fullest, is this: our sin is so fully brought out that we take God's side of the question. We judge ourselves, and we justify Him. Then it is that He justifies us, and makes us accepted in the Beloved.

It is one thing to say "We are all vile." It is quite another to feel, deep down in the heart, that "I am vile." We can only learn that, and keep living in it, in the immediate presence of God. The two things must always go together: "My eye sees You" — "Therefore I abhor myself." As the light of what God is shines in on what I am, I abhor myself... It is of little use to claim very low thoughts of self while we are quick to resent any injury done to us — any imagined insult, slight, or put-down.

The puzzle of the book of Job is solved. God allowed the afflictions to come on His servant Job. It was not only to show His power. It was for Job's good, to draw him into the place of nearness and blessing. And that place is the dust, "in dust and in ashes."

These are the words for which we may say the Lord had long been listening. He had not heard them in the days of the patriarch's prosperity, though his piety was unquestioned... God's purpose was to draw out just this confession. And why? To humiliate him? No, but to give him the true glory — to let him, out of the dust, see the glory of the Lord, and never again to have a cloud upon his soul.