Day 6/27 – The Desire to Retire

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
The Desire to Retire
Day One Hundred Seventy-eight

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58

God did not give you your vocation for the purpose of making money. Our Lord clearly teaches in His Sermon on the Mount that He will provide for your needs so that you can be profitably occupied doing His work.253 Your vocation is your pulpit. For this reason, you have no biblical ground for wanting to retire. Most believers who do want to retire, want a little bit of heaven this side of the grave. Such may be possible for the Philistines, but definitely not for the serious follower of Christ.

It may happen that one morning you awaken to find that you cannot get out of bed, forcing you into retirement, but that is different from desiring to retire. In your service for Christ, He may lead you out of your current vocation into some other form of service, but in this case you are merely “changing pulpits.” I am not aware of any place in Scripture where God encourages retirement. 254

Those who say that they look forward to retirement testify that they have lost their purpose for living here on earth. God did not give you your life to spend as you see fit. Paul teaches that it is unthinkable that one for whom Christ died should live for himself.255 The desire to retire is an expression of despair. It means that you have lost your rudder and do not know why you are here or where you are going.

253 cf. Matthew 6:25-34
254 Numbers 4 says that the various Houses of the tribe of Levi may serve in their respective capacities for twenty years, but does not speak of retirement either before or after their years of service.
255 II Corinthians 5:15

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Job 8-10 Acts 8:26-40 (New King James Version)

Job 8-10
Bildad: Job Should Repent
8 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2
“How long will you speak these things,
And the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?
3
Does God subvert judgment?
Or does the Almighty pervert justice?
4
If your sons have sinned against Him,
He has cast them away [a]for their transgression.
5
If you would earnestly seek God
And make your supplication to the Almighty,
6
If you were pure and upright,
Surely now He would [b]awake for you,
And prosper your rightful dwelling place.
7
Though your beginning was small,
Yet your latter end would increase abundantly.
8
“For inquire, please, of the former age,
And consider the things discovered by their fathers;
9
For we were born yesterday, and know [c]nothing,
Because our days on earth are a shadow.
10
Will they not teach you and tell you,
And utter words from their heart?
11
“Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh?
Can the reeds flourish without water?
12
While it is yet green and not cut down,
It withers before any other plant.
13
So are the paths of all who forget God;
And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish,
14
Whose confidence shall be cut off,
And whose trust is [d]a spider’s web.
15
He leans on his house, but it does not stand.
He holds it fast, but it does not endure.
16
He grows green in the sun,
And his branches spread out in his garden.
17
His roots wrap around the rock heap,
And look for a place in the stones.
18
If he is destroyed from his place,
Then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’
19
“Behold, this is the joy of His way,
And out of the earth others will grow.
20
Behold, God will not [e]cast away the blameless,
Nor will He uphold the evildoers.
21
He will yet fill your mouth with laughing,
And your lips with [f]rejoicing.
22
Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
And the dwelling place of the wicked [g]will come to nothing.”
Job: There Is No Mediator
9 Then Job answered and said:
2
“Truly I know it is so,
But how can a man be righteous before God?
3
If one wished to [h]contend with Him,
He could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
4
God is wise in heart and mighty in strength.
Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?
5
He removes the mountains, and they do not know
When He overturns them in His anger;
6
He shakes the earth out of its place,
And its pillars tremble;
7
He commands the sun, and it does not rise;
He seals off the stars;
8
He alone spreads out the heavens,
And [i]treads on the [j]waves of the sea;
9
He made [k]the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,
And the chambers of the south;
10
He does great things past finding out,
Yes, wonders without number.
11
If He goes by me, I do not see Him;
If He moves past, I do not perceive Him;
12
If He takes away, [l]who can hinder Him?
Who can say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’
13
God will not withdraw His anger,
The allies of [m]the proud lie prostrate beneath Him.
14
“How then can I answer Him,
And choose my words to reason with Him?
15
For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him;
I would beg mercy of my Judge.
16
If I called and He answered me,
I would not believe that He was listening to my voice.
17
For He crushes me with a tempest,
And multiplies my wounds without cause.
18
He will not allow me to catch my breath,
But fills me with bitterness.
19
If it is a matter of strength, indeed He is strong;
And if of justice, who will appoint my day in court?
20
Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me;
Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse.
21
“I am blameless, yet I do not know myself;
I despise my life.
22
It is all one thing;
Therefore I say, ‘He destroys the blameless and the wicked.’
23
If the scourge slays suddenly,
He laughs at the plight of the innocent.
24
The earth is given into the hand of the wicked.
He covers the faces of its judges.
If it is not He, who else could it be?
25
“Now my days are swifter than a runner;
They flee away, they see no good.
26
They pass by like [n]swift ships,
Like an eagle swooping on its prey.
27
If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad face and wear a smile,’
28
I am afraid of all my sufferings;
I know that You will not hold me innocent.
29
If I am condemned,
Why then do I labor in vain?
30
If I wash myself with snow water,
And cleanse my hands with [o]soap,
31
Yet You will plunge me into the pit,
And my own clothes will [p]abhor me.
32
“For He is not a man, as I am,
That I may answer Him,
And that we should go to court together.
33
Nor is there any mediator between us,
Who may lay his hand on us both.
34
Let Him take His rod away from me,
And do not let dread of Him terrify me.
35
Then I would speak and not fear Him,
But it is not so with me.
Job: I Would Plead with God
10
“My soul loathes my life;
I will [q]give free course to my complaint,
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2
I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;
Show me why You contend with me.
3
Does it seem good to You that You should oppress,
That You should despise the work of Your hands,
And smile on the counsel of the wicked?
4
Do You have eyes of flesh?
Or do You see as man sees?
5
Are Your days like the days of a mortal man?
Are Your years like the days of a mighty man,
6
That You should seek for my iniquity
And search out my sin,
7
Although You know that I am not wicked,
And there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?
8
‘Your hands have made me and fashioned me,
An intricate unity;
Yet You would destroy me.
9
Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay.
And will You turn me into dust again?
10
Did You not pour me out like milk,
And curdle me like cheese,
11
Clothe me with skin and flesh,
And knit me together with bones and sinews?
12
You have granted me life and favor,
And Your care has preserved my spirit.
13
‘And these things You have hidden in Your heart;
I know that this was with You:
14
If I sin, then You mark me,
And will not acquit me of my iniquity.
15
If I am wicked, woe to me;
Even if I am righteous, I [r]cannot lift up my head.
I am full of disgrace;
See my misery!
16
If my head is exalted,
You hunt me like a fierce lion,
And again You show Yourself awesome against me.
17
You renew Your witnesses against me,
And increase Your indignation toward me;
Changes and war are ever with me.
18
‘Why then have You brought me out of the womb?
Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me!
19
I would have been as though I had not been.
I would have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20
Are not my days few?
Cease! Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort,
21
Before I go to the place from which I shall not return,
To the land of darkness and the shadow of death,
22
A land as dark as darkness itself,
As the shadow of death, without any order,
Where even the light is like darkness.’ ”
Footnotes:
• Job 8:4 Lit. into the hand of their transgression
• Job 8:6 arise
• Job 8:9 Lit. not
• Job 8:14 Lit. a spider’s house
• Job 8:20 reject
• Job 8:21 Lit. shouts of joy
• Job 8:22 Lit. will not be
• Job 9:3 argue
• Job 9:8 walks
• Job 9:8 Lit. heights
• Job 9:9 Heb. Ash, Kesil, and Kimah
• Job 9:12 Lit. who can turn Him back?
• Job 9:13 Heb. rahab
• Job 9:26 Lit. ships of reeds
• Job 9:30 lye
• Job 9:31 loathe
• Job 10:1 Lit. leave on myself
• Job 10:15 Lit. will not

Acts 8:26-40
Christ Is Preached to an Ethiopian
26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is [a]desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”
30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this:
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
33
In His humiliation His justice was taken away,
And who will declare His generation?
For His life is taken from the earth.”
34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”
37 [b]Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”
And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
38 So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip was found at [c]Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.
Footnotes:
• Acts 8:26 Or a deserted place
• Acts 8:37 NU, M omit v. 37. It is found in Western texts, including the Latin tradition.
• Acts 8:40 Same as Heb. Ashdod