25. Spiritual Thinking During Trial

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Hymns: 49 How Great Thou Art! 7 God Moves in a Mysterious Way; 35 Through All the Changing Scenes of Life

Job 9:1-13

1 Then Job answered and said, 2 I know it isso of a truth: but how should man be just with God? 3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. 4 He iswise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himselfagainst him, and hath prospered? 5 Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger. 6 Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. 7 Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars. 8 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. 9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. 10 Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number. 11 Lo, he goeth by me, and I see himnot: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not. 12 Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, 13 What doest thou? IfGod will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him.

Spiritual Thinking Under Trial

OUTLINE

  • Justice and Power, Infinite Wisdom (v1-10)
  • Dominion and Sovereignty (v11-13)

INTRODUCTION

The greatest and apex of all knowledge is the true understanding of God. We will notice that Job, though living in a time without the privilege of written Scriptures, articulated well, providing for us a enlightened perspective of God. You will notice Job making a spiritual discourse in the midst of his most severe trials. It is a true understanding of God in our hearts and applying these truths that gives stability and strength to a man in his trials. Understanding the man Job and the strength of his spiritual life involves reveals his deep grasp of the simple truth of the Person of his God. It was his theology that kept his soul alive and well in the midst of his trial. 

Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones in his book “Faith on Trial” on Psalm 73 highlighted how he learned from the psalmist the importance of spiritual thinking during the time of trial.

Psalm 73:23-26 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

The study of God is the highest of all study. It is to be done with utmost reverence and godly fear. This study gives us access to true knowledge beyond human intelligence. This knowledge is primarily revealed by God to man in His Word, the Bible. It is called Special Revelation. 

How can man know God? He does so by looking at the created world around him. It gives testimony of the Creator God. He does so by studying God’s revealed Word. It’s God’s Self-Revelation of all things pertaining to true knowledge of Himself. He does so by His Son, Jesus Christ, the living Word.

Theology is the study of the knowledge of God. It is derived from the compound word in Greek consisting of “θεός” “theos” which means “God” and “λόγος” “logos” which means “knowledge or study of”. 

Theology higher than Philosophy. For “Philo” means “love” and “sophy” from “sophos” meaning wisdom hence “the love of human wisdom.” The knowledge of God is far superior to human wisdom. 

The study of God must be done by “faith” in believing God’s revealed Word. John Calvin described well what is “faith” when he said in his book “Institute of the Christian Religion”:

“Faith is far superior to human intelligence. It comes from the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Faith, thus given by God, has a twofold aspect. It enlightens the mind to understand the truth of God, and establishes the heart in it. And the Holy Spirit not only originates faith, but increases it by degrees, till He conducts us by it all the way to heaven.”  (John Calvin)

Job brings his friends to a theology discourse as he speaks of the justice and power and the infinite wisdom of God (v1-10) and the dominion and sovereignty of God (v11-13). 

  • Justice and Power, Infinite Wisdom (v1-10)

1 Then Job answered and said, 2 I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God? 

Bildad was not wrong to extol God’s justice. God is truly just in the overall tenet of Scriptures. Job agrees with his friend Bildad.

Indeed, justice will not be perverted. What is wrong here is Bildad making his own judgment on Job not according to God’s viewpoint of what constitutes justice. In the sight of God, Job was a man who fears God and hates evil. He was described as a perfect and upright man (Job 1:1) in God’s perspective. This was Job’s standing before God. He was a man who stood uncondemned. 

We notice that ultimately God is the judge. And every man has to know his standing before God.

The Apostle Paul understood this when he articulated his standing before God in Christ Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

This is the position of God concerning how a man can be just before God. It is by the justification of faith. Faith is the instrument or channel through which we receive our salvation, it is through faith that this righteousness of God can come to me.

Romans 3:21-22 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

The man of faith realizes that he has sinned, and he is not worthy but he realizes that now he is not resting on his own righteousness but his righteousness is in Jesus Christ just like the garment of animal skin that God put on Adam and Eve that cover their shame. 

Paul is saying that God has amazingly intervened – But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. This word “being witnessed” is in the present tense, through God’s written word, this “righteousness of God” continues to be made available to us through the immortal writings of Scripture. 

And in verse 22, Paul gives us the answer, how can God’s righteousness come to us when he said, this righteousness of God can come to us, we can appropriate it, “by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.” God has provided this way of salvation comes to us through faith in Jesus Christ and belief in Him. What is saving faith? Faith means believing in the truth. Firstly, we need to have the knowledge of the truth then we need to agree to the truth and thirdly we need to have a trust in the truth in our hearts. The man who has faith is the man who is no longer looking at himself and not look to himself, as verse 23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”, but by looking to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith. He looks entirely to Jesus Christ and His finished work, and he rests on that alone.

3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. 

Job goes deeper than merely understanding our righteous standing before God through Christ. He speaks of the trials that God allows His children to undergo. It is as if God is contending with His own. Job realizes how helpless he is before God – he cannot answer one of a thousand. Why does God allow him to suffer such calamity? It was to prove Job’s faith in God, that it was genuine!

Peter articulated this well when he testified in 1 Peter 1:5-8 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 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 him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

Mose wrote this revealing truth to the children of Israel considering their wilderness experience when He gave them the Ten Commandments – Exodus 20:20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

Trials came upon Israel to prove their faith in God if they will keep the way of the LORD. A solemn test of faith – Judges 2:21-23I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.

Job realizes his utter helplessness before God. Under the heavy hand of suffering, he learns how to submit to God in all his afflictions.

Job 1:20-22 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

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

He extols God’s mighty wisdom and power. It is displayed that man may submit to His sovereign rule and dominion. He understood how he cannot challenge God and His sovereign rule over his life. Indeed, none who challenges God has prospered.

Matthew Henry said well, “He is wise in heart, and therefore we cannot answer Him aw law; He is mighty in strength, and therefore we cannot fight it out with him. Is is the greatest madness that can be to think to contend with God of infinite wisdom and power, who knows every thing and can do every thing, who can be neither outwitted nor overpowered. The devil promised himself that Job, in the day of his affliction, would curse God and speak ill of Him, but, instead of that, he sets himself to honour God and to speak highly of Him. As much pained as he is, and as much taken up with his own miseries, when he has occasion to mention the wisdom and power of God he forgets his complains, dwells with delight, and expatiates with a flood of eloquence, upon that noble useful subject. Evidences of the wisdom and power of God He fetches.”

5 Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger. 6 Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. 7 Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars. 8 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. 

Truly, from the kingdom of nature, in which the God of nature acts with an uncontrollable power and does what He pleases; for all the orders and all the powers of nature are derived from Him and depend upon Him. [Matthew Henry]

Job extols the greatness of God. He cannot but stand in fear and in awe at the sight of his God.

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy pow’r thru out the universe displayed!
(Chorus)
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

When thru the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze

The constellations of the stars in the galaxies shows how great God is.

Just to give us an idea of the greatness of God, this is some statistics:

Object                                      Diameter

Earth                                               7,900 miles

Earth-moon orbit                             239,000 miles

Sun-earth orbit                                186 million miles

Solar System                                    7 billion miles

Milky Way                                        100,000 light-years*

Universe                                          30 billion light-years[1]

Note: One light-year is about 6 trillion miles.

The greatness of Jesus can be seen in His creative work and His condescension to dwell with man. This is the mystery of godliness (1 Timothy 3:16). 

The Biblical thinking about man’s uniqueness stands in sharp contrast to much thinking that portrays man as just another animal, as a product of the theory of evolution. 

“When people ask me if a god created the universe, I tell them that the question itself makes no sense. Time didn’t exist before the big bang, so there is no time for god to make the universe in. It’s like asking directions to the edge of the earth; The Earth is a sphere; it doesn’t have an edge; so looking for it is a futile exercise. We are each free to believe what we want, and it’s my view that the simplest explanation is; there is no god. No one created our universe, and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization; there is probably no heaven, and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe, and for that I am extremely grateful.”― Stephen Hawking(World No. 1 Physicist, an atheist) 

9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. 10 Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.

The beautiful group of stars known as the Pleiades is mentioned three times in Scripture. Here in Job 9:8-9 and Amos 5:8 explain their origin, stating that the Creator “stretches out the heavens” and is the Maker of the Pleisades. 

Job 38:31-32 further declares that only the Lowr can “bind the beautiful Pleiades” and bring them forth in their season. These stars are indeed gravitationally bound together in a cluster. They appear in the November skies and are located above Orion’s left shoulder, were six icy-blue stars can be seen in the shape of a little dipper, smaller than the moon. Binoculars reveal dozens of additional stars in the Pleiades group. The stars are 400 light-years away but are actually near-neighbours of earth in the Milky Way galaxy.

The Pleisades stars have veen described in many different ways. Chines records from 2357 B.C. describe them as golden bees or flying pigeons. The Greeks named the stars the “seven sisters”. Early Russian literature pictures the Pleiades as a mother hen with her chicks. For a while during the 1800s, it was thought that the Pleiades were located at the exact centre of the universe since measurements seemed to show that all other stars moved around Pleiades. Today we now that the Pleiades group also moves; it is actually speeding away from the earth at 16,000 miles per hour.[2]

The Pleiades is this small patch of icy-blue stars that spears in the wintry sky. These are are 400 light-years away, and are near neighbours of the sun in the Milky Way galaxy.

Here it explains the origin of these stars, stating that the Creator stretches out the heavens, and makes the Pleiades.

The star Arcturus is positioned in the summer constellation Bootes, some distance from the dipper stars. Orion – The Hunter constellation dominates the wintry sky each year. Since it is positioned directly above the earth’s equator, Orion is easily seen by people everywhere. Its main stars, Rigel and Betelgeuse, are the seventh and twelfth brightest stars in the entire night sky. The Job 38 reference declares that God alone can hold together the stars of the Pleiades and Orion constellations.[3]

  • Dominion and Sovereignty (v11-13)

11 Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not. 12 Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, 13 What doest thou? If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him.

God is a Spirit. He cannot be seen by the naked eyes. The presence of God with His people cannot be visibly seen but He is there with His people. 

Job saw with spiritual eyes the working of God allowing him to be stripped of all that he possessed. Indeed, Job did not question God even in the midst of his calamity. He did not curse God and challenge Him in the midst of his trial. If God will not withdraw His wrath, men indeed are helpless to free themselves from God’s dominion and sovereignty over their lives. Job was wise to acknowledge God in all his affliction and submitted himself under God’s leading and yoke.

As the Apostle Paul taught us in Philippians 4:6-9 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

CONCLUSION

God’s peace be with you. Amen.

[1]Donald B. DeYoung, Astronomy and the Bible – Questions and Answers, Baker, 1988, 36.

[2]Ibid., 67.

[3]Ibid. 68-69.