SAFETY, REST, AND QUIET
Chapter One
“There was a man in the
land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one
that feared God, and eschewed evil.” (Job 1:1)
God calls Job a man who
is perfect and upright; one who fears God and escheweth evil. Nothing exactly
like this is said about any other believer in the Bible. Throughout the Bible,
we can find record of God calling only a very few men, “perfect.” And
Job is one of them. Job is one of the greatest spiritual giants that has ever
walked the face of this earth. Therefore, we would do well to learn all we can
from him and strive to be like him.
“Now there was a day when
the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also
among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan
answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from
walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered
my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an
upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” (Job 1:6-8)
God in Heaven is so
proud of His servant, Job, that He just grabs the ol’ devil by his chain and
says to him, “Satan, hast thou considered my servant, Job, that there is none
like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and
escheweth evil?”
I wish God could take that much pride in me, that He would want
to brag on me like that, before the devil and his crowd. I would like to be one
who would cause God to take the devil by the collar and say to him, “Satan,
have you considered my servant, Richard? He’s perfect and upright. He fears God
and escheweth evil. Therefore I am so proud to call him my son.” I hunger
and thirst to be like that. And if I could find out what made Job like
that, I would try to apply it to my life to make me like Job. And I do not
believe that Job had any inside secret with God that you and I cannot get in
on. Any believer can be just as great as Job was. And in this wicked and
perverse, immoral, beastlike generation of self worshippers; how we need some
believers who will be like Job, stand against evil and fight it with fiery
godly zeal; stand against the devil and his crowd in such a way that God would
be just as proud of them as He was of Job.
〔Dear Reader,
each time you come to this green print, it is a powerful prayer. So please open
your heart to Almighty God Your Creator, and pray these prayers aloud to Him,
in all earnestness and sincerity. If you will do so, God will work miracles in
your life.〕
“Lord God,
please send Thy Holy Spirit to convict me of just how far I am from being
perfect and upright before Thee. Convict me of how willingly I have settled for
a lukewarm, careless Christian life; so desirous to live for self and for the
pleasures of this world, having lost much of my desire to glorify Thee with my
life. Convict me of how displeasing it is to Thee, that I do not have a burning
desire to be perfect and upright in Thy sight, but rather have been satisfied
to be an indifferent and worthless servant to Thee, my Creator. Convict me.
Grant me remorse over this my sin. Grant me a repentant heart. By Thy Spirit,
change my cold, indifferent heart into one that wholly aspires to be perfect
and upright, so that Thou canst delight in bragging on me before the enemy,
just as Thou delighted in bragging on Thy servant, Job. Grant this, Lord, I
pray. Amen.”
God said
to Satan, “Hast thou considered my servant Job?” It wasn’t the
devil that started the ball rolling that got Job into all that misery
that he went through. It didn’t start by the devil complaining to God about
Job. It started by God picking on the devil about Job. “Hast thou
considered my servant Job?” That was the last thing the devil wanted to do, consider
Job. Job’s holy, righteous life was such a thorn in the devil’s flesh, that the
devil didn’t want to think about Job at all. He wished he could forget about
this saint’s existence. But God would not let him. God was so proud of Job that
He just could not keep quiet about him. God had to glory over Job
before the devil. Oh, to be like Job!
“Lord，I want to be
like Job!” And if I could find out what made Job such a great saint, I
would try to apply that to my life. If I could find out what his priorities
were, I would make them mine. What was important to Job, I would make important
in my life. What was not important to Job, I would not make important to me.
And I think there is a verse here in Job that tells what his priorities were
and reveals his secret of spiritual success, showing us just what he did that
made God in Heaven so proud of him. Just as God asked Satan if he had
considered Job, I want you and I to now consider Job in a serious, spiritual
study, like we have possibly never considered him before; all the while calling
on God to help us too, to be like this giant of a believer.
“Heavenly
Father, I thank Thee for giving me Thy Eternal Word, The Holy Bible, to guide
my life. I want to live in complete obedience to Thy Holy Word. Thank Thee,
Lord, for giving us this “perfect and upright” example of Job in the Bible. As
I now read this study about Job, please grant me Thy Wisdom to enable me to
learn everything I should from it. Teach me, Lord, I pray. Amen.”
Likely you
well know the story of Job. Read in chapter one, how that God allowed this rich
man to lose all of his many possessions; his oxen, sheep, camels, and even his
ten children. What is Job’s reaction to this sudden disaster? “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and
shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, 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. In all this
Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” (Job l: 20 - 22) Oh what joy he gives
to his Creator by such a confession. Oh how I want to be like him.
This wonderful confession of
Job’s makes God even more proud of this perfect servant. So God just rattles
Satan’s chain again. “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like
him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
And still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against
him, to destroy him without cause.” (Job 2:3) “Look at him, Satan,” God
is saying. “Even though you moved me against this man to destroy him without a
cause, still all he can do is to fall down on the ground and worship me,
saying, ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord.’ Get a good look at that,
Satan. Is not that a rare sight to behold? I am making you consider him.
I am forcing you to consider Job, you ol’ devil. I refuse to let you not
consider him. I am so proud of him that there is no way I will allow you to
ignore him, as you so desire to do.”
“Lord, help me to be
like Job.” Oh how delighted God is, when He has such a treasure as Job to boast
of, to anyone and everyone, especially to the enemy and those in the enemy’s
camp.
“Lord God,
please help Brother Richard to be like Job. Please stir up my heart also, with
burning desire to be perfect and upright before Thee. Show me how greatly that
glorifies Thee, and how soundly it defeats Thy enemy, the devil. Please help me
to be perfect and upright, and thereby of great use to Thee, in this fierce
spiritual battle that is raging. Make me into a mature, perfect and upright
soldier in Thy great army. Grant this, Lord, I beg of Thee. Amen.”
Oh what agony
the devil is in now. God forces Satan to again consider Job; still perfect and
upright, even tho he has lost his many possessions and all ten children. How
Satan detests looking on such a sight that glorifies God so much. So he comes
back, moping and groaning. “Well, he wouldn’t serve You if You would afflict
him in his body.” “And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that
a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch
his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.” (Job 2:4
& 5)
“And the Lord said unto
Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.” (Job 2:6) God
didn’t even bat an eye about turning this prized possession of His over to the
devil for Job to be afflicted in the worst way possible. Job’s Creator and
Saviour quickly put Job in the devil’s hand for him to do anything with Job
that he desired to do, except for to kill him.
“So went Satan
forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the
sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself
withal; and he sat down among the ashes.” (Job 2:7&8) So there Job is,
sitting on that ash heap, scraping himself with a potsherd, trying to relieve
the misery of those boils covering his entire body. All his possessions, gone
overnight. All ten children, killed instantly. Health, gone. Afflicted with
physical misery. So this great man of wealth has been reduced to a stinking,
festering mass of rotten flesh, sitting in ashes; all because he loved
God more than any other person did.
What a reward for being the best believer on earth, for zealously
being obedient to God.
Something similar to
this could possibly happen to you, simply because you are loving God with all your
heart, and zealously striving to be completely obedient to Him and completely
sold out to Him in every area of your life. So if and when disaster strikes
you, it is a good thing for you to do a spiritual check-up, looking for any sin
or anything wrong in your relationship with God. And if a thorough search turns
up nothing, then do consider Job. And consider that the adversity
coming your way, may be for similar reasons that it came upon Job.
“Lord God,
each time adversity comes my way, please give me Thy wisdom to be able to
discern the reason for it. Help me to know if it is because of my sins and
failures, or if it is because Thou art glorying over my life before the enemy.
Amen.”
“Then said his wife unto him, Doest thou
still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die.” (Job 2:9)
“Honey, why don’t you just curse God and die? Just look at what misery God has
given you in return for all that worship, love, adoration, service, labor, and
praise that you have lavished upon Him all these years. Just look at how God
has treated you for being perfect and upright. God must hate you to treat you
like this. Go ahead, Job, while there is still breath in you and you still have
a chance in this life to get back at God. Just curse God to His Face. Tell Him
in no uncertain terms, what you think of Him treating you this way. Go ahead
and do it now while you have the chance. Curse God and die, Job.” All ten of
his children, killed. And the only loved one left, rebukes him and urges him to
turn his back on God and curse Him. What a severe test Job is put to here. How
well does he stand the test?
“But he said unto
her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh What? Shall we receive
good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not
Job sin with his lips.” (Job 2:10) Not one word will Job utter against God.
“Though he slay me,
yet will trust in him.” (Job 13:15) That is why God is so proud of Job. Though God may
kill him, still Job will do nothing but praise and worship Him, always clinging
to God in absolute unwavering faith and trust.
Being perfect
and upright before God means never, ever finding fault in Him for any reason. So if you
want to be perfect and upright in God’s sight, then you MUST get this matter
settled at the start, that you would never find fault with God. God is perfect
and upright. He never does any wrong. So believe that now, and always believe
that about God. And please do not ever find fault with Him.
“Almighty God,
by Thy Great Power, please help me to NOW get it settled in my heart that I
will never find any fault in Thee. Help me to never consider doing so. Convince
me that Thou art totally Holy and Perfect, and that none of the many creatures
that Thou hast created, will ever have any reason for faulting Thee, or
murmuring and complaining against Thee. Give me courage to say along with Job,
‘Though Thou slayest me, yet will I still trust in Thee.’ Also, please
help Brother Richard to be perfect and upright in this matter. May he never be
tempted to find fault with Thee, no matter what trials and troubles come his
way on the foreign mission field. Help us all, Lord, I humbly pray. Amen.”
“Satan answered
the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for
his life.” Satan knows that is so true of so many believers. But God proved
the ol’ devil wrong in thinking Job was like that. No wonder God was so proud
of Job. And God our Creator wants to be just as proud of you and me. So let’s
call on God to help us be just like Job, so that our lives also will
make a liar out of the Devil.
“Almighty God, that is
what I want my life to be, a life that Thou canst brag on and glory over. I
want my life to be one that will make a liar out of the devil, when to Thee; he
accuses me of not being perfect and upright before Thee. By thy Unlimited
Power, please make my life into such a one. Please strengthen me to withstand
any trials and hardships Thou mayest put me through to prove my uprightness to
the devil and his followers. I also pray this for Brother Richard. Please grant
all this for him too, I pray. Amen.”
Next, come
Job’s three friends to comfort him. Such miserable comforters they turned out
to be. “Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come
upon him, they came every one from his own place…for they had made an
appointment together to come to morn with him and to comfort him. And when they
lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice,
and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their
heads toward heaven. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and
seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was
very great.” (Job 2:11-13)
They come there to
speak soothing words of comfort to Job. But they are so shocked and taken aback
by his condition, that none of the three can speak a single word for an entire
week. All they are able to do is to just sit there on the ground and look at
him for seven long days and nights. And when they do begin to speak, they are
so far off base that Job has to exclaim to them, “Miserable comforters are ye all.” (Job 16:2)
*****************
“After this opened
Job his mouth, and cursed his day.” (Job 3:1)
Here in Chapter Three,
Job is regretting his very existence. “Let the day perish wherein I was born,
and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.” (Verse 3) “Why died I not
from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly.” (Verse 11)
Job had known great
prosperity, good health, a large family, a rich and fulfilled life; and
apparently for many long years. But now all that is behind him. Overnight it
has disappeared. And now he is so miserable that he is “cursing” his very
existence. Job now wishes that he had never been conceived. Having been
conceived, he wishes he had died at birth and had never known life. We cannot
fathom the extent of the suffering that God allowed Job to go through, simply
because Job loved God more than anyone else did.
There may come a time
in your life when God will do something similar to you. Consider that
possibility now as we consider Job. And don’t be caught off guard if God
chooses to put you to a similar test.
“But he knoweth
the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10)
The All-Knowing God knew beforehand, the way that Job would take when God
allowed Satan to put Job to such a harsh test. And Job’s own faith in the Rock
of Ages is so firm and solid that Job himself can truthfully proclaim, “When He hath
tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” What great glory God received from
this believer made of pure gold.
And Almighty God
created you for the same purpose; for you to glorify Him by coming forth as
gold, each and every time God tries you, and each and every time that He
allows the devil to just turn your life upside down with the worst havoc and
disasters imaginable. Right now, purpose in your heart, that with Almighty
God’s Help, you will always come forth as gold, no matter how severe the trial
may be.
“Lord God, I
want to do that. When Thou triest me, I want to come forth as gold, just as Job
did. I do not have the power within me to do that myself. So I beg Thee, by Thy
Power, please enable me to do that. I now fully open my heart to Thee, for Thee
to work freely in my life to perfect total obedience of my life to Thee and to
Thy Word. Work mightily and perfect that obedience, I humbly pray, Lord. Amen.”
Down to verse
25, all of Chapter three records Job regretting and lamenting his existence. “For the thing
which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come
unto me.” (Verse 25) What Job is talking about here, is disaster. Job
got wiped out. He lost most everything. And Job is saying here that he had
feared the possibility of that happening.
In the same way, you
and I harbor certain fears in the back of our minds as we go through life.
“What if I lose my job and cannot find another one?” “What if I lose my health
and can no longer work and support the family?” “What if I or my wife gets
cancer?” “What if one of the children is crippled or paralyzed for life in an
accident?” “What if the house burns down, destroying all our possessions?”
Possibly we do not think so much on those things when we are young. But as the
years grow on us, these kinds of fears tend to grow also.
And Job is saying,
“During all those years of wonderful prosperity, I considered and feared the
possibility of something like this happening. And sure enough, now it has
finally come.”
And I believe that
Job’s secret of being perfect and upright before God is revealed in the next
verse. “I WAS NOT IN SAFETY, NEITHER HAD I REST, NEITHER WAS I QUIET; YET
TROUBLE CAME.” (Job 3:26)
Back about 1980, I was
on my knees reading slowly through this passage, when the Holy Ghost seemed to
stop me at this verse. I wondered why Job would mention these three things in
relation to the fact that trouble came his way. I was puzzled about the
connection. But it seemed like there was an important lesson to be learned
here. So for days, I read over this, mediating and praying about it; till weeks
later it seemed that I came to understand what Job is saying in this verse. I
believe what Job is telling us here, is; “Even though I was behaving myself as
BEST I knew how before God, STILL God allowed all this trouble to come my way.”
It would be like you,
working a job for an employer. Day in and day out, you go to work on time. You
stay on the job late at times. You do not steal things from your workplace. You
work hard every day, giving your employer a good day of labor for the day’s
wage he pays you. You are one of the best employees he has. You do a good job
for a number of years. Then the time comes when he has to cut back and lay off
a few employees. And when he does, you are the first one to get the ax. You
would go home shaking your head, dumbfounded. “I was the best worker he had. So
why was I the first one to get laid off?”
And that is what Job is saying here. “I was behaving myself as best I
knew how before God. But still He let such trouble come my way.” And when I
came to understand that, I saw the three things that Job considered most
important in his walk with God. Now don’t forget who is talking to us here.
This is Job. This is the man whom God Himself called perfect and
upright, one of the godliest persons who has ever walked on this earth. We
are not just stopping the first person we meet on the street and asking him,
“What do you think you have to do to be most pleasing to God?” But rather we
are talking to Job, the one who would most definitely know,
because he was closest to God. And coming to understand all that, I saw what
were Job’s top three priorities in following and pleasing God. And I believe it
was those three things that made Job the spiritual giant that he was. I believe
they are what made him PERFECT and UPRIGHT.
I also believe that if
you will make those things just as important in your life as Job did, that it
will make you just as great in God’s sight as Job was. And in this wicked,
sinful world that is soon to have God’s pent-up wrath rained down upon it; how
we now as never before, need some believers like Job who will let their lights shine
brightly in this ol’ sin-sick, dark world and show everyone around them what
true holiness, righteousness, and spirituality is all about.
I want to be like
Job. I pray that you do also. May God help us all to be like Job.
“Father in Heaven, I do
want to be like Job. I want to learn exactly what made him perfect and upright.
So please teach me. I want to put those things into practice in my life. And
then I want to teach those things to other people also. Please help me to do
that. As I read this book written by a mortal man, I open my heart to all of
God’s Truth that is contained in it. But I close my heart to any mistakes and
errors that may be in it. So I call on Thee, Almighty God, my Creator and my
soon-coming Judge, to be my Teacher. Please teach me exactly what made Job
perfect and upright. Please teach me, and help me, to be perfect and upright as
Job was. Please teach and help Brother Richard to be perfect and upright.
Please help him to be without error and void of vainglory, as he teaches others
about the One True God, our Creator. Grant this, Lord, I humbly pray. Amen.”
(This is the end of Chapter One
of the book, “SAFETY, REST, AND QUIET.”)
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