I know that thou canst do everything

“I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.”Job 42:2

Reflection

Job lost everything a human being can lose in a single cycle of tragedies: his ten children, in one day; his goods, his health, the community’s respect. He sat on ashes, scraping his own sores with a shard of pottery, while his friends accused him and his wife told him to curse God and die. For chapters and chapters, Job asked the question every sufferer asks: "WHY?". He demanded explanations, wanted to take God to court, claimed an answer. And it is striking what God did when He finally spoke: He did not answer the "why".

In the final chapters, God answers Job with a series of questions about creation: "where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades? Hast thou given the horse strength?". No explanation about the suffering — only an overwhelming revelation of WHO God is. And it was enough. Job did not receive the "why" he asked for, but he received something greater: a vision of God so great that the "why" lost its urgency. God does not always give us answers; sometimes He gives us something better — Himself. And meeting God changes the heart more than any explanation would.

Job’s answer is the turning point: "I know that THOU CANST DO EVERY THING, and that no thought can be withholden from thee". Then he confesses: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee" (Job 42:5). Notice what the trial did: it turned a secondhand faith ("hearing of the ear") into a firsthand faith ("mine eye seeth thee"). Job came out of suffering knowing God in a way prosperity would never have taught him. There are things about God’s character that are only learned in the valley — and Job paid dearly for them, but he had them.

Perhaps you are on your "heap of ashes", surrounded by unanswered questions, demanding from heaven a "why" that does not come. This devotional will not give you the explanation — because, honestly, it almost never comes in the format we want. But it offers you what was enough for Job: the certainty that the God you do not understand is good, is sovereign, and "can do everything". You may not know why you are going through this, but you can know WITH WHOM you are going through it. And note the end of the story: God restored Job double (Job 42:10). The last page of the book is not ashes — it is restoration. Your "why" may never be answered here; but the God who holds your story is worthy of trust even in the dark.

Bible text: King James Version (public domain).