Job 1

Job 1:1-5

JOB—OR THE PERILS OF Job_1:1-5.THE question as to whether Job was a real or an ideal man is in debate between the Critics on the one side and Conservatives on the other. If there be a Book in the Bible, purporting to be historical, which might prove to be only ideal history, Job is that Book. And yet, the reasons for accepting Job as an actual personality, as against the claims of those who see in him only a figure employed for dramatic purposes, are quite convincing. We have little doubt that in the land of Uz there was a man whose name was Job, and that he passed through the very experiences which are here recorded. See Ezekiel 14:14 and James 5:11.In truth, there are few novels even whose characters are purely fictitious. The hero’s name is a creation and intended to conceal rather than reveal the truth; but in nine cases out of ten the hero existed in actual flesh and blood, and the novelist has known him intimately; and like John, in writing of Jesus, he records that which he “has seen and heard”; and often, that which he himself has experienced, and his “testimony is true”.Job is easily the hero of this Book, and to study his experiences as expressed in trials, afflictions, discouragements, philosophies and final triumph can but prove profitable.There are three things seen in these five verses to which we will devote our attention: First, The Prospered Man; second, The Imperiled Man; and third, The Praying Man.THE MANAccording to this record Job was especially favored in at least three respects: He was successful in fortune; he was blessed in his family, and he lived in favor with God.He was successful in fortune! “His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east” (Job 1:3).

A fortune may be a misfortune; a professional honor may be the result of moral dishonor! But with Job these things seem not to have been so.

Undoubtedly he had acquired his fortune by industry and intelligence, and unquestionably he was administering it with a clean heart and open hand. It is a great thing to be able to keep God through the time and process of acquiring gold, and to retain integrity of character while succeeding in the mart of commerce. We agree with President Hyde that the masterpiece of Christianity is a rich Christian. We never meet a man who combines wealth and the retention of high Christian character without feeling that he is the finest product of Christ’s philosophy of life. One can but rejoice to see such men in places of importance and power. Some years ago Thomas Dolan died.

He was a reticent man, and particularly soon the subject of money making. But a newspaper man, who was intimate in his home, dared one day to ask the millionaire how he made his first $1,000. “Well,” said Mr.

Dolan, “I never had any first $1,000. I had $350 and a reputation for making good. That reputation made my $350 look like $3,500 to another man, and he trusted me with that amount. By investment of it I made a clear profit of $2,500, so that my first $1,000 was really $2,150.” Those are exceptional characters who can come into wealth by leaps and bounds and yet, retaining their love of God, walk away from evil. No wonder they said of Job that he was “the greatest of all the men of the east”.He was blessed in his family. “There were born unto him seven sons and three daughters”. The ancients never regarded children as social inconveniences or domestic nuisances.

On the contrary, they were prized beyond all other possessions. As far back as Jacob’s day we read that when Esau, after the years of separation, met his brother again, “He lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee?

And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant” (Genesis 33:5).The Psalmist, when he wanted to speak of the greatest blessing that God gave to woman, says, of God’s special favor, “He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children” (Psalms 113:9). He writes again, “Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them” (Psalms 127:3-3). And when in the Psalm following, he comes to describe that household upon which the Divine favor most evidently rests, he speaks of it as a place where the family fears Jehovah; eats the bread of honest labor, and where the wife is as a fruitful vine, and the children like olive trees round about the table, saying, “Thus shall the man he blessed that feareth the Lord” (Psalms 128:1-4).The impression seems to prevail that position and property are the evidences of prosperity; but it is a question whether parenthood is not an honor beyond any wealth that can ever be accumulated, or any office that can ever be acquired. When one happens to be the parent of some child who moves the world with her talent, or his genius, then we all admit that no honor exceeds the relationship to such a daughter or such a son.

But somehow, if one consult the Scriptures, or take stock of his own heart’s sympathy, or his highest human sentiments, he agrees in paying tribute to parenthood whether the children be great or humble, noble or ignoble. It is doubtful if the honor of begetting Jesus was ever equalled by any other act of the Mighty God.

To be a father! to be a mother! Who can tell or even imagine all that means? It was related that after the battle of Gettysburg some men, walking over the scenes of carnage, discovered a soldier leaning against a tree, holding something in his hands upon which his eyes seemed to be rivoted. They spoke to him; there was no answer. They drew near and saw that he was dead. They got down and examined the object in his hand and found that it was an ambrotype of two small children. The last thought he had in life was of them; the last vision of life was the sight of their sweet faces; the last noble sentiment that stirred his fluttering, failing heart was affection for his children. Even strong soldiers wept at the sight of the dead-stare.

Then brushing away their tears, they lifted him tenderly and dug for him a grave and laid him to rest with the picture clasped over his heart, and blazed in the tree against which he was leaning, the inscription, “Somebody’s Father, July 3, 1863.” I wonder if statue or obelisk, marking mortal remains of man, ever took on an inscription that voiced greater honor? When Christ, who understands God perfectly, wanted to pay Him the highest possible tribute, He did not speak of Him as “the Mighty One” nor yet as “the One above all others”; nor yet as “the Just”. He said, “Father!” Yes, Job was prospered.He was in favor with his God. The text tells us that “that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil”.You run through the Bible and you will find that those regarded as most favored were not necessarily possessed of great material fortunes; and not necessarily the parents of great families; but were always and everywhere on good terms with God. The glory of Enoch was that he “walked with God”; the honor of Abraham, that he was “the friend of God”; while the special mark of Jesus Christ, distinguishing Him beyond all His fellows, was His intimacy with God, the “Father”. To know God, and to know Him well; to walk with Him, to work for Him, to rest in Him—this is indeed not only the chief end of man, but his superb prosperity.Campbell Morgan tells the story of an old woman who lived away up on the wild coast of England, and who came to her Christmas Day with absolutely nothing upon her table but a piece of bread and a glass of water.

That day a godly man, thinking of the old lady, went to her home about noon-time carrying a well-filled basket. She was extremely deaf and did not hear him enter her little cottage.

He noticed, upon nearing the table, that she was just bowing her head over a crust of bread and water and stopping, he listened to hear the old woman say, in gratitude, “Oh, God, I thank Thee for these gifts of Thy love this Christmas Day. Thou hast given me all these, and Christ,” and as she lifted up her face, he said there was an ineffable sweetness upon every feature, that suggested the softened light from an upper world. In speaking of it, Morgan said, “You know as well as I do, if you are true to your own heart, that you had rather have that old woman’s heart’s ease than all the wealth in the world.” To be in favor with the Father is the favor of favors. This was the pinnacle of Job’s prosperity.And still the text ends not as yet. To push a little further into the study is to seeTHE MAN“And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.“And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt-offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said. It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts” (Job 1:4-5).The children involve the parents’ greatest peril.

If they are, in their birth and inheritance, from the Lord, they may prove, in their development, to be the medium of Satan’s assault. A father and mother never suffer in their own persons as they may suffer in their sons and daughters.

The Syrophoenician woman who cried to Jesus, “Lord, help me!” could never have felt so deep an anguish had she herself been afflicted; but to have her little daughter grievously tormented of the devil was more than she could endure. Old Eli suffered the peril of life in the persons and conduct of his sons. He, who was faithful to God and always submissive to the Divine will, was incapable of bearing the report that his sons, Hophni and Phinehas, had first made themselves vile and then perished in battle, their sins unpardoned. And when the news of it reached him Eli “fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died” (1 Samuel 4:18). The picture of David sitting in sackcloth and ashes, beseeching God to spare the life of his illegitimate child, is a pitiful one; but he bore the death of that beautiful babe with infinitely greater courage than he was able to exhibit when Absalom, his rebellious boy, hung between the heavens and the earth, dead, “in trespasses and sins”. The greatest grief that Jacob ever endured was not the selling of Joseph into Egypt, but the report of the evil doings of his older children.

No other suffering possible to parenthood is such as they know when, by love and sympathy, they take into their hearts the children’s sorrows. It was said of Mary, “A sword shall pierce through thy own soul”.

And so it did, for the sword that pierced the heart of the Son of God affected no pain in the lifeless body of the Blessed One, but it cut with merciless, mangling edge every tingling nerve and quivering fiber of Mary’s loving and sensitive soul. Oh, young men and women, let me tell you this day that you have the power to give your parents such happiness as the whole world beside cannot contribute; and you have the power to impose upon them such grief as hell itself does not exceed, for the greatest possible peril of parents is in their children!Often the father’s fortune involves the child’s greatest misfortune. Men are slow to learn. The majority of fathers are anxious to heap up wealth and write a will enriching their sons and daughters. The parental purpose is blessing; the usual result is a curse. If I had it within my power to wish every child I have worth a million, and instantly the fortune would fall out to them, and I dared to do it, I believe candidly, in view of past history, that I should prove my fitness for a lunatic asylum.

When President Van Buren learned that his son was engaged to a rich girl, he remarked sadly, “Well, poor boy! he is ruined! He will now give up the study of the law, for which he has such talent, and become the least useful of all human beings, an heir of riches.” James Gordan Bennett, in speaking to George W.

Childs, said, “How unfortunate it is for a boy to have rich parents. If you and I had been born that way we would never have done anything worth mentioning.” And Orison Swett Marden, commenting upon that and kindred statements, said, “How nature laughs at puny society caste, and at attempts to confine greatness behind brown-stone fronts! She drops an idiot on Fifth Avenue or Beacon Street, where a millionaire looked for a Webster or a Sumner, and leaves a Garfield in a log-cabin in the wilderness where humble parents expected only a pioneer. She astonishes a poor blacksmith with a Burritt, and gives a dunce to a wealthy banker. A fool may be born in a palace, and the Saviour of the world in a stable. Truly royal men and women look out of cold and miserable attic windows, from factories and poorhouses, upon people much their inferiors, though dressed in broadcloths and satins, whose dishonesty and craft have overcome them in the battle of life.” “The noblest men that live on earth Are men whose hands are brown with toil,Who, backed by no ancestral graves, Hew down the woods and till the soil,And win thereby a prouder name Than follows king’s or warrior’s fame.”The feasts of the rich are frought with possible wrongs. It was when Job’s sons and daughters gave themselves to evenings of feasting that the father was filled with fear. There was occasion! Who can tell what nameless iniquities have their beginnings about the festal boards where highly seasoned foods and exciting drinks are made to combine for the stimulus of unholy and uncontrollable passions? It was after a feast provided for him that Lot fell into the sin of incest; it was the direct result of the meats demanded that Hophni and Phinehas, appointed to be priests of God, became the paramours of prostitutes; it was a feast of flesh and wine that led the king to divorce Vashti; and it was after a feast whereby her unholy nature was inflamed, that Herodias suggested the murder of John. Those so-called cafes and restaurants and partitioned saloons that provide savory meats and strong drinks at midnight, are only anterooms to the pit for the men and women and boys and girls who patronize them.

John Bunyan, in describing the taking of “Man-Soul”, tells how the Adversary directed his darts against “eye-gate” and “ear-gate”; but I doubt if the devil has such easy access to the human soul through eye or ear he secures through nose and mouth. It was when Esau smelled the savory pottage that he sold his birthright.

The feasting conquerors of yesterday are the fasting captives of today. As cattle are lured to the slaughter pen by the corn sprinkled in the path, so young men and women, lured on by feasts, press the path that ends in the pit. Give your boy money enough to make possible his appearance at the festal board more often than is necessary to health, and hilarities will follow that hint of hell. Ah, men, we do well to be concerned if last night our sons held a feast and sisters were sent for to eat and to drink with them. All intemperance in eating and drinking is the devil’s delight, for it holds the promise of destruction to them that engage in it.A further research of this Scripture reveals the way a prosperous man faces his perils. It shows usA PRAYING MAN“It was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.

Thus did Job continually” (Job 1:5).In the custom of family prayers he never failed. If I were asked today for the evidences of decline in the Christian Church I should mention among others, the neglect of the family altar.

It is said that Mr. Brown, the successful shoe-merchant of St. Louis, had a friend and wife visiting in his home. When the time of the morning prayers came, some of the children were up and out for an airing, and others of them were inexcusably dragging along with the dressing process. After the Scripture was read and the four knelt in prayer, Mr. Brown said, “Lord, here we are, four of us, I and my wife, my friend and his wife; but the children are not here, Lord, and it is probable if we had been brought up as they are being brought up that we wouldn’t be here either.” Alas for the times and customs upon which we have come.

It is as difficult to assemble the ordinary family of considerable size for morning devotions as it is to secure the prompt attendance of professed Christians upon church services, and for the same reason. Some of us are too much engaged in other things to pray; we have just got to read the morning newspaper, or rush to the office in order to reach there at a definite hour, or slumber a little longer to show that we belong with the sluggards.

Guilty before God we are, and without excuse. Down in Indiana a while ago a man was hauled into court and fined $30.00 for having struck his wife. When asked what excuse he had for his conduct, he said, “She insisted upon kneading a batch of dough at the time when we should have been at family prayers.” The spirit of the husband was a long way from the spirit of God, and yet, it might be better to be knocked down by a physical blow than to fall through indifference to those moral depths where God is forgotten and our eternal soul’s interests are neglected. Some sweet singer has expressed a great and beautiful thought in these verses: “I was in God’s nursery tonight as the evening was getting dim,And I sat with God’s children, and they were talking of Him;And another Child was with them, though Him I could not see,They say that God has an elder Son, I think it was He.“ ‘Father’ He said first of all; though I could not see for the gloom,Yet the instant He said it, I felt some one else in the room;And the room itself must have grown in a very little space,For the Child called to Father in Heaven, and Heaven is a far-away place.“But oh, what an echo was left by that one single sound.It crept into every corner and wandered round and round;The very air felt holy wherever the echo came;Cried the children, ‘Oh, that it were ever so. Hallowed be that Name!’ ”At prayer his family receives chief concern. There is quite a significance in the statement that he “offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all”. The smoke arising from those burnt offerings is the Old Testament symbol or type of petition, and it meant that he prayed for everyone of them. Bear in mind that Job was a rich man and his wealth took just such form as to require much attention—thousands of sheep and camels and hundreds of oxen and asses and a great household. He could have reasoned, as many do, “I must be out and at it.” He was wise enough to understand that to remain on his knees until God consented to go with him was the promise of greater accomplishments in a short time than he could ever effect if he wrought alone for eternity.

That is where men fail! That is where mothers make mistake.

A little child, seeing a noble woman departing her house take time at the steps to take up each child and press it to her bosom and shower its face with kisses, said, “My mother would love me and hug me too if she wasn’t too busy, but she has so much housework to do, she can’t.” Beloved, it is a good thing to have a house kept neat and clean, and we believe it makes for moral wholesomeness to have a home tidy and attractive; but never, if these things are accomplished at the expense of expressed affection; never, if they come at the cost of conscious tenderness and certain sympathy. Better let a little dirt gather in the corners of the ascending stairway than to leave mists clouding the hearts of the children; and better let the dishes go unwashed for an hour than to send away, uncomforted, the child of wounded spirit; and better to leave the bed unmade than miss the time in which the children might be led into communion with God. People sometimes talk, as one has said, about “a far-seeing man”. The question is, how far does he see? A man who can only look out upon the earth far enough to see how it can be made to enrich himself is as blind as the mole that burrows beneath its surface. The far-seeing man sweeps the earth and looks into Heaven, and I tell you the man whose gaze is never upward is as good as blind; and the father who never points his children to the sky, nor calls their attention to the Star of Bethlehem has missed the opportunity of life, and had as well prepare to spend eternity in the agonies of unbearable regret.Let Job teach him now; and let this be the last lesson for this hour:The sanctification of one’s children is of first concern. “Job sent and sanctified them,” There are quite a few men in the world who are greatly concerned to get for their children silver and gold.

Infinitely wiser is he who tries to secure for his children salvation and sanctification. “Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right”. Better is the assurance of a home on high than the largest mansion that ever marked the scenes of earth; better is the possession of eternal life than a clear title to blocks of city property or broad acres of hill and dale.

A dear old mother was dying. Her life had been lived in comparative poverty and she was going down to her grave sooner than she would have but for the hard work that had fallen to her lot. As the sun was setting for her and the end drew near, the mother-heart went back to the time when she was younger, and the safety of her children was her one concern. The evening wore on and the prayer time drew near. The plain old father sat by her side, dumb with grief, for she was going out, going Home. Suddenly, her eyes that had dimmed, brightened and looking straight at her husband, she said, “Are they all in?

The children—are they all in?” He wouldn’t tell her she was thinking of the days when the children were small and she went from crib to crib to see that they were all right; but he answered her question from the standpoint of the larger vision, for she had wrought well and had brought up her babies not only to be upright and honest, but had led them to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world; and they were Christians every one. With that great thought in mind, his heart happy over the result, the stricken father simply said, “Yes, mother, dear; they are all in!” That is the climax of parental success, to bring the children to God.

Job 1:6-22

JOB—OR DOGGED BY THE DEVILJob_1:6 to Job 2:10OUR theme this evening is “Job—or Dogged by the Devil.” There are people who discuss the question as to whether there be any devil, and some openly deny his personality and power. But the average well-balanced, thorough-going thinker has no more doubt of the existence of an Evil Spirit than he does of the personality of God; but rather, would agree with the author of “The Christ that is to Be”: “Far from the belief in a kingdom of evil being foolish, it is an inference consistent with our knowledge of self and our belief in God; and the belief in bad spirits is a fair inference from the belief in human immortality. If we get rid of the ancient belief in the Evil One, as since the Reformation, certain parts of the world have got rid of the belief in demons, there is some evidence that we shall find that out of our universities, out of the very heart of the latest and most serious attempts to reconstruct intelligent belief upon what some thinkers conceive to be the ruin of Christian orthodoxy, the devil will issue again.” Until Christ shall descend from Heaven, lay hands upon this Deceiver, and shut him in the pit, his personality and his power will be alike indisputable.This Book of Job is the inspired record of a saint’s experience in contending against Satan; and that part of it to which we call attention involves Satan’s Access, Satan’s Accusation, and Satan’s Accomplishments. SATAN’S ACCESSHe has access to the company of the saints. “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them”. You say it is a strange place for the devil; and that you would expect him to put as great distance between himself and saints as possible. Then you mistake alike his personality and his plan.A few years since, in the state of Texas, I looked upon a large flock of sheep, and saw, standing only a little distance from them, a hungry wolf. The only thing that kept him from snatching one at once was the presence of the faithful shepherd. The wolf lives to destroy, and consequently loves to find access to the flock. AEsop pictures the wolf in sheep’s clothing.

This is biblical enough. You remember in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 13:11) John says, “I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon”.

The Devil often takes on the mien of a lamb; but the moment his mouth is open, if men are wise, they find out that he is from the pit, for he speaks “as a dragon”. People sometimes say, with reference to the beautiful conduct, the smiling faces, and the general good nature of those who have gone after some of the modern fads of faith, “Is not this proof that their religion is from God?” By no means! Wait till the mouth is opened, and listen to what is said, and then you can determine instantly whether it be from God. Peter’s speech revealed the fact that he was a follower of Jesus Christ; and the speech of those who have departed from the Word of God, and from loyalty to His Son, will betray the fact that they are followers of the Adversary. Listen to Paul when he writes his Second Epistle to the Corinthians,“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.“And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.“Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).Sir Robert Anderson declared, “It is irrelevant to plead that the English exponents of the so-called Higher Criticism are men of earnest piety and devotion to truth, for what concerns us is the character, not of the men, but of the system. * * * * Already there are quasi Christian pulpits occupied by ‘ministers of religion’ whose theology knows no Eden Fall, no Redemption by the Blood, no Atonement, no New Birth, no Eternal Scriptures, no Hell for the impenitent, no Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus, but in His place a Jesus who is the ideal of almost perfect manhood.” It is one thing to profess to be Apostles of Sweetness and Light; but it is another thing to prove by speech that we are not apostles of Falsehood and Darkness. If there was ever a time when the Devil walked among the saints in the guise of a man of “New Thought”, and “Advanced Opinion”, and veneered morals, that time is now on.

He would rather deceive a saint any day than to destroy a sinner.He has access also to the presence of God. “There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them”. Poor Job!

At a later time in his experience, he cries out in his anguish, “Oh, that I knew where I might find Him! That I might come even to His seat! I would order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments” (Job 23:3-4).The devil has that knowledge. While he fears God, he knows that the time of his destruction is not yet; but not knowing how soon it may come, he is industrious in his deviltry. His approach to the Divine Presence is never in prayer. From the day when he fell from Heaven there is not a record of a solitary petition for mercy or grace.

As Absalom rebelled against the King, even his own father, until the time when judgment fell upon him and death sealed his doom, so Satan has never exhibited a moment of repentance, a desire of reformation, or voiced a cry for help. When he goes into the presence of God he goes there for the purpose of mischief against the saints.

Far back in First Chronicles (Job 21:1) we find it written, “And Satan stood up against Israel”. And you will remember that when the Prophet Zechariah saw “Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord”, that Satan was standing at “his right hand to resist him” (Job 3:1). And when you come to the Book of the Revelation, where his evil character is more fully elaborated, John writes, “And the great dragon was cast out, the old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceive the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Job 12:9).When Esther found access to the presence of the king she appeared for the good of the people; but when Haman entered that same mighty presence, he was there to secure their hurt.If we have an Intercessor before the throne—and we have—we have also an Adversary there. Hence our second suggestion:SATAN’S Did you ever stop to ask what are the accusations Satan brought against Job, and what are the accusations he is bringing against you and against me?First of all, he charged Job with being an un-regenerate. His language practically implies that Job is playing a part, that he has discovered that “a form of godliness” has “promise of the life that now is”; and he has “the form” while “denying the power thereof” (1 Timothy 4:8; 2 Timothy 3:5). It is doubtful if any Christian ever escapes that accusation.There are some things Satan has never been able to make me doubt.

In my entire life, I have never seriously doubted the inspiration of the Word of God. The content of its pages is to me over-whelming proof of its supernatural origin; while its fruits, as seen in its effect upon the lives of men, are nothing short of a scientific demonstration of its Divine inspiration.

I have never doubted my call to the ministry for one solitary moment. Too long did I resist that demand of the Spirit; and too ardently did I argue with God against my fitness for the office; and through too many nights did I wrestle with the angel of the Lord in my indisposition, to doubt either His call or His conquest. I can never forget that time when, in the Southern field, He touched my thigh and it was out of joint, and I knew that I could never walk the path of the just in spiritual health until I said, “Yes,” to His command and His commission.Alas, how often the devil has successfully accused me of unregeneracy. He has made every evil desire I have ever found in my heart a new occasion for this charge. I am confident that he himself has first of all whispered his temptations into my soul, and then turned upon me, saying, “Consider your thoughts and know that you are not a child of God, ‘for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies; these are the things which defile a man” (Matthew 15:19-20). Satan knows how to quote Scripture.

What a consolation to remember that when he tried to compel Jesus to question whether He “be the Son of God”, he enforced his argument by an appeal to what was “written”.Again, he charged Job with selfishness in service. He maintained that he was only righteous in the interest of riches and honor.“Doth Job fear God for nought?“Hast not Thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?

Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.“But put forth Thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse Thee to Thy face”.Truly, as Joseph Parker suggests, the Devil takes vantage ground here, “He could have substantiated this declaration by countless instances; he could have said, ‘I have overthrown kings before today; I have seen the effect of poverty, loss, pain, distress, exile, upon some men who had quite as good an appearance as Job has; their piety Has gone after their property; they no sooner were thrown down socially than they were unclothed religiously, and were proved to be, practically, at least, hypocrites.’ ”Have we not known men after this manner? Have we not seen the best pew-holder, when once his riches were parted from him, quit the house of God altogether, repudiate his former profession, and incriminate the character of the preacher? Have we not known the woman, who so long as she held office that gratified her vanity, was active beyond her sisters, but the moment a new vote was taken resulting in the election of another, she had no further use for the church and no further fellowship with Christians? Have we not seen people, who while all their children were about them, praise God with their lips, but when death broke into the little brood, become discouraged and disbelieving?But this charge goes deeper still. Why are men honest? Why do church-members pay their debts?

Why do professed Christians lead clean lives, abstaining from dishonesty, from drink, from adultery? If the time came when honesty was not profitable would they be honest then?

If circumstances existed under which the seventh commandment could be violated and not a mortal in all the earth ever know about it, would they join with Joseph in saying, “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God”? If the tempting cup were at hand and no eye upon them, would the men who so love its taste, turn from it for Christ’s sake?But deeper still, if there were no hands to applaud our course, would men still go in search of their fellows to win them from sin? If there were no praise to be spoken for the missionary to the foreign clime would the Spirit of Christ be strong enough to impel the undertaking? If there could be no knowledge by the Pastor, or any officer in the church, as to the contribution you make to the cause of Christ would you give as much or more than under past conditions? Undoubtedly Paul was striking at this very subject when he penned the thirteenth of First Corinthians,“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.“And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).The third accusation against Job was that he would fail at the point of perseverance. When the loss of property, the loss of servants, and finally the loss of children and home had left the great man of God still worshipping devoutly, and calling out, with mistaken judgment, but loyal spirit, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord”, the Devil said, “The end is not yet.” “Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.

But put forth Thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse Thee to Thy face” (Job 2:4-5).There are some men, and some women, who can endure much; but beyond a certain point they break. But these are not the best men; these are not the noblest women.

When Jesus was in Gethsemane He still said, “Father, not My will but Thine be done”. And when He was ready to give up the ghost, instead of surrendering His faith, He cried in triumph, “It is finished” and added “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit”. And the men and women in whom Christ has found a fresh incarnation, will, Job-like, endure to the end. I know not when Mr. Moody ever employed a more effective biblical illustration, or became more eloquent in its utterance, than when, speaking of that peerless Apostle of the faith, he said, “There was Paul. He won his crown. He had many a hard fight; he met Satan on many a battle-field, and he overcame him. When I read the life of that Apostle I blush for the Christianity of the nineteenth century.

Five times he was scourged. If we should get one stripe upon our backs, what a whining! There would be forty publishers after us ere the sun went down and they would want to write up our lives and make capital out of them. But Paul says, ‘Five times have I received forty stripes, save one’. Take your place by his side. ‘Paul, you have been beaten by these Jews four times, and they are going to give you thirty-nine stripes more; what are you going to do about it?’ ‘Do,’ said he, ‘I will do this one thing, I will press toward the mark for the prize of my high calling.’ ‘Thrice beaten with rods’. Take your stand again beside him. ‘Now Paul, they have beaten you twice, and they are going to beat you again.

What are you going to do?’ ‘Press toward the mark for the prize of my high calling’. Take your stand with him again; they begin to stone him.

It seems he is going to be paid back in his own coin, for when Stephen was stoned to death, Paul cheered on the crowd. ‘Now, Paul, this is getting serious. Don’t you think you had better take back some of the things you said about Jesus? What are you going to do?’ But he said, ‘If they take my life I will only get the crown the sooner.’ Three times was he shipwrecked, a day and a night in the deep, deserted by every friend, and yet forever going on. When he wrote that Letter back to Corinth he said,‘In journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;‘In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold in nakedness.‘Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches’ 2 Corinthians 11:26-28).“Doubtless some people would say to the Apostle, ‘You are meeting with too much opposition, you are suffering too greatly in this cause,’ but he only answers, ‘Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory’. Referring to it all, he said, ‘None of these things move me’. But finally at Rome, Nero signs his death warrant.

Take your stand by him again and look at the little man. In the sight of the world he is contemptible; they say he is fanatic, he has gone mad.

Put your question, ‘Paul, are you not sorry you have been so zealous for Christ? It is going to cost you your life. If you had it to live over again would you live it for Jesus?’ See his eyes light up, and hear him saying, ‘If I had ten thousand lives I should give every one of those lives to Christ, and the only regret I have is that I did not serve Him better; that I ever lifted my voice against Jesus of Nazareth.’ ‘But they are going to behead you/ ‘Well, they may take my head, but the Lord has my heart, and when my head is taken off I shall depart and be with Christ, which is far better.’ And they led him out. He is now on the way to execution. Take your stand by his side and hear him talk, ‘Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day’. Ah, that was his coronation hour!

Look once more, he is entering the Eternal City and Herald Angels now are shouting, ‘He is coming! he is coming!’ And he goes sweeping through the pearly gates to the very throne of God, and Christ stands there and says, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord’.”Ah, beloved, before such an instance of perseverance, do not our sensitive natures, our cringing customs, our shrinking, shirking spirits stand ashamed? And are we not compelled to admit that the devil has occasion for some of his accusations?But a few words concerningSATAN’S Three things he did in dealing with Job.He made evil men to be the ministrants of his will.

When the Sabeans fell upon the oxen and asses and carried them away, and slew the servants with the edge of the sword, those Sabeans were Satan’s agents. When the Chaldeans made three bands, and fell upon the camels, and took them away, they also were Satan’s agents. People wonder why men murder their fellows? Because they are servants of him who delights to send them upon such hellish missions. People wonder why men despoil innocence and laugh at the wreck? Because they are servants of him who delights to destroy virtue! People wonder why jealousy and envy and strife are always venting themselves against superiors? Because Satan employs evil men to be ministrants of his will.

Many of the hard problems of Scripture find their explanation in a solitary name—Satan! Why did Adam and Eve fall? Satan!Why did the Antediluvians corrupt themselves? Satan!Why did the Egyptians oppress the Israelites and slay their innocent children? Satan!Why were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego cast into the fiery furnace? Satan!Why was Christ nailed to the Cross? Satan!He makes evil men to be the ministrants of his will. Study the criminal columns of today’s papers and you have a fresh and up-to-date illustration of the truth that Satan makes evil men to be the ministrants of his will.

The explanation of Judas Iscariot’s conduct in betraying the Christ, is the explanation of every evil deed from the day of the Fall—“He hath a devil from the beginning”.He compels natural forces to produce unnatural effects. Fire has been one of the good fortunes of mankind, but in Satan’s hand, it is one of the most destructive forces of all the earth. He employed it against Job. Ah, he hath employed it many a time since. We do well to speak of the “fire fiend” for such it is. I do not care if God did over-rule the burning of Chicago for its material good, I have no doubt that the devil had much to do with starting and spreading the flames.

The vicious kick of a cow, the slothful custom of the milk-woman in carrying her lantern in the midst of combustibles, even the high winds that sent the flames from building to building, sweeping the whole city-side, —these are all hints, not of Heavenly but of hellish forces. Have you never had your attention called to the fact that when Satan’s time is finally limited to a few short days, and his wrath is great, that among the great signs and wonders that will be wrought will be that of making “fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men”? (Revelation 13:13).

I do not wonder that the Ancients believed that lightning, in its destructive work, was the expression of anger upon the part of an evil god. That with which men are themselves destroyed is constantly the very thing by which they destroy others; and Satan, who is one day to have his followers devoured by a fire out of Heaven, and to find his own doom in the lake of fire and brimstone, is now often using this natural force for unnatural and evil effects.But, further, “There came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead?’. Let Paul pen the character of this great Adversary and he puts it into this language, “The prince of the power of the air” as well as, “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience”. James Whitcomb B rougher has a story he tells of a man who was picked up in Missouri by a cyclone and landed in the middle of Ohio, after a few seconds of traveling. A farmer, going out into the yard and seeing him alighting, asked, “How did you get here?” “Carried by a cyclone.” “Where did you come from?” “From Missouri.” “How long have you been coming?” “A few seconds!” “I declare, the Lord must have been with you.” “Then,” answered the man, “He must have been going some!”My candid opinion is that the Lord was with him when he alighted; but the devil was there when he was picked up and hurled through the heavens, for such a performance is not like our God. He is the Prince of the heavens, and the devil is “the prince of the power of the air”.

No wonder then that the lightning dart deals death, or that the cyclone sweeps mercilessly homes, men. women and little children. There are a great many people in the world discussing the problem how God can be so destructive if He be a loving, Heavenly Father, forgetting that Satan is the great Destroyer, and that as “the god of this world”, he is using its natural forces to produce some evil and unnatural effects.But, after all, Satan’s accomplishments are quite limited.

When he has struck his last blow he has only succeeded in sending the Christian to his knees. We read, “Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped”.And even when his wife called upon him to renounce God and die, he declared, “Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips”.When the devil sent his persecutors to stone Stephen to death they only succeeded in giving him a new revelation of the Christ and putting upon his lips a tender and loving petition, and in hastening his departure to be with the Lord.Some one has called our attention to the fact that in the Dore’ gallery, in London, there is a remarkable series of paintings by Tissot, illustrating the life of our Lord. Among them is one representing the “Ministry of the Angels in the Garden.” At first, nothing could have appeared more grotesque. “But,” said the writer, “I sat down before the picture and strove to find the artist’s thought. The body of Christ, exhausted after the fearful strain, lay prostrate and faint upon the ground.

Scores of angel hands, so painted as to suggest that they were invisible to the physical eye, touched every portion of the Saviour’s body. Neither angel face nor form was visible, only the hands.

It was not long before the tears came streaming down my cheeks. I saw the blessed thought and its lesson. “He shall give His angels charge over Thee, to keep Thee in all Thy ways?