These may seem extreme words from the mouth and the lips of God’s servant Job, yet they are very true words. As the Lord may give grace so to do, our text may be looked at in many ways to prove that, in one way and another, this is the experience of all God’s children in the way of faith. To understand Job’s path, we have to understand that Job had a great privilege. I am not speaking about the days of prosperity that preceded his troubles, nor even perhaps the prosperity that succeeded them, but the fact that he was appointed by God to be on the front line of the battleground between Christ and Satan. Job’s heart and Job’s life was to be…

“He” – that is the Lord God of heaven – “shall send His angel before thee.” And it was that which made the way prosperous for Eliezer in this vital matter which lay upon his shoulders to perform. In the Garden of Eden, the Lord God Almighty instituted three ordinances which are to be observed to the end of time. And, although man has marred them, they are still there as God’s commands. The first is the Sabbath day. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Although since New Testament times the Sabbath now is the first day of the week, the day our Lord arose; the principle is yet the same. One day in seven belongs to the Lord. It is for our…

The circumstances around these words I have read are very instructive, and, in some respects, very sad. King David was on his death bed. A few days after this, he was called from time into eternity; his journey done. Like the Apostle Paul, David could say: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day.” But, the question arose: who should succeed King David on the throne? He had several sons, and it was no doubt a question among the family as to who should be the successor. But, God had already told David who…

Martin Luther said that the Epistle of James was the ‘Epistle of Straw.’ In other words, it was not very comfortable to lay down upon. This is true. If you read this epistle from beginning to end, it has some very sharp and pointed things to say about man’s fallen nature, and about those dispositions that fallen nature displays. And, there is not a child of God who is awake to the things of God but will read through the Epistle of James and find those things that condemn and convince him or her of sin. That does not mean we should not read it; it is all the more reason we should read it. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me,…