Pastor Chuck Swindoll — Seven Insights from Job

[Music] here we are once again preparing ourselves for another virtual worship service i want to welcome each one of you it's uncertain how long we'll need to keep meeting like this now that a light is starting to shine at the end of a long tunnel what an unusual unpredictable journey it's been i commend each one of you for staying the course through these weeks it appears that those disciplines we've applied were worth all the effort in addition we've learned how to make the best of it haven't we while we're going through what some were calling the worst of times hardship need not hinder us from pressing on i thought of that principle last week as i read the fascinating story behind mahler's now famous ninth symphony gustav mahler lived in the last part of the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries mahler of bohemian roots became a composer then a conductor ultimately he was chosen to the enviable role as director of the imperial opera in vienna for 10 years it was quite a privileged position and called for a wide range of skills not surprisingly mahler's ninth symphony contains just about everything musically there's a richness and a depth of orchestration harmonies melodies and counter melodies that make it unique we'd think that the genius who wrote such orchestration must have lived a pampered life filled with encouragement and love and affirmation and much leisure but the fact is gustav mahler's childhood was anything but that it was in fact marked by tragedy he lost seven brothers and sisters while he was growing up as one biographer put it bluntly the coffin became a regular piece of furniture in the mahler house mahler's father was a cruel brutal alcoholic his mother was a weak vulnerable invalid who existed at the mercy of her husband's beatings in spite of such dangerous dysfunction young gustav survived those dreadful years as a young adult he married and he and his wife later had a lovely daughter whom he adored and therefore lavished all of his affection on her but he lost her at age four leaving him in a grief so severe he never fully recovered from its dark shadows as if that weren't enough because he was jewish he was forced to quit his successful work as director of the vienna opera house shortly after that he was told he has a bad heart and didn't have longed to live remarkably in the midst of all that sadness and grief and prejudice treatment and gustav mahler composed his magnificent ninth symphony what i haven't mentioned are some things that will surprise you he wasn't sad certainly not all the time he was a great lover of nature a real athlete in fact a powerful swimmer he had a magnificent laugh and a huge love of life all he was and endured is heard in his music his joy and sadness his anger about what he had to endure his illness the brutal beast of a father the vulnerability and weakness of his mother he felt he should put everything from his life into his music is it any wonder that every serious student of classical music is a student of mahler's ninth but how few of his admirers would ever guess that his magnum opus was birthed from such a womb of woe hardship didn't hinder him from pressing on the same for us as these days of isolation and social distancing feeling separated and alone of an invisible enemy and reports of so much sickness and so many deaths run their course we will press on in fact we will never forget the spring of 2020 like mahler with his symphony we will deposit these weeks of our lives into our memory bank and later draw from that deposit we'll pass along our stories to the next generation and then the next we will include some lessons we learned and we'll never forget from our own womb of woe we'll birth our own personal symphony that will deepen our days and outlive our years like job who lost so much we will ultimately gain a better understanding of our great god which is what today's message is all about i'll be back with you after we have worshiped together but for now let's turn our minds and our hearts to songs of praise and prayers of commitment and words of wisdom that can actually change our lives and help us press on regardless you'll find in your hymnal the songs of the morning as well as of words on the screen we'll begin with uh hymn number five six two uh be thou my vision we will have our worship time and you are the choir in times like this where you blend your voices with our adult choir and we sing together the songs of the faith may we stand together for this first time 5 6 2 be thou my vision [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh foreign is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is [Applause] foreign foreign [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is ah [Music] oh [Music] is is [Music] oh [Music] foreign my [Music] is [Music] so [Music] so [Music] the winds unchanged [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] is please [Music] is [Music] [Music] two [Music] oh [Music] the truth [Applause] oh [Music] is [Applause] is [Music] hello [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it seemed fitting as we were coming to the end of this series on epical events nobody expected that there'd be sort of a sort of a wrap up uh that related to the one who had caused all of those events some of which were truly surprising and i would even use the word mysterious and the one i'm referring to is the lord our god himself who is is full of surprises and even mystery anyone who has attempted to understand his ways has often been frustrated for there are times you cannot explain god's reasoning why would job a righteous man be permitted by the lord to go through such awful experiences why would joseph such a good man be permitted to go through the abuse of his brothers or the the unfair accusation of mrs potiphar and and on and on the list could go why would god ask abraham to take the life of of isaac his son so in in light of these questions and a hundred others it seemed appropriate that we turned to one of the characters and in this case job and let him speak let him give us insights that we lack in ourselves regarding our god so we're going to do that today we're going to consider seven insights from job about god i find all of them in the last chapter of the book that bears job's name job chapter 42 we'll work our way through these verses and and in in terms anyone can understand we will hopefully gain insight into our god while at the same time i fully admit much of what god does will remain profound unanswerable and even mysterious you might want to find a blank space i have one at the end of this 42nd chapter where you can write these seven down or maybe a blank page in your bible but trust me you may not think you need them now you will one day perhaps even sooner than you expect you'll want to turn to the list and rehearse it i think it will be helpful all of them are based on verses from chapter 42 of job i'll be reading from the new living translation just a few excerpts from this chapter let's stand together for the reading of the scriptures and then a brief time of prayer before the offering is taken then job replied to the lord i know that you can do anything and no one can stop you you you ask who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance it is i and i was talking about things i knew nothing about far too wonderful for me you said listen and i will speak i have some questions for you and you must answer them i had only heard about you before but now now i have seen you with my own eyes i take out i take back everything i said and i sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance verse 10 when the when job prayed for his friends the lord restored his fortunes in fact the lord gave him twice as much as before then all his brothers and sisters and former friends came and feasted with him in his home and they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the lord had brought upon him and each of them brought a gift of money and a gold ring verse 13 god also gave job seven more sons and three more daughters verse 16 job lived 140 years after that living to see four generations of his children and grandchildren then he died an old man who had lived a long full life will you pray with me please we long to live a full life oh god it may not be long but we'd like it to be full we'd like to think that what we do matters and what we decide pleases you we'd like to learn how to submit to you and to sit and rest in you regardless of our circumstances there will be times when that won't be easy but we're not asking for what's easy we're asking for what's best we'd like for others when we're gone to remember us as women and men who took you seriously who believed what you wrote in your word and guided our lives according to its principles oh lord there are a lot of things that we would say along with job things we'd love to take back that we once said but we can't do that those words are out there and we said them and now looking back we realize some of them were hasty others were foolish some were dead wrong and a few of them were short-sighted today lord we pray for the kind of wisdom that comes with age and pain and therefore we will listen to an older man job who knew pain and may we live different lives because of it we give our gifts now full of gratitude to you thankful for the way you're going to use these gifts and thankful for the privilege of having an occupation where we could earn a living and be able to give be pleased we pray in our motive for giving and in the act itself we do so to bring you pleasure as we submit to your will in these moments ahead now in the name of jesus we pray everyone said amen please be seated [Music] me [Music] god [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music] so [Music] [Applause] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] life's best teachers are those who are getting up in years and have known pain often the more years and the deeper the pain the better the teaching we some think about it older people are worth a lot more than younger folks no no i've i read this we have silver in our hair gold in our teeth stones in our kidneys titanium in our hips and wrists and ankles and knees and spine lead in our feet and a lot of natural gas in our gut we're worth a whole lot but when you add the presence of pain all of those other things are diminished because out comes not information but wisdom there's a great difference between information which the youth are full of and wisdom which they lack sarah teasdale the poet has put it best when i've ceased to break my wings against the faultiness of things and learn that compromises wait behind each hardly open gate when i can look life in the eyes grown calm and very coldly wise life will have given me the truth and taken in exchange my youth not only does age provide wisdom when pray when pain is brought into the mix insight is gained which is far better than simple facts or information insight the ability to see into and even beyond a situation so that one lives a life above his or her circumstances due to those insights this is what makes job's work such a treasure for i know of no one nor to you who suffered like job and the insight drips from his pen for all to read and remember it occurred to me as i began to think about wrapping up this series on these epical events where we sit and learn and listen to one after another after another some of which are wrapped in mystery and unfairness strange turns of events and when we stop to think that god is the author of them it baffles us we need insight we don't simply need facts about god we need insight into how he works who he is what he's about by the end of his life job seems to have gleaned that insight and i find in this 42nd chapter of his book at least seven there may be many more but at least seven insights about god that i do not find in most other places or any other writings that i read so with your pen handy and your mind and gear i'll do my best to move through these seven in a way that anyone can understand them i have no interest in impressing you with my knowledge of god for i will tell you there are occasions when i simply am at a loss to explain his working so i come to you today as a learner a reader a preacher who longs to know more perhaps we will gain it together insight number one is found in verse 2 of chapter 42. look at your bible it begins verse 40 verse 1 of chapter 42. then job replied to the lord so the chapter begins with job speaking and it is a dialogue back and forth between job and his god so job speaks the first thing he says verse 2 i know that you god can do anything let's stop right there insight number one there is nothing god cannot do there is nothing god cannot do job has finally come to realize that his lord and master was capable of doing anything any way he pleases with anyone he wishes for as long as he desires and in many ways for reasons known only to him because god is able to do anything when theologians grab hold of this thought they give it a word that you may have heard but maybe you've not known what it meant the word they give it is omnipotence omnipotence let's unpack it omni the first part of it means all or everywhere potence means powerful effective god is all-powerful he dwells in absolute and unlimited might strength power a.w tozer wrote it like this all god's acts are done without effort he expends no energy that must be replenished his self-sufficiency makes it unnecessary for him to look outside himself for a renewal of strength stay with me all the power required to do all that god wills to do lies in undiminished fullness of his own infinite being in other words he needs no help from anyone he is able to create from nothing we invent with things already in existence god creates we invent he maintains the vast universe we can't change a thing in the universe we can only observe it and enjoy it he sustains life in all creatures we can't keep ourselves alive an absence of breath for just a little bit of time and we're gone he sustains life as long as he pleases in all creatures when he's no longer pleased that they live they stop living there's nothing he cannot do he's even able to raise the dead when we die we're gone it's over oh there's eternal life but as far as this earth is concerned finished we don't come back for a second act is over god sustains life nothing stands in his way nothing hinders his will no obstacle causes him a detour he's able to do all things which is why i've urged you to reserve the word awesome for god alone unless one can do the above he isn't awesome no thing is awesome no animal is awesome no creature is awesome only god four times in the bible we read that nothing is impossible with god four times jeremiah 32 17 jeremiah 32 27 luke 1 37 luke 18 27 nothing is impossible with god that's where we start insight number two verse two concludes i know that god can do anything and no one can stop him here's the insight it is impossible to frustrate hinder or stop god's purposes it is impossible to frustrate hinder or stop god's purposes as job put it no one can stop you god's intentions are neither altered nor disrupted his purposes transpire without delay without hindrance and without fail god is never surprised or shaken he never has reason to rethink the events he enacts for his ways are perfect he does not adjust his plans according to our pleasures and arrangement of things we adjust our arrangement of things according to his plans peace and pleasure are found in submitting to him all the while remembering he is not almost sovereign those words make me smile it's like my saying i'm almost married after 64 years i'm all together married i'm not almost married god is not almost in charge let me break that down he's the potter we are the clay he's the shepherd we are the sheep he provides we consume he displays we discover he initiates we participate he is inscrutable we are predictable it's impossible to frustrate hinder or stop god's purposes number three verse three look at the verse first you asked now here's the dialogue you asked who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance and job's hand flies in the air it's me i'm the one i love his vulnerability job says it's i i was talking about things i knew nothing about or do we understand that huh here's the here's the insight don't miss any of it god's ways are beyond our understanding and they are too deep to explain god's ways are beyond our understanding and they are too deep to explain i love the way eugene peterson in the message renders this verse quote i babbled on about things far beyond me made small talk about wonders way over my head i like frederick bigner's words and his work wishful thinking i love the analogy listen for it god doesn't explain here he explodes he says that to try to explain the things job once explained would be like trying to explain einstein to a little neck clam that's a great analogy god doesn't reveal his grand design beaten your rights he doesn't have to explain himself he doesn't owe us that let's understand he owes us nothing we owe him everything here's the way paul put it oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of god how unsearchable are his judgments how unfathomable his ways romans 11 33 unsearchable unfathomable isaiah put it a little differently for as the heavens are high above the earth god says my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts has the rays come down and snow from heaven and return not but water the earth and makes it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater so shall my word be when it goes forth out of my mouth it shall never return empty but it will accomplish the things which i please and do not need to explain i would add we spend our lives trying to explain the unsearchable trying to understand the unfathomable or is one of my mentors used to put it trying to unscrew the inscrutable don't waste your time he's awesome learn to live in such a way that you give him his due he's god and and we are not and let's love it that way job comes to an insight in this by the way before i go there let me let me introduce you to a a motion a gesture it's called a shrug some of you hadn't done in a long time let's do it together okay one two three some of you didn't do it you're too you're too sophisticated to do it so do it again one two three yeah you look better already now if you could add four of the most difficult words you'll ever speak to the shrug you'll even look great i do not know i i don't know i don't know how many letters are after your name and i don't care but it seems as though the more letters the more people want to ask questions to people like that they don't know either and by the way medical doctors cannot cure they treat they guess and might might i our ad they practice medicine the wisest of medical doctors on occasion will go i do not know i don't know why you get cancer and she didn't i don't know why he lost his baby and you got to keep yours healthy i don't know why that first responder carried a limp body out of the building and that first responder carried one who was restored to full health i don't know why that one died and and this one lived and you'll never know you'll never know you'll need to know you need to know the god who knows and leave it at that simplistic though that may sound for those who think they know what they don't know god doesn't simply call foolish he calls us ignorant it is an ignorant statement to say you know when in fact you do not know now that i've pretty well offended everybody let's go to the fourth insight of the more you learn about god the less you'll be impressed with anybody and that's the way it ought to be that's the way it ought to be a list like this makes you impressed with god and god alone insight number four look at verse five and verse six i had only heard about you before but now i've seen you with my own eyes i you know what he means by that i i think i think he means i've seen you work in ways i never saw you work before i've gone through things i've never been through before i've seen you in them i've come to an absolute end of myself and i take back everything i said you felt like that haven't you and and i and i sit here in dust and ashes to show my repentance get this insight number four only by focusing fully on god are we able to humble ourselves and rest in his will only by focusing fully on god are we able to humble ourselves and rest in his will our choir this morning happened to have sung one of my favorite pieces that they sing in their repertoire of music i love it because it is so simple and yet profound be still be still sounds like my dad's counsel when i was a little boy sitting next to him at the table and my feet are moving and my legs are shuffling around and i'm spilling the milk and pushing things around and he says son sit still on occasion god says to us be still sit still you know what job's doing in verses five and six he's sitting still he's resigned in in in full submission he looks back and realizes there were questions he ant asks he asked and realized now how shallow and superficial they were there were demands he made and understands now that he's sitting and resigned in god's will he had no right to demand anything you know what i love that's absent from all of job's writings a spirit of entitlement which is the characteristic of the 21st century i've got it coming those are my rights you cross my rights i'll sue you and they will and they do how easy to be intimidated by a lawsuit and to forget all the while that the one who has everything against us and knows all about us never takes us to court job focusing fully on his god humblest humbles himself and rests in his will now i can hear some critic when he hears that say in response well chuck i would too if he'd blessed me like he's blessing job wait a minute wait wait a minute my critic friend you were reading ahead he hasn't blessed job yet you know where job is you check for yourself he's still sitting in ashes he's still penniless homeless he's still diseased covered with sore boils none of that has changed you know what's changed job has changed job has changed god you don't have to relieve me of any of this i don't know why i've got all this that's happened to me but it's your call and i'm yours and you've never done anything that's truly unfair or without a purpose i'm yours and i rest my case i'm sitting still that's a changed man most people live their lives and never come to that place we're born with our fists clenched and the only time we finally open our hands is a death never seen a cadaver with clenched fists they're all open job in this quiet spirit of resignation complete contentment rests himself in the lord it's beautiful because he relies fully on the lord god who knows what's best at all times though remember it's different from the way we see life people make this silly mistake all the time they think of god as just like us except a lot older he's got this long beard and he stands in the north of the map going blowing that north wind across the world don't go there he is nothing at all like us he is god and we are not he is ways beyond our grasp and we'll never know rest in that leave it alone or you'll never know rest you'll churn the rest of your life now then god has a tether and when it comes to the end of it things happen look at verses 7 8 and 9 you will hear insight number five let me read the verses after the lord had finished speaking to job now look closely he said to eliphaz the team a knight i'm angry with you and with your two friends for you have not spoken accurately about me as my servant job has so you take seven bulls and seven rams and you go to my servant job and you offer a burnt offering for yourselves in other words you seek his forgiveness you've taken advantage of him long enough you've accused him long enough all of it falsely you've said wrong things long enough shut your mouth take the sacrifice go before job offer the sacrifice and look i will accept his prayer on your behalf i will not treat you as you deserve for you to have not spoken accurately about me as my servant job has so elif has the team and i build ad the shoe height so far the namethight did as the job commanded as the lord commanded him and the lord accepted job's prayer here's the insight number five or yes number five when the day of reckoning comes god demonstrates firm judgment mixed with great grace when the day of reckoning comes god demonstrates firm judgment with great grace it's a saying i've used before but it bears repeating now all god's accounts are not settled at the end of the month remember he's not like us he doesn't keep our kind of books his books don't look like our books when you own it all and when you control it all the books don't look alike through all the long dreadful days that job has been suffering god has remained what silent not absent don't believe it not absent silent silent when we would plead for job for the lord to speak silence until now and now the day of reckoning has come it's time for you three friends to know what fools you've made of yourselves how you have taken advantage of this dear man job now god doesn't miss anything he knows them by name as he knows us and in the process he doesn't give them what they deserve fully because there's grace involved in this which is another subject insight number six 10-15 this is where it gets very very delightful look closely look at verse 10 when job prayed for his friends look at the verbs the lord restored his fortunes in fact the lord increased him twice as much as before he gave him twice as much as before all his brothers and sisters came and feasted with him in his home and they consoled and comforted him because of the trials he had gone through and each of them brought a gift of money and and a gold ring look still look at the verb the lord blessed job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning and look at the list he doubles his livestock he doubles his caravan he doubles his oxen and he gives him seven sons and three more daughters isn't he gracious of god not to double his children just just a thought here so he gets 10 new children he's got 10 in heaven and now he's got 10 brand new ones for him and his wife to have the joy of rearing he gives them their names in verse 13 and all the land no women were so lovely as the daughters of job and their father put them into his will along with their brothers here's the insight insight number six no one can be compared to our god when it comes to blessings i mean he unloaded the truck on job how gracious of him the lord accepted his prayers the lord restored him the lord multiplied his increase and and then the lord blessed him in such great measure he did it all with abundance critics wronged the earth today talking about how you your god has ripped you off i mean look at the people who are suffering and you you worship a god like that i mean look at the people who were killed and you think god's in charge just listen to the critics they're everywhere they're all over even in quote high places who are pulling god out of documents where he belongs because god is no longer fair may i ask you to pause for a moment set all of the nonsense aside and start to count your blessings and i warn you you'll run out of ink in your pen and paper in your tablet and time on your calendar before you get to the end of his blessings they are over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over think of your blessings look at you look at us the objects of his blessings in abundance no one can be compared to him when it comes to blessings don't forget that at this season of the year when you will be tempted to let black friday eclipse beautiful thursday will you please remember it's thanks giving so let's give thanks rather than plan on what we're going to spend let's pause and let the day run its course as we praise him for his blessings i look over what i deserve and i i'm so embarrassed i can't look very long and i realize what god has done and i and thrilled to tears no one can be compared to our god when it comes to his blessings now number seven i love this one we'll take a little time on it so relax verses 16 and 17. job lived 140 years after that do you know that most people would not have remembered that i don't know how long he lived before this maybe a hundred years he's among the patriarchs they lived long time uh he may be by the end of his life 200 300 we don't know but he lived 140 years after all that he went through and he was able to see four generations of his children and his grandchildren let's take a generation that's 35 years if my math is right so for 140 years here came the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren great-great-grandchildren and then he died an old man who had lived a long full life here's the insight only god can fill our final years with the kind of music that frees us to live above our circumstances only god can fill our final years with the kind of music that frees us to live above our circumstances you hear the music you can't hear it it's in the man's soul it's in the soul of those who die well who've lived well there's music there now let me get realistic no doubt some near job's age were not nearly as close to the lord their final years may have been very different perhaps they were plagued with loneliness sadness maybe a loss of memory perhaps struggling with dementia i i don't know but life being what it is there were some who were physically unable to keep up as well as job could keep up he lived a long full life and he finished well which means he had the music that brought the melodies of great memories that he drew on and they had a way of eclipsing yesterday's regrets and silencing tomorrow's worries and fears bear with me through a very moving story some of you will remember the shawshank redemption a film an award-winning film it's the story of a prison shawshank and the lives of inmates who fought against the brutality in order to sustain their humanity one of the main characters in the film is played by tim robbins the film's character is andy mischievous energetic creative and he spent his days carving chess men from stone and petitioning the state for books for the prison library so he could help his fellow inmates earn high school diplomas which several of them did another creative idea cost him two weeks in solitary confinement but to andy it was worth it he gained access to the privilege to the prison's public address system and he played a record of great symphonic operatic music for all the prisoners to hear for the first time in their lives great music as the moving strains of of classical music stream through the cells the washrooms the mess hall the prison yard inmates stopped and stared transfixed as the music wafted across the familiar world of the prison and the prisoners the actor morgan freeman who is also the narrator of the story the shawshank redemption says these words about that ethical moment nobody expected morgan's line i have no idea to this day what those two italian ladies were singing about truth is i don't want to know some things are best left unsaid i'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful and can't be expressed in words and it makes your heart ache because of it he goes on i tell you those voices soared higher and farther than than anybody in the big house dared to dream it was like some beautiful bird flapped into a guy's cage and made those stone walls and iron bars dissolve away and for the briefest of moments every last man in shawshank felt free i love those lives that's it that's job at the end of his life the music of his soul takes over and having lived a long full life the music starts and he soars in his journey heavenward higher and farther than anyone ever dared to dream and he was free having left the body of pain and sickness and sorrow he is finally home free and last thank god free at last that's where we will be that's our ending child of god that's ours isn't a bird flapping its angels wings and they take us from earth to glory and we see him as he is and we are forever there free at last unless you don't know this god listen to me you may not even notice god this kind of information is this is this is foreign to you it wasn't is the way you were taught at your schools this isn't what your teacher said your so-called instructors but you realize now if you go on the basis of the book of truth this is the god of eternity he alone can take you from earth to heaven by way of the cross you don't want to live your last years lonely surrounded by those who remind you of the things that you're trying to forget you need the freedom only christ can provide and only christ can provide it don't you forget it please bow your heads deep within your soul is a hunger a god-shaped vacuum and it'll never be satisfied until he occupies that vacuum trust him now what are you waiting for next week you may not have next week i bury them younger every year this one may be your last come to him now believe on the lord jesus and you will be rescued delivered secured forgiven and free free at last thank you dear father for speaking to us in terms we can understand may these terms silence the voices of the majority around us who are trying to convince us that they are right and this is wrong that they speak truth when in fact they are lies hear us as we sit still and accept your plan and allow you the freedom to work so that we become changed individuals like christ like christ and for those who have never met you father bring them to yourself before this day ends i ask for jesus sake and all his people said amen amen amen well it never fails every time we look into the life of job we gain valuable insights like today through job we got to know our god even better isn't it great that the man didn't get bitter as a result of all he suffered rather than crawling up in a cave of self-pity and focusing on how unfair life is and giving up well he pressed on in fact i hope we never forget what happened after he was restored to good health you check it for yourself in the next to last verse of his story in the bible we read these words after this job lived 140 years just amazing isn't it after all that stuff happened to him job was given another 140 years i think of it as god's agenda to keep job active alert and involved he certainly was because god gave him 10 more children during that time in his life i believe job grew old gracefully and was never hard to live with all he had been through mellowed him made him gentle and even more gracious years ago i found a prayer for those who long to grow old like that it reads lord you know better than i know myself that i'm growing older and will someday be old keep me from getting talkative and particularly from the fatal habit of thinking i must say something on every subject and on every occasion release me from the craving to try to straighten out everybody's affairs keep my mind free from the recital of endless details give me wings to get to the point i ask for grace enough to listen to the tales of others pains my own aches and pains are increasing and my love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by i dare not ask for improved memory but for a growing humility teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally i may be mistaken keep me reasonably sweet i do not want to be a saint some of them are so hard to live with but a sour old man or woman is one of the crowning works of the devil make me thoughtful but not moody helpful but not bossy with my vast store of wisdom it seems a pity not to use it but lord you know i want a few friends at the end give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places and talents in unexpected people and give me lord the grace to tell them so hey there's a lot of life to be lived after coronavirus let's make it a better life than we ever lived before this invisible enemy crossed our paths job was given an additional 140 years we don't know how many years god will give us or months or weeks but however long god may give us may those days be our best may we make them our best years and months and weeks of our lives starting today i'll see you next time you

Channel: Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living

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Keywords: Job, epochal events, pastor, chuck, swindoll, chuck Swindoll, Charles, bible, teacher, preach, preacher, teach, teachings, insight, for, living, ministries, ifl, biblical, sermons, lessons, radio, epochal, events

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Length: 89min 58sec (5398 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 09 2021