"My eye will never again see good." Job 7:7
How easy it is for finite, imperfect creatures to focus only on outward circumstances and reach faulty conclusions? Job spoke these words after losing livestock, children, and his health. He sat on an ash heap using a broken piece of pottery to scrape his sores. He had stated that he loathed the day of his birth. All he could see told him life was over. All seemed to be downhill at "break-neck" speed.
Remember, Job had no idea of events beyond his ability to see. He had no written revelation. We can read Job 1-2 and ask why Job was so downcast, but when we do, we mistakenly forget that he was not as privileged as we to possess a copy of Scripture. We are looking back on his plight, but all he knew at the time was what he saw and experienced.
As we stop considering Job and ponder our own lives, how often do we do this very thing Job did? We face trials and difficulties, and begin to reason why such difficulties oppose us. We fix our eyes only what is seen much of the time. We, as Job, sink down in depression, self-pity, and reach faulty conclusions because we reason from the finite, limited, fallen perspective we possess inherently.
Beloved that is when we must turn to Scripture and renew our minds to what God has revealed in His written word. He has given us glorious truth concerning His attributes and His purposes. He has given us great and precious promises, as well as His Spirit to indwell us. He has blessed us beyond measure!
In spite of trials, difficulties, adversities, calamities, and any other trying circumstances, we must never reach the conclusion Job reached. Remember, he was completely wrong! We can turn to the end of this book and see the restored earthly blessings of God's to him.
I read the following words this morning from Stephen Charnock in his classic work, The Existence and Attributes of God.
"God, for the most part, takes opportunities to deliver, when his almightiness may be most conspicuous, and his counsels most admirable. He awakened himself not to deliver Israel, till they were on the brink of the Red Sea; nor to rescue the three children, till they were in the fiery furnace; nor Daniel, till he was in the lion's den. It is in the weakness of his creatures that his strength is perfected, not in a way of addition of perfectness to it, but in a way of manifestation of the perfection of it." (Loc. 15308 on Kindle)
Charnock states that God acts in ways and times when His glory will be seen most clearly. He allows us to be on the brink of disaster, in the midst of the fire or danger, or other times where hope seems impossible. That is when His deliverance is most clearly seen and His glory exhibited. He does not do this because His strength or power is lacking, but He designs it thus so that His glory and strength will be manifested most clearly.
God has never and will never abandon those He has redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus. He is working all things together for our good and His glory whether we see it, understand it, or realize it. The question is, "Do we trust Him, His goodness, wisdom, power, and promises?"
May God grant us the grace to say as the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, "We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."
soli Deo gloria
How easy it is for finite, imperfect creatures to focus only on outward circumstances and reach faulty conclusions? Job spoke these words after losing livestock, children, and his health. He sat on an ash heap using a broken piece of pottery to scrape his sores. He had stated that he loathed the day of his birth. All he could see told him life was over. All seemed to be downhill at "break-neck" speed.
Remember, Job had no idea of events beyond his ability to see. He had no written revelation. We can read Job 1-2 and ask why Job was so downcast, but when we do, we mistakenly forget that he was not as privileged as we to possess a copy of Scripture. We are looking back on his plight, but all he knew at the time was what he saw and experienced.
As we stop considering Job and ponder our own lives, how often do we do this very thing Job did? We face trials and difficulties, and begin to reason why such difficulties oppose us. We fix our eyes only what is seen much of the time. We, as Job, sink down in depression, self-pity, and reach faulty conclusions because we reason from the finite, limited, fallen perspective we possess inherently.
Beloved that is when we must turn to Scripture and renew our minds to what God has revealed in His written word. He has given us glorious truth concerning His attributes and His purposes. He has given us great and precious promises, as well as His Spirit to indwell us. He has blessed us beyond measure!
In spite of trials, difficulties, adversities, calamities, and any other trying circumstances, we must never reach the conclusion Job reached. Remember, he was completely wrong! We can turn to the end of this book and see the restored earthly blessings of God's to him.
I read the following words this morning from Stephen Charnock in his classic work, The Existence and Attributes of God.
"God, for the most part, takes opportunities to deliver, when his almightiness may be most conspicuous, and his counsels most admirable. He awakened himself not to deliver Israel, till they were on the brink of the Red Sea; nor to rescue the three children, till they were in the fiery furnace; nor Daniel, till he was in the lion's den. It is in the weakness of his creatures that his strength is perfected, not in a way of addition of perfectness to it, but in a way of manifestation of the perfection of it." (Loc. 15308 on Kindle)
Charnock states that God acts in ways and times when His glory will be seen most clearly. He allows us to be on the brink of disaster, in the midst of the fire or danger, or other times where hope seems impossible. That is when His deliverance is most clearly seen and His glory exhibited. He does not do this because His strength or power is lacking, but He designs it thus so that His glory and strength will be manifested most clearly.
God has never and will never abandon those He has redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus. He is working all things together for our good and His glory whether we see it, understand it, or realize it. The question is, "Do we trust Him, His goodness, wisdom, power, and promises?"
May God grant us the grace to say as the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, "We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."
soli Deo gloria
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