Sanctifying Grace (Job 23:10)

But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
– Job 23:10

That is powerful language that reflects a theme we see all over the Bible, that testing, that trials in our lives are producing something in us. Job says, trials refine me in such a way that I come out as gold. It makes me think of Romans 5, “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God has poured out his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit whom he has given us”. All of this produced by suffering.

Job 23:10 reflects a reality that is emphasized all over Scripture.

James says the same thing, “Count it joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness that leads to being perfect and complete, not lacking in anything”. 1 Peter says the same. We could go all over the Bible to see how God graciously, wisely, mercifully, lovingly uses suffering in our lives to produce good. Even to think about the promise we pray according to all the time, Romans 8:28, that God is working together all things, including hard things, including very difficult trying things, including agonizing things, all things together for our good.

And what’s our good? Our conformity to the image of Jesus, to draw us closer to himself. Now, the good news is there’s coming a day when we will experience deepest possible intimacy with God, and suffering will not be needed. It’s called Heaven. And on that day, there will be no more suffering, no more crying, no more pain, no more tears, and we will experience perfect intimacy with God. But as long as we’re in this fallen world, the reality is that trials produce this good in us. And so our prayer in trials needs to be guided by verses like Job 23:10, “When he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”

So can we just pray for this in our lives? God, we pray that whatever trials we’re walking through right now, whatever trials we may walk through in days to come, we pray that these trials would produce good in us. We pray that they would produce exactly what your word says they will produce, steadfastness and maturity, completion, lacking in nothing according to your Word in James. Lord, we pray that according to your Word in Romans 5, that suffering in our lives would produce endurance and character and hope and deeper experience of your love poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

Job 23:10 reminds us that we can grow closer to God through suffering.

We pray for deeper intimacy with your Spirit. We pray in light of Romans 8:28–30 for deeper conformity to the image of your Son. God, we pray for all of this good, and we praise you for how you lovingly use suffering in our lives to bring about good. So God, we pray a lot of Job 23, what we were praying about in Job 19, for your redemptive good purposes to be accomplished in and through our suffering in our lives, in the lives of others. God, we pray that you’d help us to walk through suffering in a way that points others to your goodness, in a way that leads others to see you as not just our Redeemer but their Redeemer.

Lord, we pray that you would accomplish all the good, redemptive purposes you have in our lives. Accomplish them in others’ lives as we walk through suffering, as we trust in you, as we hope in you and God, as we draw closer to you, as we worship you and trust you and lean on you and rest in you and glorify you and proclaim you in the middle of suffering.

God, please may it be so. And God, we pray that you would use our lives. That as we have hope in you in suffering, we can point others in this world… Point them to the hope that is found in you alone in suffering. We can’t fathom walking through suffering without the hope we have in you. So God, we pray, help us to spread this hope right around us. Help us to spread this hope to the ends of the Earth.

Prayer for the Akkin People

God, we pray for the Akkin people of Russia. For this Chechen-speaking Muslim people group of men, women, and children. They don’t know the hope that’s found in Jesus. They experience suffering in this world without the hope of Jesus. Lord, we pray that the hope of Jesus would spread to the Akkin people of Russia. That they might be reached, disciples made, churches planted… Proclaiming hope in the middle of this fallen world among the Akkin people. God, please may it be so. We pray all of this according to your Word in Job 23:10. In Jesus’ name, in the name of the one who suffered for our salvation. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.