Job 12
-It is now Job’s turn to chide his accusers after he had heard all their thoughts on God and his supposed shortcomings. Job forcefully starts the opinion that their wisdom is dead, if that’s what they call it. He has intelligence too, and he makes his case that he is certainly not inferior to them in his circumspection. Job maintains that he is a joke to his friends. He was the one who called on God, and God answered him. He says of himself, “The just and blameless man is a joke.” It is easy for the one at ease to hold calamity in contempt, “as prepared for those whose feet slip.” In other words, it is simple to accuse when you are not the one feeling the bludgeoned of the Almighty. To Job at this down point of his life, it seemed so factual that the tents of the destroyers prospered and those who provoked God were totally secure. God actually was bringing these people to power in Job’s twisted imagination (Job 12:1-6).
-Job continued to defend his position as an aged man with wisdom and understanding over the next six verses. Even the beasts, the birds, the earth, and the fish could teach of these things: “That the Hand of the LORD has done this, in whose Hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.” He says further, “Does not the ear test words, as the palate tastes its food?” Job obviously saw his friends as narrow-minded and incorrect in their assessments (Job 12:7-12).
-Job, with excruciating force, went on speaking of the power of God with His wisdom and might. To Him belonged all counsel and understanding. When He tears down, it cannot be rebuilt. When He imprisons someone, there can be no release. When He restrains the waters, they just dry on up. When He sends out the waters, they inundate the earth. His choice. He holds all strength and sound wisdom. The misled and the misleader both belong to Him, or are under His sovereignty. “He makes counselors walk barefoot and makes fools of judges.” God is the One who loosens the bond of kings and “binds their loins with a girdle.” He also makes priests walk barefoot, and He overthrows the secure ones. He can deprive the trusted ones of speech, and He can take away the discernment of the elders. If it is His will, He can pour out contempt on nobles and loosen the belt of the strong (in other words make them weak). He is the One who reveals mysteries from the darkness and brings the deep darkness to light. With nations, God transcends making some great with enlargement, then leading them away to destruction in the passage of time. The LORD is in total control. He deprives, at His discretion, the intelligence of the chiefs of the earth’s people. He makes them wander in a pathless waste (Daniel 4:24-37). God can make them grope in darkness with no light at His choosing, and He can make them stagger around like a drunk man (Job 12:13-25).
-*Application* Jobs affirms for us that no worldly leader has any real and abiding wisdom apart from the Almighty God. Righteousness exalts a nation, nothing else (Proverbs 14:34). America needs God more than ever, else we are on the path to His destruction. We can count on that. Listen carefully to the prophetic words of the ancient wisdom. We should never put our trust in man.
Verse to Memorize: Job 12:23
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