Job 40:6 - Meaning and Application

Job had already been deeply humbled by what God had said, but he was not humbled enough. He had been brought low, but not low enough. So God goes on to reason with him in the same way and on the same point as before (Job 40:6).

This teaches us two things. First, those who truly receive what they hear from God and grow from it will hear more from him. Second, even when people are genuinely convicted of sin and sorry for it, they often still need to be convicted more deeply. When a person feels sin heavily and begins to grieve over it, they should not reach for comfort too quickly. Comfort will last forever when it comes, so it is wise to be well prepared for it by deep humility.

The wound must be searched all the way to the bottom, not just covered over. We should not hurry out of conviction before we have made good progress through it. When our hearts begin to soften and break, we should stay with the thoughts that will help that change become complete and real.

God begins with a challenge, as he had before (Job 38:3): “Gird up your loins like a man,” in other words, brace yourself and act like a man. If Job had the courage and confidence he had claimed, now was the time to show it. But soon he would have to see that he was no match for God.

Every proud heart must finally be brought to this point, either through repentance or through ruin. Sooner or later, every high mountain must be brought low. We must admit, first, that we cannot argue with God over justice. The Lord is righteous and holy in how he deals with us, while we are often unrighteous and unholy in how we act toward him. We have much to blame in ourselves, and nothing to blame in him (Job 40:8).

“Will you undo my judgment?” God asks. Will you challenge what I say and do, and try to overturn my decision as if it were wrong and unfair? Many of Job’s complaints were too close to that. He had said, in effect, “I cry out about wrong, but I am not heard.” But such speech must not be allowed to stand.

God’s judgment cannot be undone, because we know it is true. So it is both bold and wicked for us to question it. “Will you condemn me so that you may be seen as righteous?” God asks. “Must my honor be damaged so that your reputation can be protected? Must I be accused of injustice because you cannot clear yourself any other way?”

Our duty is to condemn ourselves, so that God may be shown righteous. That is why David was ready to confess his evil before God, so that God would be justified when he spoke and clear when he judged (Psalm 51:4). See also (Nehemiah 9:33; Daniel 9:7). But people are very proud, and very ignorant of both God and themselves, when they try to clear themselves by condemning God.

The day is coming when, if this is not corrected by repentance in time, the final judgment will expose the folly of such a plea and bring shame on the one who made it. The heavens will declare God’s righteousness, and the whole world will be shown guilty before him.

Second, we cannot compare ourselves with God in power. So it is not only evil, but foolish and arrogant, to argue with him. It is against reason, justice, and our own best interest (Job 40:9). “Do you have an arm like God?” In other words, is your power equal to his in strength? “Or can you thunder with a voice like his?” God had already shown his thunder in the storm and whirlwind (Job 37:1-2).

To make Job see that he could never truly contend with God, God shows him two things. Job could never fight it out with God and win by force. Among humans, disputes are sometimes settled by battle, and the stronger side is treated as the right one. But if a case between God and man were settled that way, man would surely lose. All the strength he could gather against the Almighty would be like briers and thorns before a fire that consumes them (Isaiah 27:4).

Job was only a weak creature, and God was the one who upholds all things. The power of creatures, even angels, comes from God, stays within the limits he sets, and depends on him. But God’s power is original, independent, and limitless. He can do everything without us, and we can do nothing without him. So we do not have an arm like God.

Job could also never outtalk God and win by loud words. Among people, noise and bold speech can sometimes carry a case. But can Job thunder with a voice like God’s? No. God’s voice would soon drown Job’s, and one of God’s thunders would silence all his whispers. No human can speak with the same force, clarity, or authority as God, who speaks and it is done.

God’s creating voice is called his thunder (Psalm 104:7). So is the voice by which he terrifies and scatters his enemies (1 Samuel 2:10). The anger of a king may sound like a lion’s roar, but it can never match God’s thunder.

Third, we cannot compare ourselves with God in beauty and majesty (Job 40:10). If Job wants to enter into a contest with God and appear more pleasing or impressive, let him put on his finest clothes. Let him dress himself in majesty and splendor. Let him come in all the military glory and royal display he can manage. Let him use every thing that might set him off well.

Let him clothe himself with glory and beauty, so that enemies will fear him and friends will admire him. But what is all that beside God’s divine majesty and beauty? It is like the light of a glow-worm compared with the sun when it rises in full strength.

God clothes himself with majesty and glory that make devils and all the powers of darkness tremble. He adorns himself with beauty that fills angels and all the saints with wonder and joy. David said he could live in God’s house all his days just to behold the beauty of the Lord.

When we compare that with the outward glory that princes use to inspire fear, or the beauty that lovers use to win affection, it all fades away. If Job thinks he can win against God by looking grand and making an impressive show, he is badly mistaken. The sun itself will seem dim, and the moon will be shamed, when God shines out.

Fourth, we cannot compare ourselves with God in ruling over the proud (Job 40:11-14). Here the matter is put to a very simple test. If Job can humble proud tyrants and oppressors as easily and completely as God can, then he may have some reason to compete with God. Here God calls for the justice Job would need to do, which is to bring the proud down with a look. If Job wants to act like God’s rival, especially if he wants to judge God’s actions, he must be able to do this.

It is assumed here that God can do it, and will do it himself, or else he would not have set the test before Job this way.

By this, God shows that he is truly God. He resists the proud, sits as their judge, and is able to bring them to ruin. Proud people are wicked people, and pride lies at the root of much of the evil in this world, both toward God and toward other people.

Proud people will surely be brought low, because pride comes before destruction. If they will not bend, they will break. If they do not humble themselves through true repentance, God will humble them, and that will end in their lasting shame. The wicked will be trodden down where they are found. Even if they act as if they have their own secure place, and have taken root there, that will not protect them. Wealth, power, and influence will not keep them safe.

God’s anger, when it is poured out on the proud, will humble them, break them, and bring them down. If he lets loose the force of his wrath, as he will do at the great day and sometimes does even in this life, the strongest heart cannot stand against him. Who can understand the power of his anger?

God can easily bring proud rulers low. He can look at them and bring them down, and one angry look can cover them with shame, fear, and total ruin. In the same way, one gracious look can revive the hearts of those who are humble and repentant. And he will finally do this completely (Job 40:13). He will not only bring them to the dust, from which they might hope to rise again, but hide them in the dust, as the proud Egyptian whom Moses killed and buried in the sand (Exodus 2:12). That is, they will be brought not only to death, but to the grave, the pit from which there is no return.

They were proud of the position they held, but they will be buried in forgetfulness and remembered no more than those hidden in the dust, out of sight and out of mind. They joined together in alliances and plots to do evil, and now they are bound together. They are hidden together. Their resting place is not honor, but shame together in the dust (Job 17:16). Worse still, they are treated like criminals, whose faces were covered when they were condemned, as Haman’s was, or like dead men, whose faces were wrapped in burial cloths, as Lazarus was in the grave. This is how complete God’s victory will be, at last, over proud sinners who set themselves against him.

By this, God proves that he is God. If he hates proud men, then he is holy. If he punishes them, then he is the righteous Judge of the world. If he can humble them, then he is the Lord Almighty. When he brought proud Pharaoh low and buried him in the Red Sea, Jethro concluded that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in whatever the proud enemies of Israel acted arrogantly, God was above them and stronger than them (Exodus 18:11). See also (Revelation 19:1-2).

Job is also being challenged to do this himself. He had been angrily arguing with God and his providence, as if he could shake God by the force of his anger. God says, in effect, “Try your hand first on proud people, and you will soon see how little they care about your anger. And should I be moved by it?” Job had complained about the success and power of tyrants and oppressors, and he was ready to accuse God of misrule for allowing it. But he had no right to criticize unless he could set things right himself. If only God has enough power to humble proud people, then surely he also has enough wisdom to know when and how to do it. It is not for us to tell him how to govern the world. Unless we have an arm like God’s, we must not try to take his work out of his hands.

God also promises Job justice, if he can do such mighty works (Job 40:14): “Then I will also admit that your own right hand is enough to save you,” though after all it would still be too weak to contend with me. It is part of human pride and ambition to want to be our own savior, to have enough strength in ourselves and be independent. But that is presumption. Our own hands cannot save us by earning God’s favor, much less by rescuing us from his justice. Unless we could humble our enemies by our own power, we cannot claim to save ourselves by our own power. Yet if we could, God would openly admit it. He never has, and never will, rob anyone of proper praise or deny the honor he has earned. But since we cannot do this, we must admit that our own hands cannot save us. Therefore, we must put ourselves into God’s hands.