Once I preached the Life of Job, a series of 5 Sermons on this great man of God. And I began (on Sunday morning) with Job chapter 29, the Text for today’s Lesson.
Why?
Because here Job tells us how his life was ordered prior to the calamities that have befallen him. As I said in the Lesson Title, “The way things used to be.”
Job is lamenting, grieving, remembering … the whole chapter long!
First, Job “longs” for the days when His fellowship with God was unbroken! This sentiment alone tells us how very godly the Patriarch Job was! “Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; when his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness; as I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle; when the Almighty was yet with me.” Job 29:2-5
The good old days … when God “protected” me!
When He smiled my way, His “light” was upon me!
When darkness came (it does to everyone), but He (back then) gave my insight!
He once shared “secrets” with me!
And He “walked” with me as well!
BUT NOW … GOD HAS STEPPED AWAY … JOB IS BEING TESTED, PROVEN, GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHOW THAT A MAN CAN STILL LOVE AND SERVE AND WORSHIP ALMIGHTY GOD … WITH OR WITHOUT LOADS OF MATERIAL BLESSINGS!
Wow, look how “close” to God Job lived! Verses 2-5 almost sound like they were written in the New Testament!
If that’s all (these 4 verses) we possessed of Job chapter 29, we already would have been enlightened greatly about the “character” of this admirable believer in God.
But there’s more.
Job (back then) was so wealthy he could have washed his doorsteps in butter! See verse 6.
He annually harvested “rivers” of oil, precious and costly “olive oil.”
He had a “seat” at the city gate, meaning he was some kind of a “judge” in his community. “When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!” Verse 7
He passed by, and people stood up in honor!
Why was Job so respected? “Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.” Verse 12, the very sins his 3 “friends” have accused him of committing, ignoring the poor and mistreating the orphans! “And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.”
How’s this for a testimony, every word being true? “I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor.” Job 29:14-15
Once Job passed an opinion, nobody else offered a word! He was that wise! “After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them.” Verse 22, then: “They waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.” Wow!
Are these the rants of an egomaniac, a person with a huge self image? A PROUD man?
No!
No, regardless of what many commentators and teachers say!
These are the cries of a suffering man … savoring the days of the past, “When my children were about me.” Said back in verse 5 … children (10 of them) who were now all dead!
Yes, Job is one of the greatest examples of faith … in all the Bible! Never once did He “curse” God … through this year (?) of turmoil, agony!
No wonder some preachers believe the man Job is a great “Type of Christ!”
All that prosperity left behind … now suffering innocently!
Like our Lord Jesus … having come “out of the ivory palaces” … into a world of woe. And HE indeed is the Innocent Sufferer, for sure! Paul wrote of Him, our dear Lord: “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though HE WAS RICH, yet for your sakes HE BECAME POOR, that ye through his poverty might be (spiritually) rich, might be saved.” Based on 2 Corinthians 8:9.
Mercy!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell