The Outskirts of His Ways (Job 26:14)

The Outskirts of His Ways (Job 26:14)

“Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?” (Job 26:14 ESV)

In the previous verses, the afflicted man, Job, has been recounting some of the wonders of God. I like the one in verse 7: ^“He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing.” But after touching on all these things, Job admits that we still don’t know very much about God. We don’t know Him deeply. “These are but the outskirts of His ways.”

“Outskirts” is not a common word in my experience. NASB translates “outskirts” as “fringes,” and NIV has “outer fringe.” It seems to indicate that we have not penetrated very far into the Being of God. This is not necessarily because we have been negligent, but because He is so great. He is beyond us. God mercifully allows us to know what we can handle, but what we can handle is not all that much.

And yet, this shouldn’t dissuade us from pursuing a knowledge of God. God may make it difficult for us because He, in a complex way, is difficult. But He may also may make it difficult for us so that we will keep at it, as though we can only digest bits of wonderful knowledge about God in very small portions. The diligent will certainly ascertain more than the lazy.

Merriam-Webster indicates that “outskirts” is used outside the Bible primarily of the areas surrounding a city center, such as the suburbs. Someone may ask, “Have you been to Detroit?” A person might say, “Well, I’ve made it as far as Milford.” We can clearly say that even if a person has been to Milford, a village in SE Michigan, they have not been in Detroit, and they will have gained little knowledge of Detroit from their time in Milford. And you could make that same point by naming places even much closer to Detroit, but still not Detroit.

People around us say a lot of rather silly stuff about God, as though they have never been there, not even close. They don’t know Him. They are comfortable describing God as they see fit, probably in a way that is comfortable to themselves, or that suits their attitudes about God. But they don’t know Him, and they certainly don’t know Him well.

Job’s statement though, is a point of humility for all of us. Because none of us really knows Him well. But know Him, we must.