We are in chapter 3 of Job this week. Last week we looked at the hard times that Job was being tested with. It was so bad that his wife thought the best thing that could happen now was for job to just die. And though I didn’t mention it last week his three friends show up and they are so overwhelmed by all that has happened to Job’s family and his physical condition that they just sit with him for a whole week and don’t say a single thing.
After that week went by Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said, “Let the day perish on which I was to be born, And the night which said, ‘A boy is conceived.’ May that day be darkness; Let not God above care for it, Nor light shine on it. Let darkness and black gloom claim it; Let a cloud settle on it; Let the blackness of the day terrify it. As for that night, let darkness seize it;
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; Let it not come into the number of the months. “Behold, let that night be barren; Let no joyful shout enter it. Let those curse it who curse the day, Who are prepared to rouse Leviathan. Let the stars of its twilight be darkened; Let it wait for light but have none, And let it not see the breaking dawn; Because it did not shut the opening of my mother’s womb,
Or hide trouble from my eyes.
11 “Why did I not die at birth, Come forth from the womb and expire? Why did the knees receive me, And why the breasts, that I should suck? For now I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept then, I would have been at rest,
With kings and with counselors of the earth, Who rebuilt ruins for themselves;
Or with princes who had gold, Who were filling their houses with silver. Or like a miscarriage which is discarded, I would not be, As infants that never saw light.
There the wicked cease from raging, And there the weary are at rest. The prisoners are at ease together; They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster. The small and the great are there, And the slave is free from his master.
20 “Why is light given to him who suffers, And life to the bitter of soul, 21 Who long for death, but there is none, And dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
22 Who rejoice greatly, And exult when they find the grave?23 “Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, And whom God has hedged in? 24 “For my groaning comes at the sight of my food, And my cries pour out like water. 25 “For what I fear comes upon me, And what I dread befalls me. 26 “I am not at ease, nor am I quiet,
And I am not at rest, but turmoil comes.”
What a powerful and godly response to the hardships of life. There is no phony praise the lord anyway. Job is being realistic about his condition. It would have been better if he had never been born. Job is singing the blues because he is so beaten down and broken that he longs for death with all that is in him but death won’t come. I know that feeling well. Oh that I had never been born or like my brother died at birth. Testing, trials and tribulations are hard. That’s the point. Life is supposed to be difficult because of the rebellion even for the righteous, maybe more so for the righteous.
Please notice that he doesn’t try to take his own life. He takes his hard times as from the hand of God and he endures them but he doesn’t pretend he’s happy about it. I can so relate to what Job is saying in that last paragraph: Why is light given to him who suffers and life to the bitter of soul. In the immediate, the now, of the struggle of life it is easy to be frustrated about the unfolding of salvation in your life. God why do you give me light? Why do you keep revealing yourself to me when times are so tough? Why do you keep me on the path of life when my soul is so bitter with pain? Why, Oh God, is life so hard?
Or better yet: Why do you keep revealing yourself to me but at the same time you keep the way I should go hidden from me? Why do you give me all of these wonderful promises for walking on the path of life but then you keep me hedged in with impotence, and loss, and frustration. Why do you let the things I fear come upon me? I can’t find ease. My soul is not quiet, it can find no rest because my life is in turmoil.
I want you to understand that if someone tells you that horrible events in your life are because you must be in sin they are a liar. In John chapter 9 we read: 1 As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
Sometimes hard times are just hard times. All times are a test. What you do in good times and what you do in bad times reveal the character of your heart. The events in your life, whether good or bad, are planned so that the works of God might be displayed in YOU. God is making you into something that you have never been.
Yes, sometimes it is hard to make it through the day. It’s easy to want to go back to when things were easier but your future doesn’t lie behind you. You are not yet all that you were created to be. You’re glory lies ahead of you. God’s full purposes for you lie in the future not the past. The Christian’s life is not like Bruce Springsteen’s song glory days where we will just sit around telling boring stories of Glory days of the past. Our glory days are still ahead.
The finish line in this life is only the starting line of the next race. Our call is to grow up here in this life and to cross the finish line so that we can be prepared for the next race; A race that is not hindered by the curse; A race where death does not exist and life is restored to its original fullness. You see that is the promise of redemption given by God: that is the focus of this life.
Job cries out: 1 “Man, who is born of woman, Is short-lived and full of turmoil. 2 “Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain. 3 “You also open Your eyes on him And bring him into judgment with Yourself. 4 “Who can make the clean out of the unclean? No one! 5 “Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass. 6 “Turn Your gaze from him that he may rest, Until he fulfills his day like a hired man. 7 “Oh that You would hide me in Sheol, That You would conceal me until Your wrath returns to You, That You would set a limit for me and remember me!
You see the scriptures paint a very clear picture of what life in the midst of the consequences of our rebellion is like. These are not things that God pours out upon us because of wrath they are consequences of the fall. These are the consequences of taking Satan as King and listening to the father of lies. Here is a picture of a godly attitude in the midst of the curse: 25 “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. 26 “Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; 27 Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!
Job, with all sincerity says: 3 “But I would speak to the Almighty, And I desire to argue with God. “Be silent before me so that I may speak; Then let come on me what may. 14 “Why should I take my flesh in my teeth And put my life in my hands? 15 “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.
I know such talk makes us uncomfortable but I think Job understands that God is big enough to take his anger and big enough to handle any arguments that Job can come up with. And in fact God does exactly that at the end of the book.
I will let God speak for himself: Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb, and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness? For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores. I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop!’ Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness? As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal; it is robed in brilliant colors. The light disturbs the wicked and stops the arm that is raised in violence. Have you explored the springs from which the seas come? Have you explored their depths? Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom? Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me about it if you know! Where does light come from, and where does darkness go? Can you take each to its home? Do you know how to get there? But of course you know all this! For you were born before it was all created, and you are so very experienced! Have you visited the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of hail? (I have reserved them as weapons for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war.) Where is the path to the source of light? Where is the home of the east wind? Who created a channel for the torrents of rain? Who laid out the path for the lightning? Who makes the rain fall on barren land, in a desert where no one lives? 27 Who sends rain to satisfy the parched ground and make the tender grass spring up? Does the rain have a father? Who gives birth to the dew? Who is the mother of the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens? For the water turns to ice as hard as rock, and the surface of the water freezes. “Can you direct the movement of the stars— binding the cluster of the Pleiades or loosening the cords of Orion? Can you direct the sequence of the seasons or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens? Do you know the laws of the universe? Can you use them to regulate the earth? Can you shout to the clouds and make it rain? Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct? Who gives intuition to the heart and instinct to the mind? Who is wise enough to count all the clouds? Who can tilt the water jars of heaven when the parched ground is dry and the soil has hardened into clods? Can you stalk prey for a lioness and satisfy the young lions’ appetites as they lie in their dens or crouch in the thicket? Who provides food for the ravens when their young cry out to God and wander about in hunger?
Then the LORD said to Job, Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?” Then Job replied to the LORD, I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand. I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say.” But of course he keeps talking and says: “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. You said, ‘Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.’ I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”
You see it is one thing know about God; it is another thing altogether to experience his presence and be humbled before him. It is my prayer that we here at Immanuel would be humbled before God like Job was, that God would do whatever it takes in our lives to bring us to the place where we can say about our theology and understanding of God: I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. I take back everything I’ve said because now I have seen you with my own eyes and I can do nothing but repent.
My heart cries out to God for a glimpse of him that would make me stop wagging my tongue like I think I know what’s going on. I need a glimpse of my creator that would help put me in my place instead of trying to get into God’s place. We live in an arrogant world that has deluded itself into thinking that it’s not really all that much different than God. But the truth is we are like dust to tornado compared to God.
I need to remember that. I need to remember a lot of things. I need to remember that I am exactly where God wants me to be right now. I need to remember that I am not powerful enough to mess up his plans for me. I need to understand that hard times come to take me where I need to go and it doesn’t necessarily mean that I have messed up; it may simply be that my life needs to be hard because I am such a hard hearted stubborn old man that hard times are the only thing that will get through my thick head.
God is not going to let me stop what he has planned for me. He is making me into a new creature in Christ. He is making you and me into a new creature in Christ none of us are there yet. We do not know yet what we will be so we must learn to humble ourselves in the midst of life and trust that God does know what he’s doing and what he’s doing is for our good. It’s easy to lose sight of that in the midst of pain and hardship. Whose word are we going to believe? God’s or ours?
The book of Job doesn’t just end with Job being humbled before God. The promises of God are greater than that. It ends with God restoring Job with more than he had before. In chapter 42 we read: 10 The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold. 11 Then all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him one piece of money, and each a ring of gold. 12 The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He had seven sons and three daughters. 14 He named the first Jemimah, and the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 15 In all the land no women were found so fair as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers. 16 After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. 17 And Job died, an old man and full of days.
Don’t think for a minute that this restoration was an overnight process. Job had to start over with nothing. Everything had been taken away from him. But God pour out grace upon him and gives him favor and all of those that had known him gave him gifts to help him rebuild. Over time he has a second set of 10 kids and he lives long enough to see four generations of his family. God allowed him to live 140 years in order to rebuild and proper in covenant keeping and taking dominion in ways so much greater than he ever did before.
I want you to leave here today understanding one thing your latter days are going to be more blessed than your former days. God is not through with you yet. He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. The best is yet to come if you will continue to humble yourself before God.
Questions?
Let’s pray. Father do whatever you need to do to humble us before you. Save us from ourselves. Be our God and let us be your people. In Jesus power and authority I ask these things amen.
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