58. I Shall Come Forth As Gold (2)
Hymns: RHC 324 Trusting Jesus, 325 A Shelter in the Time of Storm, 327 All Things Work for Good
Job 23:1-17
1 Then Job answered and said, 2Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning. 3Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! 4I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. 5I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me. 6Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me. 7There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge. 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. 13But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. 14For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him. 15Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him. 16For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me: 17Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face. (Job 23:1-17 KJV)
I Shall Come Forth as Gold (2)
OUTLINE
(1)Acknowledging his affliction – Suffering (v1-2)
(2) Presenting his case to God – Supplication (v2-9)
(3) Purpose of affliction is purification – Sancifcation (v10)
(4) His good testimony affirmed – Steadfastness (v11-12)
(5) Acknowledging God’s sovereignty – Submission (v13-17)
INTRODUCTION
It was just because Job was righteous and reverent that God allow Job’s affliction to prove to Satan, all angels, all men once and for all that the trial and afflictions tells us that outward circumstances are not infallible clues to a man’s genuine relationship to God.
Otherwise, the most wicked man in the world will be our Lord Jesus, having been crucified and hated. The Apostle Paul too would be considered most wicked man in the world, having been shipwrecked and stoned?
Elihaz will make his last and final speech at the beginning of the third cycle, most vehement to destroy the testimony of Job. How does Job respond?
When we are unable to find answer to our afflictions, we turn to God in prayer – James 1:2-8 “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
23:10 He knows His way with me, when He has tried me I shall come forth as gold. Job is getting the picture now of the purpose of his affliction, refining him, purifying him like in a furnace, he realizes that he’s going to come out his affliction like gold.
Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” As Apostle Paul by his affliction, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
God will bring justice! Trust Him although we cannot understand.
(1) Suffering – Acknowledging His Afflictions (v1-2)
1 Then Job answered and said, 2Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
He acknowledges that his suffering is indeed very heavy for him. He felt the full weight of his trial.
Job is confident that he has wrong done him by his friends, and therefore, ill as he is, he will not give up the cause, nor let them have the last word. He justifies his own resentments of his trouble (v2): Even to day,I own, my complaint is bitter;for the affliction, the cause of the complaint, is so. There are wormwood and gall in the affliction and misery; my soul has them still in remembranceand is embittered by them. Even to day is my complaintcounted rebellion(so some read it); his friends construed the innocent expressions of his grief into reflections upon God and his providence, and called them rebellion.“But,” says he, “I do not complain more than there is cause; for my stroke is heavier than my groaning.Even today, after all you have said to convince and comfort me, still the pains of my body and the wounds of my spirit are such that I have reason enough for my complaints, if they were more bitter than they are.” We wrong God if our groaning be heavier than our stroke, like froward children, who, when they cry for nothing, have justly something given them to cry for; but we do not wrong ourselves though our stroke be heavier than our groaning, for little said is soon amended. [Matthew Henry]
(2) Supplication – Presenting his case to God (v2-9)
2Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning. 3Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! 4I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. 5I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me. 6Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.
Job though unable to locate the presence of God, he nevertheless trusts Him. Picture a courtroom scene, and God on His throne. Job sought to bring all his sufferings and pain to God so that he can unburden himself before Him.
Only Jesus, Only Jesus
Only He can satisfy
All my burdens are turned to blessings
When I know my Lord is nigh
I know the LORD will make a way for me (3x)
If I look to Him in prayer
Darkest night will turn to day
I know the LORD will make a way for me
Psalm 62:7-8 In God ismy salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, andmy refuge, isin God. Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God isa refuge for us. Selah.
7There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge. 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:
He acknowledges that God will not contend with His people. Although he struggles to make sense of his sufferings. Though he cannot understand God’s plan yet He trust in Him.
(3) Sancifcation – Purpose of affliction is purification (v10)
10But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
He trusts in God’s leading in his life and God makes no mistakes. As Peter puts it 1 Peter 1:6-8 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 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: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see himnot, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
Rejoice in the Lord by Ron Hamilton
God never moves without purpose or plan.
When trying His servant and molding a man.
Give thanks to the LORD, though your testing seems long.
In darkness, He giveth a song.
O REJOICE IN THE LORD!
He makes no mistake.
He knoweth the end of each path that I take!
For when I am tried and purified,
I shall come forth as gold.
I could not see through the shadows ahead,
So I looked at the cross of my Saviour instead.
I bowed to the will of the Master that day,
Then peace came, and tears fled away!
Now I can see testing comes from above,
God strengthens His children, and purges in love.
My Father knows best, and I trust in His care;
Through purging, more fruit I will bear.
(4) Steadfastness – His good testimony affirmed (v11-12)
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.
Psalm 119:105-112 NUN. Thy word isa lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments. I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word. Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me thy judgments. My soul iscontinually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law. The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts. Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they arethe rejoicing of my heart. I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even untothe end.
God’s Word gives to him joy (v111b) in the midst of afflictions (v107). God’s Word is like a lamp (v105) that shows to him the way to go so that he can tread safely through the pitfalls of life (v110).
He described how he was “afflicted very much” and how God’s Word rejoices his heart. God’s Word was his indispensible companion and it is what he will pass down to his posterity forever (v111a). Indeed, God’s Word has the supernatural power to calm every troubled soul, rejoice every arching heart. Have you experienced its power?
It is his resolve to follow the LORD to the end (v112).
Moses left to Joshua God’s Word and a deep conviction in Joshua’s heart the benefit of God’s Word – Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Joshua lived a fruitful life in obedience to God’s Word.
This is the testimony of a Christian walking the narrow way of the affliction of job loss for the past 7 years for your encouragement. It is entitled Trials of a Jobless Christian written on 18 June 2011.
“My career has always been smooth sailing and stable for the past 20 years. However, in the year 2004, it became uncertain and I had no idea that this is the beginning of a long and difficult trial that even my faith would be shaken. As the trial dragged on, more and more unanswered questions and doubts started to claim their space in my mind. It’s unbelievable. Let me share my testimony on how God helped, led and guided me through these difficult times that some may be comforted also.
II Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed {be} God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”
What does the Word of God says about the future of life on this earth?
Revelation 13:17 “And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
This verse warns us that at some point in the future those who do not follow the beast will have a very hard time. How many can endure and keep the faith to the end? What must we do or rather what can we do? I believe Jesus would have come when the Anti-Christ arises but the time leading to the rising of the Anti-Christ could possibly consist of a series of crisis that make sovereign nations surrender their power to the Anti-Christ. Economic crisis is the pre-eminent technique of the evil one.
When I am jobless and the future is very uncertain, my faith is tested. There is a very strong temptation to do “whatever necessary” just to survive. It is very easy to fall and make a little compromise here and there; just to survive. Some say; “even if you don’t need to eat, your children will also need to eat” or “you have to be practical”. What can I do that I will not need to compromise to survive? I asked. What will happen if there is nothing else that I could do? I wondered. I turned to the Word of God and focused on dealing with the daily evil instead.
Matthew 6:34 “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of it- self. Sufficient unto the day {is} the evil thereof.”
It is the Word of God keeps me going and kept me in the faith. I believe that God will help and guide me in all situations. The key is to have faith in God.
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Psalm 34:19 “Many {are} the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.”
Psalm 55:22 “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”
In 2004, I lost my job of ten years. I was lost for a while but very quickly I joined a real estate agency and qualified as a real estate agent. I gave it my best, but very soon I found that honesty and integrity do not sell (at least true for me). They trained me on sales technique and closing strategy. Example of a case study: Buyer asked “Does anyone else intend to buy this property at this price? Agent answered “Yes, many have shown interest”. Actually, some enquired but no one is interested because the property selling price is too high. The deal is closed because buyer thought someone else is interested to buy!
Matthew 5:37 “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”
Nay, I won’t follow them in telling lies and misleading words. I will be a very “good agent”. So I worked very hard, but not many deals were closed. I worked harder and harder until I fell ill and was bed ridden with fever. When I got better, I continued to push on but in no time desperation started to set in. All I got was a lot of request for extra services, which I willingly provide, but with no return. It didn’t work; I couldn’t afford to go on. Why did God not bless me? Proverbs 3:5-6 kept me going.
Then one day, while I was sitting alone in my living room, too many questions with no answers went through my mind for some time now. There were too many commitments that I could not fulfill. The basic equation for income-expense or livelihood itself was upside down and I could no longer control my emotion. My emotion took control over my mind. I knew I was going into depression. This was the first time I had experienced what it was like to lose one’s mind. So the next time you heard someone saying “I think I am losing my mind” please take it seriously. It is a very disturbing experience and you can actually feel that you are sinking deeper and deeper. I tried hard but just could not manage to pull myself “out”. I realized finally that I had no way out! This thought quickened the uncontrollable decent into “depression”. I did not know what to do. Why was this happening? How could this happen? This should not happen because I know that I am going into depression. It was logical to me that the only people who could go into depression were those that did not know that they were in depression! Great, now I am sinking and I can’t do anything about it.
Then I started praying to God. After I prayed, my second son, about 5 years old, walked out of his bedroom towards me singing (with well coordinated hands movement) the song that he learnt from the Church:
“My God is so big, so strong and so mighty that’s nothing my God cannot do.”
Then as quickly as he comes, he does an about turn and walk straight back into his room. Silence once again filled the living room. I sat there speechless and motionless for a while. I smiled; God can just use a 5 years old with a simple song to deliver me from my hopeless situation. How great is my God!
1Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
I was getting out of the depression as quickly as I had fallen into it, and that was a fact. God had delivered me again! Thanks to God.
The equation is still upside down, but it did not bother me so much now. One day, my friend happened to break his hand phone latch, and he happened to be near one of the many shops that I worked, and it happened that this is the only shop that was still in operation out of the total seven shops (six other shops had ceased operation), and it happens that he found out I was not working there now, and it happened that his company is looking for a person with my experience. To make a long story short, I joined his company and worked there two and a half years. God had delivered me again! Thanks to God.
1 Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God {is} faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear {it}.”
The equation is the right side up now, but the trial did not stop here. The stress from the job was serious but I pressed on. Continuous stress over a long period of time finally affected me seriously. Blisters started appearing on both my hands and my feet. I went to the doctor and he could only say that I was allergic to some chemicals in my work place. I am working in a clean office with good air conditioning.
God was merciful to heal all the blisters on my hands and feet in answer to prayer. I was led to resign from my job. Now I wait upon the Lord.
Isaiah 40:31 “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew {their} strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; {and} they shall walk, and not faint”
Psalm 27:14 “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”
In 2006, a friend called and I joined his company. The job is good and pay is good. God had delivered me again! Thanks to God.
I thought that the trial has ended, but not so. I worked in this new company for about eight months then I had to resign as the company was not doing well. God just given me an eight months break from my trial.
Little did I know that after the break the breaking-point came! This time I couldn’t find a job. I keep looking and looking but no job. I had been looking for a job actively for eight months but with no success.
I prayed for God’s help and direction for me. At that point, my faith is still strong and I kept on praying and looking for job until one day another friend from USA called me. He called because he came across an email that I sent to him more than one year ago in his junk mail folder. We chatted for a while and he came to know that I was not working. He said that it is fate that he accidentally found me in his junk mailbox because he happened to be looking for someone of my experience to help fill a crucial position in his friend’s company. After much thought and prayer, I joined the company.
Here is where God gave me a unique experience that was both comprehensive and value packed. Thank God for this learning experience.
In July 2008 I had to resign from this company again without finding another job. It was not an easy decision but it was the right thing to do.
Some advices that I received included the followings:
1. You are showing a bad example to your kids
2. You need to walk the tight rope once then it will be ok, so you shouldn’t quit.
3. You are betraying your friends and colleagues.
4. You are well qualified for the job but you just don’t want to do it.
5. Who will be providing for the family?
6. Why don’t you find another job first then quit?
7. What type of Christian are you?
8. Every job is the same nowadays. If you cannot do this job you cannot do any other also.
Why then did I resign? I could not take it anymore; it was beyond me. It was seriously affecting my health. and it made me compromise and sin more and more. You cannot expect people to believe this, can you? I do not believe it myself. How can it be that I have problems with every job? Most probably the problem lies in me and not the job.
(5) Acknowledging God’s sovereignty – Submission (v13-17)
13But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. 14For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him. 15Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him. 16For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me: 17Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.
Job saw that God is sovereign in all His decisions. He need not consult with Job but by His sovereign grace allowed Job to undergo this great trial of faith. Job realized how he is to bear with it because he cannot help it – who can turn from him?
Matthew Herny said well, “He lays down good truths, and truths which were capable of a good improvement (v13-14). That God’s counsels are immutable: He is in one mind, and who can turn him? He has no counsellors by whose interest He might be prevailed with to alter His purpose: He has no counsellors by whose interest He might be prevailed with to alter his purpose: he is one with himself, and never alters his mind, never alters his measures.
Prayer has prevailed to change God’s way and His providence, but never was His will or purpose changed; for known unto God are all his works.That His power is irresistible.
What His soul desiresor designs even that He does,and nothing can stand in his way or put Him upon new counsels. Men desire many things which they may not do, or cannot do, or dare not do.
But God has an incontestable sovereignty; His will is so perfectly pure and right that it is highly fit he should pursue all its determinations. And he has an uncontrollable power.
None can stay his hand. Whatever the Lord pleased that did he(Psalm 135:6), and always will, for it is always best.
That all he does is according to the counsel of his will (v14): He performs the thing that is appointed for me.Whatever happens to us, it is God that performs it (Psalm 57:2), and an admirable performance the whole will appear to be when the mystery of God shall be finished. He performs all that, and that only, which was appointed, and in the appointed time and method.
This may silence us, for what is appointed cannot be altered. But to consider that, when God was appointing us to eternal life and glory as our end, He was appointing to this condition, this affliction, whatever it is, in our way, this may do more than silence us, it may satisfy us that it is all for the best; though what He does we know not now, yet we shall know hereafter.
That all he does is according to the custom of His providence: Many such things are with him,that is, He does many things in the course of his providence which we can give no account of, but must resolve into his absolute sovereignty.
Whatever trouble we are in others have been in the like. Our case is not singular; the same afflictions are accomplished in our brethren(1 Peter 5:9). Are we sick or sore, impoverished and stripped? Are our children removed by death or our friends unkind? This is what God has appointed for us, and many such things are with him. Shall the earth be forsaken for us?
He makes but a bad use of these good truths. Had he duly considered them, he might have said, “Therefore am I easy and pleased, and well reconciled to the way of my God concerning me; therefore will I rejoice in hope that my troubles will issue well at last.” But he said, Therefore am I troubled at his presence (v15). Those are indeed of troubled spirits who are troubled at the presence of God, as the psalmist, who remembered God and was troubled (Psalm 77:3). See what confusion poor Job was now in, for he contradicted himself: just now he was troubled for God’s absence (v8-9); now he is troubled at his presence.
When I consider, I am afraid of him.What he now felt made him fear worse. There is indeed that which, if we consider it, will show that we have cause to be afraid of God–his infinite justice and purity, compared with our own sinfulness and vileness; but if, withal, we consider his grace in a Redeemer, and our compliance with that grace, our fears will vanish and we shall see cause to hope in him. See what impressions were made upon him by the wounds of his spirit.
He was very fearful (v16): The Almighty troubled him,and so made his heart soft,that is, utterly unable to bear any thing, and afraid of every thing that stirred. There is a gracious softness, like that of Josiah, whose heart was tender, and trembled at the word of God; but this is meant of a grievous softness which apprehends every thing that is present to be pressing and every thing future to be threatening.
He was very fretful, peevish indeed, for he quarrels with God because he did not die before his troubles, that he might never have seen them (Because I was not cut off before the darkness (v17), and yet if, in the height of his prosperity, he had received a summons to the grave, he would have thought it hard. This may help to reconcile us to death, whenever it comes, that we do not know what evil we may be taken away from. But when trouble comes it is folly to wish we had not lived to see it and it is better to make the best of it.
Because he was left to live so long in his troubles, and the darkness was not covered from his face by his being hidden in the grave. We should bear the darkness better than thus if we would but remember that to the upright there sometimes arises a marvellous light in the darkness; however, there is reserved for them a more marvellous light after it.”