“How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me,“Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;Oh that I were as in the months of old, As in the days when God watched over me;
3 sermons cite this verse
… Job further continued his discourse, and he said, Oh, that I were as in months past. Thank you. Now, the fact that he uses the term months is perhaps a time signature that tells us Job's affliction didn't last days, didn't last weeks, but over a period of several months he was experiencing all of this heartache. oh that I were as in months past as in the days when God watched over me when his lamp shone upon my head and when by his light I walked through darkness just as I was in the days of my prime when the friendly counsel of God was over my tent when the almighty was yet with me when my children were around me. I'm interested in these verses because first on the list of what Job remembers of his blessings was his intimate fellowship with God. I remember the time when God and I were so close I could feel his presence. And some of you can relate to that. You are looking back to a time when God seemed closer to you. And he doesn't seem that close now. You are like Isaiah. Oh, that God would rend the heavens, tear the heavens and come down. Job is remembering an intimate time when he walked with God and experienced the closeness of God. And you can just imagine what he's picturing in his mind, his 10 children who have been taken away by death when they were all around his table feasting. When my steps were bathed with cream and the rock poured out rivers of oil …
chapter 30 verse 1 but now here's the present but now those younger than I mock me verse 9 and now I have become their taunt I have even become a byword to them they abhor me and stand aloof from me and they do not refrain from spitting at my face. 27. I am seething within and cannot relax. Days of affliction confront me. I go about mourning without comfort. I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help. chapter 31, verse 5. If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened after deceit, let him, that is God, weigh me with accurate scales. Let God know my integrity. 35. Oh that I had one to hear me Behold Here is my signature Let the almighty Answer me Such a moving section of scripture. Will you bow with me? Thank you, Father, for the instruction that comes through words put to Melody. Thank you for a body of ministering men and women, our choir. We pray that those words would find soft soil in our souls. …
Sometimes we miss our former comforts as the result of sin. Sin indulged is a certain barrier to happiness. No one can enjoy communion with Christ while turning aside to crooked ways. To the extent to which a Believer is inconsistent with his profession, to that extent will he be unhappy—and it will be no cause for surprise if he has to cry, "Lord, where are Your former loving kindnesses?" We must always distinguish between the punishment of sin which Christ endured on His people's behalf and the fatherly chastisement with which God visits upon them for their wrong-doing. Though He will not condemn them as a Judge, He will chastise them as a Father. And they cannot expect to enjoy the loving kindnesses of the Lord while they are enduring the strokes of His rod because of their transgressions! We may also lose a comfortable sense of God's mercy through neglecting to use the means of Grace. Leave off the regular reading of your Bible and then you will be like the man who misses his meals and so grows weak and languid. Neglect private prayer and then see whether you will not have to cry with Job, "Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me when His candle shined upon my head and when, by His light, I walked through darkness." Stay away from the Prayer Meetings and then if your soul is not sad, it ought to be! If a man will not come where there is a fire, is it surprising that he cries that he cannot get warm? The neglect of the means of Grace causes many to enquire, "Lord, where are Your former loving kindnesses?" …