When I think of the life of Job, my usual thoughts are along the lines of His faithfulness to God before all the bad things happened, or the horrible tragedies that struck him through the actions of Satan. But what I don't often remember is the reaction he had upon seeing God. In fact, I often forget that he saw God. But we learn in chapter 42 of his account that Job actually saw God, or at least some form of God. His reaction is instructive. Prior to seeing God and hearing His voice, Job had been challenging God to give an account of what had happened to him. Job's attitude had been that he had lived a righteous life (which in comparison to most of us today would be true), and therefore God had no right to cause the many tragedies that fell upon Job.
But in Job 42:5,6 Job states... "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore, I despise myself and repent is dust and ashes." Job went from self-righteousness and pride to despising himself... all after encountering God.
I think it's safe to say that would be the response of all of us if we were to have an encounter with God. Deep within all of us is a level of self-righteousness and pride that allows us to go forward in our lives and do what we do. But should we have an encounter with God, we would see true holiness and righteousness, and the depth of our sin would be exposed. We would have no choice but to despise ourselves in comparison.
While we can't orchestrate a face to face encounter with God, we can still encounter Him through His word. I have to admit that the result of a solid time within the Scripture is always a level of humbleness, that while temporary, adjusts my view upward rather than inward.
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