December 29

"Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." Jonah 13:15.

THIS is a noble resolution. It supposes suffering. Slaying here stands for every loss and infliction he could suffer or forebode. Slaying literally means death, and Job does not exclude this from his supposition. He more than once seems to apprehend it as the consequence of his present malady: I know thou wilt bring me to death; my breath is corrupt; my days are extinct; the graves are ready for me. Indeed, there is not much for him to slay. He has slain my cattle, my servants, my children; he has slain the tenderness of my wife, and the confidence of my friends; he has slain my health, and if there be any thing more, let him slay it. I can trust him down to the grave, and through it, for I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that in my flesh I shall see God, though my reins be consumed within me.

It professes confidence: "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." It is obvious from hence that he did not think God was really his enemy. If he had, how could he have trusted in him? He knew nothing of the language of a mystic: "Though I perish, I shall serve thee still. If thou send me to hell, I shall love thee there." These are the sayings of religious madness; and one hour of the suffering they make so light of, would bring them to the use of their senses. By the very law of my nature it is impossible for me to regard a being that I believe determined to make me miserable for ever; and God himself has commanded me to seek after my salvation and happiness. I could not, therefore, acquiesce in my misery without violating his will. Such a state of sublime self-annihilation, therefore, is not possible if it were proper; and it is not proper if it were possible. But it is both proper and possible to believe that natural evil may be converted into moral good; that bodily pain may conduce to spiritual profit; that though no chastening for the present is joyous, but grievous, it may afterward yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised therewith; that behind a frowning providence he may hide a smiling face; that though he amputates a limb, it is to save life; and that, in ways beyond all my conceptions, he can, he will make all things work together for good to them that love him. And this is what Job means by his confidence.

But it also intimates difficulty: though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. For there is much in searching and awful dispensations to try and check confidence, much to awaken suspicion and fear. When things are agreeable and prosperous, we feel comparatively little difficulty; but when the scene is changed, and the sky overspread, and the clouds return after the rain; when we are stripped, bereaved, abandoned, then we are cast out of his sight, our way is perished from the Lord, and we think our eye will no more see good. When troubles befall others, we go to them and strengthen their hands in God. We readily deal out the promises to them, and feel inclined to reprove if they refuse to be comforted. We tell them God is only waiting to be gracious, and will appear to their joy. But when we come into the same condition ourselves, we are unable to follow the advice we have given, and to receive the encouragements we have administered. Thus we incur the censure, "Thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hand; thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees; but now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled." Let us not be too severe with people in affliction. To trust God when we know not what he is doing; when he seems to oppose us; when he presents a sword even to our bosom, and we feel its point; it is then verily no easy thing to hope in the Lord, and wait patiently for him. But Job did this. Yea, says he, in the midst of every killing providence, though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. Let us therefore seek after this confidence in God. For, first, there is nothing so honorable to God. Secondly, there is nothing so beneficial to ourselves. Thirdly, there is nothing so reasonable in itself; for whatever view we take of God, whether we consider his perfections, or his relations, or his promises, or his past dealings with others and ourselves, the more we shall be induced to say, "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee." So true is it, they that know his name will put their trust in him.