Hard Truths that Heal Hard Hearts

I've been traveling through Job this last week and the Scripture that God rocked me with today was way too powerful not to share! You can read the entirety of Job 9-14 here, and I'm going to highlight just a few key verses that really jumped out to me. Seriously, you should stop now and read it... Do it, the Word has so much more power than anything I have to say. Read it yet? I hope so. Here we go.




Man is broken and cannot fix himself. We are sinners in the eyes of a holy God with no way to reach Him.

"But how can a man be in the right before God? If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times. Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, He would prove me perverse." 9:2-3,20

And even if man truly could achieve blamelessness before God, which we certainly cannot, God would prove us unholy. We are fallen men, brought forth in a world of sin. Simply through being born of flesh and blood we are with sin. If we try to argue our case before God, that too condemns us.

"He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light." 12:22  

If pleading our case before God won't help us, then maybe we could bury our sin and hope that God can't find it. But that is no good either. God sees all and even the deepest corners of our lives are laid barren before Him. There is no hiding our sin. Even if you manage to mask it from others and conceal it from even your closest friends, God still knows.

"Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is no one." 14:4

If we can't argue our way out of our sin and we can't hide it, then should we try to clean ourselves up? That won't work either. None of us can make what is dirty clean. It doesn't matter how much we scrub away at our calloused heart, our bodies will forever show the effects of sin.We are broken beyond eight simple steps and a self help book. You can't fix you. Many of us have been trying to clean ourselves up for years, justifying that when we reach a certain level of cleanliness then we'll come to God. If you don't go now, you might never go at all.

"He feels only the pain of his own body, and he mourns only for himself." 14:22

The final dagger in our attempts at righteousness. Pride and selfishness combine to destroy every man from the inside. Man tends towards despair and turns his focus inside of himself. With no concern for others or willingness to search out hope he self destructs. His life terminates on himself and he withers away.

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved." Ephesians 2:4-5

Praise God that our story does not end with our hopelessness. Jesus Christ came for us and God has untied us with Christ. His victory on the cross over death has saved us from our despair and has brought us hope through grace. We should be humbled. We ought to remember that we cannot save ourselves, hide our sin, or justify our case before God. We are guilty. We must embrace the truth, the full truth. Not only are we condemned deservedly, but we are rescued by a loving God and clothed in undeserved grace. As thanksgiving rolls around the corner, be thankful for this: That God came for the worst of the worst to bring them to himself, elevating them to the holiest of holies to be forever present in the throne room of the King of the Universe. Amen!

-matt