Dost thou still retain thine integrity?...the Wayfarer 10/2/17

Dost thou still retain thine integrity?
10/2/17

KJV
Job 2 : 9-10
9. Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
10. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Job faced assault, and insult, from friends, enemies and even from closest family with the same stoic faith exhibited from the beginning of his trial demanded by Satan who wished to remove that faith through the removal of all physical possessions and comforts that that creature deemed to be the sole source of that faith.

Assault and insult remain tools used by that same creature to winnow the souls of men from their intended destination, along with the provision of physical possession, comforts and pleasures that he sees, still, as a means to distract and misdirect in order to deny them of that faith, and its reward.

Job 19

King James Version (KJV)

19 Then Job answered and said,

² How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?

³ These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.

⁴ And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.

⁵ If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach:

⁶ Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.

⁷ Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

⁸ He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.

⁹ He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

¹⁰ He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.

¹¹ He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.

¹² His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.

¹³ He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.

¹⁴ My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵ They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.

¹⁶ I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.

¹⁷ My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body.

¹⁸ Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.

¹⁹ All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.

²⁰ My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

²¹ Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.

²² Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

²³ Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!

²⁴ That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!

²⁵ For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

²⁶ And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

²⁷ Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

²⁸ But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?

²⁹ Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.

Job's trial continued, AS DID HIS FAITH, noted so clearly within the words of the last verses of this passage.

Job endured!

That endurance faltered, became ever more difficult, became ever harder for him to comprehend, but the FAITH remained, eventually evidencing itself  even to the tormentors that sought to steal that faith from him.

Job had not heard of the Savior, yet prophesied with that very faith, the fact of His existence and the TRUTH of the power of that existence.

He did, indeed, retain that integrity of belief in God, belief in the inherent goodness and grace of God, belief in the eternal nature of God, belief in the eternal will of God that delivers the mercy, goodness and grace that exceeds any temporary or temporal state experienced during the trial that was for him, and is for those possessing that faith, constant and ongoing.

There were powers at war for his very soul, war declared by Satan, initiated by Satan, and driven by that creatures desire to separate that soul from the Redeemer acknowledged by that war and what was more dear to that soul, the temporary or the eternal.

That same war rages, yet and still, for the souls of men as Satan refuses to admit defeat, clinging to the rebellion that would place him equal with his Creator, an idea that he tosses about to the creature called man he attempts to convince of that same rebellion.

1 Peter 4:12-19

King James Version (KJV)

¹² Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

¹³ But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

¹⁴ If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

¹⁵ But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.

¹⁶ Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

¹⁷ For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

¹⁸ And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

¹⁹ Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Unlike Job, unlike all the forebears whose faith rested solely on the Redeemer to come, but not yet born, we have the TRUTH of that Redeemer in the Personage of Christ Jesus, Son of God, Savior sent to provide that redemption by a faithful Creator.

Peter spoke well in the passage quoted, reflecting the fact that that very FAITH remains only with that ongoing trial demanded daily of those holding it.

The trial comes in many forms, whether temptation would distract, or whether hardship would be enough to deny the TRUTH of that faith.

If we were to face that trial alone, then inevitably failure would result.

We do NOT face that trial alone, but with the constant intercession of Christ Jesus, himself  born to the trials and circumstances to be faced by each man, born to overcome the temptations placed in his path by that same creature that places them so carelessly in the paths of all men, born to overcome the pain and rejection that demanded he face the animosity and anger of a world unwilling to accept the love offered through HIS existence, born to overcome death itself to give proof of that very love to those who rejected Him.

Job's focus remained on FAITH despite circumstance.

Christ's focus remained on the TRUTH and LIFE offered men through the Grace of God that could be delivered only through the trials He alone could face for mankind.

The focus of Christ remains on the souls of men, and the circumstance to be experienced eternally by those souls.

The message delivered by Him remains focused on those who make the decision as to that circumstance by decision to heed or ignore that simple message, delivered by Him despite the cost of its delivery.

"REPENT! for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

The trials past are trivial in comparison to those to come as that message goes ignored, as men continue to focus on the temporal and temporary, the pleasure and pain of a world that brings to bear the concerns of a creature under the thrall of the lie told Eve, propagated and promoted by her progeny, rather than having heard the simple message that allows them to return to the favor and Grace originally given them by their Creator.

Those trials, long prophesied, evidence themselves ever more fully with each tick of a clock that is running down to the closure of the time allowed to run, the cessation of time itself when time to hear and heed that message are no longer extant.

Matthew 24

King James Version (KJV)

24 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.

² And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

³ And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

⁴ And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

⁵ For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

⁶ And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

⁷ For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows.

⁹ Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

¹⁰ And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

¹¹ And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

¹² And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

¹³ But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

¹⁵ When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

¹⁶ Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

¹⁷ Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:

¹⁸ Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.

¹⁹ And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

²⁰ But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:

²¹ For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

²² And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

²³ Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.

²⁴ For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

²⁵ Behold, I have told you before.

²⁶ Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

²⁷ For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

²⁸ For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

²⁹ Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

³⁰ And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

³¹ And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

³² Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

³³ So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

³⁴ Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

³⁵ Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

³⁶ But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

³⁷ But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

³⁸ For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

³⁹ And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

⁴⁰ Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

⁴¹ Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

⁴² Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

⁴³ But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

⁴⁴ Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

⁴⁵ Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

⁴⁶ Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

⁴⁷ Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

⁴⁸ But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;

⁴⁹ And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;

⁵⁰ The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,

⁵¹ And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

That thirteenth verse of this passage remind us of the ongoing and continual promise obtainable and unbreakable for those willing to hear and heed the message brought at such great cost, holding so much value beyond anything offered in its place. 

^"But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."

The question posed by Job's wife is pertinent to all who would claim that promise.The answer given is dependent on the existence of the FAITH in the face of adversity as well as in that same FAITH evidenced during the times the blessings flow, blessings that would be so jealously stolen to steal that FAITH itself.

John 3:16-17

¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ¹⁷For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Amen and Amen

the Wayfarer