the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Mornings and Evenings with Jesus
Behold, he taketh away; … who will say unto him, What doest thou? - Job 9:12.
FROM the recorded experience of the patriarch we may observe two things. First, That the people of God may suffer. They may “eat the bread of adversity, and drink the water of affliction;” their purposes may be broken off,-even the thoughts of their hearts,-their schemes frustrated; they may suffer calamity in their worldly circumstances, may be deprived of their beloved connections; they may suffer from the loss of health and friends;’ their trials may be painful and repeated, and deep may call unto deep, and they may exclaim, “All thy waves and thy billows have gone over me.”
Secondly, We remark that the afflictions of the righteous come from God himself. We are not, in our conclusions concerning the fiery trial which is to try us, to stop at second causes, or ascribe them to the instrumentality of creatures, saying, It was that unlucky accident, that treacherous friend, that malicious adversary, that brought all this upon us. Let us rather say, with Eli, “It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.” The Chaldeans stripped Job of his substance, and the elements destroyed his family; but Job said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord.” This was not only a just but a very profitable conclusion. Behold, he taketh away; and shall we murmur or censure? No, says Job: “who will say unto him, What doest thou?” So said David:-“I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it.”
And it is this that God himself has enjoined:-“Be still, and know that I am God.” This turns submission into acquiescence; this enables the Christian to say, with his Lord and Master, “The cup which my heavenly Father giveth me, shall I not drink it?”
Who knoweth what is good for man in this life? - Ecclesiastes 6:12.
MEN think more highly of themselves than they ought to think. “Vain man,” says Zophar, “would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt.” Yet how liable is he to be deceived and deluded. How unable is he to distinguish between appearances and realities; how incapable of knowing how he is to fill and act in a new and untried condition; and even the very limited knowledge he may possess may be influenced by the strongest prejudices; it may be used and it may be misapplied, so that his ignorance may become error; and error is often worse than ignorance.
How often, when we look back and examine and compare the past, do we find how different have the same things appeared to us, as they were viewed in prospect or retrospect! How often have we been mistaken both on the side of our hopes and fears! How often have we been anxious for things which have proved to us some of our severest crosses, and how eager have we been to decline other things which, after a while, we have found to be some of our chiefest and choicest mercies!
How have we erred when we thought ourselves most sure, and how have we been deceived when we were most confident! Our pains and pleasures, our hopes and disappointments, our enemies and our friends, have differed exeeedingly from those we have reckoned upon when we have portrayed, these things in speculation only. Had some of our connections and some of our situations in life-yea, had the principal events which have taken place in our history been previously announced to us, should not we have exclaimed, with the unbelieving nobleman, “If the Lord should make windows in heaven might this thing be.”
“The way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”
