BECOMING GOLDEN

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then Job replied:

“Even today my complaint is bitter; His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning. If only I knew where to find Him; if only I could go to his dwelling! I would state my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would find out what He would answer me, and consider what He would say to me. Would he vigorously oppose me? No, he would not press charges against me. There the upright can establish their innocence before him, and there I would be delivered forever from my judge.”

“But if I go to the east, He is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find Him. When He is at work in the north, I do not see Him; when He turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of Him. But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed His steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread.”

“But He stands alone, and who can oppose Him? He does whatever He pleases. He carries out His decree against me, and many such plans He still has in store. That is why I am terrified before him; when I think of all this, I fear him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me. Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.”

“Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know Him look in vain for such days? There are those who move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen. They drive away the orphan’s donkey and take the widow’s ox in pledge. They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding. Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children. They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked. Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked; they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold. They are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of shelter. The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt. Lacking clothes, they go about naked; they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry. They crush olives among the terraces; they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst. The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help. But God charges no one with wrongdoing.”

“There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths. When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up, kills the poor and needy, and in the night steals forth like a thief. The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he keeps his face concealed. In the dark, thieves break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light. For all of them, midnight is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness.”

“Yet they are foam on the surface of the water; their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one goes to the vineyards. As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow, so the grave snatches away those who have sinned. The womb forgets them, the worm feasts on them; the wicked are no longer remembered but are broken like a tree. They prey on the barren and childless woman, and to the widow they show no kindness. But God drags away the mighty by his power; though they become established, they have no assurance of life. He may let them rest in a feeling of security, but his eyes are on their ways. For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.”

“If this is not so, who can prove me false and reduce my words to nothing?”

Job 23:1-17, 24:1-25

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we have seen in the story of Job, great suffering can come suddenly upon anyone and turn their world upside down. This suffering doesn’t necessarily need to be physical like the sores that afflicted Job from head to toe. We also see in Job the emotional distress that can come in losing someone you love, in his case, all his children. Emotional distress can also come from any number of other things like a broken relationship, caring for a loved one who is sick, or trying to make ends meet in tough economic times. Truly, there is no shortage of troubles that can result in our best laid plans being put to waste in a moment’s notice.

In the midst of life’s storms, we can so often lose our bearing. Difficulty often brings us into a state of confusion, caught in the whirlwind of finding answers to questions raised by our hardships.

- Why is this happening to me? What have I done to deserve this? Where is God now that I need Him?

- Will I ever recover from this illness? Am I going to die soon?

- Am I going to lose everything? And if so, how am I ever going to get back on my feet again?

- Am I ever going to be loved again…or for that matter be able to love?

- Am I going to be able to make it through this?

Yes, life can often place us in a place where we are off balance and disoriented…lost and seeking a way back to normalcy. This is where we can find ourselves…and as we study the Book of Job, we find him in it.

Indeed, Job is trying to figure it all out. His friends, who first came to be there for Job in the midst of his affliction, end up adding more to the confusion he is undergoing. We have seen two full exchanges between Job and his three friends, each friend speaking and then Job responding. As we get to chapters 23 and 24, we are in the midst of a third round. On the surface, nothing seems to have come out of these exchanges except for an increasingly volatile relationship between the participants. But look carefully and you can begin to see glimmers of hope in Job’s words. While covered by the veil of his dark times, the Lord is beginning to poke holes in the cloth and shine His light through.

We get a feel for this in verse 10 of Chapter 23 when Job says:

“But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”

Job didn’t understand why the Lord had him in his circumstances but he knew two very important things…things we are to remember as well:

1. The Lord knows the ways we take.

As we walk through life, we should ever be wary that God’s eye and ear is upon us. Nothing escapes Him…no action, no spoken word (even the ones said under our breath), no thoughts as God, and only God, can see into our hearts.

So this brings up a question we all should ponder. “What does God discover when He looks at the ways I take?”

Of critical importance is how we answer this question.

Dishonesty will cause us to not change sinful behaviors that God despises and keep us from becoming who He wants us to be. Our desires become more important than His.

Conversely, honesty brings us to a place of accountability, focusing us on obedience to God’s word and will while revealing ways we need to change and leading us toward God’s strength and power to help us overcome our weaknesses. And when this happens, we’ll then begin to enter into point 2.

2. The Lord tests and refines us.

Indeed, the Lord is always trying to test and purify us more and more every day. Just as gold is placed in the fire to remove its impurities, so too must we…only our fire comes in the form of life’s difficulties. Job knew he would be a better man after he emerged from his hardship…a man who had become more golden in God’s eyes after testing and refinement. We need to realize the same.

But purity isn’t the only thing that comes from the Lord’s refinement in our lives. For the Lord is also working hard to refine our faith.

Think about it. Isn’t it easy to be faithful when everything is going well in life? In fact, I would wager to say that we almost get to a point where we take our faith for granted if we have went through a significant period of time where we haven’t been tested. Truly, our trust and hope in the Lord is challenged the most when we go through trial and tribulation.

So how well do we respond in faith to hardship? And as you ponder this, remember that the Lord is always watching our ways. I think we all can use help when it comes to the matter of faith just as we need it in the matter of purity. Thanks be to God that He is ever willing and ready to refine us through testing.

What can we gain from all this? Consider this passage from First Peter, Chapter 1.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire —may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”  1 Peter 1:3-9

Friends, as we advance through life and face its joys and trials, we must always keep in mind that all are placed on us by the Lord for our edification and education. Indeed, trials will come as God refines our faith toward becoming more and more genuine…and in doing so draws us ever closer to Him. And as we draw into a greater relationship with Him, we are drawn ever nearer as well to Jesus, His Son and the Author of our salvation…the One who brings us to a sense of praise, honor, glory and inexpressible joy as we consider His sacrifices for us and how they brought us the promise of eternal life.

Yes, this life is difficult and laced with hardship but the best is yet to come. God is ever more trying to make us more golden but one day we will be gold as we join Him and Jesus forever.

And that is worth going through the fire for.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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