Harmful Words

Thanks guys. My name is Alistair. I'm the assistant here and I'm going to continue our reading in Job chapter 10.

Job 10 · chapter mention

This is Job speaking and he now turns his attention to God.

In Job chapter 10 verse 1 it says,

Job 10:1

I loathe my very life, therefore I will give free reign to my complaint and speak out of the bitterness of my soul.

I say to God, do not declare me guilty, but tell me what charges you have against me.

Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands while you smile on the plans of the wicked?

Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees?

Are your days like those of a mortal and your years like those of a strong man?

That you must search out my faults and probe after my sin.

Though you know that I am not guilty and that no one can rescue me from your hand.

Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me?

Remember that you molded me like clay.

Will you now turn me to dust again?

Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?

Clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews?

You gave me life and showed me kindness and in your providence watched over my spirit.

But this is what you concealed in your heart.

And I know that this was in your mind.

If I have, if I sinned, you would be watching me and would not let my offense go unpunished.

If I am guilty, woe to me.

Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head.

For I am full of shame and drowned in my affliction.

If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion and again display your awesome power against me.

You bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger towards me.

Your forces come against me wave upon wave.

Why then did you bring me out of the womb?

I wish I had died before any eye saw me.

If only I had never come into being or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave.

Are not my few days almost over?

Turn from me so that I can have a moment's rest before I go to the place of no return to the land of gloom and utter darkness.

To the land of deepest night of utter darkness and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.

That is a very long and difficult passage.

So let's turn to our great God in prayer and ask for his strength as we focus on it.

Let's pray together.

Father, we come to passages like this and we have so many questions.

We have so many thoughts.

And Lord, we ask this morning that you would still our hearts.

That you would take distractions away from us.

And Lord, would you help us focus on your word.

Father, I pray that I would decrease and you would increase.

And may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be pleasing to you, our rock and our redeemer.

Amen.

It'll be really helpful if you have that passage open in front of you as we focus on it this morning.

But I wonder if you've ever heard the rhyme.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

You've probably heard that before.

It often gets thrown around on playgrounds at school.

Maybe like me, you yourself have even used it when you were called names or teased as a child.

But the more experience we have under our belts, the more we go on in life,

we realize that words can do more harm than physical attacks.

And the scars that they leave, whilst they aren't visible, can be just as damaging.

If we are constantly hearing the same harmful words,

then there will come a point where we actually start to believe it's true.

Maybe you've been told lies repeatedly over the years that you're worthless.

That you're a waste of space.

That you're nothing.

Those are lies.

But they leave a lasting impression on a person.

They leave unseen wounds that hurt and continue to hurt years later.

And so a more realistic rhyme is,

sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will hurt forever.

That's what we're going to think about this morning in Job chapter 8 through to chapter 10.

Job 8 · chapter mention

And Job is sitting on the ash heap, remember, with his friends or so-called friends all around him.

Eliphaz has spoken to him from a kind of philosophical, uber-spiritual approach,

saying that he had a vision and he understands Job's suffering.

He knows what's going on.

And so whilst Eliphaz wasn't nice in what he said to Job in chapters 4 and 5,

the way he said it was reasonably nice.

It was okay.

But this morning we listen into the conversation between Bildad and Job.

And Bildad proves that words do hurt.

In fact, it's as if Bildad is deliberately trying to inflict more pain on Job.

So if Eliphaz's response was a bit more philosophical,

Bildad's response is that of a traditionalist who has zero sympathy

and offers no comfort to his friend in pain,

but instead seems to pour lemon juice on an open wound.

So we're going to look at Job 8 to 10 under two headings,

words that wound and the words of the wounded.

So the first thing we see in this section of Job in chapter 8 are words that wound,

words that wound.

So Eliphaz was the subtle voice who was measured in his tone to Job.

In contrast to that, Bildad is like a wrecking bull.

He is a bull in a china shop or a vicious dog who goes right for the jugular.

Bildad comes to essentially the same conclusion as Eliphaz,

that Job is suffering because of some sin in his life,

but his approach is slightly different.

And that's why studying these cycles of speeches is really helpful

because it gets us thinking through how we understand suffering today

and the worldviews that we let influence us.

And these speeches tell us how not to speak to a friend in that pain.

So Bildad starts, read with me, in verse 2.

To Job he says,

How long will you say such things?

Your words are a blustering wind.

And so he sees his friend in agony on an ash pile.

And basically he says,

Job, snap out of it.

How long are you going to keep going on like this?

And then he insults him by saying at the end of verse 2

that he's just full of hot air.

Bildad is angry.

He is frustrated at Job's response to Eliphaz

and he is impatient.

See, Job has been on that ash heap for months.

Bildad and his friends have arrived on the scene about a week or so ago

and Bildad has already lost the rag with Job.

He has no desire to comfort him

and no desire to sympathize with him.

Now comforters are supposed to be patient

and we are supposed to be in it for the long haul.

Don't get me wrong.

It is hard to comfort people over the long haul.

It isn't easy.

As you sit with those who suffer,

you need to know that their suffering won't be over in a week.

You need to stick it out with them.

We need to make the conscious, self-sacrificing decision

to walk alongside those who are suffering

and to sit with them in their pain.

For those of us who are looking on

on someone else's suffering,

it's really easy to become impatient, isn't it?

And to think that the event

or the cause of that suffering took place in the past,

so surely they should be fine by now.

As comforters, we can move on very quickly

from things that have happened.

But for those who have been affected directly by suffering,

it can take time

and those wounds may never actually heal properly.

The death of a loved one

will always leave a void in someone's life.

Past trauma can leave scars

that make every single day difficult.

Illnesses can make what seems to be a simple task

impossible to us.

Our job as a community,

who are called to care for each other well,

is to be patient.

We need to be in it for the long haul.

We cannot be impatient like Bildad

and expect people just to get over their suffering.

And so Bildad has listened to Job's lament

and his outpouring of grief.

And his response is he's fed up.

He's angry because he thinks that Job's questioning

is a sign of unfaithfulness.

And so Bildad insults Job out of anger

and we see why in verse 3.

Bildad says,

does God pervert justice?

Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

And so Bildad's assessment of God

is 100% correct.

God is completely just.

There is no measure of wavering in him.

And this is the difficult thing with Job's friends

because some of the things they say are spot on.

They get it right.

But often, and most of the time,

the conclusions that they draw from that

are completely wrong.

So this is the foundational statement of Bildad's argument.

God is completely just.

But it only takes the next sentence

to see how wrong his conclusion is.

Read verse 4 with me.

Bildad speaking to Job says,

Bildad says,

Bildad says,

Bildad says,

Bildad says,

Job,

your kids are dead because they sinned

and if you keep going like this,

you're next.

Bildad has no idea what's going on.

He has no idea that this is Satan's attempt

to trick Job into cursing God.

Bildad doesn't know that this is God's test

to prove the genuineness of Job's faith.

Friends, we need to be very, very careful

of the words we use

and the conclusions that we draw

about someone suffering

because our wounds,

our words can wound.

In verse 4, Bildad says,

God is just, Job.

That is why your kids died.

In verses 5 to 7, he says,

turn to God, do good,

and he will restore you,

very much focusing on material possessions.

He has a very black and white worldview.

So for Bildad, if you do good,

God will reward you.

And if you do bad,

you will be punished.

And we see this worldview

all over the place today, don't we?

Maybe it's a worldview

that we even have ourselves.

As Christians,

often when things go wrong in our lives,

we're tempted to think

that God is punishing us for our sins,

either past or present.

So often we're tempted to think

that God is afflicting us

because we deserve it.

But friends, the problem with that worldview

is that it leaves no room for forgiveness.

It leaves no room for redemptive suffering.

In short,

that worldview leaves no room

for Jesus Christ.

To believe God rewards good

and punishes evil

in the lives of his people

now is simplistic.

And it is not what the Bible teaches.

But it is what many Christians believe today.

I've been told that if only I had enough faith

and prayed more,

I could have healed all of my illnesses.

I was in a wheelchair at one point

and was told that I would be able to walk

pain-free if only I asked for forgiveness

and started living the proper Christian life.

I've had friends.

Friends who lost a child.

And in the middle of that suffering,

someone said to them,

if only you'd had enough faith

and prayed,

that child would still be alive.

Friends, that is a false gospel.

And it puts all the responsibility

on us.

Weak human beings

and not on the completed work

of the ruling and reigning Jesus Christ.

Now maybe you've said these things

to people before.

And if you have,

I would encourage you to go

and ask them for forgiveness

and say,

that's not what the Bible teaches.

That's not what God is like.

Because the only way

we can get through this life

is because of the hope

that God gives us

through the gospel.

The life and death

and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Suffering is often the thing

that causes us

to come to the end of ourselves.

And in that moment,

we have to run towards God.

The rest of the Bible says

suffering is to be expected in life

and that it has a purpose.

It has a meaning.

We may not know what that is.

We may never know.

But it is not meaningless.

And Christians do not suffer now

because God is punishing his people.

So how has Bildad come

to that conclusion?

Well, as a traditionalist,

he looks to the past.

We see that in verse 8

where he says to Job,

ask the former generations

and find out what their ancestors learned.

For we were born only yesterday

and know nothing

and our days on earth

are but a shadow.

So the former generations

and their apparent wisdom

are the traditions of moral

and religious people.

Now learning from the past

is not a bad thing.

But the problem is

that Bildad doesn't see

that the wisdom of his ancestors

is still imperfect.

Just because something happened

in the past

doesn't mean that it is

the wisest and best thing

for all of time.

But also,

only looking back,

as Bildad is telling Job to do,

leaves no room for what God

might be doing in the present.

Bildad is too busy

feeling like he needs

to defend God's honour.

So he comes up

with the right answer

that God is just

but with the wrong conclusions.

And to drive his point home,

Bildad uses three illustrations.

Plants in verses 11 to 13,

a spider's web

in verses 14 and 15

and a shallow-rooted plant

in verses 16 and 19.

Bildad is saying

that the wicked

are those who put their trust

in stuff

rather than God.

And like a spider's web,

it is all fragile

and it will collapse.

Or that they are like flowers.

The wicked are like flowers.

That they have the appearance

of life.

But that their wickedness

will lead to death.

It's kind of like a bouquet of flowers

that you buy from the shop

and put on your dining room table.

They look nice for a few days

but they've been severed

from their roots.

And so,

they are actually dead.

And it will only take

a few days

for those signs of death

to show themselves.

That's like the wicked,

Bildad says.

And in verse 13,

he says to Job,

Job, basically,

that's you.

Everything that has been

stripped away from you

because you've forgotten God

and because you're wicked.

And so,

with blow after blow,

Bildad rains his attack

on Job

and he ends it in verses

20 to 22

where he says,

Surely God does not

reject one who is blameless

or strengthen the hands

of evildoers.

He will yet fill your mouth

with laughter

and your lips

with shouts of joy.

Your enemies will be

clothed in shame

and the tents of the wicked

will be no more.

Bildad says,

Job,

if only you were a good guy.

If only you did

what was right

in front of God,

none of this

would be happening to you.

These are words

that wound.

Words devoid

of grace

with no concept

of undeserved suffering,

no idea of suffering

for God's glory

and no concept

of forgiveness.

Job's suffering

is not as black

and white as that.

We know

that life

is not as black

and white as that.

Even for those

who have completely

messed up

and gone against God

every single opportunity

they can

in their lives,

there is still

forgiveness

and grace

through Jesus Christ.

let's never be

those friends

who pour more

insults on open wounds

without any godly wisdom

because it misrepresents

God

and it hurts

our friends.

Half the time

the reason people

move churches

is not because of

theological

differences

but because of

hurtful words

of other Christians.

Now we need

to sit

with those

who are in pain.

We should never

assume

we know

the reason

behind their

suffering

but we are

to point them

to the hope

that is found

in the gospel.

The promised

presence of God

even in the trenches

and midst

of great suffering

and we need

to be that shoulder

for people

to cry on

in their times

of need.

Bildad is arrogant

and he thought

that he knew

what was going on.

His words

were daggers

that were plunged

into Job's heart

inflicting pain

and because

Bildad wasn't

suffering

he thought

he was wise

and he had

all the right answers.

Friends,

please never

be a Bildad.

Let's not be

Bildad.

Let's not assume

we know everything

but let's be patient

with those

who suffer

and let us

support them

well.

So Bildad

spoke words

that wound

and the second

thing we see

in this passage

are the words

of the wounded

in chapters 9

and 10

the words

of the wounded.

In the midst

of great suffering

we don't always

say what we

actually think

right?

So we may know

that something

is true

but in that

moment of agony

logic seems

to just go

out the window.

the pain

is overbearing

and the words

that often

leave our mouths

without thinking

it through

properly

is quite normal.

What we say

isn't always

right

and that is

the same

with Job.

In these two

chapters

and in other

parts of the book

Job says

things about

God that

aren't right

and aren't

true.

But at the

end of the book

in Job

Job 42:7

chapter 42

verse 7

God commends

Job for

having spoken

what is right.

So how do we

handle this

apparent contradiction?

Because God

affirms in both

the beginning

and the end

of the book

of Job

that he is

a genuine

believer.

So this

apparent

contradiction

can be resolved

by understanding

that whilst

Job knows

the truth

about God

and he

believes the

truth about

God

in the midst

of his pain

he doesn't

feel it.

And so he

says wrong

things about

God and if

you have

suffered at

all in

your life

you know

how easy

it is to

be swept

up in

the feelings

of pain

and in

the emotions

of suffering.

We might

say that

God is

unloving

that he

has abandoned

us even

though that

is not

true.

We might

say that

God doesn't

care.

because we

don't

understand

what's

going on.

That's

not true.

We might

even say

that God

doesn't

love us

because he

is allowing

such great

suffering to

happen in

our lives.

Friends,

that is

not

true.

You are

never

ever

beyond

the love

of God.

And in

those moments

of suffering

we need to

remember the

truth about

who God

is and

the truth

that our

circumstances,

our pain,

our suffering,

our emotional

and mental

turmoil,

our shame,

our guilt,

our feelings

of despair

are in no

way,

absolutely no

way,

a representation

of how God

views us.

so let's

listen to

the words

of the

wounded.

Read

chapter 9

verse 2

with me.

Job says,

Indeed,

I know

that this

is true,

but how

can me

immortals

prove their

innocence

before God?

Though

they wished

to dispute

with him,

they could

not answer

him one

time out

of a

thousand.

Job

says,

I know

that God

is just.

I know

that he

is right

in all

that he

does.

I know

that the

wicked

receive

judgment

from God.

I know

that God

is perfectly

just.

But what

I don't

know,

Bildad,

is why

I'm

suffering.

And in

these two

chapters,

Job uses

courtroom

language.

He wants

to take

God to

court,

basically,

to put

him on

the stand

and ask

his

questions.

Job

wants to

make a

defense of

his own

innocence

because he

sees no

sin in

his life

that

deserves

such

great

suffering.

But he

realizes that

he cannot

stand before

God because

God is so

mighty.

That's what

verses 4 to

10 of

chapter 9

are all

about.

Speaking

about God,

Job says

that he

is wise

in heart

and mighty

in strength

in verse

4.

That he

can move

mountains,

verse 5.

That he

commands the

sun in

verse 7.

That he

put the

stars in

space in

verse 9.

Job is

saying this

is how

big God

is.

No one

can contend

with him.

He is so

mighty that

no amount

of words

could even

scratch the

surface of

his greatness.

He is so

wise that

all the

wise people

in the

world

couldn't

even begin

to compare

to how

wise God

is.

And God

is beyond

comprehension,

Job says in

verse 11.

Now these

verses in

any other

context would

be a

wonderful

declaration

of praise.

And yet in

this moment

to Job

it's a

lament.

Because he

says,

he thinks

that this

mighty,

this powerful

God has

turned against

him.

Job is

saying,

how can I

even dream

of standing

before this

kind of God

and question

him?

He is

too

great.

And so he

sits on the

ash heap and

as he looks

over his

life and

his suffering

he's crying

out and

he's asking

why?

Why has

this great

powerful God

turned

against me?

Job then

wrongly

concludes in

verses 12

to 21 of

chapter 9

that God

is unjust.

In the

midst of

his

suffering

Job is

coming to

the wrong

conclusions

because he

doesn't see

how his

suffering could

bring him

any good.

He knows

that he

is innocent

and yet he

says in

verse 20

that even

if he is

innocent God

would pronounce

him guilty

anyway.

And it

brings Job

to the point

of despair

and he

despises

his life.

And the

lament continues

in chapter 10.

Job's

friends have

basically been

telling him

to fake it

until you

make it.

Slap a fake

smile in your

face and get

on with life.

And so Job

says in

chapter 10

verse 1

I loathe

my very

life.

Therefore

I will give

free reign

to my

complaint and

speak out

in the

bitterness of

my soul.

And I

say to

God do

not declare

me guilty

but tell

me what

charges you

have against

me.

Tell me

why?

Does it

please you

to oppress

me, to

spurn the

works of

your hands

while you

smile on

the plans

of the

wicked?

Job doesn't

see what's

going on.

He knows

that God

is just

but his

situation

is sending

him into

a spiral

of confusion.

In

verses 8

to 12

Job speaks

about how

he is one

of God's

creations.

Verse 11

you clothe

me with

skin and

flesh.

You have

granted me

life and

steadfast love.

Verse 12

So why,

why am I

suffering?

Verses 13

to 17

Job says

if it's

because I've

sinned and

I'm deserving

of this agony

reveal it to

me.

Show me

what I have

done.

Show me

your evidence.

Bring it

to the

courtroom and

let's chat

it out

together.

Let's sort

it out.

But he

sees no

sense and

he loathes

his life.

So he

says in

verse 18

of chapter

10,

why then

did you

bring me

out of

the womb?

I wish

that I

had died

before any

eye saw

me.

If only

I had

never gone,

never come

into being,

or had

been carried

straight from

the womb

to the

grave.

Are not

my few

days almost

over?

Turn away

from me

so that I

can have a

moment's joy

before I

go to the

place of

no return,

to the

land of

gloom and

utter

darkness.

Job says,

God,

leave me

alone.

Give me

a few

minutes of

rest before

I breathe

my last

and enter

into an

eternity of

darkness and

despair.

In his

suffering,

Job has

lost all

hope of

eternity with

God.

God,

he can't

see the

hope for

all the

despair in

his life.

Job is

consumed with

the question

why.

Friends,

have you

been there?

That place

where you're

looking at the

situation around

you and you're

consumed by it

and you see

no hope,

is the

question of

why eating

you alive and

all you want to

do is scream

it out?

There is

nothing wrong

with voicing

your frustrations.

There is

nothing wrong

with asking

the hard

questions.

They are

not a

sign of

unfaithfulness.

They are

not a

sign of

doubting

God.

It is a

sign that

you are

genuinely

wrestling with

the situation

and you want

to understand

what God's

doing.

That is a

good thing.

but you

need to know

that the

answers may

never come.

We may

never truly

understand what

is going on

but regardless

of the outcome

God never

changes.

God is

good.

God is

faithful.

And in the

midst of

suffering it

is important

to keep on

talking to

God.

Do not

shut him

out.

keep on

asking for

the suffering

to be

gone.

Keep on

asking for

strength.

Keep

listening.

God is

listening.

He has

not

abandoned

you.

Talking

to him

in the

midst of

great

pain

is

important.

And to

accuse God

of being

unjust

means that

we think

God owes

us a

good life.

A life

of joy

and happiness

all the

time that

it's

unfair for

any kind

of suffering

to come

our way.

But the

book of

Job isn't

here to

tell us

that life

is fair.

It's

here to

tell us

that even

in this

extreme

suffering

God is

good.

God is

sovereign.

God is

wise and

God is

100%

just.

So friends

in your

pain ask

the hard

questions.

God is

God is

God is

God's

love for

or approval

of you.

There is

nothing you

can do

to stop

you being

his child.

Job saw

this mighty

awesomeness

wisdom and

power of

God and

declares that

it is impossible

to stand

before him.

in chapter

9 verse

2 he

says how

can a

man be

in the

right before

God?

In chapter

9 verse

33 he

cries out in

frustration if

only there

was someone

to mediate

between us.

If only

there was

someone who

could bring

us together.

If only

there was

one who

could

plead my

cause before

this holy

God.

Brothers and

sisters we

have that

mediator.

we have

that person

who is

perfect,

who is

righteous,

who is

fully God

and fully

man.

The only

one who

can stand

before a

holy God

on our

behalf.

We have

Jesus.

We have

a mediator

who stands

before God

and when

Satan the

accuser comes

with his

list of

sins that

we commit

every single

day and

he says

look at

Alistair

God,

the greatest

sinner of

them all,

Jesus says

paid for.

Jesus says

God the

curse of

your righteous

wrath that

Alistair

deserves

was taken

on me as

I hung on

that cross.

And so

Satan's

accusations

are muted

because

Jesus wins.

Job thinks

that he needs

a mediator

because in

this moment

he is not

seeing the

whole picture.

He's standing

at the back

of the

tapestry

seeing all

the chaos

and all

the mess,

all the

cords leading

nowhere and

it makes no

sense.

But God

is the good

and loving

father who

stands at

the front of

the tapestry.

He sees

the whole

picture and

he is in

control.

God is

weaving a

glorious picture

in your life

that we don't

see yet.

We don't

fully understand

and we may

never comprehend

it in this

life but

we are in

the hands

of a good

God.

Jesus is

the perfect

mediator who

being fully

God stepped

in and took

the ultimate

suffering that

we deserve.

Friends,

this is the

mediator that

Job wanted.

This is the

mediator that

we have.

And in the

middle of

suffering,

in the middle

of the open

wounds and

the agony,

in the middle

of despair

and the

emotional,

physical,

mental pain,

do not

forget Jesus

Christ who

bridged the

gap between

you and

God.

Jesus,

God in the

flesh,

stepped into

our suffering

world,

took on

suffering

himself

so that

we may be

reunited with

God and

have eternal

hope where

suffering,

sin and

death are

no more.

Sticks and

stones may

break my

bones but

words will

never hurt

me is

nonsense.

words matter.

The words

we hear in

our suffering

matter, the

words we

say in

our suffering

matter.

But the

most important

words that

you must

remember as

you're in the

trenches in the

despair of

suffering is

the cry of

Jesus Christ

on the cross

as he said,

it is

finished.

that is the

comfort that

you need in

your suffering.

That is

that there is

an end to

it all because

Jesus paid

it all.

Jesus paid

it all,

all to him

I owe.

Sin had

left a

crimson stain

and he

washed it

white as

snow.

And when

before the

throne I

stand,

in him

complete,

Jesus died

my soul

to save,

my lips

shall still

repeat.

Jesus paid

it all.

Let's pray

together.

Father, we

come before

you and we

ask that in

the good

times and

the bad,

in the

joys and

happiness of

life and

in the

sorrows and

despair of

suffering and

turmoil,

would you

by your

spirit help

us remember

the wonderful

truths of

who you

are.

And

Father, if

there is

anyone here

in the

building or

listening at

home who

thinks that

their

circumstances

are a

representation

of your

love for

them,

Lord, I

ask that by

the power of

the spirit you

would transform

their minds,

that you

would help

them cling to

that wonderful

truth that

Jesus has

paid it all

and it is

only through

him that

we can stand

boldly and

declare that

we belong to

you, that

we are part of

your family

because of

Christ.

Father,

remind us of

those truths in

the difficulties

of life.

we ask

this in

Jesus'

holy and

precious name.

Amen.