Job 23:6 Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me. The idea of a God of power is common to all religions. Job felt that underneath all the mysteries of life there is a Divine righteousness. When any godly man feels that, he can bear a great deal. It is useless shutting our eyes to the great difficulties there are in human history, and indeed in every individual life. We cannot always say that we feel God to be good and wise; but we know Him to be so; and that is all that is required of our faith. I. LIFE IN ITS PHASES OF DEVELOPMENT. In one sense prophecies must fail. We cannot prophesy, from the career and circumstances of the grown man, what the coming days will bring with them, or how they will affect him. The one matter we are sure of is that God will not plead against the souls that love Him. The immediate exercises of the Divine will in providence are as wisely employed as the mediate ones through natural laws. The future can unfold nothing that is not quite as much the work of Divine goodness as of Divine power. II. GOD IN HIS FATHERLY CHARACTER. The more we understand our own nature in its nobler aspects, the better should we understand God's relation to His children. If it were not for our human relationships, how could we understand the relationship of God to us? The parental relation is common to all nations. Will a parent plead against his child? Will the Great Father do what the earthly father will not? III. GOD IN HIS ALMIGHTY CHARACTER. "With His great strength." That is all the more reason that He should be delicate, tender, considerate, and kind. The strength of God, if we meditated upon Him apart from His moral perfections, might lead us to the worship, not of a Father, but of infinite power. IV. THE HEART IN ITS EMPHATIC No! An emphatic answer that. There are some things that the heart decides at once, and this is one of them. "Has God forgotten to be gracious?" Let us answer at once, and "No." V. LIFE IN ITS HIDDEN SPRINGS. "He would put strength in me." This is what we want. Not absence of temptation or trial. The springs of life, fed by God, need feeding in proportion to the very strain and exercise of our inner life. The Christian who has to struggle up the Hill Difficulty, and who passes through those experiences that tend to exhaust his forces, has much need of the grace and strength of God. VI. LIFE IN ITS PAST HISTORIES. We find this truth in experience as well as in the Bible. The ancestry of godliness is not a vain thing. The spiritual escutcheons of our families have symbols of moral victory in them. VII. LIFE IN ITS RETRIBUTIVE ASPECTS. Here we come to a positive instead of a negative view of the text. Will God plead against us if we live in sin and guilt, neglectful of Christ, and the great salvation? How can He do otherwise? (W. M. Statham.) Parallel Verses KJV: Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.WEB: Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No, but he would listen to me. |
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