Job 2

let's get into our study on Thursday nights now we're in the book of Job we started last week in Chapter 1 and tonight we are going to take and tackle two more very interesting chapters chapters 2 & 3 from chapter 4 on to I want to say about chapter 30-ish heavy on the ish we kind of turn a very disturbing corner tonight we're going to be introduced to Job's friends so-called they start off well to their credit as we'll talk about but last week we saw I want to call it round 1 tonight we're going to see round 2 but round 1 in Chapter 1 consisted of Satan who has access to the throne was before the throne with his fallen angels and God asks him if he noticed his servant Job well of course he did that's why he's there he did notice Job and Job's righteousness and we're told that Job feared God and shunned evil and God sort of bragging on him and so Satan then comes in with this master accusation for lack of a better way of describing it and accuses God of blessing Job which is the only reason that Job worships God so he challenges God God Almighty who if you think about it and this is really interesting created Satan it's important to understand that the devil is a created being we've talked about this and it's so important to understand this that Satan is not the opposite of God Satan is not God's equal in that sense he is not all-powerful only God is he's not all-knowing only God is and he's not all present only God is it's been said that the devil is God's devil that God created the devil and as we see here with Jobe the devil can do nothing to us unless God allows him to and God will never allow the devil to do anything to us except that in the end it fulfills God's purpose for God's glory and for our good and we're going to see this play out again tonight so the challenge really is that God if You allow me to mess with him so to speak and strike him with adversity he will curse You to Your face now here's what's interesting and this is why it's so important to understand that Satan is not all-knowing only God is see God already knows that there's no way that Job will ever curse Him to His face He knows Job better than Job knows Job and certainly better than Satan knows Job you have to understand that Satan actually believes that he can get Job to curse God he's not all-knowing and that's why it's so important to understand that and to study this book of Job through that lens otherwise it's going to be confusing some of the things are going to be that happen to Job in the book of Job are potentially going to be misunderstood and mis-interpreted in the sense that you're going to see this through a skewed lens that can lead one to believe that God is being just and unfair in the way that He is accepting this cosmic challenge from the devil concerning this innocent man we're going to see something here in chapter 2 in a moment but it's important I guess for this preface of sorts to before we jump in to understand that what God is doing here let me say this way He knows what He's doing God knows what He's doing and job doesn't know what's in his heart God does and sometimes God and this is maybe for somebody here tonight a word for somebody here tonight sometimes God will allow us to go through adversity if for no other reason to show us us that which He already knows about us that which we do not know about ourselves now keep in mind He will not allow us and I love this about 1st Corinthians 10:13 in fact it's a life verse for many for good reason basically here's the gist of it the Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians says basically this God is not going to allow you to be tested or tried or tempted above that which you're able to bear up under because He will give you a way of escape now there's one of two things that will happen in a trial either God will give you the grace sufficient which we're going to by the way be talking about on Sunday morning Lord willing in Ephesians chapter 2 but either God is going to give you the grace for that trial or he's going to provide a way of escape out of that trial for Job it's the grace that God is going to give him to endure and persevere throughout this unspeakable difficult trial that he's in and it's going to get worse as we're going to see why don't we pray and then we'll jump in if he would join with me Father in heaven I thank You so much for this book that You have included in the Canon of Scripture Lord I thank You for the many lessons that we can learn the many truths that can come off the pages of this book and by the Holy Spirit be applied to our lives and ministered to our hearts Lord that's what we're asking You to do tonight and the time that we have together so Lord would You just give us eyes to see and hearts to receive we want to be like what John wrote in Revelation the first chapter about how those that read hear and take to heart the words written in that book would be blessed Lord I pray that we would do the same for this book that we as we read it and hear it that we would also heed it and take it to heart especially for those who are here tonight that are really struggling in the midst of such a difficult and painful trial Lord let this be an encouragement thank You Lord in Jesus' name Amen all right let's jump in chapter 2 verse 1 again there was a day so we don't know how much time has transpired we can make some assumptions and one of those assumptions can be that between chapter 1 and chapter 2 not much time has passed so the events of chapter 2 were probably taking place close in proximity to the events of chapter 1 so again there was a day when the sons of God came to these are referencing the fallen angels the demonic entities the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord and verse 2 the Lord said to Satan from where do you come Satan answered the Lord and said from going to and fro on the earth and from walking back and forth on it then the Lord said to Satan have you considered my servant Job of course he has that's what he was doing there and as he's roaming to and fro back and forth which was his right to do he's not trespassing he still has the title deed to this fallen world this Earth until that day comes Jesus has already redeemed it but He's not yet taken possession of it that's coming but for the time being as property owners would they would go back and forth walking throughout their property what was rightfully owned by them which is why he's doing this so then the Lord says to satan probably better said I know you've been sparking out scoping out stalking my servant Job there's none like him on the earth a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil now he then says this to Satan and still I like that word he still holds fast to his integrity na na na na na you tried nice try he still holds fast to his integrity although you incited me against him to destroy him without cause in other words he was innocent being blameless not sinless make that distinction to be blameless doesn't mean that you're sinless Job certainly wasn't sinless he was blameless he was upright he was righteous he feared God which is why and to fear God the Proverb says is to hate evil to shun evil and so God says he still holds fast to his integrity and oh by the way you said he would curse Me to My face well he didn't not only curse Me occur to My face instead he blessed Me blessed be the name of the Lord this after I allowed you to kill all seven of his sons all three of his daughters all ten of his children not to mention that he lost everything all of his wealth all of that livestock we had it actually inventoried for us in chapter one the livestock that he owned that was the wealth that he had and God gave permission to Satan to strike all of that and to take all of that away and Satan went right up to the line he is merciless and we're going to talk about that here in a moment this is I think is it Yogi Berra that was famous for saying it's deja vu all over again I know that's a redundancy but that's what we have here with the exception of what we're told in verse three about Job holding fast his integrity this in spite of what God had already allowed Satan to do and I think it's important for us to really get our minds around what has already happened to Job and to understand that this will now be compounded on top of what's about to happen to Job and I say that because it's arguably more than most of us would be able to handle forget about the wealth forget about the wealth how about your children you have 10 children which is another sign of prosperity God blessing someone with many children he had seven sons can you imagine I've tasted from the cup of the death of one child and I can tell you firsthand how painful that is you never get over it you never get over it God will get you through the death of a child but you never get over the death of a child you'll never get over that ten children that's going to come into play here a little bit later as we'll see but Job has successfully passed the test and this is a test in fact that's in some ways maybe an understatement to say that but he's passed the test and this is only round one now it's about to get even worse in round two and unbeknownst to Job Job has no idea that there's a chapter 2 or a chapter 3 or for that matter a chapter 4 and all of the chapters he has no idea what's going on in the heavenly realm well verse 4 so satan answered the Lord and said skin for skin yes all that a man has he will give for his life but stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh and he will surely curse You to Your face and the Lord said to satan behold game on that's not on the original I just added that but that's essentially what He's saying saying ok he is in your hand but spare his life now here again satan is going to go right up to the limit of that which God has permitted him to do what does he mean when he says skin for skin well he's drawing upon an ancient bartering term which even finds its place in contemporary culture but it's a bartering term of that time related to trading one's life for another skin for skin in other words he's actually satan is actually making the accusation that Job didn't curse God to His face even after his 10 children were killed and he lost everything overnight all within what seems to be according to the narrative in the span of 24 hours he lost everything and by the way let me parenthetically say that's true for us today is it not how quickly we can lose everything in an instant I think of what Corrie ten Boom famously said she said you know I'm learning to hold on loosely to the things of this life for I know not when they will be required of me she wasn't talking about material prosperity she was talking about loved ones and family members I've learned to hold on loosely to those things which I hold dearly I'm learning for me I'd love to be able to say that I've come to that place where I've learned it I'm not I'd be disingenuous at best dishonest at worst if I were to come off like that I know in my own life I tend to hold on very tightly very dearly to my family to my church family but there does you know come a time where it can all be gone in an instant I mean even our lives we have to hold loosely our very lives James says that our lives are but a vapor they're here today and gone tomorrow tomorrow is never guaranteed is it this is why James says we should always say Lord willing Lord willing if the Lord wills it we have no guarantees that we will take a breath tomorrow the only thing that's guaranteed is what we have now so he lost everything and so Satan is actually accusing him of not cursing God because he saved his own skin that's what he means by skin for skin no okay so he didn't curse You to Your face well as we're about to see here's why and now here comes the challenge round two so verse seven satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Jb with painful boils and I want you to notice what we're told here from the sole of his foot that means underneath his feet boils how are you going to stand with boils on the bottoms the soles of your feet and they covered his body from the bottoms of his feet to the top of his head remember now in Chapter one he shaved his head so now his whole body all of his skin has not just boils but painful boils and not only painful boils but very itchy and painful boils and that's what we read on verse eight and he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes can you imagine it's one thing for us in the comfort of a beautiful air-conditioned church sanctuary as beautiful as this is to read it but it's an entirely different thing to actually be the one in the midst of it and Job is this is one of those places in God's Word where it's kind of impossible to adequately describe what it is that you just read I mean you can try to picture it in your mind's eye it requires a bit of an imagination but can you imagine this scene would have been one of utter horror picture this this is a man that perhaps only days earlier was enjoying the prosperity and the blessing of God his children all ten of them his wealth all of his prosperity this was a blessed man that loved God that feared God and now where do we find him he's sitting in a rubbish heap well what what do you mean oh in that day and even today you'll find this to be true they would burn the rubbish to ash that's where he is and he's not standing he can't he's sitting in the midst of this ash heap and scraping trying to find just a little bit of relief from the itching and pain from these boils that cover him from head to toe can you imagine and here's the thing it's going to get even worse as I was preparing for tonight I'm preparing for this teaching and I'm like man what if this were me I can't even imagine the pain physically and emotionally and psychologically what is going through his mind right about now being in that severe of pain and when I say it's going to get even worse one need look no further than to the list of references that Job makes to his unspeakable pain and suffering one commentator actually did it and so I want to just quickly go over this the first one is here in verse eight this intense itching as he scrapes himself you know itching is horrible isn't it especially when so the other day I get a mosquito bite I hate mosquitoes I am convinced that there will not be mosquitoes in heaven nor will there be cockroaches in heaven I'm pretty sure there won't be cockroaches in heaven but anyway so I get this mosquito bite and I don't know what it is about my skin you know maybe it's a ethnic cuisine they think hey let's get a Mediterranean cuisine here so they they just man so I got actually two I don't think it was the same mosquito if it was I cursed that mosquito I want you to know but it was on the back of my leg and they're very clever those things because they go where you can't see them because I mean how many of us are looking for them anyway so I'm itching this and the more I itch it the more it itches me now I had heard it said that the more you itch the more it will itch you stop itching it it will stop itching you is that a thing well anyway let's just say it is so I tried that and I'm just like I'm not going to itch I'm not going to I couldn't do it right and I'm sitting there and I'm scratching it and then it's itching more and I'm in turmoil I'm going through a trial and then I studied Job and I'm repenting at my itching of one mosquito bite what a wimp can you imagine just the itching how about the pain the intense pain when we get to chapter 30 he says my bones are pierced in me at night and my gnawing pain takes no rest he had a peeling and darkening of the skin also in chapter 30 says my skin grows black and falls from me in chapter 7 he talks about pus-filled erupting sores so by the way I sorry if this is graphic for the faint at heart but these boils were well I don't need to go that far but it actually in Chapter 7 listen to this he describes it my flesh is caked with worms and dust my skin is cracked and breaks out afresh he was emaciated would you have an appetite going through all this in chapter 19 he says my bone clings to my skin and to my flesh we're going to see it tonight when his friends do finally come on the scene the three friends so called with friends like that I think this is where that saying came from with friends like that who needs enemies but he is so hideous from being covered in all of these boils they don't even recognize him and these are his friends they don't even recognize this man so there's fever chapter 30 my bones burn with fever depression understandably he says I loathe my life I would not live forever turmoil he says in chapter 30 my heart is in turmoil and cannot rest days of affliction confront me I go about mourning weeping in chapter 16 he says my face is flushed with weeping sleeplessness who could sleep sleep deprivation when I lie down I say when shall I arise and the night be ended you have nights like that hmm nightmares he says in Chapter 7 then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions how about this one in chapter 19 putrid breath he says my breath is offensive to my wife I'm sorry for laughing this is way worse than morning breath here we're talking about okay difficulty breathing in chapter 19 he says he will not allow me to catch my breath failing vision chapter 16 he says on my eyelids is the shadow of death rotting teeth I have escaped by the skin of my teeth chapter 19 haggard looks when they raised their eyes from afar as we're going to see in verse 12 speaking of his friends they did not recognize him painful swollen sores all over his body as we just read these painful boils from head to toe really the bottom of his feet and then lastly of all of this no relief not even a little relief he says oh that I were as in months passed in chapter 29 then in chapter 7 he says and I have been allotted months of futility in other words it doesn't end there's no end in sight there's no relief in sight that'll do something to a man's hope it's been said that you can live a certain amount of time without food you can only live a certain amount of time without water but you can live for only a few seconds without hope without hope well verse 9 and I want to take this verse by itself I think you'll see why here in a moment then his wife said to him we're introduced to Mrs. Job here and it's not really that good so this is what she says do you still hold fast to your integrity curse God and die so I have a confession to make and it's that of my tendency to be a little bit too harsh on Job's wife and the Lord had me revisit this and in so doing he really ministered something to me and I just kind of want to share it with you think about this she too has just lost everything right and what do we know to be true when it comes to the wife as it relates to the husband the wife is the weaker vessel not inferior not inferior women are more emotional that's the way God made them thankfully by the way think about now from her perspective what has just happened and I'm going to make a suggestion here not to excuse it but maybe in some way to explain what she says here and let me preface it this way I think we do err greatly when we think that we would handle a certain situation differently because you don't know how you're going to handle something that comes into your life you think I would never oh no wait a minute I would never say something like that how do you know that how do you know I would never do that how do you know how do you know when we got the diagnosis that our daughter Noelle would not live I'll tell you there were emotions that were very real very real and I don't care how solid or spiritual you think you are when life hits that way it has a way of really moving and shaking you to the core you know when and I want to talk about this here more in a moment but let's not be too hard on her let's not be too hard on her okay this poor woman has not only lost everything and her children as well but in addition to that she's watching her husband who doubtless she loves very very much suffer in ways that she cannot bear to see again I'm not in any way trying to excuse what she says but I think in some way it should explain why she says what she says to me it's as if she's saying man I want God to put you out of your suffering maybe you could do something that will cause God to expedite it certainly if you cursed Him which oh by the way just so happens to be exactly what Satan wants him to do maybe if you curse Him then He'll just put an end to this put you out of your miseries I like how one commentator explained it says she can't bear to see her husband suffer like this her heart already crushed by the loss of her ten children is now without hope she is saying curse God and He'll strike you dead too then you can escape this pain death would be better than this and certainly Job is going to want that in fact Job is going to question why it is and we'll see this in the next chapter why it is that God would even keep him alive why would what's the point it would seem that the best thing for me now would be for my life to end one commentator suggested something and I guess in all fairness I could see how they get there I can't quite get there but it does speak to the insidiousness and cunning of the devil this is what the suggestion is and this is interesting suggestion is that Satan did not kill Job's wife he could have right he was allowed to do anything except touch Job certainly he killed all of Job's children why would he not also kill Job's wife well the suggestion was that he knew that she could come in handy for such a time as this and actually tried to assist him in getting job to curse God again not to say that satan is all-knowing but satan does study us and maybe he saw this spiritual lack in Job's wife's life and he sought to exploit it now the only reason I even mention it is because often times those closest to us can be the most hurtful to us I mean you think about it from Job's perspective if there was ever a time that he needed his wife to encourage him it was now and I'll tell you there's nothing worse to me then when the enemy can get into a marriage and whether it's the wife or the husband bring about this type of dynamic into the marriage aren't we to be help mates shouldn't she be there for her husband and just encourage him bless him honey what can I do I don't know what God is doing I've got to believe by faith that God knows what He's doing but for some reason He has allowed this adversity to strike I love you so much I can't stand to you like this but to say to him curse God and maybe he'll put you out of your misery what's Job's response going to be oh I can't wait verse 10 but he said to her you speak as one of the foolish women speaks and then he says this listen shall we indeed accept good from God and shall we not accept adversity in all of this Job did not sin with his lips wow what kind of a man is this what oh make no mistake I hope you don't think for a second that he's calling his wife a fool absolutely not he's saying to her you're speaking as one who is foolish that's folly what you speak is folly he's not calling her a fool what he is doing in the midst of unthinkable and unspeakable pain he's ministering to his wife that convicts me as a husband that really convicts me if I'm sitting and smelling and by the way the sense of smell is the most powerful of all the senses because of the way that it impacts a certain part of the brain and that's why it is you can smell a smell and instantly it will bring a memory back that's because of the area of the brain that that sense stimulates it connects to the memory center in the brain he's sitting in that imagine the stench of this rubbish sheep and he's not sleeping he's certainly not eating he can't stand he has to just sit there or lie there you cannot get comfortable and he's itching he's in this horrific pain and here comes his wife and she's not bringing him lunch she's bringing something else with her she's basically bringing a curse and his response is to minister to her don't talk like that honey that's foolish you're you're speaking as those who are foolish would speak that's that's folly that is pure folly and here's why honey if I can paraphrase it this way God is good and we have to be willing to accept the good from the hand of God as much as we would also be willing to accept the adversity from the hand of God there's a verse in Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 14 I've shared it often it's been one that God has really ministered to me in my life over the years and I think it is the key and I used that word for lack of a better one the key to having peace in the midst of a trial there is this sadly this notion within the life of a Christian that everything is supposed to go smoothly and certainly there is a group within the body of Christ known as the word faith movement that promotes this that if you just have enough faith you'll be healthy and wealthy and you know just name it and claim it if you just have enough faith and I hate to say it this way but maybe I have to say it this way that comes from the pit of hell that is not only not biblical it is demonic to me to suggest that in I know I've shared this maybe it's appropriate that I share it again but I actually had somebody after my daughter died come to me and say to me if you would have had enough faith your daughter wouldn't have died and I've got to tell you something I like to think of myself as being pretty grounded and pretty rooted you know soundly in the Word of God so I didn't fall for that but I could have you imagine a young Christian you can really mess them up with something like that you mean to tell me that if I haven't that means that my daughter died because of me it's my fault I didn't have enough faith and it's all under the banner of that we don't accept both prosperity and adversity and listen to what Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 7 this should settle it in the day of prosperity be joyful praise the Lord okay but in the day of adversity consider surely God has appointed the one as well as the other Oh God has appointed both prosperity and adversity I wonder what the word Faith Movement does with verses like this and the many others like them in the Word of God what do they do with the book of Job they can't touch it it will completely dismantle and destroy their demonic doctrine a doctrine of demons if you just have enough faith and by the way don't you find it interesting that these people oh man I don't want to be anywhere near them on that great and final day when they have to give an account for their seventy-five million dollar private jet in Jesus name their their Rolls Royces their Bentleys their Mercedes-Benz their jewelry their and they flaunt it they're all about the money it's all about the money and they make merchandise of the Saints they're going to have to give an answer to God one day for that well God appoints the one as well as the other and here's why so that man can find out nothing that will come after him in other words God allows and as another translation renders it He brings alongside adversity with prosperity side by side one with the other appointing both so during times of prosperity and joy don't feel guilty praise the Lord for it don't apologize God's blessing you enjoy rejoice and praise God but when not if when God deems it fit to allow adversity to strike He does so He brings one alongside the other for this reason so that we will stop and consider okay Lord nothing is certain about the future and here's the thing when adversity strikes is that not when I turn to Him oh think about it during times of prosperity are we not prone to kind of glide and abide things are going well and it manifests in our prayer life doesn't it our prayer life becomes very abbreviated Lord thank You bless me bless this bless them Amen but boy let adversity strikes oh God I mean we're praying in King James with reverb oh God Oh Lord I mean our prayer life takes on a whole new complexion now we're praying with passion and with power you might say God's got our attention why because adversity has strucked God has appointed it maybe for that reason so He could get our attention because when things are going well He doesn't have our attention does He when things are going well I know in my own life I'll speak for myself okay but as I do don't look at me all spiritual because I know you're a lot like me in this regard if you're honest I'll be honest when things are going well man I have a book in my library the title of it says it all the agony of affluence the agony of affluence you know what is more dangerous then poverty is prosperity prosperity can sort of lullaby you to a spiritual sleep and you start sort of buying into this notion that hey tomorrow's going to be even better and it really has an impact on your relationship with the Lord it's when adversity strikes that you're put in that place rightfully so where you have to trust God and depend upon God during those seasons of adversity that's the time and sometimes it's the only time when we stop and consider now God's got my attention what do you want to show me God what do You want me to see in this Lord because when I'm doing well and things are going well I'm not really I'm not giving You my undivided attention I'm just kind of in the moment enjoying the prosperity and when that adversity comes and it comes then God has my attention and it's because He wants to show show me something He wants to bring something to my attention that He would not otherwise be able to bring to my attention had He not brought the adversity into my life well verse 11 now when Job's three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him each one came from his own place Eliphaz the Temanite Bildad the Shuhite this is the first recorded and the shortest man in the history of mankind he was only shoe height that you know I just I'm sorry I just wanted to make sure you were still with me shoe height that's anyway Bildad the Shuhite okay and Zophar the Naamathite for they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him and to comfort him and when they raised their eyes from afar and did not recognize him they lifted their voices and wept and each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven so they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights and no one spoke a word to him for they saw that his grief was great wow I can't this is one of those places where you really have to imagine the scene interesting that they first of all they heard about what had happened to Job of course they are he's their friend and apparently they connected with each other and set up a time where they would travel to where Job was at and be there for him and to their credit they're actually off to a good start and I find it interesting that they would just be there and weep now one thought is that this was the custom in that time where when you came to mourn with somebody you would not speak until they first spoke that you would just remain silent and not say anything until they said something which is what happens but it's seven days before Job opens his mouth and says something and then after he does boy do they have something to say unfortunately but that's chapter four and on but let's kind of give them a break here at least they're willing to go I wonder how many certainly Job didn't have only three friends right but there's only three that come what does that say about the other so-called friends who didn't surely they heard but they didn't come so at least they were willing to go and they're just going to when they saw him can you imagine how stunned they were the last time they saw him they were probably having a wonderful feast and Job was good old Job and now they come and they see him and instead of going to where the feast was where they would gather they're going to a rubbish heap and they see him and they didn't even recognize him he must I can imagine how they would have winced at just the sight of him when they got there and tearing their clothes again a symbol of their heart being torn and they just weep these are men of means certainly and they just weep with him and this brings to mind what we're told to do in Scripture and that is to weep with those who weep rejoice with those who rejoice but weep with those who weep and there's something to be said about saying nothing at all right I mean what do you say what do you say to somebody that has just had something like this happen to them what are you going to say you know sometimes the the best thing to say is nothing at all it's been said sometimes people don't need your mouth they need your shoulder they just need you to be there and cry with them but don't say anything what are you going to say there's nothing you can say I know when and again I can speak to this I hope you'll forgive the reference personal reference but I just remember very clearly it's been 12 years now but I can remember how people would just come over to our home when our daughter was dying and they would just be there for us they would just sit there with us and they would just weep with us and they wouldn't say anything I mean they maybe in all fairness didn't know what to say but just that they were there for us and with us said everything and isn't it true that tears can say what words cannot and sometimes the the silence speaks louder than any words could ever speak I mean just them sitting there and being there I remember many of them in particular would actually just hold Noelle and that was very precious to us they were holding our daughter and the words were few reminds me of another Ecclesiastes verse in chapter 5 let your words be few G. Campbell Morgan of Job's friends had this to say while it is true that Job suffered more at the hands of these friends ultimately then by the attacks of the foe yet some recognition must be made of the goodness of the men in other words this let's give credit where credit is due in a two-fold way first at least they went there and were there for their friend and secondly that they just remain silent and they just wept with their friend who wept you know I'm looking at that clock I hate that clock that clock is not my friend and I don't want to rush through chapter three I do want to do one thing and we'll pick it up Lord willing in chapter three next week but I want to close with something I think is really important especially as a takeaway we're going to see in Chapter three that Job is going to finally open his mouth and he's going to basically curse the day he was born he doesn't curse God he curses the day of his birth and we're going to now in chapter three Lord willing again next week see Job express his pain and his despair and his agony and so I want to close with a quote from Oswald Chambers that has really helped me over the years especially during those really low points you know when you hit rock bottom and you think man I just I can't go on I mean where discouragement gives way to despair and I mean you're just drinking deeply from this cup of despair and listen to what Oswald Chambers says I'm Baffled to Fight Better his commentary on the Job he says this facing facts as they are produces despair not frenzy but real downright despair and listen to this God never blames a man for despair God never blames us or faults us or holds against us our despair he goes on to say the man who thinks must be pessimistic thinking can never produce optimism the wisest man that ever lived speaking of Solomon said that he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow you know we have a saying in the secular that goes something like this ignorance is bliss with much knowledge comes much sorrow I think about this in terms of prophetic Scripture we know much in terms of what is about to come upon the whole earth during the seven-year tribulation and that produces despair that produces sorrow especially for those who are left behind that will go through that we see what is going to come upon this world we know what is going to happen yet future and that produces despair a man who thinks must be pessimistic and that's okay because if our going to that pessimism takes us to God then so be it and that's the end of it he goes on to say the basis of things is not reasonable but wild and tragic and to face things as they are brings a man to the ordeal of despair that's where Job's at and it's okay because God has a purpose in it and God never faults us when we're in that place of despair He never He knows we're but dust He knows what we're made of and again as we talked about at the beginning He will never allow and it's different for everybody He will never allow us to in that place of despair take us beyond that which we're able to bear up under He just won't and He knows where that is we would like to think we know where that is it's kind of like when you're a kid you're getting spanked and you're waa and you know crying and and you know and but your parent keeps spanking you and y you think I can't take anymore oh no yes you can and you do God knows how much we can take and it's always more than we think it is that we can take but I want to leave us with this and it's going to get just horrible I hope you'll come back next week for the horrible that it's going to become but it's going to be horrible in a good way because we're going to see what God is going to do this is one thing that I came away with when our daughter died and I'll end with this but no matter how bad it is it cannot change how good God always is no matter how bad it is and it's bad this is bad it's going to get even badder I know that's not proper English but no matter how bad it is it cannot change how good God is why don't you stand and we'll pray Father in heaven I as intense as this is Lord we are so very thankful to You because we see Your goodness in the midst of such unspeakable pain Lord there are so many things that Job doesn't know that You do know and that he will soon know and Lord I really believe that's true for us tonight especially those of us who might find ourselves in a difficult trial Lord we don't know but when we don't know we need to fall back on what we do know what we do know is is that You're always good all the time no matter how bad it is or seems with no end in sight Lord thank You that You know where that line is for all of us and You will not allow us to cross that line that we're able to bear but with that You'll provide a way of escape and if it's not a way of escape You'll give us the grace that we need to get through whatever it is that You've allowed into our lives so Lord thank you again for job bless this we pray to our lives in Jesus' name Amen

Channel: J.D. Farag

Views: 20,606

Rating: 4.9403973 out of 5

Keywords: Job, Suffering, Pain, Prayer, Joy, Bible, Hope, Love, Help, Free, Depressed, Life, Strength, Peace, Truth, Happiness, Rest, Harmony, Light, Freedom, Happy, Old Testament, Salvation, Forgiveness, Gospel, Holy Spirit, Lord, Jesus, Pastor, Grace, Mercy, Ministry, Messiah, Heavenly Father, Hebrew, Preaching, Teaching

Id: 3A_FQAvHqOo

Length: 66min 38sec (3998 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 01 2018