Job 13:15

Curse God! That would have meant giving up his God. Could he do that? Never. He could lose everything, but not his God. Many things may have seemed necessary to him in the past. But he had now reached this point: he could do without everything except God. God alone was necessary to Job. That is why he later cried out, in his agony and earnestness of soul, "Though He slay me yet will I trust in Him."

Notice this. Though Job gives way to his feelings in this passionate outburst, he did not renounce God, and there is not one word of rebellion against Him. All through his answer to his friends' arguments he does not lose sight of God. Again and again he expresses confidence in the One he cannot see, as in that unmatched saying, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust" (13:15).

He asks them, "Why do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hands?" (v.14). Did his friends ever ask why he would open himself up like this to their ridicule and criticism? Was there not a reason for this? In fact, he states firmly that even if God killed him, he would still trust Him. Did his trust in God show that he was guilty of hidden sin? No! he says, "I will defend my own ways, before Him" (v.15).

How little progress a soul makes while it is busy justifying itself! … He is only judging himself the way a man would… He sees no purpose of grace in God's ways with him. Yet his soul is clearly gaining ground, for he cries out, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him," and a gleam of hope breaks in on his path.

So the frail creature takes his life in his hand and stands before his Maker. All God can do is strike dead a man who has no hope. But Job must speak out and defend his ways as upright before God. That reading seems to fit best with what comes before. On the other hand, many — perhaps most — prefer the older King James wording: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." Read that way, the line is a gleam of light in the middle of awful darkness, and it seems to agree with what follows.

Job has confessed and Jehovah has forgiven. He forgets all Job's sinful utterances; He remembers them no more. But in infinite grace He picks out the few sentences scattered through Job's speeches where he honoured the Lord and expressed trust in Him. With these He is well pleased. It must have been sweet music in Jehovah's ear when Job said, "Though He slay me yet will I trust."

Even Job said, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." But we are permitted to go a step further. We know that whatever God brings on the believer is not only the product of divine goodness. It is the deliberate planning of divine love. However severe the trial, however deep the pain, however hard the testing, it only convinces us more of that clear warm love that makes no mistakes.