BLESSING THROUGH SUFFERING
Job 1:1-22; 2:1-13

Nothing confuses us and tries our faith like seeing bad things happen to good people.   The
fairness of God sometimes comes into question when a young father is killed, leaving a wife and
small children, or when a young child is diagnosed with cancer.   Others have difficulty with a
Christian being falsely accused and going to prison as a result.   Other examples: missionaries
taken hostage by guerrillas; a missionary wife contacting AIDS because of a contaminated blood
transfusion, etc.   Sometimes life seems so unfair because bad things happen to the best of people.
All have a tendency to ask, "How can a good God let such bad things happen to people who least
deserve them?"

The confusion associated with adversity and suffering is as old as time itself.   Consider Job!
When we think about bad things happening to good people, Job would have to be the first on the
list.   There is no record in all of history of a better person who had worse things happen to him or
her.

The book of Job is the oldest book in the Bible.   Although the Book of Genesis comes first in our
Bible, it was not the first written.   In fact, this book of Job may be the oldest book in the world.

Job was a literal person in history and these events did take place.

Dr. Richard G. Moulton, an acknowledged literary authority, declares it to be his belief that if a
jury of persons well instructed in literature were empanelled to pronounce at to which is the
greatest poem in the world's great literatures, the large majority would give their verdict for the
Book of Job.   It is a literary masterpiece.

Job is the first book in the division of the poetical books of the Bible.   Chapters one and two are
not poetry, but an historical prologue to the poem.   The poem ends at Chapter forty two verses
five and six, with Job's words:

"I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eyes seeth thee.
Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

In a general sense, the design of this book is "to justify the ways of God to man," by correcting
certain misconceptions which arise from men's imperfect knowledge.   The special object is to
show that there is a benevolent Divine purpose, if we only knew all the facts and could see the
whole picture.

Precisely this is the point which gives the whole book it's meaning for us - Job did not know.   Try
to get the picture and view the book overall in your mind.   First, Chapters one and two reveal
how Job's trials originated in the counsels of heaven, and Chapter forty two shows how Job's trial
came to enrichment and greater blessing in the end than in the beginning.   Chapters four through
thirty seven unveils Job's friends who theorize from their points of view which were built on
incomplete premises and insufficient data.   They knew nothing about the counsels of heaven
which had preceded Job's trial, and they knew nothing about the coming time of special
compensation.   They were philosophizing in the dark.   Even though Job and his friends did not
know it, there was an explanation for the suffering.   When battling affliction comes our way, we
have every right to believe that the same principles applies in our case - there is indeed a

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purpose in the counsels of heaven for our suffering, and likewise a foreknown outcome of
blessing.

The fact is, Job was not meant to know the explanation of his trial, and on this simple fact
everything hangs.   If Job had known, there would have been no place for faith; and he could never
have come forth as gold purified in the fire.   We must understand that there are some things which
God cannot reveal to us at present, for the very revealing of them would hinder His purposes for
our good.   The Scriptures are as wise in their reservations as they are in their revelations.   Enough
is revealed to make faith intelligent.   Enough is reserved to give faith scope for development.

Some Truths to Note about Satan

  1. Satan Is Accountable To God.   Job 1:6, 7

  2. Even The Dark, Evil Mind Of Satan Is An Open Book To God.   Job 1:8-11

  3. Satan Is Behind The Evils That Curse The Earth.   Job 1:11

  4. Satan Is Neither Omnipresent Nor Omniscient.

  5. Satan Can Do Nothing Without Divine Permission.   Job 1:12

  6. In Every Permission Given To Satan There Is Definite Limitation.   Job 1:12; 2:6

  7. God's Eyes Are Ever On His Own People, And Especially So In Times Of Trial.
Careless seems the great Avenger,
History's pages but record
One death grapple in the darkness,
'Twixt old systems and the Word;
Truth for ever on the scaffold,
Wrong for ever on the throne;
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
And behind the dim unknown
Standeth God within the shadows,
Keeping watch upon His won.
                                   Lowell

Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or shame.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

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Be still, my soul; Thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He hath the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below
                                           Katherine Von Schlexel

Not oft mid busy servings
Life's deepest truths are learned;
Not oft mid noisy strivings
The Spirit's voice discerned.
Not in life's crowded places,
Where jostling cares intrude,
But, in life's lonely spaces,
God speaks in solitude.

The solitude of illness-
The loneness, ling'ring drear,
'Tis soft predestined stillness,
The voice of Heav'n to hear.
Old age- Sad isolation
When friends of yore are gone,
Oft brings most revelation
Of the abiding One.

Affliction's deprivation-
Blind eyes, deaf ears, spent powers,
Ah, painful separation
To lonely, trying hours!
The loneliness when heart breaketh,
And none on earth can ease;
Ah, most of all God speaketh
In solitude like these.

The prophet's lone vocation,
Some heavenly call pursued,
The far-flung mission station-
These bring their solitude.
Thrice-blessed heart-break places,
Where love and drear we pled!
For in life's lonliest spaces
We most discover GOD.
                                       J. Sidlow Baxter

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He never fails the soul that trusts in Him;
Tho' disappointments come and hope burns dim,
He never fails,
Tho' trials surge like stormy seas around,
Tho' testings fierce like ambushed foes abound,
Yet this my soul, with millions more has found,
He never fails; He never fails.

He never fails the soul that trusts in Him;
Tho' angry skies with thunder-clouds grow grim,
He never fails.
Tho' icy blasts life's fairest flow'rs lay low,
Tho' earthly springs of joy all cease to flow,
Yet still 'tis true, with millions more I know,
He never fails; He never fails.

He never fails the soul that trusts in Him;
Tho' sorrow's cup shall overflow the brim,
He never fails.
Tho' oft the pilgrim way seems rough and long,
I yet shall stand amid you white-robbed throng,
And there I'll sing, with millions more, this song-
He never fails; He never fails.
                                                     J. Sidlow Baxter

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