Tried By Fire # 1

Tried By Fire # 1

"But He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10).

Job here corrects himself. In the beginning of the chapter we find him saying: "Even today is my complaint bitter; my stroke is heavier than my groaning". Poor Job felt that his lot was unbearable. But he recovers himself. He checks his hasty outburst and revises his impetuous decision. How often we all have to correct ourselves! Only One has ever walked this earth who never had occasion to do so.

Job here comforts himself. He could not fathom the mysteries of Providence but God knew the way he took. Job had diligently sought the calming presence of God, but, for a time, in vain. Behold I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him. On the left hand, where He does work, but I cannot behold Him". But he comforted himself with this blessed fact - though I cannot see God, what is a thousand times better, He can see me - "He knows." One above is neither unmindful nor indifferent to our lot. If He notices the fall of a sparrow; if he counts the hairs of our heads, of course "He knows" the way that I take.

Job here enunciates a noble view of life. How splendidly optimistic he was! He did not allow his afflictions to turn him into a skeptic. He did not permit the sore trials and troubles through which he was passing to overwhelm him. He looked at the bright side of the dark cloud - God's side, hidden from sense and reason. He took a long view of life. He looked beyond the immediate fiery trials and said that the outcome would be gold refined. "But He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me I shall come forth as gold." Three great truths are expressed here: let us briefly consider each separately.

"He knows the way that I take." The omniscience of God is one of the wondrous attributes of Deity. "For His eyes are upon the ways of man, and He sees all his goings" (Job 34:21). "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good (Prov. 15:3). Spurgeon said, "One of the greatest tests of experimental religion is, What is my relationship to God's omniscience?" What is your relationship to it, dear reader? How does it affect you? Does it distress or comfort you? Do you shrink from the thought of God knowing all about your way? perhaps a lying, selfish, hypocritical way! To the sinner this is a terrible thought. He denies it, or if not, he seeks to forget it. But to the Christian, here is real comfort. How cheering to remember that my Father knows all about my trials, my difficulties, my sorrows, my efforts to glorify Him. Precious truth for those in Christ; harrowing thought for all out of Christ - that the way I am taking is fully known to and observed by God.

"He knows the way that I take." Men did not know the way that Job took. He was grievously misunderstood, and for one with a sensitive temperament to be misunderstood, is a sore trial. His very friends thought he was a hypocrite. They believed he was a great sinner and being punished by God. Job knew that he was an unworthy saint, but not a hypocrite. He appealed against their censorious verdict. "He knows the way that I take when he has tried me I shall come forth as gold." Here is instruction for us when like circumstanced. Fellow believer, your fellow men, yes, and your fellow Christians, may misunderstand you, and misinterpret God's dealings with you: but console yourself with the blessed fact that the omniscient One knows.

"He knows the way that I take." In the fullest sense of the word Job himself did not know the way that he took, nor do any of us. Life is profoundly mysterious, and the passing of the years offer no solution. Nor does philosophizing help us. Human volition is a strange enigma. Consciousness bears witness that we are more than machines. The power of choice is exercised by us in every move we make. And yet it is plain that our freedom is not absolute. There are forces brought to bear upon us, both good and evil, which are beyond our power to resist. Both heredity and environment exercise powerful influences upon us. Our surroundings and circumstances are factors which cannot be ignored. And what of providence, which shapes our destinies? Ah, how little do we know the way which we "take." Said the prophet, "I know, O Lord, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps" (Jer. 10:23). Here we enter the realm of mystery, and it is idle to deny it. Better far to acknowledge with the wise man, "Man's goings are of the Lord; how can a man then understand his own way?" (Prov. 20:24).

~A. W. Pink~

(continued with # 2)