Job 26: Lessons about Jesus from Job’s Rebuke of His Friends and His Praise for God

Introduction: Job’s friends accused Job of failing to know God. Job pointed out that they were the ones that had in fact misrepresented God. Through his rebuke and his praise for God, Job revealed seven reasons to praise Jesus. Jesus deserves your praise because He is: (1) love, (2) truth, (3) omniscient, (4) omnipotent, (5) life-sustaining, (6) sovereign, and (7) indescribable.

First, after his wayward friends had finished their final words, Job pointed out that their words offered no help to a suffering man. Jesus uses His people to encourage and restore, not to destroy. You can praise Jesus because He is a God of love. Only when you speak with love do you speak on His behalf. Second, Job’s friends had allowed unknown spirits to speak false words through them. They spoke on behalf of the devil. In contrast, Jesus is the God of truth. Only when you speak with truth do you speak on His behalf. Third, Job’s friends had also offered empty words of praise for God. They claimed that God’s all-knowing abilities made Him deserving of fear. Job responded that the demons feared God’s all-knowing abilities. You can praise Jesus for using His all-knowing abilities out of love to protect and guide you. Fourth, Job’s friends offered empty praise for a Creator who was allegedly cold and removed. You can praise Jesus for using His all-powerful abilities out of love. He created the universe out of love to share it with us. Fifth, Job also showed that God is active in keeping life going by creating the life-giving cycle of rain in the atmosphere. Thus, God is not a remote and uncaring God. You can also praise Jesus for using His abilities to sustain all life. He actively intervenes in the lives of His people to sustain them. Sixth, Job praised God for His power over the seas and the serpent. He was praising God for His power over evil and the devil. You can praise Jesus because He is sovereign over evil. He has conquered death and all evil. Finally, Job humbly professed that God’s amazing power was unknowable. You can praise Jesus because of His indescribable power and love. The depths of His love for us are beyond our full understanding.

1. Love: Only When You Speak With Love Do You Speak on Jesus’ Behalf. Job 26:1-2.

  • Job lamented his friends’ cruel advice. In his final response to his wayward friends, Job rebuked them for failing to offer a single word of consolation or help in his time of need: “1 Then Job responded, 2 ‘What a help you are to the weak! You have saved the arm without strength!” (Job 26:1-2). Job’s friends were consumed with proving that they were right. Thus, they ignored Job’s needs and only made his suffering worse. He needed mostly compassion from his friends, not unsupported theories of his hidden sins.

  • Job deserved love in the face of his trials. Job suffered like few could ever imagine. First, he lost his physical belongings and wealth. Acting on Satan’s behalf, evil men first stole his animals and then murdered his servants (Job 1:13-15, 17). A fire from the sky then burned his remaining animals (Job 1:16). Job then lost his ten children. Satan used a storm to kill all ten children at the exact same time (Job 1:18-19). Job’s wife then turned on him during her own grief. Satan used her to encourage Job to curse God and commit eternal suicide (Job 2:9). Job then suffered from debilitating illnesses. For a period of months, Satan caused Job to suffer from: (1) painful, itchy sores from head to toe (Job 2:7-8), (2) decaying, blackened, maggot-ridden flesh (Job 30:30a; 7:5a), (3) hardened, dead flesh with oozing scars (Job 7:5b), (4) burning bone pains (Job 30:30b), (5) difficulty breathing (Job 9:18), (4) sleeplessness from intense pains (Job 30:17; 7:3-4), (5) misery and sorrow (Job 17:7; 30:27-28), (6) intense crying (Job 16:16; 16:20b), (7) ongoing fatigue and anxiety (Job 16:7a; 3:26), (8) nightmares (Job 7:14), (9) severe emaciation from an inability to eat (Job 17:7b; 19:20; 33:21), (10) a repulsive appearance and breath (Job 19:17), (11) public scorn and abandonment (Job 16:20a; 19:13), and (12) depression and suicidal ideation (Job 6:9; 7:15-16; 9:21; 10:1). Job’s final trial came from his friends. After hearing Job’s bitter cries of agony, his friends attacked him. They even accused him of reaping what he deserved (cf., 4:7-11).

Job rebuked his friends for failing to be there for him in his time of need1

  • Praise Jesus as the God of love. The Bible is clear that God is a loving God, and all love comes from Him: “Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1 Jo. 4:7). It was out of love for mankind that God sent His only begotten Son Jesus to die on the cross (Jo. 3:16). Thus, if you claim to speak on Jesus’ behalf, you should only do so out of love.

  • Praise Jesus for His compassion and comfort. When the world turns against you, Jesus offers you His comfort and love: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Cor. 1:3-4; 7:6; Is. 51:12). God in turn asks you to be kind and compassionate toward others, just as He is to you: “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience;” (Col. 3:12). “Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” (Eph. 4:32). When others around you are hurting, do you offer them God’s compassion?

  • Love others in their time of need. Instead of condemning Job with false accusations, his friends should have shown him love: “34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jo. 13:34-35). If someone is suffering around you, are you showing them Jesus’ love?

  • Love others by doing nothing that would stumble another person. The love of Jesus should also prompt a believer to avoid causing others to stumble in their walk: “14 You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall revere your God; I am the Lord.’” (Lev. 19:14). “[B]ut rather determine this-- not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way.” (Ro. 14:13; 1 Cor. 8:9, 13). Are you doing things in your walk that might cause others to stumble?

2. Truth: Only When You Speak With Truth Do You Speak on Jesus’ Behalf. Job 26:3-4.

  • Job rebuked his friends’ ungodly advice. Job further castigated his friends for offering false statements. Instead of speaking for God, demonic forces influenced their advice: “3 What advice you have given to one without wisdom! What helpful insight you have abundantly provided! 4 To whom have you uttered words? And whose spirit was expressed through you?”’ (Job 26:3-4). Job was unaware of Satan’s attempts to destroy him. But he sensed that there were demonic forces at work in his friends’ empty attacks.

  • Praise Jesus because He is a God of truth. You can praise Jesus because He only speaks the truth: “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” (Jo. 1:17). “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”’ (Jo. 14:6). His truth is further given out of love. His truth is meant to rebuild and restore, not to destroy His people.

  • When you resort to lies, you speak for the enemy. Job’s friends had resorted to lies in an effort to prove that they were right. They looked upon Job’s suffering as all the proof they needed to call him an unrepentant sinner. If you feel the need to lie or bend the truth to win an argument, you are speaking for the devil: “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44). Do you only speak from truth when you need to confront a sinner?

  • Test every spirit and every claim that someone claims to make on God’s behalf. In his first speech, Eliphaz stated that a mysterious spirit had given him the inspiration to condemn Job (Job 4:12-21). This mysterious spirit came from Satan. God twice gave Satan permission to test Job (Job 1:12; 2:6). After killing his children, stealing or destroying his wealth, and attacking his health, Satan turned Job’s wife and friends against him. Eliphaz’s message to Job was that he could not be righteous as a man (Job 4:17). Bildad repeated this message to argue that Job’s situation was hopeless (Job 25:4). But God’s truth is given to rebuild and restore, not to destroy. This also was not the last time that God has allowed Satan to influence others to speak lies as a test. As another example, God once allowed Satan to speak lies through the prophets of Ahab as a test to the Jews: “Now then, behold, the LORD has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours; and the LORD has declared disaster against you.” (1 Kgs. 22:23). Jeremiah warned that there will be many like Job’s friends who falsely claim to speak for God: “Then the LORD said to me, ‘The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds.”’ (Jer. 14:14). Thus, Jesus warns believers to “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” (Matt. 7:15). “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.” (Matt. 24:11, 24). Thus, it is important to test every person who claims to speak on God’s behalf: “20 But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ 22 When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.” (Dt. 18:20-22). God allows false prophets to exist to test your heart (Dt. 13:3). His warnings to test all things is repeated in the New Testament. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 Jo. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:16; 1 Thess. 5:21). Deceiving spirits may also come across as “angels of light” (2 Cor. 11:14-15). When a person offers hurtful or mean-spirited words, you should always be wary of any claims that they are speaking on God’s behalf.

3. Omniscience: Praise Jesus For Using His All-Knowing Abilities Out of Love. Job 26:5-6.

  • Job praised God for being all-knowing. While Job’s friends claimed that Job needed to fear God’s all-knowing sight, Job responded that it was evil spirits and evil people who needed to fear His omniscience: “5 The departed spirits are made to tremble under the waters and their inhabitants. 6Sheol is naked before Him, and Abaddon has no covering.” (Job 26:5-6). God uses His all-knowing power to protect us. “Abaddon” was one of many ancient names for the evil ruler of the underworld: “They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.” (Rev. 9:11). Solomon repeated this praise to establish that if hell cannot be hidden from God, nor can the hearts of mankind: “Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD, how much more the hearts of mankind!” (Prov. 15:11). “Job’s idea is that there is no place hidden from God; everything (including the realm of the dead and the depths of the sea) is naked before Him.” (David Guzik on Job 26).2

  • Praise Jesus because He uses His all-knowing abilities to protect you. Jesus repeatedly warned that no evil can be hidden from Him: “For nothing is concealed that will not become evident, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.” (Lk. 8:17; 12:2; Matt. 10:26; Mk. 4:22). Because He is all knowing, no evil act against you escapes His oversight. He will one day bring every wrong committed against His people into judgment: “Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of human hearts; and then praise will come to each person from God.” (1 Cor. 4:5; Ecc. 12:14). “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we must answer.” (Heb. 4:13). “For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their wrongdoing concealed from My eyes.” (Jer. 16:17). “You have placed our guilty deeds before You, Our hidden sins in the light of Your presence.” (Ps. 90:8). “Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, LORD, You know it all.” (Ps. 139:4). Thus, you can praise Jesus because He uses His omniscience to protect you from evil.

4. Omnipotence: Praise Jesus for Using His All-Powerful Abilities Out of Love. Job 26:7.

  • Job praised the omnipotent Creator for creating the universe and the Earth for us. While Job’s friends praised God as a distant Creator to be feared, Job praised God the Creator for creating the universe and the Earth out of love to mankind to live in: “7 He stretches out the north over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing.” (Job 26:7). Many creation myths imagined the Earth being held up by some pagan deity. For example, according to Greek mythology, Zeus enslaved the titan Atlas to hold up the Earth for all eternity. Likewise, according to Indian mythology, a tortoise-like deity allegedly holds up the Earth: “Why can [the deity] in the form of a tortoise, who possesses an inconceivable potency, not hold the Earth in the sky for a kalpa [billions of years]?”3 Likewise, in Chinese mythology, “the creator goddess Nüwa cut the legs off the giant sea turtle Ao and used them to prop up the sky after Gong damaged Mount Buzhou, which had previously supported the heaven.” (Id., citing, Yang, Lihui; An, Deming; Jessica Anderson Turner (2008). Handbook of Chinese Mythology. Oxford University Press. p. 182). Thus, Job’s description of God’s use of a mysterious force to keep the Earth stable in space was both radical for its time and true. Likewise, while many creation myths imagined the universe as being in a fixed position, he was also the first author to describe how God stretched out the universe.

Centuries ago, Job described how God held up the Earth with an invisible force4

  • Job was the first to describe Earth’s planetary orbit through gravity. Job’s inspired words influenced some of the great astronomers. For example, Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630), the German mathematician and astronomer, formulated three laws of planetary motion. This later enabled Isaac Newton (1642-1727) to devise the law of gravitation. But Kepler gave the credit to God for his discovery. He also saw Job’s reference to an invisible force that held the Earth stable as being part of God’s perfect laws governing planetary motion: “Geometry is unique and eternal, a reflection of the mind of God. That men are able to participate in it is one of the reasons why man is an image of God.” (April 1599 Kepler letter to Herwart von Hohenburg, quoted in Epilogue, The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man’s Changing Vision of the Universe, (1959), p. 524). Jesus created gravity out of love to allow the Earth to rotate around the sun and provide mankind with both stability and life: “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” (Col. 1:17).

  • Job was the first author to describe the expanding universe. Job was also the first known author to describe our expanding universe. The Bible proclaims that God created the universe in two steps. First, He spoke the universe into existence: “the Universe was formed at God’s command” for “He spoke and it came to be” (Heb. 11:3; Ps. 33:9). The rabbi Nahmanides observed that the universe began in size as a mere “grain of mustard.” (Nahmanides, Commentary on the Torah, Genesis 1:1, quoted by, Dr. Gerald Schroeder, Genesis And The Big Bang: The Discovery Between Harmony And The Bible (Bantam Books 1990), pp. 64-65.) Second, on 12 separate occasions, five different Old Testament writers revealed that God then “stretched out” the stars from a small starting point to their present locations: (1) “who alone stretches out the heavens” (Job 9:8); (2) “He stretches out the north over empty space and hangs the Earth on nothing” (Job 26:7); (3) “Oh Lord my God, though art very great; . . . stretching out Heaven (the stars and the Universe) like a tent curtain” (Ps. 104:1-2); (4) “[God] stretches out the Heavens (the stars and the Universe) like a curtain. And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in” (Is. 40:22); (5) “Thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out. . .” (Is. 42:5); (6) “. . . I, the Lord, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the Earth all alone” (Is. 44:24); (7) “It is I who made the Earth, and created man upon it I stretched out the heavens with My hands . . .” (Is. 45:12); (8) “That you have forgotten the Lord your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the Earth. . .” (Is. 51:13); (9) “It is He who made the Earth by His power . . . And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens” (Jer. 10:12); (10) “Oh Lord God, Behold, You have made the heavens and the Earth by your great power and by Your outstretched arm!” (Jer. 32:17); (11) “It is He who hath made the Earth by His power, who established the world by His wisdom, and by His understanding He stretched out the heavens” (Jer. 51:15); and (12) “. . .Thus declares the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the Earth . . .” (Zech. 12:1). Job, the first of these five authors, wrote about the stretching of the heavens before Moses wrote Genesis. In the 20th Century, astronomers confirmed the claims of the Bible. By studying the starlight, they discovered that the universe began as infinitely small spec of matter and then stretched apart like the surface of space. Astronomer Hugh Ross observes that the analogy to a tent curtain also makes sense in the context of space: “And, like a tent, the physical reality of the universe is its surface. (All space, time, matter and energy, is constrained to the surface of the universe).” (Hugh Ross A Matter of Days (2nd ed. RTB Press 2015) p. 69-70). A tent curtain also conveys a three dimensional structure meant to protect its inhabitants. Ross points out that “Job’s description of continuous cosmic expansion ranks as one of the most far-reaching and dramatic biblical forecasts of later scientific discovery. Job accurately – and uniquely – predicted a monumental scientific breakthrough some four thousand years in advance!” (Id. at 56). How could Job, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah, living centuries ago before telescopes and knowledge of modern physics, have made these claims? Their writings establish that the Bible is God’s Word. No other holy book can make similar claims.

Centuries ago, Job was also the first to describe how the universe is expanding5

  • God’s invisible hand is evidence of His love for you. When you look at the night sky, you can praise Jesus for creating a life-habitable universe for mankind to live in: “For the music director. A Psalm of David. The heavens tell of the glory of God; and their expanse declares the work of His hands.” (Ps. 19:1). “For the music director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of David. LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth, You who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!” (Ps. 8:1). Are you giving thanks that Jesus created the unimaginably vast universe to allow life to exist?

  • Worship the Creator of the universe who uses His power to deliver you. God’s power over creation is proof that you can trust in His ability to deliver you: “Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?” (Dt. 4:34). “Why was there no man when I came? When I called, why was there none to answer? Is My hand so short that it cannot ransom? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, I dry up the sea with My rebuke, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst.” (Is. 50:2). The psalmist worshiped God as the creator of all life: “May you be blessed of the LORD, maker of heaven and earth.” (Ps. 115:15). “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” (Ps. 124:8). “May the LORD bless you from Zion, He who made heaven and earth.” (Ps. 134:3). Do you have the faith to know that there is no problem that is too big or small in your life for God?

5. Life-Sustaining: Praise Jesus For Using His Abilities to Sustain All Life. Job 26:8-10.

  • Job praised God for creating the life-sustaining water cycle. While many today might shrug at the sight of clouds, Job praised God for creating a spherical Earth with a cloud system that provides life-giving rain: “8 He wraps up the waters in His clouds, and the cloud does not burst under them. 9 He obscures the face of the full moon and spreads His cloud over it. 10 He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters at the boundary of light and darkness. 11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are amazed at His rebuke.” (Job 26:8-10). The first person to write of the Earth as a sphere instead of being flat was also Job. He described God creating a “circle” over “the surface of the waters.” (Job 26:10). Through the rotation of the spherical Earth, he described how God created the life-giving cycles of night and day. He also described how God created life through the clouds.

Out of love for mankind, God created the life-giving water cycle6

  • God created the atmosphere to enable life on Earth. Building upon what Job wrote, Genesis records that, “Then God said ‘Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day” (Gen. 1:6-8). Out of love, He created the perfect atmosphere so that mankind could live and breathe and share in the joy of His creation with Him.

  • Praise God for creating the cloud cycle to deliver life-giving rain. Without the clouds, rain would not exist, and crops could not grow. In the Bible, rain is a symbol of blessing, life, and God’s Word (Dt. 11:10-17; 32:1-3; 1 Ki. 18:41-46). The lack of rain is a symbol of judgment (1 Kgs. 8:33-43). Hosea said that the Messiah would come like rain on Earth (Hos. 6:3). The Holy Spirit also later poured out like rain (Acts 2:1-8; 14-21). Thus, you can also praise Jesus for sustaining all life on Earth with drinking water and water for food to grow: “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.” (Heb. 1:3).

6. Sovereign: Praise Jesus Because He Has Conquered Death and All Evil. Job 26:12-13.

  • Job praised God’s power over evil. While Job’s friends argued that Job needed to fear God, Job responded that it was Satan and the evil in the world that needed to fear Him: “ 12 With His power He quieted the sea, and by His understanding He shattered Rahab. 13 By His breath the heavens are cleared; His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent.” (Job 26:12-13). In the Bible, sea and the serpent were words frequently used to describe evil and the devil. Thus, Job was praising God as being sovereign over all evil in the world.

  • God is also sovereign over evil. Job praised God’s power to trample the sea’s waves (Job 9:12). The sea often symbolized the wicked people: “But the wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up refuse and mud. ‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked.’” (Is. 57:20-21). When the sea disappears in heaven, it symbolizes the disappearance of evil people (Rev. 21:1). Even though Satan was attacking Job behind the scenes in heaven, Job trusted that God is sovereign over evil.

  • God is also sovereign over the devil. Job praised God because He “pierced the fleeing serpent.” (Job 26:13). In the book of Revelation, Jesus is revealed to have defeated Satan, the serpent: “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” (Rev. 12:9). “And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;” (Rev. 20:2; Is. 51:9; Ps. 89:8-10). Satan was once an anointed cherub on God’s holy mountain before his beauty caused him to desire to be lifted higher than God (Ezek. 28:13-17). His beauty caused him to desire to be like God before God cast him out (Is. 14:12-15). For his deceit of mankind, God cursed Satan with a prophecy that a future descendant of Adam and Eve - - the Messiah - - would ultimately crush him for his actions (Gen. 3:14-15). To be connected to Adam and Eve’s seed, Jesus was “born of a woman.” (Gal. 4:4). Through His death at the cross, He judged and defeated Satan. “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” (Ro. 16:20). Thus, like Job, you can praise Jesus for having defeated Satan.

  • Praise Jesus for having conquered death and the devil. The serpent Satan desires to bring everyone down with him. You can give thanks that Jesus not only defeated your enemy Satan but also death itself: “The last enemy that will be abolished is death.” (1 Cor. 15:26). Because of His death, you can enjoy eternal life with Him in heaven.

7. Indescribable: Praise Jesus Because of His Indescribable Power and Love. Job 26:14.

  • Job proclaimed that God’s true wonders were unknowable. Job had the humility to know that the full extent of God’s glory was beyond his comprehension: “14 Behold, these are the fringes of His ways; and how faint a word we hear of Him! But His mighty thunder, who can understand?” (Job 26:14). “The chapter concludes with one of the loftiest and most beautiful expressions in the entire Bible: ‘These are but the outer fringe of His works.’ . . . We mortals do not see or appreciate what is behind those operations and the universe . . . With finite minds we, like Job, seek the ways of God, forgetting what He said in Isa 55:8-9: ‘‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”’’ (Robert Alden, The New American Commentary, Vol. 11, Job (B&H Publishing Group 1993) p. 259-60). “For Job these manifestations and deeds are but mere shadows or whispers of the smallest part of God’s might. We stand merely at the fringe of His majestic power . . . How beautifully and humbly Job asserted the majestic omnipotence of God! But he ended the poem convinced of the mystery that surrounds that omnipotence.” (Frank Gaebelein, Elmer Smick, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 4, 1, 2 Kings, 1, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job (Zondervan Publishing House 1988) p. 968).

We will never fully understand the true extent of God’s power7

  • The full extent of Jesus’ love for you is beyond your comprehension. It is hard enough to imagine Jesus individually loving every person to have ever lived. The extent to which He created the perfect universe, the perfect Earth, the perfect bodies, the perfect heaven is also beyond our ability to fully appreciate. Paul urged “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God.” (Eph. 3:17-19). Are you praising Jesus’ creation all around you?

  • Praise Jesus for the beauty in heaven that awaits. Mankind also cannot appreciate the beauty in heaven that Jesus has created for every believer. Paul was able to briefly experience heaven (2 Cor. 12:2). He revealed that nothing that we have ever experienced on Earth compares the beauty that awaits us: “but just as it is written: ‘Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the human heart, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.”’ (1 Cor. 2:9; Is. 64:4).

  • Praise Jesus for His indescribable gifts. Paul urged believers to thank Jesus for His indescribable gift: “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Cor. 9:15). Are you giving thanks for the many indescribable gifts in your life?