Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Graceless Words for a Grieving Man │ Msg 922

Transcript

Graceless Words for a Grieving Man │ Msg 922 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:01
Speaker 1: It's funny how you sometimes get a song on your mind.
0:04
Speaker 1: It happened to me last Thursday afternoon and on into
0:09
Speaker 1: Friday morning. I was sitting in my study and I
0:14
Speaker 1: kept going over this old spiritual that used to be
0:16
Speaker 1: sung in a choir years ago in the Deep South.
0:21
Speaker 1: Everybody's talking about heaven ain't going there. Heaven, remember that? Heaven,
0:28
Speaker 1: go ahead. Everybody's talking about heaven ain't going there. Heaven, heaven. Now,
0:35
Speaker 1: you know, it's an amazing song. Not that the words
0:39
Speaker 1: are that significant. It's just everybody smiles when they sing
0:43
Speaker 1: it and they're saying it ain't going to heaven. And
0:50
Speaker 1: I thought that's a lot like grace. Everybody's talking about
0:53
Speaker 1: grace ain't going there either. Everybody's talking about grace. We
1:00
Speaker 1: wouldn't know it if we met it face on. Most
1:03
Speaker 1: people aren't even ready for it when it's presented to them.
1:08
Speaker 1: Not long ago, a student from a college in Missouri,
1:13
Speaker 1: true story, wrote this. I left work early so I
1:19
Speaker 1: could have some uninterrupted time. studying right before the final
1:24
Speaker 1: in my class. When I got to class, everybody was
1:26
Speaker 1: doing their last minute studying. The teacher came in and
1:30
Speaker 1: said he would review with us for just a little
1:33
Speaker 1: bit before the test. We went through the review, most
1:37
Speaker 1: of it right from the study guide, but there were
1:39
Speaker 1: some things he was reviewing that I had never heard of.
1:44
Speaker 1: When questioned about it, he said that they were in
1:48
Speaker 1: the book And we were responsible for everything that was
1:52
Speaker 1: in the book. We really couldn't argue with that. Finally,
1:57
Speaker 1: it was time to take the test. Our prof instructed,
2:01
Speaker 1: leave them face down on the desk until everyone has one,
2:06
Speaker 1: and then I'll tell you when to start. When we
2:11
Speaker 1: turned them over, every answer on the test was already
2:15
Speaker 1: filled in. The bottom of the last page said the following.
2:22
Speaker 1: This is the end of the final exam. All the
2:25
Speaker 1: answers on your test are correct. You will receive an
2:29
Speaker 1: A on the final exam. The reason you passed the
2:33
Speaker 1: test is because the creator of the test took it
2:37
Speaker 1: for you. All the work you did in preparation for
2:40
Speaker 1: this test did not help you get an A. You
2:44
Speaker 1: have just experienced grace. He then went around the room
2:51
Speaker 1: and asked each student individually questions like, what is your grade?
2:59
Speaker 1: And do you deserve the grade that you are receiving?
3:06
Speaker 1: And how much did all your studying for the exam
3:10
Speaker 1: help you achieve this final grade? Now, I'm not a crier,
3:16
Speaker 1: writes this student. I'm not a crier by any stretch.
3:19
Speaker 1: of the imagination. But I had to fight back tears
3:23
Speaker 1: when answering those questions and thinking about how the Creator
3:27
Speaker 1: had passed the test for me. Discussion afterwards went like this.
3:35
Speaker 1: I have tried to teach you all semester that you
3:37
Speaker 1: are a recipient of grace. I've tried to communicate to
3:43
Speaker 1: you that you need to demonstrate this gift as you
3:46
Speaker 1: work with young people. Don't Hammer them. They are not
3:51
Speaker 1: the enemy. Help them. For they will carry on your
3:55
Speaker 1: ministry if it is full of grace. Thinking about how
4:01
Speaker 1: some of us had probably studied hours and some just
4:05
Speaker 1: a few minutes, but had all received the same grade,
4:08
Speaker 1: he pointed to a story Jesus told in Matthew 20.
4:12
Speaker 1: The owner of a vineyard hired people to work in
4:16
Speaker 1: his field and agreed to pay them a certain amount
4:19
Speaker 1: of money. Several different times during the day, he hired
4:23
Speaker 1: more workers. When it was time to pay them, they
4:27
Speaker 1: all received the same amount. When the ones who had
4:30
Speaker 1: been hired first in the morning began complaining, the boss said,
4:35
Speaker 1: should you be angry because I am kind? The teacher
4:41
Speaker 1: said he had never done this kind of final before
4:44
Speaker 1: and probably would never do it again. But because of
4:47
Speaker 1: the content of many of our class discussions, he felt
4:51
Speaker 1: like we needed to experience grace. Why didn't I have
4:58
Speaker 1: a teacher like that when I was taking those final exams?
5:06
Speaker 1: Why didn't you? Oh, everybody's talking about grace. We ain't
5:15
Speaker 1: going there. Not on your life. Oh, we love it
5:23
Speaker 1: coming from God, but just don't expect it from fallen
5:28
Speaker 1: folks like us. Too bad. Of all the things Job
5:36
Speaker 1: had to endure, the final insult was, was enduring the
5:42
Speaker 1: graceless presence of alleged friends. Stop and do a quick
5:53
Speaker 1: review when the bottom dropped out of his life. He
6:02
Speaker 1: lost his property and dwellings and a way to make
6:07
Speaker 1: a living because all of his servants were killed. And
6:13
Speaker 1: then he lost all ten of his children, all now grown,
6:18
Speaker 1: which he no doubt buried with his own hands, he
6:21
Speaker 1: and his wife. And then he lost his health. And running,
6:33
Speaker 1: itching sores, oozing with pus, covered his body from his
6:39
Speaker 1: hair to his toenails. So miserable was this man, he
6:45
Speaker 1: could not rest during the day or sleep at night,
6:49
Speaker 1: not for very long. And he wound up living at
6:53
Speaker 1: the city dump, a place called the Ash Heap, where
6:59
Speaker 1: dung was finally deposited and burned. And there he lost
7:10
Speaker 1: his hope. A small handful of men left their homes
7:16
Speaker 1: with the intent to bring him comfort and sympathy. Check
7:23
Speaker 1: Job 2.11. That's why they left to come to Job.
7:27
Speaker 1: They were friends about his age, maybe a little older,
7:32
Speaker 1: maybe one or two younger, but his contemporaries came leaving
7:39
Speaker 1: home and going to the trouble of traveling to the
7:42
Speaker 1: city dump of Uz, the town where Job lived. And
7:49
Speaker 1: they sat in silence, staring at him, trying to believe
7:54
Speaker 1: it was the same man that they had seen in
7:57
Speaker 1: their previous reunion, because now he was swollen and dirty
8:04
Speaker 1: and broken and his head was shaved. And then their
8:14
Speaker 1: worst mistake of all, they started to talk to him.
8:21
Speaker 1: And they unloaded the truck. They judged him. They shamed him.
8:28
Speaker 1: They blamed him. One cruel statement after another with graceless,
8:37
Speaker 1: blunt words. They humiliated him. And the book includes it all.
8:54
Speaker 1: I'm simple enough to think that Job probably kept a journal,
8:57
Speaker 1: or his wife did. Who could have remembered such philosophical
9:02
Speaker 1: meanderings as filled the poetical part of the book? And
9:10
Speaker 1: these men spoke to him in cycles, you remember. The
9:14
Speaker 1: first round of insults came from Eliphaz and then Bildad
9:22
Speaker 1: and then Zophar, strange names, real men. But all three
9:27
Speaker 1: of them spoke and Job answered and that finished that
9:30
Speaker 1: first cycle, that was done. And wouldn't you know it,
9:34
Speaker 1: a second cycle began. In the second cycle, which starts
9:36
Speaker 1: in chapter 15, Eliphaz takes off the gloves. It's time
9:43
Speaker 1: to really get down to business, Job. And there is
9:48
Speaker 1: not even a hint of grace. Not a hint. Now
10:00
Speaker 1: I understand you're all looking ahead to see how many
10:04
Speaker 1: more chapters of this are we going to be going through.
10:08
Speaker 1: When I walk down the aisles and greet people before
10:10
Speaker 1: church service starts I like to say hello and get
10:13
Speaker 1: to know folks and normally they answer back that they're
10:17
Speaker 1: glad to be here and or they look forward to coming.
10:20
Speaker 1: Now I'm hearing more and more. Now, how long are
10:22
Speaker 1: we going to be in Job? My kids are now
10:26
Speaker 1: emailing me, get past Job, dad. How graceless, huh? I understand.
10:36
Speaker 1: You think I wouldn't love, I'm taking it in chunks.
10:39
Speaker 1: I'm doing chapters, folks. Today, three chapters. We're not going
10:43
Speaker 1: to analyze this thing to the point of giving blood. However,
10:50
Speaker 1: you got to take enough time to appreciate the messages
10:55
Speaker 1: that they are teaching us. Eliphaz speaks the second time. Actually,
11:02
Speaker 1: he throws his fist. They're called words. In chapter 15,
11:08
Speaker 1: he delivers a series of rebukes. These are graceless words
11:14
Speaker 1: for a grieving man. In case you wonder what they
11:18
Speaker 1: sound like, they begin with pride. Verse two, should a
11:22
Speaker 1: wise man answer with windy knowledge and fill himself with
11:28
Speaker 1: the east wind? The word himself is really in the
11:32
Speaker 1: Hebrew belly. Should he fill his belly with east wind?
11:36
Speaker 1: There's pride in verse two, followed by insult. Should he
11:42
Speaker 1: argue with useless talk? or with words which are not profitable. Indeed,
11:48
Speaker 1: you do away with reverence. You hinder meditation before God.
11:52
Speaker 1: Then there's guilt. For your guilt teaches your mouth. And
11:58
Speaker 1: you choose the language of the crafty. You deceiver you.
12:04
Speaker 1: Your own mouth condemns you. So there's condemnation.
12:09
Speaker 2: Not I.
12:10
Speaker 1: I'm not the one condemning. Just listen to what you're saying, Job.
12:13
Speaker 1: Your own lips testify against you. And then in 7, 8,
12:18
Speaker 1: and 9, there is exaggeration and sarcasm where one humiliating
12:24
Speaker 1: question after another is later asked. Verse 7. Were you
12:29
Speaker 1: the first man to be born? In other words, you
12:32
Speaker 1: think you have a monopoly on truth and wisdom, Job?
12:38
Speaker 1: Were you brought forth before the hills? Do you hear
12:41
Speaker 1: the secret counsel of God? Has he somehow brought you
12:45
Speaker 1: into a corner and whispered to you his insights? You
12:48
Speaker 1: think you've got a corner on inspired information, Job? Can
12:53
Speaker 1: you imagine a man with the gall to stand before
12:57
Speaker 1: a man literally shrinking in pain and unloading such a
13:04
Speaker 1: verbal truck on him one after another? You say, maybe, yeah,
13:08
Speaker 1: I can imagine it happened to me. It maybe did. Or,
13:16
Speaker 1: truth be told, in a vulnerable moment of admission, you
13:20
Speaker 1: may have done this with one of your own kids.
13:25
Speaker 1: Or with someone who you felt had it coming. They
13:30
Speaker 1: just had it coming. Well, Job didn't. Verse 9, what
13:40
Speaker 1: do you know that we don't know? What do you
13:42
Speaker 1: understand that we don't? Verse 11, are the consolations of
13:48
Speaker 1: God too small for you, even the words spoken gently
13:52
Speaker 1: with you? He saw himself and his friends as speaking gently. Gently.
14:01
Speaker 1: Referring to God, behold, he puts no trust in his, quote,
14:04
Speaker 1: holy ones. And the heavens are not pure in his sight.
14:09
Speaker 1: How much less one who is detestable and corrupt. Man
14:12
Speaker 1: who drinks iniquity like water. Those are sharp teeth, aren't they?
14:24
Speaker 1: Having rebuked him, he follows it with reminders of the
14:30
Speaker 1: fate of the wicked. 17 to 35. Job, because you're wicked,
14:37
Speaker 1: you writhe in pain. Verse 20. So there's pain all
14:41
Speaker 1: your days. You're getting what you deserve, Job. Numbered are
14:48
Speaker 1: the years stored up for the ruthless. Verse 21. After
14:52
Speaker 1: constant misery, there's terror. Sounds of terror are in his ears.
14:57
Speaker 1: While at peace, the destroyer comes upon him. He does
15:00
Speaker 1: not believe that he will return from darkness and he
15:02
Speaker 1: is destined for the sword. So there's terror and loss
15:06
Speaker 1: and torment. And then there's fear. Verse 23. He wanders
15:10
Speaker 1: about for food, saying, where is it? He knows that
15:14
Speaker 1: a day of darkness is at hand. And finally, distress
15:17
Speaker 1: and anguish terrifying. There's this overpowering distress and anguish.
15:22
Speaker 2: Why?
15:24
Speaker 1: Eliphaz, just tell Job why. All right? Verse 25. Because he,
15:29
Speaker 1: that's Job, you have stretched out your hand against God.
15:33
Speaker 1: You conduct yourself arrogantly against the Almighty. That's why. And
15:40
Speaker 1: Eliphaz backs away and stares at him with that glare.
15:46
Speaker 1: You are getting exactly what you deserve. You are getting
15:51
Speaker 1: exactly what you deserve. The style of communication is not
16:00
Speaker 1: that unusual to those who lack grace. It may not
16:04
Speaker 1: be this brutal. It may not be this sharp. But
16:09
Speaker 1: have you noticed that? When you deal with people who
16:12
Speaker 1: deal back with you, lacking grace, when you're down, they
16:16
Speaker 1: kick you. When you're struggling, they add to your pain.
16:23
Speaker 1: When you're confused, they blame and shame. And when you're drowning,
16:27
Speaker 1: they hold you under. Other than that, they're pretty good friends.
16:36
Speaker 1: And you know what makes it just bitterly cruel? The
16:41
Speaker 1: man is in such grief. Cynthia's and my longtime friend, Dr.
16:52
Speaker 1: Lucy Mabry Foster died last Monday. Lucy had already, and
17:01
Speaker 1: she and her family had been through an enormous amount.
17:06
Speaker 1: Lucy had earlier been married to Trevor, Got his training
17:11
Speaker 1: at Mayo's and became one of the fine ear, nose,
17:14
Speaker 1: and throat surgeons in the Dallas area. He was one
17:17
Speaker 1: of the four who had traveled to the Focus on
17:21
Speaker 1: the Family retreat in Montana and was flying back. The
17:25
Speaker 1: plane crashed and four fine men of God died in
17:29
Speaker 1: that crash. The Mabry's son, the older son, Dan, had
17:37
Speaker 1: been on his honeymoon one day. So Dan returned home
17:42
Speaker 1: and was in some of those flights looking for the
17:48
Speaker 1: hope of his father's life, only to finally ultimately face
17:52
Speaker 1: the fact his dad had perished. The city of Dallas mourned.
17:56
Speaker 1: It made the headlines, and some of you were at
17:58
Speaker 1: the funeral. As we who loved one or more of
18:04
Speaker 1: those men reeled in disbelief, Lucy determined that she would
18:11
Speaker 1: not give up. Her family surrounded her with love and affection.
18:15
Speaker 1: Three almost grown, some grown children put their arms around
18:21
Speaker 1: Lucy and she around them and she, for 10 years,
18:26
Speaker 1: finished her education, earned her PhD and became the first
18:30
Speaker 1: woman teacher at Dallas Seminary. Wonderful story of determination. through
18:38
Speaker 1: her grief. Wonderfully, the Lord brought to her a man
18:42
Speaker 1: named C.L. Foster from South Texas. C.L. and Lucy fell
18:48
Speaker 1: in love, and five years ago, almost to the date
18:51
Speaker 1: of her death recently, five years ago, they married. And
18:57
Speaker 1: along with some of you, Cynthia and I were in
18:59
Speaker 1: the audience the day that they married. It was like charming.
19:05
Speaker 1: This is.
19:07
Speaker 1: So great of God to do this. Monday morning, Lucy
19:12
Speaker 1: breathed her last in the arms of her beloved husband, C.L.,
19:19
Speaker 1: in a vehicle racing to the hospital in hopes of
19:22
Speaker 1: saving her life. We buried her on Thursday. It was
19:31
Speaker 1: my privilege to sit for more than two hours and
19:34
Speaker 1: to talk with the family who had already been through
19:37
Speaker 1: the shock of the losing of their dad and now
19:42
Speaker 1: these three having to deal with the loss of their mother.
19:48
Speaker 1: And CL, who had lost his first wife in tragic
19:51
Speaker 1: circumstances in a car crash, sitting there. You could see
19:59
Speaker 1: the wheels turning and the tears running from his eyes.
20:08
Speaker 4: C.L.
20:09
Speaker 1: Foster and those children didn't need any condemnation. They didn't
20:15
Speaker 1: need any rebuke. They didn't need any insulting, humiliating questions.
20:23
Speaker 1: They needed grace. They needed grace. I couldn't help but
20:33
Speaker 1: think of that when I saw Job as he sits
20:39
Speaker 1: here taking this, awash in his grief, trying his best
20:46
Speaker 1: to really believe that this man who was once a
20:48
Speaker 1: friend is saying such a thing. And I'm thinking, Lord,
20:52
Speaker 1: if you teach me and if you teach through me
20:54
Speaker 1: to others something through this, teach us the value of grace.
20:59
Speaker 1: Teach us about grace. Show me again that it is
21:05
Speaker 1: always appropriate, always needed Not just by a student taking
21:10
Speaker 1: a final exam. You need it. I need it. The
21:17
Speaker 1: person sitting just next to you that you've never met
21:21
Speaker 1: or behind you, that person needs it. You have no
21:25
Speaker 1: idea what that person is going through. If you did,
21:29
Speaker 1: chances are you'd be prompted even quicker to show grace.
21:33
Speaker 1: But there's everything inside us that turns into And we
21:37
Speaker 1: get wrong side out. Or I have a good friend
21:40
Speaker 1: who says we get sideways. We get sideways with people
21:45
Speaker 1: and we just have to just gouge them. Stop. Stop
21:55
Speaker 1: the gouging. I tell you, I admire the 38 verses
22:03
Speaker 1: that follow Eliphaz's rebuke and Unfair reminders. Job, in effect, says,
22:10
Speaker 1: you want to take the gloves off? I'll do it.
22:14
Speaker 1: My hands are covered with sores, but I'll take the
22:16
Speaker 1: gloves off. And I find four responses in Job that
22:21
Speaker 1: are admirable. And honestly, I do not find them shocking.
22:26
Speaker 1: Some of you may. First of all, he is disgusted
22:30
Speaker 1: with his friend. I mean, that is an appropriate response.
22:36
Speaker 1: Don't answer out loud. Ever been disgusted with a friend? Yeah.
22:41
Speaker 1: I'll answer for you. Yeah. How many times? Look at
22:46
Speaker 1: verse 2. Sorry comforters are you all. How's that for
22:52
Speaker 1: an opening line of disgust? Sorry comforters. That's an oxymoron.
23:04
Speaker 1: Maybe you're not familiar with the term. Some of you are,
23:06
Speaker 1: I realize. Webster defines an oxymoron, a combination of contradictory words.
23:14
Speaker 1: Like governmental intelligence. That would be an oxymoron. Or teenage innocence.
23:27
Speaker 1: That's another one that comes to mind. Sorry comforters. You
23:34
Speaker 1: think this is comfort? What a sorry example of comfort
23:39
Speaker 1: you are. One man writes, Job complains that often he
23:45
Speaker 1: has heard many such things as these comforters speak. But
23:49
Speaker 1: in his present plight, such pious platitudes serve only to
23:54
Speaker 1: increase his sorrow. I thought I was hurting before you
23:59
Speaker 1: showed up, but now that you've talked, man, the pain
24:03
Speaker 1: is unbearable. He is disgusted with these people. By the way,
24:12
Speaker 1: no extra charge for this little insight. People who are
24:16
Speaker 1: graceless don't usually connect the dots unless you are really
24:21
Speaker 1: strong in return. It just goes... So you have to
24:28
Speaker 1: plan a blow right on the schnozool, you know. You
24:33
Speaker 1: have to be sure that you get through. So sometime,
24:37
Speaker 1: bear with me, sometime you have to fight poison with poison.
24:42
Speaker 1: You have to be blunt in return or they'll walk
24:45
Speaker 1: all over you and stomp you into the dirt. Job
24:50
Speaker 1: says you are a sorry comforter. Speaking the truth cuts
24:56
Speaker 1: through the fuzzy, vague, feel-good verbiage that often characterizes our talk.
25:05
Speaker 1: That's why I plead with all of us to learn
25:08
Speaker 1: how to speak truth, ideally in love. But if I've
25:15
Speaker 1: got to have truth without love, I'll take truth. It's
25:25
Speaker 1: better with love, but truth is always best. Truth hurts
25:33
Speaker 1: is a familiar saying, but there are times it's unvarnished
25:37
Speaker 1: direct blows are needed. You know when you sometime hear them?
25:42
Speaker 1: When you lose your job. And someone who is in
25:48
Speaker 1: authority and has the unhappy task of facing you With
25:53
Speaker 1: the loss of job, that person, if there's integrity, you
25:58
Speaker 1: know what I mean, if things are in place, it's appropriate.
26:01
Speaker 1: That person at that moment is telling you things you
26:06
Speaker 1: should never forget. He or she is cutting through the
26:11
Speaker 1: veneer and getting to the reason you have lost that job.
26:18
Speaker 1: And in this case, Job is saying, Your words are
26:27
Speaker 1: wrongly stated. There's a bad motive. There's an intent that's tarnished.
26:36
Speaker 1: There are words used that are brutal. And I'm telling you,
26:39
Speaker 1: you are a sorry comforter. The second, after disgust, he's distressed.
26:46
Speaker 1: Verse 7. And if you will allow me, he is
26:49
Speaker 1: distressed at God. Now bear with that. I know that's
26:54
Speaker 1: shocking for some of you to hear it, but it happens.
26:58
Speaker 1: He's talking about God. I think correctly the H in
27:01
Speaker 1: verse 7 is capitalized. He has exhausted me. He even
27:13
Speaker 1: sees him as angry, verse 9. His anger has torn
27:16
Speaker 1: me and hunted me down and gnashed at me with
27:18
Speaker 1: his teeth. Verse 11, God hands me over to ruffians.
27:24
Speaker 1: Look at these guys that showed up. He tosses me
27:28
Speaker 1: into the hands of the wicked. Now watch this. It's
27:31
Speaker 1: like he's a rag doll in the mouth of a Rottweiler.
27:36
Speaker 1: I was at ease, verse 12. He shattered me. He
27:40
Speaker 1: grasped me by the neck and he's shaken me to pieces.
27:43
Speaker 1: Set me up as his target, verse 13. His arrows
27:46
Speaker 1: surround me without mercy. He splits my kidneys. apart, open.
27:54
Speaker 1: He pours out my gall on the ground and breaks
27:57
Speaker 1: through me with breach after breach. He runs at me
28:01
Speaker 1: like a warrior. That's the way I'm feeling, says Job.
28:07
Speaker 1: He is distressed. If you find fault with Job, it's
28:13
Speaker 1: because you've never been there. There's not a counselor who
28:17
Speaker 1: has been in the work of counseling very long before
28:20
Speaker 1: she or he meets up with someone who is distressed
28:23
Speaker 1: over the way God's treating them. They don't understand it. Remember,
28:29
Speaker 1: Job still doesn't know the plan between Satan and God.
28:34
Speaker 1: We were introduced to it clearly in chapters 1 and 2.
28:38
Speaker 1: Job never was in on that conversation. He doesn't know
28:42
Speaker 1: why one day the bottom drops out and tornadoes and
28:46
Speaker 1: fires and death and destruction and finally ill health and
28:51
Speaker 1: all of that breaks on him and God doesn't say
28:54
Speaker 1: a word to him. And he's visited with God all
28:57
Speaker 1: of his adult life. No wonder he's distressed. I have
29:06
Speaker 1: been through times, I'll confess to you, where I just...
29:09
Speaker 1: I have just said in unguarded moments, God, what in
29:12
Speaker 1: the world are you up to? What is this about?
29:21
Speaker 1: To the best of my knowledge, I am not doing
29:23
Speaker 1: this wrong. I am not doing it for the wrong motive.
29:26
Speaker 1: I am not, I haven't gone into this in any way,
29:29
Speaker 1: please me or placate somebody else. I'm trying to walk
29:33
Speaker 1: in obedience and.
29:34
Speaker 2: Boom, boom, boom, boom.
29:36
Speaker 1: It's like you're driving home from work and And you've
29:39
Speaker 1: got to... day at the office and the guy behind
29:41
Speaker 1: you runs into you. And the guy in the Ferrari
29:45
Speaker 1: in front of you, you run into him. Ferrari drivers
29:49
Speaker 1: tend not to like that when you hit them from
29:52
Speaker 1: the rear. And he climbs out of his car. When
29:53
Speaker 1: you get home, you don't have any milk. And your
29:58
Speaker 1: dog's hungry and he's been gnawing on a cabinet. And
30:01
Speaker 1: your kids are mean and they're gnawing on each other.
30:04
Speaker 1: And you're out of money. And you think, wait a minute.
30:10
Speaker 1: What is this all about, God? What is this about?
30:16
Speaker 1: And no answer comes. And tomorrow's worse than today. And
30:20
Speaker 1: next week is intensifying all of it, making last week
30:23
Speaker 1: look like a piece of cake. On top of all
30:26
Speaker 1: of that, you lost your job. And on top of that,
30:29
Speaker 1: I just could go on and on. Your imagination is
30:31
Speaker 1: as good as mine. Believe me, in the unguarded moments
30:36
Speaker 1: when the lights are out and the doors are closed
30:39
Speaker 1: and Swindoll isn't around to listen, nobody's going to tell
30:42
Speaker 1: on you. You think like this. Or you are weird.
30:51
Speaker 1: You are weird. Don't tell me you're too spiritual to
30:56
Speaker 1: think like that. You see him running at you like
31:02
Speaker 1: a warrior. And of all things, he doesn't even tell
31:08
Speaker 1: you why. And so, you could guess the third reaction.
31:14
Speaker 1: He is depressed. He is depressed. Look over here at 17,
31:19
Speaker 1: 1 and 2. My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished,
31:27
Speaker 1: the grave is ready for me. Surely mockers are with
31:31
Speaker 1: me and my eye gazes on their provocation. Eugene Peterson
31:35
Speaker 1: renders this in the message, my spirit is broken, my
31:38
Speaker 1: days used up, my grave dug in waiting. I believe
31:46
Speaker 1: what brought Job to this point of depression I believe
31:52
Speaker 1: it's best expressed in the Latin words deus absconditus. I
31:59
Speaker 1: came across those words this week. Deus, D-E-U-S, is the
32:03
Speaker 1: word in Latin for God. Absconditus gives us our word abscond.
32:13
Speaker 1: What does abscond mean? Webster says it means to conceal,
32:18
Speaker 1: to depart secretly and hide oneself. He's gone. I can't
32:26
Speaker 1: figure him out. When I pray, I don't get answers.
32:31
Speaker 1: When I devote myself even more deeply to doing his
32:35
Speaker 1: will for all the right reasons, I continue to lose
32:40
Speaker 1: and the heavens are brass. God has absconded with the blessings.
32:51
Speaker 1: Hold on tight. C.S. Lewis said it like this in
32:54
Speaker 1: a grief observed. Meanwhile, where is God? This is one
33:00
Speaker 1: of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so
33:04
Speaker 1: happy you have no sense of needing him, you will be,
33:08
Speaker 1: or so it feels, welcomed with open arms. But go
33:12
Speaker 1: to him when your need is desperate, when all other
33:15
Speaker 1: help is vain, and what.
33:16
Speaker 5: Do you find?
33:17
Speaker 1: A door slammed in your face and a sound of
33:20
Speaker 1: double bolting. on the inside. After that, silence. You may
33:30
Speaker 1: as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more
33:31
Speaker 1: emphatic the silence will become. Deus absconditus. It expresses the
33:39
Speaker 1: problem without any ruffles and without any literary lace. He's
33:46
Speaker 1: hit bottom. Disgusted, distressed, Depressed. And finally, completely despondent. And
33:58
Speaker 1: ready to die. Verse 11 of chapter 17. My days
34:03
Speaker 1: are past. My plans are torn apart. Even the wishes
34:07
Speaker 1: of my heart. You know what that sounds like? My
34:10
Speaker 1: dreams are dashed. My hopes are gone. They make night
34:14
Speaker 1: and today saying the light is near. In the presence
34:18
Speaker 1: of darkness. Now look at this. Look at this verse.
34:20
Speaker 1: If I look for Sheol as my home, that's the grave.
34:24
Speaker 1: Sheol is the Hebrew word for the place of the
34:26
Speaker 1: departed spirit. If I look for the grave as my home,
34:30
Speaker 1: I make my bed in the darkness. If I call
34:33
Speaker 1: to the pit, that's where I'm going to be dropped
34:34
Speaker 1: in my coffin. If I call to the pit, you're
34:37
Speaker 1: on my father. To the worm, which is down there
34:41
Speaker 1: getting ready to eat on my body. You are my
34:44
Speaker 1: mother and my sister. Where now is my hope? Let's
34:51
Speaker 1: call this Job's Requiem. Will it go down with me
34:58
Speaker 1: to Sheol? Shall we together go down into the dust?
35:04
Speaker 1: One man renders, if all I have to look forward
35:06
Speaker 1: to is a home in the graveyard, if my only
35:10
Speaker 1: hope for comfort is a well-built coffin, If a family
35:13
Speaker 1: reunion means going six feet under and the only family
35:15
Speaker 1: that shows up is worms, you call that hope?
35:19
Speaker 4: No.
35:20
Speaker 1: If hope and I are to be buried together, I
35:22
Speaker 1: suppose you'll all come to the double funeral. You know
35:26
Speaker 1: what he's thinking? Everybody's talking about heaven ain't going there.
35:34
Speaker 3: Heaven. Heaven.
35:39
Speaker 1: I'm going to the grave. You know what he's missing?
35:45
Speaker 1: You know what he's missing? He is missing what only
35:48
Speaker 1: grace can bring him. He has no grace from anybody
35:54
Speaker 1: around him. Nobody there to reassure him. He is totally confused.
36:05
Speaker 1: Philip Yancey, in an outstanding book, Disappointment with God, tells
36:12
Speaker 1: this true story. Once a friend of mine went swimming
36:17
Speaker 1: in a large lake at dusk. As he was paddling
36:21
Speaker 1: at a leisurely pace about a hundred yards offshore, a
36:25
Speaker 1: freak evening fog rolled in across the water. Suddenly he
36:31
Speaker 1: could see nothing. No horizon, no landmarks, no objects or
36:35
Speaker 1: lights on the shore because the fog diffused the light.
36:42
Speaker 1: He could not even make out the direction of the
36:44
Speaker 1: setting sun. Now picture this. For 30 minutes, he splashed
36:51
Speaker 1: around in panic. He would start off in one direction,
36:54
Speaker 1: lose confidence, and turn 90 degrees to the right or left.
36:59
Speaker 1: It made no difference which way he turned. He could
37:01
Speaker 1: feel his heart racing uncontrollably. He would stop and float,
37:08
Speaker 1: trying to conserve energy, and force himself to breathe slower,
37:14
Speaker 1: then he would blindly strike out again. At last he
37:17
Speaker 1: heard a faint voice calling from the shore. He pointed
37:21
Speaker 1: his body toward the sounds and followed them to safety.
37:28
Speaker 1: Yancey adds, something like that sensation of utter lostness must
37:34
Speaker 1: have settled in on Job. As he sat in the
37:39
Speaker 1: rubble and tried to comprehend what had happened He too
37:42
Speaker 1: had lost all landmarks, all points of orientation. Where should
37:47
Speaker 1: he turn? God, the one who could guide him through
37:52
Speaker 1: the fog, stayed silent. But Satan had challenged whether Job's
37:59
Speaker 1: faith could survive with no outside help or explanation. When
38:03
Speaker 1: God accepted those terms, the fog rolled in around Job.
38:08
Speaker 1: You could You could read Job's story, then breathe a
38:11
Speaker 1: deep sigh of relief. God settled that problem. After proving
38:17
Speaker 1: his point so decisively, surely he will return to his
38:20
Speaker 1: preferred style of communication, communicating clearly with his followers. You
38:25
Speaker 1: could think so, unless, that is, you read the rest
38:28
Speaker 1: of the Bible. I hesitate to say this because it
38:32
Speaker 1: is a hard truth and one I do not want
38:34
Speaker 1: to acknowledge, but Job stands as merely the most extreme
38:37
Speaker 1: example of Of what appears to be a universal law
38:40
Speaker 1: of faith. The kind of faith God values. Seems to
38:45
Speaker 1: develop best. When everything fuzzes over. When God stays silent.
38:52
Speaker 1: And when the fog rolls in. Disgusted. Distressed. Depressed. Despondent.
39:07
Speaker 1: The chapter ends. You know why I love the Bible?
39:13
Speaker 1: On this earth, everybody doesn't live happily ever after. That's
39:18
Speaker 1: a fairy tale. Or to borrow from my military life,
39:24
Speaker 1: that's a crock. You believing a hoax if you're waiting
39:32
Speaker 1: for it to get better. This earth doesn't deliver better.
39:37
Speaker 1: That's why we need grace. Marriage doesn't get easier, it
39:43
Speaker 1: gets harder. All right. One honest couple here ready to
39:51
Speaker 1: admit it. Work doesn't get easier. It gets more complicated.
39:56
Speaker 1: Child rearing doesn't get easier. These people with babies one
40:00
Speaker 1: and two years old, they think they got it tough.
40:02
Speaker 1: Wait till they're 14. And wait till they're 18. Don't
40:06
Speaker 1: amen that. You know, discourage the high schoolers. It gets harder.
40:15
Speaker 1: You thought you were fat when you got married. Look today.
40:18
Speaker 1: It gets harder. We're all I always tell brides and grooms,
40:25
Speaker 1: enjoy the pictures. You'll never be thinner.
40:27
Speaker 2: Never.
40:30
Speaker 1: It's harder. We need grace. We need grace. Grace, grace,
40:37
Speaker 1: God's grace. We need grace to survive. We need grace
40:42
Speaker 1: to drive. We need grace to stay married. We need
40:46
Speaker 1: grace to keep a church in unity. We need grace, grace,
40:50
Speaker 1: grace when we are going under. Grace, don't kick us.
40:55
Speaker 1: Don't hold us under. You know, If I called the shots,
41:03
Speaker 1: I would have relieved Job five minutes after it all
41:06
Speaker 1: had gone. You know, I'd have brought all those kids
41:08
Speaker 1: back to life. I'd have cut the lips off of Eliphaz.
41:15
Speaker 1: After three sentences, that's the way I'd do it. Cut
41:18
Speaker 1: those lips off, baby. If that didn't work, I'd take
41:22
Speaker 1: the neck, you know, just go after it. Who needs Eliphaz?
41:27
Speaker 1: But you know, you know, You probably wouldn't mature a
41:32
Speaker 1: lot under my kind of style. You'd just enjoy the comfort.
41:37
Speaker 1: We'd all go on a motorcycle ride and have fun.
41:42
Speaker 1: As Cynthia says to me sometimes, Honey, if everybody handled
41:45
Speaker 1: things like you wanted, all we'd bring to the party
41:47
Speaker 1: is balloons. Nobody would think to bring the food. So
41:57
Speaker 1: the fogs rolled in. All hell is broken loose. Welcome
42:06
Speaker 1: to the human race. That's why the Savior died. That's
42:16
Speaker 1: why God gives us salvation. Because we'd fouled it up.
42:20
Speaker 1: We'd come in our own works and be proud that
42:23
Speaker 1: we got there by our own effort. Strut around heaven
42:27
Speaker 1: like a peacock. Hey, what'd you do to get here?
42:35
Speaker 1: How many sermons did you preach? 40. I preached 80. Well,
42:38
Speaker 1: I preached 250. Graham, I preached 80 million. Then we'd
42:45
Speaker 1: all be there because of pride. Nobody will feel that
42:49
Speaker 1: they've deserved it because we get there by grace. Through
42:53
Speaker 1: many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come. Tis
42:58
Speaker 1: grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will
43:03
Speaker 1: lead me home. Get it! Get it! Quit working for it.
43:12
Speaker 1: Quit laboring over it, like somehow you've got to keep
43:16
Speaker 1: him on the cross, and you hold him up, and
43:20
Speaker 1: maybe you'll make it. No. Given our own way, we'd
43:27
Speaker 1: all be worse than Eliphaz. And so, even though Job
43:39
Speaker 1: thinks he's going to miss heaven, even though he thinks
43:43
Speaker 1: the grave is the end, bless him. There is a tomorrow.
43:51
Speaker 1: And there is a way beyond.
43:58
Speaker 4: Amazing grace How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like.
44:18
Speaker 5: Me I once was lost But now I see.
44:33
Speaker 1: Isn't this great?
44:34
Speaker 4: Twas blind, but now.
44:42
Speaker 5: I see.
44:45
Speaker 6: Through many dangers, toils and snares. have already come.
45:09
Speaker 1: Tis grace hath bought.
45:15
Speaker 6: Thee, save us all.
45:31
Speaker 1: Stand up and kick it up a notch here, okay?
45:34
Speaker 2: When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining.
45:48
Speaker 3: As the sun, with no less days.
46:22
Speaker 1: Thank you, Father, for your grace. Thank you for loving
46:27
Speaker 1: us when we're running away from you. Thank you for
46:29
Speaker 1: pursuing us when we don't want to have anything to
46:32
Speaker 1: do with you. Thank you for when you find us,
46:36
Speaker 1: for holding us close, forgiving us, understanding us, renewing us,
46:46
Speaker 1: and helping us to go on. We love you, Father.
46:52
Speaker 1: We learn from you. And we praise you. Blessed be
47:00
Speaker 1: the name of the Lord. In the name of Jesus,
47:05
Speaker 1: we pray. Everybody sit.
47:08
Speaker 6: Amen.
47:12
Speaker 7: The preceding message, Graceless Words for a Grieving Man, was
47:16
Speaker 7: copyrighted in 2002 and the sound recording was copyrighted in
47:20
Speaker 7: 2004 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
47:25
Speaker 7: In the preceding message, Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. is grateful
47:29
Speaker 7: to the Zondervan Corporation for permission to quote from the
47:32
Speaker 7: book Disappointment with God, copyrighted in 1988 by Philip Yancey.