Neville Goddard on Job 23:8-12 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Job 23 in context

Scripture Focus

8Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:

9On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:

10But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

11My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.

12Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

Job 23:8-12

Biblical Context

Job senses God is unseen as he moves forward; yet he trusts that God knows the way he takes and that his faithful endurance will refine him.

Neville's Inner Vision

Your image of God as a distant carpenter cannot outlive the fact that God is the I AM within you. The forward, the backward, the left, the right—these are not journeys to an external deity but movements of your own consciousness. When Job says He hideth Himself, he does not announce a castrated God, but a hidden state of awareness that you must claim. The promise, 'when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold,' is your invitation to be tried by belief and to let your attention burn away the dross of doubt. The 'way that I take' is the pathway of disciplined thought; 'My foot hath held His steps' means you keep to the pattern of truth your inner lips have uttered. The commandment of His lips over food is your inner law: you feed on the word that guides your feeling and choice. So make this turn: you are not seeking God outside, you are aligning with the I AM within, and through trials you are being refined into gold by the warmth of consciousness.

Practice This Now

Imaginative_act: Close your eyes, assume the state, 'I AM guiding this path,' and feel it-real as you walk forward; revise any sense of absence by affirming the inner law that directs every step.