February 11 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Job 13:1-16:

¹Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it.
²What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you.
³Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.
⁴But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
⁵O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.
⁶Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.
⁷Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?
⁸Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?
⁹Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him?
¹⁰He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.
¹¹Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?
¹²Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.
¹³Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will.
¹⁴Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?
¹⁵Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
¹⁶He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.

Devotional

It was Job who said this. Perhaps Job suffered greater affliction than any other child of God; yet he put his trust in God. It is easy to speak of trusting in God, when God leads us gently, and blesses us abundantly. But when "the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls"; when everything is gone, and we cannot see how help could come to us: what then? Do we then trust in the Lord? and even rejoice in him? The prophet said, "Yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." We should too. Have we not his precious promises? None of them shall fail. How foolish, yes, how sinful to put our trust in man, or in outward things! What a lack of faith and trust do we show when we fear and tremble, because we cannot see God's help! Yet his promises stand: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." "Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe." "They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever." We shall abide for ever, if we trust in the covert of his wings. Even death cannot harm us; for the righteous has hope in his death; that hope makes us not ashamed, for it is based on faith in God's Word. It is a childlike trust.

Prayer

O Lord God, we must confess before Thee, that we are so prone to put our trust in outward things, and when these fail us, we are full of anxious care; whereas, we should be anxious for nothing, knowing that Thou art both willing and able to care for us. Help us, then, to believe and to trust; enable us to rejoice in Thee at all times, and to praise Thy name. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

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Scripture in Devotional: Hab. 3:17f.; Isa. 26:3; Jer. 17:7; Prov. 29:25; Ps. 125:1; 61:4; Prov. 14:32; Rom. 5:5.

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