An Unanswered Question

🎵 🎵 And thank you choir and Jennings and Macy

for those good songs. It's now time for Children's

Church. If we have any little tykes, six and

under. The rest of us will be in the book of

Job. Job chapter 3 is where we will start in

Job 3 · chapter mention

verse 20. Job chapter 3 verse 20. Job chapter

Job 3:20 Job 3:20

3, verse 20. If you've never read the book of

Job, I would encourage you to read it. It's kind

of a long book. However, really, the first four

or five chapters kind of set the tone and the

last four chapters kind of wrap the story up.

Really, the bulk of the book of Job is simply

a discussion between Job and his friends who

have come to... comfort him in his suffering,

and that's really what the book of Job is about.

It's about suffering, and it is a good book for

us to read. However, if you have read it before,

you know that it probably leaves you with a lot

more questions than it does answers, especially

as we begin to look at the beginning of the book

of Job. We may kind of scratch our head at some

of the things that we see there. And we're going

to talk about it a little bit today, and I probably

won't be able to answer your questions about

Job, so I'm sorry for that. But it does give

us a lot to think about and consider in our own

lives, because like Job, each of us suffer in

many ways throughout our lifetime, sometimes

in great ways in the way that Job does, and sometimes

maybe in lesser ways, but we all know what it

means to suffer in some way. And I think that

that's why this book is beneficial to us. So

let's read through this couple of verses here,

Job chapter 3, verses 20 through 22. Then we'll

Job 3:20–22

pray and get started. Why is light given to one

burdened with grief, and life to those whose

existence is bitter, who wait for death but it

does not come, and search for it more than for

hidden treasure? who are filled with much joy

and are glad when they reach the grave. Let's

pray. God, we come to you this morning, and we

thank you for your word, and your word is good,

dear Lord, and you are good, and we need to be

reminded of that sometimes, dear Lord, because

perhaps we are guilty, dear Lord, sometimes in

our suffering of questioning you and doubting

you, dear Lord, or maybe even getting angry with

you, God, but I pray. that in these few minutes

today that your Holy Spirit would speak to us,

that you would help us this morning in the midst

of our suffering. Dear Lord, perhaps there are

some in this room today that are suffering and

suffering greatly. I pray, dear Lord, that even

if they don't get an answer to all their questions

today, dear Lord, that they would at least find

comfort in your presence, God. That they would

at least know that you have not forgotten them,

dear Lord. that they would know that you are

in control today. So God, I pray that you take

away any pride or any fear that I have this morning,

that every word that is said is for your glory.

I pray, dear Lord, that you would help us to

listen, to hear from you, that your Holy Spirit

would do the work, dear Lord. Free us from distractions

and worries. And I pray that you would help us

to draw closer to you and find strength in you

today. And I ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. Job is a man who experiences great suffering.

I'll tell you the story very quickly. I encourage

you to read it for yourself. But in the beginning

of the book of Job, we see this discussion between

Satan and God. And ultimately what occurs is

God allows Satan permission to do... essentially

whatever he wants to Job apart from killing.

Now, he starts off with some small things by

taking away things that he has, and eventually

Job still praises the Lord. He loses his stuff.

He loses his children. He loses pretty much everything

that he has. Now, Job is a righteous man. We

see that in the beginning of the story, that

Job is a righteous and godly man. And all of

these things are taken from him by Satan, which

God allows. And Job still praises the Lord. And

Satan's not happy with this. And he says, but

if you let me do whatever I want to Job, if you

let me punish him and bring pain to him, God,

then you will see that this man who is a righteous

and godly man, that he won't stick by you. And

God, again, this comes with some difficulty and

some questions in and of themselves that we won't

look at today, but God allows this to take place.

And Satan does all these things to Job, and Job's

body's covered with all these sores, and Job

is just miserable. And we see that in the first

couple of chapters. We're introduced to the story.

And it doesn't take long until even Job's wife

says, look, why don't you just curse God and

die? Why don't you just get this over with? And

pretty soon his friends come. And his friends,

they start out on a high note because it said

his friends come and they sit with him and they're

trying to be a comfort to him. And it says they

don't know what to say, so they just sit there

with him in silence. And after that, things go

downhill because they open their mouth. And as

soon as they open their mouth, they begin to

give Job bad advice. They tell Job, they say,

look, Job, you have sinned and done something

really bad. Because God, he's done took your

family, he's done made you sick, he's took everything

you had, your wealth, your livestock, everything

you got is gone. Job, you have messed up. And

each of his friends take turns, one after the

other. They'll go on there and say, Job, you

need to do this and do this, and you need to

not do that, and you need to examine yourself,

and you just need to confess your sin. And then

Job will come back and say, I've been living

right. There's no sin in me. I don't know what's

going on. And he'll kind of confront them. And

then the next friend will take a turn. And there's

three friends that are there at the beginning

and a fourth friend that comes toward the end.

But the first three friends ain't worth nothing.

They just continually condemn Job and his suffering.

And at the end of the book, we see a wonderful

conclusion. Because as we see throughout the

book, we see Job begin to question God more and

more and more. He begins to call out God. Come

on, God, talk to me. Bring your case against

me. Show me what I have done. And he begins to,

you can sense a little anger there, a little

frustration there. And he's a godly man, but

he's tired of this and he wants to know why these

things are happening to me. And I think that

is the main question in the book of Job is why.

And that's what we see in this first verse that

we look at. Why God? Why are you allowing this

to happen to me? God, why am I where I am? Why

am I going through what I'm going through? God,

I would rather be dead and in the grave and my

life be done. Why won't you just let me die,

God? Why? And this is a question that we see

repeated again and again and again in the book

of Job. Let me read you just a couple of more

verses here. Job chapter 10 verse 18. Why did

Job 10:18

you bring me out of the womb? I should have died

and never been seen. Now this is pretty serious.

And perhaps some of us have felt this way before.

You ever said that or heard somebody say that

in the middle of your suffering and your pain

and your hardship? You say, I just wish I'd never

been born. I wish I was never here. God, why

did you even allow me to be born if it's just

to live this life in pain and suffering? And

that's the question that Job asked. And Job was

a godly and righteous man. And that goes to show

that even men and women who love God and who

seek God and who try to live for God, there are

times in our life that we just question and we

don't understand and we say, God, why? We see

another example of this in Job chapter 13, verse

Job 13:24

24. Why do you hide your face and consider me

your enemy? Where are you at, God? Why don't

you show yourself to me, God? Why can't I see

you? Why don't you speak to me? Why don't you

reveal yourself to me, God? Where are you at?

Are you hiding from me? God, am I your enemy?

I'm being treated like one that is being punished.

God, why are you allowing this to happen? We

see the question again in Job chapter 21, verse

Job 21:7

7. Why do the wicked continue to live, growing

old and becoming powerful? You ever asked that

question before? God, why do good things, I mean

bad things happen to good people? God, why is

it that there are some people in this world that

do evil after evil after evil and they live long

lives and they appear to be blessed for their

evil? They continue to have good. They continue

to not have anything to worry about. Why is it,

God, that godly and righteous men and women who

serve you are stricken with disease and whose

lives are cut short and who experience all kind

of pain and suffering? God, why do you allow

this? And this is the million -dollar question.

And I suspect for everybody in this room, there

have been times in your life where you have asked

God, why? Why? That's the answer we want. Why?

But here's what the book of Job teaches us. God

doesn't ever answer Job's why. He never does.

He never answers that question. And I suspect

that for most of us today, if not all of us,

that we have probably asked God why at some point

in time in our life and not gotten an answer.

Maybe sometimes we do. Maybe some of those whys

have an answer. But a lot of times our whys go

unanswered. We are just as frustrated and just

as suffering as much as Job and just as angry

with God. And we want God to show up and to speak

and to make it right and to tell us why He did

what He did. And so many times we beg and we

plead and we cry out to God and God remains silent.

He doesn't answer our why question. Now I wish

right now I could say, and here's why God does

that. But I can't tell you the answer to that

question. Because He is God, and we are not.

We can look at the way God does things, and certainly

we can improve on them. At least we think we

could. Well, if I was God, here's the way that

I would do this. Y 'all ever said that before

or know somebody that said that before? Maybe

you see somebody, like you see an electrician,

he's working on the wiring, and somebody besides

you says, I don't think he's doing that right.

That ain't the way I would do that. And I say,

oh, really? I didn't know you were an electrician.

Well, I ain't, but if I was, I know that ain't

the way you do it. Have any of us ever been so

bold to say that? We call somebody else out for

doing something wrong when we don't have a clue

how to do it either. But we know they ain't doing

it right. And sometimes we do that with God.

We're not God. Think for just a second. God is

the creator of the heavens and the earth. He

has spoken things into existence. He has made

your body and all its complexity to be able to

breathe and see and hear and smell and your heart

to beat thousands and millions of times throughout

your lifetime. And we are going to tell God how

to do things. And we may say, well, I don't know

how it's supposed to be done, but I know the

way he's doing it ain't right. But what we have

to remember is that God's ways are higher than

our ways and God's thoughts are higher than our

thoughts. Now, I don't know why God does the

things that he does, but I know this, he is God

and I am not. And it's a good thing that we are

not God. Because we can only see as humans. And

we would change things and make the best decisions

we could make in changing situations as human.

But God is so much greater than us and he sees

and he knows everything. And so the decisions

that God makes, and this is the hard part, the

things that God allows us to go through are for

a purpose. And it doesn't seem fair, and it's

often extremely painful, but God is God. And

for many people, that is not a sufficient answer.

But that is the only answer that we can hold

firm to, is to know that God, the God that created

the heavens and the earth, knows what He's doing.

He knows what he's doing, and we may not understand

what he is doing, but we have to trust him, and

maybe even entrusted him. Job never stopped trusting

God, but he was angry at God. He never cursed

God like his wife told him to. He never did what

his friends told him to, but he still was in

the midst of great suffering, and he just wanted

to hear from God. And so he continued to ask,

why, why? Why? God never answered his questions.

And maybe in the midst of our sufferings, we're

asking why, but maybe there are better questions

that we could ask today. Maybe we could ask how

in the midst of our suffering. Maybe we could

ask God, how can I be better than Job's friends?

God, maybe there are people around us who are

suffering and maybe we are like Job's friends

and we are just as quick to call them out and

say it's their fault and say that they've done

something wrong. Maybe we can look at this story

and say, God, how can I be better than Job's

friends and Job's wife and all those around him?

Because if we're not in the season of suffering

in our life, you're not going to have to look

very far to see someone who is suffering that

you know. Some people in this church look around.

You see it on their face. You hear it in their

voice. You know what they're going through sometimes.

Sometimes you don't. Sometimes you know their

situation. Sometimes you know their sickness.

Sometimes you know they're troubled at work.

How can we be better friends than Job's friends?

Maybe that's a good question for us to ask in

our suffering or when it comes to the sufferings

of others. Maybe we could ask who? Who? God,

who could I help through the suffering that you've

brought me through? Now maybe there's times in

the past that you have gone through some great

suffering in your life. And God has got you through

it by his word, by his spirit, by his grace,

by his mercy, through another brother and sister

in Christ. Maybe through some of your suffering,

God has brought you peace and comfort. And maybe

you need to say in the midst of your suffering

today or in the midst of those who suffer around

you, God. Who can I help through this? God, what

situation have I been through that I see somebody

I know that's going through that situation and

I can go to them and I can say, brother, I know

what it's like to go through that. Sister, I

know what it's like to go through that. And I

know in the midst of the suffering, it seems

like there is no hope, but I want to tell you,

God helped me and there is hope. Maybe that's

a better question to ask. Maybe another question

we could ask instead of why is what? God, what

can I learn in the midst of this suffering? God,

what are you trying to teach me in the midst

of this? And oftentimes, perhaps we learn something

about ourselves that we didn't realize. Perhaps

in the midst of our suffering, God wants us simply

to seek his word more. Maybe through our suffering,

God is trying to strengthen our faith. Maybe

through our suffering, God is just trying to

wake us up. God, what can you teach me through

my suffering? What can I learn? And maybe if

we begin to reflect on ourselves and our suffering,

maybe we see some things there that aren't good.

Some things that maybe we would call out to God

and seek Him, that God would begin to work in

our life. Maybe another question we could ask

is, When? God, when will I get through this and

how can I use it to grow in you, God? When will

these things end? Maybe God gives us an answer

to that. Maybe He doesn't. But maybe in not even

getting an answer to the when will this end,

maybe even still God will strengthen our faith

and help us to grow in Him and trust in Him and

be patient in Him all the more. Another thing

perhaps we could ask instead of why is where.

Where will this lead me, dear Lord? Where will

this lead me? When will this end? What's going

to be the end point of this? What's going to

be the result of all this? Where will all of

this suffering end up? And in the story of Job,

it ends in a good place. Job continued to seek

God and he continued to trust God even though

he was angry with God and he had called out to

God and he asked, why, why, why, why, why, why,

why? And God never responded until the end of

the book. And finally God said, Job, here I am.

Now you sit there and listen to me like a man.

And then God proceeded to tell Job, Job, who

are you to question me? God, I have created,

Job, I have created the universe. I have created

everything that you see. I know how wildlife

works. I know how they live. I know how they

give birth. I know where the rain comes from.

I know how to keep the oceans in their place.

I can command lightning bolts to strike and where

they're going to strike and where they're going

to land. I can command the sun, the moon, and

the stars and everything that there is. And they

listen to me. Job, where were you when I did

these things? Job, can you explain? to me how

these things work? Do you know these things,

Job? For about two chapters, God goes on and

on and on and says, let me tell you about this

thing that I did, Job. Can you give me an answer

to this? Let me tell you about this thing that

happened, Job. Can you tell me how that works?

And on and on and on and on, God goes and he

responds to Job. And when God gets through responding

to Job, Listen to what Job said in Job chapter

Job 40:4

40, verse 4. He says, I am so insignificant.

How can I answer you? I place my hand over my

mouth. That's all he'd been asking for, for chapter

after chapter after chapter. God, show yourself

to me. And when God showed himself, Job said,

hold up. I suspect that'd be a pretty intense

thing. You know what I thought about this morning?

Y 'all probably heard some of this too. When

that storm come through, it was some amazing

thunder. I'm talking about, like I thought the

windows was going to break. They were rattling

so much so. And it was just, just thunder, just

vibrating everything. And I thought about the

voice of God. And I said, you know what? That's

probably what it's like when God speaks. It's

probably this powerful thing that scares you

to death. And here Job was ready to hear from

God, and God spoke. And Job said, sorry, God,

I'm not ready. He said, God, I don't know, God.

He says, I am insignificant. I'm going to put

my hand over my mouth. God, I'm going to shut

up. That seems to be when people get in trouble

in this story. Job's friends did pretty good

until they opened their mouth. Job was pretty

good until he opened his mouth and he realized,

God, I'm insignificant. God, I never should have

questioned you. God, I had no right to question

you. God, I am so insignificant and you are God

and my suffering is great, but God, you know

what you are doing and God, I'll never question

you again. I'm just going to listen to you, God.

I'm just going to sit here in your presence,

and I'm just going to listen to you, God. And

I wish I could tell you the answer to all your

why questions. I wish I could tell you today

that God was going to give you the answer to

your why questions, but chances are, he's probably

not going to tell you why. You're just going

to have to continue to go through life, and you're

going to have to continue to go through seasons

of suffering. And like Job, you may question,

you may call him out, you may be angry with him,

but perhaps like Job, we need to come to this

realization that God is in control. And that

we may not understand what he does, we may not

like what he does, it may not feel good, we may

want it to end today, but God knows what he's

doing. And so where will our suffering lead us?

Well, if we're like Job, If we remain faithful

to God, if we put our faith and trust in Jesus

Christ, if we seek God's Word to live in obedience

to it, even in the midst of our suffering, there

is blessing. Blessed are those who suffer for

the kingdom of God. Where will it lead us? It's

going to lead us to the presence of God. It's

going to lead us out of this suffering. Now,

I wish I could tell you today that... your suffering

in this world will go away one day. And it may

or it may not. There are seasons of suffering

in our life and we get through them sometimes

and we move on. And sometimes we live in our

season of suffering until we leave this world.

I wish I could tell you that things were going

to get better for you today, but I can't tell

you that they are. Because God is the one who

is in control. But I can assure you this, that

suffering will not be the end of your journey

if you've trusted in Jesus Christ. That suffering

will not get the final say, even if your suffering

ends in death. I can tell you today that your

suffering will not win. But if you trust in God,

your suffering today will lead you to the presence

of God and lead you to the blessing of God. And

at the beginning of the story of Job, Job lost

everything that he had. But at the end of the

story of Job... When God comes before Job and

God calls Job out and Job says, God, I'm sorry,

I should have kept my mouth shut. You know what

God does for him? He blesses Job. More so than

he had ever been blessed before. More flocks,

more herd, more children, more money, more everything,

and with a long life. And at the end of it all,

at the end of his suffering, Job found the mercy

and the grace and the blessing of God. And so

it shall be for you and I. Maybe in this life.

There are times in this life we go through suffering

and we experience God's blessing at the end of

it all. Praise the Lord. But even should God

choose not to end our suffering in this life.

And the thing that we are suffering to today

ends in death. Even if it leads to more suffering

and more suffering for days and months and weeks.

Let us not be like Job and question God, but

let us be like Job at the conclusion of the book

where he knew who God was and he said, God, I

know that you're in control and I'm not going

to question you. So I don't know the answer to

your why question today. And God's probably not

going to answer it. But I can tell you this.

It may not seem like it today, but God is good.

It may not seem like it in your suffering, but

God loves you. It may not seem like it in your

suffering, but God hears your prayers. He cares

about you. And even in our suffering, there may

be something that God can teach us. Even in our

suffering, it may help us to help others. Even

in our suffering, it may draw us closer to him.

And I can promise you this today, that if you

trust in God, if you put your faith in Jesus

Christ, at the end of your suffering, there will

be blessing for all of eternity in the presence

of God. And the good news is, is that once we

are in the presence of God for all of eternity,

we will suffer no more. Maybe today you need

to go before God and you need to say, God, I

just need you to help me. Maybe you need to stop

asking why, why, why, why, why, and just saying,

God, I need you. I don't understand. I'm hurting.

I don't like it, God. Just please let me feel

your presence. Let me feel your comfort. Give

me a moment of rest. Give me a moment of hope,

dear Lord. Just let me know that you hadn't forgotten

me today. And maybe these very scriptures we

read today is that reminder for us that God has

not forgotten us. He has not abandoned us. And

whatever we're going through in our life, it's

not that we're being punished for something.

It may be the opposite. It may be that just as

God used this experience to strengthen Job and

draw him closer to Him, that God wants to do

the same for us today. Because I can guarantee

you, even though Job was a righteous and faithful

man of God at the beginning of the book, he was

even more so at the end of the book. And oftentimes

the things that God wants to do in our life to

grow us, they only come through suffering. Let

us not question God today. But let us trust him.

Let's pray. God, we come to you today. We thank

you for these words. And we thank you for this

book. God, this is a hard book for us to understand

and wrap our heads around. And God, we can relate

to Job. Because God, there are so many times

that we want to know why, why, why. And we ask

you and we ask you. And dear Lord, we even feel

like some of the same things maybe that Job feels.

We wonder, dear Lord, why you let us linger on

in this world in the midst of our suffering.

We wonder why you even brought us into this world

to start with. We wonder, why aren't you here?

Why aren't you listening? God, we wonder if you're

punishing us. We wonder if you even care, dear

Lord. But I pray that we would see and know through

the book of Job that even in suffering, dear

Lord, you do not forget about the one who is

yours. That even in our suffering, dear Lord,

it doesn't mean that we're being punished for

something we did. God, sometimes life happens,

and dear Lord, it's hard for us to wrap our head

around and understand why you allow some of the

things to occur, but yet you are God. So I pray,

as hard as it may be, that we would accept that

truth and live on that truth today, dear Lord,

that we would not forget that you are in control.

And then most importantly, dear Lord, we would

not forget that we would know today. That you

sent Jesus Christ to suffer and die on the cross

for us so that through him we could have an ultimate

escape from our suffering. So God, I pray that

while we walk this earth, that you give us strength.

I pray that you give us comfort. I pray that

you help us, dear Lord. We are weak and our sufferings

beat us down and wear us down and they just get

the best of us sometimes, dear Lord. But I pray

that on those days that we question and doubt

and we wonder why, That you would bring us back

to the cross of Jesus Christ. To know that God

you've got something better for us than what

this world has to offer. And maybe in this world

dear Lord we don't see much good. But dear Lord

we see Jesus Christ. He is the best thing that

there is dear Lord. So through him dear Lord

I pray that we would keep an eye to the future.

Keep an eye to an eternity where we will be able

to escape suffering forever. But God, I pray

for those in this room that are suffering today.

Maybe there are some that are in the midst of

just a horrible time in their life with whatever

it may be. I pray, God, that in this moment that

your Holy Spirit would just give them peace.

Let them feel your presence now, dear Lord. Give

them some comfort and some joy in the midst of

this suffering. God, give them that boost that

they need today to keep going and not give up

and not question you, but to trust you, dear

Lord. Maybe there are some in this room that

have been through extreme suffering and they've

made it through, dear Lord. I pray that anybody

that's done that would just help others who suffer.

God, I pray that you would help us just to seek

you and to trust you today. I pray that you can

help us to see in the midst of our sufferings

how you may want to use that, dear Lord, to grow

us and to teach us and help us to learn things,

to draw us closer to you. God, I pray right now

that if there's any this morning that have made

a decision to put their faith and trust in Jesus

Christ, maybe today they realize that they need

some hope and they haven't found it in the world

and they're suffering. But God, I pray today

that they would know that there is hope and there

is love and there is grace and there is forgiveness

and there is one who brings us comfort and can

deliver us from our suffering in Jesus Christ.

And I pray, God. that if there is one that has

put their faith in Jesus today, that they would

come forward as we sing, dear Lord, and let us

know about that decision, that we can rejoice

with them. God, maybe there are some today that

are suffering. Maybe they need prayer. If they

want to come down and get prayer, dear Lord,

I encourage you to just put it on their heart,

dear Lord. Maybe they need to just seek somebody

else in their life to help them in their time

of suffering. Whatever it is, dear Lord, if you've

spoken to anybody this morning, I pray that they

would respond to you now. And I ask these things

in Jesus' name. Amen. As we stand and sing, if

God has spoken to you today, now is your chance

to respond. If you need prayer this morning,

I'll be happy to pray for you. If you've accepted

Jesus today and you've put your faith and trust

in Him, I encourage you to come forward as we

sing and let us know that we can rejoice with

you and that we can baptize you just as Jesus

commanded. I gave my life to ransom thee, surrender

all to thee. Thank you. tonight if you want to

learn more about this new digital ministry that

we have available. And when you leave today,

check your email. You will have an invite. Go

ahead and sign up. Or if you need help, come

back tonight. But I encourage you to come and

be part as we talk a little more about that.

Dad, would you close us with a prayer, please?

Lord, we thank you for a beautiful day today.