Job repented, but of what, some awful sin or a wicked lifestyle? No, for the Scripture testifies that as far as human goodness goes, “that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil.”  Job repented, or changed his attitude about God, about himself, and about salvation. His concept of God had been radically changed from one that he had only heard about, one that tradition and his own mind had created, to that of seeing and knowing the true God, the Almighty God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, the One perfect in holiness and awful in judgment.

Job 1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

Job 42:1 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

Isa 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

Isa 40:28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

Although there is no evidence that Job’s image of God was of any wooden or other man-made idols, he nevertheless had formed an image in his own mind that God was a being, who was at times harsh and unjust toward His creatures. Job believed He was a God who could be reasoned with; that if Job was allowed to confront Him, He could be convinced that Job had done nothing to warrant this trial; and perhaps God Himself would repent. Job’s attitude was like all of ours in the midst of a trial, that we have done nothing terribly wrong, and that it is God who must realize He has made a mistake. One of the first steps to godly repentance is that we quit blaming God for the ills that are in our life, and quit accusing God of being unloving and unfair. God may be the one who brings chastening upon us, but it is the result of our sin, and it is for our good that He does so.

Job 6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.

Job 9:17 For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.
18 He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness.

Job 10:1 My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
3 Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
4 Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?
5 Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days,
6 That thou inquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?
7 Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.
8 Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.

Job 19:6 Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.
7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.
8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.
9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.
11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.
12 His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle

Job 23:1 Then Job answered and said,
2 Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
3 Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
4 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.
6 Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.
7 There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.

Job 27:1 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
2 As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;

Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

The length and severity of Job’s trials have now accomplished their work. Job’s resistance has been broken down, his insistence upon his own righteousness and God’s injustice has proven to be futile. Now he despairs of not only this life, but of eternity also. However, it was not until Job had played out all of his arguments about God and sat silent, that God began to speak—first through Elihu, God’s witness, and then through the whirlwind. It was when God revealed to Job just how awesome He was through the wonders of His creation, how wise, how terrible, and how mighty, that Job came to see the folly of all his arguments and imaginations about God. His own image of God was destroyed. The god he had heard about, the one he had formed in his mind, now was laid prostrate before the True God, the Creator God, and the Just God. Just as the Philistine idol, Dagon, was broken before the Ark of the Covenant, so Job’s god and ours must be broken and lay prostrate at His feet.

Job 31:40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.

Job 32:2 Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God.

Job 38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

Job 40:1 Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
3 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
4 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
5 Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
6 Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

Job 42:1 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

1 Sam 5:1 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Eben-ezer unto Ashdod.
2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
3 And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.
4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.

Job’s vain thoughts about himself and the worthiness of his own human works had changed. He had clung to his integrity and self-righteousness until God stripped it from him. Compared to other men, he was a good man; but compared to God and His standard of holiness, Job, like all of us, fell terribly short. Job had a zeal for God, but not according to truth and knowledge. When he finally saw himself as God saw him, Job said “Behold, I am vile.”  Like the prophet Isaiah said when he saw a vision of the Lord, “I am undone.”

Job 27:4 My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.

Job 27:5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

2 Cor 10:12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Rom 10:1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

Job 40:4 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.

Job 42:3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.

Isa 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

Now that Job had been brought to see his own unworthy condition, he also saw that everything he counted on for salvation and the hope of God’s blessings—his righteousness, his good deeds, his vain sacrifices—were all of no avail. Everything he was going to present to God for his justification, he now saw only as “filthy rags.” Job had been brought to see how futile his struggles were with God, how hopeless he was to win against God, how holy and just God was, and how vile Job himself was. Now he saw his own hope of salvation—his self-righteousness—made worthless; and thus he repented of his dead works to serve the living and true God. He fell prostrate in the dust and ashes of his life, and threw himself on the mercy of God, claiming nothing of his own. “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.”[1]

Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Heb 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Phil 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Job 42:5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

Even if Job could have been considered a true believer, he still needed to repent from his dead works. As children of God, it is not long before the workings of the flesh again find their way into our hearts and lives. We begin to think that there was something in ourselves that caused God to save us; that we had something to offer to God that caused Him to make us one of His own; that we had something to do with our own salvation; and that there is something we have to do, or could do, or should do to please God and earn His blessings. Paul asked the Galatians church this question, “having begun in the spirit, are ye know made perfect by the flesh?” Repentance is a lifelong process for the believer, and not merely something that happens when one is first saved. We must continually be turned from the ways of the flesh to complete trust in what Christ can do for us by faith.

Gal 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

2 Tim 2:24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

Was there anything we brought to God to secure our salvation? No, we did not even come to God, He drew us to Himself when we were “dead in trespasses and sins.” You might as well ask a dead man to rise up and get out of his coffin as to ask a sinner to come to God through Christ. Furthermore, we did not choose Him, He chose us before the foundation of the world. Moreover, it was not the exercising of our faith that saved us, it was the faith He gave us to see Christ. Job’s faith, if it were indeed once genuine, had certainly been corrupted. Job needed to be brought back to the pure truth of God’s mercy and grace toward unworthy sinners.

John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Eph 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Tit 3:3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;

Repentance is a turning, a change of direction, or a change of mind. It can mean, in terms of salvation, a turning from a life of sin and the works of the flesh, to a new life in Christ. When it is concerned with salvation, it is preceded by guilt and sorrow that effects a change. It also means turning from our attempts to please God by what we do; and then to accept Christ’s sacrificial work as our only hope. As Christians, we are always repenting from our old lifestyles, attitudes, feelings, and works, to our life in Christ. In Job’s case he was not repenting from a life of wickedness, but from a life where his integrity, good works, and his place in the community were the idols of his life; and they were more important to him than even God’s glory.

2 Cor7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

Luke 13:3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Gal 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,

1 Thess 1:9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;

1 John 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

So Job repented “in dust and ashes”; and he became dead to his self-life when he said, “I abhor myself.” Dust is the substance to which we all will return. We are made of dust and “unto dust shalt thou return,” proclaimed God. It is the end of the Adamic life, our old man of sin, our flesh. As a child of God, when our old lives have been spiritually crucified, they are buried in the grave, returned to the dust of death. Apart from Christ we have no life—“the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Those things which we once treasured are now empty, worthless, lifeless, and we “do count them but dung” and “loss for Christ.”

Job 42:6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Gal 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

Phil 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

Ashes is what remains of all our human accomplishments, the things we have worked for, acquired, and struggled to maintain—our material wealth, social standing, and worldly accomplishments. Everything that mankind has ever done for its own pleasure and glory, instead of God’s, will be burnt to ashes in God’s final act of purging the earth and universe through fire. Even the moon and the stars, that have been polluted by man visiting them, and sending out probes and other devices, will have to been purified. But out of the ashes of God’s cleansing, redeemed men arise to a new life in Christ. There will be a new creation where God is glorified, and where He rules and reigns in righteousness. Now, as believers, everything must be laid upon God’s altar and let the flames of our trials destroy them, so that which is only truly of Christ remains. All the works that we now do as a child of God must be “of him, and through him, and to him,” or they too will be burned.

2 Pet 2:6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;

Job 15:15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

2Pet 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

2 Pet 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

1 Pet 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

1 Cor 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

The last thing we shall see in Job’s repentance from his dead works and self-life—was that God had brought Job to this end. Job did not choose this course in his life, he enjoyed what he was and what he had too much to willingly give it all up. God initiated his trials to bring him to repentance, and Job, as is our nature to do, protested all the way. God must disrupt our lives, and bring situations into our lives that we cannot endure or find any human solution for, in order to bring us to Himself. Desperation drives us to God. As long as we are content with our life, we will never seek the Lord—either as a sinner in need of salvation, or as a saint that needs to grow. 

Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

Psa 39:7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.
9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.
10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.
11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.
12 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
13 O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

Psa 32:3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

Much can be said of the “patience of Job.” Indeed, for all the suffering He endured, Job showed great restraint throughout his trial. Most of us would hardly have contained our feelings as well as Job. Job truly was “an example of suffering affliction, and of patience” to us all. It might be said that God allows the greatest testing upon His most faithful servants. Because of their inner strength, it takes much more suffering to break them. Job’s steely character withstood the suffering as well as any man could. It was only by the revelation of the Lord through the whirlwind, that Job could finally comprehend all that God was trying to tell him. Then, he entered into repentance, and gave the praise and glory to God. Job found rest when he was brought to see the truth, and he made a heartfelt acceptance of the truth. He came to agree with God even against himself, and his own treasured integrity. Therefore, something is to be said for quietly submitting to God’s chastening. For if we learn to take it patiently as Job, we will be a better testimony to others; but we must also try to see the purpose that God has for our trials, that we might gain the blessing and be delivered from them.

James 5:10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
11 Behold, 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.

Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

2 Tim 2:25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;

Psa 25:9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.