I have been reading through Job these last few days and yesterday came to words that always fascinate and frighten me. Let me set the stage quickly.
Job’s friends have, of course, been accusing him of being a moral and spiritual monster. They have called him wicked, unrighteous, godless, and deceitful. They have accused him of ‘not knowing God, and of having ‘windy knowledge’. And the list goes on and on. Eventually, at the end of Chapter 19, Job suggests they might want to curb their speech or God might turn to them in judgment.
….A moderate response to extreme provocation….
And what does Zophar answer?
“I hear censure that insults me.” !!!!!
HE feels he has been insulted by JOB!
Insanity!
But that is what human beings are like. We see the sin of others (or their perceived sin, in this case) so readily, but can literally be blind to our own – to the point of virtual insanity. And that is frightening. We are SO egocentric!
Have you ever read the Robert Burns poem that concludes with the verse:
And would some Power the small gift give us
To see ourselves as others see us!
It would from many a blunder free us
And foolish notion….
And CS Lewis, as usual, puts things so succinctly when he says that we really needn’t spend a lot of money on psychiatrists as we seek to know ourselves. We can just ask someone who has lived with us even a very short time what they have seen!
But Christ, of course, puts it best when he tells us to beware of seeing the speck in our brother’s eye and NOT NOTICING the beam in our own. He does not say here that we see and ignore, but they we are blind to our own sin.
Isn’t that frightening?
How wonderful that we serve a merciful and sin-forgiving God.
What a good prayer it is that gently, but surely, our faithful Counselor, would show us our sin so we can see it, and turn from it.
I once was blind but now I SEE!
Job is one of my absolute favorite books in the Bible. I think Job’s words after suffering, are some of the most touching in Scripture: “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you”. In other words, Job knew God through his heartbreak. I cringe when I hear his friends. Their reprimands are so like our human responses at times, when we want to hurry someone along in suffering, so that we can cease being incovenienced by it any longer…
Sometimes I can really torment myself wondering what am I really like? It’s scary to think because I know how blind and unaware I am of so much of what I do. And as Maryanne said, how we can just be so insensitive to others…their suffering. And assume in some way maybe they deserve it…at least just a “little.” Thank God for his forgiveness!