Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. Psalm 62:5-6
“Man is the measure of all things,” said the ancient Greeks, and we’re still living like we believe that today.
When we say that “Man is the measure of all things,” we mean that humans decide what’s true, important, or valuable based on our own perspective. This idea was first whispered to a woman named Eve by a being the Bible calls, Satan, or “the Accuser.” He told Eve that if she disobeyed God, she could be the one who would decide what was right for her (Genesis 3:4-5) and we’ve been doing it ever since.
The friends of a man in the Bible named Job put themselves in God’s place. Job had experienced terrible calamity, and his friends told him: “[This is] because of your wickedness! There’s no limit to your sins” (Job 22:5). They decided that if things were going badly for you, you had sinned. But, if things were going well, God was rewarding you for your goodness. If you read the story in the book of Job, you’ll find out this wasn’t the case at all.
“Our wrong judgments about God,” points out one Bible teacher, “come from our sense of entitlement—from the Accuser himself. We [think we] should be equal with God and we should be able to understand everything He does.”[1]
Job knew he couldn’t understand God, but he could still hope in Him. Job said: “Though [God] slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job 13:15a NIV). Rather than standing in for God, we can encourage ourselves with the words of the Bible’s Psalms that say: “Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken (Psalm 62:5-6). Your hope can be in that same fortress today.
[1] “The Bible Recap with Tara-Leigh Cobble.” Tara-Leigh Cobble, YouVersion, Day 9, 2025, https://youtu.be/rJi9G8wws9U?si=YoGEKUtkKeSn_Sw3.
