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{Since the Heavenly Trade Is the Best Trade…
Exhortation and Counsel to Earthly Traders
Counsel Two: See God in Your Afflictions}
Second, see God in those afflictions that affect your earthly trades and concerns. Affliction does not come from dust (Job 5:6),1192 and from neither east nor west comes being lifted up [from affliction], but God is the judge; He puts one person down and lifts up another (Psalm 75:6–7).1193 It was not the wind, the fire, the Chaldeans, or Sabeans that undid Job, but it was God Who took away; it was by His permission that all those losses came (Job 1:21).1194 This helped Job to good behavior under his troubles: he saw God in it. He did not blame people, complain about the devil, or become angry with chance, fortune, stars, or constellations. Job looked to God concerning everything. “If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble? If a calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it?” (Amos 3:6 NASB). “The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these” (Isaiah 45:7 NASB). Israel was greatly diminished in their earthly things, and God told them that it was He who blew it away. People usually blame it on the times, on one thing or another, but few look to God,1195 and that is one reason why people make no better use of this rod: they do not see that it is in the hand of a holy God. You will never lay your hands on your mouths (Job 40:4),1196 until you look to God in these troubles, nor will you set on the right path for cure until you see the hand [of God] that strikes you (Psalm 39:9).1197
1192“For affliction does not come from the dust, Nor does trouble spring from the ground” (Job 5:6 NKJV). Even in a desert dust storm, it is God who brings it.
1193“For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up, but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another” (Psalm 75:6–7 ESV).
1194“And he said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord’” (Job 1:21 NKJV).
1195Theologians use the terms first cause and second causes. The former cause is the actual cause: God Himself. Second causes are those that are the result of previous events. For example, suppose you drop a raw egg on the floor, making a mess. The first cause is God. The second causes are your carelessness, gravity, and the mechanical structure of the eggshell. But, although those last two second causes are called natural laws, they are laws only because God, demonstrating His faithfulness, almost always does certain things the same way. Almost, because when God does a miracle, He is simply doing things differently for a particular reason. There is holy mystery here that God has not revealed to us.
1196“Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth” (Job 40:4 NKJV).
1197“I have become mute, I do not open my mouth, Because it is You who have done it” (Psalm 39:9 NASB).
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