Many of us who have chosen to remain faithful unto the Lord begin to feel condemned as we realize we need so much more of the work of the Lord in our lives. We feel that we must have failed the Lord somehow or we would already have enough of the reality of Christ in our lives. And if we are not careful, we will become discouraged with our walk before the Lord.
Then, there are those of us among the faithful who, because of self-righteousness, do not really feel that we are lacking in the reality of Christ in our lives. And there are also those of us among the faithful who, honestly, do not consciously realize that we do not have enough of Christ's reality in our lives. However, in both instances, even though we cannot see this lack in our lives, we can quickly see that others are lacking in this area, and, much like Job's friends, we do our unsuccessful best to advise, admonish, correct, and comfort others who are having problems.
Again, there are those of us among the faithful who are going through a very hard time, but we do not realize that we do not have enough of the reality of Christ in our lives to see us through. And, like Job, we try to justify ourselves because we have been as obedient to the Lord as we know how.
And then, there are some of us who are doing all we know to do in order to remain faithful unto the Lord, but at one time or another we find ourselves in the throes of all these and even other positions. There are many more realms we could discuss, but this gives us the general idea of some of our responses when God is revealing that we need His further dealings in our lives.
So, whether we are like Job, or whether we are like Job's friends, or whether we are a little like them both, or whether we are like some of the others in the Bible who had "a Job experience" - if we have chosen to be faithful, then God Who is faithful will do His deep purging work in our innermost being; for this is the only way that there can be a continuing increase of the reality of Christ in our lives.
Beloved, one of the reasons that the Holy Spirit chose to write the Book of Job in poetry is because God is dealing with Job's innermost being. And the inspired poetic form, the emphasis and metric exactness used by the Holy Spirit, reveals the depths of Job's innermost being - it reveals that which is in Job's heart, that which is in the very depths of his spirit and soul.
Remember this, when God begins to deal with Job in such a way, Job is not an immature, inexperienced man: Job is a responsible man, he is a businessman, and he has ten grown children. Neither is he an immature, inexperienced Christian, for God Himself calls Job, "My servant," "My bondslave." As his Lord's bondslave, Job has freely chosen that his will be swallowed up by the will of Another. As his Lord's bondslave, Job has freely chosen to serve the Lord to the disregard of his own interest. As his Lord's bondslave, Job is bound to his Lord not because he has to be, but because of the deep love and devotion in his heart for his Master.
But God has even greater things planned for Job and for his friends, just as He has greater things planned for the faithful of each age and generation. God desires that they become vessels of eternal intercession purged vessels, chastened vessels, cleared vessels, vessels through whom God, by His Spirit, can have a free, unhindered flow. We think Amy Carmichael understood this when she wrote this poetic prayer:
Love through me, Love of God
Make me like THY clear air
That THOU dost pour THY colors through,
As though I were not there.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 13 - "That We may be Able to Comfort Them Which Are in Any Trouble")
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