by Mike Ratliff
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died–more than that, who was raised–who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:33-39)
Several years ago in Oklahoma I was a deacon in our church. I also led a small group that met in our home on Sunday evenings. It was made up of couples. One of the couples in our group was a very godly husband and wife who were probably about 10 years or so older than my wife and me. They were a joy to have in the group.
After several weeks of meetings I received a call at work one day from my wife. I could tell something was wrong. The husband of that couple had been found dead in his garage. He had a bad heart condition and it appeared that he had had a heart attack. I was devastated. I called the other couples in the group so we could minister to the family. The other couples in our group got some food together to take to them. I and a close friend in our small group volunteered to take the food to the house and minister to the family.
I dreaded it. I don’t think I’m very good at this sort of thing. We made the trip to the house. It seemed that the whole block was packed with cars. I rang the door bell while my friend started unloading the car. I was expecting a son or a relative to open the door, but it was the wife. She helped us get the food into the house. After we set that up in the kitchen she took us to a private area in the house since there were so many people there. She gave us both a deep hug and we sat with her and talked for about an hour.
It was amazing. We went there to minister to her and her family and she ministered to us. The joy of the Lord was all over her. She was hurting, but she was also in deep worship mode. She told us that her husband was with His Lord so how could she be upset about that? When we left I was encouraged and had a new appreciation for the power of the Joy of Lord.
Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” (Job 2:1-3)
This encounter between God and Satan is nearly identical to the first one in Chapter 1, however, we know that this is after Satan has struck Job taking away all of his property and killing his children. This is a gathering of saints worshiping God and Job is probably still the priest leading it. God gestures towards his faithful servant Job and tells Satan that even though you have done evil to him he remains faithful.
Notice two things. Satan may have hurt Job greiviously, but God has not restored anything to him. Also, God tells Satan plainly that even though he is constantly accusing Job there is not one thing he has done to deserve being treated like this. Job is still suffering, but he remains faithful.
Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” (Job 2:4-6)
Satan still cannot touch Job without permission from God. He is such a vile creature. He has no understanding of faithfulness. He has not one iota of understanding of a regenerated heart. The genuine believer is a new creation. He or she has the ability to obey God. They have the indwelling Holy Spirit, a regenerated heart and are doing good works within the grace of God. He claims that none of that matters. If sickness or travail comes upon the undeserving believer they will abandon their faith then curse God to His face. Satan is allowed permission to strike Job, but not kill him.
So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. (Job 2:7-8)
How horrible. Satan knows how to hurt us doesn’t he? I can only think of one word to describe Job’s condition–misery. Once again we see that Satan’s goal is to cause such shock to the heart of Job that he will abandon his faith. Job is in such misery that he removes himself to the ash heap in mourning and scrapes his skin with a pottery shard. This was once the wealthiest and greatest man in the East. He had a large wonderful family. He was the priest for his family and was faithful to God in all he did. Did he deserve this? He is a believer so in God’s eyes he is righteous and blameless, just as all believers are. However, he is also the son of Adam of who was born into sin as all people are. In that sense he did deserve nothing but to be cast from God’s presence, but in his redeemed state, God sees him as blameless and righteous. If you are in Christ then God sees you the same way.
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. (Job 2:9-10)
We must admire Job. His integrity is wrapped up tightly in his faithfulness to God. His wife wants him to give that up and end his misery. However, Job tells her that God has the right to give and take as He sees fit. In other words, God is the end of all things. He is sovereign and Job knows that it isn’t about himself, but it is all about God and His glory. Also, once again Job says that it is God who has done this to him, but it was not a sin for him to say this. So, when people say things opposed to this, by claiming that God is love and would never cause this sort of thing, we will not fall for that lie.
However, more importantly, we must grow in grace so that we can apprehend the mind of Christ. When God blesses us with discernment, wisdom and grants us repentance we will take on Christ’s character. We will have the joy of the Lord. We will be strong and faithful in the midst of the fires of tribulation.
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version™ Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.
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Very meaningful. One glimpse of Jesus in all His glory and we would feel so broken over any complaining we have ever done. Spurgeon once observed that, “The first time we gaze at the Risen Son of God we will consider ourselves a thousand fools that we ever felt any attraction for this world”. As you said “the mind of Christ” is truly God giving us “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him”. What can compare with Him? “For I am persuded that the sufferings of this present world are not WORTHY TO BE COMPARED with the GLORY THAT SHALL BE REVEALED IN US”. Thanks for again keeping our focus on He who never changes and is worthy of a billion eternities of our worship!!! There has never been ONE DAT that I ever deserved eternal life spent with Him and in heaven there will not be one stinking, filthy, and sin tainted work of man. It will be forever “to the GLORY OF HIS GRACE!!!”. I apologize for being long, but your article somehow released an unusual spirit of praise in my heart to the One you wrote about!
Amen Rick!
You nailed it! That is exactly right. Tribulation looks scary and feels horrible, but when we have the mind of Christ we can lay our life down just as He did. Awesome!
Indeed we must put on the mind of Christ in order to learn from our trials and grow spiritually! Thank you, again! Henry, I enjoyed the quote from Spurgeon that you gave us…very edifying.
Mike,
Yet another great and helpful segment. What a wife! “Curse God and die!” How would you like to wake up to that each morning and think, “Uh… you complete me?”
I have been sharing each segment of this study with my brother, who is going through such tribulation mentally, physically, and financially. He has been so discouraged and frustrated and wondering why God allows evil to come against us? This study is full of encouragement and hope, and I am so thankful to God for bringing me to this blog at this time. It is all in His hand of Providence. God bless and thank you for sharing what God has laid on your heart.
Rachel,
Welcome to Possessing the Treasure. God is good. Suffering is never easy or enjoyable. However, it is God’s number one tool to purify His saints and develop Christ’s character in them. I also know that when we are suffering, that sort of message may or may not be welcome. We must pray for those in the fire. Those who have been in the fires of tribulation are best equiped to minister to those who are suffering which is another purpose behind our suffering. You may want to put a prayer request for your brother on my Prayer Request page.
In Christ
Mike Ratliff
I think that you raised an important question to consider, Mike. Did Job deserve to suffer? He was a believer…and God approved of him as a blameless and upright servant. As a good person, was his suffering unjust? Is ours?
I think that God considered Job upright, not due to his goodness…but for his faith. Like Abraham who was credited with righteousness because he believed, Job was justified by his faith in God’s future promises. (Job was the first to preach the future resurrection and had knowledge of God’s promise in Gen. 3:15 of a future redeemer ) Job was declared upright, not for being a good person, but because he looked forward to the promised Messiah, just as we are justified when we look back in faith that the promise was fulfilled in Christ.
But like us, Job was still a sinner… A good man…but still a sinner. Paul tells us that the wage of sin is death. (Romans 6:23) So what Job deserved…and what we all deserve…is eternal separation from God in a place of torment where a poor man with a few itchy boils would be considered prosperous.
What we don’t deserve is to have a personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe…to know Him as “Abba” Father, adopted as children and coheirs with Christ. Compared to what we do deserve…eternal death…a bit of temporal suffering today hardly compares. I think that Job was a humble man who understood this truth.. (Sorry for the length of the post…)
Please don’t appologize for the length of your comment Jessica. Yes, you stated that very well. You certainly have a handle on this. One reason Job was able to remain faithful is his genuine humility which is a product of his faith.
What most Christians miss is that, yes we are blameless and righteous in God’s eyes, we are still sinful people desperatly in need of cleansing. When we do grasp this then we see our suffering in the proper context.
In Christ
Mike Ratliff
Yes, suffering has so many purposes in God’s economy. since we live in a fallen world, suffering is a part of it. There must be things that can only be accomplished in our lives with suffering and not another way. And suffering shows us our own helplessness and our utter dependence upon the Lord – for everything. When things are going well for us we tend to think that we have it all together. We can cruise along in our own strength (or so we think). Yet in the fires of suffering,the strength we though we had crumbles. We are humbled at how much we need the Lord, whether it is for daily grace and strength, for forgiveness, for hope, for healing, for provision, for his perspective on it, or whatever it might be. Suffering is a good thing if it drives you to the Lord – amen? I have some family members who are not Christians and are going through a trial right now and it’s been a reminder to me of how desperately I need the Lord every day.
Very wise and discerning statement of faith Julie! Isn’t God good in teaching us these things? I think there is another use for suffering. It makes us see that this world is not our home and there is coming a day when we will free of it. We will be with our saviour for eternity. There we will never suffer again. I find that a tremendous motivation to not see my troubles here as so devastating. As those born of God, we are in His family. Our inheritance awaits. Personally, I can’t wait, but I suppose I will have to.
In Christ
Mike Ratliff
Yes, Mike that’s another one! Suffering does make heaven very real to us. We realize the temporal nature of the world and its good things (and its evil too, thankfully). It takes our eyes off of this world and puts them on the world to come. Our hearts are filled with longing for our real home. We’ll never have to leave, say goodbye to anybody, or suffer anymore. Whenver godly Christians go home to be with the Lord, I find that also makes heaven very real. It’s one way that I check my heart – do I still consider heaven more to be desired than this life? Is Christ still my Treasure?
Julie – Amen sister!
Mike, Thank you for reminding us that in the midst of fire, we His children are sustained by the unmeasured grace of God. I don’t know about you, but I rejoice that God takes the responsibility of holding me, rather than expecting me to do all the holding. I am so thankful for His gift of faith, and grace that sustains. I am also thankful for the future grace that is to come, and the HOPE that I have in Christ…knowing that this HOPE is assurance of His completing what He started in me. Sanctification is hard…but it is God’s clear will for all of His children, and He will stop at nothing to accomplish the task of conforming us to His Son! Faithfulness in the midst of suffering is part of that conforming, and God never requires from us something that He has not already supplied in Christ! Now that is faithful!
I rejoice Michael that God is using this series so! He is so GOOD!
As His children, God has control of our enemy’s access to us. Right now God allows him to attack for His purposes. God sustains us in the fire. If we remain faithful in the fire the closeness we have with our savior will only deepen. God is Good! What a wonderufl thing it is to know that nothing can seperate us from the Love of God nor snatch us out of His hands.
Great comment bruisedreed
In Christ
Mike Ratliff