Hast Thou Considered My Servant Job?

by I.T.H. Hunter, Edinburgh, Scotland | Category: General | Mar 1992

The Book of Job may not be widely read, but the patriarch himself commands our consideration.

The Man and his Background:

Ezekiel places Job alongside two other outstandingly righteous Old Testament men, Noah and Daniel (Ezek. 14:14,20). James describes Job as a blessed man of patient endurance (5:11): "none like him in the earth" was God's appreciation of His servant (Job 1:8).

Job is perhaps the oldest Old Testament writing. Theologians and expositors have hailed this noble book as a poetic masterpiece of universal application. Linking it with Proverbs and Ecclesiastes as "wisdom literature". Limited historical detail makes the dating of Job difficult. He may have been contemporary with Abraham, his progeny, or even with Moses. He came on the fringe of the Syro-Arabian desert. Vast shrublands allowed ample grazing for Job's thousands of differing herds, whereby God had richly blessed him materially.

Job may have lived before Law and Covenant, yet he understood well the value and need of sacrifice for sins (1:5), for from Adam on, godly men knew of these things. As a spiritual heritage, Job had the secret of God (His counsel) upon his tent (29:4). Job had acquired a profound knowledge of God's ways with man. His perception too of history, astronomy and general science was extensive.

As the most dramatic happenings of his life were about to unfold, we see a man of culture, already "in the ripeness of his days", possessing great wealth, one highly respected as a ruler and just judge, having a reputation for patience, righteousness, and wisdom (29:2-17, 21, 22). Noble as a family man, he exercised a godly care over his wife, ten children, and considerable household. Surely he longed that they with him would know the peace of the Almighty, whose mercies he had enjoyed.

Despite affluence, Job lived a blameless life, displaying a moral and spiritual maturity before God and men. Upright, though not sinless (7:21), his righteous walk before God maintained a good standing with his peers. He reverently feared and trusted God, seeking to serve Him, not out of the self interests of his own vast possessions, but for God's greater interest. "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding" (28:28). Moreover, God trusted Job, for here was a man wholeheartedly serving one Master.

Job turned aside from evil. Here were deep moral 'and spiritual qualities endorsed by God (2:3), qualities we do well to emulate. Despite this, Job still had deeper lessons of obedience, and fellowship with God to learn. For, until the crushing magnitude of enforced sorrow overtook him, Job had never known a fellowship with God that would become enlarged and deeper through suffering. We too may be brought to know our God in this way (cf. Phil. 3:9-10).

His Sufferings:

"There was a man in the land of Uz". How often God singles out His man for our learning (cf. Rom. 15:34). God posed the question to Satan "Hast thou considered My servant Job?" Job did not fear God for nought (1:9,22), and only within God's limits and control was Satan permitted to test the integrity and faith of God's servant. Sunshine days receded; a bitter night had come for Job. His was to be a traumatic experience. Why should such a wise, God-fearing, righteous and patient servant, have all comeliness and dignity removed from him, leaving him terribly alone? He was to become, for many, a model of patience in suffering.

Though not all suffering can be attributed to sin or to Satan's attention, we like Peter (Luke 22:31), are not immune from his desire to have us, nor are we free from his accusations (Rev. 12:10). Thankfully there is One who makes supplication for us

A number of God's people at present experience differing degrees of pain and extended suffering. Why the godly should go through such distress is perhaps one of life's great mysteries. Many, for example, have marital and family problems, bereavements, various illnesses, mental anxieties and depressions, weariness and loneliness, employment problems, college and career stresses and spiritual uncertainties. In certain lands some are persecuted. As with Job, there may be corrective and purifying lessons God still requires that we learn. He may choose to bring us to a low state that out of it may develop strengthening and joy in Him. In His dealings with us, as with Job, "the end of the Lord" (what the Lord finally brings about) is full of pity and is merciful (James 5:11).

Severely crushed by pain both physical and spiritual, Job in parable became like a grain of seed falling and dying, that out of such experience, peaceable and righteous fruit might abound to God's glory (13:15; 42:16,10).

Unless discerningly we accept God's chastening as being for our ultimate good, such experiences will rob us spiritually of inner trust and peace in the Lord. He may say, "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter".

Not knowing when or why such times of trial come, Job-like we say, "Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil

(adversity)?" (2:10).

My Father cares, He cares for me.

Should I not ever grateful be?

He maketh all things work for good,

Oh may I trust Him as I should.

Anon.

God is faithful; He does not suffer us to be tempted (tested) above that we are able. He makes the way of escape that we will be able to bear it (cf. 1 Cor. 10:13). We are to endure chastening, regarding not lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor fainting when we are reproved of Him. Whom the Lord loves He chastens. This seems for the present not to be joyous but grievous, yet afterwards it yields peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness (see Heb. 12:5-11).

Neither Job's wife nor his friends were on Job's spiritual plane. What comfort they offered was impious and dogmatic. They did not realize the remedial and purifying effect of God's hand. Thank God for Christian wives, husbands, brothers and sisters, who through prayer, succour and godly understanding can assist recovery.

God still speaks as He did to Job, and when He does so things happen. Later, on reflection, we may hear Him lovingly ask, "Know ye what I have done to you?" (John 13:12).

His Faith:

Despite such sufferings, Job maintained integrity and faith in God, expressing many beautiful and noble thoughts such as: (1) "I know that my Redeemer (vindicator) liveth... whom I shall see for myself ... and not

another (not as a stranger, margin). My reins (innermost thoughts) are consumed within me" (19:25-27).

(2) "But He knoweth the way that is with me (margin); when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold"

(23:10).

(3) "I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee" (42:5).

God had been vindicated by the faithful Job. He had not cursed God as Satan predicted. To Job's friends God said: "My servant Job shall pray for you ... ye have not spoken of Me the thing that is right as My servant Job hath" (42:8). Faith and prayer, with profound humbling and confessions of unworthiness, had brought Job through his awful experience. Such contrite ones God can use (Isa. 57:15).

Now with fellowship fully restored, a maturer Job received from God as a double portion, a rich and full latter-end blessing (42:10-12); James 5:11).

Once sorely vexed of soul and body, now Job in a renewed spirit was to experience the joy of God's blessing. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the taller end of that man is peace" (Psalm 37:37).

Through his faith, Job is an example of all who, despite present inexplicable circumstances and suffering, choose to remain immovably set upon God, leaving the outworking of life's plan to Him.

In the bearing of our iniquities (cf. Lam. 1:12), the Lord will ever be to us the greatest example of sorrow and suffering. There will be joy through the travail of His soul. Consider Him "who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:2-3). "Casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He careth for you" (1 Peter 5:7).

I.T.H. Hunter, Edinburgh, Scotland | Mar 1992
General