Sermon 49, Job 13:1-10
Ok, there is help here in this sermon. I hope I can distill my thoughts correctly.
I think my motivation here is to extract from this sermon a way to deal with difficulties. I am a little distracted because yesterday I bruised my butt and could not workout today as I had liked.
A sort of step one to deal with difficulties seems to be to be quiet and ponder. In the context of spiritual combat Calvin writes of Job “He is terrified. Now spiritual combats are not something men learn about easily. That is why Job says he will speak with God.” And speaking with God is explained as follows “he will withdraw into himself and remain there in the privacy of his inner self”. So, talking to God means being quiet, and thinking. Second, we must not take comfort from men, only from God. “When it is a matter of learning to live patiently with suffering, it is good that a person withdraw into himself as if he had separated himself from the world and placed himself in God’s hands and let himself be governed by him.” “How will we call upon him if we are not cut off from men?” Third, we must honestly present God with all of our problems “we place all our affairs, sorrows, and cares”. And, forth we check our ambitions. For “what remains is to glorify you [God] in all things at all times.”
So, I feel like I am facing a hardship today. It’s long brewing. It’s a hardship of sustainability. I like where I am in life. But there is, I don’t think, any way I can maintain what I am doing. I am already suspicious that O am trying to find ways to “cheat” and that my butt bruise is actually God adjusting my path.
So, according to today’s sermon, I need to withdraw, and shut up. Talk with God, I.e. read the Bible and not get advice from the world. Be honest and open about my feelings. And then seek out ways to bring God glory. Ok.