Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him.
Job has just said that nothing can turn God from His purpose, and that thought is what frightens him. Why does a man of real faith end up terrified of the One he was searching for?
The dread follows from God's fixed purpose
The word "therefore" ties Job's fear to what he has just said. He sees that God will carry out whatever He has decided, and that certainty unnerves him.
William KellyJob felt it was impossible to turn Him aside from His unsearchable purpose. Job also felt that what was appointed for him would come to pass without fail, for God has His mind and always does it. So Job was confounded before His face, and fear grew as he considered it. For El unnerved his heart, and Shaddai confounded him.
"El" and "Shaddai" are Hebrew names for God as the Mighty One and the Almighty. The very titles of power are what leave Job weak.
Something unsettled between him and God
Job's trouble went deeper than his pain. He sensed a matter still open between himself and God, and could not name it.
William KellyHe was troubled that there was something between God and him — something God had a question about, but what it was he did not yet understand.
He shrinks from the presence he asked for
Earlier Job was seeking God's presence. Now that same presence terrifies him, and one writer names the contradiction.
Leslie M. GrantGod is certainly unique. But Job thought His uniqueness was limited to awe-inspiring majesty. He did not understand God's unique love and grace. Job says that God does whatever His soul desires, but he thought God's desires had nothing to do with the real needs of His creatures. How completely wrong this idea was! It is true enough that God performs whatever may be appointed for people. But His appointments are not meant to inspire terror in the heart of a believer, as this did with Job. Why did he seek God's presence if he was terrified at His presence? But this is one of the inconsistencies of someone who focuses on his troubles rather than on the grace of God.
Commentators read this fear differently. Some treat it as a wrong idea of God; others hear in it a real awe that has not yet found rest.
Real fear of God, but no rest
The same chapter holds two things at once: a heart reaching toward God and a heart that cannot bear to arrive.
The Bible TreasuryJob is aware of his distance from God, and while aware of it, he wants to be brought near. It is the true exercise of an awakened soul — groping, as it were, in darkness for what it longs for... And yet the true fear, the solemn effect of His presence, is not unknown to him... he seeks to be near God, but fears His presence, because he is not at rest or in acceptance. A soul must go through many different exercises while it refuses to see that it is completely ruined in God's sight.
What Job misread in "the thing appointed"
Job read the appointed thing as only his suffering. But God never changes, and that is good news for His people.
Samuel RidoutIt is good for Job and for us that we have One with whom there is "no variation or shadow due to change." He has said, "I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed." Job thought the thing appointed for him was only the misery and suffering he was going through. But it was really the necessary trial that would produce patience. Job did not see the appointed end, "the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful." It is the end of a love too great to be turned from His purposes of blessing by our complaint and unbelief. Yes, "many such things are in His mind": the path for each of His children is different, but the end is the same.
The search that was never one-sided
From inside his trouble, Job's case looks hopeless. The book shows more than Job can see.
Samuel RidoutIt is all most tragic; and if it were only Job seeking God, he might well sink in despair. But, without knowing it, God is seeking Job, and will find him too, before long.
Summary
- Therefore. Job's fear is a conclusion, not a mood. He has just said that nothing can turn God's purpose, and dread is what he draws from it.
- Troubled. The Almighty's greatness left Job bewildered. It unnerved his heart instead of steadying it.
- Unsettled. Job sensed an open question between himself and God. He could not name it, and that unknown thing is what he feared.
- Inconsistent. He shrinks from the very presence he had been begging to reach, because he knew God's majesty but not yet God's grace.
- Sought. Job searched and found nothing. Yet the God he feared was already searching for him.