Acts 20:17-34
Judges 14-15
Job 42
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Thoughts and Commentary on Today's Reading:
In Job Chapter 42 we find the end of Job's story. What an experience! He tells us that his worst fears came upon him. But, in the end, he learns that it was just a test - better still, that he passed the test by staying faithful to God! In the end, God gives Job double for all that he had lost. He dies "old and full of days" and deeply blessed! The story of Job is a shadow picture of the saints in the coming test. Like Job, God's people will find themselves facing the things they most dreaded. Like Job, they will have a temptation to just curse God and die. But, like Job, if they remain faithful, saying "though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him," then victory is assured. In Heaven, each one who has suffered will not only be given double for whatever he has lost, he will be given a hundred fold!
Matthew 19:29 "And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life."What then is the conclusion of the matter - the final message of the Book of Job to us today? Be faithful to God no matter what you're facing. Walk with Him in faithfulness in times of plenty and ease. And stay with Him in faithfulness in times of suffering and loss.
For all of us, times of testing are ahead. Some may be in the fire already, to varying degrees. But remember, it is in the fire that our faith is tested and our characters are refined. And like Job, when we are tested, we must still rest assured in knowing Who God is.
"Faith for my deliverance is not faith in God. Faith means, whether I am visibly delivered or not, I will stick to my belief that God is love. There are some things only learned in a fiery furnace." Oswald Chambers in Run Today's Race
"God delights to increase the faith of His children...I say, and say it deliberately--trials, difficulties and sometimes defeat, are the very food of faith...We should take them out of His hands as evidences of His love and care for us in developing more and more that faith which He is seeking to strengthen in us." George Mueller.
In Green Leaf in Drought, Isobel Kuhn relates the story of a missionary family going through great trials. The theme is
"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit" Jeremiah 17:7-8.
Here is the passage (p. 59) that has encouraged some to a higher vision of trials.
When you come to a trial:
1. Say, God brought me here. It is by His will I am in this strait place and in that fact I will rest.
2. He will keep me here in His love and give me grace to behave as His child.
3. Then He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends for me to learn.
4. In His good time He can bring me out again-how and when He knows.
So let me say, I am:
1. here by God's appointment
2. in His keeping
3. under His training
4. for His time
