Gracious Submission To God’s Will In Adversity

[Posted by permission. Chippenham Old Baptist Chapel.]

Prayer Meeting Address given atvOld Baptist Chapel, Chippenham by Mr. G. D. Bussvon Wednesday evening, 26th February, 2020

“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.”—Job 1:21

Of all the Old Testament patriarchs, it seems to me that the most tried and tested of them all was Job. Others did have severe trials; Abraham did, and so did David and others. But the intensity of Job’s trial and the various factors that impinged upon him in it, made him certainly one of the most tried men that has ever been known in the Church of Christ.

But here we find a very wonderful thing. We read in Exodus 1.12: “The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.” When Pharaoh was trying to suppress the children of Israel, his agenda was to annihilate the people. But friends, God overturned Pharaoh’s agenda, and the people grew. And, in that sense, Job was in the same path. Satan was trying Job. He was like a vicious dog, stretching at the leash to destroy this godly man. He certainly destroyed his reputation, and would have done more, had he been permitted to do so. But the more Job was afflicted, and he had afflictions from so many quarters; the more he grew. True, he had his dark moments. He had his moments of almost despair. Yet, he came through. We often speak of the patience of Job, but I think we should also speak of the faith of Job. Job’s faith was greatly tried, tested and proved.

I want this evening, just for a few moments, to understand what it was that sustained Job in his faith through this period of severe trial. Remember, Job was not aware of the coming of the trial. The day in which the storm broke he awoke a wealthy man; a man with a family and loved ones. He was a man at peace with his neighbours, a man who had every evidence of the Lord’s favour to him in providence and also in grace. He was a man who “feared God, and eschewed evil.” The Word of God says so. Yet, we know from that mysterious synod between the sons of God; God Himself and Satan who came among them, that that which came upon Job was foreknown. It was even foreordained, we might say, by his God. God permitted Job to come into this trial. And there is that comfort to you and I this evening; when we come into difficulties, they may surprise us, but they have never surprised our God. He has a blessed foreknowledge of the path into which His people come. And Job’s conclusion; in the beginning of this trial, and at the end of it was just the same: he looked at his blessings, and he acknowledged that it was God who gave them to him. He knew where they came from. The hand of the Lord had given him great wealth. The family he had, the reputation he had and the peace he had had all came from his God. And now all that was being taken away. Job acknowledged the justice of Almighty God in taking, as well as giving; in pulling down as well as building up, and in making poor as well as making rich. He acknowledged the hand of God was just. He would have said with the hymn writer:

“It is the Lord; should I distrust 

Or contradict His will –

Who cannot do but what is just, 

And must be righteous still?”

T. Greene

So, what was it; how was it that this man who had such severe trials come upon him so suddenly; how was it that his faith stood firm? It was not through his own strength.

The first thing we may surely say is that Job had the same blessing that Peter had when he came into Satan’s sieve. Before Peter even came into that sieve, the Lord warned him of the impending trouble. Job was not warned, but the blessing was the same: “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” There was a secret hand that Job was not always aware of. Sometimes he was aware of that secret hand in his trial, but more often he was not. There was a secret hand supporting him. And that hand belonged to the One who had Job’s times in His hand. That hand belonged to the One who, like in Peter’s case, prayed for him. He had an Advocate in heaven above on his behalf; a Daysman. We read later on that Job desired a Daysman. But he had one; a blessed Advocate above who had his cause in hand. So, the first reason Job’s faith endured was because of the prayers and the intervention of his God. That, dear friends, is at the root of every trial that a child of God has to come into. It is only the sustaining, supporting, overruling, undergirding hand of God that brings them safely through. This is the first thing: Job’s faith was supported, sustained and given by God. That is the faith we want.

Secondly, there was in Job’s heart the fear of God. The fear of God, we are told, is the “beginning of wisdom.” It is “a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.” And that fear of God enabled Job, certainly at this point, to view things as God would view them. That is what the fear of God does. It gives you the same view that God has of your troubles, your trials, your difficulties and your joys, as well. Friends seek to know the mind of God in these things. Job had that precious fear in his heart which discerned the mind of God in the matter. That is why he did not charge God foolishly. That is why he did not, this time at least, complain bitterly. Rather, he humbled himself under the mighty hand of God, acknowledging the justice of God. It was not a slavish fear. He believed the One whom he feared was his Friend. Abraham, when he pleaded for Sodom, was pleading with One who was his Friend. We have just been singing:

“A Friend there is, your voices join, 

Ye saints, to praise His name.”

J. Swain

Job has this Friend in court; his God. Although Job was soon to come into a very lonely path when his wife, his three friends and others could not understand him or his path; they brought Job into a very lonely path. He never lost his Friend. His Friend did not always show His face; His Friend did not always speak, but He was always there. Job had that.

“When most we need His helping hand, 

This Friend is always near.”

J. Swain

The third thing that Job had was an inseparable bond with God. There was between Job and his God a link which could not be broken. In gospel language it is the same precious link as you have in Romans 8: “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified.” Those five golden links of salvation are those which hold every child of God united to their God.

Whatever storms come, the anchor that holds the believer cannot break the bond that holds them. Job had that bond which could not be broken. Satan tried with all his might and main and hellish skill to rend it in sunder, but he couldn’t. He was a defeated foe at the end. And, I say to every tempted soul here tonight: you will prove that the tempter will be a defeated foe at the end. He is already defeated in God’s account. He was in Job’s case, but Job had to endure many things before he saw very clearly that Satan had not gained his end. This is a bond that cannot break. Eternal love forged it, eternal love sustains it.

“Thy anchor, once in Jesus cast, 

Shall hold thy soul, till thou at last 

Him face to face shalt see.”

J. Kent

Bless God then, for the impossibility of the bond of sovereign grace being broken.

“Once in Him, in Him for ever; 

Thus the eternal covenant stands.”

J. Kent

And, the covenant has not altered, although there is a storm. You could see it clearly in the sunny days you had in your life. You rejoiced in it. But perhaps God has now hidden His face behind a cloud. But listen. The covenant is still there. Look at it in the light of Genesis 5, when we read of Noah coming forth from the ark and the rainbow appearing for the first time. The rainbow would not be seen without the cloud. It was necessary there should be a cloud for it to be seen. The cloud was, as it were, that backdrop to the rainbow. So, dear friends, concerning the cloud that may hang over some of you this evening hour, remember the backdrop is necessary to make the covenant mercy and covenant grace of your God all the more clear. He often hides the purpose of His grace in that way.

“He hides the purpose of His grace, 

To make it better known.”

J. Swain

But then, there is something else. Job, though he was thankful for the gifts he had (he had a family, he had wealth beyond many, he had friends and he had every comfort that his generation could possibly have hoped for and expected in a providential way), but he did not worship the gifts. Job worshipped the Giver. Friends, how careful we must be! We are thankful for the gifts God gives us. But never forget that they must not become an idol to us. We must worship the Giver; Him who is ‘God over all, for evermore.’ That was the trial which God put Abraham through: did he love Isaac more than his God? How wonderfully Abraham came through that fiery trial! To actually lay on the altar one who was his own flesh and blood! To be ready to plunge a knife into his heart! All to prove before his God, that He as his God, came first, and everything else, second. What a trial! And, what a trial for Job! These gifts, suddenly taken from him! But Job remembered where they came from. “The earth is the LORD’S and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.”

“He gives and He takes,

He makes no mistakes 

Whatever may be the amount 

Nor have we a right,

However He smite,

To ask Him to give an account.”

Anon

Job, then, believed that the Giver was worthy of his praise. His religion did not die when adversity came. Many people have a fair-weather religion. It seems to flourish when everything goes well. But the test of your religion and mine is adversity: when God hides His face, when things don’t go according to plan, when prayer does not seem to be answered and when the devil seems to be holding the agenda: then, then to hold on our way! Then, then to still believe! Then, then still to put the crown where it belongs! Much grace is needed, isn’t it? Job had that grace.

Further, Job believed this. He had those things that neither the Sabeans, nor the devil, nor whoever it was could take from him. He had eternal realities. He knew those things we read of in 2 Corinthians. The things that he saw with his natural eye were, after all, only temporal. They were only for a season. They were while his life endured this side of the grave. But, Job knew, as he says here, when he returned to the grave, he would not be able to take his family with him, nor his wealth, or camels, or sheep, or oxen; all those would have to be left behind. But he had something that would not be left behind. He had, dear friends, grace in his heart; the grace, in gospel language, “of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He had the Holy Ghost working within him a work of salvation. He had communion and fellowship with his God which death itself could not and would not break. What a mercy to have such a religion as that! Something eternal in the heavens!

“There shall your eyes with rapture view 

The glorious Friend that died for you, 

That died to ransom, died to raise

To crowns of joy and songs of praise.”

A. Steele

Sometimes those clouds come that we might look for that “better country.” They come that we might look beyond this dying, fading world and look for something eternal and lasting. That is why sometimes (and God is very kind as a Father; He never causes His child a needless tear), but sometimes He does cause a tear for that very reason: here “have we no continuing city; we are to be seeking one yet “to come.” We are like the Bedouin Arabs who move on from place to place, in a sojourning way. That is how we are.

“Pilgrims, we are to Canaan bound; 

Our journey lies along this road; 

This wilderness we travel round, 

To reach the city of our God.”

J. Swain

But, speaking for myself, we hold the things of this time state so fast. We don’t think we do until the Lord touches them, then we realise that we have been holding them tight. But Job, in this moment at least, was given grace to let them go, because he knew God would not let him go.

“O Love that will not let me go, 

I rest my weary soul in Thee.”

“He never takes away our all – 

Himself He gives us still.”

I think I may have told you before of that godly man in Coventry who came home from worship and found that his house had been ransacked by burglars. As he looked round on the havoc they had made, he said that he thanked God that he had something that they could not take from him. Could you say that? Could I say that? Well, Job could. He held the world with a loose hand.

Further, Job’s faith was sustained by what I would call a ‘naked’ trust in the Lord. It was a trust that did not depend on what he saw outwardly, but rather on the character of his God. Too often our faith depends on our feelings and our circumstances. We rise and sink according to how we feel about things. But Martin Luther said: “feelings come and feelings go; God’s Word shall stand forever.” In other words, the unchanging nature of God: His faithfulness, His love, His mercy, His grace, His Truth and the promise He has given you; He has not changed. No. Sometimes He calls us to what I might call a ‘naked’ trust in Himself. The only evidence we have, as it were, is to cast ourselves upon Him as the Friend of sinners; the Saviour of the lost. We have nothing to boast of and nothing to bring in any way.

“Nothing in my hand I bring; 

Simply to Thy cross I cling; 

Naked, come to Thee for dress; 

Helpless, look to Thee for grace; 

Foul, I to the fountain fly;

Wash me, Saviour, or I die.”

A.M. Toplady

And, allied to that is this truth, Job said it, and Job meant it: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” That was a great grace. When Job thought about that, he looked beyond this time state to its end, didn’t he? “For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” Friends that is what I might call ‘naked’ trust in God. Everything around Job was in adversity. But, blessed be God, he clung to that blessed hope that he had before him.

Then there is this. Job believed, and the Lord told him later on; that there was a balancing of the clouds. We have mentioned recently the balancing of the clouds, of the Lord’s dealings with us. He has added, and He has taken. He has added a lamb to the fold, and a sheep has been taken home. He has added a little one to our congregation. How wonderful are the Lord’s dealings! Friends, you look into your life and you will see how wonderfully balanced the Lord’s dealings are. Nothing is out of order in God’s account. It is exactly balanced; joy and sorrow, mercy and judgment: all are wonderfully balanced by our God. And the Lord said to Job: “Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds?” We have to acknowledge that there are some clouds that we do not know the balancings of, but God does. God knows. You read in 2 Corinthians 12 of Paul’s thorn. Two words are used twice at the beginning of that chapter concerning the whole situation. “God knoweth.” “God knoweth.” Now, dear friend, that should be your comfort tonight. Whether it is joy or sorrow, “God knoweth.” We sang just now:

“Our sorrows in the scale He weighs, 

And measures out our pains.

J. Swain

And our joys, as well! It is not all negative, friends. He balances your joys, as well. He balances those prosperities, as well. But it is in His hand. “Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds?” Job did know. And all these precious things sustained him throughout his long trial. When the Lord hid His face, when his wife didn’t really understand where he was in his path; when those three friends misapplied the truth and became unwittingly messengers of Satan to him and bruised his poor soul. “Miserable comforters are ye all,” Job said. Job had to learn a lonely path. He also had to learn a lot about himself, because he wasn’t always in the spirit the way he answered. Oh, we learn a lot about ourselves in the trial of our faith! Yet, blessed be God, the Lord brings His people through.

“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, 

My grace all-sufficient shall be thy supply; 

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design 

Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.”

K., 1787

Job tells us: “He knoweth.” There it is again, like Paul: “But He knoweth the way that I take.” ‘The way that is with me,’ as it is in the original; the way that Job could not run away from. He could not escape from it; it clung to him. “When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Yes. Blessed be God. Job could say: “The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away.” And then he crowned it: “Blessed be the name of the LORD.” To praise God when such a terrible day had passed in his life! Why, this was great grace. “Blessed be the name of the LORD.” Friend, Paul said: “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” That does not mean you will always be in a rejoicing frame; we know we are not. But, if your faith rises high enough, there is always something in the darkest day to rejoice in in the Lord Jesus Christ; in the Father, the Son and the Spirit. If you are enabled to look up beyond the clouds and beyond the difficulties; when faith pierces through and penetrates through there is something to rejoice in. You have a God to go to. The door of mercy is not shut. The throne of grace is not empty. No. Then, what does He say tonight? “Be still, and know that I am God.” That is just what Job was enabled to do, and in so doing he put the crown where it belonged. “Blessed be the name of the LORD.” ‘Let the Sabeans do what they will. Let the devil roar as he will. I will still bless and praise my God, from whom all blessings flow.’ May God help you and me so to do.

Amen.