Finding God’s Comfort: The Life of Job

By JR Miller

It is clear from the Bible that God’s people are not always spared from suffering. If they were, the churches would not be able to cope with the vast numbers of people wanting to become Christians to avoid suffering! In this book, JR Miller takes a look at the life of Job and unmerited suffering.
Miller writes, “We must be careful never to misrepresent God. We must be careful not to profess to be his interpreters, telling others what God means, why he does this or that, lest we speak of him the thing that is not right. The friends of Job made that mistake. They thought they understood God’s meaning and purposes in Job’s trials, and they pressed the thoughts upon the suffering man, adding to his pain and grief. But they had spoken about that of which they knew nothing and had done only harm.”
Like a loving father holding his child’s hand, God leads Job through the darkness into his light. Miller concludes this short book of four chapters by saying, “We do not find comfort by staying in the darkness of our own grief, by thinking only of it. We must forget ourselves and begin to serve others, and seek their good, before we can find the light of God’s comfort. Selfishness in sorrow is selfishness, and selfishness in any form misses God’s blessing. We begin to find joy only when in self forgetfulness we begin to help others.”
There are two versions in this book. Version 1 is slightly updated wording in places, with Miller’s original quotations from the American Standard Version of the Bible ‒ the ASV.
Version 2 also has slightly updated wording in places, and quotations from the modern English Standard Version ‒ the ESV.
Added in both versions are chapter and verse reference to all Miller’s quotations from Scripture, both for the Book of Job and other Books in the Old and New Testament, so the reader can look up the verses in a Bible version of their choice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: White Tree Publishing
• Release date: Mar 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781912529612

Book preview

Abut the Book

It is clear from the Bible that God’s people are not always spared from suffering. If they were, the churches would not be able to cope with the vast numbers of people wanting to become Christians to avoid suffering! In this book, JR Miller takes a look at the life of Job and unmerited suffering.

Miller writes, We must be careful never to misrepresent God. We must be careful not to profess to be his interpreters, telling others what God means, why he does this or that, lest we speak of him the thing that is not right. The friends of Job made that mistake. They thought they understood God’s meaning and purposes in Job’s trials, and they pressed the thoughts upon the suffering man, adding to his pain and grief. But they had spoken about that of which they knew nothing and had done only harm.

Like a loving father holding his child’s hand, God leads Job through the darkness into his light. Miller concludes this short book of four chapters by saying, "We do not find comfort by staying in the darkness of our own grief, by thinking only of it. We must forget ourselves and begin to serve others, and seek their good, before we can find the light of God’s comfort. Selfishness in sorrow is selfishness, and selfishness in any form misses God’s blessing. We begin to find joy only when in self forgetfulness we begin to help others."

There are two versions in this book. Version 1 is slightly updated wording in places, with Miller’s original quotations from the American Standard Version of the Bible ‒ the ASV.

Version 2 also has slightly updated wording in places, and quotations from the modern English Standard Version ‒ the ESV.

Added in both versions are chapter and verse reference to all Miller’s quotations from Scripture, both for the Book of Job and other Books in the Old and New Testament, so the reader can look up the verses in a Bible version of their choice.

Finding God’s Comfort

The Life of Job

Twin Edition: ASV and ESV

JR Miller

(1840-1912)

First published in the United States of America 1913

This White Tree Publishing Twin Edition: ASV and ESV

©White Tree Publishing 2020

eBook ISBN: 978-1-912529-61-2

Published by

White Tree Publishing

Bristol

UNITED KINGDOM

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All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this abridged edition.

Scripture quotations from American Standard Version (ASV) Public Domain,

and The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

TWIN VERSION

Version 1

There are two versions in this book. Version 1 is slightly updated wording in places, with Miller’s original quotations from the American Standard Version of the Bible ‒ the ASV.

Version 2

Version 2 also has slightly updated wording in places, and quotations from the modern English Standard Version ‒ the ESV.

Added in both versions are chapter and verse reference to all Miller’s quotations from Scripture, both for the Book of Job and other Books in the Old and New Testament, so the reader can look up the verses in a Bible version of their choice.

Contents Version 1 ‒ ASV

Cover

About the Book

Twin Version links

About the Author

Publisher’s note

1. Afflictions

2. Afflictions Sanctified

3. An Appeal to God

4. Confession and Restoration

About White Tree Publishing

More Books by JR Miller from White Tree Publishing

VERSION 2 ‒ ESV

Author Biography

James Russell Miller was an amazingly prolific Christian author. In addition to having the post of Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, he was the pastor of several Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois during his working life. He was born on March 20, 1840 near Frankfort Springs, Pennsylvania. His parents had a total of ten children, but his older sister died before he was born. When James was about fourteen years old, his father moved to a farm near Calcutta, Ohio. In the new home James was as popular among his schoolmates as he had been in his Pennsylvania home.

We can see when reading about James Miller’s early family life, how it is that he was able to write with great understanding and sympathy about the needs of individual Christians. His biographer, John T. Faris, (The Life of Dr. J. R. Miller: Jesus and I Are Friends 1912) tells us that, The young people of the neighborhood delighted to gather at the Miller [James’s parents] fireside to enjoy one of the evenings of good fellowship for which the household was noted.

Faris also tells us that family prayers in Miller’s family home, when he was young, were given absolute priority over everything else. There was to be no reading of a single Bible verse