Now My Eye Sees You

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Ephesians 3:20-21
• Hymn — The God of Abraham Praise
• Prayer of Invocation
• Reading of the Law — Matthew 22:37-40
• Corporate Confession of Sin
• Assurance of Pardon
• Scripture Reading — Matthew 27:32-44
• Hymn — Man of Sorrows, What a Name
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Prayer
• Hymn — God Moves in a Mysterious Way
• Sermon
• Hymn — O Worship the King
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26
• Doxology

---

Sermon Title: Now My Eye Sees You

Scripture: Job 42:1-6

I. Our Impressions of God May Be Vast and Vivid

A. Job's theology was rich and well-grounded before his suffering

1. He could affirm in Job 12:10 that God holds the life of every living thing — good theology rooted in Genesis 1–2 and echoed in Acts 17
2. Even in sudden catastrophic loss he declared, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord"

B. Yet vast and vivid impressions of God prove insufficient

1. As wave after wave of grief pounds against Job, and his three friends begin to speak, Job lets bitterness drive his words
2. Job begins to question God's character, calling God to account for his management of the world
3. His friends wrongly accuse him of hidden sin; the opening chapters make clear that Job suffers not for sin but according to God's sovereign purposes
4. Book knowledge of God — mere "Hobby Lobby platitudes stitched into our pillows" — is not enough for the days of suffering in this groaning world

C. We too may have impressive knowledge of God yet still find nagging questions in our hearts

1. Questions about provision, health, the chaos of current events
2. Is God really good enough, wise enough, powerful enough for what I am facing right now?

II. Our Impressions of God Must Become a Right Experience of God

A. From Job 38–41, God speaks to Job out of the whirlwind across two extended speeches

1. God's opening challenge in Job 38:2-3: "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me"
2. First speech: God overwhelms Job with his powerful providence — from the sunrise and weather to the daily life of animals
3. Second speech: God confronts Job with his moral might, focusing on Behemoth and Leviathan as symbols of wickedness and the chaos Job cannot govern

B. The purpose of the second speech (as noted by Richard Belcher) is to convince Job that God is Lord of the moral order

1. Job does not have the power to govern a world full of wickedness and injustice — but God does
2. God alone can take Leviathan with a fishhook; the sea creature who is king over all the sons of pride lives at the pleasure of God

C. The right experience of God comes through God's Word

1. God confronts Job with his word; Job's first response in Job 40:4-5 is silent, resigned recognition — he covers his mouth
2. It is the full weight of God's gracious self-revelation in words that produces Job's final and fuller response

III. Our Right Experience of God Demands a Right Response

A. Job's final response begins in verse 2 with a good but incomplete start

1. "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted" — acknowledgment of God's sovereignty
2. Verse 2 alone reflects little movement; something more is needed

B. In verses 3–4 Job takes up God's own words on his lips, responding directly to the Word spoken to him

1. James points to Job's steadfastness (James 5:11) — Job is steadfast precisely because he responds to the Word of the Lord in the midst of suffering
2. Job is brought low before the mighty hand and grace of God — not crushed but drawn toward him

C. Job's confession in verses 5–6: "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes"

1. John Calvin in the Institutes writes: "It is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon the face of God"
2. Job confesses not the sin that caused his suffering, but a sin that resulted from his suffering — pride, self-importance, babbling about things far beyond him
3. Like a person who refuses to admit he needs glasses and fights against wearing them, Job did not know he had a seeing problem

D. Two possible responses when met with God's Word

1. The shaking fist — "not enough evidence"; the throne remains mine
2. Humble confession drawn toward God — seeing self with new eyes and God with clearer vision

E. There is a proper place for honest lament in the Christian life

1. The Psalms show lament including hard questions: why? how long?
2. The danger is when our lament and questions lack needed knowledge and move us away from God rather than toward him

F. Christ is the better Job — the perfect responder in suffering

1. Silent before his earthly accusers at the cross (Matthew 27:32-44), he cried out to the Father — "Why have you forsaken me?" — in full trust, never putting God in the dock
2. Jesus bore the wrath of God not for his own sin but for ours; he trusted the Father perfectly in his human nature
3. As Job interceded for his friends who wronged him, Christ intercedes for his people — doubting, prideful sinners — having trusted the Father fully on their behalf
4. Your suffering, however real, must be viewed through the lens of his suffering; from the foundation of the world God orchestrated a good purpose for the suffering of the Son

G. In his Word God meets us in our suffering, brings us to an end of ourselves, calls us to confess and repent, and draws us to himself

1. He lifts the bowed head and begins to restore the joy of being his creation
2. In Christ we have looked upon the face of God — have you been brought to say with Job, "Now my eye sees you"?