“Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;
Parallel Translations
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“Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;
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Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;
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Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Job 29:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 1:1-5 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east. His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts.” Job did so continually.
- Job 1:10 Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
- Jeremiah 31:28 It will happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” says Yahweh.
- Job 7:3 so am I made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me.
- Psalms 37:28 For Yahweh loves justice, and doesn’t forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
- Jude 1:1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Hebrew, month before.
Hebrew, month before.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 29:2 Oh that I were as [in] months…
Job 29:2 Oh that I were as [in] months past, as [in] the days [when] God preserved me;
Ver. 2. Oh that I were as in months past] O mihi praeteritos, &c. Though Job desireth not so much to be young again (which to be Chiron and Cato are said seriously to have refused, Secundum menses antiquitatis vel anteaetatis) as to prosper again; for this is what we all covet; but we shrink in the shoulder when called to carry the cross. To show his earnest desire, he redoubled his wish, as in the days, &c., and God answered him to the full, by redoubling upon him his former prosperity; not for days and months, but for various years together; and by giving him again all things richly to enjoy. So liberal is the Lord to his, that he many times giveth them more than heart can wish.
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When God preserved me] That he acknowledged God to be the author of his earthly felicity was well done; but not so well to think that God preserved him not, because he prospered him not. See the like Job 29:5. God oft wraps himself up in a cloud, and will not be seen till afterwards; but his hand is ever upon all them for good that seek him, Eze 18:21-22, he knoweth their souls in adversity, Psa 31:7.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain To wit, from all those miseries which now I…
To wit, from all those miseries which now I feel. This he desires, not only for his own ease and comfort, but also for the vindication of his reputation, and of the honour of religion, which suffered by his means: for as his calamities were the only ground of all their hard speeches and censures of him, as a man forsaken and hated by God; so he rightly judged that this ground being removed, and his posterity restored, his friends would take it for a token of God’s favour to him, and beget in them a milder and better opinion of him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Oh that I were as in months past,.... Which…
Oh that I were as in months past,.... Which is either an earnest wish for restoration to his former state of outward prosperity; which he might desire, not through impatience and discontent under his present circumstances, or from a carnal and worldly spirit; but either that the present reproach he lay under from his friends might be taken off, he observing that they accounted him a wicked man and an hypocrite, because of his afflictions; wherefore he judged, if these were removed, and he was in as prosperous a condition and in as good circumstances as before, they would entertain a different opinion of him; or, that his words might be better attended to, as they were by men, both young and old, and even princes and nobles before, it being a common case, that what a poor and distressed man says is not regarded; or that he might be in a capacity of doing good to the poor and fatherless, the widow and the oppressed, as he had formerly; or, this wish is only made to introduce the account of his former life, by which it would appear, that he was not the man his friends had represented him to be, from the favour he was in with God, and from the respect shown him by men, and the many good things done by him: but since, by various expressions, which before had dropped from his lips, it appears, that he had no hope nor expectation of ever being restored to his former outward happiness; this may be considered as a wish for the return of spiritual prosperity, wishing he was in as good frames of soul, and as much in the exercise of grace, and was as holy, as humble, as spiritual, and heavenly minded, as he was when he had so much of the world about him; and that he had but the like communion with God, and his gracious presence with him, as he had then. The state of the Lord's people, God-ward, is always the same; his election of them stands sure; the covenant of grace with them is unalterable; their interest in a living Redeemer always continues; grace in them is a principle, permanent and perpetual; but there may be, and often is, an alteration in their frames, and in the exercise of their graces, and in the open regard of God unto them; their graces may be low in exercise; there may be a decay of the life and power of godliness; their frames may change, and the presence of God may be withdrawn from them, and they may have no view of interest in salvation, at least not have the joys of it; wherefore, when sensible of all this, may be desirous it might be with them as it was before; that God would turn them again, and cause his face to shine upon them, that they might be comfortable; the particulars of Job's former case follow, which he desires a renewal of:
as in the days when God preserved me; either in a temporal sense; God having set an hedge of special providence about him, whereby he and his, his family and substance, were remarkably preserved; but now this was plucked up, and all were exposed to ravage and ruin; or in a spiritual sense, as he was both secretly and openly preserved, and as all the Lord's people are, in Christ, and in his hands, and by his power, spirit, and grace: the Lord preserves their souls from the evil of their own hearts, sin that dwells in them, that it shall not have the dominion over them; from the evil that is in the world, that they shall not be overcome by it, and carried away with if; and from the temptations of Satan, so as not to be devoured and destroyed by him, and from a final and total falling away; he preserves them in his own ways, safe to his kingdom and glory; but sometimes all this does not appear so evident unto them, as it might not to Job at this time; who observed the workings of his corruption, and the breaking out of them, in passionate words, wishes, and curses, and the temptations of Satan, who was busy with him to go further lengths, even to blaspheme and curse God; so that he might fear that God his defence was departed from him, the return of which he was desirous of; see Isa 49:14.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Preserved - From all those miseries which now I…
Preserved - From all those miseries which now I feel.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. O that I were as in months…
Verse 2. O that I were as in months past] Job seems here to make an apology for his complaints, by taking a view of his former prosperity, which was very great, but was now entirely at an end. He shows that it was not removed because of any bad use he had made of it; and describes how he behaved himself before God and man, and how much, for justice, benevolence, and mercy, he was esteemed and honoured by the wise and good.
Preserved me] Kept, guarded, and watched over me.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 29:2-3. O that I were as in months…
Job 29:2-3. O that I were as in months past — O that God would re- establish me in that happy condition wherein I was some time ago; in the days when God preserved me — From all those miseries which now I feel, and when I seemed to be a principal part of his care! You would then pay a greater regard to my words than you do now in my adversity. When his candle shined upon my head — When his favour and blessing attended me, to comfort and direct me. And when by his light I walked through darkness — Passed through many difficulties, dangers, and common calamities which befell others who lived near me, and overcame those troubles which happened to myself.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Oh that I were - Hebrew “Who will give?”…
Oh that I were - Hebrew “Who will give?” a common mode of expressing a wish; compare Job 6:8; Job 11:5; Job 13:5; Job 23:3.
As in months past - O that I could recall my former prosperity, and be as was when I enjoyed the protection and favor of God. Probably one object of this wish was that his friends might see from what a state of honor and happiness he had been brought down. They complained of him as impatient. He may have designed to show them that his lamentations were not unreasonable, when it was borne in mind from what a state of prosperity he had been taken, and to what a condition of wo he had been brought. He, therefore, goes into this extended description of his former happiness, and dwells particularly upon the good which he was enabled then to do, and the respect which was shown him as a public benefactor. A passage strikingly similar to this occurs in Virgil, Aeneid viii. 560:
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O mihi praeteritos referat si Jupiter annos!
Quails eram, cum primam aciem Praeneste sub ipsa
Stravi, scutorumque incendi victor acervos.
“O would kind heaven my strength and youth recall,
Such as I was beneath Praeneste’s wall;
There where I made the foremost foes retire,
And set whole heaps of conquered shields on fire!”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Me. Job perceiving that his friends made no reply,…
Me. Job perceiving that his friends made no reply, (Calmet) and yet did not appear satisfied, (Haydock) explains how he had behaved in prosperity, in answer to the insinuations of Eliphaz; (chap. xxii. 5.) and what miseries he now experienced; though he maintains these were not inflicted on account of his sins. He continues this discourse in the two next chapters. (Calmet) --- He wishes to be restored to his former state, for his own vindication, (Haydock) and that he might exercise the works of mercy. (Ven. Bede)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain preserved me--from calamity.
preserved me--from calamity.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain First division — JOB’S RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF LONG CONTINUED…
First division — JOB’S RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF LONG CONTINUED PROSPERITY, — A PROSPERITY ARISING FROM COMMUNION WITH GOD AND WELL DOING TO MEN, chap. 29.
First strophe — The most endearing fellowship with God was crowned with the unstinted bounty of Providence, and with the profound esteem and affection of Job’s fellow-men, Job_29:2-10.
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2. When God preserved me — In all Job’s thoughts God is foremost. Five times in these few verses (2-5) does Job, in diversified expression, refer to the presence and fellowship of God as his highest blessing, and the fountain of all good. As the lifting up of the heave-offering pointed to God in the heavens, so should all human undertakings begin with him.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. Job begins with a pathetic expression of regret…
2. Job begins with a pathetic expression of regret as he remembers happier times. His former happiness was due to God’s preserving or watching over him, and the loss of it was due to God’s forsaking him.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) Preserved.—Or, watched over me. When does God not…
(2) Preserved.—Or, watched over me. When does God not watch over us, if we only knew it?
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Oh that I were as in months past! or,…
Oh that I were as in months past! or, in the months of old. To Job the period of his prosperity seems long, long ago some-thing far away in the mist of time, which he recalls with difficulty. As in the days when God preserved me. Job never forgets to refer his prosperity to God, or to be grateful to him for it. (see Job_1:21 Job_2:10 Job_10:8-12, etc.)
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY Vers. 2-4. Regrets for the happy past.
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I IT IS NATURAL TO LOOK BACK WITH REGRET ON THE HAPPY PAST. The memory of past joy is not wholly pleasant. If the joy is gone, the memory only adds pain to the present sense of loss. Several things contribute to give intensity to the feeling of regret.
1. Many of the best blessings are not appreciated while we possess them. We have to lose them to learn their value. This is especially true of great common blessings, such as the buoyancy of youth, health, affluence. When all goes well with us we do not consider how many gifts of God we are enjoying. The charm of summer is appreciated when dull November makes us look back on the lost days of brightness. We wake up to the value of our loved ones when they have been taken from us by the hand of death. Adversity reveals the privileges of prosperity. Declining years teach the value of youth.
2. Reflection grows with years. It has been remarked upon as a misfortune that so many of the best things in life seem to be lavished upon an age that is carelessly negligent of them. Strength, energy, health, happiness, in abundance are enjoyed in youth without a thought. When these treasures are more scarce they are carefully economized and highly valued. In later years the habit of looking backward grows upon us, and reflection takes the place of heedless activity. Thus we consider find appreciate with regret in the later years of life what we disregarded in the earlier times of possession.
3. Memory throws a delusive glamour over the past. The distant hills are beautiful; we see their purple shadows, we do not observe their stony paths. Youth is not so sunny as age paints it. Keen pains of youth are forgotten in after-years, especially if those years have brought with them the fortitude that despises such sufferings. For there is a gain in years, and this very gain leads to an over-valuation of youth. Patience and self-control are acquired by experience, and while they help us to bear much that would be intolerable to youth, they also lead us to smile at and under-estimate the wild distresses of earlier years.
II IT IS GOOD TO APPRECIATE THE DIVINE BLESSINGS OF THE HAPPY PAST. Job acknowledged that God had preserved him in past days. The candle of the Lord had then shone upon his head. He enjoyed God"s friendship when he came to maturity.
1. This adds poignancy to the grief of regret. God has not been sufficiently appreciated. His blessings have not been acknowledged with merited gratitude. Or if no self-accusations arise on these points, still the loss of God"s favour seems to accompany the loss of his gifts. The regret has deeper thoughts than those concerning earthly good things. Apparently deserted by God, the troubled man cries, with poor Cowper"Where is the blessedness I knew When first I saw the Lord? Where is the soul-refreshing view Of Jesus and his Word?
2. This should really inspire hope. God is not fickle. His constancy is deeper than appearances. We may have lost hold of his goodness through our own sin or distrust. Perhaps, however, we are deluding ourselves; he is really nearer to us in adversity than he was in prosperity, only we cannot understand the mysteries of his providence. Assuredly, if God once loved and cared for his children, he will never forsake them.
3. This should urge the young to appreciate their privileges. It is not desirable that any should reflect overmuch on their present happy condition, because the charm of it is its unconscious freedom and activity. But it is only right to acknowledge the goodness of God with thankfulness; and to so use early privileges that we shall not afterwards look back with regret on a misspent youth. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Oh, that I were as in months past.
Job_29:2
Oh, that I were as in months past.
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The fluctuations of a religious life
I. Their prevalence. Ebbs and tides of feeling are common to all life, good or bad. Religious moods are as frequent, as uncertain, and as unmanageable as any other moods, and under given conditions are absolutely beyond our control. To force ourselves up into a high state of spiritual feeling is a matter we cant always do. Important occasions do not always find us with the necessary power, however we may have laboured for it. There is spring and summer, autumn and winter, in nature; in fact, everything in nature suggests that we must have our pauses and rests, that it is impossible to continue in one strain of thought or action without cessation or change. Beware of passing sweeping condemnations on yourself, or on others, in moments of spiritual dearth.
II. The general causes of religious fluctuation.
1. Take the constitutional.
(1) To begin with the physical. Any defect in the vital digestive organs will change the whole course of a mans religious life. His variations, unaccountable tossings and reelings and fitfulnesses, are in very many cases the result entirely of some physical infirmity.
(2) Or it may be mental. It is wonderful how our emotions and susceptibilities are bound up with our intellectual nature. It is the brain, the bodily organism, that gives identity, distinction, character to all our life. In one sense the material is simply an instrument of the spiritual nature; but in another, and a very important sense, it is the ruling and dominating element, as far as our emotions, feelings, and experience are concerned--the spiritual taking all its complexion from the material. The wavering that may be seen in one, when another is prompt to act, is just because the intellect very frequently keeps the will in restraint. Some people act on impulse, not on reason, on probabilities that a sound and vigorous mind would not dare to trust.
(3) But again, our experience varies a good deal from another point of constitutional infirmity, and that is the moral point of view. One of the great mysteries of life is the inequalities of moral perceptions that are found in the world, irrespective of the grace of God. One mans natural tendencies all lie towards sin; and right feeling and right doing is a perpetual conflict. No wonder if he is often overwhelmed with despair.
2. Providential, i.e. causes beyond our own control, not set in motion by our wish or desire, or by our negligence--and of all the heroes mentioned in the Bible, none suffered more in this respect than Job. When Providence inflicts wounds, sends you sorrow, dont dream your heaviness of soul is an indication of a faithless heart. God is testing, sifting you. Have faith; all is well; grace is not yielding to sin. When it must be winter in your soul dont you try to make it summer. Whom the Lord loveth He, etc.
3. Characteristic. And--
(1) amongst these is an inordinate expectation of assistance from others, which in some people amounts to nothing more nor less than a radical misconception of what religion really is. If life is to be great, noble, blessed, it must grow out of sacred independence. Religious feeling, growth, power, are not developed by the caresses and fondnesses of our friends. Your own resources are better than all other resources put together, of whatever kind or nature. Until you can get the nature of the sturdy oak, that welcomes alike the cold of winter and the piercing heat of summer, you will be in a fluctuating condition all the days of your life. Like a weather glass, as far as spiritual things are concerned.
(2) A characteristic cause of our rising and falling religious life is this, depending too much upon the efficacy of spasmodic effort.
4. The vital or radical causes, which, after all, are the real causes. They are
(1) The attempt to be religious without the religious principle; the attempt to lead a new life without a new nature, very much prevailing now, but with very fatal consequences. Lives these full of secret sin.
(2) Is the case where there has been a genuine conversion, but where the fire has burnt out, and there is nothing left but the form of godliness, and not the power.
(3) Is the case where there is a real connection with the life of God, but so feeble and fitful, that the believer is tossed about by every wind and doctrine.
III. The remedy for this inconstancy, this fluctuation.
1. Give yourself up to a very frequent and searching self-examination before God.
2. You must be more faithful in the details of your religious life. Little things grow to big things.
3. You must be more constant in your attendance upon the means of grace, more particularly the special ordinances of Gods house; but--
4. High and supreme above every other precaution and remedy, you must ever keep your heart open to the light of heaven and the grace of God; and then, whatever may be your hindrances, your drawbacks, your constitutional infirmity, or your spiritual afflictions, they shall all yield to the strength of your faith in God. (T. E. Westerdale.)
Spiritual fluctuation
There is no sadder or more depressing condition than that in which we look back regretfully to better days and happier hours. This undertone of lamenting sorrow makes the cry of Job pathetic. He had seen better days. Because he measured Gods favour by the amount of worldly prosperity given him, he concluded God, measurably at least, had forsaken him. It was a mistaken standard by which to judge God, still it was his standard. We are interested in the experience of Job so far as it is an illustration of spiritual experience. Our spiritual or religious life, like our physical, is subject to fluctuations. There are causes and remedies for such a fluctuating spiritual condition.
I. Inquire unto the causes.
1. Physical causes. It is hard to tell how many of our spiritual fluctuations are due to our bodies. The mind and the soul have controlling power over the body; but it is just as true that the body rules them. The body is the channel of our noblest emotions and our deepest sorrows. Since the body has its effect upon the spirit, it is to be religiously guarded and cared for.
2. The mind. Its varying moods affect every other portion of our lives. Its powers, distorted by sin, carry us hither and thither. It is true religion appeals to and reaches the mind as well as the heart, the reason as well as the emotions; but the wilful wanderings and ever-restless questionings of the mind too often lead it from safe moorings. The thoughts we entertain; the kind of reading we select; the habits of judgment we cultivate--all have their effect upon our hearts.
3. Providential causes. Circumstances in which we are placed, and over which we have no control, seem to change often our entire outlook. It was so with Job. It is comparatively easy to be spiritually-minded as long as all goes well, but trouble often turns the poor weak heart from its refuge, and makes the sky look dark.
4. People too often live on too low a spiritual plane. We do not live up near enough to God. There is communion and fellowship with God that is neglected and forsaken. Men live on a plane constantly growing lower, and then wonder why their faith is not as clear, their hearts are not as warm, and their spirits as glowing as in former days: why heaven seems further away the nearer they come to eternity. They imagine God has changed, while the change is all in them. Spiritual lowlands will be sure to tell on spiritual life.
II. Inferences in connection with this subject.
1. Let no Christian conclude that because he has been subject to such changes, therefore he has lost religion and lost favour with God. This was one of Jobs troubles. Religion is something deeper than our feelings, and far more comprehensive. It finds its basis not in our varying moods nor changing emotions, but in the unchanging Word and provisions of God.
2. There must be a higher standard of life than mere feeling. If emotions were the gauge of our religious life, we could never be quite sure of our spiritual standing. There were times of depression and exaltation on the human side of the life of the Saviour. All through His chequered experience the one great principle of action was that He might do the will of God. The highest standard put before us is not our fluctuating emotions, but our earnest doing Gods will.
III. Remedies for this spiritual fluctuation.
1. Frequent strict self-examination.
2. Close attention paid to the details of life.
3. Practical activity. God wants us to work and do for Him whether we feel like doing so or not.
4. Let the windows of the soul be kept constantly open toward heaven. The Saviour did that. All availing strength comes from above. (Francis F. West.)
Painful retrospects
Humanity is a brotherhood, and the language of Job finds response in many a pious heart.
I. Declension is the first thought suggested by these words. This may have been scarcely perceptible, for as spiritual life is developed not by violent moods, not by spasmodic impulses, but gradually; as its influx is like the inflowing of the tides, so spiritual declension is gradual--it does not register itself, it is comparatively unconscious. Still, there are specific causes out of which it is produced.
1. Religious speculation. It will not do to tamper with compass or chart. What shall prevent a vessel from drifting out of its course if the needle has been made to deflect from its true position? Bible truths should be held inviolable--not that there should be unreasoning and blind acceptance of religious beliefs, but there are certain truths commended to us which are beyond controversy.
2. The cares of the world. These are fruitful causes of spiritual declension. It was no wonder that Peter would fain remain on Tabors summit with Christ. Under a tropical sun, nursed by the balmy air, rich and luscious fruits easily ripen; so, near the Throne, in moments akin to the hour of transfiguration, Christian graces rapidly develop; but the hourly contact with the busy world, its anxieties and distractions, are apt to be prejudicial to piety and to warp the Christian character.
3. Neglect of the means of grace. These are commended, not arbitrarily. They are the laws of the spiritual life--essential conditions of growth.
II. Solicitude is a hopeful indication. It is a sign of spiritual life. The Church at Laodicea was charged with indifferentism. I would ye were either cold or hot.
III. The desire may be fulfilled. (John Love.)
Jobs regret and our own
I. Let us begin by saying that regrets such as those expressed in the text are and ought to be very bitter. If it be the loss of spiritual things that we regret, then may we say from the bottom of our hearts, Oh, that I were as in months past. It is a great thing for a man to be near to God; it is a very choice privilege to be admitted into the inner circle of communion, and to become Gods familiar friend. Great as the privilege is, so great is the loss of it. No darkness is so dark as that which falls on eyes accustomed to the light. The man who has never enjoyed communion with God knows nothing of what it must be to lose it. The mercies which Job deplored in our text are no little ones.
1. First, he complains that he had lost the consciousness of Divine preservation. He says, Oh, that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me. There are days with Christians when they can see Gods hand all around them, checking them in the first approaches of sin, and setting a hedge about all their ways.
2. Job had also lost Divine consolation, for he looks back with lamentation to the time when Gods candle shone upon his head, when the sun of Gods love was, as it were, in the zenith, and cast no shadow; when he rejoiced without ceasing, and triumphed from morning to night in the God of his salvation. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Moreover, Job deplored the loss of Divine illumination. By His light, he says, I walked through darkness, that is to say, perplexity ceased to be perplexity; God shed such a light upon the mysteries of Providence, that where others missed their path, Job, made wise by heaven, could find it. There have been times when, to our patient faith, all things have been plain.
3. Moreover, Job had lost Divine communion; so it seems, for he mourned the days of his youth, when the secret of God was upon his tabernacle. Who shall tell to another what the secret of God is?
II. But, secondly, let me remind you that these regrets are not inevitable; that is to say, it is not absolutely necessary that a Christian man should ever feel them, or be compelled to express them. It has grown to be a tradition among us, that every Christian must backslide in a measure, and that growth in grace cannot be unbrokenly sustained. There is no inherent necessity in the Divine life itself compelling it to decline, for is it not written, It shall be in him a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life? And there is no period of our life in which it is necessary for us to go back. Assuredly, old age offers no excuse for decline: they shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; to show that the Lord is upright.
III. But now I am compelled to say that the regrets expressed in our text are exceedingly common and it is only here and there that we meet with a believer who has not had cause to use them. It ought not to be so, but it is so. The commonness of this lamentation may be somewhat accounted for by the universal tendency to undervalue the present and exaggerate the excellence of the past. Then, again, regrets may in some cases arise from a holy jealousy. The Christian, in whatever state he is, feels his own imperfection much, and laments his conscious shortcomings. And, let me add, that very often these regrets of ours about the past are not wise. It is impossible to draw a fair comparison between the various stages of Christian experience, so as to give a judicious preference to one above another. Consider, as in a parable, the seasons of the year. There are many persons who, in the midst of the beauties of spring, say, Ah, but how fitful is the weather! These March winds and April showers come and go by such fits and starts, that nothing is to be depended upon. Give me the safer glories of summer. Yet, when they feel the heat of summer, and wipe the sweat from their brows, they say, After all, with all the full-blow of beauty around us, we admire more the freshness, verdure, and vivacity of spring. The snowdrop and the crocus, coming forth as the advance guard of the army of flowers, have a superior claim about them. Now, it is idle to compare spring with summer; they differ, and have each its beauties. Be thankful each of you for what you have, for by the grace of God you are what you are. After making all these deductions, however, I cannot conceive that they altogether account for the prevalence of these regrets; I am afraid the fact arises from the sad truth that many of us have actually deteriorated in grace, have decayed in spirit, and degenerated in heart.
IV. Since these regrets are exceedingly common, it is to be feared that in some cases they are very sadly needful. Are there not signs of declension, that some of us might, with but a very slight examination, discover in ourselves? Is not brotherly love, in many Christians, very questionable?
V. But I must pass on to observe that these regrets by themselves are useless. It is unprofitable to read these words of Job, and say, Just so, that is how I feel, and then continue in the same way. If a man has neglected his business, and so has lost his trade, it may mark a turn in his affairs when he says, I wish I had been more industrious; but if he abides in the same sloth as before, of what use is his regret? If he doth not seek to be restored, he is adding to all his former sins this of lying before God, in uttering regrets that he does not feel in his soul.
VI. These regrets, when they are necessary, are very humbling. During the time we have been going back we ought to have gone forward. What enjoyments we have lost by our wanderings! What progress we have missed. Alas, how much the Church has lost through us! for if the Christian becomes poor in grace, he lessens the Churchs wealth of grace. VII. These regrets, then, are humbling, and they may be made very profitable in many other ways. First, they show us what human nature is. Learn again to prize what spiritual blessings yet remain. This should teach us to live by faith, since our best attainments fail us.
VIII. These regrets ought not to be continual: they ought to be removed. Go back to where you started. Do not stay discussing whether you are a Christian or not. Go to Christ as a poor, guilty sinner. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Comfort for the desponding
I. First, there is a complaint. How many a Christian looks on the past with pleasure, on the future with dread, and on the present with sorrow!
1. The first is the case of a man who has lost the brightness of his evidences.
2. Another phase of this great complaint, which it also very frequently assumes, is one under which we are lamenting--not so much because our evidences are withered, as because we do not enjoy a perpetual peace of mind as to other matters. Oh, says one, Oh, that I were as in months past! for then whatever troubles and trials came upon me were less than nothing.
3. Another individual, perhaps, is speaking thus concerning his enjoyment in the house of God and the means of grace. Oh, says one, in months past, when I went up to the house of God, how sweetly did I hear!
4. There are some of us who lament extremely that our conscience is not as tender as it used to be; and therefore doth our soul cry in bitterness, Oh, that I were as in months past! When first I knew the Lord, you say, I was almost afraid to put one foot before another, lest I should go astray.
5. There are some of us who have not as much zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of men as we used to have.
II. But now we are about to take these different characters, and tell you the cause and cure.
1. One of the causes of this mournful state of things is defect in prayer; and of course the cure lies somewhere next door to the cause. You do not pray as you once did. Nothing brings such leanness into a mans soul as want of prayer.
2. Perhaps, again, you are saying, Oh, that I were as in months past! not so much from your own fault as from the fault of your minister.
3. But there is a better reason still that will come more home to some of you. It is not so much the badness of the food, as the seldomness that you come to eat it.
4. But frequently this complaint arises from idolatry. Many have given their hearts to something else save God, and have set their affections upon the things of earth, instead of the things in heaven. We have perhaps become self-confident and self-righteous. If so, that is a reason why it is not with us as in months past. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 29:2 Although elsewhere Job uses the Hebrew shamar to…
29:2 Although elsewhere Job uses the Hebrew shamar to describe what he perceived as God’s oppressive surveillance (10:14; 13:27; 14:16), here it refers to God’s kindly care (“watch(es) over,” Ps 121:3-8).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.