March 26

Job 42:5‑6
“I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” — Job 42:5, 65I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. 6Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. (Job 42:5‑6).
“YE have heard of the patience of Job,” writes the Apostle James (James 5:1111Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. (James 5:11)), “and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” That “end” was to give to Job such a realization of the greatness, the majesty, the power, and the goodness of God, that it would produce in His servant such a sense of his own nothingness as to bring him to repentance (Job 42:2-62I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. 3Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. 4Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 5I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. 6Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. (Job 42:2‑6)). But it was the repentance of a saint, not of a sinner; for God’s children need to see their own good-for-nothingness as truly as the unregenerate. No matter how careful our walk or how consistent our behavior, we are ever to say with Paul, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:1818For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. (Romans 7:18)). Hence it is that when God would write a book on repentance, He searches the world over, not for the worst, but for the best man He can find, and then He shows how He brought that good man to an end of himself.
“Less, less of self each day
And more, my God, of Thee;
Oh, keep me in Thy way,
However rough it be.
Less of the flesh each day,
Less of the world and sin;
More of Thy love, I pray,
More of Thyself within.
Riper and riper now,
Each hour let me become;
Less fond of things below.
More fit for such a home.
More moulded to Thy will.
Lord, let Thy servant be;
Higher and higher still—
Nearer and nearer Thee.”