Eliphaz to Job: 4. The saint's confidence in God.
I. THE SAINT'S CHARACTER DESCRIBED.
1. Negatively. By way of contrast to the ungodly, who are depicted as
2. Positively. Exhibiting them as
II. THE SAINT'S GOD EXTOLLED.
1. As a God of power.
2. As a God of benevolence. Operating:
(a) confounding the crafty,—exploding their schemes, neutralizing their actions, outwitting their cunning, precipitating their purposes, so causing their best-concocted devices to appear structures of consummate folly, and themselves to look like stupid bunglers, as helpless and perplexed as men stumbling in the darkness of night (examples: the tower-builders of Babel, Genesis 11:1-9; Potiphar's wife, Genesis 39:1-23; Ahithophel, 2 Samuel 15:31; Haman, Esther 7:10);
(b) rescuing the peer,—delivering them from the hands of their enemies (e.g. the Israelites from Egypt, Exodus 18:10; St. Peter from Herod, Acts 12:11; St. Paul from Nero, 2 Timothy 4:17), inspiring them with hope, and not only silencing their calumniators and oppressors, but sometimes striking them dumb with horror and amazement at God's manifest interposition on behalf of his suffering servants.
III. THE SAINT'S CONFIDENCE DECLARED.
1. Emphatically. "Nevertheless I would" do so and so. As Eliphaz delicately insinuated that Job was a fool, so here he does not hesitate to propose himself as the perfect model of a wise man. No doubt this resulted from want of modesty on the part of Eliphaz; but still, overlooking this, the bold, unhesitating character of his avowal is not altogether unworthy of imitation. God's saints and Christ's followers should never be ashamed to confess their confidence in God, or avow their attachment to Christ (Matthew 5:16; Matthew 10:32; Romans 1:16).
2. Sincerely. "But I—I would seek unto God; unto God would I commit my cause." The speaker signifies that his trust in God was no mere lip-profession, but a heart-emotion which would lead him, if circumstanced as Job was, to have recourse to God, and to commit his cause to the Godhead in prayer and in the exercise of faith. And certainly, if God should be sought for at all times (1 Chronicles 16:11), he should specially be resorted to in time of trouble (Psalms 50:15)—"for counsel and direction in it; for comfort and support under it; for grace to glorify God by it; for deliverance in God's own time and way out of it; for the spiritual benefit and improvement intended through it" (Robinson).
3. Hopefully. Though not affirmed at the outset, it is clearly expressed at the end. "So," i.e. by going to God and committing one's cause to him, "the poor hath hope; "God having revealed himself as the Hearer, and therefore as the Answerer, of prayer (Exodus 22:27; 1 Chronicles 28:9; Job 12:4; Job 22:27; Psalms 34:17; Psalms 37:5; Matthew 21:22; Philippians 4:6); and this being sufficient ground for the saint's confident expectation that God will interpose for his succour and salvation.
Learn:
1. It is not enough to simply reprove those whom we believe to have erred; we must likewise instruct them how to amend.
2. The best thing to do with trouble of any sort is to carry it to the throne of grace, and leave it there.
3. There is no God like the saint's God, the saint's enemies themselves being judges.
4. God has given men and saints the highest reason to trust him: the first, the wonders of nature; the second, the marvels of grace.
5. The weakness of God is stronger than men, while the foolishness of God is wiser than men.
6. If God can turn the daylight into darkness round his enemies, he can also turn the darkness into light round himself and his people.
7. God can rescue his people from the greatest perils, from the mouth of the grave, and from the jaws of hell.
8. It is no vain thing to hope in God, since we are saved by hope, and God loveth them that hope in his mercy.
9. The tongues of wicked men, however they may now blaspheme the Name and revile the children of God, will yet be effectually put to silence.
10. When Christ comes at last to save his poor ones, the ungodly world will stand speechless and self-condemned.