The Mindfulness of God

Today I read Job 7, which is part of Job's response to the the first speech of Eliphaz. In Job 7:17 he asks, "What is man, that you make so much of him?" My mind immediately went to Psalm 8, where David asks a similar question when contemplating God's special care for humanity in light of the vastness of the universe. "What is man that you are mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:4).

However, Job has a much different perspective than David. David was grateful for God's attentiveness to humanity. Job is resentful of God's attentiveness.

"What is man, that you make so much of him,
and that you set your heart on him,
visit him every morning
and test him every moment?" (Job 7:17-18).

The last thing Job wanted was God's attention. In verse 19 he prayed for God to look away from him and leave him alone.

This isn't the first time in Scripture that someone wished to be free from the presence of God. Adam and Even tried to hide from the Lord after their sin, and ever since the Garden, rebellious humanity has desired to escape the notice of God. "For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed" (John 3:20).

But Job's case is much different. He is not a wrong-doer; he is "blameless and upright" (Job 1:1), and he cannot understand why he is suffering so much. The only conclusion he can reach is that God has decided to subject him to constant scrutiny and to punish him once any fault is exposed (as it inevitably would be with any human being).

No wonder Job wanted God to leave Him alone - or better yet - to allow him to die (Job 6:9).

It is understandable why Job felt such despair. He was grief-stricken and paid-ridden. But he was also fundamentally mistaken about God (and so were his friends, as well-intentioned as they may have been). God is not like some corrupt sheriff who tails us waiting to find one little slip up and then ready to pounce once he does. It is the devil who is always on the look-out for some opportunity to tempt with sin or inflict with pain, as was the case with Job.

Those who are disobedient to God should be alarmed by God's omniscience. But those who love the Lord should take great comfort in God's mindfulness. He knows our sorrows, He feels our grief, and He senses our despair. Knowing that He knows what we are going through is not an imposition on us, but an invitation to us to hand those troubles over to Him. "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you" (1 Peter 5:6-7).