For He knows the way that I take (Job 23:10)

"But he knows the way that I take;

When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:10)

Of late, I have learnt that God does not work in a linear fashion. 

We follow his direction, everything seems primed for lift-off, then we reach a grinding halt, almost like going back to the drawing board.  Was it a case of not hearing Him clearly at the start, or that with God, things aren't always so straightforward?

Then I remember the giants of God. Moses - who was trained in the palace for great things … at 40, primed for lift-off, only then to be consigned to the backside of the desert for another 40 years. In the eyes of men, almost like going back to Square 1. Or in a game of snakes and ladders, starting all over again from the bottom. 

Or King David. Who was anointed as King by the Prophet Samuel, only to spend years as a fugitive, running for his life from King Saul. One moment he seemed primed for lift-off, the next moment, it was as if nothing could be further from the truth. 

This can be so perplexing! 

So this morning, I was greatly comforted to be reminded by the Holy Spirit of this verse from Job 23:10 - "But he knows the way I take". 

Reading the commentary by Spurgeon, here are some great gems I felt to share:

"My hearer, I ask you, first: Do you have a way. There is a way which you have taken, chosen, selected for yourself: there is a way which you follow in desire, word, and act. So far as your life is left to your own management, there is a way which you voluntarily take, and willingly follow. Do you know what that way is? 

Do you know where you are going, and do you carefully consider your end? You are steaming across the deep sea of time into the main ocean of eternity: to what port are you steering? The birds in heaven know their time and place when they fly away in due season: but do you know whither you are speeding? Do you keep watch, looking ahead for the shore? What shore are you expecting to see? For what purpose are you living? 

If I were to go out tomorrow to sea, I should not walk on board a steamboat and then enquire, 'Where are you going?' The captain would think me a crazy fellow if I embarked before I knew where the vessel was going. I first make up my mind where I will go, and then select a vessel which is likely to carry me there in comfort. 

Which way are your intentionally going? What is it you are aiming at? Are you living for God? Or are you living that the result may be eternal banishment from his presence?

If you are afraid to consider your own future, your fear is a bad omen. If you decline to answer the question, 'What is your way'? I fear your way is one that you cannot defend, whose end will cause you endless lament. 

There is comfort to me, that if you have chosen the wrong way, that choice need not stand. THe grace of God can come in, and reverse your course. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, the past can be forgiven, and by the power of the Holy Spirit the present and future can be changed. 

But my friend, are you drifting? Do I get up every morning, and go about this world, and work hard, and all for nothing which will last? As a being created of God for noblest purposes, am I spending my existence in a purposeless manner? How foolish! Why, surely, I have need, like the prodigal, to come to myself: and if I do come to myself, I shall ask myself, Can it be right that I should thus be wasting the precious gifts of time, and life, and power? If I were nothing, it would be congruous that I should aim at nothing; but being a man, I ought to have a high purpose, and pursue it heartily. 

Or can you say, I am bound for the right port? If so, exert your strength in the work to which your life is consecrated. Is it not written, "Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength?" If we really are on the right way, let us press forward with all our powers, and may God help us that we may win the prize!

Dear friend, it is quite certain that God knows the way you take. The Hebrew may be read "He knows the way that is in me" from which I gather that the Lord not only knows our outward actions, but our inward feelings. He knows our likes and dislikes, our desires and our designs, our imaginations and our tendencies. He knows not only what we do, but what we would do if we could. 

The Lord knows you approvingly if you follow that which is right. He knows them that put their trust in Him, that is to say, He approves of them. If there be in you, even a faint desire towards God, He knows it and looks with pleasure upon it. If you practise private prayer, if you do good by stealth, if you conquer evil passions, if you honor Him with patience, if you present gifts to Him which nobody ever hears of, He knows it all, and He smiles upon it. 

If you can say, "I am glad that He knows what I do, for his approval is heaven to me", then conclude that there is a work of grace in your heart, and that you are a follower of Jesus. 

Amen. 

So I take comfort that in the perplexities of life, God knows the way we take. The question to us, which Spurgeon so deeply and penetratingly asks is, "Do we know the way we take?" Are we purposefully living for God, or drifting, or worse, headed towards a life of eternal separation with God? Let us examine our hearts and re-calibrate our sails, that we might sail home to the bosom of the Eternal Father.