Does it delight the Almighty that you are righteous? Does He profit if your ways are blameless? Sermons
I. ASSURED BY THE INVIOLABILITY OF THE DIVINE RIGHTEOUSNESS. The character of the Most High is the utmost refuge of the human thought. It is the basis of human confidence. That Name is absolutely unimpeachable. No difficulty in the Divine ways or in our interpretation of them can for a moment check our assurance of the Divine sanctity and justice. On this rock all hope is built. As now we repose on it, so in our thoughts of the future. The final as the present judgments of God are and can be only true and righteous. The sanctity of the Divine Name is the assurance of the unimpeachable rectitude of the Divine ways. The impartiality of the Divine judgments is therefore - II. A GROUND OF CONFIDENT APPEAL BY THE UNJUSTLY ACCUSED. In calmness he may wait who knows himself to be unrighteously accused, slandered. It is hard to bear the unjust accusations of men, and all the more if we have no means at hand by which to vindicate ourselves. To the final adjudication we may safely appeal. There justice will be done. There the righteousness of the righteous shall shine out as the sun, or as the stars in the Black night. The human judgment errs; it is swayed by false words, by base motive, by ignorance, by want of integrity. But high above the imperfectness of the human rises the Divine judgment, calm and profound, pure as a sea of glass. To that judgment Job has again referred himself now in strong Confidence, now in fear; though, in moments of weakness, he has seemed to impugn it. The impartiality of the Divine judgment is - III. A SOURCE OF TRUE COMFORT FOR TEE SORROWFUL. Ever there lies deep in the heart of the suffering the hope that some counterbalancing good shall follow. To the full round of scriptural teaching we are indebted for the clear light that we have on this subject. "There is a God that judgeth in the earth." "There is a reward for the righteous." Weeping may endure through life, and turn it into a long night, but a morning of joy breaketh, when tears shall be wiped away. Though men are tried, yet shall they come forth as gold purified in the fire. To the final Divine award, when God will render to every man according to his works, the patient sufferer may commit himself in calmness of hope. The impartiality of the Divine judgment stands in contrast to the error and imperfection of all human judgment. The human knowledge is partial, the human motives liable to be warped; therefore the human decisions are often unjust. Thus was it with Job. His friend accused him in severe terms. "Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?" Then in severe words he names his offences, and adds," Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee." Such was not the Divine judgment, as the sequel declares. Hence shines forth the lesson to the sufferer and the falsely accused, to abide calmly in hope of the righteous judgment of God. - R.G.
Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous? To this Eliphaz we cannot take kindly. There is so much in him that reminds us of the Pharisee of our Lord's day. With all his conscientiousness — and it is remarkable what sins against God and our brother are committed under the garb of conscientiousness — he seems to be one of those who "speak wickedly for God." Looking at the argument of the Temanite in this chapter, it is, at best, a piece of sophistry. The words of the text seem humble words, so calculated to move us in the direction of self-repression; but we are not required to build humility upon a lie.1. This verse is but an expansion of the thought contained in the previous verse, which reads thus, "Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?" The force of this comparison tends to disarm criticism, for the least taught among Christian people can never think they are doing God the service they are rendering themselves. In those cases in which men think they are in some way doing God a splendid service, their presumption is its own condemnation. But such a thought does not enter Christian believing minds. What are they to say to the challenge of the next verse? Is there not something true within us that rises up against its merciless and terrible conclusion? A man may be far from as profitable to God as unto himself. He must feel that all the weight of obligation is on his side, since God alone is the source of all his goodness and power; and yet he may, I think he must, if he have a spark of the Divine life and light in him, resist so fearful and disheartening a conclusion as that God has no pleasure in his rectitude, and that he is all loss and no gain to God.(1) Such a conclusion is most disheartening to endeavours after goodness. Practically carried into the inner life of men, it would be fatal to that goodness. There can be little faith in a goodness that is not nurtured by love and fed by willing cheerfulness. The difference between a Divine compulsion and the sort of thing called compulsion among men, is that the former is made up of affection, the other of necessity. A Divine compulsion, beginning with love, creates an obedience which becomes more and more congenial and native to the soul of the subject of it. We all need educating in virtue and goodness. Human nature has to be raised and sanctified by the energy of Divine grace. The "righteous" man is the creation of that Divine grace which comes to the aid of the struggling one in his contest with dark, evil forces. And the more successful will he be in that contest, the more clearly he discerns what that Divine force is which is helping him. Most discouraging is it to all endeavours after a better life that we should doubt the pleasure of the Eternal in those endeavours. If we do so, we misjudge our relation to the Infinite. It will be as new life to us when we learn to believe in the words of Jesus about the Father. Against the unfaith of men in this Divine Fatherhood, we have constantly to contend.(2) Such a conclusion is also dishonouring to God. It is against the entire scope and tone of Divine revealings from age to age, up to the day when John, the latest seer of the New Testament, spoke of the God of love. It dishonours Him, because it takes away from Him some of those finer instincts which all men worthy of the name have. We take pleasure in endeavours to please us — else we are scarcely human. We allow for infirmity and frailty; and it were indeed a hard and cruel faith about God to deny Him such instincts. And surely God must be pleased with that work into which He throws most of His own pure soul and Spirit. The more of the Divine self in anyone, the truer and more complete the Divine satisfaction. 2. Consider what of truth we can find in these words.(1) It would be vastly mischievous were we to come to look upon that righteousness as our own, and so try to sever the stream from the fount. It is ours only because it is God's gift. All our righteousness is of God.(2) There may be a high-mindedness in Christian service which finds needed correction in the thought that God is not so much served by us as we are served by Him. 3. We need to feel that all the weight of obligations is on our side. When we think of the Divine pleasure and gain, we cannot but think how beneficent that pleasure is. We cannot serve God without a recompense. Yet there are many who shrink from God, as though He were the receiver, instead of the Giver, of all good. They start back from duty as though it would be fatal to their joy. Nothing He commands but for your good. Nothing He orders but for your eternal delight. (G. J. Proctor.) People Eliphaz, Job, OphirPlaces Ophir, UzTopics Advantage, Almighty, Benefit, Blameless, Delight, Gain, Interest, Makest, Mighty, Perfect, Pleasure, Profit, Righteous, Ruler, Sin, UprightOutline 1. Eliphaz shows that man's goodness profits not God5. He accuses Job of various sins 21. He exhorts him to repentance, with promises of mercy Dictionary of Bible Themes Job 21:32-33Library December 29 MorningUnderstanding what the will of the Lord is.--EPH. 5:17. This is the will of God, even your sanctification.--Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.--This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.--We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal … Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path Knowledge and Peace What Life May be Made Whether all Things are under Divine Providence Whether God is Everywhere by Essence, Presence and Power? Whether Everything is Subject to the Providence of God? The Doctrine of God The Case of the Christian under the Hiding of God's Face. Bands of Love; Or, Union to Christ. "I Drew them with Cords of a Man, with Bands of Love: and I was to them as they that Take Off the Yoke on their Jaws, and I Laid Meat unto Them. " --Hosea xi. 4. A Holy Life the Beauty of Christianity: Or, an Exhortation to Christians to be Holy. By John Bunyan. Covenanting Enforced by the Grant of Covenant Signs and Seals. Epistle xxxix. To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria. Covenanting According to the Purposes of God. 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