Job 9:14 - Meaning and Application

What Job had said about people being unable to argue with God, he now applies to himself. In effect, he gives up hope of winning God’s favor, and this likely comes from two things: his low view of his own goodness, and his dark sense of God’s anger against him. He does not seem to think God is unfair, but he does feel too weak and too guilty to defend himself.

Job says he would not dare to argue with God, because even the proud and powerful fall before Him. If those who seem strong cannot stand, how much less can Job, a weak and helpless man, answer God? What could he say against anything God does? If he tried to argue with God, he would surely lose. A person who replies against God is as unreasonable as clay arguing with the potter, or a broken vessel arguing with the one who made it. Let every human being be silent before Him.

Job also would not insist on his own innocence before God. He defended his integrity before his friends and would not admit that he was a hypocrite or a wicked man, as they claimed. But he would not use that as a claim to deserve God’s approval. He would not come before God on the basis of innocence, as if he could win by his own merit. He knew God well enough, and he knew himself well enough, to stop short of that.

He knew God was greater than his own heart, so he would not stand on his own judgment (Job 9:15). Even if he felt no guilt in himself, God could see hidden faults that Job could not detect. The apostle Paul says something similar: “I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by that” (1 Corinthians 4:4). Job would rather ask God for mercy than try to prove himself worthy.

Job also had no reason to think his prayers would earn God’s acceptance. Any answer from God would have to come from grace and compassion, not from the value of Job’s praying itself. Even if God answered him, Job would not say that his prayer had won the result. God gives gracious answers, but not because our prayers deserve them. As Bishop Patrick explains, if God granted what Job asked, Job would still not think his prayer had done the work.

Job’s sufferings also taught him that God rules outward things in this world by His own authority. God does no wrong to anyone, but He does not always give full outward justice right away. The best people do not always prosper now, and the worst people do not always suffer now, because final reward and punishment belong to the future state. Job was not aware of any special guilt, yet he had been hit with special troubles. Others may expect some wind, some thorns, some crosses, and some bitterness in life, but Job felt overwhelmed by storm after storm. He says his suffering was without cause, meaning without any great offense on his part.

In this, Job may have spoken too quickly. He seemed to question God’s goodness by saying he had no breathing space, even though he still had enough strength to speak. He also seemed to question God’s justice by saying his suffering was without cause. Still, it is true that some people carry more trouble than their sins seem to explain, while others carry more guilt than their troubles seem to show.

Job also knew he had no power to make his case before God. He could not do it by strength, because God is stronger than he is. There is no arguing with the One who commands all power. Nor could he do it by legal argument, because there is no higher court to which he could appeal. God is supreme, and every person must accept His judgment.

He knew himself well enough to fear self-justification, too. If he tried to prove himself righteous, his own words might condemn him. A good man who knows how deceitful the heart is will not lightly trust his own innocence before God. If we say we have no sin, we do more than fool ourselves, we insult God and deny the truth of Scripture, which says that all are under sin.

If I said, “I am perfect, I am sinless, and God has nothing to charge against me,” that very claim would show me to be crooked, proud, ignorant, and self-important. Even if I were perfect, and even if God declared me righteous, I still would not fully trust my own judgment or make a great effort to keep hold of life while it is filled with so much misery.

Or it may mean this: even if I were free from serious sin, and even if my conscience did not accuse me of any great crime, I still would not trust my own heart enough to insist on my innocence. I would not think my life so valuable that I should argue with God to save it. In the end, it is foolish to fight against God. Our wisdom, and our duty, is to yield to him and cast ourselves at his feet.