Who Has Hardened Himself Against Him (God Almighty) and Prospered?

Job 9:4

"He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?"

Here is a wonderful description of God; He is wise in heart, He is in fact wisdom personified. We find a resume of wisdom in the Proverbs, especially in chapter one, eight and nine. He also is mighty in strength, His chief power is exercised through His word (Hebrews tells us with it He created the worlds and with it He destroys His enemies, Revelations reveals a sharp two edged sword proceeds from His mouth to destroy His enemies). And so this really is a wonderful description of God who is wise in heart and His mouth speaks from that wise heart (for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks; if the heart is full of wisdom then the lips are wise). We should add at this point other aspects to His nature that govern Him, if there is a being who is all knowing and all powerful then you certainly want Him to possess other qualities that would make Him temperate in the use of that wisdom and power.

God has those qualities and we see them identified for us in Exo 34:5-8 KJV "5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. 8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped." The mythical gods of antiquity possess wisdom and power but they are not temperate; they lack qualities such as mercy, graciousness, longsuffering, goodness, truth and above all the ability to forgive iniquity. These are very aspects of The Lord God's nature, He is more than wonderful and we are very fortunate to have Him as our God.

Who opposes Him and prospers? No one can stand toe to toe with God, although many make their boast while here on earth (It is just like a boaster to speak great words when they feel they are a safe distance from danger) but when they stand before the Almighty they will shake and quiver like a leaf before a fierce storm. No one can oppose Him and prosper; Psalm 2 says He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh at them; the Lord will have them in derision. There is another way men oppose Him and that is by living contrary to His commandments. Deuteronomy 28 governs the whole of life; if one keeps His commands then they prosper but if they turn their back on Him and walk contrary to His ways then they are cursed. We should seek Him diligently and walk fearfully before Him because none can oppose Him and prosper.