RESIGNATION

Job 1:2

A. "The lord gave, and the lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the lord"
  1. Here, dear friends, is the perfect faith in the hour of sorrow:
    1. Picture, is you will the repeated bad news that man faced - coming close to the other
    2. Loss of property and loss of the children - disaster upon disaster
  2. That was enough to test every nerve and every power of reason:
    1. He was, by God's own testimony, a good man
    2. He was known for his great benevolence to his fellow men - then why did these overwhelming trials come to him?
B. resignation
  1. What is it?
    1. Resignation means to be fully submitted to the will of God - even though we do not understand all that is involved
    2. Job never panicked even when his wife suggested to him to curse God and die - Job 2:8-10; Examples: think of the resignation of the Son of God to endure the abuse of sinners and die on a shameful cross - Luke 22:41-43
  2. The great secret of Job's resignation:
    1. His undying faith in the benevolence of God
    2. Listen to these testimonies of that man of faith
  3. "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" - Job 1:21
  4. "What, shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord, and shall we not receive evil?" - Job 2:10
  5. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" - Job 13:15
  6. Twin pillars of resignation:
    1. Sound reason - his wife lost it. Under an accumulation of stunning blows Job maintained the balance of reason
    2. "The Lord gave" was his first thought; "the Lord taketh away" was his second thought; He, who gives has a right to take away; that is reasonable
    3. Implicit faith in the justice of God is the other twin pillar of Job's resignation C. A COMFORTING MESSAGE IN THE HOUR OF DEEP AND GREAT SORROW
  7. A form of godliness is commendable:
    1. To attend to prayer and the reading of the Bible is very desirable
    2. The frequenting the services of the church is a mark of good taste
    3. Liberality with our gifts for the cause of God is in place for a member of the church
    4. But all these, though very proper, are not necessarily an indication of depth of faith
  8. Real depth of faith reveals itself:
    1. When repeated adversity stalks us at every turn as was the experience of Job
    2. Peter writes about "the trials of your faith" - I Pet. 1:7
    3. He admonishes us not to think it strange when fiery trials overtake us - I Pet. 4:12 Examples: God did tempt Abraham to sacrifice the son he loved so dearly - Gen. 22:1-12; did he stagger when that test was brought to bear upon his faith in God - Rom. 4:19
  9. When sorrow overtakes us, and we know that none of us are exempt, we must keep the two pillars of Job's resignation before us:
    1. We can't allow our sorrows to destroy our powers of reason - "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away" will help us to bear well the dark hours of life; God is still in control
    2. We must hold steadfastly to the faith we have received - never stagger
  10. Finally, let us look at the end of the trials of Job and see how God rewarded his fidelity:
    1. You know, dear friends, that if Satan can get us to lose ourselves in our present sorrows, he will have won the battle and we lose the reward of abiding faith
    2. But we must look beyond the temporary loss of a loved one; we must look beyond the grave; we must look to that glorious resurrection morning
    3. He who took a loved one has promised to give him back to us - "Thy dead men shall live again" - Is. 26:19


Design © John Bryant 2011