To be continue...Gold Was Refined

To be continue..

What did God purge and purify Job from?

Self-Righteousness: God considered Job a perfect and upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil (Job 1:1, 8; 2:3) though His Word says, “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom 3:10), and “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jer 17:9), and “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isa 64:6). Yes, only God, and Himself alone, has the right to justify sinners if they believe in Him and receive His atoning sacrifice and salvation in the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (Rom 3:22-26). And before the Lord Jesus came into the world, the sacrifice of a lamb was a type of Christ which pointed to His atonement. This is why God could justify the Old Testament saints like Abel (Gen 4:4; Heb 11:4) and Abraham (Gen 15:1-18; 17:1-22; Heb 11: 8-10,17-19) etc.

Here it is God, who had the right to justify Job (1:1, 8; 2: 3) because Job believed in Him and His atoning sacrifice. Job used to rise up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings, and Job did this continually (1:5). It is a sad thing that in his great trials, Job forgot to do this. All his arguments and his three friends’ did not mention anything about this atoning sacrifice. Not only did Job forget that his righteousness was from God, but he also tried his best to defend his righteousness before the harsh and false accusations of his three friends. Job mentioned “my righteousness” twice (6:29; 27:6). Can “my righteousness” stand before the holy and righteous God? Absolutely not! God challenged and rebuked Job and he did learn to abhor himself including his own righteousness, his own integrity, and his arrogant words without knowledge.

Self-goodness: All the good works that a saved believer can do is also by God’s grace alone. It is God who works in him to will and to do of His good pleasure (Phil 2:13). Therefore, it is proper to say like Paul, “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Cor 15:10). It is true that “A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven” (John 3:27). Job really needed to learn the lesson of humility. Instead of giving all credit unto God’s grace that helped him to do good works, Job seemed to boast of his good works and we can recognise his many I’s: “Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless,…and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out”  (29:12-17).

How about Job’s present situation? Could he now say that he was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame, and father to the poor? It is a lesson for him to learn that without God’s grace and blessings, he could not do any good works! Moreover, after encountering God directly and personally, he did abhor himself and repent in dust and ashes (42:6).

Self-Justification and Complaining: Complaining and murmuring against God are sins, “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer” (1 Cor 10:10). When we complain or murmur against God, we mean that God is not good, not right, not fair, not just, and because we are not happy with His will or His way, we complain or murmur! 

Job, in his great depression and sufferings and before the false accusations of the three friends, he sometimes did lose his control, and complained against God and said words to defend himself: “I will complain in the bitterness of my soul…How long wilt thou (God) not depart from me?”  (7:11, 19)

“He (God) teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me” (16:9-14). “Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net. Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.  He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone… he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies”  (19:6-12). “As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul” (27:2). 

By these complaints, Job implied that God was wrong and unjust and that he did not deserve this great suffering. He did not know that he was reproving His Maker and condemning his God! However, God was so gracious to him, spoke to him directly, showed him his arrogant attitude and words, “Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?” (40:8). After that Job repented, he abhorred himself and repented in dust and ashes.