"I Sit in Dust"

Read Job 38-42
 
Job 42:5-6 “I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. 6 I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”
 
JOB’s misery ended when he realized his self-defense was only useless words. The dust and ashes were no longer the sign of his misery but the reality of his repentance.
   Job is the human condition. When we live within the normal boundaries of our lives, following laws and doing good, it may be easy to say to God, “I’m a good person. I try my best to do all you require. I’m sure you are happy to reward my efforts with good things. I am confident you will agree there is no reason for any trouble in my life.”
   With similar words, Job felt justified for his angry despair. After all, he was honest inside and out, a man of his word, who was totally devoted to God and hated evil with a passion. (Job 1:1 The Message) But did that mean he was right about his trouble and God was wrong? Job’s not the first in Scripture with this attitude. Look back to Genesis 4. Cain rejected God. Cain was self-righteous, just like Job. This is sin’s curse. We are no different when confronted with God’s way or our way.
   Job rejected the one who commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east. (Job 38:12) He desired to shape God’s will to his own will. Job wanted to be as God.
   We can easily do that, can’t we? When trouble is deep, and God seems silent, surely God is wrong! After all, he commands we pray with faith that he will deliver our needs: “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Luke 11:9-10)
   But this is not an open basket from God to fill with whatever we want. It is, though, a Word from God that he will listen to you and respond to you in his will for you. Prayer and waiting requires humility, patience, obedience and faith. This is the essence of “May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:9) Faithful prayer is seeking God’s Kingdom purposes to unfold from his perfect presence into our lives.
   Each faithful servant described in the Bible came to a moment when they experienced God’s holiness. They knew then they had to give up every sense of their own will, so the Father’s will would transform their lives. When Job truly saw God, self-importance became repentance. One day all of us will experience that inability to defend ourselves before Jesus. As our knee bows and our tongues confess, “Jesus is LORD.” we will utter no useless excuse or reason for our sins. Saved in Jesus’ redeeming blood, we will only speak praise and thanksgiving that we are his.
   Be humble before God. Live in praise that the Sovereign LORD, cares for you so deeply that the Son humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. (Philippians 2:8)