The Lord takes pride in an upright man. He is a God with perfect attributes. An upright man reveres them. He knows the mind of God. For the Lord to take pride in you, you ought to take yourself into His mind. You enter His mind by ardently seeking His face. As you act upon what you received from Him, it gives Him confidence about you. You provide Him the opportunity to boast in you. He boasts, since He has seen you; it is by His unwavering confidence in you. His confidence in you is the basis for you to procure His blessings, protection and guidance. He takes pride in you, because He knows how your walk for Him will be; because He knows you will not trade Him for another; because you make time to keep your conscience clean before Him. In wisdom He saw your end that it is like the stacking of grain in its season. He relentlessly worked toward you that you should have the kind of personality that does not bring reproach.
To keep a personality that God bestowed on you means to live as though you have not fully delved the world. In the words of Paul, it means the married ought to be like those that do not have spouses, and men and women ought to live as though they did not fully make use of the world. Such a conscience drives you to wholly set your mind on God. Your concentration toward God is not split between Him and the things of the world. Though you have all or everything necessary in life, you possess a strong will to give total attention to the Lord. In this way the Lord will have an opportunity to boast in you. For consider the boasting of God in an upright man. “The LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil’” (Job 1:8).
Certainly, it is the Lord who allows men to grow in Him that He may boast in them. Job has grown in Him in more ways than many in the present day are acquainted with. But, those ways are appropriate to God. Hence, the witness that Job obtained from Him seems far from attainable to the present day Christians. They venture to speak of him and his life, but without being acquainted with the personality that makes them God’s servants. The things that God saw in Job are the same He looks for in all men. They are blamelessness, uprightness, fear of God and turning away from evil. By them He establishes men as the godly. By them each one claiming to be His son receives appraisal. If men would listen to God, it is He who teaches them to be blameless; it is He who strengthens them to live upright; His commands gives them the knowledge of Him that they fear Him and stray away from evil. For this reason, Job was not a peculiar case that the witness he obtained from God is far from attainable by the men of these days. If it were so, God could never produce sons for His name. On the contrary, He continues to take pride in upright men.
Christians that do not grasp the things God looks for in them do not seek to receive a witness from Him. They have not revered His perfect attributes. Without a witness from God their life will be in shambles. Since they lack the personality God bestows, they do not work or live in accordance with His wishes. They perform works and speak words that are devoid of wisdom and strength. They take others along with them and become prey to the Adversary. They voluntarily perform works that satisfy him. They consider many things as truth except that which came from the mind of God. God makes plans for their demise, even as He did in the former days. “Then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death” (Jer. 52:11). Zedekiah did not grasp the unfathomable working nature of God.
God makes exuberant plans for the godly as much as He makes plans for the demise of the ungodly. In all of them His name is glorified. Houses, riches, wife, husband, children, lands, farms aside, what do Christians really desire? I am convinced that a great number do not really know what to desire, because they do not act like those that knew what God truly looks for in them. Sure, they all desire heaven, but how? Had they been convinced of what God looks for in them, each would become a Job to God. Whether or not they are tested like Job should not even be considered until they obtain a witness from God. Was not Zedekiah a son of Israel through Abraham? Yet, he was proof that all Israel are not Israel. By punishing him God justified His calling is holy. What do I mean? Christians ought to obtain a witness from God that confirms them as His sons. So, each one must enter into an intimate relationship with Him. It is not enough for them to be called Christians when it does not permit God to take pride in them. What Job was to God is indelible. And so will Christians be, if they grasp the word of Christ. “Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak” (Matt. 24:18).
He who has set his eyes on God must not turn back to the world. This is the proof of his intimate relationship with Him. He is living as though he did not make full use of the world. He obtains a witness from God. He will not be intimidated by any factor, but overcomes them by the knowledge of God’s witness of him. He who runs as though to make full use of the world cannot overcome the factors that intimidate. So, know that God’s witness of you keeps you from sin and punishment. Job was a wise man and extraordinarily blessed, but when the time came to run, he did not turn back. He did not satisfy Satan’s desire, whose intent for him was to curse God. He lost everything, but knew he had God. This is the benefit of entering the mind of God. By having God’s witness Job overcame his friends and Satan. Of him it is evident he lived as though he did not fully make use of the world. If you desire life forever with God, you need to undoubtedly secure His witness of you. Then, at all times you revere His attributes.
In order that Christians overcome Satan the gospel has been delivered to them. It contains the ways of God, His desires, His witness for them, His plans for their honor and His plans toward the ungodly. Hence, Paul having understood the unfathomable working nature of God said, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” (Gal. 1:8). When you have found a way that God works in you from the gospel, you attained the sacred intimacy with Him. You will find His witness of you that makes you His servant. Then, you will preach, teach or share that gospel that has been revealed for the purpose of calling men to God. The Spirit, who gave to Paul and the like the mind of God, will also supply you the same uniting you with them by faith. For the Christ present in the Law, prophets and the law of liberty will be revealed to you that you may present Him to those who hear you. What is the advantage? Firstly, God’s witness of you will reveal you as His servant to convince men of truth. Secondly, what the gospel, the power of God, brought forth in the earlier times will also bring forth through you. Finally, they that hear you will also obtain a witness from God. As Job they too will be indelible to God. God who waits to this end said, “BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen” (Rev. 1:7).
God is anxiously waiting for those who are to receive His witness. He is waiting to reveal His Son’s glory. Many are hearing the gospel, since there are many that speak it. Yet, they are hearing it without God’s witness in those who speak. On the day God reveals His Son they will mourn. For they have changed the gospel for their interests. They traded it for the knowledge of this world. They take the name of Paul and the like, but do not speak with the power that lived in them. You, however, grasp the words of Paul that you are not accursed. You will find belief to believe in God. Then, you will have the knowledge that was also in Cornelius, “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually” (Acts 10:2). You will obtain God’s witness.
When you have the knowledge of God, act on it in the likeness of Cornelius. Many have the knowledge of God, but because they did not act on it, they did not obtain the witness to become His servants. Without witness knowledge is dangerous. It turns a person arrogant making him an enemy of God. Acting on the knowledge of God altruistically, on the other hand, will guide you to witness His unfathomable working nature. Job, Paul and Cornelius all witnessed it. Three different individuals from different eras, with different backgrounds and lifestyles, yet, all obtained the personality that did not bring reproach. It is an achievement of the gospel, the power of God. If this power is in you, you will be no different to them or, to be precise, God will not be indifferent toward you. Though you received many things in this world, you possess a heart that gives undivided attention to God. He takes pride in you and it shall be said, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:14).