So said God to one of Job's three "friends." Why? "Because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as my servant Job has" (JB 42:7).
These men who came to comfort their friend end- ed up prosecuting His God. They attributed to God motives He did not have and behaviors He would never sanction. What can we learn?
First, it's possible to speak with absolute confidence about God and be absolutely wrong. That may come from family or friends or the pulpit or print. Current thought in much writing today argues that God is still speaking directly to people - as if He's giving "Bible Version 2.1." Or that God has closed His eyes to the very things He has clearly condemned. Some are just certain about this supposedly new and improved God they've created. That's why we would all do well to "search the Scriptures daily to see whether those things are true" (AC 17:11).
Second, we can confidently know God and be right. We can know Him through the Scriptures. After all, that's how He introduces Himself to us. We can understand what pleases Him and what angers Him. Hoping for the best, guessing that He'll be pleased is a poor way to do life. "You shall know the truth," Jesus said, "and the truth shall make you free."
Third, our knowledge of God shapes us. If you feel that God is distant, aloof, unfeeling, that He wants nothing to do with you, then that's how
you'll respond to Him. If you feel that God loves you and wants to be with you day by day, then you'll tend to come to Him with an open heart.
Fourth, misrepresenting God has grave consequences. It not only affects our faith, but it will affect those we influence - particularly our children. Perhaps they'll never know the true God. Perhaps they'll blame Him for every bad thing that happens in life. Perhaps they'll desperately need their faith to stand on in a time of crises and, like Job's wife, find that they have none.
Fifth, the responsibility of knowing God falls on each of us individually. I can look at nature and see God's power and intelligence (RM 1) but na- ture doesn't tell me His covenant name, His will, or His expectations. But the Bible does. Not only can we know God but we can know His will and know if He is pleased with us (1 JN 2:3: 5:13).
Wrong about God - could there be a greater delu- sion? Convinced that we're forgiven when we're not. Convinced that we're pleasing God when we're not. Convinced that we know God when, in fact, we don't. Those were the folks in Matthew 7 to whom the Lord said, "Depart from Me, I never knew you..."
We can do better than that - "By this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments" (1 Jn 2:3). No hoping. No guessing. No crossing fingers. You can know...for certain.
