Daily Devotional | Job: Seeing Clearly

When I was an engineer at Ford Motor company, one of my products was the Wiper Control Module. It was considered a safety critical item. It had to work under extreme conditions. One failure meant that a driver could not see clearly out of the windshield.

Job doesn’t see everything clearly, but he sees much more clearly than his friends. In Job 21, he refutes Zophar’s line of argument of the wicked being ruined in this life. Job lays out example after example of the prosperity of the wicked. They grow old and increase in power (v. 7). Their homes are safe and free from fear (v.9). They spend their years in prosperity (v. 13). They say to God, “Leave us alone!” (v. 14). From Job’s perspective, the wicked and ungodly live a pretty good life.

This sounds very similar to the argument stated by Asaph in Psalm 73. Asaph entered the sanctuary of God and understood the ultimate end of the wicked. He stated, “When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!” (vv. 16–19). Asaph realized that his reasoning was clouded: “When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you” (vv. 21–22). In the end, he reaffirms his faith, “It is good to be near God” (v. 28).

Job had lived a godly life and yet had been ruined. Ungodly people, he observed, are prospering. His friends’ arguments do not hold water. Maybe if his friends were quiet or left, Job could spend time with the Lord and begin to see even more clearly.

Go Deeper

What things might be distracting you from hearing clearly from the Lord? How can you reduce or minimize those distractions?

Pray with Us: Thank You, O God, for Your Word which replaced the darkness of chaos with life-giving light. We rejoice that this same Word became flesh and lived among us. Help us to see Christ more clearly!

BY Eric W. Moore

Eric Moore is Professor and Chair of the Applied Theology Field at Moody Theological Seminary. Eric is graduate of Michigan State University, Dallas Theological Seminary, the University of Michigan, and Western Seminary. He is the author of Pastoring the Small Church and a contributor to the One Volume Seminary (Moody Publishers). He has pastored Tree of Life Bible Fellowship church for over two decades. Eric and his wife, Marilyn, live in southeast Michigan and have three children.