The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God by John Piper

I highly recommend taking the time, even this Easter Sunday to watch and listen to John Piper’s retelling of the Job story.

You can download and read the book free here.

You can watch the film here. (This is what I am particularly recommending. 45 minutes well spent for your soul!)

Here are the words to Piper’s poem which he gives in seperate sections at the end of each chapter in the story.

He is not poor nor much enticed
Who loses everything but Christ.
It won’t be long before the rod
Becomes the tender kiss of God.

And now come, broken, to the cross,
Where Christ embraced all human loss,
And let us bow before the throne
Of God, who gives and takes his own,
And promises – whatever toll
He takes – to satisfy our soul.
Come, learn the lesson of the rod:
The treasure that we have in God.
He is not poor nor much enticed
Who loses everything but Christ.
 
Sometimes the spark of faith is slight
And does not make the darkness bright.
But keep it lit and you will find:
Far better this than being blind.
One little flame when all is night,
Proves there is such a thing as Light.
Remember now the place and price
Where Jesus promised paradise.
One answered prayer when all is gone,
Will give you hope to wait for dawn.
 
O risen Christ, shine forth and be
A blazing warning by the sea –
A signal where the sailors cling
To life through reefs of suffering,
And need the blast of light and bell:
Beware, what here beneath may dwell.
Beware of subtle, shrewd assaults,
A half-truth can be wholly false.
Beware of wisdom made in schools,
And proverbs in the mouth of fools.
Beware of claims that rise too tall:
“The upright stand and wicked fall.”
Beware the thought that all is vain;
In time God’s wisdom will be plain.
 
Behold the mercy of our King,
Who takes from death its bitter sting,
And by his blood, and often ours,
Brings triumph out of hostile pow’rs,
And paints, with crimson, earth and soul
Until the bloody work is whole.
What we have lost God will restore –
That, and himself, forevermore,
When he is finished with his art:
The quiet worship of our heart.
When God creates a humble hush,
And makes Leviathan his brush,
It won’t be long before the rod
Becomes the tender kiss of God.

JOHN PIPER