Job's Faith
by William Mealand

THERE IS A FINENESS of faith, a nobility of character in Job good to contemplate. This is acknowledged by God Himself, and may be a reason why his testing is made the occasion for such profound instruction. The manner and circumstance of this testing is so distinctly of God, that great lessons must inevitably ensue.

There is a council in heaven at which Satan is present, and the Lord questions him as to his estimate of Job. Satan's answer is one of doubt and disparagement. He questions Job's faith. Will it hold? Strip him of external things, touch the things he loves, hurt him really and truly, and "he will curse Thee to Thy face."

The challenge is accepted. Satan goes forth with a mandate of power from God. And, with awe-inspiring intensity, blow follows blow until, bereft of sons and daughters, and of all his great possessions, Job and his wife are left alone.

But see how nobly he rises to the occasion. In a rare spirit of resignation he worships God. He accepts the great fact that both giving and withdrawal are of God. He may not understand, but he will still say, "blessed be the name of the Lord!"

Yet the adversary is not satisfied. And so, at a further session before God, he makes what he considers the greatest thrust of all. "Put forth Thine hand. Touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse Thee to Thy face." Note however, that on each occasion Job's accuser is in a suppliant's position. Power of assault is but delegated to him. Now, thinks he, I shall gain my end. But, absent from his mind is the great thought that the Lord has an end in view. This is yet to come out. As in the apostle James' comment we read: "Lo! we are counting those happy who endure. You hear of the endurance of Job, and you are aware of the Lord's consummation, seeing that the Lord is very compassionate and pitiful" (James 5:11).

Yes, the Lord's consummation is everything. And Job is to see this. But now, with excruciating pain and spiritual loneliness, he feels a sharpness worse than death itself. Still, his central note is true. "What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" A rare acknowledgment indeed. He looked through all causes to the Supreme of all.

Job's three friends now come upon the scene. And the sight of his grief so impresses them that for a long time they are silent before him. In this there was real sympathy. Eventually, Job voices his feelings. And who shall say there is no reason or excuse for some of his utterances? There is a most acute pull of the body, so that the spirit seems to be submerged. He desires death, and wishes he had not been born. And yet, it is not that God and His compassions are obliterated, but consciousness of Him cannot find unclouded expression. For the moment the body is all too clamant with its immediate and persistent disturbance.

In time, however, there comes poise of mind. The spirit rises above flesh, and expression is given to an unswerving trust in God. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him!" It is as though he said, "Let the worst come. Though I see the sword raised, I will yet be confident that all began and all will end in love." But learning can be a long process. It was so with Job. He cannot get away from the past. He remembers the times when, in superior ways, he moved among his fellow men. In a self-justifying vein, he indulges in saddened retrospect of past prosperity. The twenty-ninth chapter is eloquent of this.

But we must not overlook the wonderful breaks in the lament, when Job testifies to the supremacy of God. They are great words he gives utterance to.

Job 12:13-25

With Him is wisdom and might.
His is counsel and understanding.
     Behold, He is demolishing and no one is building,
     He is locking a man in and no one is opening.
Behold, He is restraining waters and they are drying,
And He is sending then them and they are overturning the earth.
     With Him is strength and reality.
     His is the erring one and the causer of error,
Causing counsellors to go looted,
And judges He is making blusterers.
     The disciples of kings He opens,
     And is binding a belt about their loins.
Causing priests to go looted,
And the perpetual is He subverting.
     Taking away the lip of the faithful,
     And taste from the old He is taking.
Pouring out contempt on patrons,
And the belt of the channels relaxing.
     Recalling deeps from the darkness,
     And bringing forth to light the shadow of death.
Causing nations to grow and destroying them,
Spreading out the nations and is guiding them,
     Taking away the heart of the chiefs of the peoples of the earth,
     And He is causing them to stray in a wayless waste.
They are groping in darkness and no light,
And He is causing them to stray as a drunkard.

His fine assertion, too: "I know that my Vindicator lives, and that He will stand upon the earth, and even though my skin is destroyed, yet in my flesh shall I see God, Whom I, even I shall see on my side, and mine eyes shall behold not as a stranger." So, again and again, in spite of his bitterness of soul, Job's spirit breaks from its bondage even to ecstasy.

He accepts the fact that God's hand had touched him. And back of his mind, there is the thought that it must be for some wise purpose. Though God hides Himself, yet He knows the sufferer's pathway. So Job is confident of the issue. What vexes him is the lack of understanding on the part of his friends. They think he must have incurred God's displeasure, so regard him as a subject of chastisement. In their view God is a rigid Exactor.

It may well be that Job is vexed by their arguments. He was prepared to hold his tongue, if they could truly teach him, and cause him to understand wherein he had erred. "Miserable comforters" he calls them. "I also could speak as you do. If your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake my head at you." He could bear God's hand upon him, but their reproaches were too much for him. Yet, through it all he was prepared to wait, to abide by God.

Truly, the heart alone knoweth its own bitterness. The speeches of the friends, while presenting a reverent conception of God, make Him distant, and as One unconcerned with human affairs. Their language is awe-inspiring, yet it places God at a great remove.

Eliphaz dwells on his experience. What "I have seen" is the burden of his discourse. But what of the things he has not seen? As for Bildad, he would fain inquire of a "former age." He is a traditionalist. And Zophar harps on human merit and divine reward--"If thou prepare thine heart...then." So the friends philosophize. But their arguments, though profound, fail to convince or convict Job. He is condemned, not comforted.

And now Elihu enters the forum. He will shew his opinion, speak on God's behalf, and teach Job wisdom. He calls upon him to stand still and consider the wondrous works of God. His ideas, however, are little different from those of the friends. While he is speaking a storm approaches, and the presence of God makes itself felt. Elihu is perturbed. "If a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up." All pretensions are now swept aside as the Voice out of the whirlwind asks, "Who is this darkening counsel by words without knowledge?"

Now indeed is instruction given. True light is shed on a disordered world, a world in which evil so grimly exists. The infinite range of divine power is shown. The immediate interestedness of God is seen. In the wide range of the animal creation, impotence waits on omnipotence. And in the ministry so marvelously displayed, power is the attendant of love. Many evils abound in this creature kingdom. Not because of sin, but that expression can be given to God's power and underlying purpose.

So, in these impressive interrogations God Himself is showing His nearness in the world He made. At last, Job sees his nothingness, and confesses that he is of no account. What can he say or do? He is no match for pride and wickedness. If he could lay all evils low, then God is willing to confess that his own right hand can save him.

JOB 40:9-14

And should an arm as the Deity's be yours?
And with a voice as His are you thundering?
     Ornament yourself, I pray, with pomp and loftiness,
     And with splendor and honor you will be clothed.
Scatter the rage of your anger,
And see everyone who is proud and abase him.
     See everyone who is proud and make him submit,
     And crush the wicked under them.
Bury them in the soil together,
Their faces bind up in burial--
     And, moreover, I will confess to you
     That you will be saved by your right hand.

No. Job knows only too well its impossibility. Therefore, he avows God's wise and wonderful supremacy.

JOB 42:2-6

I know that for all art Thou able,
And debarred from Thee is no scheme.
     Who is this who obscures counsel,
     By declarations without knowledge?
Therefore I told, and I am not understanding,
Too marvelous for me, and I am not knowing.
     Hear, pray, and I will speak,
     I will ask Thee, and do Thou cause me to know.
With the hearing of the ear I heard Thee,
And now My eye sees Thee.
     Therefore am I melting,
     And I repent on soil and ashes.

This is the attitude God can truly bless. And He not only blesses Job, but makes him a blessing. True, Job had made wild utterances, but his heart was Godward--And heart motions weigh more with God than words. Man cannot order his feelings, and under stress and strain faith does not uniformly rise to great heights. Job, like the others, may have thought God far away. Still, he trusted as seeing Him Who is invisible.

His felt need was that of a Daysman, a Mediator--One Who should speak and act on God's behalf. Elihu sought to do this, but his ministry, like the friends was ineffectual. He even realized his impotence, and became a learner as God voiced His power. God deals directly with Job, effecting a marvelous work. In wondrous grace He gives to faith what He denies to sense.

Job was sifted, as was Peter, and his faith held. In spite of his recriminations he looked beyond the immediate, regarding his affliction as of God. And this is the strong note of the narrative. The origin and purpose of evil is of and with God. There is a meaning in its existence beyond human knowledge. Men do evil but apparently no good comes of it. But when God employs it, it is only and essentially for good. The ordering and the end are His own. Yet because man is not always permitted to see this, its presence is assigned to Satan, or the gods many of this mundane system.

Yet Satan is but an instrument, powerful as may be his office. Men, too, are unconscious agents of God's supreme will. Through all, however, the Lord's consummation is sure. Did they but know it, it is men's great mainstay. The infliction of evil is for our learning, and thereby we are shown, as was Job, the nearness of God. But how revealed are the divine compassions as we see and know them in Christ! How almost inexpressible our position as "in Him," and our indebtedness for so great a revelation! Job had no such light. It was given him, however, to see in most marked ways, a wonder-working God.

We, too, realize His loving kindness, but there is no spectacular display. "God is so quiet," writes someone. Nobody hears Him, nobody has ever seen Him. No one can say, here He is! Or, there He goes! He beats no drum. He rings no bell. He is silent." We know, however, that God is, and that we have been found of Him, even to be His dwelling place.

God is indeed silent. But His silence is most eloquently in accord with His grace. Our lot is signally cast in the day of His grace. Thus, we are profoundly blessed, discerning His hand, and seeing, as it were, His footprints in the pathways of life. In our weakness, or should it be solitariness, God is compassionately near.

There is an eye that ever watches o'er us,
An eye that never tires or seeks repose;
There is an ear that to our faintest whisper
Responds in love, and peace and grace bestows.

Faith is educative. A gift the friends of Job lacked. Intellect and reason were too much with them. They were bound by things seen, by tradition, and the values of human merit. But, leaving these, faith must venture alone. And, soaring thus, it will return to submit its rare findings to the mind and heart.

Now, Job can pray indeed, and its ministry blesses his friends. He becomes to them a channel of real knowledge. They see "the Lord's consummation." And, that God has a wiser and more beneficent purpose in evil and calamity than chastening or correction. There is an outcome of good that few may see. Yet, it is always there. And one day, when the lessons that evil engenders are truly learned, creation far and wide will find but good, and that in God.