To God I Commit my Life

 

Job 5:8-16

 

“As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause,  who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number: he gives rain on the earth
 and sends waters on the fields; he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.   He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.  He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.  They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope at noonday as in the night.  But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth and from the hand of the mighty.   So, the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.”

 

What sound counsel is coming from the lips of Eliphaz, if all people would be wise to apply these words to our life how different things would be.  I read this morning that it is a hymn of praise that we find in verses 9-16, often used in worship ceremony.

 

Job 5:17-27

 

“Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore, despise not the discipline of the Almighty.   For he, wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal.  He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no evil shall touch you. In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword.  You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue and shall not fear destruction when it comes.  At destruction and famine, you shall laugh, and shall not fear the beasts of the earth.  For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.  You shall know that your tent is at peace, and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.  You shall know also that your offspring shall be many, and your descendants as the grass of the earth. You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, like a sheaf gathered up in its season.  Behold, this we have searched out; it is true.  Hear, and know it for your good.”

 

The Author of Hebrews also tells us in chapter 12:4-6, the same thoughts; “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.  And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
    nor be weary when reproved by him.
 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
    and chastises every son whom he receives.”

 

 

 

 

The apostle Peter gives insight into the discipline of the Lord, in first Peter 1:6-7, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”  No one in their right mind would desire what happened to Job to take place in their lives, but the apostle Peter tells us that our faith in Christ is more valuable than gold and in trials our faith is tested.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice