"Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out."
Job 36:26
Job, as we know, has lost nearly everything that we all hold dear in life; his children, his wealth, his ability to earn an income, and even his health. His friends have the same incorrect view of Job’s situation as some people have today when their friends fall into hard times. Job’s friends were sure that Job was living in sin and his problems were because he offended God. Several places in the Scripture tell us of the fallacy of this kind of thinking, (John 9, the blind man healed, etc.).
Of his friends, Elihu seems to have the most biblical view of God. In our verse for today, Elihu makes three good statements about God that we need to think about to know our God better.
“Behold, God is great.”
This is an understatement! Yes, God is great, so great that we humans cannot comprehend just how great He is. Our minds and senses are ill-equipped to understand God. We can have some understanding of the physical world and how things within it work. But of the spiritual realm, we can’t understand much of it, or to understand much of God either. God’s realm, His abode is outside the bounds of time and space. He made these necessary limitations for humankind, not for Himself. Our domain is safely within time and space; here we have some knowledge and the ability to function. Outside of this, we are like that proverbial “fish out of water.” God is not limited to moving through just the dimensions of time and space as we are. He can move back and forth between the physical and spiritual dimensions at will. He is so high that He transcends both realms and without help or permission from anyone, God moves about, and He does exactly as He pleases.
We often call God’s greatness, His “omnipotence!” That is, the Bible describes God as being “all-powerful!” “Behold, God is great — Infinite in majesty, and power, and wisdom, and all perfections, and therefore just in all his ways…” (Joseph Benson).
“And we know him not.”
Ah, the impossibility of a finite human mind, to know the infinite God perfectly should be evident to us all. We can know about Him from what we observe of His creation in nature, that is His existence, and something of His power (Romans 1:19-20). His Word reveals an enormous amount about His person and work, about His character and attributes. The Scriptures tell us of His love and plan of redemption for man. We see how He cares for His people, Israel; and His working through His church in this age. But if we could memorize all of the Bible we still do not know everything there is to know about God.
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?” (Romans 11:33-34).
The answer to Paul’s question, of course, is “no one!”
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known,” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
“Neither can the number of his years be searched out.”
God is eternal, with no beginning or end. Years are irrelevant with God.
“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God,” (Psalm 90:2).
“I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end,” (Psalm 102:24-27).
We will not have a perfect knowledge of God, this side of heaven, but this transcendent, all-powerful God loves us and wants to have a relationship with us as His children.
I Sing the Mighty Power of God
By Isaac Watts
1 I sing the mighty pow’r of God
that made the mountains rise,
that spread the flowing seas abroad
and built the lofty skies.
I sing the wisdom that ordained
the sun to rule the day;
the moon shines full at His command,
and all the stars obey.
2 I sing the goodness of the Lord
that filled the earth with food;
He formed the creatures with His Word
and then pronounced them good.
Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed,
where’er I turn my eye
if I survey the ground I tread,
or gaze upon the sky.
3 There’s not a plant or flow’r below
but makes Thy glories known;
and clouds arise and tempests blow
by order from Thy throne;
while all that borrows life from Thee
is ever in Thy care,
and ev’rywhere that man can be,
Thou, God, art present there.
This verse teaches me that My God Is Transcendent!
1. Joseph Benson, Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, the electronic version in eSword.
2. Isaac Watts, “I Sing the Mighty Power of God,” words, Watts, 1715, music, Gesangbuch der H. W. K. Hofkapelle, 1784. Copywrite status, public domain.