Tag Archives: Job

Bible Study, Job, Puritan

Job and the Mute Christian

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“Dear hearts—The choicest saints are ‘born to troubles as the sparks fly upwards’, Job 5:7. ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivers him out of them all.’ Psalm 34:19. If they were many, and not troubles, then, as it is in the proverb, the more the merrier; or if they were troubles and not many, then the fewer the better. But God, who is infinite in wisdom and matchless in goodness, has ordered troubles, yes, many troubles to come trooping in upon us on every side. As our mercies—so our crosses seldom come single; they usually come treading one upon the heels of another; they are like April showers, no sooner is one over but another comes. And yet, Christians, it is mercy, it is rich mercy, that every affliction is not an execution, that every correction is not a damnation. The higher the waters rise, the nearer Noah’s ark was lifted up to heaven; the more your afflictions are increased, the more your heart shall be raised heavenward.” – Thomas Brooks, The Mute Christian under the Smarting Rod

As I read through the book of Job in my yearly reading plan, one thought kept ringing over and over in my head, namely that Job should be quiet and humbly recognize his inherent sinfulness.  I mentioned both of those responses in the last post, but here I’d like to flesh out more of this idea with the help of Puritan Thomas Brooks.

In his book cited above, Brooks pens a masterful treatise on the proper Christian response to suffering, discipline, and general trials that befall us all.  Below is a summary of a meaty section on holy silence as a response before God, both what it is and what it isn’t.  Even though I’ve summarized, it’s still a little long, but so soul stirring and beneficial.  Perhaps the next time you read through Job or are going through challenging experiences, this section may be helpful to you.  The entire work is well worth reading and is available online completely free: Grace Gems  or .pdf here

From Brooks:

“I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for You are the one who has done this!” Psalm 39:9

What is the silence meant, here in this verse?

First, There is a STOICAL silence.  The stoics of old thought it altogether below a man that has reason or understanding either to rejoice in any good, or to mourn for any evil; but this stoical silence is such a sinful insensibleness as is very provoking to a holy God, Isaiah 26:10,11.

Second, There is a POLITIC silence.  Many are silent out of policy.

Thirdly, There is a FOOLISH silence.  Some fools there be that can neither do well nor speak well; and because they cannot word it neither as they would nor as they should, they are so wise as to be mute—Prov. 17:28

Fourthly, There is a SULLEN silence.  Many, to gratify an humour, a lust, are sullenly silent; these are troubled with a dumb devil, which was the worst devil of all the devils you read of in the Scripture, Mark 9:17-28.

Fifthly, There is a FORCED silence.  Many are silent per force. He who is under the power of his enemy, though he suffers many hard things, yet he is silent under his sufferings, because he knows he is liable to worse.

Sixth, There is a DESPAIRING silence.  A despairing soul is a terror to himself; he has a hell in his heart, and horror in his conscience. He looks upwards, and there he beholds God frowning; he looks inwards, and there he finds conscience accusing and condemning of him; he looks on the one side of him, and there he hears all his sins crying out—We are yours, and we will follow you; we will go to the grave with you, we will go to judgment with you, and from judgment we will go to hell with you; he looks on the other side of him, and there he sees infernal fiends in fearful shapes, amazing and terrifying of him, and waiting to receive his despairing soul as soon as she shall take her leave of his wretched body; he looks above him, and there he sees the gates of heaven shut against him; he looks beneath him, and there he sees hell gaping for him; and under these sad sights, he is full of secret conclusions against his own soul.

Seventh, There is a PRUDENT silence, a HOLY, a GRACIOUS silence; a silence that springs from prudent principles, from holy principles, and from gracious causes and considerations; and this is the silence here meant.

What does a prudent, a gracious, a holy silence include?

First, It includes a sight of God, and an acknowledgment of God as the author of all the afflictions which come upon us.

Secondly, It includes and takes in some holy, gracious apprehensions of the majesty, sovereignty, authority, and presence of that God under whose acting hand we are—Hab 2:20

Thirdly, A gracious, a prudent silence, takes in a holy quietness and calmness of mind and spirit, under the afflicting hand of God.

Fourthly, A prudent, a holy silence, takes in an humble, justifying, clearing and acquitting of God of all blame, rigor and injustice, in all the afflictions he brings upon us; Psalm 51:4

Fifthly, A holy silence takes in gracious, blessed, soul-quieting conclusions about the outcome of those afflictions which are upon us.

Conclusions:

First, and that more generally, That afflictions shall work for their good

Surely, as the tasting of honey did open Jonathan’s eyes, so this cross, this affliction, shall open my eyes. By this stroke I shall come to have a clearer sight of my sins and of myself, and a fuller sight of my God, Job 33:27, 28; 40:4, 5; 13:1-7.

Surely this affliction shall proceed in the purging away of my dross, Isaiah 1:25.

Surely as ploughing of the ground kills the weeds, and harrowing breaks hard clods; so these afflictions shall kill my sins, and soften my heart, Hosea 5:15, 6:1-3.

Surely as the plaster draws out the infectious core; so the afflictions which are upon me shall draw out the core of pride, the core of self-love, the core of envy, the core of earthliness, the core of formality, the core of hypocrisy, Psalm 119:67, 71.

Surely by these afflictions, the Lord will crucify my heart more and more to the world, and the world to my heart, Gal. 6:14; Psalm 131:1-3.

Surely by these afflictions, the Lord will keep pride from my soul, Job 33:14-21.

Surely these afflictions are but the Lord’s pruning-knives, by which he will bleed my sins, and prune my heart, and make it more fertile and fruitful; they are but the Lord’s portion, by which he will clear me, and rid me of those spiritual diseases and maladies, which are most deadly and dangerous to my soul!

Affliction is such a potion, as will carry away all soul-diseases, better than all other remedies, Zech. 13:8, 9.

Surely these shall increase my spiritual experiences, Rom. 5:3, 4.

Surely by these I shall be made more partaker of God’s holiness, Heb. 12:10. As black soap makes white clothes, so does sharp afflictions make holy hearts.

Surely by these God will communicate more of himself unto me, Hosea 2:14.

Surely by these afflictions, the Lord will draw out my heart more and more to seek him, Isaiah 36:16. Tatianus told the heathen Greeks, that when they were sick, then they would send for their gods to be with them, as Agamemnon did at the siege of Troy, send for his ten counselors. Hosea 5:15, ‘In their afflictions they will seek me early,’ or as the Hebrew has it, ‘they will morning me;’ in times of affliction, Christians will industriously, speedily, early seek unto the Lord.

Surely by these trials and troubles, the Lord will fix my soul more than ever upon the great concernments of the eternal world, John 14:1-3; Rom. 8:17, 18; 2 Cor. 4:16-18.

Surely by these afflictions the Lord will work in me more tenderness and compassion towards those who are afflicted, Heb. 10:34, 13:3. The Romans punished one that was seen looking out at his window with a crown of roses on his head, in a time of public calamity.

Surely these afflictions are but God’s love-tokens. Rev. 3:19, ‘As many as I love—I rebuke and chasten.’ Seneca persuaded his friend Polybius to bear his affliction quietly, because he was the emperor’s favorite, telling him, that it was not lawful for him to complain while Caesar was his friend. So says the holy Christian—’O my soul! be quiet, be still; all is sent in love, all is a fruit of divine favor. I see honey upon the top of every twig, I see the rod is but a rosemary branch, I have sugar with my gall, and wine with my wormwood; therefore be silent, O my soul!’ And this general conclusion, that all should be for good, had this blessed eject upon the church—Lam. 3:28, ‘He sits alone, and keeps silence, because he has borne it upon him.’

Afflictions abase the carnal attractions of the world, which might entice us. Affliction abates the lustiness of the flesh within, which might else ensnare us! And it abates the spirit in its quarrel against the flesh and the world; by all which it proves a mighty advantage unto us.

Secondly, Afflictions shall keep them humble and low—Lam. 3:29

Thirdly, The rod shall not always lie upon the back of the righteous.

Fourthly, Lamentations 3:32 ‘But though he causes grief, yet will he have compassion, according to the multitude of his mercies.’ ‘In wrath God remembers mercy,’ Hab. 3:2. ‘Weeping may endure for a night—but joy comes in the morning,’ Psalm 30:5. Their mourning shall last but until morning. God will turn their winter’s night into a summer’s day, their sighing into singing, their grief into gladness, their mourning into music, their bitter into sweet, their wilderness into a paradise.

Fifthly, Lament. 3:33, ‘For He does not afflict willingly (or as the Hebrew has it, ‘from his heart’), ‘nor grieve the children of men.’ Christians conclude that God’s heart was not in their afflictions, though his hand was.

Sixth, A holy, a prudent silence includes and takes in a strict charge, a solemn, command, that conscience lays upon the soul to be quiet and still. Psalm 37:7

Seventh, A holy, a prudent silence includes a surrendering, a resigning of ourselves to God, while we are under his afflicting hand.

Eighth and lastly, A holy, a prudent silence, takes in a patient waiting upon the Lord under our afflictions until deliverance comes—Psalm 11:1-3; Psalm 62:5

What does a holy, a prudent silence under affliction not exclude?

First, A holy, a prudent silence under affliction does not exclude and shut out a sense and feeling of our afflictions, Psalm 39:9

Secondly, A holy, a prudent, silence does not shut out prayer for deliverance out of our afflictions.

Thirdly, A holy, a prudent silence does not exclude men’s being kindly affected and afflicted with their sins, as the meritorious cause of all their sorrows and sufferings, Lam. 3:39, 40

Fourthly, A holy, a prudent silence does not exclude the teaching and instructing of others, when we are afflicted.

Fifthly, A holy, a prudent silence does not exclude moderate mourning or weeping under the afflicting hand of God. Isaiah 38:3

Sixth, A gracious, a prudent silence does not exclude sighing, groaning, or roaring under afflictions.

Seventh, A holy, a prudent silence, does not exclude nor shut out the use of any just or lawful means, whereby people may be delivered out of their afflictions.

Eighth, and lastly, A holy, a prudent silence, does not exclude a just and sober complaining against the authors, contrivers, abettors, or instruments of our afflictions.

Bible Study, Job

Have you Considered Job

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It seems only fitting that a post on Job should follow up the post on Moses’ sin, particularly as it relates to the effects that sin may have on an individual.  In that post, though we saw that Moses’ actions had the direct consequences of prohibition into the Promised Land, there was also mention of the danger in wrongly applying our circumstances to an individual sin.

An example of this wrong application may be seen on the part of the disciples in John 9 where our Lord and His disciples encounter a man who was blind from birth and they asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  Jesus replied that neither this man nor his parents sinned but that he was blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him.  This isn’t to imply that this man, nor his parents, never sinned, only that his blindness was not a direct result of an individual act of sin.

Enter Job.

In the book of Job we are introduced to a righteous man.  This declaration by God defines all that comes afterwards and in fact aides in understanding Job’s response to his personal calamity.  What does it mean that Job was righteous?  It CANNOT mean that Job was sinless.

This is important.

Here’s what we read in the prologue of Job:

“There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.” Job 1:1

Three key descriptions are given to Job:

  1. Blameless and Upright
  2. Feared God
  3. Turned Away from Evil

In short, we may surmise that Job did not live in open sin and he feared God.  By all accounts we would describe him as a morally upright man.  If we were to strictly conclude that individual sins may always be directly correlated to “disciplining” events in our life at the hand of God, as we saw with Moses, it would appear that Job would be the least likely candidate for what was to happen in his life.

In other words, there is not a DIRECT correlation between a particular sin that Job committed and the suffering that he endured.  This was partly the error of his 3 counseling “friends” who felt that the justice of God demanded that He must bring physical retribution against any and all sin, so that must be the reason for Job’s troubles.  They represent the classic example of misapplying correct doctrine.  Essentially they were flattening out the justice of God to an across the board application.  More on that perhaps in another post.

So what may we glean from Job that would help us better maintain the tension between sin and discipline that was mentioned in the post on Moses’ sin?

First, through Job we see that physical suffering is not necessarily tied to individual misdeeds or sin.

Second, because we live in a fallen world, all suffering finds its roots in sin, generally.

Third, we often do see the wicked prospering, but it does not mean that God is unjust.   We need also to remember that in such a case, God is storing up wrath for the Day of Judgment (Romans 2:5-11).  Conversely, we often see the “righteous” suffering, though this is only temporary and is not to be compared with the eternal weight of glory which awaits them.

Fourth, when suffering does come, it is not punishment, though it may be discipline for our good and God’s glory.  This may require that we expand our understanding of God’s discipline to realize that it is always loving, it is always to purify, and though it may be generally painful, it is temporary and working to conform us more to the image of Christ (See Hebrews 12:4-13).  In other words, suffering is never meaningless.

Fifth, God is sovereign over every circumstance, including the trials and tribulations that come in our lives.

Six, when suffering/discipline comes we should

  • A) Recognize the hand of a Holy God
  • B) Recognize our own inherent sinfulness.

Seven, trust as Job did, in our Mediator – Jesus Christ; that He intercedes on our behalf to the Father;  and that through Christ we may come to the mercy seat and find grace in our time of need.

Eight, in the face of suffering at the disciplining hand of Almighty God, consider 1 of 2 responses

  • A) Keep our mouths shut before the all-holy God
  • B) Confess our inherent sinfulness and plead mercy on behalf of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In either or both responses, trust the sovereign hand of a just, holy God (more to come on this in the next post, Lord willing).

There is a danger in reading of a tragedy like Moses’ where his sin was specifically tied to an episode of discipline and then extract that principle across the board, either to our own lives or to the lives of others, wrongly concluding that a particular sin or lifestyle of sin has caused a difficult circumstance to arise.  Make no mistake, it can, as with Moses, and this should cause us holy, reverent fear of God, but it cannot be flattened across the board, as with Job.

God is far too complex for that simplistic view of how He governs the universe.  Again, this was one of the errors of Job’s friends.

In summary, as believers in Christ when we experience challenging and trying situations or are counseling others through them, we need to avoid the two ditches of applicational error.  The first, that of Job’s by thinking that we do not deserve to suffer.  The other,  that of his friends, by thinking that all trials are just retribution and precisely what we deserve.  Keeping this balance and maintaining this tension will go along way towards helping us navigate the waters of difficulty.

Devotions

Take the High Road

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Have you ever been faced with a situation of retaliation or revenge toward someone in your life? How did you respond? It’s often easy for us to get locked into a mentality of spitefulness when this happens, but the Bible tells us otherwise. Job 42:10 says, “After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.” Note that it was after Job had prayed for his friends that God made him prosperous. These weren’t friends that carried him through his trials and tribulations, these were “friends” that criticized and ridiculed him, encouraging him to curse God. Job’s response was to pray for them. John 15:13 reminds us that, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” In its context, this passage is clearly in reference to Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross; for those who ridiculed, betrayed, beat, even murdered Him (see Romans 5:8).  Think about the following actions next time you’re at the cross roads of the low road of retaliation or the high road of love:

 Low Road

  1. Revenge and Retaliation when wronged
  2. Plays the same game as others
  3. Guided by emotions; up and down
  4. Reactive: lives no better than anyone else

High Road

  1. Unconditional love and forgiveness
  2. Refuses to play games; lives by principles
  3. Guided by character and values
  4. Pro-active: lives above merely human standards

Have a Blessed Day!