“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him“– Job 13:15

There is perhaps no man in history, besides Jesus Christ himself, who has suffered as greatly as Job. Job’s afflictions came because of his obedience to God, yet he seemed to be utterly forsaken by God while afflicted by men and Satan.

Job completely lost his wealth, his family, and his health. His flocks were stolen, his children were killed, his wife turned against him, and his body was ravaged by disease.

If you were to look at him, after Satan was given free rein to afflict him, you would see boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head (Job 2:7), the puss of which he had to scrape off his body. He sat among ashes—probably to dry up the sweating of his boils—so he was caked with white dust from head to toe.

Yet this precious confession is uttered from those very lips: “I will trust God, even if it kills me! And I will walk faithfully before Him, even when I do not see or feel Him.”

It is no wonder that Job is set before us in the New Testament as an example of patience and faith. No matter how dark things may be for you, you can draw strength from Job’s courageous testimony, because we know that, in the end, God was faithful to deliver and bless him.

May Job’s trust in the faithfulness of God inspire you to patience and hope even in the darkest of times. Though He may seem to be slaying your every source of happiness, it is only so that you will find your greatest joy in Him.– “A Good Thing”

“The things which are not seen.”–2 Corinthians 4:18

In our Christian pilgrimage it is well, for the most part, to be looking forward. Forward lies the crown, and onward is the goal. Whether it be for hope, for joy, for consolation, or for the inspiring of our love, the future must, after all, be the grand object of the eye of faith. Looking into the future we see sin cast out, the body of sin and death destroyed, the soul made perfect, and fit to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. Looking further yet, the believer’s enlightened eye can see death’s river passed, the gloomy stream forded, and the hills of light attained on which standeth the celestial city; he seeth himself enter within the pearly gates, hailed as more than conqueror, crowned by the hand of Christ, embraced in the arms of Jesus, glorified with him, and made to sit together with him on his throne, even as he has overcome and has sat down with the Father on his throne. The thought of this future may well relieve the darkness of the past and the gloom of the present. The joys of heaven will surely compensate for the sorrows of earth. Hush, hush, my doubts! death is but a narrow stream, and thou shalt soon have forded it. Time, how short—eternity, how long! Death, how brief—immortality, how endless! Methinks I even now eat of Eshcol’s clusters, and sip of the well which is within the gate. The road is so, so short! I shall soon be there. (Charles Spurgeon)

“When the world my heart is rending With its heaviest storm of care,

My glad thoughts to heaven ascending, Find a refuge from despair.

Faith’s bright vision shall sustain me Till life’s pilgrimage is past;

Fears may vex and troubles pain me, I shall reach my home at last.”