🎵 🎵 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
verse 20. Job chapter 3 verse 20. Job chapter
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
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
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
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
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
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.