I

Job had never seen God or heard God personally utter any teachings to him,

but to God his heart and he himself

were far more precious than those people who were only able

to talk in terms of deep theory,

boast, and speak of offering sacrifices before God,

but who had never had a true knowledge of God,

and had never truly feared God.

For Job’s heart was pure, and not hidden from God,

and his humanity was honest and kind-hearted,

and he loved justice and that which was positive.

Only a man like this who was possessed of such a heart and humanity

was able to follow God’s way,

and capable of fearing God and shunning evil.

Such a man could see God’s sovereignty, could see His authority and His power,

and was able to achieve submission to His sovereignty and arrangements.

Only a man such as this could truly praise God’s name.

II

That’s because Job did not look at

whether God would bless him or bring disaster upon him,

because he knew that everything is controlled by the hand of God,

and that for man to worry is a sign of foolishness,

ignorance, and a lack of reason,

a sign of doubting the fact of God’s sovereignty over all things,

and a sign of not fearing God.

Job’s knowledge was precisely what God wanted,

Job’s knowledge was precisely what God wanted.

He had not experienced the work of God, nor ever heard God speaking,

nor seen the face of God.

That he was able to have such an attitude toward God

was entirely the result of his humanity and his personal pursuit,

a humanity and pursuit that are not possessed by people today.

Thus, in that age, God said, “There’s none like him in the earth,

a perfect and an upright man, a perfect and an upright man.”

from The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II