Job

Job 12: Wisdom and power belong to God

Begin in prayer

Before we read about powerful rulers, please remember the God who holds our breath. Ask Him to show our family His wisdom and to lead us to trust Jesus, who reigns above every ruler.

Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in the sky. “Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

1 Samuel 2:10

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Help us depend on Your wisdom rather than our own importance. Show us Christ reigning above every human power. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Job answers the friends’ claims to wisdom and refuses to accept that he is inferior to them. He describes the contempt suffered by the unfortunate while robbers prosper. Animals, birds and fish testify that God holds all life and breath. Job locates wisdom, counsel and strength in God. He describes God overturning counselors, judges, kings, priests and elders. Nations rise and fall under His rule, while their leaders can lose understanding and grope in darkness.

As you read Job 12, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God holds every life in His hand and overturns human power by His wisdom.

Job challenges his friends’ claim to speak as though wisdom belongs to them alone. People at ease can despise suffering while robbers continue in apparent security. That contrast exposes the weakness of their simple explanation. Animals and birds point beyond human teachers to the hand that sustains all life. God’s wisdom remains when counselors lose their judgment and rulers lose their strength. His rule reaches both the person deceived and the person deceiving, without making their conduct equally right. Job’s account brings human rank under God’s power, so no title gives a friend complete knowledge of His purposes.

How does Job 12 show us that God holds every life in His hand and overturns human power by His wisdom?

God’s hand holds every living creature.

Job names animals, birds, earth and fish as witnesses to God’s power. Their lives are not independent of His hand. Human breath belongs under the same rule.

Human standing cannot secure wisdom or strength.

Counselors, judges, kings, priests and elders can lose what makes them influential. God can strip their power and unsettle their judgment. Their office does not place them above dependence on Him.

God’s rule reaches whole nations.

Job describes nations growing, falling and being led captive. Even their chiefs can wander without understanding. Great numbers and high rank cannot make human plans untouchable.

Memorise

“With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.

Job 12:13

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, where do I need Jesus to replace my trust in human power?

Job sees powerful people stripped of the wisdom and strength on which others relied. Neither a royal title nor a counselor’s reputation puts its holder beyond God’s hand. That hand also holds the breath of the weakest person.

Ephesians 1 verses 20 to 23 tell us that God raised Jesus and placed Him above every power. The crucified Lord rules for His church. Before that exaltation He bore the sins of His people and the punishment they deserved. His death finished the saving work, with nothing left to pay. He rose from the grave and reigns as their living Savior.

Turn from sin and come to Him in faith. Jesus forgives those who trust His completed sacrifice. The rulers and counselors of this world cannot give the life and safety that His people have in Him.

Parent's note

Tell your children that even the strongest rulers depend on God for their life and power. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for holding every life in His hand, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 1:22-23

Father, thank You for holding all life and power in Your hand. Forgive us for trusting human strength as though it could never fail. Please bring us to faith in the risen Jesus. Teach us to depend on You in our plans this week. In Jesus' name, Amen.