Job 12:16-23
16 With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.
17 He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools.
18 He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle.
19 He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty.
20 He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged.
21 He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.
22 He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.
23 He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again.
KJV
The setting of this scripture is during the time that Job was going through his trial, set upon by Satan because God had bragged about Job’s faithfulness. Job 12 is an amazing chapter in the saga that is the torture of Job, because he is acknowledging that God, who is rich in mercy, has the ability to do as He will, and no one can stop Him. Job was acknowledging that God has the ability to completely destroy the things that people count as wisest and as the strongest in the world. Job said that God allows the destruction of powerful people and He makes judges fools. In our society, we look at the people in power and judges and we count them as the wisest among us, although it appears more and more lately that many of the judges in our land make decisions based on what gives themselves more power.
It is amazing to think that those who we trust in the most, and those who we see as the most powerful, God can destroy their power and base in an instant. We have seen this done countless times in just the last two or three years, and the me-too movement is a perfect example of this. Many men who people looked to on a daily basis for news, jobs and more were caught in a compromising position, having things hidden in their past, and in one moment of time their reputations were destroyed, and they were made a laughing stock due to their actions and indiscretions. If you think that God had nothing to do with their downfalls, hearken back to the scriptures and remember that God sets men up, and He can take them down.
God has the ability to go beyond what we can see and understand, to uncover the things that people think that they have hidden. To be sure, we all have things in our lives that we are ashamed of, or don’t want others to know about. It is a certainty that we cannot expect to build our own kingdom and disregard God and His will, and think that we will ever be able to be successful. We must realize that it is God that has given us the ability to do anything that we are successful at. Acts 17:28 says it like this: “For in him we live, and move, and have our being…”
The Bible is replete with examples of men that stepped way out of the will of God, and were brought way down, to the point of ultimately being destroyed. Psalms 46:6 states that “The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.”
So, going back to our scripture text, Job had no clue to what was going on, and why he was going through what he was going through, but he had the revelation that God is in control, and holds all of the pieces to the puzzle that is called life. Many people question God and the fairness of life, why God allows pain and suffering, or why good things happen to bad people. The reality is that I can’t answer those questions, but what I can say is that God knows all, and when he is ready, he builds some up, and tears others down. Kingdoms rise and fall, nations grow and then are destroyed, and through it all, God is the driving force behind them all, whether they are successful or they fail.
I want to be like Job, who, when he was going through the greatest trial of his life, had the revelation that God controls it all, and he knows what he is doing. Job said in 23:10 “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” I want to be a willing vessel that God can use, and when he is through with my life, I want to be willing to accept whatever he has for me.
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