Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Satan vs. Job . . . Round Two │ Msg 322

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Satan vs. Job . . . Round Two │ Msg 322 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: You brought a Bible with you today. Would you open
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  Speaker 1: it toward the center section of the book of Job?
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  Speaker 1: Just before the large book of Psalms, you'll find Job.
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  Speaker 1: Locate the second chapter and may I read for you
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  Speaker 1: the first ten verses as we focus on Satan versus Job,
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  Speaker 1: round two. Job 2, verse 1. Again, there was a
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  Speaker 1: day when the sons of God came to present themselves
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  Speaker 1: to before the Lord and Satan also came among them
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  Speaker 1: to present himself before the Lord. The Lord said to Satan,
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  Speaker 1: where have you come from? And Satan answered the Lord
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  Speaker 1: and said from roaming about on the earth and walking
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  Speaker 1: around on it. The Lord said to Satan, have you
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  Speaker 1: considered my servant Job? For there is no one like
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  Speaker 1: him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing
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  Speaker 1: God and and turning away from evil, and he still
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  Speaker 1: holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him
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  Speaker 1: to ruin him without cause. Satan answered the Lord and said,
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  Speaker 1: Skin for skin, yes, all that a man has he
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  Speaker 1: will give for his life. However, put forth your hand
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  Speaker 1: now and touch his bone and his flesh. He will
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  Speaker 1: curse you to your face. So the Lord said to Satan, behold,
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  Speaker 1: he is in your power. Only spare his life. Then
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  Speaker 1: Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and
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  Speaker 1: smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his
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  Speaker 1: foot to the crown of his head. And he took
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  Speaker 1: a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among
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  Speaker 1: the ashes. Then his wife said to him, do you
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  Speaker 1: still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die. But
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  Speaker 1: he said to her, you speak as one of the
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  Speaker 1: foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God
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  Speaker 1: and not accept adversity? In all this, Job did not
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  Speaker 1: sin with his lips. When bad things happen, it seems
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  Speaker 1: they often happen to the wrong people. Johnny Gunther was
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  Speaker 1: a handsome teenager who was a straight-A student at Deerfield Academy.
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  Speaker 1: He had high hopes and great dreams. Though young in age,
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  Speaker 1: he had already thought about tomorrow. He was majoring in
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  Speaker 1: math and chemistry, and everything looked bright on the horizon
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  Speaker 1: for Johnny, until the dark shadow of brain cancer crossed
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  Speaker 1: his life. During the 14 months after the diagnosis, he
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  Speaker 1: endured two serious operations. And even after the second operation,
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  Speaker 1: he passed the grueling entrance exams to Columbia University. Two
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  Speaker 1: weeks after being accepted to Columbia, young Johnny Gunther died.
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  Speaker 1: The character of this brave young man was revealed after
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  Speaker 1: the first surgery. The parents, John and Francis Gunther, were
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  Speaker 1: alone with the physician who told them the grim prognosis,
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  Speaker 1: and they struggled wondering what they should say and how
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  Speaker 1: much they should say, and And Francis said, I know
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  Speaker 1: my son well enough to know that he is so
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  Speaker 1: curious and he is so bright. I know he will
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  Speaker 1: want to know everything. But how should we tell him?
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  Speaker 1: They decided that the surgeon would be the one who
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  Speaker 1: would go to Johnny and explain to him the whole story.
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  Speaker 1: So all alone, he slipped into Johnny's room and the
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  Speaker 1: two of them talked. And the surgeon told him the
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  Speaker 1: seriousness of the malignant brain tumor. The boy listened with
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  Speaker 1: rapt attention and hardly blinked. When the physician finished, the
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  Speaker 1: young man's only response was, Doctor, how shall we break
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  Speaker 1: this news to my parents? When bad things happen, they
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  Speaker 1: seem always to happen to the wrong person. We are
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  Speaker 1: always left with that three-letter word, why? Why did such
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  Speaker 1: a terrible thing like brain cancer invade Johnny Gunther's life?
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  Speaker 1: That question is being asked in every major hospital in
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  Speaker 1: every major city around our nation this day. In some
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  Speaker 1: of the rooms, that question is on the lips of
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  Speaker 1: some of the people. Every large community has within it
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  Speaker 1: a home or two where that question is still being
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  Speaker 1: asked without an answer. Somewhere in all of this, there
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  Speaker 1: is room for the story of Job. For as we
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  Speaker 1: have learned, a better man never lived until this time.
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  Speaker 1: He was a good man. He was a godly man.
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  Speaker 1: He was a faithful husband. He was a loving and
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  Speaker 1: devoted father. He was a good employer. His hard work
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  Speaker 1: and integrity had led to a prosperous closing number of
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  Speaker 1: years of his life, which he was to enjoy, with
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  Speaker 1: plenty of livestock and sufficient camels to pay the... Dreams
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  Speaker 1: that he and his wife had for the future. And
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  Speaker 1: it looked as though it was all a downhill slide.
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  Speaker 1: And then the bottom of his life dropped out. We
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  Speaker 1: call it unfair suffering. Seemingly senseless tragedy invaded the life
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  Speaker 1: of one who didn't deserve it. And he's left to
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  Speaker 1: pick up the pieces, he and his wife. He's lost
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  Speaker 1: most of his servants, all but four. He's lost all
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  Speaker 1: of his means of making a living. And he's lost
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  Speaker 1: all ten of his grown children. And to make matters worse,
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  Speaker 1: we know a lot more than Job knew. He had
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  Speaker 1: no idea of this plan that was being laid behind
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  Speaker 1: the scenes against him. So to him, it just was
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  Speaker 1: like a bolt out of the blue. Just like those
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  Speaker 1: workers on the 10th of September, 2001, who left late
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  Speaker 1: in the evening after a busy day in the World
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  Speaker 1: Trade Center, planning for tomorrow, putting their notes on their
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  Speaker 1: palm pilots, adding their thoughts for the day, for the 11th,
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  Speaker 1: the to-do list of things that needed to get done.
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  Speaker 1: And so many came in early, early the morning of
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  Speaker 1: the 11th to begin their work. And before eight o'clock,
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  Speaker 1: they had no idea that American Airlines flight number 11
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  Speaker 1: was heading directly for their tower in the North Tower.
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  Speaker 1: And it struck. It struck. So surprising and shocking was
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  Speaker 1: it that not even those in the South Tower knew
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  Speaker 1: of it and had no idea that a plan was
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  Speaker 1: underway for that tower. And only 18 minutes later, at 9.03,
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  Speaker 1: the South Tower was struck by Flight 175 United. We
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  Speaker 1: couldn't believe it. It was out of the blue. Why them?
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  Speaker 1: Why that? What kind of plan is underway? And Job
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  Speaker 1: thought that when all of his oxen and donkeys and
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  Speaker 1: servants and sheep and servants and camels and servants and
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  Speaker 1: now his ten children gone. We sit in this somewhat
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  Speaker 1: comfortable place and we try to imagine what we would
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  Speaker 1: have done. Eugene Peterson captures the scene in the paraphrase
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  Speaker 1: of the message. Job got to his feet, ripped his robe,
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  Speaker 1: shaved his head, then fell to the ground and worshipped.
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  Speaker 1: Naked I came from my mother's womb. Naked I'll return
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  Speaker 1: to the womb of the earth. God gives, God takes.
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  Speaker 1: God's name be ever blessed. Not once through all this
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  Speaker 1: did Job sin. Not once did he blame God. Remarkable.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm sure in the struggle of a fitful night
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  Speaker 1: trying to sleep, after burying all ten of the children
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  Speaker 1: with his own hands and the groaning and the weeping
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  Speaker 1: and the grieving alongside his precious wife who had also
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  Speaker 1: lost the ten he had no idea that more was
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  Speaker 1: underway he couldn't have imagined it many more than those
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  Speaker 1: in the Pentagon, who were now busily engaged in dealing
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  Speaker 1: with the details of the northeastern Atlantic shoreline and the
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  Speaker 1: harbor in New York, where obviously the terrorists were striking,
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  Speaker 1: would have any idea that there was now another plane
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  Speaker 1: on another evil mission soon to plunge into the very
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  Speaker 1: side of the building where they're working on this other tragedy.
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  Speaker 1: Having spoken to some of those officers who were in
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  Speaker 1: the building at that time, one even admitted to his
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  Speaker 1: own embarrassment, it never dawned on me that the Pentagon
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  Speaker 1: was next. But that plane circled and not being able
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  Speaker 1: to find the White House, which they were convinced it
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  Speaker 1: was heading for because of the foliage of mid-September, the
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  Speaker 1: pilot in his maddening plan turned and found this five-sided
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  Speaker 1: building He knew what it was and tore a hole
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  Speaker 1: 200 feet wide as there was a double explosion. First,
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  Speaker 1: the plane crashing into the building and then the igniting
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  Speaker 1: of the fuel that sent fire down the hallway. It's
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  Speaker 1: like Joe. It just wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair
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  Speaker 1: from our perspective. He had stood in his integrity. He
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  Speaker 1: had blessed his father. He had worshipped him. And Satan
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  Speaker 1: couldn't stand it. He lost round one. The second chapter
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  Speaker 1: begins as ominously as the first chapter had continued. Remember
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  Speaker 1: how you marked it? Verse 1 of chapter 1. There
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  Speaker 1: was a man. Chapter 1 verse 6. There was a day.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter 2 verse 1. Again, there was a day. We're
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  Speaker 1: not told how long. I don't think very long. It's
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  Speaker 1: like Satan to hit us with a double blast. The
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  Speaker 1: first one a surprise, the second one an absolute shock.
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  Speaker 1: He had a plan when he stood before the Lord God,
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  Speaker 1: along with his emissaries, and the Lord, verse 2, said
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  Speaker 1: to Satan, Where have you come from? Satan answered the
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  Speaker 1: Lord and said, From roaming about on the earth. Walking
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  Speaker 1: around on it, the Lord said to Satan, remembering their
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  Speaker 1: earlier conversation, Have you considered my servant Job? For there
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  Speaker 1: is no one like him on the earth, a blameless
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  Speaker 1: and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.
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  Speaker 1: And he adds this time, he still holds fast his integrity,
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  Speaker 1: although you incited me against him to ruin him without
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  Speaker 1: a cause. See the word ruin? The Hebrew word means
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  Speaker 1: to swallow. It is in the piel stem, P-I-E-L, which
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  Speaker 1: is the stem that intensifies the verb. And in that sense,
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  Speaker 1: it's the idea of a barb, the scraping away, the gagging,
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  Speaker 1: if you will. You plan for me to ruin him
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  Speaker 1: without cause. Satan, not one to be outclassed, answered rather impudently,
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  Speaker 1: Skin for skin, yes, all that a man has, he
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  Speaker 1: will give for his life. You've still got that hedge
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  Speaker 1: around him. He still gets penthouse treatment. He may not
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  Speaker 1: be able to make a living with the former animals,
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  Speaker 1: but he's got his health and he can go on
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  Speaker 1: living and they can have more children. But you touch
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  Speaker 1: him at his lowest level, his flesh and blood, and
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  Speaker 1: he will curse you to your face. I think he
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  Speaker 1: said some of this out of irritating anger. He lives
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  Speaker 1: his life in anger. And he makes his prediction, he
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  Speaker 1: will curse you to your face. Verse 6, so the
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  Speaker 1: Lord said to Satan, think about this. Behold, he is
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  Speaker 1: in your power. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine
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  Speaker 1: your name connected to verse 6? All right, Lucifer, go back,
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  Speaker 1: but don't kill him. He set the boundary, preserve his life,
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  Speaker 1: but he's fair game. And as shocked as those in
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  Speaker 1: the Pentagon were, Job awoke the next morning feeling sore.
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  Speaker 1: Unusually sore and feverish. Why? Because, verse 7, Satan went
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  Speaker 1: out from the presence and smote Job with sore boils
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  Speaker 1: from the sole of his foot to the crown of
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  Speaker 1: his head. He felt the pain under his arm, and
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  Speaker 1: then he felt one at his neck. Something was inside
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  Speaker 1: his mouth, swelling. And then across his eyes, and even
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  Speaker 1: in his scalp, and of all things, he couldn't get
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  Speaker 1: his sandals on, and his fever began to rage. And
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  Speaker 1: he had lost his appetite. It's like he was coming apart.
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  Speaker 1: He says something to his wife. She looks and notices.
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  Speaker 1: He asks her to check his back. She observes. There
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  Speaker 1: are swollen marks all over. And they are called here
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  Speaker 1: sore boils. Medical doctors down through the centuries have been
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  Speaker 1: curious about this particular ailment, this skin malady. In my research,
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  Speaker 1: I found a number of comments made in their guesswork,
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  Speaker 1: and they may have gotten onto something. One said it
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  Speaker 1: was smallpox. Another one, elephantiasis. Another, chronic eczema. Another, leprosy.
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  Speaker 1: One suggested psoriasis. Another, pteriasis. Another, keratosis. One even said,
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  Speaker 1: for sure, it was pemphigus folioceus. I'm sure I said
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  Speaker 1: it wrong. And of course, a number of them suggested
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  Speaker 1: it was a melanoma, advancing form of skin cancer. This man,
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  Speaker 1: this man, as Satan, notice how quickly it reads, went out, smoked.
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  Speaker 1: They're almost brought in juxtaposition. He went out and smoked Job.
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  Speaker 1: Hit him while he was down. What he thought was
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  Speaker 1: maybe just sore muscles from the burying of 10 children,
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  Speaker 1: he realized was now an eruption of skin ulcers. And
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  Speaker 1: to the pathetic man's dismay, he now realized he had
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  Speaker 1: a disease that would make him miserable. I have studied
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  Speaker 1: the 42 chapters of Job, and I have made note
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  Speaker 1: of every reference to the symptoms that accompanied this study.
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  Speaker 1: Sit and listen to them. Don't try to turn to
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  Speaker 1: the verses. This is what he suffered. Inflamed ulcerous sores, 2.7.
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  Speaker 1: Persistent itching, 2.8. Degenerative changes in facial skin, disfiguration, 2.12.
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  Speaker 1: Loss of appetite, 3.24. Fears and depression, 3.25. Purulent sores
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  Speaker 1: that burst open, scab over, crack, and ooze with pus. 7.5.
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  Speaker 1: Worms that form in the sores themselves. 7.5. Difficulty in breathing. 9.18.
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  Speaker 1: A darkening of the eyelids. 16.16. Foul breath. 19.17. Loss
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  Speaker 1: of weight.
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  Speaker 2: 19.20. 33.21.
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  Speaker 1: Excruciating continual pain. 30, 30, also high fever with chills
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  Speaker 1: and discoloring of skin. Mixed with anxiety, diarrhea. 30, verse 27, delirium, sleeplessness,
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  Speaker 1: rejection of friends. And all this lasting for months. 7, 3, 29, 2.
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  Speaker 1: In short, Job became the personification of misery. I failed
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  Speaker 1: to mention in verse 8 of chapter 2 that all
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  Speaker 1: of this resulted in his being isolated and sitting at
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  Speaker 1: the city dump. We would call it today. The ashes
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  Speaker 1: were the places where was the place where they burned
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  Speaker 1: the garbage and the rubbish and the human excrement of
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  Speaker 1: the city. Became his abode. Warren Wiersbe writes, there the
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  Speaker 1: city garbage was deposited and burned, and there the city's
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  Speaker 1: rejects lived, begging alms from whomever passed by. At the
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  Speaker 1: ash heap, dogs fought over something to eat, and the
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  Speaker 1: city's dung was brought and burned. The city's leading citizen
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  Speaker 1: was now living in abject poverty and shame. All that
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  Speaker 1: he humanly had left were his wife, And three friends.
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  Speaker 1: And even they. Turned against him. Complete confusion. Total isolation.
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  Speaker 1: No hope of change. You're doing exactly what you should
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  Speaker 1: be doing. Sitting in silence. His friends, as we will
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  Speaker 1: see next time, did that for seven days and nights.
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  Speaker 1: Didn't even recognize him. Have you ever had a boil? Ever?
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  Speaker 1: Those of us with white hair would have to say,
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  Speaker 1: among the men, white hair, whatever color your hair is, ladies,
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  Speaker 1: if you're this age. If you've had a boil, you'll
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  Speaker 1: never forget it. I threw a paper route as a kid.
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  Speaker 1: I think I was about 11, 12 when I had
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  Speaker 1: my first route. And I had a boil just below
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  Speaker 1: my elbow on the left arm. I'm left-handed, so I
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  Speaker 1: would throw the papers with my left hand. And I
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  Speaker 1: rode on my bicycle and had the papers in the
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  Speaker 1: bag behind the seat. And I'd reach back and sling
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  Speaker 1: the papers. I took delight in landing them in the
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  Speaker 1: flower beds. No, on the porch of the people who
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  Speaker 1: were on my route. But as this boil... grew, and
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  Speaker 1: then one formed on my wrist. Never knew to this
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  Speaker 1: day why they formed there. But one was here and
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  Speaker 1: one was there, and they got so sore, I had
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  Speaker 1: to throw with my right hand because I couldn't use
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  Speaker 1: just two boils. My mother said to me, Oh, it's okay, son.
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  Speaker 1: It'll go away. That's kind of the way we treated
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  Speaker 1: them back then. She didn't tell me it would take
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  Speaker 1: three months, but she said it would go away. She
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: was right. But they became so swollen and on occasion
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  Speaker 1: we would prick them and try to get the pus,
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  Speaker 1: the core out, it was called, those two boils. Can
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  Speaker 1: you imagine? Covered with boils. And sitting in this filthy place,
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  Speaker 1: away from friends and the comforts of home, It all
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  Speaker 1: finally overwhelmed Mrs. Job. And she came to him one
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  Speaker 1: day for a visit. And as she asked, do you
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  Speaker 1: still hold fast your integrity? Remember God, when he said
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  Speaker 1: to Satan, have you noticed my, my servant, Job, he
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  Speaker 1: still holds fast his integrity unknowingly. She put her very
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  Speaker 1: finger on the one, the one lasting thread that God
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  Speaker 1: used in answering Satan. And she challenges his need to
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  Speaker 1: do that any longer. And then she uses Satan's line
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  Speaker 1: when she says to him, curse God, curse God. Satan
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  Speaker 1: was never closer to a smile than at that moment
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  Speaker 1: as he and his minions sat staring, waiting, hoping. Say it, Job,
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  Speaker 1: say it, say it. I want to pause here and, um,
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  Speaker 1: and say something regarding Joe's wife. I want to confess
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  Speaker 1: to you that for too long in my ministry, I've
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  Speaker 1: taken unfair shots at her. I think it was probably
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  Speaker 1: immaturity on my part. Furthermore, I hadn't been married long
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  Speaker 1: enough to know better than to do that. And... I
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  Speaker 1: cannot leave this one snapshot of Mrs. Jobe without saying
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  Speaker 1: some things in her defense. So hear me on this.
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  Speaker 1: I want to say four things about Mrs. Jobe and
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  Speaker 1: why she would do this. First, she too had lost
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  Speaker 1: 10 children. Until you or I have lost 10 children,
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  Speaker 1: let's stay quiet about criticizing Mrs. Jobe. Who knows what
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  Speaker 1: you would do in the backwash of that kind of grief?
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  Speaker 1: I can't even imagine. So she too was lost in
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  Speaker 1: her grief. And in the weakening struggle of that grief,
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  Speaker 1: she blurted this out. Second, she too had suffered the
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  Speaker 1: loss of their wealth and possessions. And as every wife
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  Speaker 1: here knows, whose husband may have made it financially, there
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  Speaker 1: are benefits and pleasures that come in a home like that.
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  Speaker 1: Those were her possessions too. Those were her livestock and
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  Speaker 1: source of income. And she was reduced to the same
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  Speaker 1: level as he economically. Third, I would add, she had
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  Speaker 1: enjoyed for a long time being the wife of the
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  Speaker 1: man who, verse 3 of chapter 1, was the greatest
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  Speaker 1: of all the men of the East. There's prestige with that.
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  Speaker 1: There's honor with that. There is some sense of popularity
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  Speaker 1: and pleasure in that. She is no longer the leading
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  Speaker 1: lady of the community. She's the tragic wife of a
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  Speaker 1: man who's finished. Let me add fourth, she's lost her companion.
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  Speaker 1: She no longer has her beloved to enjoy in quiet
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  Speaker 1: give and take of conversation. No longer lovely and private
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  Speaker 1: moments of romance and lovemaking. No hope that that will
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  Speaker 1: ever change or that he will ever be okay again. Job,
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  Speaker 1: let's just pull the plug. Don't go on like this.
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  Speaker 1: I can't stand it. Curse God. He'll take you. Now,
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  Speaker 1: with that as a background, and you've listened patiently to
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: me as I have given you another side of this,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: let me say a couple of practical comments to you
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: who are wives. Can I do that? Just think of
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: it as little counsel from Mars to Venus. If that'll help. Okay?
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: I want to give you something always to do and
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: never to do. Okay? And I really mean this sincerely.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: First of all, always. Always guard your words when your
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: husband is going through terribly hard times. I want to
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: tell you a little bit about men in a minute
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: because I know very little about women, but I know
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: a lot about men. And so I want to tell
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: you about us men. But the point I want you
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: to get is always guard your words when you know
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: your husband's going through a terribly hard time. Hard times
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: weaken men. For some reason, they seem to strengthen women.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: And we admire you for that. But we men are
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: weakened when times stay very hard for us. In our
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: weakened condition, we lose our objectivity and our stability. Our
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: discernment is also skewed. Our determination lags. We become vulnerable.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: We don't quite know how to handle ourselves in a
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: vulnerable state. You women do very well with vulnerability, but
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: we men do not. And we are, curse the thought,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: For me to say it, we are afraid. When men
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: become afraid, strange things happen inside us. We don't understand ourselves.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: We entertain alien thoughts that are very unusual for us.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: So in light of all of this, hear me, we
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: need your wisdom and perspective and spiritual strength. Hear that
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: as prayer begins. As you've never prayed for us before,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: we need your prayers. We need your emotional support. Actions
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: always better than words. We need that. We even find
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: it hard to say, I need you right now. My
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: wife could tell you that she lived with me for
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: 10 years before she ever thought I had a need
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: for her. And I say that to my shame. In
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: hours of great trial, nobody's words mean more to us
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: than our wives. That is one of the God-given reasons
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: you and your partner were called to be together. When
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: we men lose our way, you wives help us find
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: our way back. Now, never, Never suggest that we compromise
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: our integrity, even if it would provide temporary relief. Don't
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: ever do that. Because we may. We may be so weak,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: we'll believe you. Since we are not, since we haven't
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: the strength at that time, in Job's case, that kind
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: of trial, which I can't imagine, and a lot less
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: than that, when we are weakened, We are temptable. We
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: are easily seduced by words that offer relief because for
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: a man, relief is the most important thing when times
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: really hard that's why many a man under a time
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: of testing will begin an affair not justifying it for
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: a moment I'm just saying that's why God had said
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: he holds fast his integrity and she of all things
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: said to him, why do you want to keep doing that? No, no, no, no, Mrs. Job,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: this is your moment. Job, whatever we do, stand fast.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: I'll go with you wherever we have to go. I'll
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: endure whatever we have to endure, but don't compromise your integrity.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: Stand with God in this. Now Job has a magnificent response.
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: He said to her, verse 10, You speak as one
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: of the foolish women speaks. I got to tell you,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: hats off. In his weakened state and sitting there in
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: the pain of those sores, not knowing if that would
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: ever change, he stood and he reproved her. And he
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: said to his wife, I need to correct the course
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: of where you're going with this conversation. Don't go there. Second,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: he has a great response to his condition. Shall we
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity? Magnificent theology.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: So strangely heard these days. Rarely, rarely said. Never in
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: the secular system. What kind of a God is that
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: that will treat you like this after you have lived
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: like that? Why in the world would you stand fast
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: when this so-called loving God who loves you so much,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: he would not do anything to hurt you? Wait, wait
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: a minute. Look at this. I love this statement. Shall
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: The Hebrew sentence reads, the good shall we accept from
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: God and the trouble shall we not accept? emphasizing the
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: good and the trouble. It's a rhetorical question, not asked
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: to be answered, but asked for the purpose of thinking.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: Doesn't he have the right? Isn't he the potter? Aren't
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: we the clay? Isn't he the shepherd and we the sheep?
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: Isn't he the master and we the servant? Isn't that
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: the way it works? Robert Alden, in his fine work
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: on Job, writes very practically, This is a hard lesson
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: for some believers to learn, especially if they have been
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: promised health and wealth or have misunderstood that God's wonderful
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: plan for their lives involves only pleasantness and not trouble.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: Believers on this side of the cross, hear this, have
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: many more examples from both the Bible and church history
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: of God's people who have suffered. Job was much more
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: in the dark. Yet out of that darkness, his strong
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: belief in the sovereignty of God shown forth all the
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: more brilliantly. Somehow he already knew that the clay does
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: not ask the potter. What are you making? No, no, no, no, no, sweetheart.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Let's don't go there. We serve a God who has
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: the right to do whatever he does and is never
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: obligated to explain it or ask permission. Shall we receive
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: only good? Is that the kind of God we serve?
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: He's a heavenly bellboy who waits for our phone call
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: and we ring up for room service and he brings
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: it and says, my pleasure. Whatever. What kind of God
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: is that? That's a capricious imagination. The God we serve
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: has a game plan that is beyond our comprehension. Such
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: times as this notwithstanding. One of my daughters said to me,
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: since we're all these days in the Swindoll home, sort
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: of going through the dregs of trials. She said to me, Daddy,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: now again, how long are you going to be on Job?
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: I thought about an answer. I think we're going to
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: do Job in segments. We're going to end with this
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: message and 10 years from now, we're going to take
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: up the next section. I told you, and I'm now
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: a living example of it, not asking for pity, asking
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: for prayer, however. It's hitting us from all sides. Nothing
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: like this. This was an unbelievable past week for us.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: And I think for a number of you. And one
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: thing follows another, which follows yet another, which follows yet another.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: Enough already. And I love his last line, which is
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: a resolve. In all this, Job did not sin with
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: his lips. There's absolute trust there. There's faith there. Sweetheart,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: we can't explain it. We would never have wanted it.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: Our hearts are broken over the loss. We've lost everything.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: But we've not lost a faithful God. who has a
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: plan that is unfolding and cannot be explained. I began
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: this message by referring to Johnny Gunther. I closed this
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: message by referring to you. And I want to share
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: with you what I think will be three lessons, three principles,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: if you will, and some advice that I believe will
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: be helpful for you, if not now, soon. Number one.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: Since our lives are full of trials, we need to
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: remember there are always more to come. Isn't that a
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: fun thought? Since our lives are full of trials, Job
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: himself said it, we are born into trouble as the
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: sparks fly upward. Since our lives are full of trials,
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: we need to remember there are always more to come.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: They are inevitable. Don't be surprised. Stay awake in the Pentagon.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: Be aware wherever you are that because one place was hit,
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: it doesn't mean this place is immune. It means this
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: may be next. Peter wrote this way, 1 Peter 4, 12.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Don't think it's strange. Since our lives are full of trials,
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: there are more to come. Here's the second. This is
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: not just for the wives, this is for all of us,
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: but I draw it from the story of the wife.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: Since our world has fallen, we need to understand that
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: there are those who love us but will give us
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: wrong advice. Since our world has fallen, those who love
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: us may give us wrong advice. I lived my life
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: these 65 plus years Having received wrong advice on a
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: number of occasions from people who love me greatly. They
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: were just simply wrong. They didn't mean to be wrong.
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: But they were. So don't be fooled. There's the advice.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: Don't be fooled. Just because he is your husband and
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: advises you of such and such doesn't mean that advice
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: is good to follow. Just because he or she is
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: a partner in your business and advice is given doesn't
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: mean that's good advice. Square that with the principles of
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: the book. This is the standard. This is our guide
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: right here. This is what we use. This is the
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: part that's inspired. If it contradicts this, stop it. You
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: speak as one of the foolish women. Sweetheart, I love you,
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: but I can't go there. Good point for me to say,
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: choose your words real carefully. Say less when you're around
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: a person going through a lot. Just say less. It's
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: amazing what a wonderful, warm hug, embrace. Just simple words like,
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: I've never been there, but I'm loving you through this.
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: Those are just about the best things you could say.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: And if God does reveal something to you that you
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: think needs to be shared, try not to share it
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: as a lecture. Just say, I'm wondering if maybe this
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: will help. Because I will say on the other side,
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: I have received advice very casually from individuals who love
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: me that has just turned the corner for me. And
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: we long for that, don't we? How great it would
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: have been if his wife had simply embraced him and
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: loved him through this and said, I'm going to be
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: here till the last moment. day of your life. I'm
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: here with you through this. I don't understand it any
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: more than you do, but I'm here. Here's a third principle. Oh,
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: this is so valuable. Since our God is sovereign, we
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: must prepare ourselves for blessing and adversity. He's unpredictable. Don't
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: be disillusioned. Because our God is sovereign, we must prepare
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: ourselves for blessing and adversity. Don't leave that last part out.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: And adversity. He's unpredictable. Don't be disillusioned. In my research
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: for this message, I came across the writings of one
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: Francis I. Anderson, spelled S-E-N. Francis Anderson is a medical doctor,
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: an archaeologist, biblical scholar, and author from Australia. And his
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: words just sort of jumped off the page and landed
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: right in front of me yesterday. I raced into the bathroom.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: Cynthia was getting dressed and I said, honey, you've got
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: to hear this. And I read her exactly what I'm
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: going to read you. Listen to these words. Job finds
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: nothing wrong with what has happened to him. It is
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: equally right for God to give gifts and to retrieve them.
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: Round one. It is equally right for God to send
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: good or evil. Round two. Receive as a good gift.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: Active word implying cooperation with providence, not mere submission. Such
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: positive faith is the magic stone that transmutes all to gold.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: For when the bad as well as the good is
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: received at the hand of God, every experience of life
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: becomes an occasion of blessing. But the cost is high.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: Listen to the last sentence. But the cost is high.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: It is easier to lower your view of God than
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: to raise your faith to such a high. Some theologians
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: today have done that. It's called open theism because bad
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: things are happening to these good people. Then God did
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: not know they were going to happen. He could never
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: send such a thing. And so God is learning in
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: the process as a result of how we respond, what
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: to do next. Omniscience doesn't learn. That's heresy. Omniscience doesn't discover.
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: You'll never hear the words in God's throne room. I
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: didn't know that. Look, look, Gabriel, look. Whatever. Whatever. Our
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases.
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: Our God has no obligation to explain himself. Our God
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: does not ever have to invade a hospital room and say,
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: now let me explain five reasons this has happened to
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: your son. And I do not mean to present in
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: any way a cruel God. He is full of compassion,
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: but his plan is beyond our comprehension. Our ways are
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: Not as high as his ways. And our thoughts are
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: not his thoughts. As the heavens are high above the earth.
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: So are his ways above ours. And his plan beyond
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: our ability to grasp. Isaiah 55. And so I say.
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: Oh God I trust you. I don't know why I've
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: gone through this. If there's something I can learn. Wonderful.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: If there's something someone else can learn. Great. Great. Just
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: get me through it. Just hold me close. Deepen me.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: Change me. Job, shall we not accept good from God
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: and not accept adversity? He's God. That's one of the
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: reasons I believe heaven will be such a delightful place.
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: I really do. We step into his presence for the
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: first time. We get the panoramic view. And we're the
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: ones who go, oh, so that's the reason. Jay Kessler
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: at Taylor University for so many years, good friend, said
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: the first sound you'll hear in heaven when we get
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: there is, oh. Should have had a V8. Of course. Absolutely.
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: And to think I had fought that. Look at how
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: it worked together. Look at the message it delivered. Look
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: at how it honored God. Look at how the world
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: stood with their mouths open and watched as we went
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: through this. Not complaining, but trusting. It is easier to
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: lower your view of God than to raise your faith
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: to such a height. And he adds, we shall watch
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: the struggle as Job's faith is strained every way by
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: temptations to see the cause of his misfortune as something
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: less than God. He is totally and completely and absolutely
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: in charge. If he wipes out every member of your family,
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: he is in charge. If he ends your business in
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: abysmal bankruptcy, he is in charge. If the x-ray returns
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: and it couldn't be worse, he is in charge. Get that.
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: Get that teaching. And how magnificent it is to find
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: those who trust him to the very end of this
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: veil of suffering, saying, and may his name be praised,
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: and may his name Be praised. Don't understand it. Can't
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: explain it. May his name be praised. That. That. Is worship.
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: At its highest. Amen. Now Lord. We pause here. On
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: the cusp of this message. And my voice trembles a little.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: As I wonder. What you have planned for us next.
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: What you have planned for our country. What you have
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: planned for our church. What you have for our families.
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: And what you have for my family. Lord God forgive
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: us for the wasted hours we have spent. Trying to
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: squeeze you into our frame of thinking. Humanizing your work.
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: And defining and describing it in terms of how we
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: or someone we know would have handled something. When you
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: are not at all anywhere near those categories. I pray
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: that you will guard us from lowering our view of yourself.
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: You will assist us as we raise our faith. To
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: a height it has never gone before. Help us Lord.
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: Through these hard times. And now to him who is
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: able to guard us from stumbling. And present us faultless.
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: Before the presence of his glory with exceeding great joy.
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: To the only wise God. Wise God. Our savior be
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: glory and majesty. Dominion and power. Now. And forever. In
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: his glorious name. Through Christ we pray. And all of
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: his people said. A rousing. Amen. Do it again. Amen. Alright.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: That's great.
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: The preceding message. Satan versus Job. Round two. Was copyrighted
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: in 2002. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2004.
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: By Charles R. Swindoll Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: In the preceding message, Charles R.
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: Swindoll, Inc.
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: Is grateful to the following sources for permission to quote
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: from their materials. InterVarsity Press for excerpts from the Tyndale
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: Old Testament Commentary on Job, copyrighted in 1976 by Francis I. Anderson.
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: Discovery House Publishers for excerpts from the book Adventuring Through
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: the Bible, copyrighted in 1997 by Ray Stedman. Broadman and
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: Holman Publishers for excerpts from the book, The New American Commentary,
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: Volume 2, Job. Copyrighted in 1993 by Robert L.
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: Alden.
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: And Cook Communications Ministries for excerpts from the book, Be Patient,
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: Waiting on God in Difficult Times. Copyrighted in 1991 by
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: Warren Wiersbe.