By Robin Sam
As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle (Job 29:4).
THE book of Job is a fascinating mixture of the profound and the mundane details of the man upon whom God wagered with Satan. God literally staked His word on this man when He asked Satan if he had considered him. In other words, God was asking Satan if he’d lay any charge on the man who was blameless and upright, who feared God and shunned evil. We know the story of Job, so we will not go into the details now.
After he was afflicted, Job came up with some amazing proclamations of faith. Yes, he was despondent. He doubted if God had given up on him. He cursed the day he was born and wished he was dead sooner than later. Nevertheless, he made some sensational statements about God, his faith in Him and what he hoped would eventually happen in his life. Those statements are truly headline-worthy for the believer. Those are verses that ought to be underlined in red in the Bible and memorized in the head. Sample some of them:
Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him (Job 13:15). That was his faith!
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth (Job 19:25). That’s a prophecy about the Second Coming of Jesus!
And my eyes shall behold, and not another… (Job 19:27). That was his glorious hope!
But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold….For He performs what is appointed for me, (Job 23:10 & 14). That was his confidence in God!
However, the lead verse for our message, Job 29:4, is not a faith statement. It’s a fact statement. Job begins his discourse in chapter 26 as a response to some scathing attack on his righteousness from his own friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar.
In chapter 29, it looks as if he is essentially on a trip down the memory lane at his not-so-distant past, a past that was honourable and prosperous. But there’s more to it than meets the eye! Even as he makes a desperate cry for the restoration of his glorious past, Job reveals why he was such a wealthy, blessed and honoured man of his time in the east. The secret to his success in life was, well, that the secret of God was upon his tabernacle!
What’s the secret of God that was the secret recipe for success in Job’s life? We are going to decode that with the help of the Holy Spirit. To understand the secret of God that lifts up mere men and makes them models of faith we will look closely at the life of Job and go beyond to examine the lives of a few others such as Abraham, David and Apostle Paul.
Before we decipher the secret of God at work in the lives of His children, we would look at the summary of what was asked of Job by his friends. In Job 15:9, Eliphaz asked Job, ‘What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not in us?’ Eliphaz is simply trying to run down Job and rub his nose in the dirt. Eliphaz and his two friends told Job in no uncertain terms not to think of himself higher than he ought to. Even today, people do the same with believers. The unbelieving world asks the believer, ‘What is it that you know that we do not know?’ ‘What special revelation about life and God do you have that we do not have?’ ‘What makes you think your faith and your God is better than ours?’ ‘Why do you think we ought to follow your God when we have our own gods and goddesses?’
In Job 11, Zophar went a step ahead and even made a plaintive appeal before God that He will show Job the secrets of His wisdom. ‘For you have said, ‘My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in your eyes.’ But oh, that God would speak, and open His lips against you, that He would show you the secrets of wisdom!’ (Job 11:4-6). While Eliphaz questioned Job’s claim to be someone special in God’s eyes, Zophar simply threw out that premise and decided to ask God to show Job, ‘the secrets of wisdom.’
It is in the light of these two pronouncements of Job’s friends that Job 29:4 (‘As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle’) assumes significance.
So, what is the secret of God that was upon Job’s tabernacle?
- It is God-given wisdom
In the NKJV, Job 29:4 reads as follows: ‘Just as I was in the days of my prime, when the friendly counsel of God was over my tent’. The secret of God is the friendly counsel of God. When the wisdom of God was upon Job’s tabernacle, His light shone upon Job’s head and God watched over him. The wisdom of God differentiated the man that Job was from the boys that were around him. As a result of God’s wisdom that was upon Job, the young men saw him and hid, the princes refrained from talking, and the voice of nobles was hushed (Job 29:8,9,10).
The wisdom that God gives you can make you a skilled worker like Bezaleel who knew how to work all manner of work (Exodus 36:1). The wisdom of God can make you 10 times smarter than those around you (Daniel 1:20).
It is available to all those who are God’s children. He is no respecter of persons. What He gave Job in abundant measure, He is able to give anyone. James 1:5 says, ‘If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.’ It is available to anyone who lacks, and asks. How can you and I get this friendly counsel of God? By admitting that we lack it and asking for it, of course! The Bible says, we must ask for it in faith, without wavering. God does not give it to those who are driven by doubts and tossed by waves of unbelief. To those who doubt, God does not give anything.
- It is a revelation from God
And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing (Genesis 18:17).
As soon as the three men sent by the Lord set their eyes toward Sodom, God decided to share what He planned to do with Abraham. Why did God decide to reveal His mind to Abraham? Genesis 18:17 gives us the impression that it is because God knew Abraham would become a great man. If that were true, God would have been partial in His approach – He would have been a God who is pro-rich, and pro-mighty. God knew Abraham would be a great and mighty nation because He was the One who was making him great and mighty. The real reason for the revelation of God to Abraham was the relationship between Him and Abraham. Amos 3:7 says, ‘Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.’ Abraham was God’s servant before he would become a great and mighty nation. Psalm 25:14 says, ‘The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.’ God decided to reveal what He decided to do with Sodom to Abraham simply because he was a true servant of God who fearfully walked in His steps.
- It is God’s promise to you concerning your children
When the secret of God was upon Job’s tabernacle, the Almighty God was with him and his children were around him (Job 29:4,5). The secret of God is His presence with you and His promise for your children and descendants. In 2 Samuel 7: 21, David says, ‘For Your word’s sake, and according to Your own heart, You have done all these great things, to make Your servant know them.’ What was it that God made David know? David’s thanksgiving to God began after prophet Nathan carried a message to him from God. In that message, God revealed to David that Solomon, his son, would be the one who would build a temple for Him. God’s promise to David about his son Solomon is mentioned in verses 12 to 16. ‘When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever…’
When David got an assurance from God about his progeny, he could not but thank God for the mighty revelation.
Has God given you a promise concerning your family and children? Has He told given you promises that are not yet fulfilled in your life? Hold on to them. Habakkuk 2:3 says, ‘For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” If He does not allow them to come to pass in your lifetime, He will surely, in His mercy, realize them in your children’s lives. What was not possible in David’s lifetime became a reality through his son, Solomon. If that is God’s will for your life, it is prudent to hand over your children to the Lord. Isaiah 54:13 says, ‘All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.’
- It is a word from God to strengthen and encourage you
Apostle Paul’s ministry was fraught with dangers from the Jews and indifference from the gentiles. And both are reasons enough to discourage even the most die-hard of God’s workers. When Paul ministered in Thessalonica, he was opposed by the Jews in the city. They hired goons from the marketplace, gathered a mob, launched an attack on Paul’s host Jason’s house and even dragged Jason before the magistrates. A worried bunch of believers packed off Paul and Silas to Berea overnight. Things seemed to be OK for a while in Berea till the Jews from Thessalonica instigated those in Berea against Paul. From Berea, Paul sped to Athens. At Athens, Paul was met with indifference from a learned and sophisticated group of Greeks who condescendingly waved him off. After attacks, insults and indifference, Paul came to Corinth in the hope this city would at least hear the Gospel and be won for Christ. However, Corinth proved to be no better than Thessalonica, Berea and Athens. When the Jews in Corinth opposed him and blasphemed God, in sheer helplessness, Paul shook his garments and swore to go to the Gentiles. Paul would have done just that if God had not intervened with a word of encouragement.
In Acts 18:9 and 10, we read, ‘Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.’
Proverbs 25:11 says, ‘A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.’ God spoke the right word at the right time to Paul. He knew the desperation and the heart’s cry of His servant and stepped in with a fitly spoken word to encourage him and strengthen him.
If God’s friendly counsel is upon your tabernacle, He will encourage you and strengthen you when people reject you and adverse situations overwhelm you.
When God’s secret comes upon your tabernacle, some amazing things will happen in your life. To know what they are, we need to examine the lives of Job, Abraham, David and Paul to know the effects of God’s friendly counsel on their lives.
- You will be commended by God
As a result of God’s friendly counsel upon his tabernacle, Job was commended by the Lord before his friends. In Job 42:7 we read, ‘the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.” If you carefully read the utterances of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar nowhere will you find them talking ill of God. They were only critical of Job not God. But the Lord who made prophet Zechariah write in 2:8, ‘for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye’ is a zealous God. He takes attacks on His servants as attacks on His own sovereignty. He did not tolerate dissent against His servant Moses by his own siblings Miriam and Aaron (Numbers 12) and struck Miriam with leprosy. While Job’s friends were chastised, Job himself was commended by God.
- God will want you to intercede for others
When God revealed to Abraham about what He was going to do to in Sodom, he did not gloat in the revelation. Instead, we see Abraham turning into an intercessory prayer warrior. He interceded for the people of Sodom. Two verses in Genesis 18 (verses 16 and 22) show us the contrast in Abraham before and after he received the revelation.
Verse 16
Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way.
Verse 18
Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord.
Before he knew the mind of God, he happily accompanied the men on the way, but after he received the revelation, he stood before the Lord ready to intercede for Sodomites.
Have you received a revelation from God concerning your family, ministry, city or nation? Don’t go tom-toming about it. Don’t gloat over it. Don’t ignore it. Stand before the Lord, ready to intercede for the cause at hand.
- You will conquer forces inimical to you
If you read 2 Samuel 7:1, you would realize that it was when God had given him rest from all his enemies that the thought of building a temple for God crossed his mind. Come to 2 Samuel 8 and you would see David conquering the Philistines, Moabites, king of Zobah, Syrians who came to the rescue of the king of Zobah and subduing Edomites. The subjugation of the remnant of his enemies began after he understood the secret of God upon his tabernacle and gave himself over to it. Has God given you a promise concerning your family and children? Yield yourself to it and you will see that forces that were once inimical to you will come under your authority. Proverbs 16:7 says, ‘When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.’ Why did God make David subjugate the remnant of his enemies? So that David’s son Solomon can build the temple of God in peace. We see King Solomon himself testify this in 1 Kings 5:4,5, ‘But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor evil occurrence. And behold, I propose to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spoke to my father David…’
Have you set your house in order? Have you conquered the forces of darkness in your life? If you resist the devil, he will flee from you (James 4:7). You need to conquer the forces of darkness that threaten to blow you away by the blood of Jesus Christ. Wear the armour of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) and claim victory over the adversary in the Name of Jesus Christ. Remember you are doing it not just for your good but for the wellbeing of your children as well. Eli was a good priest but he was a bad dad. And as a consequence, his children died a miserable death.
- You will receive an extended time of God’s favour
Paul was chased from one city to another. He and his supporters were attacked, brought before the law enforcing authorities under various charges, ridiculed, opposed and slighted. All this was until he heard from the Lord. After that, things changed. We read in Acts 18:11, ‘And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.’ This turnaround happened after the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision. Because the friendly counsel was upon Job’s tabernacle, things changed for the better in Job 42. He was blessed double-fold. Have you received a word from God that has strengthened and encouraged you? Fear not! Now, God will reverse your situation. He will turn the tide for you. Have you been at a low point in your life or ministry or career? Wait until you receive a word from the Lord. And after you receive it, be assured of an extended time of God’s favour upon your life. He is the Lord who restores (Joel 2:25). Cling on to Jesus. He is our portion, our inheritance and our reward. Amen.
