Our Plea is Repentance

Scripture: Job 42:6

Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes."

Insights: All week we have been building to this climactic point for today’s Thoughts by Scott.  We have seen how God’s perspective and our perspective are in contradiction with each other.  We must come to see our life events from the perspective of the Lord which is always perfect.  We then looked at our humble position before the Lord and His holy position before us.  We also elaborated on that truth and helped us understand that we are called to be holy; as well as, the holiness we display is really Christ in us through the power of the Holy Spirit.  So, how do we properly respond to an encounter with God?  We look at our lives from God’s perspective and humbly recognize our sinfulness.  We cry out for His holiness to fill our lives and transform our sin nature into the nature of Christ Jesus.  We perform this transaction of faith in the same way Job did and that is what our verse today presents to us.  How did Job properly respond to his encounter with God?  He repented of his sin.  He retracted his statements and repented with a visual display of brokenness before the Lord by lying down in dust and ashes.  Beloved, the same response is required of us as well.  We must understand that God is just in all He does and we do not always understand.  God never told Job about those two cosmic conversations between Himself and Satan.  He never even gave Job a hint as to why he walked this painful journey.  All God did was question Job about his “vast” knowledge of the universe.  In seeing the Lord face to face as he did, Job understood for the first time that God was sovereign and in control.  Job’s horrific events were not beyond the Lord’s notice or concern.  Job was deeply and eternally loved by the Lord and He did not desire for Job to suffer.  Yet He loved Job so much that He knew Job would be able to go through the trial without blaming the Lord.  We need to respond in the same way, Beloved.  Let us humbly repent of our sin and run to the Lord and let His strength be our sufficiency.

Questions:

1. Have you repented of your sin and turned to the Lord?
2. Are you presently experiencing the joy and peace of being in a right relationship with the Lord?

Prayer: Father, thank You for forgiving me and always being faithful to me.  I sin and fall short of Your standard so often, but You are always quick to restore me when I come with a humble and repentant heart.  Thank You, Lord.  Amen.