Job 12:24

There are all kinds of change. There is nothing, then, that shows the settled judgment of God. Everything among men is in flux — a constant flow and change. So nothing could be more foolish than the foundation the three friends stood on in their attack on Job.

God could and did make nations great, and then, as He saw fit, destroy them. He could enlarge the nations and guide them too. But then He could take away the understanding of the chiefs of the people. That reduces the nation to a wandering wilderness path: groping in the dark without light, made to stagger like a drunkard (vv.23-25). So the nations are an object lesson for all mankind. God blesses them and they become proud of themselves, and therefore they need the humbling dealings of God.

"He leads counsellors away plundered, and makes fools of the judges." That is, He strips counsellors of the value of their counsel. So man's wisdom comes to nothing, and the judges become foolish. Man's authority becomes as useless as his wisdom.

To whom can we go but to Him? "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes." No matter how well meaning and honest they may be, they are not equal to untangling the universal tangle. And this is because God is not the beginning of their schemes, nor His glory the end of their measures.

If Job had taken time to consider what these things mean, he might not have sunk so low in his miserable state. He sees the facts, but fails to apply their lessons to his own case. He says of God, "He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings the shadow of death to light" (v.22). In fact, Job was feeling the pangs of darkness himself. He could not uncover deep things out of the darkness, nor bring light out of the shadow of death. But he realised God can do this. Could He not do it in Job's case? Yes indeed, and He did so before long.

It is a dreadful picture Job has drawn of God by this one-sided description of His greatness. Not a word of His love and mercy. It is in full keeping with his despairing heart.

He acknowledged that "wisdom and strength" are His, as well as "counsel and understanding." Yet he felt that God's use of these wonderful qualities was full of mystery. Men who had been wise enough to become chief among the people suddenly lose their understanding. They grope in the dark without a light, or stagger like a drunken man. Now why was this?

"Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God." That is just what he was doing. But how? He did not know. There was not the New Testament yet. There was not One to stand between God and man, like Christ. So he did not know how to get at Him.