Whom are you trusting today? Politicians strut about, making all sorts of promises, but Job reminds us that God “pours contempt on nobles and loosens the belt of the strong” (12:21). Professors and scientists try to impress us with their research, but God “deprives the trusted ones of speech and takes away the discernment of the elders” (12:20). We look to the courts to settle many of our problems, but God “makes fools of judges” (12:17).

For years, we Americans have been looking to all kinds of experts to manage our society and solve our problems. But are we really satisfied with their solutions? Do we have the happiness and the prosperity and the safety they have promised us? In spite of our technological advances, how healthy is our culture?

In contrast, Job calls all these experts’ qualifications into question. Instead, he insists that God is the only One Who has true “wisdom and might,” true “counsel and understanding” (12:13). But at the same time, he confesses over and over again that he doesn’t understand why God is letting him suffer. He continues to look to God, even though God has allowed everything he has held dear to be taken away from him.

“Though he slay me, I will hope in him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him (13:15).” That’s Job’s position: he won’t stop trusting in God, but at the same time, he won’t stop trying to understand God’s ways. He keeps on praying for answers, and he keeps on pleading for justice, but he refuses to look to anyone or anything else to satisfy him.

And that’s what faith really is. It’s not about having all the answers – it’s about holding on to the One Who does, even when He doesn’t tell us what we want to know. Do we have that kind of faith?

Job 12:13-25 (NASB)

13 “With Him are wisdom and might; To Him belong counsel and understanding.
14 “Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt; He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
15 “Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up; And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth.
16 “With Him are strength and sound wisdom, The misled and the misleader belong to Him.
17 “He makes counselors walk barefoot, And makes fools of judges.
18 “He loosens the bond of kings, And binds their loins with a girdle.
19 “He makes priests walk barefoot, And overthrows the secure ones.
20 “He deprives the trusted ones of speech, And takes away the discernment of the elders.
21 “He pours contempt on nobles, And loosens the belt of the strong.
22 “He reveals mysteries from the darkness, And brings the deep darkness into light.
23 “He makes the nations great, then destroys them; He enlarges the nations, then leads them away.
24 “He deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth’s people, And makes them wander in a pathless waste.
25 “They grope in darkness with no light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.