{"id":7539,"date":"2023-12-08T00:01:13","date_gmt":"2023-12-08T08:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=7539"},"modified":"2026-06-01T15:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T22:17:09","slug":"job-1323-24-how-many-are-my-iniquities-and-sins-make-me-know-my-transgression-and-my-sin-why-do-you-hide-your-face-and-regard-me-as-your-enemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=7539","title":{"rendered":"Job 13:23\u201324: “How many are my [Job] iniquities and sins? \/ Make me know my transgression and my sin. \/ Why do You hide Your face, \/ And regard me as Your enemy?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Job turned his appeal from his friends, who were not helping him at all, to God. Job knew he was a sinner, but he seemed to want to know the degree and severity of his sin so he could determine if his suffering matched it. This would also enable him to repent of sins he was unaware of, but the heavens were silent. Although surrounded by his friends<\/em>, he felt alone.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> hard, and sometimes it feels as though no one is listening, even when we pray. C.S. Lewis said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”1<\/small><\/sup> It seems when we are filled with happiness or even just busy with the cares of this world, our spiritual hearing is blocked and it’s impossible for us to hear the whispering voice of God. Our heavenly Father is speaking to us but we fail to slow down enough, be still enough, to listen to Him. When we fail to take the time for purposeful listening, because of our overflowing life, His communication process is blocked. In Luke 8:8, Jesus cried, \u201cHe who has ears to hear, let him hear!\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick Goldman, past vice-chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board told of a stewardess who was so frustrated by her passenger’s inattentiveness to her preflight talk that she changed the wording, saying, “When the oxygen mask drops down in front of you, place it over your navel and continue to breathe normally.” Not a single passenger noticed. But God is persistent in His love and concern toward us, crying out to us in our pain, until He finally has our attention.<\/p>\n

“LORD, give us ears to hear You today. We want You to speak, LORD, and we want to be faithful servants who listen.”<\/em><\/p>\n

1<\/sup>C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain<\/em> (1940; repr., San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001), 91.<\/small><\/p>\n\n\n

=============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Job 13 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1<\/sup>\u00a0Lo, mine eye hath seen all\u00a0this\u00a0<\/em>, mine ear hath heard and understood it.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0What ye know,\u00a0the same\u00a0<\/em>do I know also: I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>not inferior unto you.\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0But ye\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>forgers of lies, ye\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>all physicians of no value.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.\u00a07<\/sup>Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye\u00a0so\u00a0<\/em>mock him?\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0Your remembrances\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay. 13<\/sup>\u00a0Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what\u00a0will\u00a0<\/em>.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?\u00a015<\/sup>Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.\u00a0\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0He also\u00a0shall be\u00a0<\/em>my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0Behold now, I have ordered\u00a0my\u00a0<\/em>cause; I know that I shall be justified.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0Who\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>he\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0Only do not two\u00a0things\u00a0<\/em>unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee.\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me. 23<\/sup>\u00a0How many\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.\u00a028<\/sup>\u00a0And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Job turned his appeal from his friends, who were not helping him at all, to God. Job knew he was a sinner, but he seemed to want to know the degree and severity of his sin so he could determine if his suffering matched it. This would also enable him to repent of sins he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7539"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7539"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16448,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7539\/revisions\/16448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}