Letter for March 1987

Dear Friends,

“Though he slay me, yet will I trust him; I will surely defend my ways to his face. Indeed, this might turn out for my deliverance, for no godless man would dare come before him?"
Job 13 v 15,16.

Are you able and willing to say this? Job said these words at a time of much suffering. He had lost everything but his life - his family, his property and his health. There was only really his life left, yet in the midst of sore trial, he says that even if God should take away even the little he had left, his life, yet he would still trust in him.

Job was expressing the solace and assurance the Christian has in God even in the greatest afflictions. If we can’t trust in God in affliction, what have we got. The unbeliever has nothing in afflictions but vain hope; but the believer is different. We may be tempted to question God’s goodness and say “Why has this happened to me”. This is a natural reaction to fear and pain; but our solace is the goodness of God.

Is God still good if he slays us? On the surface it seems the answer must be no; but deep down we know he is always good to those who trust in him, and the afflictions he allows us to bear do not mean his goodness has ceased.

Ultimately no affliction can finally hurt us or bring us down, for loss of life itself, though we shrink from it and at times the thought of it may overwhelm us, is a blessing because it brings us from this life of sin and trial to the life of purity and joy; from this world of ups and downs, to God’s glorious world where all is an “‘up". In Christ an exceeding weight of glory awaits us beyond this life. It is an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that does not fade away. It is to be with Christ which is far better. It is to experience the glory to be revealed in us. These are only a small part of what the Scriptures tell of the glory of the life to come. (2 Cor. 4:17; 1 Peter 1:4; Philippians 1:23; Romans 8:18)

Job’s history gives another slant on the problem of suffering. God permitted Satan to afflict Job, but Satan could not go beyond God’s permission. God had a purpose of love for Job and Job was brought through, raised arid restored and doubly blessed. But most of all Job learnt more of his unworthiness before God, and God's wonderful redeeming grace. He came through; that is God brought him through, with a deeper and firmer perception of God’s goodness and love. (Job 42)

What a blessing to be able to so know God’s salvation that we can say, though he slay me yet will I trust in him.

Your servant for Christ's sake,