71. Despised and Rejected (3)
Hymns: RHC 187 It Is a Thing Most Wonderful; 213 Welcome, Happy Morning! 267 Only Trust Him
Job 30:16-22
16And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. 17My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest. 18By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. 19He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes. 20I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not. 21Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me. 22Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.
Despised and Rejected (3)
OUTLINE
(1) Facing Scorners (v1-14)
(2) Enduring Inflicted Pain (v15-22)
Continued…
16And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. 17My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
The sick body gives no rest to the person as Job described the tormenting nights that he had, where pain was excruciating and difficult to endure.
Psalm 22:14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
The psalmist articulated our Saviour’s excruciating pain and suffering in this prophetic uttering. Spurgeon observed well, “He poured out His strength and spirit, so that He was reduced to the most feeble and exhausted state.” The whole body seemed to be coming apart from the torture that our Lord were subjected to by the Roman soldiers.
Brian M. Schwertley insightfully observed, “When Jesus hung on the cross, the day turned unto night for the greatest evil ever committed on this earth was done. The demons and the enemies of God gained an apparent triumph and darkness appeared for a time to have victory over light. “Now the price of this world, and his forces, the rulers of darkness of this world, were to be cast out, to be spoiled and vanquished; and to make His victory the more illustrious, He fights them on their own ground; gives them all the advantage they could have against Him by this darkness, let them take the wind and the sun, and yet buffers the conqueror. [Matthew Henry] The Saviour had to enter the outer darkness in order to vanquish the forces of darkness…. This period of amazing darkness was also designed to shock the nation of Israel. When darkness fell over the land, the nation of Israel became fearful and silent. For a time, the blasphemers shut their mouths in horror. God attended the crucifixion and death of Jesus with special signs so that the Jews would consider the meaning and importance of the death of Christ.”[1]
The suffering of Job has reached a point of deep torment, his friends now silent, God had intended Job’s crucible to be a demonstration of the power of God in keeping his servants in the time of trial. The Lord proved Himself real in Job’s heart enabling him to endure hardness as a good soldier.
2 Timothy 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
In Job, God committed to the test the strength of the human character sanctified by the Spirit, that he would be steadfast and unwavering in his faith, amidst the darkest night of his life. Job proved himself a faithful man, who by his testimony, is able to teach posterity the lesson of integrity and faith toward God for a repentant sinner.
Our rest is in our God. Job learned this lesson in his trial.
1 Peter 5:8-9 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
The command here is “resist”. Whom are we to resist. We are to resist the Devil. The word “resist” composed of anti “against” and the verb “to stand” presents a military metaphor, as a definite act, Christians should take a solid stand in opposition to the devil as their true enemy. Scriptures urges believers to flee from various evils but nowhere are they advised to flee from the devil. Standing firm in the faith denotes a condition of victory. Firm “stereo” in a physical sense, describes something firm, hard, solid, and compact, like a rock. In their inner attitude, Christians should stand firm and unyielding like granite in resisting Satan. [Author unknown]
The afflictions of Satanic attacks are accomplished all over the world. Peter wanted these believers to know that they were not alone in the attacks of Satan. All throughout their ministries all over the world, he is attacking and earnestly seeking to devour those who he can devour as a roaring lion.
John 12:31-33 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all menunto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die.
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Are we able to resist the devil in our own strength? No! We cannot resist him in our own strength. Rather, be submitted to God to “put ourselves under”, meaning to obey. It is a command, appealing to the will, to come under God’s authority, appealing to Him for help. This submission is to no man but to God. Let us put aside our pride and come before God. And this word “to submit stress” the beginning of an action or entrance into a state, to the realm of God’s blessing by coming to Him.
Resist steadfast in the faith. We resist not in our own arms of flesh but in the faith. When you have those words, “the faith” with the article before it, it is not just personal faith in Christ but it refers to the body of belief, doctrine, theology, and truth which is taught in the Bible. The Bible signifies all of the Christian doctrine of the Bible. We are to resist steadfastly by using this truth, God’s Word. We are not to be moving all around. That is the only way we can resist Satan, and that is the only way we can resist the false teachers.
The word “steadfast” stereos means “strong, firm, immovable, solid, hard, rigid.”
Be on believing. If we are going to resist Him, we must be steadfast in the faith. We are not to move.
Psalm 125:1-2 A Song of degrees. They that trust in the LORD shall beas mount Zion, whichcannot be removed, butabideth for ever. Asthe mountains areround about Jerusalem, so the LORD isround about his people from henceforth even for ever.
The period of Job’s trial was prolonged. It spanned 42 chapters. 3 “friends” came to accuse him of sinning against God, and therefore God’s wrath had fallen upon him. Job had to look to God for comfort. Faith in God was the thread that kept Job during his entire ordeal. He did not give up knowing that God would certainly do him good although he could not see how at the time of his trial (Job 13:15; 19:25-26). This was the record of Job’s triumphant faith.
When the trial of life intensifies, our faith must proportionally increase. Will you trust God during the time of your testing? The decision is made now and not when trial comes. This 7thpetition tells us that the battle is won by prayer – “deliver us from evil”.
18By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
My disease is so strong and prevalent, that it breaks forth every where in my body, it infects and discolours my very garments … – He alludes to the fashion of the Eastern outward garments, which were seamless, and all of a piece, and had a straight mouth at the top, which was brought over the head, and contracted and fastened close about the neck. [Poole]
19He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
He hath cast me into the mire – That is, God has done it. In this book the name of God is often understood where the speaker seems to avoid it, in order that it may not be needlessly repeated. [Barnes]
20I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
How can we understand the suffering of Job, which is intense, except we see it in the light of our Lord suffering upon the cross for our sake!
Our Lord endured the physical tortures, quietly and patiently, he virtually endured every variety of inward agony which a sinless soul could experience. But near the time of His death He cries out to His God. This cry of abandonment marks the period which is the climax of our Lord’s suffering. This is the period of His mysterious agony because of the desertion of His Father. It was during this time, the time of darkness and silence “that He suffered the withdrawment of all sensible tokens of His Father’s love” [Symington].[2]
Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Spurgeon writes regarding this cry of abandonment that Job was experiencing in his agony, “I do not think that the records of time, or even of eternity, contain a sentence more full of anguish. Here the wormwood and the gall, and all the other bitterness are undone. Here you may look as into a vast abyss; and though you strain your eyes, and gaze till sight fails you, yet you perceive no bottom; it is measureless, unfathomable, inconceivable. This anguish of the Saviour on your behalf and mine is no more to be measured and weighed than the sin which needed it, or the love which endured it. We will adore where we cannot comprehend.” [Charles H Spurgeon, “Lama Sabachthani,” 36:133]
The Saviour’s outcry is not against God, but to God. He makes a double effort to draw near. True sonship is here. The child in the cark is crying after his Father – “My God, my God.” Both the Bible and prayer were dear to Jesus in His agony. [Charles H Spurgeon, “Lama Sabachthani,” 36:138]
21Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me. 22Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.
Matthew Henry observed well, “That God did appear against him. That which he here says of God is one of the worst words that ever Job spoke (v21): Thou hast become cruel to me.Far be it from the God of mercy and grace that he should be cruel to any (His compassions fail not), but especially that He should be so to His own children. Job was unjust and ungrateful when he said so of Him: but harbouring hard thoughts of God was the sin which did, at this time, most easily beset him.
He thought God fought against him and stirred up his whole strength to ruin him: With thy strong hand thou opposest thyself,or art an adversary against me. He had better thoughts of God (v6) when he concluded he would not plead against him with his great power.God has an absolute sovereignty and an irresistible strength, but he never uses either the one or the other for the crushing or oppressing of any.
He thought he insulted over him (v22): Thou lifted me up to the wind,as a feather or the chaff which the wind plays with; so unequal a match did Job think himself for Omnipotence, and so unable was he to help himself when he was made to ride, not in triumph, but in terror, upon the wings of the wind, and the judgments of God did even dissolve his substance,as a cloud is dissolved and dispersed by the wind. He expected no other now than that God, by these troubles, would shortly make an end of him.”
CONCLUSION
As we view Job’s trial to the end of his ordeal, we saw that the latter end of Job, we are not so quick to charge God, rather, learn to trust Him in our trials – Job 42:10-13 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold. So, the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters. Amen.
[1]Brian M. Schwertley, The Heart of the Gospel – Gethsemane to the Burial of Christ, Covenanted Reformation Press, 2007, 426.
[2]Ibid, 429-430.