the One who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number. Sermons
I. THE GREATNESS AND BENEFICENCE OF GOD. (Vers. 8-16.) Let men turn to him for comfort and for strength. It is a bright gem of description. 1. God is the Supreme. (Ver. 8.) Let men look no lower than to the Highest. With him is the final appeal. He is Judge of all the earth. Clouds and darkness are round about him; but justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne. 2. He is the great Worker. His scale and sphere of operation is vast, immeasurable, unsearchable (ver. 9). His mode of operation is wonderful, past finding out. "His way is in the sea, his path in the great waters, his footsteps who has known?" The grandeur and marvel of his deeds are seen: (1) In nature. (Ver. 10.) One phenomenon is mentioned only as typical, in all important respects, of all the other tokens of his power in nature. It is the blessed gift of rain. For nothing in an Oriental clime speaks more powerfully to the senses and the feelings than this inestimable boon. Many other Scriptures witness this. First He gives the early and the latter rain;" "comes down like rain upon the mown grass," and "as showers that water the earth." 'Tis he who causes the refreshing showers to fall upon the fields of both the just and the unjust. The French peasants say, as they watch the rain failing on their vineyards, "Voici le vin qui descend du ciel!" "Here comes down the wine from heaven!" But what good things do not come down from heaven in the rain from the ever-blessing God? (2) In human life. In this broad field, common experience gains many a lesson of the same kind. Not one of the traits in this exquisite description of which the intelligent observer cannot say, "This is true to life!" He is seen to be the Exalter of the lowly and the sorrowful (ver. 11). Who has not had brought home to him in many an instance the sense of this truth in the course of life? What tales of obscure and lowly worth rising into eminence; of deserted widows and orphans finding springs of help and succour marvellously opened to them in the hour of need can we not all tell? And we take delight in these narratives because they convince us that the constitution of life is not the mere mindless machinery which godless thinkers would make it out to be. We see that selfish craft and cunning are in the end disappointed and baffled (ver. 12). Lies and cheats do not prosper long. The proverbs of the world bear their witness; common experience stamps them with the mark of truth. And this, too, is no accident, but the result of the righteous operation of God. We see that men overreach themselves and fall by their own snares (ver. 13). "Vaulting ambition doth o'erleap itself, and falls on t'other side." And the sight gives us a deep pleasure, whatever pity we may feel for the victim of his conceit and folly, because here again we receive a communication of the will of God. We see self-confident men plunged into perplexity, infatuated, unable to steer their path aright, though the light is lull and clear about them (ver. 14). There is a judicial blindness to be observed in certain cases; so that those who, in the pursuit of passion or interest, have extinguished conscience, become at last unable to see even their own interest, and make suicidal mistakes. Here, too, is the finger of a higher Power. 3. The object of Divine operation. (Vers. 15, 16.) In both nature and human life it is one - to lessen suffering, to protect innocence, to deliver from violence and persecution. II. THE BLESSING OF DIVINE CHASTISEMENT. (Vers. 17-27.) From the general evidences of the beneficence of God, we come down to one special and peculiar form of it, He is good to us in our pains as well as in our pleasures. His power is exercised to purify and chasten as well as to destroy. The recognition of this truth is one of the leading features of Scripture revelation. How different from the gloomy creed of the most enlightened heathen concerning suffering sent from heaven! He felt the wrath of his gods, but he never knew their blows as signs of a secret and remedial love. Where there is no belief in supreme righteousness, suffering must always be without relief. The blessedness here described is both internal and external. 1. Internal. The man is blessed (1) who recognizes his sufferings as corrections. Then their worst bitterness passes; despondency is cheered; hope dawns in the heart. He is blessed (2) who rejects not the warnings which they bring. He willingly takes the medicine, and submits to the direction of the heavenly Physician. But they aggravate their sufferings and inflame their ills who know they are being corrected, yet refuse to take the Divine hint for amendment; who are like the stubborn horse or ass chafing at the bit, resisting the guidance of the rein. He is blessed (3) who yields himself up implicitly to the Divine treatment, suffers his evils to be expelled, his follies to be plucked up by the roots. He is blessed (4) because he is thus brought into the deeper knowledge and fellowship of God. To know God as the Almighty Benefactor is one step in religion; to know him as the Almighty Chastiser is another and a higher. And this is never reached except through suffering, the deeper consciousness of sin, struggles with self, a higher purity, and a deeper peace. 2. External. The man at peace with himself and with God seems to bear a charmed life (ver. 19). (1) Be defended from outward evils. (Vers. 20-22.) He passes through seas of trouble, and rides upon the crest of each advancing wave; passes through fire, and it hurts him not. The greatest outward calamities are mentioned, only to show how he rises superior to them all. "Famine." The histories of Elijah, of the widow of Zarephath, of the temptation of Jesus Christ, all illustrate the grand truth that man's strength is derived, not from bread alone, but directly from the Word and will of God. The truth is a general one. It is that expressed by St. Paul that, though the outward man perish, the inward man may be renewed day by day. "The power of the sword," "devastation," "famine," "wild beasts," form the catalogue of the ills most common and most dreaded in ancient times. None of these can harm the man who is reconciled to God. The truth again is general, and admits of a twofold application. In the first place, history is full of the providential escapes of good men, in which every discerning mind will see the hand of God. But there are exceptions. No law of nature is set aside. The sword of the foe, the tooth of the lion, is not blunted, nor is the body hardened against hunger. Good men, like others, perish from these causes. But here the truth applies in another way. The souls of the martyrs flee to the altar of heaven (Revelation 6:9). or are borne from the scene of suffering to that of rest, as Lazarus to the besom of Abraham. In either case they are unharmed and happy in God. But another evil, more keenly felt in more civilized times, is the "scourge of the tongue." Slander - "Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue (2) He is favoured with outward good. (Vers. 23-27.) The stones that afflict the fields with barrenness, the devouring beasts, seem to be in secret pact with him and refuse to do him harm. This is poetry wrapping up truth. We are reminded of the beautiful ode of the Roman poet (Horace, 1:22), where, dwelling on the theme that innocence is its own protection, its own arms, he tells as of the weft that fled from him all unarmed in the Sabine wood. The whole picture is that of the quiet pastoral life which we love to associate with innocence and the protection of Heaven. There is comfort in his tent; when he visits his pastures, no head of cattle is missing (for this is perhaps the true meaning of the latter clause of ver. 24). Children and children's children spring up around him; till he comes to his end crowned with silver hair, like the ripe sheaf carried home to the garner. With this description compare the noble ninety-first psalm. Eliphaz emphatically declares (ver. 27) this to have been his experience. It was a picture drawn from life. We cannot doubt that it was realized in numberless instances in those early conditions of life; nay, it is so still. It hardly comes within the scope of such poetry to recognize the actual or seeming exceptions. And if we do not see the universal truth of the description of the good man's career, we must recollect that life is a far more complicated and many-sided affair with us. It is far more difficult to trace the connection of cause anti effect in the various courses of men. And we have this immense advantage over this early teacher - that we have a clearer view, a firmer belief of the extension of man's career into eternity. All that appears exceptional and opposed to the laws of life laid down by Eliphaz, we doubt not, will be compensated and redressed in a future state. - J. I. WHY, THEN, DO WE NOT EXPECT MARVELLOUS THINGS FROM GOD? 1. One reason is that we go too much by past experience. We have difficulty in rising above the familiar. 2. Some think too much of law. The idea of law pervading all things, not only facts and phenomena of nature, but thought and feeling, soul and. heart, has wrought itself deep into many minds. There seems no room for the strange, the marvellous. Men forget two things, freedom and God. A spirit is something not included in the rigid system of law. A spirit is itself a cause, and originates. It produces. That lies in the very nature of a moral being; and God is infinitely free, and deals with the soul in ways unsearchable. 3. Men think only of their own working, and not of God's. Consequently they settle down into small expectations. 4. We fear to lessen our own diligence by the expectation of great and marvellous things being done for us. II. SOME REASONS WHY WE SHOULD CHERISH THE EXPECTATION OF THE GREAT AND MARVELLOUS. Such an expectation is essential to the praying spirit. Prayer expects great things. Could it not breathe courage and joy into us in our own individual sphere, if we could live habitually in the belief that God may do astonishing things for us — raising us out of difficulties, opening a way for us where none appears? (J. Leckie, D. D.) (Quiver.) Which doeth great things and unsearchable. Homilist. He regarded Him as —I. A TRUSTWORTHY GOD. Four things demonstrate the trustworthiness of the Almighty. 1. His love. We could not trust an unloving God. Before we commit our cause, our interest, our all to any being, we must be assured of his love to us. 2. His truthfulness. Truthfulness lies at the foundation of trustworthiness. It is, alas, too true that we trust the false, but we trust them believing that they are true. God is true in Himself. He is truth. He is the One Great Reality in the universe. God is true in His revelations. It is "impossible for Him to lie." 3. His capacity. Capability of realising what we expect and need in the object in which we confide is essential to trustworthiness. 4. His constancy. Constancy is essential to trustworthiness. II. That he regarded Him as a WONDER WORKING GOD. His God was not merely a trustworthy, but an active God. 1. Eliphaz refers to His works in general, "which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number," or as the margin has it, "till there be no number" — passing beyond the bounds of arithmetical calculation. To all His numerous works he applies the epithets "great," "unsearchable," "marvellous." His works in the material universe are wonderful. Go through all the scientific cyclopaedias in the libraries of the world, and you will only have a few specimens of His marvellous achievements. Take the microscope, and you may, like Leeuwenhoek, discover a thousand million animalculae, whose united bulk will not exceed the size of a grain of sand, and all having distinct, formations, with all the array of functions essential to life. Take the telescope: and survey "the milky way," and you will find the central suns of a million systems all larger than the solar economy to which our little planet belongs. His works in the spiritual world are even more wonderful. 2. Eliphaz refers to His works in particular.(1) He refers to the vegetable sphere. "Who giveth rain upon the earth: and sendeth waters upon the fields." What a blessed thing is rain! In seasons of drought its value is deeply felt. Our little sages ascribe rain to certain laws: they point us to the shifting of winds and changing of temperatures as the causes of rain. But this old sage of Teman referred the showers to God. "He giveth rain upon the earth." This is inspired philosophy.(2) He refers to the human sphere. He sees God in human history. In God's conduct towards mankind he sees two things. He favours the good. He confounds the evil. (Homilist.) The works of God answer the style or attributes of God. He is a great God, and His are great works. The works of God speak a God. And here are four things spoken in this one verse, of the works of God, which speak aloud: this is the finger of God. I will first bundle them together, and then both take and weigh them asunder.1. Great things, 2. Unsearchable. 3. Wonderful. 4. Innumerable; or without number.No works of man or angel are capable of such a fourfold stamp as this; no, nor any one work of all the creatures put together. Man may fathom the works of man, his closest ways are not past finding out. More directly. First, He doth great things. There is a greatness upon everything God doth: the great God leaves, as it were, the print of His own greatness even upon those things which we account little: little works of Nature have a greatness in them considered as done by God; and little works of Providence have a greatness in them, considered as done by God: if the thing which God doth be not great in itself, yet it is great because He doth it. Again, when it is said God doth great things we must not understand it as if God dealt not about little things, or as if He let the small matters of the world pass, and did not meddle with them: great in this place is not exclusive of little, for, He doth not only great, but small, even the smallest things. The heathens said their Jupiter had no leisure to be present at the doing of small things, or it did not become him to attend them. God attendeth the doing of small things, and it is His honour to do so. You will say, What is this greatness, and what are these great things? I shall hint an answer to both, for the clearing of the words. There is a two-fold greatness upon the works of God. There is (so we may distinguish) — First, the greatness of quantity. Secondly, the greatness of quality or virtue. And as these works of creation, so the works of providence are great works: when God destroys great enemies, the greatness of His work is proclaimed. So, great works of mercy and deliverance to His people are cried up with admiration, and hath given us such a deliverance as this, saith Ezra 9:13. The spiritual works of God are yet far greater; the work of redemption is called a great salvation. It is the property of God to do great things: and because it is His property He can as easily do great things as small things. And if it be the property of God to do great things, then it is a duty in us to expect great things. 1. He that doth great works ought to have great praises. 2. Seeing God doth great works for us, let us show great zeal (J. Caryl.)for great love unto the Lord. Unsearchable And these works are unsearchable, two ways. First, in regard of the manner of doing: we cannot find out the ways and contrivances of God's work. His ways are in the deep, and His footsteps are not known. Secondly, His works are unsearchable in their causes or ends; what it is which God aims at or intends, what moves or provokes Him to such a course is usually a secret. He doth such things us no man can give an account of, or render a reason why. If the works of God are unsearchable, then, we are to submit unto the dispensations of God, whatsoever they are; though we are not able, according to reason, to give an account of them.(J. Caryl.) People JobPlaces UzTopics Can't, Counted, Fathomed, Marvellous, Marvelous, Miracles, Numbering, Outside, Searching, Till, Unsearchable, Wonderful, WondersOutline 1. Eliphaz shows that the end of the wicked is misery;6. that man is born to trouble; 8. that God is to be regarded in affliction; 17. the happy end of God's correction. Dictionary of Bible Themes Job 5:9 1145 God, transcendent Library December 3 MorningI would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause.--JOB 5:8. Is anything too hard for the Lord?--Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.--Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.--Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and … Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path The Peaceable Fruits of Sorrows Rightly Borne The Death of the Christian "There is Therefore Now no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who Walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit. " The Christian Struggling under Great and Heavy Affliction. Letter xxxii (A. D. 1132) to Thurstan, Archbishop of York Whether we Ought to Pray to God Alone? Whether we Ought to Call Upon the Saints to Pray for Us? Whether it is Lawful to Imprison a Man? Whether the Beatitudes are Suitably Enumerated? Whether Envy is a Kind of Sorrow? Whether Envy is a Mortal Sin? Whether all Anger is a Mortal Sin? Whether the Particular Punishments of Our First Parents are Suitably Appointed in Scripture? Whether Sin Has a Cause? Afflictions and Death under Providence. Job 5:6-8. 'All Things are Yours' 2 Sam. 23:4-5. Without Clouds. Question Lxxxiii of Prayer Covenanting According to the Purposes of God. Directions to Awakened Sinners. The Figurative Language of Scripture. A Believer's Privilege at Death Mothers, Daughters, and Wives in Israel Links Job 5:9 NIVJob 5:9 NLT Job 5:9 ESV Job 5:9 NASB Job 5:9 KJV Job 5:9 Bible Apps Job 5:9 Parallel Job 5:9 Biblia Paralela Job 5:9 Chinese Bible Job 5:9 French Bible Job 5:9 German Bible Job 5:9 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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