Where Could I Go, Oh Where Could I Go?

“I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:” (Job 5:8-9 AV)

 It matters not who or why these words were uttered.  They are true no matter the situation.  There is no promise implied.  Just because the speaker commits his cause unto our God who does unsearchable and marvelous things does not mean that in every situation He will.  The speaker is trying to encourage Job, albeit with the wrong application, to seek God’s face who can and often does marvelous and unsearchable things.  Implied in his statement is the promise of forgiveness and restoration if Job would simply confess his sin.  The problem was, that there was no sin for Job to confess.  This doesn’t change the truth stated above.  This is true throughout the Book of Job.  Much truth is wrongly applied.  The hope of the verse above is that God, who often does do unsearchable and marvelous things without number just may do that for you.  There really is no other place we can go.  To God, we must go with all of our troubles and all of our needs.  He alone can intervene when nothing else helps.

We are all faced with giants.  Some of our own making.  Some of the devil’s.  Some from the mind of God with the intent to build our faith or character.  Some of these giants seem insurmountable.  We are overwhelmed because we cannot see the way out.  We are asked to go through things we do not think are possible.  That is certainly how Job felt.  He wished the LORD would take his life.  He could not figure out why the LORD would cause or allow what had happened to him.  He wanted peace of soul and he knew eternity was the only way he could get it.  Or, at least that is what he thought.  Eliaphaz uttered words of truth without knowing just how right he was.  When the trial was over, God blessed Job ten times over.  God granted Job ten more children plus his daughters who survived the severe weather.  His material wealth was ten times what it was before the invasion.  God did unsearchable and marvelous things without number.  Even without Job confessing a thing.

The point to be made here is not that if we seek God, we are guaranteed He will do marvelous and unsearchable things without number in a way that we hope for.  Rather, He is capable of doing such a thing if it is part of His perfect will.  I have been doing this pastoring thing for quite some time and I have noticed a trend among those who are very ill.  We all pray that God would remove the disease entirely.  Which He is more than capable of doing.  But more times than not, He doesn’t.  He may prolong someone’s life and reduce the suffering that would be normal for such a case, but He may not remove it completely.  Paul can testify to this truth.  He prayed three times that a thorn in the flesh be removed, but God did not.  What does happen is exactly what Paul observed.  It was in his weakness he discovered just how strong God is.  God may not remove completely that which ails you.  But He is far more capable of carrying you through it so that you may know the God whom you claim to love much more intimately.  To whom are we going to go to if not God?  He alone does marvelous and unsearchable things.  And that without number.  We may not be able to see it all.  Perhaps we will never know just how much God does for us.  But He does.  And, He is worthy to be sought after and to whom we should praise.