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Job’s basic problem was that he was short of God; in all of God’s dealings with Job, God’s intention was to reduce Job to nothing, yet to maintain his existence (2:6) so that He might have time to impart Himself into Job; God cares for only one thing—for being worked into us (Eph. 3:16-19):
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Job was self-righteous (Job 6:30; 9:20; 27:5-6; 32:1), and he was contented with what he had become (13:3; 23:3-4; 31:6), yet he was unaware of his miserable situation before God (cf. Rev. 3:16-18).
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Job’s glory was his perfection and uprightness, and his crown was his integrity; God had stripped his glory from him and had taken away the crown from his head (Job 19:9); Job’s hope had been to build up the “tree” of his integrity, but God would not allow such a tree to grow within Job; rather, God had plucked up this tree, this hope (v. 10), so that Job would be brought into the sphere of gaining God.
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God wanted Job to know that he was in the wrong realm of building up himself as a man in the old creation in his perfection, uprightness, and integrity; Job glorified himself in these things, but God considered them as frustrations to be stripped away so that Job might receive God in His nature, life, element, and essence and thus be metabolically transformed to be a God-man, a man in the new creation who expresses God and dispenses Him into others—2 Cor. 3:18; 1 Pet. 4:10; Eph. 3:2.
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God’s intention with Job was to tear down the natural Job in his perfection and uprightness so that He might build up a renewed Job in God’s nature and attributes; the discipline of the Holy Spirit tears down our natural being to constitute a renewed being—2 Cor. 4:16-18; Rom. 8:28-29.
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The work of the Spirit within us is to constitute a new being for us, whereas the work of the Spirit without is to tear down every aspect of our natural being through our environment; we should cooperate with the operating Spirit and accept the environment that God has arranged for us—Phil. 4:12; Eph. 3:1; 4:1; 6:20; 1 Cor. 7:24.
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The primary purpose of suffering in this universe, particularly as it relates to the children of God, is that through it the very nature of God may be wrought into the nature of man so that man may gain God to the fullest extent—2 Cor. 1:8-9; 4:16:
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While the living God can perform many acts on man’s behalf, the life and nature of the living God are not wrought into man; when the God of resurrection works, His life and nature are wrought into man—v. 16.
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God is not working to make His might known in external acts but is working to impart and work Himself into man; God uses the environment in order to work His life and nature into us—Gal. 4:19; 2 Cor. 4:7-12; 1 Thes. 3:3; John 16:33.
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In order to live in resurrection and be constituted with the God of resurrection, we must be conformed to the image of Christ as the firstborn Son of God through “all things”—Rom. 8:28-29; Heb. 12:10; cf. Jer. 48:11.
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When we are in the midst of sufferings, we may complain to God, but our complaining may be the best prayer, the most pleasant prayer to God; while we are complaining, God is rejoicing because He is causing all things to work together for good that we may be conformed to the image of His firstborn Son—cf. Psa. 102, title.
Morning Nourishment
Phil. 3:8 But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ.2 Cor. 4:16 …Though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
Suffering is the lot of all the inhabitants of the earth…. Some people imagine that if you believe on the Lord and live in His fear, you will be immune from all ills, yet numbers of Christians are grievously afflicted, and some who live in vital touch with God are in constant suffering. (CWWL, 1957, vol. 3, “The Living God and the God of Resurrection,” p. 17)
The suffering [in Philippians 3:8] is for the gaining of Christ. (Life-study of Job, p. 119)
Today’s Reading
[Looking into this problem of suffering], in my early days … I was only able to draw these conclusions from my studies: (1) Man is prone to error; therefore, suffering is necessary for his correction. (2) Suffering is needful if we are to comfort others, for only they who themselves have suffered can truly help other people. (3) The discipline of suffering is essential if we are to acquire endurance [cf. Rom. 5:3]…. (4) Suffering is inevitable if we are to be molded into vessels that will be of use to God.These four conclusions that I came to in my youth are all correct, but they come short of the mark. The ultimate object of all suffering is the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose. That purpose has been revealed to us through the Scriptures, but it can be realized in us only through suffering. And its realization involves an experiential knowledge of God not only as the living God but also as the God of resurrection.
Every saved person [has] some evidence that God is the living God, but comparatively few of the saved realize that the God who dwells within them is the God of resurrection. If the distinction between the living God and the God of resurrection is not clear to us, many problems will arise in our experience as we seek to press on. Let me explain this distinction quite simply.
With the incarnation a dispensation began in which God and man, man and God, were blended into one…. But the incarnation is only one-half of the mystery. The other half is the resurrection….The incarnation brought divine content into human life; the resurrection brought human content into divine life. After the incarnation it was possible to say, “There is a man on earth in whose life there is a divine element.” But not until after the resurrection was it possible to say, “There is a God in heaven in whom there is a human element.” That is the meaning of the resurrection.
But why do we stress the distinction between the living God and the God of resurrection? It is because while the living God can perform many acts on man’s behalf, the nature of the living God cannot blend with the nature of man. When, on the other hand, the God of resurrection works, His very nature is wrought into the nature of man…. Even when the living God has performed some act on your behalf, after that act as before it, He is still He, and you are still you. His working on your behalf does not impart anything of His nature into you. The living God can work on behalf of man, but the nature of the living God cannot unite with the nature of man. On the other hand, when the God of resurrection works, He communicates Himself to man by that which He does for him.
The primary purpose of suffering in this universe, particularly as it relates to the children of God, is that through it the very nature of God may be wrought into the nature of man [cf. 2 Cor. 4:16]….Through a process of outward decay, an inward process is taking place that is adding a new constituent to our lives. (CWWL, 1957, vol. 3, “The Living God and the God of Resurrection,” pp. 18-20, 24)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1957, vol. 3, “The Living God and the God of Resurrection,” ch. 3