Job’s friend Zophar thinks he knows a lot about the limitations of Job’s knowledge:
Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
Job 11:7-8
It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?
A scathing rhetorical question: “What canst thou know?” Surely Job could know something! But Zophar is convinced that even if Job searched, he would be unable to “find out God.”
In contrast, Zophar is quite comfortable speaking on God’s behalf. “God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth,” he avers, for example (Job 11:6).
Setting aside that apparent contradiction, Zophar clearly wants Job to know that God is unknowable.
The Book of Mormon prophet Jacob teaches the same principle, but with an important addition. “How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of [the Lord],” he marvels; “and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways.” Sounds a lot like Zophar, but then Jacob adds, “And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God” (Jacob 4:8).
Revelation is the key. It is impossible for humans to know God’s ways unless God chooses to reveal them. Zophar cites this principle to induce humility; Jacob cites it to inspire gratitude. And Jacob’s version allows him to reasonably speak on God’s behalf, as long as he has “obtained [his] errand from the Lord” (Jacob 1:17).
Subsequent Book of Mormon prophets testify that God reveals truths to those who seek Him, even as they acknowledge that we can’t fully understand Him. Alma, for example, acknowledges to his son Corianton, “There are many mysteries which are kept, that no one knoweth them save God himself.” But, he adds, “I show unto you one thing which I have inquired diligently of God that I might know … and this is the thing of which I do know” (Alma 40:3, 9). Alma agrees with Zophar that you can’t know everything about God, but he still recognizes the importance of searching diligently to know something about Him!
Near the beginning of Zophar’s words, he expresses a wish for this kind of revelation: “Oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee” (Job 11:5). God does finally speak, but He opens His lips against Zophar and Job’s other friends. “My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends,” the Lord tells Eliphaz, “for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath” (Job 42:7).
Jacob assured his people that the Spirit “speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be” (Jacob 4:13). It’s true that we can’t understand spiritual truths without divine help. But that divine help is readily available if we will seek for it.
Today I will seek for the miraculous gift of personal revelation. I will remember, as Zophar testified, that I am incapable of fully understanding God, but I will be grateful that God is willing to reveal truths to me.
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