LIVE: "Have You An Arm Like God?" (Job 40/41), Part 1/5

God’s questions in Job 40 are not gentle, and that is exactly why they matter. When life feels unfair, it is easy to drift from “I don’t understand” into “God must be wrong.” We slow down in Job chapter 40 and watch God confront that drift, not to destroy Job, but to restore him to humility, clarity, and trust under God’s sovereignty. 

We read Job’s stunning reply, “Behold, I am vile… I will lay my hand upon my mouth,” and talk about what real repentance looks like when you realize you have spoken beyond your place. Then we dig into God’s challenge: can Job disannul God’s judgment, thunder with God’s voice, humble the proud, and crush the wicked with perfect justice? The point is not that Job is worthless, but that only God is fit to govern the world with flawless wisdom and power, especially when suffering makes everything feel chaotic. 

A major thread is a common Christian mistake: assuming that if God commands something, we must already have the ability to do it. Job 40 pushes the opposite conclusion, that God’s demands often expose our inability and drive us to dependence on grace. With insights from the panel, we also explore spiritual growth, discernment, and assurance, how a sincere believer can be wrong and still be God’s, and why honesty with God must never turn into condemning His rule. If this conversation helps you, subscribe, share it with a friend who is hurting, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Transcript

Humility Before God’s Authority

SPEAKER_01 0:00

In Job chapter forty, the main lesson, in my view, in Job chapter forty, is that is about humility. It's about humility before God's authority, before God's power. Job has previously spoken in a way that suggests that God's dealings at times or dealing with his affliction were unfair, perhaps even unjust. He sort of bordered on that idea. But God shows that governing the world requires power, requires wisdom, that is far beyond human ability and understanding. And this is what we are learning here in the book of Job, especially now, and in particular, as we close in on the final chapters of this book, we're going to find that there is a description of Bohemeth, which is meant to show that even the strongest creatures on earth are under God's control. Therefore, man should submit to God's rule and trust in God's wisdom, even when he does not understand God's ways. Now, the last time we were together, we completed chapter 39, and we read into verses 1 and 2 of Job chapter 40.

Can Anyone Correct The Almighty

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Let me read these two verses again, and then we will get into Job chapter 40, beginning at verse 3. So in Job chapter 40, beginning at verse 1, it says, Moreover, the Lord answered Job, and he said, Shall he that contends with the Almighty instruct him? The answer is no. And then God says to Job, He or whoever that reproves God, let him answer it. Now this statement on the part of God assumes that man, no man has the ability to answer. This is what we can conclude. Now you have a lot of people today that believed and or that will say that whatever doesn't suit their tastes when it comes to the word of God, they will say, oh well, it doesn't say that exactly. Well, God says here in Job chapter 40, verse 2, that whoever contends with the Almighty, can anybody who contends with the Almighty instruct God? Can he that reproves God answer God? And if he can, then let him answer it. Now the idea is that man can't. Now some might conclude, well, God was just asking, and they might even conclude that man can answer. But that is not what God is invoking here. What he is invoking here is that not only can man not contend with the Almighty, he can't instruct the Almighty, he can't reprove God, and therefore he cannot answer God in any way as it pertains to how God governs the world.

Job’s Silence And Confession

SPEAKER_01 4:01

So now we begin in Job chapter 40, verse 3. I'm gonna read from verse 3 to verse 5. Because Job answers here in these few verses, before God follows up in verse 6 through 7 and beyond. In verse 3 of Job chapter 40, it says, Job answered the Lord and said, Behold, listen to what a response is. Listen to Job's response is when God breaks in and begins to deal with him personally. Job answered the Lord, verse 3. And he said, Behold, I am vile. I am vile. What shall I answer thee? What can I answer you? What answer can I give you, Lord? This is his response to God saying, to God saying to Job, shall he that contends with the Almighty instruct him? The answer is being no. God says, He that reproves God, let him answer. And what does Job do? He says, Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer you, Lord? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once I have spoken, but I will not answer. Yes, twice I have spoken, but I will proceed no further. Job admits that he has spoken in ways that were not appropriate to God. And he recognizes that before God he is vile. He is wretched. And so he recognizes that now it is time for him to stay silent. This is what is happening. Job here responds rightly. He responds with humility. He no longer argues, but he confesses his unworthiness to speak further in his own defense before God. This is what he's recognizing. And he says he lays his hand upon his own mouth, this being a sign and a symbol of silence and submission by Job before his God. And Job admits that he has spoken too much, and that he will not continue in the same fashion. He won't continue this way. And this is the beginning of Job's humbling. Though God continues to teach him further, Job has now set himself down, put his hands over his mouth, recognizes that he is vile, and now is subject to listening to God in humility, in all humility.

The Whirlwind And God’s Purpose

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Verse six. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. Notice God is still in the whirlwind, still demonstrating to Job that it is he who speaks even in the midst of the grandest of calamities and of the grandest of afflictions, and of the grandest of chaotic circumstances, God is in it and behind it, and he can rescue Job out of his own turmoil. The Lord answered Job once again out of the whirlwind, and he says to Job once again, gird up your loins now like a man. I will demand of you, Job, and you declare unto me. So God continues his examination of his servant, his servant Job. And Job is told again to prepare himself seriously to consider what God is saying. But let me make sure everyone understands here that the purpose here on the part of the Lord is not to destroy Job. It is not to destroy Job at all, but to bring him into a fuller and a better understanding of how God works, how he uses his power, how he exercises justice in the world. God is not trying to destroy Job. And this is something that all of us should understand. When he breaks in on us to correct us, it is not to destroy us. It is not to punish. It is not to condemn, but it is to edify, to build up, to exhort, to instruct, to prove, and to improve our relationship with him.

The Challenge To Govern Justly

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Verse 8. God says to Job, Will you also disannul my judgment? Will you disannul my judgment, Job? Will you, Job, condemn me so that you can be righteous? Will you condemn me so that you can be righteous? Do you have an arm like mine? Do you have an arm, Job, like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him? The Lord says to Job, deck yourself now with majesty and excellency, and array yourself with glory and beauty. Cast abroad the rage of your wrath, and behold everyone that is proud, and abase him. Look on everyone that is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together and bind their faces in secret. Then will I confess unto you that your own right hand can save you. Now notice that God is telling Job to do all these things. And Job here, when God telling him to do all these things, Job doesn't walk away, concluding that if God suggested that he do them, that it means that he can do them. Notice this. God says here to Job, Do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like God? And the answer to both questions is no, an emphatic no. But look what God says going forward. And here's, I want to make a point here. So listen to what the word of God is saying. Listen to what God is saying. He tells Job, Deck yourself now with majesty and excellency.

SPEAKER_04 12:17

Thank you, God.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Array yourself with glory and beauty. Cast abroad the rage of your wrath, and behold everyone that is proud and bring him low. Look on everyone that is proud and bring him low. Tread down the wicked in their place, hide them in the dust together, and bind their faces in secret. And then God says, Then I will confess unto you that your own right hand can save you.

Why Commands Do Not Prove Ability

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Christians. Let me explain something here. Hopefully, to correct a common error in Christian thought when it comes to reading the word of God. God tells Job to do all these things. Just because God tells Job to do all these things doesn't mean that Job is capable of doing these things. Let me say this again because I really want this to sink in before I make my next statement. Just because God tells you to do something doesn't mean that you have the ability to do it. It doesn't infer that you have the ability to do it. It doesn't imply that you have the ability to do it. Why do I say this? Because so many Christians in this modern Christian era will say that if God says something to you, that it implies that you are able to do it. Otherwise, why would God say it? For example, if God tells you to obey his law, does that mean you have the ability to do so? If God says to never tell a lie, again, does that mean you have the ability to never tell a lie? If God tells you you can save yourself, does that mean that or to come to him, does that mean you are able to come to him and save yourself? It does not. What God is often saying to all of us when he tells us to do something, what he is trying to get us to understand is that we cannot do it. And the response should be like Job's, which is to keep silent. God challenges Job to take God's place. Basically, what God is saying, Job, since you know so much, then how about you stand in my stead and you do these things that I currently do? If you can do better, you do it. This is what the Lord is telling Job. You have many Christians who like to go around telling people that because of the things that God says in the Bible that we are to be obedient about, that somehow because God says to do it, that we have the ability to do it. No, that is not the truth. We are to recognize that when God says to do something, that we are unable and incapable of doing it, and therefore we resort to depending on Him in order to make things right on our behalf when it comes to ourselves and when it comes to our relationship to the Lord. Just because God tells you to do something doesn't mean you have the ability. It means that God needs to give you that ability when you recognize with humility that you have no ability to do anything he requires unless he himself gets involved and overrides your nature, which is always and ever inclined to oppose the Most High. The proclivities of sinful men are deviant from the ways of God in every aspect, one hundred percent and completely. Only God has the ability to make man right with God. If Job could humble the proud and judge the wicked and govern the world in perfect justice, then he could claim such authority. But God is trying to get Job to recognize that he has none of these things. And the point is, like when God says in verse 8, will you disannul my judgment? This is what God is dealing with with Job. Are you going to disannul my judgment because you don't like the way things seem to be unfolding in your own life? Will you question me? Will you question how I govern? This is what the Lord is saying. And he's pointing out that since Job cannot do these things, he must acknowledge alone that only God is fit to govern. God is presenting to Job a situation where he is simply saying, either you believe I should be in the place of governing, or you should. Since you were saying, Job, all these things to me. I heard you, Job. I know what you were saying. I heard your cries to me. I heard your murmuring. I heard your complaints. I'm not condemning you, Job, for being honest. But I must correct your errors. And so the lesson is that the ruling is that ruling the world requires divine intervention. God's power, God's wisdom. Not what frail, fragile, human understanding can muster. This is what we're dealing with here. This is what we're dealing with here. God is telling Job essentially this. In modern speak. If you think you could do it better, show me what you got. This is what he's saying.

Panel Reflections On True Humility

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Before I move on to verse 15, I want to give everybody an opportunity here to give your initial thoughts. Welcome, everybody. Sister Vanessa, good evening, sister. What do you think so far?

SPEAKER_04 19:45

Well, I think that God is challenging Job, but Job knows he has no way to answer.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:54

And that he's just a worm. And that he has no majesty or any kind of power. So he shuts his mouth and covers his mouth and just says, you know, I can't answer you. All I can do is stand in awe.

unknown 20:07

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 20:07

That's my take on that one.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

Amen, sister. Brother Jeffrey. Welcome, brother. Good evening.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Yeah, good evening, Jonathan. Good evening, panel. Yeah, uh, Jonathan, you've nailed it here as always. God is I I think I would use the term putting Job in his place when he says, I really like verse 11, which says, Unleash the fury of your wrath, Job. Look at all who are proud and bring them low like I do. He says, Okay, you want to be equal with me? Do what I do. It would really be interesting, Jonathan, to know when God is speaking to him, what is going on in his mind and in his heart when he hears God saying what we're reading right here. Right. I mean, that would be the definition of true humility. You know, Job is probably thinking to himself, I have missed this. Yes, I am broken. But he is God. I am not. And I have misjudged him terribly.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Amen. Sister Sean. Good evening, sister. What are your thoughts so far?

SPEAKER_05 21:26

Yeah, just good evening. Yeah. I think Ellie Hugh brought this up briefly about Job, you know, bringing up his own righteousness and kind of like, you know, asking God, you know. But, you know, when he said without without condemn me, that you may be righteous. I think that's really dangerous. And I think a lot of people do that with in their with them not understanding what's going on in their situation. And they say, I haven't done anything by you saying that, you kind of look towards God and blame him unconsciously. And And I think God brings that up that you know Job knows that he is righteous. But by, you know, but in defending himself, you kind of accuse God's governance.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

Right. That's what that's Yeah, absolutely. Go ahead, sister. I'm sorry. I cut you off. Sorry. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_05 22:16

Oh, that was my uh statement.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Yeah. No, d what you're saying there is absolutely

Being Wrong Without Being Rejected

SPEAKER_01 22:21

true. And I and I think the one of the things that I like about what you just said is that God is not angry with Job for being honest from his assessment. What God is doing is dealing with Job as a father would to a child who is ignorant about certain matters in terms of how the father is handling things. And so, and so, but what is what I like about what you said, sister, is this that Job, even in the midst of this, his integrity is maintained. His righteousness is sustained. And so, what does this tell us? It tells us that we can find ourselves on the wrong side of an issue with God, and it does not threaten the righteous standing and the reconciliatory relationship that we have with him. And this is what every Christian should understand. Just because you are wrong about something doesn't necessarily mean that you are not a believer and that God is going to discard you and throw you away because you have a misunderstanding with him about something. Now, true, there are certain things that a Christian cannot hold to and be Christian. I will say that as strongly as anyone, maybe more than most. But what I can say is that when a genuine when a Christian is a genuine servant of the Lord and is sincere in how they relate to the Lord, even if they're wrong, even their ignorance is not going to be something that separates them from God. And so this is something that we need to understand because so many people will tell us that if we don't get this right, this right, that right, that right, that right, then that means we're not safe. No, it means perhaps, like in the case of Job, that we're growing. We're growing. And I've said this before. Everybody grows at different stages. There are many people who sit under bad teaching, that they sit and commingle with denominations that are contrary to the biblical truth. It doesn't necessarily mean they're not Christian, but it could mean for many of them, some of them, that they are still yet growing. God meets people where they are, and it takes time in most cases for God to wean his people off of bad thinking and bad beliefs and bad doctrine. And so we have to be reminded of this. There are certain people that that to me can have a command of the truth and yet have no seeming spirituality that shows any significance in terms of or shows no, there's no indication of the Holy Spirit working in them. You you may know somebody who is very astute at truth in certain areas, but you just feel like something is not right. And there are other people that you look at and you go, this person is sitting over here at the Catholic Church or some other place. You know, they've been a Christian for a couple of years or a year, whatever it may be, but you sense something is right with this person. And this is where discernment comes in.

Discernment About Growth And Doctrine

SPEAKER_01 26:07

This is where discernment comes in. God knows the heart of his people. We might make the mistake, we might make a mistake, but but it always it doesn't always mean that we are in error. And so, but I will say that when a Christian hears the truth, when a true believer hears the truth of the word of God, something in them is going to deal with that. They're going to recognize it. They may not understand it at first, but they're going to wrestle with it. And they are going to come to a conclusion that is right. And so, and it takes time. It takes time for some people. And and that's okay. And that's okay, Sister Michelle. That is okay. The issue is you have to continue to apply yourself and to indulge yourself into the things of the word of the truth of God's word and to do what you can to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so let's not be quick to write everyone off because they get something wrong. Because God doesn't do it. And if he did, then the outcome that we have right now in the book of Job would be very different. It would be very different. Notice Job is not getting what his friends are going to get in chapter 42. Job didn't get it. They did. So, Sister Lisa, your thoughts. Opening remarks.

SPEAKER_03 27:55

Hey everybody. I love what Sister Sean was saying, and and and what you said also about, you know, when we when we defend ourselves, it's it's almost without without doing it, it's questioning the authority of God, without doing it directly. I don't know how she put it, but I I was just gonna say, I really agree. And I think God is is you know, He He's teaching us all a lesson here. I think it's just, you know, we don't we don't need to know all the details. Oh, I know what you said, Jonathan. You were talking about how, you know, he's doing it as a father, chastising his child. You know, we don't have to know the details of everything, we can't know the details of everything. And I think basically the Lord is telling us here, I I'm not gonna share the details of everything with you. So you just need to know that. Right. You have to trust me, period. You know, and I I I love that. I love how he's doing this with Job. This seems a little harsher than in, you know, the previous chapter, but again, I think it's you know, I think Job senses he's he's very humbled by it, but also he knows he's loved and he knows there's no, you know, there's nothing to worry about as far as his standing with the Lord. So I think that's that's a great point that you made too. We we need to know that. So it's good.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

We need to know that God doesn't want us, I don't think that God wants us to be afraid. And he certainly does not want us to be afraid to express what we are going through in our hearts. And I think that much of what God is correcting Job about is about things that Job said to God directly. Not to his friends, to God. Right. And so this is very different because this comes within the confines of that familial relationship that he has with God, same way we have with God. Job's no different than us. You know, with the many times we go to God, can any can everybody here honestly say that everything that they request of God was a wise request? Can any of us actually say that everything we've ever acknowledged or understood about God was entirely correct in every instance? How many times do we find in our lives that we we ourselves are corrected and we recognize that later and we go, now I know, now I understand.

Complaints, Assumptions, And Trust

SPEAKER_01 30:33

And this is what we're talking about here, because I know for a fact, like Brother Pat says all the time, this is me. I know. There are so many times that we make assumptions, wholesale assumptions about what God is doing, how he's doing it, what he should do, what we think we deserve, what we think we should have, how long we think it should take, why is it taking so long? All these things, they're murmurs and complaints, just like the Israelites had during the time of Moses and going forward. Man is always having an issue with God. If you really are God, show yourself. Tell us, tell us plainly. If you be the Son of Christ, tell us plainly. But this is how man works. But God works very different, He works very different, and we need to understand that. Sister Mariah, good evening, sister. Your opening remarks.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

Good evening, everyone. Yeah, I just think that like I'm thinking about what you said about like how God asks us things of us, and knowing that we can't do it, you know. And you know, we do this similarly to our children, you know, but it's a lesson learned that, you know, you you're acquiring something that is above your means. And this is so very true. And and saying, deck yourself now with majesty and excellency and array thyself with glory and beauty, we know that there is nothing good in us. In fact, Job already told us that men drink w iniquity like water, you know? So I just love this because this is something that a lot of people get incorrect today is thinking that just because God has asked of us this, these things, that it's possible for us to do them.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Right. And very often, sister, what God is doing is trying to arouse our hearts and minds when he tells us to do something that's impossible, to understand that it's impossible for us. And what does that mean? So if God has a demand for something for us to do, and he tells us to do it, man walks away thinking, oh, that proves I have free will. No, it doesn't. It proves that you don't. That's what it proves, that you don't. And God is showing this to Job. Oh, then you you, Job, you go out there and and you deck yourself with majesty and excellency, you array yourself with glory and beauty, you cast abroad the rays of