THE SENSE OF SOLUTION
"He knoweth the way that I take, When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." JOB 23:10
"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown of life."—JAMES 1:12
In this last article in this series we pass back to a word uttered in the second cycle of the controversy of Job with his friends. In previous articles we have followed a sequence. In the course of that sequence I omitted this cry, because in many ways it is most remarkable, and the more so because of the deep darkness in which Job was living at the time. It is found at the point we have made reference to more than once, when Eliphaz had uttered his ultimate word of advice: "Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace";
And Job had replied:
"Oh that I knew where I might find Him!"
The most important element in his anguish was that of his inability to make definite contact with God.
In considering that advice of Eliphaz, and the answer of Job, this tenth verse might be lifted out, without breaking in upon the continuity of Job's reply. The thing he said was most distinctly a parenthetical exclamation, welling up from the deeps of his being:
"He knoweth the way that I take,
When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."
The cry revolves around two personalities, God and Job. In the whole of the book we meet with other personalities: Satan at the beginning; then Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar; and presently Elihu. In this cry none is in sight except the two referred to by pronouns:
"He knoweth the way that I take,
When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."
Having uttered this cry, the gloom settled upon him immediately. We find him plunged back into the darkness almost of despair. Nevertheless out of his deepest consciousness these words found utterance, and they reveal his sense of his own personality in relationship with God. In the previous controversy when answering Eliphaz, we find that Job had lost his sense of the dignity and worth of his own personality; and all he asked was that he should be blotted out. Now, in spite of this, this word was uttered.
In the cry the two things which are clearly manifest are those of his self-consciousness, and his consciousness of God. Two lights seem to have met, light on his personality, and light on the fact of God; and the two things are recognized as inter-related.
It is indeed a great revelation. A man is seen stripped, angry, and rebellious, standing up in the midst of his suffering and his sense of inability to get into contact with God; and yet suddenly words fall from his lips which reveal truths of tremendous significance.
In the words, "He knoweth the way that I take," there is revealed the conviction that there was a way that he was taking. Here, however, we need to be careful in our consideration. The Hebrew word here rendered "way" does not suggest a journey, or a pathway. The marginal reading in the Revised throws light upon this:
"He knoweth the way that is with me."
That is to say, the reference is not to a pathway to be trodden, but to a potentiality resident within the being. The declaration means, then, that God knows all that is in a man; the ultimate meaning of individual personality.
We have some light upon that in the familiar words in Prov. 22:6:
"Train up a child in the way he should go, And even when he is old he will not depart from it";
Which should be rendered:
"Train up a child in his own way,
And when he is old he will not depart from it."
That is to say, that in every child there is a potentiality; and training should be in order to the development of that.
That is what Job meant when he referred to the "way that is with me." He was conscious that there was a meaning in his being, a potentiality and a purpose. This is at once the greatest and the most baffling of convictions that ever comes to the human soul. It is the fact to which the statement refers. What the purpose is may be unknown, and the way of fulfillment may not be understood. The sense of it is almost overwhelming, for it always brings the consciousness of inability to perfectly apprehend. The declaration he made was that God knew him perfectly, and all that was within him.
To that he added the statement in 23:10:
"When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."
The first value of that statement is that of his recognition that the processes of life constituted a testing for gold. Therein was a recognition that within him was admixture of alloy; things that needed to be dealt with.
Concerning him, then, the words expressed a consciousness that his life had a meaning and a purpose; and that in order to its realization there was the need of processes of testing as by fire. (1 Cor. 3:15)
But the ultimate wonder of the statement is not that of its revelation of self-consciousness, but that of the sense of God which for the moment illuminated him. Of God he said,
"He knoweth the way that I take."
In effect he declared his own ignorance of the purpose of his personality, and of the potentialities within him which would enable him to realize that purpose. But what he did not know was perfectly known to God.
It is here that humanity is so constantly breaking down. We think we know ourselves. We decide what we are going to be and to do. All this is not only permissible but valuable; but, until we recognize that of ourselves our knowledge is partial and incomplete, (as Job’s friends) we are in danger of making shipwreck of life. That which is by Divine creation in every human being does not find on the earth level its ultimate value. The way that is in me is linked to the life that lies beyond. All this is known to God. The potentialities within the human soul create, if rightly adjusted, perfect fitness for the ultimate fulfillment of purpose. When our Lord, in those final hours when death was approaching, looked back to the day of His birth, to the time when as a little Babe He came into the world, He said to Pilate:
"To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth."
Thus He linked His birth with a purpose and a principle. The question that we should ask ourselves is as to whether we are doing that; and the only answer possible is that we cannot do it. Here, then, is the final value of the statement that what we cannot do because we do not know, God is able to do because He perfectly knows.
Job's phrase, "When He hath tried me," carries us beyond the fact of the knowledge of God to the fact of His government, in order to the fulfillment of the potentialities which are perfectly known to Him. Malachi's words, "He sitteth as a refiner of silver," (Mal. 3:3) help us to an understanding of this idea. The refiner of silver sits by the furnace, tempering its fires, always in the interest of the refining process. For this passing moment, then, of highest illumination, Job saw all the experiences through which he was passing as flames of fire, testing gold; and he saw God sitting as the Refiner, presiding over the processes which finally should bring him forth as gold. The fires of the refiner do not destroy the essential, but only the alloy. The emergence of personality into its final dignity will result from the knowledge and the testing of the Divine government.
The full and final corroboration of these convictions came in and through Jesus. All the teaching of our Lord and of His holy apostles as found in the New Testament literature ratifies the convictions to which Job gave utterance. Our illustration of that teaching is taken from the Epistle of James. This letter was specially written for those who were passing through fires of suffering, and the statement we consider is that which, in crystallized form, supplies the answer of Jesus, ratifying the statement of Job:
"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been approved he shall receive the crown of life."
A statement so startling finds its full interpretation in the whole letter. The vision presented to the view is that of God presiding over all the strange and. often baffling experiences of suffering and of testing, even as by fire, and that with a definite purpose, that purpose being, as James puts it, that those who pass through the testing shall find the crown of life. This is the same idea as that expressed by Job in the words:
"I shall come forth as gold."
James describes it as the reception of the stephanos, or victor's crown; the coronation of life, the full realization of its meaning; the ultimate victory in experience.
This government of the process by God was in the mind of Paul when he said,
"There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear."
That is to say, that God "sitteth as a refiner of silver," and will allow no fire to harm that which is being tested. In this immediate connection Paul continued:
"God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure."
Such testing is severe, and James declares, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation." (Blessed is often translated born again) The meaning of the word "endureth" is literally to sit under. It describes the attitude of fortitude in the midst of the burning of the fires.
In concluding this series of articles we find an arresting fact that the Book of Job is only twice referred to in the New Testament: once from the pen of Paul, and once from that of James.
Paul's reference occurs incidentally when he quotes the words of Eliphaz in his first address to Job:
"He that taketh the wise in their craftiness."
It always seems to me that there was a touch of satire in Paul's quoting Eliphaz, because Eliphaz was certainly taken in his own craftiness.
The other reference is in James (5:11):
"Ye have heard of the patience of Job."
This reference from James is full of revelation. The word is not well rendered "patience." The revisers have substituted in the margin the word "endurance," which is correct. We do not know the patience of Job in our common acceptation of the word patience. He was anything but patient. It is true that in the passage where the reference is found, James was urging patience, and he spoke of the patience of prophets, and of the endurance of Job. The two things are, of course, intimately connected. Patience, which means long-suffering, has reference to persons; whereas endurance, which means staying under, has reference rather to an attitude towards circumstances.
I repeat, Job did not manifest patience in the sense of long-suffering. He was angry with his friends. He employed magnificent male-dictory language when dealing with them. But Job did endure.
In the whole account of Job we see the patience of God, and the endurance of man. When these act in fellowship, the issue is certain. It is that of the coming forth from the fire as gold, that of the receiving of the crown of life. Adelaide Procter expressed the truth in her lines:
"Let thy gold be cast in the furnace,
Thy red gold, precious and bright, Do not fear the hungry fire,
With its caverns of burning light;
And thy gold shall return more precious,
Free from every spot and stain;
For gold must be tried by fire,
As a heart must be tried by pain!
In the cruel fire of Sorrow
Cast thy heart, do not faint or wail;
Let thy hand be firm and steady,
Do not let thy spirit quail;
But wait till the trial is over,
And take thy heart again;
For as gold is tried by fire,
So a heart must be tried by pain!
I shall know by the gleam and glitter
Of the golden chain you wear,
By your heart's calm strength in loving,
Of the fire they have had to bear.
Beat on, true heart, forever;
Shine bright, strong golden chain;
And bless the cleansing fire,
And the furnace of living pain!"
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