The Book of Job - Jay Loyd

Welcome to the official podcast of the Church

of Christ Wheeler area. We're so glad that you've

tuned in for today's message. Whether you're

on your morning commute or if you're relaxing

at home, we're here to share the strength and

truth of God's Word with our community. If you're

in the neighborhood, we'd love to meet you in

person. Come see us at 1500 South Allen L. Bean

Boulevard right here in Wheeler, Texas. We gather

every Sunday morning at 1030 a .m. and in the

afternoon at 230 p .m. We meet again on Wednesdays

at 7 p .m. Right now, let's open our Bibles together

and dive into today's sermon. This evening I

want us to study from the book of Job. In my

opinion, Job is one of the most consequential

books of the Bible because it deals with the

darkest day of your life. It deals with that

moment when your faith is hanging in the balance.

And every book of the Bible is consequential.

But I doubt on the worst day of your life you're

going to turn to Genesis and read about all of

the genealogies and where all of the different

nations came from. This speaks to a time in our

life where as I said our faith is in the balance

Where we began to start asking questions that

we never thought about before Where we began

to having thoughts and starting saying things

that may be in our minds We would have never

imagined we would have thought those thoughts

and said those things You know, I always like

to say always prepare your faith for the worst

day of your life. You know, in Proverbs 24 and

verse number 10, the wise man said, if you fail

in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

My faith today is great. Why shouldn't it? We've

been here at a week's gospel meeting. The whole

theme and the whole focus of the week has been

on spiritual things. We've, you know, we've had

plenty to eat. We've had great singing. It's

just been a great experience. And so I'm sitting

here tonight thinking that my faith is great,

but you know what? Life's not always going to

be a gospel meeting. That there's going to come

a time when your worst day is going to become

a reality. And some of you have maybe already

experienced your worst day. Some of you may be

living your worst day right now. And we want

to look at the book of Job because I think that

the book of Job is included in the canon of the

scriptures to answer that one question. How do

I deal with the evil and the suffering and the

pain of this world and reconcile that with a

holy and righteous and loving God? I think that

there are more people today that refuse to believe

that God exists because of all of the evil pain

In fact, you know, just doing some research,

what's considered to be the most, I don't know

if popular is the word we ought to use, but the

most given reason why people refuse to believe

in God or serve God is because there's so much

evil, pain and suffering in the world and they

can't reconcile it in their mind. And so Job

speaks to that and so tonight we're going to

go through the book of Job. There's 42 chapters

so we better get started. We're not going to

go through every verse of it. We're just going

to hit the highlights of the book. and it's a

very difficult read if you've ever sat down and

read the book of Job through I mean there's just

some things you're thinking you know wow what's

this about but really the message of it is very

clear and we want to bring that message out so

that again we can equip ourselves not only to

help ourselves but also to learn how to help

other people whenever they go through their worst

so the first thing we want to do is look at the

curtain raiser In Job chapter 1 verses 1 and

Job 1:1

3, the Bible tells us that Job was a man who

was blameless and upright, one who feared God

and shunned evil, and that this man was the greatest

of all the people of the East. So in this introduction

to the book of Job, we're talking about a man

who was blameless and upright, feared God and

shunned evil. Keep that in mind about Job. understand

is that this is something that you and I are

privy to because it's revealed to us at the beginning,

but the characters in this book, they don't know

that this has been said about Job. Okay? So they

don't know this. because we're given information

to help us to understand this at the beginning

of the book that the characters of the book are

not going to be privy to. He was the greatest

of all the people of the east and then one day

satan came among the sons of god as they were

together before the Lord and then the Lord asked

him from where do you come and then Satan answered

and said from going to and fro on the earth and

from it walking back and forth in it and as Satan

was going throughout the work to challenge and

to accuse the work that carries out every day

then God says have you considered my servant

Job And so we want to start out here at the very

beginning by understanding that Job went through

what he went through because he was blameless,

because he feared God, because he was upright,

because the accusation that Satan brings about

Job and implicitly towards God is that Job only

serves you because you give him good stuff. You

make him prosper. You give him health. He's got

a great family. Everything is good with Job's

life. And so really Job being this, you know,

Job, Lord, you think he's special? He's not special.

He only serves you because he thinks because

you give him good stuff. And implying to the

Lord that, Lord, you know, you're really not

worthy to be worshiped because of who you are.

You're only worthy to be worshiped because you

give people stuff. You take all of that away

and then he will curse you. And so he says in

verse number 10, you've been able to hedge around

and you've blessed the work of his hands, touch

all that he has and he will curse you to his

face. And then Satan did that. took everything

that Job had. We can look at the list of all

of the family that was taken from him and all

of the wealth that he had and we can see how

that he went from a man that was a man of greatness

to a man who had lost everything and yet Job

in his contrite and broken spirit said I came

from my mother's womb naked And naked I will

return. The Lord gave, the Lord takes away. Blessed

be the name of the Lord, and all this Job did

not sin nor charge God with wrong." And so he

retains his integrity. He understands, yes, God

is not worthy to be worshipped just because I

have good stuff. He is the God Almighty. He is

worthy of worship whether I have everything,

or I have nothing. So then Satan goes back to

the Lord, well skin for skin all that a man has

he will give for his life. You touch his bone

and his flesh and he will surely curse you to

your face. Well now Lord he still has his health

and I know that if a person's health is taken

away he will surely curse you. And so Job is

stricken. with boils from the top of his head

to the bottoms of his feet. And he just becomes

a miserable wretch of a man. He's lost his family,

he's lost his wealth, he's lost his health, and

the only thing that he gets to retain is his

wife. And his wife... Even though she wasn't

taken in death, she was taken from him in the

sense that no longer was she seeking to serve

Job and to serve and to be an encouragement to

Job's faith, but now she is the lone voice in

this world crying out to Job and telling him,

do you still hold your integrity? Curse God and

die. then he says shall we indeed accept good

from God and shall we not accept adversity in

all this Job did not sin with his lips. Now when

I was growing up every time I heard about Job

I thought Job was only two chapters long because

all you ever heard was the good stuff about Job

those two things that he said and the other 40

chapters after that I don't know why they were

there because I mean Job is held up as a model

for patience. And we see in these first two chapters

how that he is enduring such great difficulty

and great tragedy and he doesn't sin with his

lips. And so my thought was, well, anytime something

bad happens to you, you just sit there very humbly,

very quietly and very meekly and accept it and

just say, bless the Lord. But Job doesn't do

that. Have you ever been in a situation where

your faith has taken a hit and you're able to

absorb that first hit, but then you begin to

sit and then you begin to marinate in your misery.

And then you begin to think things that you thought

you would never think. And you begin to say things.

that you thought you would never say. And so

whenever we look at the story of Job, Job shows

this great patience to begin with, but the track

of the story in the book is like a U. It's going

to go down and then it's going to come back up.

And it's through this process We learn so much

about how we deal with misery and help other

people deal with misery and tragedy and get beyond

the idea, well if you're a faithful person you're

just going to sit there very meek and quiet and

just bless the Lord in your tragedy and in your

misery and I'll be honest with you when I read

the book of Job I think that that is impossible

for us to do as humans. that sometimes we are

stricken with tragedy that is so profound that

it just cuts us to the very core of our being

where our humanity is opened up and our humanity

cries out rather than living with that quiet

humility. And so then the Bible tells us that

Job had three friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.

And then they determine that they're going to

make an appointment and they're going to go and

they're going to mourn with Job and they're going

to comfort him. So that's kind of the beginning

of the scene. So now we're going to look at chapters

3 through 37. And again, that's a very dense

section of scripture. A lot of things that are

hard to understand but we can sum it up fairly

easily. Whenever we look at the friendly dialogue,

after Job had said, the Lord gives, the Lord

takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord,

naked came I from my mother's womb, naked shall

I return, he has been sitting there now for wealow

at least a week. And longer than that, and so

the next words that we hear from Job is that

he opens his mouth and curses the day of his

birth. I wish I had never been born. The day

that I was born, let that day be a curse. Well,

now wait a minute. This is the most... This is

the guy that we're to look to as a model of patience.

And you mean the model of patience in the midst

of tragedy wished that he was dead. You ever

been there? You ever been around anyone like

that? That life is just so bad that they just

wish they had never been born and cry out to

God, God just take me. from this man. Well that's

where Job was. That's where Job was. And his

friends hear this and a lot of other things that

Job says. And Job was speaking very rashly. Now

I want us to understand that Job is not the only

person in the Bible that spoke rashly, a faithful

and just person speaking rashly. We can look

at the prophets who desire to die. We can look

at the prophets that cry out to God and say,

Lord, I've been crying out to you all day. Don't

you hear me? When are you going to do something?

Because that's what people do. That's what people

do whenever they're in the midst of tragedy,

whenever they're in the midst of hurt, whenever

they're living their worst day. And so then Eliphaz

and his buddies are going to try to comfort Job.

And they are a model of how to not comfort someone.

They are a model as to how to not comfort someone.

you know in reading through this you know I can

see things that they did that I look back on

how I was trying to comfort people thinking you

know they were probably sitting there thinking

I wish he would just shut up because he ain't

helping us at all because Eliphaz built that

in Zophar if we can make some sense out of this

If we can kind of connect all the dots for Job

and Job can say, okay, I see now, I understand.

If we can answer Job's questions, then Job is

just, it's going to comfort him and bring a peace.

And so he begins to talk. Whoever being innocent,

Remember now, whoever perished being innocent,

or where were the upright ever cut off? Even

as I have seen those who plow iniquity and sow

trouble reap the same. Can a mortal man be righteous

than God? Can a man be more pure than his maker?

So in other words, Job, this is why this is happening.

Have you ever noticed innocent people perishing?

Innocent people going through hard times like

this? Have you ever noticed that those that plow

iniquity reap the same? So, Job, it's obvious.

Bad things are happening to you because you are

a bad person. You see, they were operating under

the idea of God's justice was retributive. In

other words, if man is blameless and upright,

God will give blessing and prosperity. If man

does it, he'll bring about disaster and punishment.

Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? Sounds logical,

doesn't it? And that's the way God will work,

but just not right now. Right now, he doesn't.

But in the eyes of the comforters of Job, they

were saying, bad things happen to bad people.

Well, Joe, bad things happen to you. You must

be a bad person, so you need to repent. So here's

Joe. Okay, great. You know, I've lost my wealth,

I've lost my kids, I've lost my health, I've

lost everything, and now I'm a bad person. Can

this day get any worse? And so then from there

on, it's just a back and forth where his friends

are saying, you bad things happen to bad people,

Job, you're bad, therefore you need to repent.

And Job is sitting here over here saying, that

is not it, guys. That is not it. And you know

that that's not it because we read at the beginning

that he was a just and blameless and upright

man. But Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, they didn't

know that. And Job had confidence in his integrity.

And he was going to defend his integrity. And

so rather than being comforting to Job, what

ends up happening is that they become adversarial

to Job, and then Job begins to speak rashly,

and then they begin to think, well, we've got

to defend God. And it just all goes south. In

Job 19 verses 6 and 7, Job says, no, that God

Job 19:6

has wronged me and has surrounded me with his

net. If I cry out concerning wrong, I'm not heard.

If I cry aloud, there is no justice. Know then

that God has wronged me. Have you ever heard

anyone say that? Have you ever heard anyone say,

I think God's against me. I think God has done

wrong to me. You know, we hear that and we just,

oh, wow. But you know what, a very fearless and

upright and godly man said that. Why? Because

life was just more than he could handle. It was

just more than he could handle. And he got to

the point where he said, God has wronged me.

Now, whenever we hear that statement, that's

offensive to us. And it is offensive to hear

anyone say that God has wronged us. But sometimes

life can be so oppressive and the situations

that we find ourselves in can be so tragic that

that's all we can feel. in our hearts. Eliphaz

goes on to say, is not your wickedness great

and your iniquity without end? You know, we're

in chapter 22 and up until this time they've

just been saying, you know, okay, Job, you know,

look at your life. Things aren't good. You're

a bad person, Job. You need to understand that

you're a bad person. And then finally in chapter

22, Eliphaz just cuts to the chase. You must

have done these things. So it's just like, okay,

Job, you're not getting it. So let me be very

specific with you. Is not your wickedness great

and your iniquity without end? You have taken

pledges from your brother for no reason. So now

Eliphast starts identifying specific sins. Okay,

Job, if you're not, I mean, we've tried the nice

way to get you to understand it. We're trying

to get you to come to that conclusion not by

yourself, but you're not doing it. So let me

tell you what you've done. Number one, you've

defrauded your brother. You've stripped the naked

of their clothing. You've not given the weary

water to drink You have withheld bread from the

hungry you've sent widows away empty and the

strength of the fatherless was crushed Whenever

you look at all of those things that Eliphaz

lists here. Those are gross injustices and oppressions

that God finds abominable You know you just read

through the prophets about the oppression and

the injustice of those who are fatherless and

those who are widows and God has his strongest

judgments for people that are guilty of those

sins and So Eliphaz is thinking boy Since Job's

life couldn't be any worse Than his sin has got

to be the worst also. And so then he lists these

sins and then Job protests. He continues his

discourse as God lives who has taken away my

justice and the Almighty who has made my soul

bitter. God has made me bitter and he's taken

away my justice. God is unfair. You ever heard

that? You ever felt that? God's just unfair.

This isn't right. Job 27, far be it from me,

I should say you are right till I will not put

away my integrity from me, my righteousness I

hold fast. So he just comes out and tells Bill,

Dad, Eliphaz and Zophar, or be it from me that

I should say you are right so if you guys are

planning on sticking around until you hear me

say okay you are right you better just pack up

and go home I am not I am not going to give up

my righteousness I'm going to hold fast to it

and so Joe as he's going through this discourse

with his friends Within that discourse, he makes

these types of requests. But I would speak to

the Almighty and I desire to reason with God.

Though he slay me, yet will I trust him even

so in my ways before him. Job says, guys, I'm

sitting here talking to you. I want to talk to

God. I want to talk to God. When I talk to God,

I'm not going to tell God, you know you give

and you take away, blessed be your name. No.

He says, I'm going to let God know how he's wronged

me. I'm going to let God know how he's been unfair

to me. In verse number 15, he says, I've heard

this verse in the past where it looks like, you

know, this is just a humble confession of hope

and trust in the Lord that Job has. But when

you look at that verse in the context that it's

given, Job was not feeling humble towards the

Lord. That really this statement is made out

of what we could call defiant faith Yeah, he

may slay me Yet I'm gonna trust him I'm gonna

talk to him anyway Even so I will defend my own

ways before him. So basically what saying is,

you know I want to do this and he may slay me

and there's some question about the interpretation

or rather translation of that we won't get into

all that but the spirit of it is I want to talk

to God and he may slay me but I'm going to talk

to him anyway because I want to let him know

how he's wronged me. In chapter 23 verses 3 that

I knew where I might find him, that I might come

to his seat, I would present my case before him

and fill my mouth with arguments. I want to come

to his seat and I want to present my case and

I'm going to have so much to say that after God

listens to me, God is going to say, you know

what, Job, you're right. I did wrong you. He

continues to desire, 31, oh, that I had one to

Here is my mark, O that the Almighty would answer

me that my prosecutor had written a book." Whenever

you read through chapter 31, Job is defending

his righteousness and then he says in verse number

35, O that I had one to hear me, here is my mark.

So in other words, as he goes through chapter

31 and he defends his righteousness, at the end

of defending his righteousness he says, and I'm

going to sign my name to this. Here's my righteousness.

Now, I wish that my prosecutor had a book of

charges against me so that we could set that

book right here and you could look at what the

book says and you can look at the defense of

my righteousness and you can see how God has

wronged me. And this is the guy that is our example.

in the midst of adversity. This is the guy that

James says, consider Job. Now whenever we see

all of this, I don't want to leave the impression

that all of this is okay. I don't want to leave

that impression at all. But one thing that I

do want to offer to you is that I think some

of this is inevitable. It's inevitable. That

as created beings in this world as humans in

this world That life can become so tragic so

hard and so difficult That we speak rashly before

God and before our fellow man Because we can't

think of any other way to express ourselves in

a way consistent with the way You know, whenever

I was a school counselor, many times, many times,

young people would come into my office and they

would just be at wit's end. And things would

just be so terrible and so bad that they would

sit there and they would say, and you already

know what I'm going to say, I want to kill myself.

Now the majority of them did not want to kill

themselves. But in their misery and in their

grief and in their heartache there just wasn't

another way to express it Than to think of the

worst thing that they could think to say And

I think that's where Job is right now As Job

goes through his struggle, as Job gets the bad

and terrible counsel, he's just being beat down

more and more and more. And whenever a person

is being oppressed and being beat down more and

more, it can create within us a sense of rage

just to lash out and to speak out because we

feel like we have to exert some type of power

in our life or we're just going to be grounded

into the dust. And so here you have Job sitting

in ashes, sitting in rotted skin, defending himself

against three people that came to help him that

were actually opposed to him, and then crying

out to God, God, you're not fair. And then a

young man by the name of Elihu comes along. Elihu

was a young man. And whenever he comes onto the

scene, he's standing over there and he says,

okay, gentlemen, I know that y 'all are older

than me. And so respectfully, I'm going to let

the older men speak. But he says, I've been sitting

over here listening to all of this. I just have

to speak. And so then Elihu begins to speak and

he begins to speak to Job. And he says, Job,

look at the in this, you're not righteous. And

I will answer you, for God is greater than man.

Why do you contend with him? For he does not

give an accounting of any of his words." I think

that was in one of our hymns today. You know,

and so Job is saying, I want God to give an accounting.

And then here's Elihu and he's saying, he doesn't

give an accounting of his words. But that didn't

stop Job. Job didn't say, oh okay, all right,

I'm sorry guys, I didn't mean that. No, he persists.

And then Elihu goes... In order to turn man from

his deed and conceal pride from man, he keeps

his soul from the pit and his life from perishing

by the sword. Man is also chastened with pain

on his bed and with strong pain in many bones.

Here's a perspective that Elihu offered to the

situation. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar were saying,

Job, you need to look back at all of the bad

things that you've done and understand that this

has happened because of that. Elihu he had a

fairly accurate understanding and he's saying

really what Joe what you need to do instead of

being mad at God is to look ahead and try to

understand how this chastisement this tragedy

that you're going through is going to help you

to avoid sin in the future and so there again

a lot of debate on just how accurate Elihu was

in his theology about the way that God worked

There's different ideas about it but in some

instances Elihu brought a different perspective

for Job to consider. And then he goes on in verse

number 36, he delivers the poor in their affliction

and opens their ears in oppression. Indeed, he

would have brought you out of dire distress into

a broad place where there is no restraint, and

what is set on your table would be full of richness,

but you are filled with the judgment, do the

wicked. Judgment and justice take hold of you

because there is wrath. Beware lest he take you

away with one blow, for a large ransom would

not help you to avoid it. And so what Elihu is

saying in all of this is, okay, look at this

as chastisement, look ahead at the sin that God

is going to keep you from committing. But Job,

you know, the Lord would bring you out of dire

distress. He would set you in a broad place without

restraint. He would make your table full. But

Job, you're filled with the judgment due the

we... You are so consumed with justice and fairness

and you think that you've been wrong that you

can't settle down enough To just learn what you

need to learn and let the Lord bless you through

it You know we get that way sometimes In our

misery and in our tragedy rather than just trying

to be humble and learn the lessons that the Lord

wants us to learn We cry out in rage and in defiance

and in arrogance towards God And that's what

Elihu's saying to Job. And so he goes on to speak,

As for the Almighty, we cannot find him. He's

excellent in power and judgment and abundant

judgment. Therefore men fear him. He shows no

partiality to any who is in heart. And then he

says in chapter 37 verse number 14, Listen to

this, O Job, stand still and consider the wondrous

works of God. Elihu's speech is a prelude that

leads in to God speaking to Job. And notice what

Elihu says, Job just stand still and consider

the wondrous works of God. And so Elihu's direction,

I think he's pointing Job in a good direction.

And so then God speaks to Job. And again, remember

the last thing that Elihu said, or not the last

thing, the last thing we have recorded here,

stand still and consider the wondrous works of

God. So then Job begins to speak. Okay Job, you've

been wanting me? Here I am. You have this case,

you have this defense that you think is foolproof.

I'm going to let you speak. But notice how that

God appears to him the Lord answered Job out

of the whirlwind Out of form with a great natural

event to demonstrate his power and Authority

so before God even begins to speak got caught

standing out in the storm while you're in West,

Texas, so you have You know. And you see that

storm coming, you know immediately I'm in trouble.

And I'm sure that as soon as that wind started

to blow and the thunders began to sound, that

Job, all of that time thinking that he wanted

to have this conversation with the Lord began

to think, this is not going to go well. And so

Job, or rather God, begins to speak. Who is this

who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

Remember that. Now prepare yourself like a man.

I will question you and you shall answer me.

So, Job, before you give me your defense that

you're so anxious to give me, let me just ask

you a few questions. And notice the first question.

And notice all of these questions. The questions

that God asks are not questions that pertain

to Job's righteousness, to Job fearing God or

anything like that. These are questions that

point to, as Elihu said, the wondrous works of

God. Job, where were you when I laid the foundations

of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding.

And it went downhill from there. Number one,

Job, I laid the foundations of the earth. So

before the foundations of the earth ever were,

I was. And all that is in the world is in the

world because of my power and my wisdom. And

you know what, Job? I don't ever remember seeing

you back then. I don't ever remember having to

turn to you and say, okay Joe, how do we need

to do this? And so he begins to ask a question

that helps Job gain a right perspective of himself

before God. And then from there, whenever you

go through verses 38 through 39, God begins to

just... pepper Job with questions. He basically

gives him a physical psychology test. When you

go through and you count up all of those questions

there's about 59 to 60 questions. And so God

says, okay Job we're going to have this talk

but before we talk here take this test and then

Job takes the test and he gets zero out of 60.

You think he's ready to talk now? What did God

prove to him? what he proved to him was you don't

even know the things of this world you can't

answer where rain comes you can't answer why

that the sea and the oceans just don't keep going

and flood everything you can't understand or

even answer you know how again the the whole

all of that he just asked him a bunch of questions

just about the world and what the The point is,

because if you remember and go back to the question

that God... He asked the question, who is this

that speaks without knowledge? God is saying

to Job, Job, there's just some things you don't

know. And if you look around this world and there's

things about this world that you don't know how

they work, how can you suppose to think you know

how I ought to work? Pretty humbling. And so

he goes through all of these questions, just

one right after the other. Job is exposed for

his lack of understanding of how the world works,

taking away from him his credibility to be able

to speak about how God works. And then Job responds.

He answered and said shall the one who contends

with the Almighty correct him or rather the Lord

and he who rebukes God Let him answer it then

Job said behold. I'm vile What shall I answer

you I lay my hand over my mouth once I have spoken,

but I will not answer yes twice But I will proceed

no further You know the other evening whenever

we talked about Isaiah when he saw the glory

of God What did he say? Woe is me. I'm undone

And then whenever Job sees the glory and the

majesty of God, what was his response? Behold

I'm vile I'm just garbage I'm just refuge I'm

just trash Here I was thinking that I could tell

God how how how God should and I can't even explain

how the simple things that I see around me all

day long They don't even work how they work.

Then he gets to the Leviathan and the behemoth.

In chapter 40 verse 15, God says, look at the

behemoth. In chapter 40 verse 1, look at the

Leviathan. Now again, a lot of discussion. What

were these two animals? You know, this one was

a prehistoric times and that this was some type

of prehistoric animal that exist anymore and

it's well the dinosaurs don't either let now

the behemoth which I made along with you he eats

grass like an ox can you draw out the leviathan

with a hook or snare his tongue with a line in

which you lower And so he goes on to say that

the Leviathan, or the behemoth, he is the first

in the ways of God. Only he who made him can

bring near his sword. And of the Leviathan, he

says, no one is so fierce that he would dare

stir him up. Who then is able to stand against

me? It's kind of implying, okay, Joe, you want

to have a talk with me? You want to take me on?

Well, do this first. Go out and see if you can

take care of the Leviathan and the behemoth.

If you can conquer them, then we'll talk. If

you can answer all of those questions that I

ask you, then we can talk. And Job was put in

his place. And Job realized, I've said too much.

Notice what he said. Job answered the Lord and

said, I know that you can do everything and that

no purpose of yours can be withheld from you.

You ask who is this who hides counsel without

knowledge Therefore I have uttered what I did

not understand things too wonderful for me, which

I do not know Listen, please and let me speak

you said I will question you and you shall answer

me I heard of you by the hearing of the ear now

my eyes see you therefore I abhor myself and

repent in dust and ashes Job got his eyes open.

Whenever the Lord manifested to him his power

and his wisdom and knowledge and then Job came

to the realization, I just don't know everything.

And that's a realization that all of us have

to come to. We don't know everything. We don't

know everything. And so whenever we consider

the ways of God, We have to understand and try

to understand those points of view that I don't

know everything. You know, have you ever been

driving along maybe and there's a sign or there's

something kind of weird or wonky in the way that

the road is, you know, laid out and you get,

well, why did they do that? And I usually say,

well, they probably know something we don't know.

And sometimes whenever people do things and,

you know, and we look at it and they do, well,

you know, there's probably something I don't

know about that. If we're that way with people,

how about being that way with God? There's just

some things that we don't know. And so whenever

we look at things that just seem so out of place,

like a righteous man suffering tragedy and disease,

and we look at that and Well, that's not fair.

God ought to do it this way. Maybe we need to

stop and say you know what there may be some

things that I don't know Because notice what

Job came to he came to this conclusion I know

that you can do everything and that no purpose

of yours can be withheld from you That is the

conclusion that Job came to and I want to offer

to you tonight I'm going to be able to live in

this with all of its misery and with all of its

tragedy until we arrive at that same. And we

need to quit trying to answer all the questions

that we have. I used to think, you know, as a

counselor, as a preacher, and people come to

you and they, you know, that I had to offer some

logical reasoning as to why this thing happened

and make sense out of all of the bad things and

chaos that was going on in a person's life. And

understanding the book of Job made my job a lot

easier. I am not afraid at all to say, I don't

know. But this is what I do know. He can do everything

and No purpose can be withheld from him His three

friends God was displeased with them My wrath

is aroused against you and not spoken of me.

What is right as my servant job has I want to

give us all a warning right here When you look

at the three friends that came to job and job

was speaking very rashly and speaking out against

God They thought, we've got to defend God. We've

got to get this guy quiet. And so in their attempts

to comfort Him, they were stepping up in defense

of God. But stepping up in their defense of God,

they spoke ignorantly about God. God is doing

this because this is the way that God works.

And God don't work that way. And notice that

the Lord was not pleased with that. And I want

to offer this, you know, advice to you and advice

that I have learned is that whenever we're dealing

with tragedy in our life and in our other people's

life, don't come up with understandings about

God that give comfort. Be true to who God is.

Because you might be trying to help someone,

but if you speak in a way that misrepresents

the way that God works, God's not pleased with

that. You know, we sit with people and we, you

know, something bad happens over here. Well,

okay, we go back over here. I remember 15 years

ago this bad thing happened and so what God is

doing is he's taking this over here and he's

punishing you for this over here. You don't know

that. You don't know that Now we may think well

that'll give a little bit of balance and ease

to no it's not It's causing them to think Untruthfully

about God It's better just to say these things

happen. I don't know why they happen I don't

know why this happened, but I know this God can

do everything and he'll accomplish all of his

purposes And hopefully our heart is such towards

the Lord that's what's the most important to

us is not whenever I feel bad I start feeling

good, but rather that God's purposes is accomplished

in my life Whether that means that I have everything

or nothing So be careful whenever you try to

explain to people how God works because if you

get it wrong if I get God's not going to be pleased

with it So what are our takeaways this evening?

I appreciate your patience number one suffering

in this life is not always retro Quit trying

to look at your tragedies or other people's tragedies

and draw lines and draw dots and connect all

the dots So that it makes all the sense in the

world Because you can't do that. You don't know

You don't know I mean you see things and I see

things that you just think Little babies dying

What are you going to connect that to? Now there

is the theological answer that all suffering

is because of sin and you know we need to understand

that and people in tragedy need to understand

that but so far as to try to figure out the intricacies

of how all of that is working out and we can't

we don't know that and to offer simplified answers

for a complex God is not a good idea. God desires

honest grief over religiosity. God desires honest

grief. God's a big God. He's a really big God.

So when somebody gets mad at him and thinks he's

unfair, it's not gonna hurt his feelings. It's

not gonna hurt his feelings. If those people

are like Job, they're crying out in what again?

Defiant faith. That's the way Joe felt and so

he said it And so whenever we're faced with grief

and I want us to all be honest with your grief

Be honest with your grief. Let other people be

honest with their grief when you're comforting

someone Objective is not to stop them from crying

and to feel better Your objective is to set with

them in their misery and in the experience of

their misery and be alongside them and let them

work through that and give them gentle direction

to arrive at the conclusions and the lessons

that God wants them to have. Trust the character

of God and not the answers of man. Don't trust

in answers. Don't wait for somebody to come along.

you know and again we've gone through instances

in our life where there's just these questions

that they just they they just agitate us and

they antagonize us and we think well i'm never

going to have any peace until i know why your

peace and my peace is not to come from the answers

that we get to life's misery your peace and my

peace is supposed to come from the character

of god he is faithful he is sovereign he can

do everything and he will make all of his or

he will accomplish purposes And humility is the

key to finding peace during suffering. And understand

how to comfort and how to seek comfort. Your

objective in comforting someone is to bring them

to the realization right here. I know that God

can do everything and that no purpose of his

can be with him. And you're not going to find

that by just explaining, well, this is why this

has happened. We're going to arrive at this by

knowing and understanding the full glory and

power of God in all of His majesty, and understanding

and realizing just how little we know about how

God works in this world. Thank you for listening

to today's sermon from the Church of Christ Wheeler

area. We hope this message encouraged you and

strengthened you in your faith this week. Don't

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