Always remember, dear friends, that one of the great lessons of the Book of Job is this, that we may never judge a man's character by his condition. The best of men may have the most of suffering and of poverty, while the worst of men may prosper in everything. Do not imagine, because a man suddenly becomes very poor or a great sufferer, that therefore he must be a great sinner; otherwise, you will often condemn the innocent, and you will, at the same time, be guilty of flattering the wicked. Job's friends had cruelly told him that he must be a hypocrite, or else he would not have lost his property, and have been smitten with such a remarkable sickness; so he appeals to God against their unrighteous judgment.
Job 23:1-2. Then Job answered and said, Even today is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
«Although my groaning is heavy, yet it is not so burdensome as my griefs might warrant.»
Job 23:3. Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
«To his judgment-seat, that I might plead my cause, and vindicate my character even there.»
Job 23:4-6. I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me. Will he plead against me with his great power?
«Being the great God, will he silence me by a display of his omnipotence? Oh, no! he is too just to do that.»
Job 23:6. No; but he would put strength in me.
«He would help me to argue my case; he would deal fairly with me; he would not be like you so-called friends of mine, who sit there, and exult over my weakness and my griefs, and torture me with your cruel words.»
Job 23:7-10. There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge. Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: But he knoweth the way that I take:
«If I cannot find him, or see him, he can see me, and he knows all about me.»
Job 23:10. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
This is beautiful faith on the part of Job. It is very easy for us to read these lines, and to say, «No doubt, tried men do come out of the furnace purified like gold;» but it is quite another thing to be ourselves in the crucible, and to read such a passage as this by the light of the fire, and then to be able to say, «We know it is true, for we are proving its truth even now.» This is the kind of chapter that many a broken heart has to read by itself alone. Many a weeping eye has scanned these words of Job, and truly blessed has that troubled one been who has been able to chime in with the sweet music of this verse: «He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.»
Job 23:11. My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.
It is a great thing to be able to say that, as Job truly could, for we have the witness of the Spirit of God that Job was «perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.» It was not self-righteousness that made him speak as he did; he had the right to say it, and he did say it.
Job 23:12-13. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. But he is in one mind, and who can turn him?
«His mind is made up to chasten me; he means to afflict me again and again; so what can I do but yield to his will?»
Job 23:13. And what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
There is, on Job's part, a reverential bowing before the supreme power an acknowledgment of God's right to do with him as he wills.
Job 23:14. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.
«More arrows to pierce me, more sorrows to grieve me.»
Job 23:15-17. Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him. For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me: Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.
He wished that he had died before those evil days had come upon him; and that is the way that a good man, an undoubted saint of God, is sometimes driven to speak. There are, perhaps, some who will say, «Then we don't want to be children of God if that is how they are tried.» Ah! but that was only the sorrow of an hour. See where Job is now; think of what he was even a few days after he made this mournful complaint, when God had turned his sighing into singing, and his mourning into morning light. In the next chapter, Job speaks of those who were the reverse of himself, wicked and ungodly men, who nevertheless prospered in this life.
This exposition consisted of readings from Job 23, 24.