Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Job’s Advice to Husbands and Friends │ Msg 422 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Job’s Advice to Husbands and Friends │ Msg 422 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: We are examining the story of Job in our time
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  Speaker 1: together on these mornings. And if you're not familiar with
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  Speaker 1: your Bible, if you go right to the center of it,
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  Speaker 1: you'll find the Book of Psalms. Just to the left.
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  Speaker 1: Just before you get to the Book of Psalms, you'll
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  Speaker 1: find Job, probably the oldest book in the scriptures, to
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  Speaker 1: the surprise of some people, perhaps it was. Certainly it
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  Speaker 1: was as old as the days of Abraham, and that
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  Speaker 1: dates it among the days of the patriarchs. Job. We're
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  Speaker 1: in the second chapter. I'll read for us verse seven
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  Speaker 1: down to the end of the chapter, verse thirteen, Job
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  Speaker 1: two seven. Then Satan went out from the presence of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord and smote Job with sore boys else from
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  Speaker 1: the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
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  Speaker 1: And he took a potchard to scrape himself while he
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  Speaker 1: was sitting among the ashes. And his wife said to him,
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  Speaker 1: do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die?
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  Speaker 1: But he said to her, you speak as one of
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  Speaker 1: the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from
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  Speaker 1: God and not accept adversity? In all this, Job did
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  Speaker 1: not sin with his lips. Now, when Job's three friends
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  Speaker 1: heard of all this adversity that had come upon him.
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  Speaker 1: They came, each one from his own place, Eliphaz, the Temanite,
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  Speaker 1: Bildad the shoe height so far, the Namathite, and they
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  Speaker 1: made an appointment together to come to sympathize and to
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  Speaker 1: sympathize with him and comfort him. When they lifted up
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  Speaker 1: their eyes at a distance, they did not recognize him.
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  Speaker 1: They raised their voices and wept, and each of them
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  Speaker 1: tore his robe, and they threw dust over their heads
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  Speaker 1: toward the sky. Then they sat down on the ground
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  Speaker 1: with him for seven days and seven nights, with no
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  Speaker 1: one speaking a word to him, for they saw that
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  Speaker 1: his pain was very great. Bye with me, please, our father.
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  Speaker 1: We place ourselves before the true, the inspired, the preserved,
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  Speaker 1: the recorded word of God. It is a comfort to
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  Speaker 1: know that none of the words need to be adjusted
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  Speaker 1: to fit in some way our times, for they are
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  Speaker 1: for our times. Whatever has been written in earlier times
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  Speaker 1: was written for our learning, that we, through patients and
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  Speaker 1: comfort from the very scriptures, might have hope. There's no
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  Speaker 1: way I could know the condition of each person here today.
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  Speaker 1: Some are though rest for church, and sitting among us
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  Speaker 1: are in enormous anguish of soul for whatever reason. Others
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  Speaker 1: are in deep pain, some physical, some emotional, some over
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  Speaker 1: conflicts at home, others at work, some without jobs, others
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  Speaker 1: without a friend. But we sit together, and that is good,
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  Speaker 1: for we have in common the fallen nature that grips
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  Speaker 1: all of us. We have all known just this week,
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  Speaker 1: failure and fault. We have said things that should not
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  Speaker 1: have been said. We have thought thoughts that were alien,
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  Speaker 1: and we have perhaps even done that which was wrong.
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  Speaker 1: We come before you are faithful and forgiving father, and
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  Speaker 1: we lay ourselves before you, and we claim with deepest
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  Speaker 1: gratitude your forgiveness. We also would be vulnerable in your presence,
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  Speaker 1: as we admit that we come for the benefit that
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  Speaker 1: we shall gain, not that someone we brought, not that
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  Speaker 1: our partner in life, not that our child or parent
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  Speaker 1: might hear what's being instructed, but that we ourselves may
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  Speaker 1: take it in and live it out. Deliver us from
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  Speaker 1: the habits we have built over the years of traditional
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  Speaker 1: church attendants. May this become a fresh encounter, a fresh expression,
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  Speaker 1: as our words of music and song and praise have been.
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  Speaker 1: May we hear what you are saying, our Father, and
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  Speaker 1: may they impact us deeply so as to bring about change.
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  Speaker 1: I specially pray for those who find themselves in a
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  Speaker 1: crucible today, going through a severe test where there does
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  Speaker 1: not seem to be a solution, and now that you
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  Speaker 1: have them exactly where you would wish them to be,
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  Speaker 1: may they be especially careful to hear from you, and
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  Speaker 1: may I be especially accurate and careful with what I say.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you today our Father for the protection over us
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  Speaker 1: as a country, for our president and his wife and family,
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  Speaker 1: for those who serve alongside his administration, and those in
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  Speaker 1: places within it. We pray for those in great need
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  Speaker 1: in the Middle East today, some our friends, most we've
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  Speaker 1: never met. We pray for you to watch over that
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  Speaker 1: special part of this planet. We pray for those who
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  Speaker 1: protect us from enemy attack, guard our nation. Our Father
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  Speaker 1: teach us in the process of this unusual period of
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  Speaker 1: time what it needs to trust and not be afraid. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Lord of all things, it is our privilege not only
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  Speaker 1: to give you our praise and to give you our attention,
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  Speaker 1: but now to give you our treasure. We tend to
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  Speaker 1: grip it tighter than anything we own, living under the
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  Speaker 1: false impression that we own it, when in fact you
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  Speaker 1: own it all, and so it is our privilege to
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  Speaker 1: return to you what is rightfully yours all along. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you for our work, for the opportunity to earn a
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  Speaker 1: living out of it. We give generously, and we do
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  Speaker 1: so gratefully. And we want you to know our Father
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  Speaker 1: that if we were given a choice over all the
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  Speaker 1: choices of all the people and all the possessions, we
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  Speaker 1: would rather have Jesus than anything this world affords. Today
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  Speaker 1: we pray it his name, and everyone said, Amen. When
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  Speaker 1: you study the Book of Job, you enter into a
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  Speaker 1: crucible if you will crucible. I thought about that word
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  Speaker 1: for quite some time this past week and did a
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  Speaker 1: little study on it, and found that at the core
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  Speaker 1: of it is a Latin term crux. We have several
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  Speaker 1: English words that grow out of the Latin original. The
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  Speaker 1: Latin term means cross, which was commonly used in the
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  Speaker 1: Latin language for a place of torture, one's cross. We
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  Speaker 1: still use that, the cross one must bear. We say
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  Speaker 1: excruciating is another term that comes from it. But crucible
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  Speaker 1: is on our minds as we think about this pit
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  Speaker 1: of agony. Webster defines crucible a severe test, a place
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  Speaker 1: or situation in which concentrated forces interact to cause change development.
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  Speaker 1: Let me do that again. A severe test a place
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  Speaker 1: or situation in which concentrated forces interact to cause change
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  Speaker 1: or development. Job's crucible was brought about by two attacks
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  Speaker 1: from Satan, permitted by God. Round one, he was attacked
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  Speaker 1: in the area of possessions, his means of earning a
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  Speaker 1: living or of sustaining a lifestyle. As you recall, he
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  Speaker 1: lost all of his livestock, most of his servants, all
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  Speaker 1: of the cattle, all of the donkeys, all of the
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  Speaker 1: means of income. And the crowning blow, he lost all
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  Speaker 1: ten of his adult children, and probably himself buried them,
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  Speaker 1: having no longer the availability of servants. Horrible thought, literally
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  Speaker 1: burying all ten of his adult children. Round two was
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  Speaker 1: the second attack, and as if the first had not
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  Speaker 1: been enough, Satan was determined to see Job or hear
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  Speaker 1: Job curse God, and so he attacked him in his
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  Speaker 1: the one area that he had left, and that was
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  Speaker 1: his health. Not only did he take it away by
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  Speaker 1: covering him from scalp to sole of his feet with
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  Speaker 1: sore boils that oozed and cracked and turned his skin
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  Speaker 1: black and left him with a maddening itch fever and
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  Speaker 1: a swollen condition, so that he hardly resembled that of
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  Speaker 1: a man any longer. The misery of that was in
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  Speaker 1: the place of his health. The nineteenth century Scottish divine
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  Speaker 1: Alexander White put it best, I think till Christ came,
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  Speaker 1: no soul was ever made such a battleground between heaven
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  Speaker 1: and earth as Job's soul was made a battleground. And remember,
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  Speaker 1: we know what Job did not know. We know why
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  Speaker 1: it happened, and we know how it happened. He knew neither.
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  Speaker 1: All he knew was one day he is the specimen
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  Speaker 1: of health and strength and prosperity, and integrity and blessing
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  Speaker 1: and a full quiver of children and happiness that go
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  Speaker 1: goes along with all of that. And the next day
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  Speaker 1: he's lost it all, and finally he's lost his health,
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  Speaker 1: and he nevertheless endurers. In fact, though Job is one
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  Speaker 1: of the if not the oldest, of the Biblical books,
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  Speaker 1: he came to be known not as the model of suffering,
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  Speaker 1: but as the model of endurance. It's an important detail,
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  Speaker 1: James says in James five to eleven, written in the
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  Speaker 1: middle of the first century. You have heard of the
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  Speaker 1: endurance of Job so Job endured the crucible. He didn't
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  Speaker 1: attempt to escape from it. The only thing he had
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  Speaker 1: left when all was said and done was a wife
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  Speaker 1: and a handful of friends. And we know, and we'll
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  Speaker 1: know again there their response to him through all of this.
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  Speaker 1: It was neither comforting nor was it pleasant. But he endured.
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  Speaker 1: A history of A professor of history once said, if
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  Speaker 1: Columbus had turned back, no one would have blamed him,
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  Speaker 1: but no one would have remembered him either. Had Job
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  Speaker 1: escaped in some way, no one would have blamed him,
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  Speaker 1: but we would not remember him. We remember him because
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  Speaker 1: he endured. Not only did he endure the afflictions I've described,
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  Speaker 1: but he endured the words of a grieving and bitter wife.
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  Speaker 1: And he also endured the accusations of friends who took
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  Speaker 1: upon themselves the role of judge and jury. If you
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  Speaker 1: have gone through your own crucible, you know what it
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  Speaker 1: is like, in the midst of the pain of what
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  Speaker 1: you're going through, on top of that, to have people
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  Speaker 1: turn against you. Such pain that brings. But you know what,
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  Speaker 1: as a result of enduring such pain, we become valuable
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  Speaker 1: as comforters and counsels, counselors for others. I was walking
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  Speaker 1: the hallways of our church staff offices recently, and I
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  Speaker 1: stopped by my son, Chuck's office, and I noticed on
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  Speaker 1: his desk was a concept that he had pulled from
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  Speaker 1: John eldridge book Wild at Heart. The statement read, I
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  Speaker 1: can trust a man only after he has become well
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  Speaker 1: acquainted with pain. It's a good statement, as I recall.
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  Speaker 1: Counsel I have received that has been valuable for me
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  Speaker 1: has never come from a novice. It's come from one
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  Speaker 1: who bears the scars and the marks of some pain
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  Speaker 1: in his or her life. I can trust one only
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  Speaker 1: after he has become well acquainted with pain. Now, then,
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  Speaker 1: it's because of that concept I felt it would be
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  Speaker 1: wise before jumping right away into the dialogue between Job
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  Speaker 1: and his friends. I felt it would be helpful to
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  Speaker 1: get some advice from Job. We will study, and we
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  Speaker 1: have in our past, many of us studied the advice
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  Speaker 1: others gave to Job, but we've not really looked at
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  Speaker 1: what Job's counsel might have been to them. A man
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  Speaker 1: who is going through such things, and is enduring such
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  Speaker 1: things certainly has some things to say that would be helpful,
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  Speaker 1: none of it directly understand, but I draw the indirectly
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  Speaker 1: by inference from really verses nine through thirteen of chapter one.
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  Speaker 1: Last time I spoke on some words of advice for
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  Speaker 1: a part of my message was words of advice for
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  Speaker 1: the wives. Remember, I've never seen such blank faces in
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  Speaker 1: all of my preaching as asking that. And since you
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  Speaker 1: don't remember, let me give some Let me repeat some
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  Speaker 1: words of advice for you who are wives. I have
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  Speaker 1: a couple of thoughts that I'm going to repeat here
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  Speaker 1: from the former message I brought in this passage. First,
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  Speaker 1: always guard your words when your husband is going through
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  Speaker 1: a hard time. This is not only for wives with husbands.
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  Speaker 1: This is for you, ladies who have men that you're
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  Speaker 1: close to and you work alongside. Maybe it's a colleague,
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  Speaker 1: it might be someone who works under you or above you,
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  Speaker 1: the point being you're close to them. Always guard your
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  Speaker 1: words when that man is going through a hard time.
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  Speaker 1: Men can become vulnerable and in fact gullible during difficult times,
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  Speaker 1: and it would be regrettable if you simply dumped out
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  Speaker 1: words that would not be wise, It would not be
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  Speaker 1: helpful in that vulnerable time he's going through. Job's wife
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  Speaker 1: did that, and thankfully Job did not heed. Her counsel.
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  Speaker 1: The second, never suggest to us that we should compromise
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  Speaker 1: our integrity. Don't ever go there, even if it would
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  Speaker 1: mean instant or temporary gratification or relief. Integrity is a
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  Speaker 1: tough enough virtue to sustain without the temptation to compromise it.
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  Speaker 1: Gauge your words, ladies, And I'm addressing this to the ladies, because,
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  Speaker 1: believe it, your words do mean more than we act
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  Speaker 1: like they do. And wives words are wiser words than
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  Speaker 1: we usually give you credit for. And that's most unfortunate
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  Speaker 1: that we don't tell you enough. So when you do speak,
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  Speaker 1: never weaken our integrity. Remember there's nothing more important in
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  Speaker 1: our character, aside from a relationship with Christ than moral
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  Speaker 1: and ethical integrity. Don't even come close to suggesting that
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  Speaker 1: that be compromised. So I return again to verse nine,
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  Speaker 1: and I want to hear some things Joe I believe
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  Speaker 1: would advise wives. And again, I've spent enough years in
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  Speaker 1: my past taking shots at Job's wife, and I don't
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  Speaker 1: want to do that anymore. Remember, she too buried ten children.
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  Speaker 1: She too has gone through the grief of the loss
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  Speaker 1: of a lifestyle and the privileged position of a prestigious husband.
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  Speaker 1: The best known in all the East. According to chapter one,
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  Speaker 1: she too has watched him. She has watched him shave
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  Speaker 1: his head and tear his robe, and sit in the
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  Speaker 1: city dump alongside wild dogs fighting for food and among
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  Speaker 1: the dung that's burned there. She has known humiliation as well.
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  Speaker 1: So we give her some slack here for responding as
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  Speaker 1: she does. I'm not saying it's right, I'm saying it's understandable.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, her words come from the anguish of seeing
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  Speaker 1: her husband like living death, enduring this skin ulcerated condition
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  Speaker 1: and not being able to help him, and she just
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  Speaker 1: wishes he could he could be taken off the earth.
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  Speaker 1: Death is better than this. Sometimes the suffering feel that
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  Speaker 1: often those with terminal illnesses say that. So her words
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  Speaker 1: are in verse nine, do you still hold fast your integrity?
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  Speaker 1: Curse God and die? And we said last time, Satan
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  Speaker 1: was holding his breath hoping that job would take her advice.
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  Speaker 1: That's exactly what he told God that this man would do.
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  Speaker 1: If you remove the hedge about him and treated him
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  Speaker 1: with anything but penthouse treatment, you would see him because
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  Speaker 1: he follows you God out of what he gets out
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  Speaker 1: of it, rather than a true integrity of heart, and
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  Speaker 1: Job does not follow her lead here, So let me
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  Speaker 1: suggest four. I gave the wives two things to remember.
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  Speaker 1: Please note, I'm giving the husbands four things now. Men,
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  Speaker 1: I advise you to write them down, because your wife
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  Speaker 1: will write them down, and so I advise you to
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  Speaker 1: take note. And wives, I advise you not to remind
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  Speaker 1: your husbands of them. Okay, we're hearing today, and we will.
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  Speaker 1: We will give heed to these things. The first piece
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  Speaker 1: of advice listen well and always tell her the truth.
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  Speaker 1: Listen well, and always tell her the truth. I'm impressed
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  Speaker 1: that Job heard his wife. I'm impressed that he pondered,
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  Speaker 1: He considered her words, He turned them over in his mind.
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  Speaker 1: He neither misunderstood nor ignored them. He heard what she said.
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  Speaker 1: I've found that most of us husbands are not hard
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  Speaker 1: of hearing. We're hard of listening. Our wives frequently have
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  Speaker 1: the most important things to say to us that we
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  Speaker 1: will hear that day, but out of the years of
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  Speaker 1: experience we've had of living with them, we tend to
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  Speaker 1: turn that off. We'd say things in our mind like, oh,
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  Speaker 1: you know, it's like rolling your eyes. You go, oh boy,
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  Speaker 1: set through this before and I know where she's going here.
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  Speaker 1: Wait wait, wait, wait, Probably Job and his wife have
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  Speaker 1: had a few spats. I mean it's a marriage, isn't it.
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  Speaker 1: We don't have perfect marriages. We have reasonably good marriages.
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  Speaker 1: It's the best we can hope for. And wives at
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  Speaker 1: certain times in our lives will have just the kernel
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  Speaker 1: of truth that we need to hear. But we will
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  Speaker 1: miss it if we are not careful, if we operate
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  Speaker 1: from habit and in an impatient moment, we will not
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  Speaker 1: pay attention. Will look like we are but we're not.
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  Speaker 1: Let me add tell her the truth, which means, if
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  Speaker 1: it is wise and squares with what you know to
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  Speaker 1: be truth, if it is helpful, say that, If it
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  Speaker 1: is not, say that. Job said that. His response, having
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  Speaker 1: heard her, was you speak as one of the foolish
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  Speaker 1: women speaks. Francis Anderson writes, she sees death as the
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  Speaker 1: only good remaining for Job. He should pray to God
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  Speaker 1: to be allowed to die, or even curse God, an
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  Speaker 1: indirect way of committing suicide. Anderson adds, whatever lay behind
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  Speaker 1: her words, Job rejects them, but he does not call
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  Speaker 1: her wicked, merely foolish, that is lacking in discernment. She
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  Speaker 1: thinks God has treated Job badly and deserves a curse.
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  Speaker 1: Job finds nothing wrong with what has happened to him.
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  Speaker 1: Instead of helping, the words of his wife and his
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  Speaker 1: friends cause him more pain and put him under more
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  Speaker 1: pressure than all the other things that have happened to
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  Speaker 1: him so far. Job detected in her a snag of bitterness,
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  Speaker 1: and he said to her, this is information I will
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  Speaker 1: not act on. This isn't wise, This is a foolish
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  Speaker 1: bit of advice, and I can't accept it. That's truth,
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  Speaker 1: you say, Well, good night, Chuck, this is awfully basic.
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  Speaker 1: Get onto things that are deep. Well, I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: risk a statement here, though I don't have anyone in mind,
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  Speaker 1: I am sure that in most marriages there are a
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  Speaker 1: few lives still awash that haven't been confessed to or corrected.
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  Speaker 1: I find one of the most difficult things to get
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  Speaker 1: couples to do is say the truth. Admit when we've
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  Speaker 1: done wrong, rather than skirt it or rationalize around it
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  Speaker 1: or excuse it because of just say it, or if
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  Speaker 1: the other side is necessary. When we hear our mate
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  Speaker 1: say something that we know is not good, we tend
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  Speaker 1: not to say the hard thing, and we need to.
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  Speaker 1: You know, honey, I realized you've got my good at heart.
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  Speaker 1: But I honestly have to say I can't go there.
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  Speaker 1: I don't agree with that. I think that's unwise for
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  Speaker 1: you to suggest that, or whatever. Time doesn't allow me
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  Speaker 1: to go to all the rabbit trails with this. But
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  Speaker 1: you get the picture. Listen well and always tell her
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  Speaker 1: the truth. Here's the second bit of counsel for the
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  Speaker 1: husband's teach her about God. Job did that? Clearly? Look
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  Speaker 1: at how we did it? He asked a question, shall
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  Speaker 1: we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?
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  Speaker 1: What great theology? Sweetheart. You have to understand that our
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  Speaker 1: God is not a health and wealth god. Our God
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: is a sovereign lord. He is lord over whatever occurs
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: in our home, in our lives like I'm going through.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: This is no surprise to God. For some unrevealed reason,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: he has permitted it. And you need to know, honey,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: that while we can't explain it, our God is sovereign
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: over this as well. He taught her about God. I've
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: not met a godly woman who has that. I ever
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: remember saying to me, I really am not interested in
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: what my husband has to say about spiritual things. Most
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: of them I know will say without hesitation, I'd rather
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: get truth from my husband than anybody I know. And
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: husbands we are viewed in the New Testament. A section
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: says a wife should not go to a pastor, but
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: should go to a husband to find the answer to
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: her questions. I find some women have greater respect for me,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: of all things, than their husbands. Now, husbands, one of
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: the joys of growing close in marriage is sharing things
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: that God's teaching you about himself. And think of it.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: Here's a man covered in sore boils, in such anguish
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: he can hardly sleep, and yet he's teaching her some
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: things about spiritual things that she needed to learn. I
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: urge you, men who are married to Christian ladies and
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: you are growing together in your spiritual life, take the
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: time to share with her some of the things the
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Lord's teaching you. Now how we go about it is important, okay,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: Rather than have I got some things to set you
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: straight on, or there are four things you need to know,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: just you know, just ask like a question, shall we
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: not receive good from God and not also adversity? Do it? Graciously?
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Do it? Great boy? You give some guy's freedom to
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: do this. It's like they are in man, they got
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: the gloves on. They are gonna pound this into them.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: If it's the last thing he does. Don't go there.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Here's a third model verbal purity in all this job
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: did not sin with his lips. Model verbal purity. Because
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: we will live with our wives over the years, as
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: we do, and because we become very, very comfortable around them,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: and because we become unguarded in our words, our wives
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: usually get the brunt of our worst words. Let's agree
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: that we will remove a verbal impurity from our lips.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: He did not make a blasphemous statement. He did not
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: curse God. He does not curse her. I loved it
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: when Anderson wrote that he didn't call her wicked, he
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: called her foolish. There's a lot of difference. Be careful
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: how you talk to your wife. Men. I can recall
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: a particular pastor who at the door of the church
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: when his wife simply said, shell be go by the restaurant,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: or do you want to go so and so he
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: turned and unloaded on her a piece of his mind
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: he couldn't afford to lose. And I've got to tell you,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: she took it like a champ. And my heart went
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: out to her. We were all embarrassed as as several
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: of us witnessed this embarrassing statement made by this fairly
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: well known preacher. And I learned a lot about that
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: preacher that day. I don't care how well known, or
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: how important, how much money you make, or how big
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: your company is. You don't have the right to talk
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: to your wife like a dog. She is your partner,
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: she is your equal, and she knows a lot of
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: stuff on you. She too can write the unauthorized biography
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: and not sign it. You know. Number four, Accept her completely,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: Love her unconditionally. Those words are all important. Put them
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: down just like I gave them. Accept her completely, love
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: her unconditionally. I'll tell you a wife thrives in that
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: kind of context. She is who she is. God has
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: made her into the woman she has become. She was
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: the wife you chose, you chose. She has become the
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: woman that God is making her into. And that requires
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: that calls for complete acceptance and unconditional love. What it
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: leads to in the long haul is commitment. You're there
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: for the long haul. You're there to stay, and no
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: amount of hardship, difficulty, test or trial will separate you.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: In fact, it will pull you closer together. Many a
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: marriage is strung together by very thin, fragile threads, and
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: tests come either from the children or a difficult birth
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: and birth defects in a child, or trials and tests
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: in business, or in the financial realm, or in the
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: emotional realm or whatever. You hang in there, guys, hang
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: in there, Hang in there, Hang in there. Tell her
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: how much she means to you. Talk to her about
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: the value she has in your life. She represents. Guys,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: just look for ways to get out. Got a good friend.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: We've been pretty serious here, so I got to have
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: a little fun with you. I had a friend send
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: me a cute story of woman awakes in the middle
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: of the night and her husband's gone, and he's left
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: the bed by her, and she puts on her robe
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: and goes downstairs to look for him. And he's sitting
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: all by himself at the kitchen table with a hot
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: cup of coffee, just kind of staring at the wall,
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: blinking with tears. And she said, what's the matter, dear?
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: She says, what, why are you down here at this
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: time of night? What's going on? He looks up from
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: the cup of coffee and He says, you remember twenty
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: years ago when we were dating and you were only sixteen.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: She says, yeah, of course I remember. He pauses, words
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: don't come easily. He says, remember when your father saw
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: us in the car and we were smooching, and boy,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: he stuck a pistol in my face, and he said,
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: any boy who kisses my daughter like that's gonna marry her.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: Either you marry her or or I'm sending you to
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: jail for twenty years. Remember that? She said, yeah, I remember. That.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: Wipes another tear away, and he says I would have
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: gotten out today. That's not a good guy that'll do that.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: I would have gotten out today. All these years he'd
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: been counting up to have fifteen at money. My wife,
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: who heard this sermon the first time, said, lose the joke. Okay,
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: get I am not well. I might listen to her,
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: But now it isn't long before before the word gets
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: out to Job's friends. And we all have friends. I
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: hope we all have a few friends. I don't think
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: he just had three or four. I think he had
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: a number. But these particular friends got word that Job
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: had come across a whole series of tragic events. I
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: want you to stop and think about a couple or
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: three good friends. Okay, just in your mind. Name them
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: in your mind, okay, and let's say that all of
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: you guys or all you gals have been together from
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: maybe from school it started, and you've been cultivating this
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: friendship over the years. Let's say what, I'm really hit
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: bottom and you got word and the other buddies of
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: yours or the other gals that were in the same sorority,
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: or maybe guys that in this unobsame ball team or whatever,
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: and you all get the word that your friend is
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: really going through It may not make it well, are
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: you going to do well? Just exactly what you're thinking
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: is what these three friends did. What's interesting is we
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: don't know much about them. In fact, we know very
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: little even about where they lived. Originally, they're called three
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: friends in verse eleven, Job's three friends, and were told
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: that when they heard of all this adversity that had
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: come upon him, they came, each one from his own place,
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: and they're name for us el Faz Bill Dad. So
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: far interesting. When you get to chapter thirty two, verses two,
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: four and six, you'll read of another friend named Elie
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: Hugh e l i Hu. Elihu comes on the scene,
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: but he says he's younger and he's shy, so he
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: has allowed the unfolding. Three cycles of dialogue occur through
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: Job from chapter three all the way to thirty two.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: Three cycles of dialogue occur, and Elihu stays quiet as
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: Elephaz speaks and Job answers, and then build A speaks
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: and Job answers, and then so Far speaks and Job answers,
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: and then Elephat speaks again, and then build that. And
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: so we're going to see that a little more closely
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: when we analyze these chapters and sort of select our
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: journey through the book. But Elihu waits till the end. Anyway,
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: there were all together four, though three are mentioned here.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: They were probably wealthy seeks who had the time and
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: the money to leave their place of living and their businesses,
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: if we could call it that. Maybe they had met
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: in the business world. Maybe they were part of the
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: enterprise that had been Job's past. We're not told. You
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: can link some of their locations to places like Edom
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: and northern Arabia, but you can't locate exactly where they are.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: These are ancient places that the scholars find debatable. So
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: where they're from isn't important. The point is each one
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: came from a different place in an agreement that they
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: would come to be with their friend. And we're told, well,
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: we're not cold, But it is implied they spoke the
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: same language, so they've got language in common, and they
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: knew one another. They're called friends, and they planned a trip.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: Noticed they verse eleven made an appointment together to come
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: to sympathize and to comfort. Always note the verbs when
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: you're reading through the scriptures, the words of action, and
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: they also tie in together the movement of what's going on.
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: They decided to come to sympathize and to comfort. They
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: agreed to. Now, a lot of things we're going to
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: say about these friends that would certainly be unattractive and
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: disappointing about how things wound up, because the longer they stayed,
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: the worst things got, and the more argumentative and the
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: more judgmental, et cetera. But you've got to commend these
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: men for coming. So I want to say right now,
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: in the basis of the implications of verses eleven through thirteen,
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: I want to give you four or five pieces of
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: advice regarding friendships. Okay, we've talked to husbands about those
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: three or four things. Now we're going to think about friends.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: We will click them off one by one. We're not
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: going to be here at two thirty, but I realize
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: what time it is, so let's move ahead. The first
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: of the five friends care enough to come without being
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: invited to come, care enough to come without being asked
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: to come. No one sent a message saying to Eliphaz
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: and Bill, Dad and so far, would you please come
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: and bring a little sympathy and comfort for Job. The
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: man is dying in this anguish, this crucible. Nope, didn't
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: do that. They heard that he was going through it.
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: They came those people you thought of a few moments ago.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: If you were to hear that one of them was
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: going through a terminal battle with a disease. I have
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: the feeling you'd connect in some way. You wouldn't wait
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: for an invitation. Please write me a letter of encouragement
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: or help me through this. Remember John eleven, where Lazarus
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: takes ill and Martha and Mary the sisters write Jesus
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: and say, the one whom you love is sick. Period.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: They don't even ask him to come and when he
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: doesn't come, which is another whole story we covered on Easter.
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: Remember when he doesn't come, they're offended. But he could
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: have said, you never asked me to come. Wait. Wait,
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: you don't ask a friend. If a friend of yours
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: has a caronary and you find out they're over Presbyterian
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Hospital in and long before yearby, you're nearby that friend
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: of yours going through that heart attack, you don't wait
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: for an invitation. No one's ever invited to a funeral.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: We say we go because we're paying our last respect.
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: So you go out of respect. So these men love
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: job friends care enough to come without being asked to come.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: Here's a second. Friends respond with sympathy and comfort. Friends
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: respond with sympathy and comfort. Sympathy includes identifying with the sufferer.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: Friends do that entering into his or her crew for
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: the purpose of feeling the anguish and the pain. Comfort
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: is attempting to ease the pain by helping any way
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: to make the sorrow lighter. You run errands for them,
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: You take care of the kids, You provide a meal,
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: You assist wherever you need to assist, because you want
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: to comfort him. One man writes on learning of Job's affliction,
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: three beloved friends agreed together to travel to us in
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: order to console Job. The term for friends has a
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: wide range of meanings, including intimate counselor close friend party.
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: In a legal dispute, friends often solemnize their relationship with
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: a covenant, promising to care for each other under all
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: kinds of circumstances. The relationship between Job and his three
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: friends gives every evidence of being based on a covenant.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: Is not intriguing. Maybe while you were in school, you
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: sort of had a pact with each other. You guys
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: got close. You said to each other, no matter what,
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: wherever we find ourselves in the future, we want each
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: of you to know we're going to be there, especially
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: when you're in need. When I was going through seminary,
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: there were two guys that I studied with for every
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: major exam, and we were inseparable when test time came.
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: To this day, they play a special part in Cynthia's
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: in my mind. Both of them happened to have been single,
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: I was married. They would come to our place, we'd
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: have coffee, would have a light meal or whatever, would
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: study into the night to bone up for the exam together,
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: and it was kind of like a pact among us
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: to stay close. We never wrote it out, but it's true. Now.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: These men had that kind of closeness, and they came
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: to give sympathy and comfort. Here's a third. Friends openly
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: express the depth of their feelings. Friends openly express the
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: depth of their feelings. Friends do that, don't they. It's
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: not uncommon to see a friend standing nearby in the
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: room fighting back the tears. It's not uncommon for the
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: friend to express his or her feelings. Acquaintances don't do that.
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: A nurse who comes to take care of you in
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: the hospital, I mean, is she going to say, how
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: are you really tell me I want to feel deeply
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: with you? Are you kidding? She says, bend over you know,
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: or whatever? You know. She wakes you up to see
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: if you're asleep, She gives you, gives you a shot.
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: You know, Okay, time for another one. You know. It's
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: not a close friend that will do that. Friends don't
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: give each other shots. You know. They were aghast when
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: they saw what they saw. They didn't even recognize him.
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: They probably went to the homestead where they had been before,
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: and the place didn't even look the same. Everything is destroyed.
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: They's not even a kid that could only see the
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: grave sites. And somebody nearby says, oh Joba, he left
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: some time ago. I think he's at the city dunk.
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: And they breathed deeply, and they went down there, and
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: they before they ever got there, they got close enough
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: to see him, and he has no hair, and he
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: says the robe is torn, and he's sitting there with
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: dung burning near him, and dogs nearby, and the garbage around.
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: And they wept. They wept. Look at this, and it
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: says they threw dust over their heads towards the sky,
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: and an ancient expression of grief. That means they were
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: down near the dust. Fact that says they sat down
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: on the ground Verse thirteen. That's what friends do. I
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: don't worry about getting dirty or bloody. They don't worry
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: about the mess, which brings me to my fourth. Friends
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: aren't turned off by distasteful sights. They rather, they come
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: alongside and they stay as long as is appropriate. You're
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: not turned off because the room doesn't smell good. You're
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: not turned off because your friend weighs half of what
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: he used to weigh. You see beyond all of that,
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: You're not turned off because they're laying there in a
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: hospital gown, or because the bottom is dropped out of
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: their life and there they're at wits end. That doesn't
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: turn you off and make you turn around and leave.
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: That draws you in. These guys raised their voices and
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: set down on the ground with him. They demonstrated their anguish,
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: and they stayed seven days and seven nights without a word.
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: Fifth friends understand, so they say very little. I love
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: the way Warren Weersby treats this. The best way to
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: help people who are hurting is just to be with them,
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: saying little or nothing, letting them know you care. Don't
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: try to explain everything. Now listen. Explanations never heal a
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: broken heart. If his friends had listened to him, accepted
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: his feelings, and not argued with him, they would have
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: helped greatly. But they chose to be prosecuting attorneys instead
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: of witnesses. Let me tell you about a really good friend.
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: The good friend doesn't attempt to give you God's message yeah,
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: and certainly doesn't preach. They they know that I read
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: it this week, the I call it, Uh, yeah, I
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: got it. They know the value of suffering presence. Not
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: a good way to put it. I read that that's
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: not mine suffering presence. You look up and you look
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: into the eyes of somebody you've known over the years,
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: and their eyes reflect compassion. There's no judgment, They're just there.
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: And it don't stay too long, you know, drives you
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: crazy guy that comes in with a big fat Bible
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: and he's got notes in it, and he's gonna read
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: to you these chapters and and and and and then
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: he's gonna teach you. And you you're you're laying there,
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: you know, able to belch, and he's he's reading from
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: Second Chronicles thirteen to twenty seven. You know, yeah, furthermore,
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: there's and then God taught me this when I was
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: struggling with measles back when I was twelve. And you know,
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: please don't stay too long. These guys stayed because they
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: had They had every reason to beat him, to kind
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: of anguish. This man's going. He may have died any
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: moment for all they knew. But they didn't stay and preach.
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: They stayed with their lips sealed. One of my friends,
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: toward the latter part of his life, man named Joe
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: Bailey b a l y fellow author, I loved job
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: because of his realism. I loved it that he was
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: never interested in impressing people. If you ever Bailey, you
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: know Psalms of my life. It's just profound book that
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: Joe left in his legacy. And he and Mary Lew
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: his wife, had a house full of kids. But they
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: lost three. Three. They lost one at eighteen days following surgery.
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: They lost one at five because of leukemia, and they
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: lost one at eighteen years after a sledding accident because
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: of a himophelia. He was at mild heemophilia three three
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: at different times. Joe writes in a wonderful book the
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: View from a Hearse, which has been changed, entitle to
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: the last thing we talk about. He wrote this, this
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: is so good. I was sitting torn by grief. Someone
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: came and talked to me of God, of God's dealings,
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: of why it happened, of hope beyond the grave. He
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: talked constantly, He said things I knew were true. I
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: was unmoved, except I wish. I wish he'd go away.
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: He finally did. Another came and sat beside me. He
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: didn't talk, he didn't ask leading questions. He just sat
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: beside me. An hour or more. Listen when I said something, answered, briefly, prayed,
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: simply left. I was moved, I was comforted. I hated
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: to see him go. You've done it right. When they
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: hate to see you go, they'll usually not tell you,
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: But you'll know when it's time to leave. Let me
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: tell you. You come up alongside a job. Don't even think
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: of saying I know how you feel. You don't. He
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: can hardly imagine, or can I. But your suffering presence
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: will be like a bomb around them, and I'll never
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: forget it would to God, these dear guys had just
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: never started talking. It messed everything up. Let's bow together. Interesting,
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: after all these years of walking with and knowing the Lord,
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: we've never heard him say a word talk about a
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: model of appropriate silence. Oh he's talked to us in
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: his word, for sure, but he hasn't filled the air
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: with verbiage. He's just been a comforting presence. He understands fully.
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: He lost his son too. Remember, Oh, he didn't lose him,
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: just that we killed him, and he died for those
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: who drove spikes in his hands and feet. The Lord
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: Jesus even said, as he hung their father, forgive him.
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: They don't even know what they're doing. If you've never
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: met the Lord Jesus, you're really missing out on the
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: best part of life. I would plead with you to
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: put that off no longer. Just come to him today.
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: Just come like y are. Don't try to get cleaned up.
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: Just come like y are. That is, in fact the
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: only way he'll ex just like you are. Thanks for
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: being so good to us, our Father. Oh, there have
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: been times of our lives we really weren't very good
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: to you. We ran from you when you were seeking us.
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: We rejected you when you reached out. We resented you
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: when you didn't relieve the pressure our answer yes to
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: our pleadings. Some may have even cursed you. But because
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: you are faithful and consistent God, you have never stopped
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: loving us unconditionally. Thank you for that. We pray Lord
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: that you will use these words in a very special
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: way in the lives, especially of husbands, and the lives
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: of friends. I pray Father that the deeper we get
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: into this book, the deeper will be our walk with you. Now, Lord,
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: whatever this week may hold, I pray that we will
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: have learned some truth that will go with us and
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: stay near us and become a part of us. For
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: these truths are eternal. Thank you for them. Dismiss us
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: now with the hope of sins forgiven and life rearranged,
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: because we've spent time with you in the lovely name
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: of Jesus, and everyone said amen.
• 56:34
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, Job's Advice to Husbands and Friends was
• 56:38
  Speaker 2: copyrighted in two thousand and two, and the sound recording
• 56:41
  Speaker 2: was copyrighted in two thousand and four by Charles R. Swindell, Inc.
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. In the preceding message, Charles Rswindall, Inc.
• 56:50
  Speaker 2: Is grateful to the following sources for permission to quote
• 56:53
  Speaker 2: from their materials. Inter Varsity Press for excerpts from the
• 56:57
  Speaker 2: Tyndale Old Testament commentary on Job, copyrighted in nineteen seventy
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: six by Francis I. Anderson. Mary Lou Bailey for the
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: excerpt from her late husband Joe Bailey's book The Last
• 57:09
  Speaker 2: Thing We Talk About, available through Victor Books under the
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: title Voice in the Wilderness, The Best of Joe Bailey.
• 57:16
  Speaker 2: William b Ertzman Publishing Company for excerpts from the book
• 57:20
  Speaker 2: The Book of Job, copyrighted in nineteen eighty eight. By
• 57:23
  Speaker 2: John E. Hartley and Cook Communications Ministries for excerpts from
• 57:28
  Speaker 2: the book Be Patient, Waiting on God in Difficult Times,
• 57:32
  Speaker 2: copyrighted in nineteen ninety one by Warren Wersby