Bible Commentaries
Job 22

Verse 21

Job 22:21

I. Is there such a thing among men as peace, a deep and true peace, without any acquaintance with God? (1) Suppose the case of one possessing high intelligence allied with all the ordinary virtues of human life, but who lacks entirely any personal faith in God as a Person. If you ask if his nature is at peace, he answers, Yes; I have no fear, no trouble, except that which comes by ignorance or inattention to law. Life is not long; I shall soon be in the dust, and that will be the end of me. I am at peace. The peace of such a man may be calmness, indifference; but cannot be the same thing as comes into a soul and flows through it and down into its far depths as the result of acquaintance with God. (2) Imperfect and partial knowledge of God is practically more disturbing and alarming than complete scepticism. Once allow His existence, and it is impossible ever to put that existence anywhere but in the primary place. Those who are imperfectly acquainted with God look at some of His attributes separately, but never at the centre and essence of the character where all the attributes meet.

II. The words of the text, "Acquaint thyself with God," literally mean, "Dwell with God," dwell with Him as in the same tent or home. To come to God in Christ is to come home.

III. "Thereby good shall come unto thee," good of every kind, and especially of the best kind. No man is good who avoids the society of God. Every man is good who seeks it and enjoys it. This is the supreme criterion of goodness, and the pledge that all goodness, in abundance and variety, will come. The "good" that comes is nothing less than all the benefits and blessings of the Gospel.

A. Raleigh, The Way to the City, p. 229:

References: Job 22:21 . H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2063; J. Natt, Posthumous Sermons, p. 184; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 129; Old Testament Outlines, p. 97; C. Girdlestone, A Course of Sermons for the Year, vol. ii., p. 69. Job 22:26 . G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 277. Job 22:29 . Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiii., No. 731.Job 22:0 S. Cox, Expositor, 1st series, vol. viii., p. 81; Ibid., Commentary on Job, p. 294. Job 22-28 A, W. Momerie, Defects of Modern Christianity, p. 128. Job 23:1-6 . W. Jay, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 157.