I don’t suppose it’s a New Year’s Resolution, but I have chosen to read through my Bible chronologically this year.  There is an app on my phone that makes this easier than trying to divide it up myself.  Naturally, the first couple of days I read in the book of Genesis, up until chapter eleven.  There was then a gap between Genesis eleven and twelve, which put me in the book of Job.  One advantage to reading this way is that I end up reading accounts side by side that are several books apart.

In Job 23:10, he writes, “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”  We all know the story of Job.  Everything, save his own life, was suddenly stripped away from him at once.  God allowed Job to suffer trials during a season of his life.  Also, this testing was not the result of any wrong doing on the part of Job.  Bible commentator Matthew Henry said, “Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces.”  Such was the case with Job.

Interestingly, Job doesn’t imply ‘if’ He tries me.  Job was in the midst of a trial, and he knew more were coming.  Trials are not a matter of ‘if’ but a matter of ‘when.’  When He tried him, Job was confident he would come forth as purified gold.  Job’s confidence was not in himself and his personal ability to weather a storm.  Rather, Job’s confidence was in God.  This is a depressing verse, were it not for the very first phrase.  After reading this verse, I reread the beginning so that it reads, “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold…But he knoweth the way that I take.”

Shifting back to Genesis; in Genesis 18, Abraham is pleading with God to spare the righteous in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  “Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?”  This begins a series of requests by Abraham as the number of righteous people diminished down to only ten.

During this sequence, Abraham asks a pivotal question in verse twenty-five, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”  The usage of the word “Judge” is intriguing.  It is capitalized, meaning that Abraham was unmistakably referring to God.  Furthermore, he uses the word “Judge.”  Not ruler, or master, or father.  God was all of those things, but Abraham knew that concerning the city of Sodom, He was acting as a Judge.  As Christians, we enjoy thinking of God as loving, kind, merciful, and gracious; however, we cannot separate God from the fact that he is righteous and holy and will exercise judgment.  Although Abraham was deeply concerned for his nephew, Lot, Abraham also knew that “the Judge of all the earth” will do right.

So, in an attempt to try and bring these thoughts together:

1. God is Gracious.  He knows the way that we take.  Despite how difficult our trials may seem, despite how distant we perceive God to be, despite how dire our situation—God is gracious!

2. God is Good.  He is the “Judge” of all the earth and He will righteously exercise His judgment.  “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”  Of course, because although He is Gracious—He is Good.

3. God is Glorified.  In the end, God is always to receive glory for what is accomplished.  Whether it’s rebuilding a man’s family or destroying an entire city—God will be Glorified.

Trials are a part of the Christian life.  When we endure trials, it’s appropriate to ask, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?’’  The answer is simple, “He knoweth the way that I take.”