In two celestial encounters, God confronted Satan concerning His servant, Job. God stated that there was “none like him in the earth” (Job 1:8; 2:3). He explained Job’s uniqueness on both occasions by declaring that he was “a perfect and an upright man,” one who fears God and turns away from evil. These statements highlight the exceeding godliness of Job.
These statements, however, do more than just informing us of Job’s spiritual excellence. They teach us truth about our God that is easily overlooked. We all understand that God examines our spiritual state and knows everything about us. What’s interesting about these statements is that they reveal that God not only evaluates all mankind, but that He also makes comparative evaluations about the spiritual state of all mankind. God declared Job’s unique spiritual status: there was “none like him in the earth.”
Scripture does not seem to provide any revelation that bars us from thinking that God does not continue to evaluate all people in the same manner today. We ourselves lack the ability to evaluate rightly who is the godliest person in our day. Perhaps, however, keeping in mind that God apparently does comparatively evaluate us and knows who the godliest living person is would somehow motivate us to excel in our own lives?
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