EXCERPTS FROM LETTERS FROM OUR READERS
Dear Friends:
You seem so close to us as we read Triumph, and you will never know just how much that little paper has meant to me. I find myself reading them over and over again and pass them on when I can to other sick of my family or friends . . .
Ohio
Dear Friends:
I just received Triumph. Many, many thanks for every copy. It always brings a great blessing to me . . .
Pennsylvania
Dear Friends:
Greetings in Jesus' name. I have the January number of your paper reading it. It has been a great blessing to me. So I want to subscribe for Triumph.
I am an invalid. Have never walked a step. I had spinal meningitis when I was about six weeks old. I didn't grow as I should. Can't even sit alone. I write with a stick that I hold in my hand which I can only partly use . . .
Oregon
Dear Friends:
I appreciate receiving your Christian publication, Triumph, and have derived much good from it. I have passed on a number of my copies to friends. I have severe arthritis . . .
Minnesota
Dear Friends:
By mistake the mailman put one of your papers in our mailbox. It looks so good that I would like to know what a subscription would be for a year . . . I shall be most happy to subscribe . . . Am sending you the name and address of a lady who is confined to a wheel chair . . .
Pennsylvania
Dear Friends:
Here is a promise the Lord gave me today, so I am sending the same to you. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He will also deny us." 2 Timothy 2:12.
When receiving my monthly check, the Lord told me to send you the enclosed gift . . . I am praying for you.
Ohio
Dear Friends:
Have been receiving your paper, Triumph, for a long time. Don't know who sent my name in but I sure would like to thank them and you for a lot of good reading. Sometimes I have felt pretty low and was lifted by it, some poem or something maybe you wrote and some writings by a dear sister who writes such good things, a shut-in, but can't remember her name. My husband suggested to send you a gift . . . Thanks a lot . . . God bless you.
Pennsylvania
Dear Friends:
Enclosed is a small offering which I hope will help a little in publishing Triumph.
Since publication of September issue of Triumph I have received a number of letters in response to my testimony (printed in Triumph). All of them had one thing in common. They enjoy and appreciate Triumph very, very much.
Some of my correspondents know God in a very real and precious way, while others seem to be searching after the truth and trying to trust God but in a rather confused and hazy sort of way.
Sometimes they mentioned the different items of literature coming to them and I believe you will be interested to know that often Triumph was the only item of literature which could give them any ray of truth and hope whatever. For the most part it was publications of the most deceptive and misleading sort.
I said, "Thank God for Triumph, as it stands for a beacon light ready to lead the precious people away from a wilderness of disallusionment and confusion."
Satan and his agents are alert and extremely active. If he cannot sell his "wares" at ridiculous prices, he will fill the people's arms with it "free."
Why are we who know the truth so slow in our efforts to counteract this situation? There should be more excellent Gospel literature made available without cost.
Again, thank God for Triumph.
Oregon
Dear Friends:
Greetings in the name of Jesus! I just had to try and write you a few lines to express my appreciation for the wonderful little Triumph publication, and to thank whoever had it sent to me. I receive such a sweet blessing from reading every article in its pages, and I pass it on to other shut-ins after I have read it through and through.
I am shut in, unable to walk, or do much for myself. Have been like this 33 years due to crippling arthritis. I have to lie on my back in bed to write or read. But Jesus is good to me, I get to attend church on Sunday nights. Thank God for my wonderful friends who come and carry me in wheel chair.
I get to witness for Jesus a lot here in the Rest Home. I have lots of visitors, so I don't have time to be lonely. I used to turn pages in books with a stick between my teeth, but I have learned to use my hands to turn the pages now. God does make a way for His children when there seemeth no way! I trust in Him to supply all my needs according to His riches in glory.
I don't have anything to offer my Lord in return except myself. The State and Welfare pays for my board here in the Home, for which I am so very grateful. Thanks again for the little Triumph paper. My prayers for you. Keep up the good work.
Texas
Dear Friends:
I admire your little periodical so much and it is little only in size, but how great in spirit and purpose . . .
Maryland
* * *
Please pray for TRIUMPH and its readers. These are only a fraction of the letters we receive, but are typical of the reaction and the need we find among our readers. You can help us most by your prayers. May our Lord continue to bless each one of you.
Sincerely,
Art Gordon, Editor.
**********
**********
THE GO-BETWEEN
By Henry G. Bosch
Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.
Job 9:33
THE MUCH - AFFLICTED JOB longed for someone who could stand on man's level and on God's level at the same time. He rightly felt that he needed such an arbiter as a "daysman" -- a go-between. The old patriarch was prophetically reaching out for that necessary "one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (I Timothy 2:5). Such a God-man alone can satisfy all of Heaven's righteous requirements in atoning for man's sin, and speak on man's behalf.
Rev. H. E. Hewitt used to tell the story of a little crippled girl who lived in the slum section of a great city. Social workers visiting in the community saw that the sickly child needed fresh air and a touch of country sunshine, and so decided to make this possible. When all the arrangements had been made, the child would not go, although it was plain she really longed to do so.
For some time she would give no reason for her actions. At last, with a tear in her eye, she said, "My father, he takes much liquor, and when he comes home bad with drink he pitches into mother, and he only stops when I get in between."
Think of the courage of that little brave soul and her self-sacrifice. On the one hand, she saw the country -- dancing with sunlight, laughing with flowers, inviting and healthful; on the other, the half-lit, ill-furnished room with all its squalor, poverty, and unpleasant brawls. And yet love made her choose to stay and stand between her mother and her drunken father's blows.
In a much higher sense Jesus was a go-between. When the blind, the lame, and the leper came to Him. He stood between them and their infirmity. He stood between the widow of Nain and her sorrow. He stood between the disciples and the danger in Gethsemane. Above all, however, He stood between us rightfully condemned sinners and God's just wrath against our rebellion. Oh, what a wonderful Saviour He is! Say, is He your "go-between?"
(From OUR DAILY BREAD, Radio Bible Class, Grand Rapids, MI. Copyright 1963. Reproduced by permission.)
**********
DELIVERED UNTO DEATH
By Herbert L. Roush
" . . . but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway DELIVERED UNTO DEATH for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you."
(II Corinthians 4:7-12)
SO WROTE PAUL to the saints at Corinth, after the turbulent ministry of Ephesus. In physical weariness, weakness and pain, he opens the well of his great heart to dip his pen in the waters of experience to testify that those who live must understand that they will alway be delivered unto death for Jesus' sake. The deliverance may be to "trouble," "persecution," "perplexity," being "cast down," but the conflict will always be the same as they had seen in Him and as we have heard to be in Him (Philippians 1:30).
Every child of God knows what it is to be delivered unto death. They may not be able to explain it, talk about it to others, or write about it, but they know, for Paul assures us that all who live, that is live in Christ, will be delivered unto death for Jesus' sake.
The deliverances take different forms in different believer's experiences, but the conflict is the same. A sudden unexplainable trial, a financial reverse that leaves you destitute, a severe and unreasonable press of circumstances, a serious physical illness or perhaps the unannounced death of one who was dearer than life itself. The sudden crash of all that has made your past life, makes your future seem as dark as a storm ridden sky.
Your reaction to these experiences only reflects the reaction of the saints of the Bible. Read it in II Corinthians 1:8, when Paul cries that he was " . . . pressed out of measure." One translation gives it, " . . . utterly and unbearably weighed down and crushed." Another translation reads, " . . . crushed, crushed far more than I could stand."
Elijah's reaction was the same for in I Kings 19:4 we hear him weep in prayer to God, " . . . It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life." The Psalmist cries in his perplexity, "In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God, and was troubled; I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak" (Psalm 77:2-4).
The most thought provoking of all cries, however, comes from that man of the Midian desert, Moses, who had seen God in the burning bush, had held the rod of God in his hand, had smote the Red Sea, overthrown Pharoah, been in the mount with God and whose face at one time shone as an angel's from the glory of God reflected. In an hour when God was delivering him to death for Jesus' sake, he wept in prayer to God:
"Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? And wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this . . . upon me? I am not able to bear all this . . . alone, because it is too heavy for me" (Numbers 11:11-14).
Deep questions are raised in the soul of the saint under trial and some of them are revealed in the solemn prayer of this man in trouble. We mention one of them here. WHO AFFLICTS US?
For the answer to this perplexing question of the soul in trouble, look again at the text in II Corinthians 4:11. Note, it is said that the believer is always "delivered" unto death. This is a judicial word which speaks of one being delivered by the authority of the judge for the execution of sentence. It is used by Paul in Romans 4:25 to describe the great transaction of Calvary in which God the Father delivered the Lord Jesus up to the death of the cross for our offences. It is so used in Romans 8:32 and the truth affirmed that it was God the Father who delivered the Lord Jesus to the execution of the death of the cross.
With these thoughts in mind, we are safe to say that it is the Father Who delivers the people of God to the experiences of death described in our text. We often ascribe the work of the Father in our lives to Satan. We are so quick to ascribe all that does not suit or please us to Satan, and all that is acceptable to us as being from God, but here we are told, the Father always delivers us up to trouble, persecution, perplexity, and allows us to be cast down; and the only answer offered by Paul is, " . . . for Jesus' sake."
The conclusion of the Psalmist is: "I know, Jehovah, that thy judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me" (Psalm 119:75).
(Next month: -- The second in this series, "Why Are We Afflicted.")
**********
SERMON SERIES
Romans 8:28
No. 12
(Job)
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (AV)
"BUT MUCH TIME having elapsed, (Dinah) Job's wife said to him, How long will you patiently persist in saying, Behold, I will wait a little while longer in expectant hope and patient confidence of my deliverance.
"For behold, those (who were to have been) your memorial, your sons and your daughters, whom I brought forth with pangs and sorrows, and for whom I labored fruitlessly, have vanished from the earth.
"And you yourself sit in the midst of the foul-smelling corruption of worms all night long in the open air; while I am wandering around or working for wages, from one place to another and from house to house, longing for the setting of the sun, that I may rest from the hard work and the sorrows which now seize me, hold me fast and afflict me. Do but say something to or for God and let your life end!" (Amplified Old Testament -- Septuagint)
In a word Job's wife was reviling him to "Curse God, and die!" "Renounce Him, and be done with it!" This is exactly what Satan wanted Job to do. This is what Satan said he would do if God would withdraw His protective hedge. This is what Satan tried to make him do. "I can make him curse thee to thy face," was the Adversary's boast before God. God gave him leave to try. And what a scene followed.
JOB'S STORY
Job's story begins thus: "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed (or turned from) evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also (was very great) . . . so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east" (Job 1:1-3). Job was a man honored by his equals, beloved by his inferiors, trusted by his friends, feared by his enemies, respected by his family, and best of all eulogized by God.
But the Adversary would change all this. He would strip Job of everything he held dear on earth. Satan had the mistaken notion that godliness comes from prosperity, and that lack of the latter would certainly lead to a lack of the former. He said the reason Job revered God was because God had a protective hedge about him and all he ever knew was prosperity. Remove the hedge and piety would go with it. But God would prove otherwise.
God gave Satan permission to take Job's possessions. Calamity struck! In rapid succession the blows fell. First his oxen and donkeys, then his sheep, then his camels, were all stolen or destroyed along with his servants. Then a tornado crushed the house in which his children were celebrating the oldest son's birthday, killing them all. But "in all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly."
"Skin for skin," bellowed the Accuser, at his next appearance before God, "yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life . . . touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face." So God granted him permission to afflict Job's person. You know the outcome. Satan did his worst. Job was reduced to the ash heap. Loathsome, painful, cancerous sores covered his body. His relatives forsook him. His wife stood it as long as she could, then she turned on him and poured out her stored-up grief, as recorded above. But "in all this did not Job sin with his lips."
JOB'S FRIENDS
Then came the crowning blow. Job's three closest friends heard of his misfortune. They decided to go and comfort him, as friends should do. They didn't expect anything like this, however. When they saw him, he was so disfigured, they could not even recognize him. They were shocked and wept and tore their clothes and sprinkled dust upon their heads and then sat down with him on the ground and uttered not a word for seven days and nights because they saw his grief was very great.
His three closest friends: Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. Now they had a real opportunity to show their friendship. But instead they eyed him suspiciously. Job cried out in his pain, wanting to know why -- why such things should happen to him. Now they could lift him up by kindly words of encouragement, showing their trust in him, or they could push him down by harsh words of criticism and accusation, showing their distrust. They took the latter course. They accused him of playing the hypocrite. They had thought he was an upright man, one who revered God and turned from evil, but now they knew, it finally being revealed by this affliction, that Job was in reality no more than a lying hypocrite. While pretending to help the poor and the widow and the orphan, he must have been secretly abusing them and taking from them the little they possessed. This must be where he got his riches. So reasoned Job's friends. So they accused him. Their advice was that he repent and turn back to God to regain His favor.
"Miserable comforters are ye all," complains Job. He attests that he has not sinned as they accuse. He attests his own integrity. And what he said was true. But in saying it, we note a bit of self-righteousness in Job. He was kind of proud of Job's integrity. Herein lies Job's primary fault. But he does not yield to Satan's temptation and his wife's suggestion to curse his God. He curses the day of his birth, but not God. He wonders at God's dealings with him, and even accuses God of injustice, but he never renounces God. Indeed he wants to know why, but he knows God has the answer. His desire is that he and God might come closer together, that he might talk with God and God with him. He wants to again enjoy the evident blessings of God as in the past. Far from cursing his Creator and Sustainer, he would bless him.
THE APPLICATION
Affliction!!! Compared to this man, most of us don't know anything about it. He had sorrow, being bereaved of all of his children; and suffering, being terribly afflicted of body; he was rejected by his relatives; and reviled by his wife; and he was falsely accused by his friends. Just one of these fiery darts of the evil one would be enough to plunge most of us into the slough of despond.
Maybe someone reading this message finds himself (herself) in some such situation. Possibly sorrow has gripped your heart at the loss of a loved one, or suffering with a withering blow has laid you low. Maybe you find yourself rejected and reviled by those you hold dear, or suspected and falsely accused by so-called friends. Any of these are trials indeed.
At such times we wonder why. We would like an answer, "Please." God didn't see fit to give Job an answer. We have no record that Job ever knew why he suffered. We know the reason, in Job's case, for God lets us look behind the curtain. We know that Satan was tempting Job to sin, and that God was testing him to show his integrity. But Job didn't know. And we may never know the "whys" in our case. But the lesson we must learn from this godly man's experience is that our life, as believers, is in God's hand and that our end is certain. "So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job . . . " James says, "Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy."
Your circumstances may, with the subversion of Satan and the help of your "friends," buffet you piteously and mercilessly, but be assured you will see "the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy" to His own. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
One of Job's complaints was that there was no one to go between himself and God, no one to plead his cause, no one to bring God and him together, no mediator. But we have no such complaint today. "For there is one God, and one MEDIATOR between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (I Timothy 2:5). And He knew what suffering was. He was a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was smitten and afflicted. He was despised and rejected. He was reviled and falsely accused. And He was crucified. "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins (not His own, but ours), the just for the unjust (Christ for us), that he might bring us to God . . . " (I Peter 3:18).
The answer to all our anxious questions is in our Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. All of our questions may not be answered this side of eternity, but we may have utmost confidence in Him to work everything out, including adversity, for our eternal good and His eternal glory.
"The latter end of Job," and "the end of the Lord," were synonymous. It all added up to one thing -- GOOD. The pitiful and merciful Lord blessed Job's end more than he had ever been blessed before. So shall it be with all who love Him. Our "latter end" is also "the end of the Lord." We can trust Him with that end. It shall be GOOD!
**********
