Vertical Perspective in Suffering (Job 1:13-2:10)

God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines Of never failing skill; He treasures up his bright designs, And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints fresh courage take, The clouds ye so much dread, Are big with mercy, and shall break In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust him for his grace; Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding ev'ry hour; The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flow'r.
Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan his work in vain; God is his own interpreter, And he will make it plain.

—William Cowper, 1773

Reality of Exposure (Job 1:1-5)

“I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed.
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there’s one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He’s all I’ve got left.”

—Eugene Peterson, The Message, Lamentation 3:19-24

The Fear of the Lord is Wisdom (Job28)

“When it comes down to it, there are only two choices: to conform desire to truth or truth to desire, to conform our soul to reality or conform reality to our wishes:

There is something which unites magic and applied science while separating both from the ‘wisdom’ of earlier ages. For the wise men of old the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality, and the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. For magic and applied science alike the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men: the solution is a technique....

Truth or a technique for altering reality—that is the choice.”

—Art Lindsley

Fear of the Lord Moving from Head to Heart

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

— C.S. Lewis

Why We Need the Fear of the Lord (Job 1:1, Psalm 147:10-11)

“In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that—you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud, you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”

— C.S. Lewis