Job 12

Meditating on the Word of God is not the transcendental endeavour which most people associate with the term ‘meditation’. Joshua 1:8 states, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Meditation is something we ought to do moment by moment; connecting with heaven’s throne wherever we are, whenever we can. The Hebrew word for meditate is ‘Hagah’ which means ‘to utter, to muse, and to mutter’. Bible verses are to be mused over and repeated thoroughly and in prayer, to ourselves, over every situation, until they become a part of our lives.

Job 12

Then Job replied:

²“Doubtless you are the only people who matter,
    and wisdom will die with you!
³But I have a mind as well as you;
    I am not inferior to you.
    Who does not know all these things?

⁴“I have become a laughingstock to my friends,
though I called on God and he answered—
a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!

⁵Those who are at ease have contempt for misfortune
    as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
⁶The tents of marauders are undisturbed,
    and those who provoke God are secure—
    those God has in his hand.

⁷“But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
    or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
⁸or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
    or let the fish in the sea inform you.
⁹Which of all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this?
¹⁰In his hand is the life of every creature
    and the breath of all mankind.
¹¹Does not the ear test words
    as the tongue tastes food?
¹²Is not wisdom found among the aged?
    Does not long life bring understanding?

¹³“To God belong wisdom and power;
counsel and understanding are his.

¹⁴What he tears down cannot be rebuilt;
    those he imprisons cannot be released.
¹⁵If he holds back the waters, there is drought;
    if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.
¹⁶To him belong strength and insight;
    both deceived and deceiver are his.
¹⁷He leads rulers away stripped
    and makes fools of judges.
¹⁸He takes off the shackles put on by kings
    and ties a loincloth around their waist.
¹⁹He leads priests away stripped
    and overthrows officials long established.
²⁰He silences the lips of trusted advisers
    and takes away the discernment of elders.
²¹He pours contempt on nobles
    and disarms the mighty.
²²He reveals the deep things of darkness
    and brings utter darkness into the light.
²³He makes nations great, and destroys them;
    he enlarges nations, and disperses them.
²⁴He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason;
    he makes them wander in a trackless waste.
²⁵They grope in darkness with no light;
    he makes them stagger like drunkards.