Grasp the Gospel — Bible Comprehension Quizzes

Job 12 Devotional

Every Breath in His Hand

“The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.”Job 12:10 (BSB)

Job answers with sharp sarcasm, suggesting that wisdom must be going to the grave with his friends (12:2). He called on God and was answered, yet now he is a laughingstock, while people at ease look down on those whose feet are slipping (12:4-5). Meanwhile robbers live in peace (12:6).

Yet Job never solves his problem by shrinking God. Ask the animals, the birds, the earth, or the fish, he says, and they all know that it is the LORD who has done this (12:7-9). The life of every creature and the breath of every person is held by God (12:10). Wisdom and strength belong to him (12:13). He humbles counselors, judges, kings, and priests, and he raises up nations and scatters them (12:17-23). Job's struggle is never about whether God rules. It is about why a ruling God allows what he allows. That is a harder question, but it is the honest one. The breath you are drawing right now is held in that same hand.

To think about: How does knowing your breath is in God's hand shape the way you face what is outside your control today?

About Job 12: Job Affirms God's Rule Over All

Job answers his friends with sarcasm, insisting he understands as much as they do and complaining that he, an upright man, is mocked while robbers live in peace. He says all creation knows God's hand is at work, and he describes God's wisdom and power to overturn counselors, kings, priests and nations.

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