Job 23:16 For God makes my heart soft, and the Almighty troubles me: Prosperity is often a curse, adversity is often a blessing. Observe the advantages of affliction. Confine attention to the softening of the heart. 1. The Scriptures speak of the hardness of the heart as the cause of impenitence and unbelief. Suppose that you were offered, on the one hand, temporal prosperity with a stony heart, or temporal prosperity with a new and softened heart, what would be your choice? If you are in adversity it may be that God saw prosperity to be dangerous for you. It is the Almighty that troubleth you. Thank Him for having troubled you. Pray Him to soften your heart wholly. 2. Since God certainly designs affliction for your profit, have a care that you do profit by it. 3. How are we to profit by affliction? To this end, we must repent us truly of our sins past, and resolve, by God's grace, to abandon them. Our good resolution must not be impulsive and evanescent, it must be deliberate and decided, in order that it may be permanent. God has promised to help us, and He alone can give us the strength to succeed; but He requires a concurrent will. If you would profit by affliction, you must be "instant in prayer," and diligent in the study of God's Word. Learn, then, to look at affliction in the true light, and from a Christian point of view. It is designed by God to make your heart soft. (James Mackay, B. D.). Parallel Verses KJV: For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:WEB: For God has made my heart faint. The Almighty has terrified me. |
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