‘The Untouchable’
Although Job was
thoroughly afflicted by Satan’s mighty onslaught, in the end he was truly ‘The
Untouchable’ saint in view of eternity! God continues His protection and
provision throughout Job’s tortuous journey of the devil’s fierce assault.
But in the end
Job came forth as gold. His deep-rooted character which was in the process of
being molded by the Lord is what kept Him intact even though he vacillated time
and again his firm foundation as described by the Lord in chapters one and two
remained intact.
The first word
the Lord used to describe Job was ‘perfect’.
This term emphasized the blameless character of Job. He was truly untouchable.
No fault was found in his conduct or lifestyle. This word is similar to the first
word found in I Timothy 3:2 ‘blameless’
and there it means ‘one that can not be laid hold upon’ describing the New
Testament untouchable. Nothing can be said to demean the character of Job.
The next thing
the Lord tells us about Job is that he was upright. This word focuses on the
word ‘true’. Job was first of all righteous, true to the principles of honesty,
he was straightforward, a man who told it like it is, a man whose actions were
based on truth and righteousness.
The third
character trait zooms in on the source of Job’s character, he feared God! The
fear of God results in godly actions. It was the driving force behind all of
Job’s thoughts and actions. He had a reverential fear of God which led to his
great faith…’Tho He slay me, yet will I
trust Him’
Without the fear of God Job was
nothing for the fear of God produces great faith, and only those who have
trusted in the Lord for the salvation of their soul first of all can have this
faith building character trait. The fear of sinning against a holy God was the
foundation of Job’s character.
The Lord reveals
Job’s spiritual growth when He tells us that Job ‘escheweth evil’. This old English phrase shows that Job had
control of his fleshly desires, he turned away from evil, he crucified the
flesh with the affections and lusts, he kept his body under and therefore was
victorious over the world and the flesh the first two enemies of the soul.
However, it was the third enemy, the Devil himself, that Job needed to get the
victory over, and this great struggle encompasses the rest of the book of Job!
When the believer
demonstrates his victory over the world by his faith (I John 5:4), not desiring
the things of this world, but rejoicing in the eternal spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1-3) instead, then he moves to the next level of growth.
The flesh now
becomes his main enemy which only can be overcome by yielding to the Spirit of
God, crucifying the flesh, bringing the body under in submission to the will of
God, not yielding to unholy desires and wants of the animal nature that dwells
within all of us.
But, instead
desiring those things that please God and promote Godliness, memorization and meditation
on the Word, Prayer, Fellowship, Preaching, Singing songs and hymns and
spiritual songs, ministering to others, witnessing to those God sends into our
path, yes, these things become the desire of the saint who gets the victory
over the flesh!
But, then, the
battle becomes an intense spiritual warfare, and the Devil and his demons
become the great adversaries of your soul, and just as Job experienced, it
seems as if ‘all hell breaks loose’ and there are conflicts, testings, trials,
tribulation and all kinds of spiritual struggles seem to be everywhere you turn.
We are confronted
with tragedy and at the same time triumph in ministry as they seem to run
parallel as we witness to the lost and encourage and build up the saints. God
gives great opportunity for His glory to be revealed even though we are
embattled to the max, and oppressed on every side, but God gives a song, we are
broken and rejoice with joy unspeakable because we recognize that God has
chosen to use us for His glory.
Although your friends may mistakenly respond
to your calamity just as Job’s friends did, for they could only see on the
outward appearance, you must continue on and allow the Lord to build you in
spiritual strength, resisting the devil, causing him to flee from you, so that
you might be able to ‘stand in the evil
day, and having done all to stand’.
No comments:
Post a Comment