p. 5 | T. E. BOWEN by T. E. Bowen

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 14, 1912

T. E. BOWEN

By T. E. Bowen

Job's Experience --- No. 1

T. E. BOWEN

If chronology can be relied upon, Job lived about the time that Moses was forced to flee from Egypt to sojourn in the land of Midian. It is thought that Moses, while a fugitive in Midian, wrote the account of Job's experience. But be this as it may, Job's experience is written out, and has been handed down to us in the Book of God. It must therefore contain important lessons for those who live prior to the coming of the Lord.

That Job was a man, that he encountered the common experiences of men, is very evident from the brief outline of his situation in life. He had seven sons and three daughters, besides “a very great household.” His possessions included seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses. The summing up of it all is briefly expressed by one statement: “So that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East.”

Being thus great, we may naturally suppose that he had special temptations from Satan. That the enemy would not pass by such a one without an extra effort to overthrow him might be expected. And the sequel for his being made a special object for attack is given us in the opening verse of the book, our very introduction to the man: “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.”

Any person who places before his face the fear of God, and thus departs from evil, will make himself a special mark for Satan. This is true of Seventh-day Adventists in a special sense to-day.

A time came when the sons of God came together (representatives from the different worlds), to appear before the Lord. Satan came also. He may have come as a representative from the earth, the Son of God not yet having been born into our family to live that sinless life which was to constitute him our representative — the “second Adam.” God asked Satan whence he came. He answered, “From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” The Lord then asked, “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?”

To be sure, Satan knew him. He had been at Job's home many a time. He had tempted him in every conceivable manner, but somehow he could not get at him as he would like. Job had such a firm trust in the protection of his Heavenly Father that powerful angels had shut him in, and all that he had, so that they were like a wall about him, a barrier the enemy could not pass. His experience was like that of which David wrote, years later: “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” “He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” Thus Job was secure.

The vital question with Satan was how this situation could be changed. He longed to make an example of Job to show how easy it would be to overthrow a man's faith and trust in God. And now is his opportunity to attempt it. He answers God by one of his artful insinuations: “Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.”

This was another charge upon God. Job is not serving you because he loves you or your service. It is a hired service. Before Satan was cast out of heaven, his charge was that the service of the angels was a forced service. Angels must obey God. They therefore were not free. Lucifer proposed to give them liberty. In Job's case the motive of the child of God is questioned. The same is true to-day. Satan contends that there is no such thing in the human breast as sincere love for God, prompting true, unselfish service. There is some ultramotive — a reward in view, or something of that sort.

These words of the accuser moved the Lord (without cause so far as Job himself is concerned) to say to Satan: “Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.”

What a scene! Could Job have known this conversation, what a comfort it would have been to him! But no; not even God could tell him. He must suffer injustice, take the bitter cup as if given by God, when in reality it was not God at all, but Satan. Satan's purpose gained, we are not told that he remained longer at the council. He had important business that required his presence in the earth, and “so Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.” Disasters, in quick succession, follow, until Job, instead of being the great man of the East in point of possession, is now childless, penniless, and well-nigh friendless. Satan no doubt lingered about to hear him curse God to his face, as he had declared that Job would do.

Here the climax is reached. Would Job do this? Angels, no doubt, looked on in breathless silence during this supreme moment, to see what God's dear servant would do under such circumstances. Not long had they to wait. After listening to the tidings of all the calamities that had taken place, “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshiped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.”

What a joy to the holy angels! What a disappointment to Satan! Yes, and what a victory for God through the victory of his servant Job! Ah! brother, sister, much more may be at stake than you realize when you are brought into a very trying place through a combination of circumstances. It means something to Heaven, to the work of God upon earth, to the unseen powers of darkness, as well as to you, how you endure when you are tried. Is God charged foolishly? Much depends upon whether we recognize who is responsible for the temptation. “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: For God can not be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.” But

God may permit Satan to prove us. Yet in it all he shows his confidence in our loyalty, our love, by giving the permission. Shall he be disappointed in us? “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

Washington, D. C.