“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. . .”
Job 13:15a
Though He’s not “out to get you,” He’s still out to get (transform) you.
Oh how deep and dark the “enmity (Grk. ‘echthra’—‘hostility, opposition to, hatred, to be a foe or adversary of, etc.’) of the carnal mind” (Rom. 8:7). From birth our Adamic minds, which are “blinded by the god of this world” (II Cor. 4:4) are “ungodly, sinful and enemies of God” (Rom. 5:6, 8, 10). And, it’s only through Jesus’ shed Blood that we receive a new heart and mind that enables us to say as Jesus did “Father, into Your Hands I commend (Grk. ‘paratithemi’—‘place alongside, entrust with, deposit in for safekeeping, etc.’) My Spirit” (Lk. 23:46).
There’s no doubt Job was going through a difficult time.
You don’t lose everything you have. . .your livestock, most of your servants and all of your children (Job 1:13-19) and have your body covered with putrid, running sores (2:7) without it having an effect upon you. And, when you couple that with a wife who encouraged him to “curse God and die” (2:9) and three “friends” who constantly accused him of having sinned against God, no one would blame you for heeding your wife’s advice or murdering those who are “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2) and “forgers of lies, physicians of no value” (Job 13:4).
But, Job didn’t do that.
Instead, he “fell down and worshipped the Lord” (1:20). . .said “Blessed be the Name of the Lord” (1:21). . .and did not “sin with his lips” (1:22; 2:10b) by blaming or accusing God.
Even so, he still demonstrated his “frailty of flesh” by wishing, like Jeremiah, that he’d never been born and were dead (3:1-24; Jer. 20:14-18).
Yet, even then, he still uttered today’s Manna and later said “He knows the way that I take; when He has tried (Heb. ‘bachan’—to test, investigate, examine, prove, etc.’) me, I shall come forth as gold” (23:10). Simply put, Job knew what the Apostle Peter would later discover, i.e., that God’s “refining fires” are for defining and refining our faith and transforming it into 24-karat status spiritually (I Pet. 1:6-7).
Although Job was a deeply spiritual man, who realized his role as the spiritual protector of his family (1:1, 5), he still struggled in his faith. In fact, it wasn’t the loss of his livestock or servants that devastated him; it was the loss of his children—“the thing I greatly feared has come upon me and that which I was afraid of has come unto me” (3:25).
And, even though Elihu and the Lord would reprove him for spending too much time justifying himself and seeking to make God give an accounting of Himself (32:1-2, 8-13; 34:5-35:16; 38:1-39:30), Job still ultimately realized the Lord loved him and would ultimately vindicate him (Job 42).
Dear Pilgrim, can you say with Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”? Have you reached the point where you can honestly lie quietly (and willingly) on His Potter’s Wheel (Jer. 18:1-6) and say “Have Thine own way, Lord”? If not, keep trusting Him and “giving thanks in all things” (I Thess. 5:18). He’s working and will glorify Himself in/through you (Rom. 8:28).
By Tom Smith Morning Manna Dated April 14, 2010
