Growing wise through suffering

Father God, we thank and praise you for the chance to gather.

We thank you for your word and that you are a God who wants us to know him.

You're a God who has revealed yourself.

And we ask that as we look at this chapter tonight, that you would give us insight, that your spirit would work, that we might hear what it is you are teaching us, Lord.

And ultimately, we ask that the result would be that we would know you better and see you more clearly.

Amen.

So as I said, we're in the middle of a rosy series in the book of Job.

It's just a small part of our wisdom series, but we are three weeks in now.

And so the question that I want to ask us is, what have we learned so far?

We are 28 chapters into the book, or 27 technically, not including today, chapters into the book.

We've heard argument and response from Job's friends and then back to Job.

But the question is, have these arguments actually taken us anywhere in this book?

Is Job any better off now than he was in the first two chapters?

For those of you who possibly are in your own times of difficulty or struggle or trial,

have the words of advice from Job's friends given you any light in your situation?

Have Job's responses shown you a path through your time of darkness?

I'm guessing probably not, because it feels like after 27 chapters,

the only progress that we've made is that Job's situation is now worse.

In chapters 1 and 2, we saw him lose his family, his house, his slaves, his livestock, his everything.

And you would think it can't get any worse, but all that's happened in the 25 chapters after that

is that Job has now a strained relationship with three of his friends,

because they are arguing with one another about the cause.

In fact, his own character is now on the line as well,

because they're saying, Job, it's your fault that you're suffering.

You've done something wrong and God is punishing you.

So rather than making the prospect of suffering seem somehow lighter,

if anything, the book of Job is making it seem worse.

Seeming like when you try and fix the problem when you're struggling,

you just spin the wheels and work your way down and down.

And look, the harsh reality of this book is that even once we reach the end of Job,

we still don't get an answer to his question,

why am I suffering?

We spent a bunch of time last week trying to figure it out,

but the reality is at the end of 42 chapters, God doesn't answer.

At least he doesn't answer that question.

He doesn't sit Job down and go, well, you know, I've got a plan.

I'm doing this here and this here and you fit in in this bit and it needs to happen.

He doesn't answer.

And that might be frustrating for you to hear,

especially if right at the moment you're in a time of your own pain.

But I need to be clear with you that if it's an answer to that question that you need,

Job won't give it to you.

If it's an answer to the question, why am I suffering?

Why is this happening to me?

The Bible does not offer it.

But chapter 28 has something better.

Chapter 28 doesn't give you what you might be looking for,

but I believe firmly that it offers you a better answer.

This chapter is different to every other chapter in Job.

This chapter jumps out of the conversation that's been happening back and forth between his friends.

This chapter is written like a poem.

It sits there in three distinct sections.

And it's basically Job's summary of what he has learnt over the course of his suffering.

It's Job's summary of his insight.

After all this back and forth and all this bad advice and everything that's happened,

this chapter is kind of like the high point of Job.

Even though it's not at the end, this is the pinnacle of his understanding of his situation.

And in this chapter, he gives us the key to growing through suffering.

The things that he shares with us in this chapter are the difference between us growing bitter

instead of growing better.

Now, Steve told us last week that suffering is compulsory in life if you're a follower of Jesus.

Reality is it's going to happen to just about everyone.

But if you're a follower of Jesus, suffering will come.

But he also told us that growing through that suffering is optional.

How you handle it when it comes, how you respond, that is in your court.

And here in this chapter, Job wants to give you his insight.

He wants to guide you in your time of difficulty and doubt.

And I've noticed in conversations over the last couple of weeks of this series

that a lot of us are suddenly realising we don't really know what it means to suffer.

Now, I'm not presuming that for everyone.

I know that there are some people in this room who have experienced more pain

than any of us would ever wish on our worst enemy.

But for some of us, we sit here and we live in comfy houses.

We have good families.

We have good jobs.

We have nice cars.

We have good public transport.

We have a meal all the time.

We have a great after party after church.

And it's hard for us to think through what would it mean to experience suffering.

But I want to tell you that having this insight now is really, really important.

And I'm going to show you why as we work our way through this book.

Two key things in this chapter that Job has discovered that he wants to share with you his insight.

First one is there in verse 1 all the way through to 19.

Wisdom cannot be found.

Wisdom cannot be found.

Job begins by marvelling at the incredible advances of man.

If you look there, he gets excited about how humans have mined the earth,

how they have discovered the precious riches of the world,

how they have harnessed natural resources as fuel and other things.

We're smarter than the animals.

They don't know what's going on under the surface of the ground,

but we can dig down and find things.

We've discovered things that no one else knows about.

And if we were to add to this hymn now,

remembering this was written thousands of years before Jesus,

we could add amazing advances like we've walked on the moon.

We've cured diseases and we seem to make progress each and every day.

Our capacity is increasing.

There's new inventions, new cures.

And you have to wonder,

will there come a time when we've discovered everything there is to discover?

That's kind of Job's point is we are discovering stuff.

We are figuring stuff out.

We are the pinnacle of creation

and we're working out how everything else around us works.

But in the midst of him going, wow, aren't we good?

His conclusion in verse 12 is still,

where can wisdom be found?

Even though we have learned so much,

even though we can figure out that there's things under the earth

that you can't see with your bare eyes,

where can wisdom be found?

See, we've increased our knowledge,

but wisdom still eludes us.

Wisdom and knowledge for Job are not necessarily the same thing.

Knowing information and living wisely are not necessarily directly related.

There might often be some overlap,

but here Job is saying all those discoveries don't count towards wisdom.

Now, it's worth us taking a step sideways at this point

and actually being clear what we mean when we say wisdom.

We need to define wisdom because that's what we're looking for.

That's what this series is about.

That's our goal.

And I want to say that wisdom is defined by purpose.

So living wisely has to be anchored to an ultimate goal or an ultimate purpose.

And see, our problem is that when we experience suffering in our lives,

our goal becomes immediate.

It becomes, I need to survive this suffering.

I need to escape this suffering.

I need to get to the other side.

And we lose sight of the fact that our lives actually have a purpose already.

Suffering doesn't change the purpose of our lives.

All of life, all of creation, all of the earth, all of you,

exists from God, for God, and to God.

The purpose of everything that exists is to glorify God.

That's why He made it.

The Bible says it's from Him, for Him, and to Him.

And therefore, wisdom is the ability to do that purpose.

The ability to give God the glory and honor that He deserves

in every situation and circumstance that we face, including suffering.

One writer defines wisdom a little bit more compactly than I do.

He calls it competence with regard to the realities of life.

The ability to handle reality.

And that's not a bad definition as long as we understand that the ultimate reality is God.

He is the thing that defines all other reality.

Let me give you a personal example of what this looks like in our own lives.

When I was about 14, I started to deal with my own family disintegrating.

So my parents' marriage fell apart.

My mum, she was already there, I guess, but she started living as an alcoholic.

My older brother moved out of the house.

And so me and my younger siblings were left living in the house with Dad's key card.

And basically, we went into survival mode.

It became about trying to just get through and act like we were normal

so that people weren't always asking, are you okay? Are you okay?

Okay.

So we wanted to go to school just like everyone else.

We wanted to pretend that we were fine, that everything was normal.

And the only way that I could think of to handle that situation was to blame my dad

and to harbor all this hatred towards him so that it was his fault.

And if it was his fault, then I was justified to do whatever I wanted without any consideration for him.

And I figured, I'm 14, I can't look after anyone else, so I'm just going to look after myself.

And so I didn't think about anyone else.

All I cared about was being normal and trying to pretend that my life was continuing on

and that this didn't affect me.

All I cared about was getting to the other side of this divorce and everything that was going on.

But can you see that God has a design that's bigger than that for me?

God's design, according to the Scriptures, is that I would forgive my family in spite of what they've done.

That I would honor my parents in spite of the mistakes that they had made.

That I would care for my younger siblings.

But worldly wisdom, the wisdom that we come up with, excuses me, doesn't it?

And I can see you.

In your eyes now, you're saying, it's okay, Sam.

You tried your hardest.

That was a difficult situation.

You did the best that you could.

But this isn't about whether I feel okay about it now.

This is to show you that when we figure out a situation, when we apply logic and reason,

the wisdom that we come up with isn't even close to true wisdom.

Because we become so absorbed in our situation and circumstance that we lose sight of the God-given purpose for our lives.

And if we fail in the day-to-day circumstances of life, how much more will we struggle when the flame of suffering is added into the process?

The first thing that Job has learned in his life and in his suffering is that wisdom cannot be found.

No amount of sitting around with his wise friends will enable him to figure out the best path forward.

No amount of sitting down and reflecting and applying reason will enable him to find wisdom and the path that God has designed for him.

No amount of effort will unveil wisdom for those who seek it.

Now, there's not much arguing this point when you look at the kind of advice that Job's three learned friends were giving.

Wisdom is certainly nowhere to be found in these early pages of Job.

But look at where this discovery leads him.

Having figured out that in his situation he can't find the answer for himself,

have a look at verse 20.

Where then does wisdom come from?

Where does understanding dwell?

If it can't be found, if I can't attain it somehow,

then where does it come from?

Because some people live wisely.

Some people live the lives that they were designed to by God.

In fact, I think Job has wisdom even though he doesn't realize it all the way through the book.

Job has it all along and so he wants to know where does wisdom come from?

As we wrestle with suffering and difficulty, how can we find a path through?

And the second thing that Job learns asking this question is that wisdom belongs to God.

Look at verse 21.

It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds of the air.

Destruction and death say only a rumor of it has reached our ears.

God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells.

For he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.

When he established the force of the wind and measured out the waters,

when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm,

then he looked at wisdom and appraised it.

He confirmed it and tested it.

Wisdom is the domain of God alone.

Because if wisdom is understanding the realities of life,

all of those realities being accountable to him,

if wisdom is the ability to understand how our circumstance fits with someone else's circumstance

and how all of history is working together towards the ultimate aim of glorifying God,

then a necessary prerequisite for wisdom is to be able to see all of those circumstances,

is to have been there from the beginning and to be here till the end.

And God alone can claim that.

God alone is eternal.

God has laid out his plans and his plans are beyond our understanding.

Even if we could somehow raise ourselves up and look down on all of history,

we would lack the capacity to understand what it is that God is doing.

Even if God was to try and explain it to us,

it's beyond us.

There's a passage in Isaiah 55 that tells us exactly that.

It says in verse 8 of Isaiah 55,

Wisdom is not found in the details of our lives and our suffering.

It's not found in experience.

It's not learned from mistakes.

What we learn from mistakes is how to make new mistakes that we hadn't thought of before.

Wisdom belongs to God alone.

Because he alone can see all.

He alone knows all.

And he alone has mapped a path through all.

God is wisdom.

His ways are beyond our comprehension.

And so the key verse of this book,

and I think the key verse of all the wisdom books in Scripture,

is here in chapter 28 and verse 28.

Having looked at wisdom and appraised it,

having confirmed it and tested it,

God says to man,

The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.

And to shun evil is understanding.

God's told us what wisdom is.

He's unveiled the unfindable mystery.

Fear the Lord, shun evil.

It's so simple.

It's almost frustrating.

Maybe even a little unsatisfying.

If you were to put yourself into Job's shoes,

would this verse be an encouragement?

If you had just lost your family,

your house,

your health,

everything that you owned,

would fear me be an encouragement?

In the dark times in your own life,

as you wrestle with God,

demanding an answer for why this is happening,

would fear me be sufficient?

Because that's the only answer that God gives.

And the thing is,

for Job,

it was sufficient.

It took him some time to get there,

but for Job,

fear me was enough

for him to see the wise path

through his suffering.

And so with the time that we've got left,

I want to wrestle with you

with three questions.

If fear the Lord,

is the thing that we need,

not just when we suffer,

but in all of life,

if that is wisdom,

if that is the guiding principle

for us to live well,

then we need to ask the questions,

what does fear of the Lord look like?

In my life,

in my day to day,

what does it look like

to fear the Lord?

Secondly,

how do I do it?

How do I train myself?

How do I teach myself?

And lastly,

I just want to see

what difference does it make

to fear God

when I'm suffering?

How does that change anything

if I fear God?

Those three questions

I want to try and answer with you.

Firstly,

what does fear of the Lord look like?

Now,

when we hear the word fear

in the same sentence as God,

those of us

who have been around church

for a little while

really quickly want to get God

off the hook.

And so we want to soften off

that idea of fearing God

and so we add in fear God

but He's loving.

Fear God

but He's gracious.

Fear God

but He's merciful.

But before we start defining God

by the things

that we want to hear,

let's look at the Bible

and see if there are

some helpful examples

of what it looks like

to fear God.

You can scribble these down

to look at them

in more detail later on

if you want to.

You could go to Isaiah 6.

When Isaiah's eyes

behold God,

he falls down

on his face

in terror

knowing that

he is unworthy.

Knowing that

he is faced

with a holy God

who is powerful

and just

and has every right

to destroy Him

in that moment.

In Luke's gospel

when Jesus helps

the disciples

with a miraculous

catch of fish,

suddenly Peter

is confronted

with the holiness

and power

and majesty

of his Lord

and again

he falls on his knees

and he says

get away from me Lord.

I'm a sinful man.

I don't deserve

to even be

in your presence.

And finally

and perhaps

the most significant

example

is Jesus himself

is said

to fear the Lord.

In Isaiah chapter 11

Isaiah 11 · chapter mention

this is prophesying

that Jesus would come

and it says this

the spirit of the Lord

will rest on him

the spirit of wisdom

and of understanding

the spirit of counsel

and of power

the spirit of knowledge

and of the fear

of the Lord.

And verse 3

and he will delight

in the fear

of the Lord.

Fear is not

necessarily

a negative description

in a relationship.

Jesus delights

in his fear

of God.

He delights

in it

and it's

the appropriate

response to God.

It's the inevitable

response to God.

When you

meet God

and you see him

for his glory

and majesty

and power

the creator

of the universe

the sustainer

of the universe

the one who is

over all things

the only right response

is to fall

on your knees

in fear.

But that doesn't

make it a negative thing.

It's not dissimilar

really to the way

that we relate

to our parents.

Our parents

love us

and care for us

mostly

love us

and care for us

and provide for us

and do all those

sort of things

but they also

discipline us

and we know

we have a healthy

fear

that we need

to live

according to the rules

that they have given us

or there are consequences.

It doesn't mean

that there's no love

but fear

is the right

way to relate

to somebody

who has

power and authority

over us

and that is the relationship

we have

with God.

So the result

of fearing God

is that we get

to see God

as most important.

We get to see

Him as the one

who is driving

the agenda

of our lives.

We get to see

Him as the one

whose agenda matters.

Fear of the Lord

enables us to care

about what He cares

about

and not just

what we care about.

It lifts our eyes

to Him

who is powerful

Him who is sovereign

Him who is in control

and fear of the Lord

enables us

to not need

all the answers

as to when

and why.

The answer

God gives

to Job

in this book

is

it's me.

I'm in control.

You don't need

to know

what's going

in this situation.

You just need

to remember

I'm God.

I've got

all the power

in the world.

There is nothing

that compares

to me.

I am good

beyond your wildest

dreams

and I love you

more than anything.

That's all

you need to know.

For Jesus

fearing God

meant trusting Him

and obeying Him

all the way

to the cross.

And for us

in our lives

it means

we trust God

and we obey Him

even when

and especially

when He doesn't

give us the details.

When He says

go

we go.

When He says

stop doing something

we stop doing it.

It means we trust God

even when He doesn't

need to give us

all the answers.

Can you see

that wisdom

cannot be

simply about

knowledge?

You cannot

learn this.

We don't come

to know God

simply by studying

not even just

by reading the Bible.

It's part of it

but not until

God reveals

Himself

in the Bible

by His Holy Spirit

are we able

to know His heart

and His mind

and His character.

And see

wisdom then

is more about

revelation.

It's more about

God showing us

Himself

and that becoming

the guiding principle

for our lives

because God

alone is wisdom

and only

as He makes

Himself known

can we share in it.

As I was studying

this passage

this week

and trying to

understand

what does this

mean in our

circumstances

what keeps this

from being just

a trite slap

in the face

that says

suck it up

when you're

suffering.

and I came

across this

story

which was

really helpful.

Apparently

in Wales

there's a

valley in

Wales

where they

raise sheep

tend sheep

whatever they

do with sheep

and they have

an issue

there with a

parasite

and if it's

left untreated

effectively

these sheep

will be eaten

alive by these

parasites.

And so what

the shepherds

are forced to

do

is once a

year they

gather the

sheep

and they

have to

submerge

them into

antiseptic.

This is not

something that

the sheep

look forward

to.

Sheep are

not swimmers

and in the

story they

explain that

basically the

shepherd's got to

force these

sheep into

the vat

and the dog

is on the

other side

barking at

them to

make sure

they don't

jump out

the other

side

and the

sheep's

trying to

spin around

and climb

back out

and the

shepherd has

to force

it under

head and

everything

eyes,

nose,

mouth,

all under

in the

antiseptic

before it

can be let

out and

put back out

to pasture

and you

feel this

tension that

the shepherd

cares for

his sheep.

He probably

wants to

explain why

he has to

do this.

If you could

just let

them know

why this

is helping

them.

But have

you ever

tried to

explain

something to

a sheep?

It doesn't

matter how

much you

want to

do it,

it's not

going to

work because

we operate

on a

different level

of reality

to sheep.

We understand

things that

they will

never understand.

We interact

with things,

we reason,

we logic in

ways that

they are not

capable of.

And it's

the same

with God

when he's

interacting with

us.

God exists

in a reality

that we

can't even

begin to

comprehend.

He is

eternal and

infinite.

And so

even if he

was to try

and explain

to us

why he's

doing things,

we couldn't

understand it

anyway.

And so

all we're

left with

is to

just look

at the

shepherd and

know that

the shepherd

looks after

us,

feeds us,

provides for

us,

and to

trust.

There is a

lot for us

to learn from

Job's journey

about what it

looks like to

fear God

because he

does go on

a journey.

This book

is 42

chapters long

because it

takes time

to wrestle

with the

things that

he is

wrestling with.

The truth

of God's

sovereignty

and character

doesn't switch

off the pain

that Job

is feeling.

It doesn't

make everything

suddenly better.

In fact,

if you look

at Job

Job 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1,

one of the

first things

we learn

about Job

is that he

fears the

Lord.

He's had

the wisdom

all along,

but it's

taken him

time for

that wisdom

to apply,

that wisdom

to shape

his steps.

He's been

through the

steps of

crying out

and yelling

at God

and demanding

answers.

And so

the Bible

is not

saying

wisdom

solves

everything.

The Bible

is not

saying

live well

and everything

will be

fine.

In your

pain and

in your

depression

and in

your suffering,

it is right

to grieve

and to mourn

and to feel

sad and

to cry

and everything

else that

goes with

dark times

in your

life.

What wisdom

does is

it shows

you the

path through

those times.

The Bible

licenses you

to feel

how you

feel.

As

Christians,

if anyone

ever says

to you,

you need

to smile

because the

Bible says

rejoice,

I give you

permission to

slap them

lovingly.

Because

Job is

red from

weeping.

he's

sitting on

the ground

scratching at

his saws

with a

piece of

pottery

and it

takes time

to process

things.

Job's

fear of

God

allows him

to ask

questions

but not

deny God.

Job refuses

to curse

the God

who made

heaven and

earth even

though his

wife says

that's what

he should

do.

Job's

fear of

God means

that he

will not

doubt the

character of

God's

goodness and

mercy even

though his

friends spend

27 chapters

trying to

convince him

that it's

his fault

and God

is angry.

That's a

really crude

summary of

the first

part of

Job but

it's not

that far

off the

mark.

But because

Job fears

God,

because Job

knows God,

he refuses

to doubt the

character of

God's

goodness.

And Job's

fear is

enough of an

anchor to

keep him from

falling into

complete despair

and giving

up on

life itself.

One of the

amazing things

through the

book of

Job, and

Steve pointed

it out last

week, is

that progressively

as Job

responds to

his friends,

he gets

more confident.

At the

beginning he

wants to

die.

He says,

God, just

kill me.

That'd be

better.

But by

the end, or

by chapter

19 even,

he's able to

cry out,

my Redeemer

lives.

And do

you know

why?

Each time

his friends

try and

accuse him

of something,

each time

his friends

offer false

wisdom and

bad advice,

he's forced

to go back

to the God

who he

fears.

He's forced

to go back

to the

ultimate reality

for his

life, the

ultimate

purpose, and

he starts

saying,

no, you're

wrong because

my God is

loving.

No, you're

wrong because

my God

saved his

people out

of Egypt.

No, you're

wrong because

I know my

God.

And as

he reminds

himself of

God's

character,

he's able

to say with

confidence,

my Redeemer

lives.

He knows

that God

will save

him because

that's who

God is.

On the

basis of

the God

that he

followed,

Job

persevered.

Even though

by the end

of the book

he still

can't see

why it

happened,

even though

he still

can't see

what God

is doing

and remember

we get

to see

behind the

scenes.

We know

that God

is showing

off.

It's what

the book

of Job

is.

It's God

showing off

that he

is more

satisfying

than anything

in the

world.

Satan's

trying to

convince him,

no, Job

will give

up on

you, he

won't go

the distance,

but God

says,

no, I

know Job

and he

knows me

and no

matter what

you take

off him,

if he

has me,

he will

stay true.

And our

hope's no

different.

we don't

need

details

in our

life

because we've

got plenty

to base

our trust

in God

on.

In good

times and in

bad times,

we can look

to Jesus.

When we

suffer, we can

look to the

one who

suffered for

us.

When we are

unsure, we can

look to the

one who reveals

God completely.

We can look

to the one

who shows us

the character

of God,

who shows

the mercy

and the compassion and the holiness and the majesty and the humility

and the sovereignty and the power and the unfailing love,

we can look to Jesus.

As followers of Jesus, you can be sure that suffering will come.

We can be sure that life will kick us when we're down,

but in Jesus we find the wisdom of God so that we can not just survive,

but we can live and flourish and rejoice even in those deepest, darkest moments.

I think it's really important that Job begins,

the book of Job begins by telling us that Job feared the Lord,

that he already had the wisdom.

I want you to think right now, you are not yet facing suffering.

You are Job in chapter 1 before Satan rocks up and starts causing trouble.

It matters that we learn to fear the Lord in the good times and the mediocre times

and the middle of the road times in preparation for when suffering comes.

Because the God that you know now is the God that will need to sustain you

when everything else is gone.

The Bible more than allows you to have sad emotions.

If anything, I think it affirms it.

So if you need to cry sometimes, do it.

But I think the key in this chapter to growing wise in suffering

is being able to let go of that question, why?

Being able to let go of that need to know the details.

Because God hasn't answered that question.

God hasn't promised to give you the details and even if he did,

you couldn't do anything with them.

You couldn't comprehend them.

The key to growing wise in suffering,

the key to being wise in your life is not knowing everything that's coming.

It's fixing your eyes on Jesus.

Fixing your eyes on a God who is love.

On a God who is just.

On a God who gave his only son

so that you would know how much you matter to him.

Maybe like Job, when you face trial,

you will need to remind yourself of the God that you follow.

Of his love and of his grace and of his sacrifice.

And so I want to finish up by reminding you tonight

because I'm sure that some of us,

even now,

are crying out to God,

why?

Why is this happening?

And so I want you to hear the words of hope and confidence

and peace that we have in our risen Savior from Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

What then shall we say in response to this?

If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own son,

but gave him up for us all,

how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things?

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?

It is God who justifies.

Who is he that condemns?

Christ Jesus who died.

More than that, who was raised to life,

is at the right hand of God

and is also interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall trouble or hardship or persecution

or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

As it is written,

for your sake we face death all day long.

We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

But no,

in all these things we are more than conquerors

through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life,

neither angels nor demons,

neither the present nor the future,

nor any powers,

neither height nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation

will be able to separate us

from the love of God

that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing can separate us

from the love of God.

When suffering comes,

fear God.

Remember the God

who gave everything for you

and he and his answer

will be sufficient.

That's why it is出来uma

not on purpose,

happen to life.

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