Commentary on the Book of Job part forty six

                                 Job 23:1-17

In Job 23:11-12, Job understood that he had actually done his best to obey God and keep His commandments. Job possessed sin in his being, and therefore, he could not be sinless. But he could be as obedient to God as was possible for a sinful man to be. For this reason, God called Job "perfect" in Job 1:8. When Job stated that he needed God's Word more than his food, he implied the future statements of Moses in Deuteronomy 8:3 and Jesus in Luke 4:4.

In Job 23:13-14, God caused Job to comprehend that whatever God set His Mind to do He would certainly accomplish and nothing could stop Him. Job also understood that God's determinant will applied to him as well. Job understood that God's Love had put him into a state of grace which meant that God would eventually purify him like gold and no thing could ever prevent God from accomplishing this goal. God's Word reveals that He loves His entire creation and that He has determined to cleanse it all from the filthiness of sin, recover it all to Himself, purify and reconcile it all to Himself, and recreate it all to a state of absolute righteousness. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Romans 8:14-24. In  light of Revelation 21:1-5, all living humans that God created must be included in the fallen creation that God has promised to restore in Romans 8:19-22. Romans 11:36; Colossians 1:15-20; John 5:28-29; II Peter 3:12-13; Luke 20:38; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 22:11-12.

In Job 23:15-16, Job recognized that God's presence in his life disturbed him because it caused him to develop a reverential fear of God. Those who love God do not fear that God will disown them. They only fear that God could disown them if He chose to do so. But Job knew that even though God's presence troubled him, God would never disown him because God had made his "heart soft," which meant that God had given Job His own compassion and love for others. This fact provided proof to Job that God had claimed him for His own.

In Job 23:17, God caused Job to realize that He had allowed Job to perceive the "darkness," Darkness in the Bible often symbolizes evil and eternal spiritual separation from God's Love. God wanted Job to observe this terrible fate from which God had saved him through His grace provided by the Intercessor. Romans 8:34; Hebrews 2:9.