Job 12:17 (KJV)
He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools.
Judgment is necessary. There are times when someone must examine the facts, determine what is right, and make a decision. We need judges who are fair enough to hear the whole matter and stern enough to act when wrongdoing has been established.
But judges are still men.
That is one of the great ironies of human judgment. We need judgment because men are fallible, yet every earthly judge is himself fallible. He can misunderstand the evidence, believe the wrong person, overlook an important fact, or reach a conclusion before everything is known.
Job's "friends" demonstrate that danger.
They looked at Job's circumstances and thought they understood what had happened. Job was suffering terribly. They knew that God is righteous. They knew that sin has consequences. From those truths, they formed a conclusion: Job must have committed some terrible sin.
Their theology contained truth. Their conclusion did not.
What they could not see was what had happened in Heaven before Job's suffering began. They were judging a situation while missing some of the most important evidence.
We often do the same thing.
We see a troubled marriage and think we know who caused it. We see someone struggling financially and assume we know why. We watch a person leave a church and decide which side was wrong. We hear one account of a disagreement and form an opinion about someone we have never even spoken with.
Sometimes our conclusions may be correct.
But sometimes God "maketh the judges fools."
That ought to make us cautious about passing judgment concerning circumstances we do not fully understand. It does not mean refusing to call sin what God calls sin. Scripture gives us clear judgments concerning right and wrong. But judging an action plainly condemned in Scripture is different from assuming we know the motives, history, circumstances, and hidden facts surrounding another person's life.
Job's friends knew enough to have an opinion.
They did not know enough to pronounce a verdict.
There will be occasions when we must make judgments. When we do, we should seek truth, listen carefully, and act courageously.
But we should never forget that God knows the part of the story we do not.
#DailyVisitWithGod #Job12v17 #BiblicalWisdom #JudgeRighteously #GodKnowsTheWholeStory
The Dangerous Sin of Judging Too Soon: See Less, Judge Less
Have you ever discovered you were wrong because you didn't know the whole story? Share your experience in the comments—I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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