Devotion 439

“Looking At Circumstances”

Reference: Job Chapter 3

Proper faith looks exclusively to God but unbelief and doubt looks to circumstances.

The sun refused to shine when Jesus Christ hanged on the Cross.

Luke 23:44-45 “And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. [45] And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.”

That was the circumstances on earth but it was the greatest day of celebration in heaven because the price of redemption was paid. The Word of God has been fulfilled.

The Work of the Cross was the thought of God before it became His Word. It was the thought of God before the foundation of the world.

1 Peter 1:19-20 “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: [20] Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”

God does not look to circumstances. God fulfills His Word. God keeps His Word.

There were many circumstances leading to the work of the Cross, but the Cross remained a finished work because the Word of God had promised it.

Circumstances change but the Word of God cannot change. Therefore faith rests securely on the Word of God, and not the mountain, valleys, or sinking sand of circumstances.

Job looks to his circumstance.

Let’s read:

Job 3:1-17 “After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day. [2] And Job spake, and said, [3] Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. [4] Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. [5] Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. [6] As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months. [7] Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein. [8] Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning. [9] Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day: [10] Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes. [11] Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? [12] Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck? [13] For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest, [14] With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves; [15] Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver: [16] Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light. [17] There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.”

There is no rest in circumstances.

There is only one resting place, and that is the Word of God.

Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

Faith in anything else is unrest.

What the Word of God says about Job is different from what Job thought of Job.

Job 1:8 “And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?”

As long as our faith remains in the perfect finished work of the blood sacrifice of Christ, the Word of God says we are perfect irrespective of the circumstances . This is the resting place of faith.

We conclude our reading:

Job 3:18-26 “There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. [19] The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master. [20] Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul; [21] Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures; [22] Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave? [23] Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in? [24] For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters. [25] For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. [26] I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.”

Job is living in the shadows of circumstances instead of the substance of the Word of God.
Faith in the  blood of bulls and goats is what God required to justify Job and anyone else.
When faith has met the obligation of the Word of God, faith can rest that God will keep His Word.

Blind Bartimaeus met the requirement of faith. Jesus Christ had to stop for Bartimaeus, to keep the promise of God.

Mark 10:52 “And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.”

Faith that touches God will always elicit a response.

Let your faith rest solely on the Word of God. BELIEVE and confess Christ the Word as we’ve revealed Him from the First Adam. Faith activated is faith placed squarely on the forever Word of God, in Christ!