“I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food,” Job 23:12
Eliphaz had exhorted Job in 22:22, Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. Eliphaz believed Job to be a rejecter of God's word and therefore addressed him so. Job is responding by indicating just how he valued God's word. Far from being unacquainted with the Lord he had diligently held to His commandments because he esteemed them more than his necessary food.
Job's statement is a model for every Christian to look up to. The secret of Job's patience is to be found in these words.
Consider:—
I. THE HIGH ESTEEM IN WHICH JOB HELD GOD'S WORD
The word esteemed means to hide as one would hide a treasure. He was like Gideon who hid his food from the Midianites, Judges 6:11, like David, Psalm 119:11.
1. The authority that he considered it to have. He calls it the commandment of His lips and the words of His mouth. Job was in communion with God. He heard God's lips speak and His mouth utter words. Do you hear God's voice when you read the Bible?
2. The necessity he considered it to be. More than my necessary food. We could all live without the dainties and desserts of life but not our necessary food. Job counted God's word even more important than the food of life. Few would miss a meal to hear God's word. Job would have.
3. The nourishment he considered it to be. It was the food of his soul and heart. He lived upon God's word. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God, Luke 4:4. The nourishment provided by food lasts a very short time but not so the bread of God. It imparts eternal life. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world, John 6:51.
II. THE PRACTICAL RESULTS OF THIS ESTEEM FOR GOD'S WORD.
“My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. Such a regard for God's showed itself not just in words of praise and honour but in obedience to its commands.”
1. See how carefully he obeyed God's word. With deliberate care he placed his feet in the footsteps of God. This is what it means to follow Jesus. — Soldiers going through a minefield are careful to place their feet exactly in the prints of the one who has successfully gone before.
2. See how resolutely he obeyed God’s word. He held to God's steps. The word hold speaks of the grip of a trap or snare upon an animal. Job was not going to let go.
3. See how consistently he obeyed God's word. Not declined — not gone back. He did not move away from God's word. The word for not declined is the same translated pitched in Gen 12:8.And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent. Where is your tent pitched??
III. THE SOLEMN OBLIGATION THIS PLACES US UNDER
1. Job had no written revelation from God. He had that which was communicated directly to him by the Holy Spirit.
We have the full revelation of God's truth and that in a form that is easily consulted and committed to memory.
2. To us is revealed all the eternal counsels of God as set forth in the glorious covenant of grace. Therein are revealed all the glorious of God's redeeming love and the wonders of the salvation purchased for us by the blood of Christ.
3. Do we, who have much more to treasure, match Job's zeal and dedication? What sort of appetite have we for God's word? Does a novel, a newspaper, the TV come before God's word. If so we have strayed from God's path and are backslidden at least in heart. Let us lay hold on God's word afresh and let its truths lay hold upon our hearts and cause us to walk in holiness.