Job’s Faith and Submission Were Elevated During His Trials

English


I
During two trials,
Job stood firm in his testimony,
he actually lived out
his perfection and uprightness,
and the scope of his living principles
of fearing God and shunning evil broadened.
After Job underwent these two trials,
his life contained a richer experience.
This experience made him
more mature and seasoned,
it made him stronger,
and of greater conviction,
and made him more confident
of the rightness and worthiness
of the integrity to which he held firm.
Jehovah God’s trials of Job
enabled him to profoundly
experience and feel God’s care for man,
and allowed him to feel
the preciousness of God’s love,
from which point his fear of God
gained both consideration and love for God.
II
The trials of Jehovah God
not only did not drive Job far away from Him,
but brought Job’s heart closer to God.
When the fleshly pain endured by Job
reached its peak,
the concern that he felt from Jehovah God
made it so that he couldn’t help
but curse the day of his birth.
Such conduct was not long-planned,
but a natural revelation of consideration
and cherishing love for God
from within his heart;
it was a natural revelation
that came from his consideration
and cherishing love for God.
This is to say, because he loathed himself,
and he was unwilling to,
and could not stand to pain God,
thus his consideration and cherishing love
reached the point of forgoing the self.
III
At this time,
Job elevated his long-standing
adoration and yearning for God
and attachment to God
to the level of consideration
and cherishing love.
At the same time,
he also elevated his faith
and submission to God and fear of God
to the level of consideration
and cherishing love.
He did not allow himself to do anything
that would cause harm to God,
he did not permit himself
any conduct that would hurt God,
and did not allow himself
to bring any sorrow,
grief, or even unhappiness upon God
for his own sake.
In God’s eyes,
Job’s faith, submission, and fear of God
had brought God complete satisfaction
and enjoyment.
At this time, Job had attained the perfection
that God had expected him to attain;
he had become someone truly worthy
of being called “perfect and upright”
in God’s eyes.

from The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II