47. My Purposes Are Broken Off

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Hymns: RHC 347 Under the Care of My God, The Almighty; 351 He Leadeth Me; All the Way My Saviour Leads Me

Job 17:10-16

10But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you. 11My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. 12They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness. 13If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. 14I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. 15And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it? 16They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust. (Job 17:10-16 KJV)

My Purposes Are Broken Off

OUTLINE

(1)  Comfortless (v10-12)

(2)  Cold Sullen Death (v13-16)

INTRODUCTION

The psalmist said in psalm 46, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most high. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations He hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God:I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” 

The Christian under trial must cling on to his God for refuge and strength. He needs to exercise faith to trust God’s providence and provision. He needs to be still and wait upon the LORD. As the believer meditate upon God’s promises, and worship God in the time of trial, he finds relief for His predicament. God, through His Spirit, minister comfort and strength to the soul.

John 14:16-18 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Eventhe Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

Mediating upon promises of God’s immutable care for His people must cause us to be strengthened in Him. 

  • Comfortless (v10-12)

10But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you. 11My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. 12They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness. 

He could not find comfort among his friends. He was lonely and without godly counsel. 

Matthew Henry rightly observed the Christian’s sanctified response in the midst of trials, “It is therefore our wisdom to comfort ourselves, and others, in distress, with that which will not fail, the promise of God, His love and grace, and a well-grounded hope of eternal life.” Truly, the people of God need to encourage themselves in the Lord in the midst of their trials.

For Job, all seemed lost. With his ailing health, in the midst of confusion. 

In his prosperity, he could have made plans for the future but not now in this state.

He owns he had, in his prosperity, often pleased himself both with projects of what he should do and prospects of what he should enjoy; but now he looked upon his days as past, or drawing towards a period; all those purposes were broken off and those expectations dashed. He had had thoughts about enlarging his border, increasing his stock, and settling his children, and many pious thoughts, it is likely, of promoting religion in his country, redressing grievances, reforming the profane, relieving the poor, and raising funds perhaps for charitable uses; but he concluded that all these thoughts of his heart were now at an end, and that he should never have the satisfaction of seeing his designs effected. [Matthew Henry] 

All the Way My Saviour Leads Me

Psalm 37:23 The steps of a goodman are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

This beloved gospel hymn was the expression of gratitude to God after a direct answer to prayer. It is reported that one day Fanny Crosby desperately needed five dollars and did not know where she could obtain this amount. As was her custom, she began to pray about this matter. Within a few minutes, a stranger appeared at her door with just the right amount. “I have no way of accounting for this,” she wrote, “except to believe that God, in answer to my prayer, put it into the heart of this good man to bring the money. My first thought was, it is so wonderful that way the Lord leads me. I immediately wrote the poem and Dr. Lowry set it to music.” The hymn first appeared in a Sunday School collection, Brightest and Best, compiled by William H. Doane and Robert Lowry in 1875.

Fanny Jane Crosby was born of humble parents at Southeast, New York, on March 24, 1823. She was blinded at the age of six weeks by improper medical treatment. Throughout her lifetime she was a faithful member of the St. John Methodist EpiscopalChurch in New York City. She was educated at the New York School for the Blind. From 1847 to 1858 she served as a teacher at this school. In 1858 she married a blind musician, Alexander Van Alstyne, a highly respected teacher of music at the blind institution.

Through the influence of a well-known church musician W.N. Bradbury, she began to write gospel song lyrics in earnest and became the “happiest creature in all the land.” It is said Fanny never wrote a hymn without first kneeling in earnest prayer and asking for divine guidance.

All the way my Savior leads me
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His faithful mercies?
Who through life has been my guide
Heavenly peace, divinest comfort
Ere by faith in Him to dwell
For I know whate’er fall me
Jesus doeth all things well

All of the way my Savior leads me
And He cheers each winding path I tread
Gives me strength for every trial
And He feeds me with the living bread
And though my weary steps may falter
And my soul a-thirst may be
Gushing from a rock before me
Though a spirit joy I see

And all the way my Savior leads me
Oh, the fullness of His love
Perfect rest in me is promised
In my Father’s house above
When my spirit clothed immortal
Wings it’s flight through the realms of the day
This my song through endless ages
Jesus led me all the way

[Extracted and edited from 101 Hymn Stories by Kenneth W. Osbeck]

  • Cold Sullen Death (v13-16)

3If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. 14I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. 15And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it? 16They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

In times of sickness, the body ailing, it is not unexpected that Job sees death looming before him. 

He saw himself just dropping into the grave. He saw all his hopes from this world dropping into the grave with him (v15-16): “Seeing I must shortly leave the world, where is now my hope?How can I expect to prosper who do not expect to live?” He is not hopeless, but his hope is not where they would have it be. If in this life onlyhe had hope,he was of all men most miserable.“No, as for my hope, that hope which I comfort and support myself with, who shall see it? It is something out of sight that I hope for, not things that are seen, that are temporal, but things not seen, that are eternal.” [Matthew Henry]

Job shall articulate his hope in Job 19:25 For I know thatmy redeemer liveth, and thathe shall stand at the latter dayupon the earth:

What was that? The LORD’s return and restoration of all things. This was Job’s hope. He was able to endure the hardness of this life. May the Lord strengthen us with hope of future restoration. Amen.