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By J. Hudson Taylor.
" The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the LORD"—Job i. 21. IN several meditations on the first Psalm we have dwelt on " Blessed Prosperity." But all God'sdealings are full of blessing : He is good, and doeth good, good only, and continually. Thebeliever who has taken the Lord as his Shepherd, can assuredly say in the words of the twentythird Psalm, " Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwellin the house of the Lord for ever ; " or, taking the marginal reading of the Revised Version, " Onlygoodness and mercy shall follow me." Hence, we may be sure that days of adversity, as well as days ofprosperity, are full of blessing. The believer does not need to wait until he sees the reason of God'safflictive dealings with him ere he is satisfied ; he knows that all things work together for good to them that love God, and that all God's dealings are those of a loving Father, who only permits thatwhich for the time being is grievous in order to accomplish results that cannot be achieved in any less painful way. The wise and trustful child of God rejoices in tribulation, " knowing that tribulationworketh patience," experience, hope—a hope that " maketh not ashamed ; because the love of Godis shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." The history of Job is full of instructiveness, and should teach us many lessons of deep interest andgreat profit. The veil is taken away from the unseen world, and we learn much of the power of ourgreat adversary, but also of his powerlessness apart from the permission of God our Father.
In the 8th verse of the 1st chapter, God Himself bears testimony to His servant: "that there is January, 189 1.
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none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil
and in the 2nd chapter and 3rd verse, He repeats the same testimony, adding : " still he holdeth fasthis integrity, although thou movedst Me against him, to destroy him without cause." Stronger testi-mony to the life which God's grace enabled Job to live can scarcely be imagined : the chastisementthat came upon him is declared to have been without cause so far as his life and spirit were concerned.Let us thank God that the same grace which enabled Job so long ago to live a life that pleased Godand received His repeated commendation, is unchanged, and that by it we may also live lives that willbe well-pleasing to Him with whom we have to do. Satan would very frequently harass the believer in times of sorrow and trial by leading himtothink that God is angry with him—that this is a punishment for some unknown offence, and manyofthe comforts and consolations that might otherwise be enjoyed may thus be clouded. Do wenotrather see from the Word of God that He is like a glad Father, delighting to be able to encourageastrong healthy son to undertake some athletic feat which will entail arduous effort and careful training?Or, to stimulate him to prepare for a difficult literary examination by a prolonged and toilsome courseof study, knowing he will obtain honours and permanent advantage from his attainments? So, ourHeavenly Father delights to trust a trustworthy child with a trial in which he can bring great glory toGod, and through which he will receive permanent enlargement of heart, and blessing for himself andothers. Take the case of Abraham : God so thoroughly trusted him, that He was not afraid to callupon His servant to offer up his well-beloved son. And here in the case of Job, it was not Satan whochallenged God about Job, but God who challenged the arch-enemy, the accuser of the brethren, tofind any flaw in his character, or failure in his life. In each case grace triumphed, and in each casepatience and fidelity were abundantly rewarded ; but more of this anon. The reply of Satan is noteworthy. He does not need to ask " Which Job ? " or " Where doeshe live ?
" He had considered God's servant, and evidently knew all about him. How came it thathe was so well acquainted with this faithful man of God ? It may have come about in this way : thosesubordinate spirits of evil who are evidently under the control of Satan, had in vain tried ordinarymeans of temptation with the patriarch. Probably reporting their want of success to some of theprincipalities and powers of evil, these likewise had essayed their diabolical arts, but had not succeededin leading Job to swerve from his integrity. Last of all, the great arch-enemy himself had found allhis own efforts ineffectual to harass and lead astray God's beloved servant. He found a hedge aroundhim, and about his servants, and about his house, and about all that he had on every side—an entrench-ment so strong that he had been unable to break through—so high that, going about as a roaring lion,he had been unable to leap over, or to bring disaster within the GoD-protected circle. How blessed it must have been to dwell so protected ! The work of Job's hands was prosperedhis substance increased in the land, and he became the greatest as well as the best of all the menofthe East. For in that day God manifested His approval largely, though not solely, by the bestowaloftemporal blessings.
Is there no analogous spiritual blessing to be enjoyed now-a-days ? Thank God, there is. Everybeliever may be as safely kept and as fully blessed, though, perhaps, not in the same way, as Jobmay be delivered from the power of the enemy, and preserved in a charmed circle of perfect peace.The conditions are simple, and are given us by the Apostle Paul in the 4th chapter of Philippians, v. 4-7," Rejoice in the Lord alway. . . Let your moderation [your gentleness, or yieldingness] beknown unto all men. The Lord is at hand." Notjyowr " power of resistance of evil," and of " maintaining your own rights," but your spirit of yieldingness, believing that the Lord will maintain for youall that is really for your good ; and that in any case, He is at hand, and will soon abundantly rewardfidelity to His command. And lastly, " Be careful for nothing ; but in everything by prayer andsupplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God,which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Howisit that believers so often fail to enjoy this promised blessing ? Is it not that we fail to be anxiousfor nothing, and to bring everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving before God ? Wemay bring nine difficulties out of ten to Him, and try to manage the tenth ourselves, and that onelittle difficulty, like a small leak that runs the vessel dry, is fatal to the whole ; like a small breach in acity wall, it gives entrance to the power of the foe. But if we fulfil the conditions, He is certainlyfaithful, and instead of our having to keep our hearts and minds—our affections and thoughts—weshall find them kept for us. The peace which we can neither make nor keep, will itself, as a garrison,keep and protect us, and the cares and worries will strive to enter in vain. (To be continued.)