Thoughts from Job 21:14

Reading in Job right now--here are some of this morning's meditations.

Job 21:14 (speaking of the wicked) “Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways.” Just reading the words sends cold dread into my heart. Ah, what man could utter such words in the face of the Almighty? O the fear and the misery and desolation that would reside in my heart if I sought not the knowledge of God. For though I often stray by reason of my own willfulness, my love of my Self, and my lack of love for my God, yet, in the core of my being I desire the knowledge of Him more than aught else, and I am destitute and miserable when not walking with Him, when not enjoying intimate communion. Who can say unto God, “Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways”? Thus is the heart of the wicked. Doth it not stand to reason then, that the heart of the righteous ought to be the complete opposite: “O come unto us, for we wholly desire the knowledge of Thy ways”? Even as it says in Ps. 10:4, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.” It ought to be able to be said of the righteous: “The righteous, in humility of heart, shall ever seek after God: God is in all his thoughts.” The knowledge of Him, thoughts of Him, desire for Him ought to be the perpetual preoccupation of the lives of His own. For what else is there? Is there another pursuit worth giving the mind and thoughts and talents and skills and passion of our being to? Herein do we see that of which Paul spoke when he said, “This one thing I do.” The Lord told Martha, “One thing is needful.” David cried out, “One thing have I desired.” To the rich young ruler who had all else, Christ said, “One thing thou lackest,” and the lack of that “one thing” canceled every other asset he possessed. Herein is the necessity of having a single eye, of serving in singleness of heart as unto Christ, of loving the Lord our God with all. As Caleb and Joshua, we must wholly follow the Lord our God. Are we able to say “With my whole heart have I sought Thee”? When “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro in all the earth” does He find that my “heart is perfect toward Him”? How often doth the phrase “all your heart” occur in speaking of what is required of the man who would know and walk with the Almighty? Ah, let us not, let me not, be side-tracked from following “this one thing.” May I never, never harden my heart so that, as I skulk off into my own ways, it would whisper unto the Lord “Depart from [me]; for [I] desire not the knowledge of Thy ways.” O that God, my God, would keep me from devastating and destroying my soul in this manner. Rather, let me “walk after the LORD my God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and serve Him, and cleave unto Him.”