Job 40:4
Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job's Standing: The very first verse in The Book tells us that Job was perfect and upright. And in Job 1:8, God says to Satan, Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect man and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? In Job 2:3, God repeats the same words to Satan and adds, and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst Me against him, to destroy him without cause.
And after his troubles came, Job ...sinned not, nor charged God foolishly... In all this did not Job sin with his lips (Job 1:22; Job 2:10).
Drawing from Human Experience, Human Tradition, and Human Merit, his three "friends" did their best to find something wrong in Job so that they might condemn him and find a reason for his misfortunes.
In these trials, Job stuck to his faith. Once Job said, Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him (Job 13:15). Again, in Job 14:12-15 he gives that wonderful passage on Resurrection, praying that God would hide him in hell till the wrath was over, and finally says, Thou shalt call, and I will answer Thee.
He probably reaches the zenith in this trial in Job 19:23-25 where he says, Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: Nothing wrong with Job's standing.
Job's State: Here is a different matter. Job was perfect in his standing before God, and Satan could not change it. And this is true of every believer (Romans 8:38-39). And it is true of all of us that, although our standing before God is perfect in Christ Jesus, nevertheless, our state could be improved and needs it. Amen?
See what Job says in Job 27:2-6, that God hath taken away my judgment...My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go. Ah, there is the trouble. Job has the mistaken idea that in himself, that is, his flesh, is some good, some righteousness. Paul had learned the lesson and said, For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing (Romans 7:18). But Job did not know that his own righteousness was only as filthy rags in the sight of God (Isaiah 64:6).
Elihu, the daysman, puts his finger on the trouble in Job 32:2, where he gets angry with Job because Job justified himself rather than God. In Job 34:5, he accuses Job of saying, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment. This is where Job was lacking in his state. He needed correction.
Job's Lesson Learned. God stepped in and asked Job a lot of questions that left him speechless. Then he said, I am vile (Job 40:4). Then God said, Wilt thou condemn Me, that thou mayest be righteous? And Job ends by saying, Now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:5-6). This is a lesson all of us need to learn lest we think too much of ourselves.
