JOB 42:1-6 – Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
Who do we talk to the most in a day? Who do we spend the most time with? The answer to both questions is the person we greet in the mirror each morning. But the next question is, “Do we really know ourselves?” This is a very important issue because the answer determines a lot about our theology, concept of God, and the living out of the Christian life.
How would a person get to know themselves? Well, the first and primary way might surprise us a little. In one of the most important books ever penned, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, by John Calvin, book one, chapter one is titled The Knowledge of God. Now before we read this, don’t give up because of the language. It is worth the labor to understand as the “mining of this gold” will be so helpful in our walks with the Lord. Calvin wrote, “It is plain that no man can arrive at the true knowledge of himself, without having first contemplated the divine character, and then descended to the consideration of his own. For such is the native pride of us all, we invariably esteem ourselves righteous, innocent, wise, and holy, till we are convinced, by clear proofs of our unrighteousness, turpitude, folly, and Impurity. But we are never thus convinced, while we confine our attention to ourselves, and regard not the Lord, who is the only standard by which this judgment ought to be formed. Because, from our natural proneness to hypocrisy, any vain appearance of righteousness abundantly contents us instead of the reality; and every thing within and around us being exceedingly defiled, we are delighted with what is least so, as extremely pure, while we confine our reflections within the limits of human corruption. So the eye, accustomed to see nothing but black, judges that to be very white, which is but whitish, or perhaps brown. Indeed, the senses of our bodies may assist us in discovering how grossly we err in estimating the powers of the soul. But, though the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves be intimately connected, the proper order of instruction requires us first to treat of the former, and then, to proceed to the discussion of the latter.”
The great reformer is basically telling us, “Strive to know God if we want a proper understanding of ourselves.” Nothing is ever achieved by starting with self. That is where sin takes us – a cloudy view of everything including ourselves.
A second way to get to know oneself is through prayer. David offers such a prayer to model in the one hundred thirty-ninth Psalm. He petitions the Lord – Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! (Psalm 139:23). This self-awareness wasn’t for God but David. Spend time reading this Psalm and Psalm 51. Those are good places to get to know yourself as we are exposed to God as He really is.
PRAYER: “Lord, teach me to see myself through Your eyes and not my flawed reasoning of myself.”
QUOTE: “To rightly see ourselves and life, it begins not with us, but with God.”