Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/mhcc21/v21850

Text File | 1994-03-02 | 6KB | 108 lines

21881
 * Job humbly submits unto God. (1-6) Job intercedes for his
 friends. (7-9) His renewed prosperity. (10-17)

 #1-6 Job was now sensible of his guilt; he would no longer speak
 in his own excuse; he abhorred himself as a sinner in heart and
 life, especially for murmuring against God, and took shame to
 himself. When the understanding is enlightened by the Spirit of
 grace, our knowledge of Divine things as far exceeds what we had
 before, as the sight of the eyes excels report and common fame.
 By the teachings of men, God reveals his Son to us; but by the
 teachings of his Spirit he reveals his Son in us, #Ga 1:16|, and
 changes us into the same image, #2Co 3:18|. It concerns us to be
 deeply humbled for the sins of which we are convinced.
 Self-loathing is ever the companion of true repentance. The Lord
 will bring those whom he loveth, to adore him in self-abasement;
 while true grace will always lead them to confess their sins
 without self-justifying.

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 #7-9 After the Lord had convinced and humbled Job, and brought
 him to repentance, he owned him, comforted him, and put honour
 upon him. The devil had undertaken to prove Job a hypocrite, and
 his three friends had condemned him as a wicked man; but if God
 say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, it is of little
 consequence who says otherwise. Job's friends had wronged God,
 by making prosperity a mark of the true church, and affliction a
 certain proof of God's wrath. Job had referred things to the
 future judgment and the future state, more than his friends,
 therefore he spake of God that which was right, better than his
 friends had done. And as Job prayed and offered sacrifice for
 those that had grieved and wounded his spirit, so Christ prayed
 for his persecutors, and ever lives, making intercession for the
 transgressors. Job's friends were good men, and belonged to God,
 and He would not let them be in their mistake any more than Job;
 but having humbled him by a discourse out of the whirlwind, he
 takes another way to humble them. They are not to argue the
 matter again, but they must agree in a sacrifice and a prayer,
 and that must reconcile them. Those who differ in judgment about
 lesser things, yet are one in Christ the great Sacrifice, and
 ought therefore to love and bear with one another. When God was
 angry with Job's friends, he put them in a way to make peace
 with him. Our quarrels with God always begin on our part, but
 the making peace begins on his. Peace with God is to be had only
 in his own way, and upon his own terms. These will never seem
 hard to those who know how to value this blessing: they will be
 glad of it, like Job's friends, upon any terms, though ever so
 humbling. Job did not insult over his friends, but God being
 graciously reconciled to him, he was easily reconciled to them.
 In all our prayers and services we should aim to be accepted of
 the Lord; not to have praise of men, but to please God.
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 #10-17 In the beginning of this book we had Job's patience under
 his troubles, for an example; here, for our encouragement to
 follow that example, we have his happy end. His troubles began
 in Satan's malice, which God restrained; his restoration began
 in God's mercy, which Satan could not oppose. Mercy did not
 return when Job was disputing with his friends, but when he was
 praying for them. God is served and pleased with our warm
 devotions, not with our warm disputes. God doubled Job's
 possessions. We may lose much for the Lord, but we shall not
 lose any thing by him. Whether the Lord gives us health and
 temporal blessings or not, if we patiently suffer according to
 his will, in the end we shall be happy. Job's estate increased.
 The blessing of the Lord makes rich; it is he that gives us
 power to get wealth, and gives success in honest endeavours. The
 last days of a good man sometimes prove his best, his last works
 his best works, his last comforts his best comforts; for his
 path, like that of the morning light, shines more and more unto
 the perfect day.
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 ** David was the penman of most of the psalms, but some
 evidently were composed by other writers, and the writers of
 some are doubtful. But all were written by the inspiration of
 the Holy Ghost; and no part of the Old Testament is more
 frequently quoted or referred to in the New. Every psalm either
 points directly to Christ, in his person, his character, and
 offices; or may lead the believer's thoughts to Him. And the
 psalms are the language of the believer's heart, whether
 mourning for sin, thirsting after God, or rejoicing in Him.
 Whether burdened with affliction, struggling with temptation, or
 triumphing in the hope or enjoyment of deliverance; whether
 admiring the Divine perfections, thanking God for his mercies,
 mediating on his truths, or delighting in his service; they form
 a Divinely appointed standard of experience, by which we may
 judge ourselves. Their value, in this view, is very great, and
 the use of them will increase with the growth of the power of
 true religion in the heart. By the psalmist's expressions, the
 Spirit helps us to pray. If we make the psalms familiar to us,
 whatever we have to ask at the throne of grace, by way of
 confession, petition, or thanksgiving, we may be assisted from
 thence. Whatever devout affection is working in us, holy desire
 or hope, sorrow or joy, we may here find words to clothe it;
 sound speech which cannot be condemned. In the language of this
 Divine book, the prayers and praises of the church have been
 offered up to the throne of grace from age to age.

 * The holiness and happiness of a godly man. (1-3) The
 sinfulness and misery of a wicked man, The ground and reason of
 both. (4-6)

 #1-3 To meditate in God's word, is to discourse with ourselves
 concerning the great things contained in it, with close
 application of mind and fixedness of thought. We must have
 constant regard to the word of God, as the rule of our actions,
 and the spring of our comforts; and have it in our thoughts
 night and day. For this purpose no time is amiss.