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Fall Asleep to The Book of Job _ Why the Righteous Suffer and God_s Answer from the Whirlwind · truthunedited

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: One of humanity's oldest questions. Not where did we come from?
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Not what happens when we die? But this, why do
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: good people suffer? To night, you will hear the story
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  Speaker 1: of a man who lost everything in a single day,
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  Speaker 1: A man who was blameless, upright, feared God and turned
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  Speaker 1: away from evil. He had wealth beyond measure, a family
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  Speaker 1: he loved, and a reputation that stretched across nations, and then,
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  Speaker 1: without warning, it all collapsed. His friends told him he
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  Speaker 1: must have sinned. His wife told him to curse God
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  Speaker 1: and die, but he refused both. Instead, he demanded an answer,
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  Speaker 1: and after thirty seven chapters of silence, God finally spoke,
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  Speaker 1: not with an explanation, but with a question. This is
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  Speaker 1: the Book of Job, widely considered one of the oldest
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  Speaker 1: books in the Bible, one of the most profound explorations
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  Speaker 1: of suffering ever written. And tonight, as you drift into sleep,
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  Speaker 1: you will hear God's answer from the Whirlwind, Chapter one,
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  Speaker 1: the man who had everything. In the land of Uz,
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  Speaker 1: there lived a man whose name was Job. His name
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  Speaker 1: has been variously interpreted as persecuted, hated, or the one
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  Speaker 1: who returns to God. But his life was anything but cursed.
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  Speaker 1: He was the wealthiest man in the entire East, not
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  Speaker 1: just in riches, but in character. The scriptures describe him
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  Speaker 1: with four words that appear nowhere else together in the Bible, blameless, upright,
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  Speaker 1: one who feared God and turned away from evil. Job
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  Speaker 1: was not perfect, no human is, but he was complete.
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  Speaker 1: He lived with integrity. His word was his bond. His
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  Speaker 1: reputation was spotless. People spoke his name with reverence. When
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  Speaker 1: he walked through the gates of the city. Young men
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  Speaker 1: stepped aside out of respect, and elders rose from their seats.
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  Speaker 1: But Job's wealth was not just in reputation. He owned
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  Speaker 1: seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen,
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  Speaker 1: five hundred female donkeys. His household was vast, with many
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  Speaker 1: servants attending to his extensive holdings. In that ancient world,
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  Speaker 1: livestock was currency, power, legacy, and Job had more than anyone.
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  Speaker 1: He had seven sons and three daughters. In that culture,
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  Speaker 1: sons were the measure of blessing, the carriers of the
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  Speaker 1: family name. Ten children meant abundance, continuity, a future secured.
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  Speaker 1: His sons were grown men, each with his own house.
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  Speaker 1: They would take turns hosting feasts, celebrating life together, and
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  Speaker 1: they always invited their sisters. It was a picture of harmony,
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  Speaker 1: a family that loved being together. But here is what
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  Speaker 1: set Job apart from every other wealthy man of his time.
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  Speaker 1: He was deeply concerned about sin. Not his own sin alone,
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  Speaker 1: but the possibility that his children might sin, even unknowingly.
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  Speaker 1: Every time his sons held a feast, Job would wait
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  Speaker 1: until the celebration ended. Then early the next morning, before
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  Speaker 1: the sun rose, he would get up and offer burnt
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  Speaker 1: offerings for each of them. Why because he thought to himself,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.
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  Speaker 1: Notice that Job did not wait for evidence. He did
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  Speaker 1: not ask his children if they had done anything wrong.
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  Speaker 1: He assumed the worst possibility and covered it with sacrifice.
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  Speaker 1: This was not paranoia, It was reverence. He understood something
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  Speaker 1: most people forget. Sin begins in the heart long before
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  Speaker 1: it becomes action. A bitter thought, a moment of pride,
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  Speaker 1: a flash of resentment toward God when life feels unfair.
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  Speaker 1: Job knew these things could creep in even during celebration,
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  Speaker 1: So he interceded again and again, consistently, faithfully. This was
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  Speaker 1: Job's habit his rhythm his life. Scripture says, this is
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  Speaker 1: what Job always did, not sometimes not when he felt spiritual.
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  Speaker 1: Always he lived in a state of constant watchfulness, constant gratitude,
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  Speaker 1: constant awareness that everything he had was a gift from God,
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  Speaker 1: and that gift required faithful stewardship. And because of this
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  Speaker 1: Job was blessed beyond measure. Travelers would journey for weeks
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  Speaker 1: just to seek his counsel. Kings heard of his wisdom,
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  Speaker 1: The poor knew him as generous. The widow and the
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  Speaker 1: orphan called him father. When disaster struck a neighbor, Job
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  Speaker 1: was the first to arrive with provision. When injustice occurred
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  Speaker 1: in the city, Job stood in the gates and spoke truth,
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  Speaker 1: and no one dared oppose him because every one knew
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  Speaker 1: his words carried the weight of righteousness. He was widely
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  Speaker 1: regarded as the greatest man in all the East, not
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  Speaker 1: just the richest, the greatest in wealth, in character, in influence,
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  Speaker 1: in devotion to God. Few could compare to him. His
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  Speaker 1: life was a testimony, a living sermon, a picture of
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  Speaker 1: what it looked like when a man walked blamelessly before
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  Speaker 1: God and experienced his favor. People looked at Job and thought,
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  Speaker 1: this is what happens when you fear the Lord. This
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  Speaker 1: is the blessing that follows righteousness. And that belief, widespread
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  Speaker 1: and unchallenged, was about to be tested in ways no
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  Speaker 1: one could imagine, because, unbeknownst to Job, unbeknownst to his family,
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  Speaker 1: unbeknownst to any one on earth, a conversation was taking
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  Speaker 1: place in the courts of Heaven, a conversation that would
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  Speaker 1: change everything. Not because Job had done something wrong, but
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  Speaker 1: because he had done everything right. His integrity was about
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  Speaker 1: to be tested in a way no human being had
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  Speaker 1: ever been tested before. The wealthiest man on earth was
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  Speaker 1: about to become one of the greatest sufferers in human history,
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  Speaker 1: and the question that would be answered through his pain
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  Speaker 1: would echo through every generation that followed. Does any one
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  Speaker 1: truly love God for who he is? Or do we
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  Speaker 1: only love him for what he gives? Job had no
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  Speaker 1: idea that his name was being spoken in the throne
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  Speaker 1: room of the Almighty. He had no idea that he
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  Speaker 1: was about to become the central figure in a cosmic test.
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  Speaker 1: He had no idea that in a matter of hours,
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  Speaker 1: everything he had built, everything he loved, everything he had
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  Speaker 1: sacrificed for would be taken from him. He woke up
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  Speaker 1: that morning the same way he always did. He prayed,
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  Speaker 1: he offered sacrifice, says, he blessed the name of the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: He checked on his flocks, he greeted his household. He
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  Speaker 1: smiled at the thought of his children, groan and thriving.
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  Speaker 1: He had no reason to believe this day would be
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  Speaker 1: any different from the thousands of days that had come before.
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  Speaker 1: But it was. It was the day that everything changed.
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  Speaker 1: The day the wealthiest man in the east would become destitute,
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  Speaker 1: the day the most blessed father would face unimaginable grief,
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  Speaker 1: the day the most respected man would sit in ashes,
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  Speaker 1: unrecognizable to those who once honored him. And it all
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  Speaker 1: began with a single question asked in Heaven, have you
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  Speaker 1: considered my servant job Chapter two, The Heavenly Council Satan's Wager.
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  Speaker 1: There came a day when the angels of God presented
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  Speaker 1: themselves before the Lord. This was not unusual. Throughout scripture
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  Speaker 1: we catch glimpses of Heaven's throat room, where the sons
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  Speaker 1: of God, the angelic beings, gather in the presence of
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  Speaker 1: the Almighty to give account to receive assignments to worship.
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  Speaker 1: It is a scene of order, of hierarchy, of divine government,
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  Speaker 1: operating exactly as it was designed. But on this particular day,
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  Speaker 1: some one else came with them, Satan, the adversary, the accuser.
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  Speaker 1: His presence was not a surprise to God. Nothing is.
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  Speaker 1: But his inclusion in this assembly tells us something important.
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  Speaker 1: At this point in history, Satan still had access to Heaven.
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  Speaker 1: He had fallen from his position of honor. Yes he
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  Speaker 1: had rebelled, yes, but he had not yet been cast
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  Speaker 1: out completely. He could still enter the courts of the
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  Speaker 1: Most High, not as a worshiper, but as an accuser.
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  Speaker 1: And the Lord looked at him and asked a question,
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  Speaker 1: not because God needed information, but because God wanted to
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  Speaker 1: draw something out into the open. Where have you come from?
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  Speaker 1: Satan's answer was telling, from roaming throughout the earth, going
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  Speaker 1: back and forth on it. Notice what he did not say.
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  Speaker 1: He did not say, from doing your will, Lord, He
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  Speaker 1: did not say, from serving the people you created. He
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  Speaker 1: said he had been roaming, wandering, searching, like a predator,
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  Speaker 1: pacing the perimeter of a flock, looking for weakness, looking
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  Speaker 1: for an opening, looking for someone vulnerable. The apostle Peter
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  Speaker 1: would later write your adversary, the devil prowls around like
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  Speaker 1: a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. That is exactly
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  Speaker 1: what Satan was doing, and God knew it. So God
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  Speaker 1: asked him another question, Have you considered my servant Job?
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  Speaker 1: Consider the weight of that phrase. God called Job my servant,
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  Speaker 1: not just a man, not just a believer, my servant,
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  Speaker 1: personal intimate, claimed and then God described him in the
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  Speaker 1: same four terms used in chapter one. There is no
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  Speaker 1: one on earth like him. He is blameless and upright,
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  Speaker 1: a man who fears God and shuns evil. This was
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  Speaker 1: not God bragging. This was God drawing a line. God
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  Speaker 1: was saying, you have been searching the earth for someone
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  Speaker 1: to accuse, someone to destroy, but you will not find
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  Speaker 1: a flaw in this man. He is mine and he
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  Speaker 1: is faithful. Satan's response was immediate, and it cut to
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  Speaker 1: the heart of one of the deepest questions in all
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  Speaker 1: of theology. Does Job fear God for nothing? Let that
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  Speaker 1: question settle in your mind. Does Job fear God for nothing?
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  Speaker 1: In other words, does Job love God simply because of
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  Speaker 1: who God is? Or does Job love God because of
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  Speaker 1: what God gives him? Satan continued, have you not put
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  Speaker 1: a hedge around him and his household and everything he has.
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  Speaker 1: You have blessed the work of his hands so that
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  Speaker 1: his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But
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  Speaker 1: now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has,
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  Speaker 1: and he will surely curse you to your face. This
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  Speaker 1: was the accusation. Satan was claiming that Job's faithfulness was transactional,
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  Speaker 1: that his worship depended on his circumstances, that if God
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  Speaker 1: removed the blessings, the devotion would disappear. Satan was arguing
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  Speaker 1: that no one truly loves God for who he is.
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  Speaker 1: They only love him for what he provides. Remove the
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  Speaker 1: provision and the love evaporates. It was a direct challenge
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  Speaker 1: not just to Job, to God himself, to the very
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  Speaker 1: possibility of genuine selfless worship. And here is where the
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  Speaker 1: story takes a turn that has troubled readers for thousands
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  Speaker 1: of years. God accepted the challenge very well. The Lord
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  Speaker 1: said to Satan, everything he has is in your power,
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  Speaker 1: but on the man himself, do not lay a finger.
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  Speaker 1: God gave permission not because he was unsure of Job,
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  Speaker 1: not because he needed to prove anything to Satan. But
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  Speaker 1: because something greater was at stake. The question Satan raised
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  Speaker 1: was not just about Job. It was about the entire
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  Speaker 1: human race. Can a human being love God with pure motives?
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  Speaker 1: Can worship exist without reward? Can faith survive when everything
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  Speaker 1: is stripped away? Job was about to become the test case.
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  Speaker 1: Not for God's benefit. God already knew the answer, but
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  Speaker 1: for the sake of everyone who would ever suffer and
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  Speaker 1: wonder why, For every person who would ever lose something precious,
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  Speaker 1: and question whether God still cared, For every believer who
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  Speaker 1: would face pain and hear the whisper. If God loved you,
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  Speaker 1: this wouldn't be happening. Job's suffering was about to answer
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  Speaker 1: a question that could only be answered through suffering. Satan
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  Speaker 1: left the presence of the Lord and he went to
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  Speaker 1: work immediately. Job had no idea this conversation had taken place.
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  Speaker 1: He had no idea that his name had been spoken
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  Speaker 1: in the courts of heaven. He had no idea that
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  Speaker 1: the hedge of protection around him, invisible but real, had
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  Speaker 1: just been lifted. He woke up that morning the same
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  Speaker 1: as always. He prayed, he offered sacrifices, He went about
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  Speaker 1: his day, but in the unseen realm. Forces were already
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  Speaker 1: in motion. Enemies were already gathering, Disaster was already racing
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  Speaker 1: toward him, And by the end of the day, the
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  Speaker 1: wealthiest man in the east would be sitting in the dust.
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  Speaker 1: Everything gone, everything shattered, everything lost, all because God trusted him,
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  Speaker 1: All because his faithfulness was genuine, All because he was
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  Speaker 1: about to prove, through unimaginable pain that love for God
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  Speaker 1: does not depend on what God gives. It depends on
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  Speaker 1: who God is. The test was not about whether Job
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  Speaker 1: would survive. It was about whether his worship would Chapter three,
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  Speaker 1: The day everything collapsed. The day began like any other.
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  Speaker 1: Job's servants were tending the flocks in the fields. His
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  Speaker 1: oxen were plowing, His donkeys were grazing near by. His
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  Speaker 1: sons and daughters were gathered at the oldest brother's house,
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  Speaker 1: sharing a meal, laughing, celebrating life the way they always did.
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  Speaker 1: Everything was normal, peaceful, blessed. And then the first messenger arrived.
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  Speaker 1: He was running out of breath, his face was pale,
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  Speaker 1: his eyes wide with terror. He barely made it to
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  Speaker 1: Job before the words came spilling out. The oxen were plowing,
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  Speaker 1: and the donkeys were grazing nearby. And the Sabians attacked
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  Speaker 1: and made off with them. They put the servants to
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  Speaker 1: the sword, and I am the only one who has
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  Speaker 1: escaped to tell you. The Sabians were a nomadic tribe
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  Speaker 1: known for swift raids. They struck without warning, overwhelming their
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  Speaker 1: targets before anyone could respond. In a matter of minutes,
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  Speaker 1: Job's live stock in that field, his workers, everything there
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  Speaker 1: was gone, stolen, slaughtered. Only one man survived to bring
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  Speaker 1: the news. Job stood there, absorbing the words, a significant loss,
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  Speaker 1: but not everything. He still had, his other flocks, his
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  Speaker 1: other servants, his children. Perhaps this was an isolated attack, perhaps,
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  Speaker 1: But before he could finish the thought, the second messenger arrived,
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  Speaker 1: also running, also breathless, also alone. The fire of God
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  Speaker 1: fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and
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  Speaker 1: the servants, And I am the only one who has
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  Speaker 1: escaped to tell you. Many interpreters understand this as lightning strikes,
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  Speaker 1: though the text describe something unusually devastating. Fire fell from
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  Speaker 1: the sky and consumed everything. Seven thousand sheep gone, the
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  Speaker 1: shepherds watching them dead in an instant. The messenger called
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  Speaker 1: it the fire of God, because what else could such
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  Speaker 1: destruction be called? Natural disaster or divine judgment. It was
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  Speaker 1: beyond human control, beyond explanation. Job felt the weight of it. Now,
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  Speaker 1: two disasters, two groups of animals, lost, many servants dead,
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  Speaker 1: but still his children were safe, His camels were still
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  Speaker 1: in the fields. His wealth, though diminished, was not destroyed.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps the worst was over. Perhaps, but the third messenger
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  Speaker 1: was already at the gate, run shouting. The Chaldeans formed
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  Speaker 1: three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and
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  Speaker 1: made off with them. They put the servants to the sword,
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  Speaker 1: and I am the only one who has escaped to
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  Speaker 1: tell you three thousand camels. In that world, camels were
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  Speaker 1: more valuable than gold. They were transportation, trade, wealth on
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  Speaker 1: four legs. A man with three thousand camels could move
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  Speaker 1: goods across deserts, supply entire caravans, control commerce. Job's camels
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  Speaker 1: represented not just his past wealth, but his future potential.
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  Speaker 1: And now they were gone, stolen by raiders who appeared
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  Speaker 1: out of nowhere, killed every one in their path, and
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  Speaker 1: vanished into the wilderness. Three disasters, three messengers, three reports
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  Speaker 1: of total loss, all within a short span of time.
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  Speaker 1: The pattern was becoming clear. This was not random, This
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  Speaker 1: was coordinated. This was targeted, but Job had not yet
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  Speaker 1: heard the worst. There was a pause, a moment of
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  Speaker 1: terrible silence, and then the fourth messenger appeared on the horizon,
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  Speaker 1: and this one was different. He was not just running,
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  Speaker 1: he was staggering. His clothes were torn, his face was
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  Speaker 1: streaked with dust and tears. And when he reached Job,
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  Speaker 1: the words he spoke shattered everything. Your sons and daughters
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  Speaker 1: were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house
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  Speaker 1: when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert
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  Speaker 1: and struck the four corners of the house. Job's heart stopped.
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  Speaker 1: It collapsed on them, and they are dead, and I
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  Speaker 1: am the only one who has escaped to tell you. Silence,
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  Speaker 1: complete crushing silence. Job had lost his wealth, his oxen,
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  Speaker 1: his donkeys, his sheep, his camels, his servants. But those
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  Speaker 1: were things, possessions. They could be replaced, rebuilt, regained. But
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  Speaker 1: his children, his seven sons, his three daughters, the ones
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  Speaker 1: he prayed for every single morning, the ones he offered
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  Speaker 1: sacrifices for just in case they had sinned in their hearts,
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  Speaker 1: the ones who represented his legacy, his future, his hope.
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  Speaker 1: They were gone, all of them in one moment, crushed
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  Speaker 1: under the weight of a collapsing house, killed by a
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  Speaker 1: wind that came from nowhere and struck with devastating force.
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  Speaker 1: Ten children dead, and once again, only one messenger survived
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  Speaker 1: to tell the story. Four catastrophe, four sole survivors, each
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  Speaker 1: one spared just long enough to deliver the news and
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  Speaker 1: nothing more. In the span of a single day, Job
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  Speaker 1: had lost everything, his lively, bihood, his legacy, his future,
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  Speaker 1: his children, everything. And here is what separates Job from
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  Speaker 1: almost every other person in scripture. Here is the moment
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  Speaker 1: that defines him. He did not curse, He did not
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  Speaker 1: scream at God, he did not demand an explanation. He
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  Speaker 1: stood there for a moment, the weight of it all
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  Speaker 1: pressing down on him, and then he did something that
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  Speaker 1: seems almost impossible given the circumstances. He stood up. He
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  Speaker 1: tore his robe, as was the custom in that culture
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  Speaker 1: when grieving. He shaved his head, another sign of deep mourning.
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  Speaker 1: And then he fell to the ground in worship, not
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  Speaker 1: in despair, in worship, and he spoke words that have
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  Speaker 1: echoed through history ever since. Naked I came from my
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  Speaker 1: mother's womb, and naked I will depart the Lord gave,
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  Speaker 1: and the Lord has taken away. May the name of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord be praised. Read that again. He did not
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  Speaker 1: say the Sabeans took away. He did not say the
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  Speaker 1: Chaldeans took away. He did not say the fire took away.
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  Speaker 1: He did not even say Satan took away. He said
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  Speaker 1: the Lord has taken away. Job understood something profound. He
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  Speaker 1: understood that nothing happens outside of God's sovereign oversight. He
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  Speaker 1: understood that even when disaster strikes, even when the unthinkable occurs,
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  Speaker 1: God remains on the throne, not because he causes every tragedy,
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  Speaker 1: but because he permits or prevents according to purposes we
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  Speaker 1: cannot always see. Job did not have the conversation from
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  Speaker 1: chapter two. He did not know about the Heavenly Council.
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  Speaker 1: He did not know that Satan had challenged his faithfulness.
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  Speaker 1: He did not know that God had allowed this as
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  Speaker 1: a test. All he knew was that everything he had
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  Speaker 1: was gone, and his response was worship. The scripture records
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  Speaker 1: this care. In all this, Job did not sin by
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  Speaker 1: charging God with wrongdoing. He did not blame God. He
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  Speaker 1: did not accuse God of injustice. He did not question
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  Speaker 1: God's goodness. He acknowledged God's sovereignty. He grieved his loss deeply,
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  Speaker 1: and he worshiped. This was the first test, and Job passed,
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  Speaker 1: But Satan was not finished because there was still one thing.
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  Speaker 1: Job had left, his life, his health, his body. And
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  Speaker 1: Satan believed that a man can endure the loss of possessions,
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  Speaker 1: even the loss of loved ones, as long as he
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: himself is still whole. So Satan returned to heaven and
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: he made another accusation, a darker one, a more personal one,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: and God once again gave permission. The second test was coming,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: and it would be far more difficult than the first.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: Chapter four. The second test afflicted in body. There came
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: another day when the angels presented themselves before the Lord,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: and Satan also came with them. The scene was almost
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: identical to the first. The throne room of heaven, the
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: assembly of divine beings, the adversaries standing among them, and
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: once again the Lord spoke to Satan, where have you
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: come from? Satan's answer was the same, from roaming throughout
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: the earth, going back and forth on it, still searching,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: still prowling, still looking for weakness, still hungry to find fault.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: And the Lord said to him have you considered my
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: servant Job. There is no one on earth like him.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: He is blameless and upright, a man who fears God
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: and shuns evil, and he still maintains his integrity. Though
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: you incited me against him, to ruin him without any reason.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: Notice that phrase, without any reason. God himself acknowledged that
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Job's suffering was not punishment. It was not discipline for
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: hidden sin. It was not correction. Job had done nothing
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: to deserve what happened to him. God said it plainly.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: This was a test, and Job had passed. But Satan
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: was not satisfied. He sneered and replied with one of
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: the coldest statements in all of scripture. Skin for skin,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: a man will give all he has for his own life.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Skin for skin. It was a phrase from the market place,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: a trader's saying. It meant that a person will sacrifice anything, everything,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: as long as their own body is safe. Satan was
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: arguing that Job's worship was still conditional. Yes, Job had
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: endured the loss of his wealth, Yes he had endured
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: the loss of his children, but he had done so
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: because he himself was untouched. His body was whole, his
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: health was intact. He could rebuild, he could recover, he
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: could go on living. But touch his body, Satan argued,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: and everything would change. Make him suffer physically, Let him
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: feel constant pain, Let him wake up every morning in agony.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Let him lose the ability to work, to move, to
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: function normally. Then Satan said, you will see his true heart.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Then he will curse you. It was another direct challenge,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: another accusation that true, unconditional worship does not exist, that
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: everyone has a breaking point, that suffering of the body
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: reveals what suffering of circumstance cannot. And once again God
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: accepted the challenge very well. The Lord said, he is
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: in your hands, but you must spare his life. There
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: was a boundary. Satan could afflict Job's body, but he
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: could not kill him. Life itself was off limits, but
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: everything short of death was permitted, and Satan wasted no time.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: He went out from the presence of the Lord and
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: feet to the crown of his head. Not a minor rash,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: not a simple infection. The text describes something severe boils ulcers,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: painful lesions that covered every inch of his body head
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: to toe. No part of him was spared. Scholars have
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: debated for centuries what specific disease this might have been.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: Some suggest a severe form of leprosy. Others point to elephantiasis,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: a parasitic disease that causes swelling and skin damage. Still
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: others mention pemphigus, a condition where the skin develops pain
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: full blisters. Whatever it was, the description makes clear it
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: was comprehensive, agonizing, and debilitating. Job could not walk without pain,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: He could not sit comfortably, He could not lie down
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: without discomfort. His body had become a prison of suffering.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: The condition affected his appearance dramatically. People who saw him
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: would have struggled to recognize him, and so Job did
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: what those with severe skin conditions often did in that culture.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: He left his home. He went outside the city, and
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: he sat down in the ash heap. In that culture,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: the ash heap was where the city disposed of waste,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: broken pottery, refuse. It was also where those considered unclean
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: would gather because others would not come near them. Job,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: once the wealthiest and most respected man in the East
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: now sat among the discarded things, scraping his sores with
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: a piece of broken Potter, trying to find even a
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: moment of relief from the constant irritation and pain. He
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: had lost his wealth, he had lost his children, and
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: now he had lost his health, his dignity, his place
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: in society. He had become unrecognizable, isolated alone with his suffering.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: But he was not completely alone. His wife was still there,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: and she looked at him, sitting in the ashes, reduced
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: to such a state, and something in her broke. Are
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: you still maintaining your integrity? She said, Curse God and die.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: Her words sound harsh, cruel even, but read them again
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: with compassion. This woman had also lost everything. Her children,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: all ten of them, were dead. Her home was gone,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: her security was gone. And now her husband, the man
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: she had built a life with, the man who had
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: provided for her, protected her, loved her, was wasting away
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: before her eyes. She was not a villain. She was broken,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: and in her brokenness she could not see the point
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: of holding on. She could not see why job was
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: still clinging to faith when faith seemed to have brought
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: them nothing but devastation. From her perspective, letting go and
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: finding release was the only escape from a suffering that
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: had no explanation and no end. But Job looked at
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: her and said, you are talking like a foolish woman.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Shall we accept good from God and not trouble? He
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: did not call her foolish, He said she was talking
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: like a foolish woman. There is a difference. He was
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: correcting the words, not condemning the person, and his response
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: revealed something profound. Job understood that God is sovereign over
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: both blessing and hardship. That faith is not a contract
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: where we give God obedience and he guarantees us comfort.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: That worship is not conditional on our circumstances. He said,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: shall we accept good from God and not trouble? In
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: other words, if we are willing to praise God when
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: life is good, should we not also trust him when
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: life is hard. If we believe He is sovereign when
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: we are blessed, should we not also believe He is
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: sovereign when we are suffering. This was the second test,
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: and once again Job passed the scripture records. In all this,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Job did not sin in what he said. He did
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: not curse God, He did not give up. He did
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: not turn his suffering into an accusation against the Almighty.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: He sat in the ashes, covered in painful sores, stripped
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: of everything, and he still refused to let go of
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: his integrity. But the test was not over because word
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: of Job's condition began to spread across the region, and
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: three men, hearing of his suffering, decided to come see him.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: They were not strangers, They were his friends. Chapter five,
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Seven Days of Silence. When three of Job's friends heard
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: about all the troubles that had come upon him, they
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: set out from their homes and met together by agreement
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. Their
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: names were Eliphaz the Temerite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zofar
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: the Namathite. These were not casual acquaintances. These were men
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: of standing leaders in their own regions, respected and wise.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: The fact that they came from distant places, that they
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: co ordinated their journey, that they came together, shows that
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: they cared deeply. This was not a polite visit. This
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: was a deliberate act of friendship. They had heard that
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: Job was suffering, and they came to be with him.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: The journey would have taken days, perhaps weeks, depending on
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: the distance. They traveled through desert roads, across difficult terrain,
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: through heat and dust, all to reach their friend. And
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: when they arrived, when they finally caught sight of him
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: from a distance, they stopped in their tracks. They could
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: hardly recognize him. This was not the Job, they knew.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: The man sitting in the ash heap, his body marked
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: by disease, his appearance so altered, looked nothing like the strong, dignified,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: prosperous leader they remembered. He looked diminished, broken, a shadow
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: of his former self. The text says they began to
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: weep aloud, not quiet tears, loud, uncontrolled weeping. The sight
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: before them was so shocking, so heart breaking, that they
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: could not contain their grief. They tore their robes, the
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: same gesture Job had made when he first heard of
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: his children's death. They sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: another sign of deep mourning and lament. And then they
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: sat down on the ground with him, and they said nothing.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: For seven days and seven nights. They sat there in silence,
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: not because they did not care, but because they did.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: The text says they saw how great his suffering was.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: They looked at him and realized that words would be inadequate,
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: that anything they said in that moment would feel hollow, insufficient,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: that the only thing they could offer right then was
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: presents seven days, seven nights, sitting in the ash heap,
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: in the heat of the day, in the cold of
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: the night, surrounded by the evidence of his affliction, watching
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: their friend endure what seemed unbearable, saying nothing. This is
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: one of the most powerful images in the entire Bible.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: Three men sitting in silence, bearing witness to pain they
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: could not fix. It is a picture of true friendship,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: not the kind that off quick answers or easy solutions,
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: but the kind that simply shows up, that stays, that
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: refuses to leave even when there is nothing to say.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: In many cultures throughout history, sitting with the grieving in
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: silence is understood as a sacred act. It acknowledges that
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: some pain is too deep for words, that presence matters
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: more than explanation, that love is not always expressed through speaking,
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: but sometimes through simply being there. For seven days. That
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: is what they did, and it was beautiful. It was
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: exactly what job needed in that moment, Not advice, not theology,
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: not attempts to make sense of the senseless, just presence,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: just companionship, just three friends willing to sit in the
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: ashes with him. But then the silence broke. Job opened
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: his mouth, and what came out was not a prayer.
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: It was not not a blessing. It was not even
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: a question directed to his friends. It was something raw
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: and unfiltered, a cry from the depths of a soul
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: in absolute anguish. He cursed the day he was born,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: Chapter six, Job's lament, Let the day perish. After seven
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: days of silence, Job opened his mouth and spoke. What
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: followed was not a complaint directed at his friends. It
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: was not even initially directed at God. It was a lament,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: one of the most raw, unfiltered expressions of human suffering
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: ever recorded in scripture. Job began by wishing he had
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: never existed. May the day of my birth perish, and
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: the knight that said a boy is conceived. He was
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: not cursing God. He was cursing his own existence. He
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: wanted that day erased from the calendar, removed from history.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: He wanted the night of his conception swallowed by darkness
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: so complete that it was as if he had never been,
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: he continued. May that day be darkness. May guard above,
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: not seek it out. May no light shine on it.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: May the deepest darkness claim it. May a thick cloud
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: settle over it. May blackness overwhelm it. Job was piling
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: up images of darkness, deep darkness, thick darkness, complete blackness.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: He wanted that day buried under layers of shadow, so
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: heavy that no one would ever remember it, that it
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: would be lost forever. Then he turned his attention to
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: the night of his conception. May that night be barren.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: May no shout of joy be heard in it. May
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: those who curse days curse that day, those who are
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: ready to rouse Leviathan. In ancient Near Eastern culture, there
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: were those who claimed power to curse days, to summon chaos.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: Job was saying, let them curse that night, Let them
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: unleash every force against it. Let it be wiped from existence.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: May its morning stars become dark. May it wait for
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: Job wanted that night frozen in time, forever, waiting for
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: a morning that would never come, forever trapped in darkness,
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: forever unable to bring forth life. And then he asked
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: the question that pierced straight to the heart. Why did
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: it not shut the doors of the womb on me
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: to hide trouble from my eyes? Why was he allowed
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: to be borne? If his life was going to lead
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: to this, If this suffering was what awaited him, why
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: did it begin at all? Why did I not perish
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: at birth and die as I came from the womb?
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: Why were their knees to receive me and breasts that
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: I might be nursed? Job was asking why any one
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: caught him, why any and fed him, Why any one
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: cared for him as an infant. If his life was
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: going to end like this, sitting in ashes, stripped of everything,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: enduring relentless pain, then what was the purpose of beginning it?
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: He said, For now I would be lying down in peace.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: I would be asleep and at rest with kings and
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: rulers of the earth who built for themselves places now
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: lying in ruins, or with princes who had gold, who
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: filled their houses with silver. Job was saying that death
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: would be preferable, that the grave was a place of rest,
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: that even the mightiest kings and wealthiest princes eventually lie
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: down in the dust, and there they find peace. He
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: wished he was there with them. There the wicked cease
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest. Captives
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: also enjoy their ease. They no longer hear the slave
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: drivers shout, the small and the greater. There and the
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: sleagh are freed from their owners in death, Job said,
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: suffering ends, the oppressed are free, The exhausted finally rest.
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: There is no more pain, no more striving, no more cruelty,
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: just silence, just peace. And then he asked the question
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: that every suffering person eventually asks. Why is light given
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul,
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: to those who long for death that does not come,
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: who search for it more than for hidden treasure, who
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave.
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: Why does God give life to people who no longer
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: want it? Why does he keep someone alive when every
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: waking moment feels unbearable. Why does death, which seems like mercy,
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: remain out of reach. Job was not just speaking for himself.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: He was speaking for every person who has ever suffered
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: so deeply that they wondered why they were still breathing,
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: Every person who has ever prayed for release, and heard nothing.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: Every person who has ever felt trapped in circumstances they
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: could not escape. He said, why is life given to
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: This is a striking reversal. In chapter one, God spoke
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: of putting a hedge around Job to protect him. Now
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: Job was saying that same hedge felt like a prison.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: He could not see the way forward. He could not
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: understand what was happening. He felt enclosed, trapped, suffocated by
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: a suffering that had no explanation. What I feared has
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: come upon me. What I dreaded has happened to me.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest,
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: but only turmoil. Job had always been aware of life's fragility.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: He had prayed for his children every single day, concerned
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: that something might happen to them. And now his deepest
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: fears had materialized. His worst imaginings had become his reality.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: This was Job's lament, and it is important to understand
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: what a lament is in the Biblical tradition. A lament
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: is not a lack of faith. It is not a
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: rejection of God. It is honesty before God. It is
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: bringing the full weight of human pain into the open
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: and saying, this is unbearable. I do not understand. I
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: need answers. The psalms are filled with laments. David cried out,
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jeremiah
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: wept over destruction and suffering. Habakuk demanded to know why
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: God allowed injustice. And God did not condemn any of
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: them for their honesty. He allowed them to speak, He listened,
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: He met them in their pain. Job's lament was not sin.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: It was the cry of a suffering man who still
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: believed God was listening, who still hoped for response, who
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: still trusted that his words mattered, even when they were
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: words of anguish. But his three friends did not see
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: it that way. They had sat in silence for seven days,
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: but now hearing Job's words, they could no longer remain quiet.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: They believed they understood what was happening. They believed they
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: knew why Job was suffering, and they believed it was
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: their duty to tell him. So they spoke, and what
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: they said would turn this story of suffering into a
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: prolonged debate about the nature of God, the purpose of pain,
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: and the meaning of righteousness. Chapter seven, The Friend's comfort
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: rounds one and two. Eliphaz the Temanite was the first
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: to speak. He was the oldest of the three, the
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: most experienced, widely considered the wisest, and his words beglenned gently,
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: almost apologetically. If some one ventures a word with you,
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: will you be impatient? But who can keep from speaking?
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: He was saying, I know you are suffering. I know
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: you may not want to hear this right now, but
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: I cannot stay silent. I have to say something. And
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: then he began his argument. Consider now, who being innocent,
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? As
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: I have observed those who plow evil and those who
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: so trouble reap it at the breath of God, they
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: perish at the blast of his anger, they are no more.
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: Eliphaz was stating what he believed to be a universal principle,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: one widely held in that time. The righteous are blessed,
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: the wicked are punished. If you are suffering, it must
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: be because you have sinned. If you were truly innocent,
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: you would not be in this situation. It was simple, logical,
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: theologically tidy, and completely inadequate for Job's situation. He continued,
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: But if I were you, I would appeal to God.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: I would lay my cause before him. He performs wonders
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. He
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: provides rain for the earth. He sends water on the
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: country side. The lowly he sets on high, and those
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: who mourn are lifted to safety. Eliphaz was saying, confess
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: whatever sin you are hiding, Job, repent, ask God for forgiveness,
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: and he will restore you. This suffering must be discipline.
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: It must be correction. Accept it, learn from it, and
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: God will lift you up again. He even tried to
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: make it sound encouraging. Blessed is the one whom God corrects.
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: he wounds, but he also binds up. He injures, but
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: his hands also heal. It sounded wise, it sounded spiritual,
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: but it was built on a false assumption that all
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: suffering is the direct result of personal sin, that pain
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: is always punishment, That if you are right with God,
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: nothing truly bad will happen to you. Job listened, and
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: then he responded, not with anger, but with clarity born
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: of experience. If only my anguish could be weighed, and
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: all my misery be placed on the scales, it would
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: surely outweigh the sand of the seas. That is why
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: my words have been impetuous. Job was saying, you have
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: no idea how heavy this is. You are sitting there
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: with theories. I am sitting here with actual wounds. You
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: speak of what you have observed. I speak of what
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: I am enduring. He said, The arrows of the Almighty
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: are in me. My spirit drinks in their poison. God's
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: terrors are marshaled against me. Job was not denying God's sovereignty.
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: He was acknowledging it fully. He knew that what was
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: happening to him was not random, But he also knew
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: he had done nothing to deserve it. Does a wild
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: donkey bray when it has grass, or an ox bellow
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: when it has fodder? Is tasteless food eaten without salt?
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: Or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow?
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: Job was saying, do you think I am complaining for
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: no reason? Do you think I am crying out because
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: I am weak? No? I am crying out because the
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: pain is real, because something is profoundly wrong. An animal
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: does not cry out when it is fed. I would
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: not cry out if there were not genuine cause. And
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: then Job said something that cut through all of Eliphaz's assumptions.
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: That was his defaire not that he was perfect, not
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: that he had never made a mistake, but that he
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: had not turned away from God. He had not cursed,
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: he had not blasphemed, he had not rejected the faith.
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: He was still holding on, barely, perhaps, but he was
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: holding on. Eliphaz had no immediate response to that, so
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: Bildad the shoe height spoke next. Bildard was more direct,
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: less gentle than eliphas. How long will you say such things?
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: Your words are a blustering wind? Does God pervert justice?
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: Does the Almighty pervert what is right? He was saying,
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: stop complaining, Job, God is just. If you are suffering
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: this much, it must be because you deserve it. Then
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: Bildad went further, crossing a line that would haunt the
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: rest of their conversation. When your children sinned against him,
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: Pause and feel the weight of that statement. Bildad just
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: told Job that his ten children, the ones crushed under
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: a collapsing house died because they sinned, that their deaths
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: were God's judgment, that Job should accept it as justice
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: and move on. This was not comfort, This was cruelty
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: disguised as theology. Job responded with restrained intensity. Truly, I
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: know it is so, But how can mere mortals prove
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: their righteousness before God? Though one wished to dispute with him,
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: they could not answer him. One time out of a thousand.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: Job was saying, you are right that God is sovereign.
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: You are right that God is infinitely wise. But that
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: does not mean I understand what is happening. That does
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: not mean this makes sense to me. I cannot argue
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: with God. I cannot demand he explain himself. But I
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: also cannot pretend that this feels fair, or that your
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: explanations satisfy the reality of my pain. He said, he
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: is not a mere mortal like me. That I might
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: answer him, that we might confront each other in court,
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: if only there was someone to mediate between us, someone
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: to bring us together, someone to remove God's rod from
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: me so that his terror would frighten me. No more.
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: Job was crying out for a mediator, someone who could
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: stand between him and God, someone who could translate his
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: suffering into language that made sense, someone who could bridge
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: the infinite gap between human pain and divine purpose. He
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: did not know it yet, but he was describing what
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: would come thousands of years later, the one mediator between
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: God and humanity, the one who would bear suffering he
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: did not deserve, so that we could be reconciled to
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: the Father. But that was still far in the future,
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: and Job had no such mediator, no advocate, no one
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: who could explain. Then Zophar the Namathite spoke, and he
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: was the harshest of all three. Are all these words
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: to go unanswered? Is this talker to be vindicated? Will
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: your idle talk reduce others to silence? Will no one
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: rebuke you when you mock? Zophar was accusing Job of arrogance,
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: of talking too much, of thinking he knew better than
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: every one else. He said, Oh, how I wish that
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: God would speak, that he would open his lips against
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: you and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom. For
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: true wisdom has two sides. Know this, God has even
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: forgotten some of your sin. Zophar was saying that Job's
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: punishment was not too much. It was too little, that God,
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: in his mercy, was actually going easy on him, that
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: if God revealed all of Job's hidden sins, Job would
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: realize he deserved far worse than what he was experiencing.
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: This was no longer comfort, This was accusation. This was condemnation,
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: and Job had heard enough. Doubtless, you are the only
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: people who matter, and wisdom will die with you. But
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: I have a mind as well as you. I am
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: not inferior to you, who does not know all these things.
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: Job was done being lectured. These men came to comfort him. Instead,
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: they were prosecuting him. They had taken his suffering and
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: turned it into evidence of guilt. They had looked at
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: his pain and decided it proved he was a sinner
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: hiding something terrible. You are worthless, physicians, all of you.
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: Job said. If only you would be altogether silent for you,
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: that would be wisdom. Silence would have been better. The
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: seven days of presence without words would have been enough.
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: But they could not help themselves. They had to explain.
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: They had to defend God. They had to make the
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: suffering makes sense according to their limited theology, and in
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: doing so they became tormentous instead of comforters. The debate
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: would continue for many more chapters, round after round, accusation
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: after accusation, Job defending his integrity, his friends insisting he
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: must be hiding sin. But the core positions were now clear.
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: They believed in a simple equation, righteousness equals blessing, sin
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: equals suffering. Job knew from his own experience that reality
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: was far more complex than their formulas allowed. None of
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: them knew the truth. None of them had seen the
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: Heavenly Council. None of them knew that Job's suffering had
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: nothing to do with hidden sin and everything to do
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: with a test that would prove the possibility of genuine,
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: unconditional faith. They were arguing in the dark, each certain
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: of their position, none able to see the larger picture,
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: and the longer they argued, the more desperate Job became
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: for the one thing none of them could give him,
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: an answer from God himself. Chapter eight, Job's defense, I
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: am innocent. The debate continued, growing more intense with each exchange. Eliphaz, Bildad,
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: and Zophar took turns pressing their case, each insisting that
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: Job must have committed some serious sin to warrant such suffering,
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: and Job sitting in the ashes, his body still covered
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: in painful sores, his spirit crushed under the weight of loss.
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: Defended himself with a desperation that grew stronger with each
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: false accusation. He said, I have become a laughing stock
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: to my friends, though I called on God, and he answered,
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: a mere laughing stock. Though righteous and blameless, Job was
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: no longer the man every one respected. He had become
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: an object of pity, of speculation. Even his friends who
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: came supposedly to comfort him now sat in judgment over him.
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: Those who are at ease have contempt for misfortune, as
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: the fate of those whose feet are slipping, he said,
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: But the tents of marauders are undisturbed, and those who
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: provoke God are secure those who carry their God in
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: their hands. Job was pointing out a reality his friends
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: refused to acknowledge. Wicked people often prosper raiders live in peace.
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: Those who mock God sleep soundly in their tents. But
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: he who feared God, who walked in integrity, who offered
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: sacrifices faithfully, was sitting in a garbage heap, his body failing.
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: Where was the justice in that? Where was the simple equation?
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: His friends kept insisting on His friends had no answer
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: that satisfied, so they repeated their accusations with growing frustration,
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: and Job repeated his defense with growing intensity, over and over,
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: until finally, in chapters twenty three through thirty one, Job
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: delivered his most comprehensive declaration of innocence. He said, even
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: to day, my complaint is bitter. His hand is heavy
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: in spite of my groaning. If only I knew where
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: to find him, if only I could go to his dwelling,
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: I would state my case before him and fill my
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: mouth with arguments. I would find out what he would
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: answer me, and consider what he would say to me.
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: Job was not running from God. He was running toward him.
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: He was not rejecting God. He was demanding an audience.
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: He wanted to stand before the Almighty and present his case.
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: He wanted answers. He wanted understanding. He wanted to know why.
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: But God seemed absent. If I go to the east,
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: he is not there. If I go to the west,
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: I do not find him. When he is at work
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: in the north, I do not see him. When he
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: Job felt abandoned, not by his faith, but by the
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: presence of the one he had always trusted. God seemed hidden, unreachable, silent,
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: and that silence was almost worse than the suffering itself.
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: But then Job said something that revealed the depth of
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: his faith underneath all the pain. But he knows the
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: way that I take. When he has tested me, I
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: will come forth as gold. Job understood this was a test,
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: not punishment, not judgment, a test, and he believed that
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: when it was over, when the fire had done its work,
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: he would emerge, refined, proven, vindicated. My feet have closely
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: followed his steps. I have kept to his way without
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: more than my daily bread. This was Job's defense, not
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: that he was sinless, but that he had been faithful,
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: that he had followed God's commands, that he had valued
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: God's word above food, above comfort, above life itself. And then,
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: in chapters twenty nine through thirty one, Job delivered a
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: speech that stands as one of the most moving defenses
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: of integrity in all of literature. He began by remembering
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: what his life used to be. How I longed for
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: the months gone by, for the days when God watched
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: over me, when his lamp shone on my head, and
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: by his light I walked through darkness. Oh, for the
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: days when I was in my prime, when God's intimate
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: friendship blessed my house, when the Almighty was still with
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: me and my children were around me. Job remembered when
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: God's presence was tangible, when life made sense, when his
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: children were alive, when his wealth was intact, when people
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: honored him. When I went to the gate of the
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: city and took my seat in the public square, the
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: young men saw me and stepped aside, and the old
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: men rose to their feet. The chief men refrained from
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: speaking and covered their mouths with their hands. The voices
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: of the nobles were hushed. Job had been a leader,
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: a judge, a voice of wisdom and justice. When he spoke,
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: people listened. When he stood, people rose when he entered
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: the room, Respectful silence fell, not out of fear, out
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: of genuine respect. Who ever heard me spoke well of me,
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: and those who saw me commended me. Because I rescued
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: had none to assist them. The one who was dying
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: blessed me. I made the widow's heart sing. I put
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: on righteousness as my clothing. Justice was my robe and
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: my turban. Job was not bragging, was stating the record
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: of his life. He had lived with justice. He had
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: defended the oppressed, He had provided for the widow. He
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: had been eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: He had broken the fangs of the wicked and snatched
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: victims from their teeth. But now everything had changed. But
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: now they mock me. Men younger than I, whose fathers
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs,
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: the lowest people in society, the ones Job would never
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: have associated with before, now mocked him openly. They spat
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: on him. They sang songs about his downfall. He had
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: become a byword, a cautionary tale, a symbol of ruin.
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: And now my life ebbs away. Days of suffering grip
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: me night, pierces my bones, My gnawing pains never rest.
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: Job's suffering was relentless, day and night, physical and emotional.
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: It never stopped, it never lessened. It just continued grinding
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: him down, breaking him apart. And yet even in the
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: midst of all this, Job did not curse God. Instead,
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: he made a covenant, a series of public oaths, a
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: declaration of his innocence across every area of life. He said,
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: I made a covenant with my eyes not to look
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: lustfully at a young woman. Job was declaring he had
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: lived with integrity in his thoughts, in his desires, in
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: his private moments. If I have walked with falsehood, or
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: my foot has hurried after deceit, let God weigh me
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: in honest scales, and he will know that I am blameless.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: Job was inviting judgment. He was saying, If I am guilty,
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: let me be punished. But if I am innocent, let
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: that be known. Let God weigh me, Let the truth
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: be revealed. He continued with a comprehensive list. If my
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: have lurked at my neighbor's door adultery, Job swore he
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: had not committed it, not even in his heart. If
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: I have denied justice to any of my servants, whether
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: male or female, when they had a grievance against me,
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: justice toward those under his authority, Job swore he had
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: treated even his servants with fairness. If I have denied
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: the desires of the poor, or let the eyes of
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: the widow grow weary. If I have kept my bread
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: to myself, not sharing it with the fatherless, compassion for
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: the vulnerable, job swore he had used his wealth to
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: help others. If I have put my trust in gold,
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: or said to pure gold, you are my security, idolatry
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: of wealth, job swore he had not worshiped money or
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: made it his god. If I have rejoiced at my
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: enemy's misfortune or gloated over the trouble that came to
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: him hatred and vengeance, job swore he had not celebrated
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: the suffering of those who opposed him. If I have
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: concealed my sin as people do, by hiding my guilt
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: in my heart, because I so feared the crowd, Oh
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: that I had some one to hear me. I sign
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: now my defense. Let the Almighty answer me. Let my
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: accuser put his indictment in writing. Job ended with a challenge.
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: He signed his name to his defense. He demanded that
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: God respond. He wanted his accuser to bring formal charges
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: so he could answer them point by point. This was
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: not arrogance, This was integrity. Job was saying, I have
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: lived an open life. I have nothing to hide. If
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: there is sin, show me. If there is guilt, prove it.
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: But if I am innocent, then why am I suffering?
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: The words hung in the air, and for a moment
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: there was silence. Job's three friends had nothing left to say.
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: They had accused him of every possible hidden sin, and
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: he had refuted every accusation. They had insisted he must
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: be concealing guilt, and he had laid his entire life
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: bare before them and before God. They were defeated, not
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: because Job claimed perfection, but because he had been honest,
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: and his honesty exposed the weakness of their theology. They
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: believed that suffering always meant personal guilt. Job's experience proved
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: them wrong. But the silence did not last long because
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: some one else had been listening, someone younger, someone who
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: had kept quiet out of respect for his elders. But
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: now he could no longer hold his tongue. His name
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: was Elihu, and he was angry with every one. Chapter nine,
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: Eli Whu the young man speaks. Elihu, son of Barachel
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: the Buzite, had been there the entire time. He had
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: listened to every word every accusation from the three friends,
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: every defense from Job, and he had said nothing because
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: in that culture, young men did not speak when their
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: elders were talking. Wisdom was associated with age, experience, gray hair,
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: and Eli Whu respected that tradition. But now, as the
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: debate ground to a halt, as Job's three friends sat
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: in silence with nothing left to say, Eli Whu could
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: not contain himself any longer. The text says Eli who
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God.
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: He was frustrated because Job, in defending his innocence so vigorously,
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: seemed at times to be questioning God's justice, because Job
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: kept demanding answers, as if God owed him an explanation.
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: But Eli, who was also angry with the three friends,
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: he was also angry with the three friends because they
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: had found no way to refute Job, and yet had
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: condemned him. They had accused Job without adequate evidence. They
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: had insisted he was guilty without proof, and when Job
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: defended himself thoroughly, they had no response. They had failed
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: both as theologians and as friends. So Eli who waited
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: to see if they would speak again. But when he
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: saw that the three men had nothing more to say.
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: His anger was aroused, and then he began, I am
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: young in years, and you are old. That is why
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: I was fearful, not daring to tell you what I know.
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: I thought age should speak, advanced years should teach wisdom.
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: But it is the spirit in a person, the breath
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: of the Almighty, that gives them understanding. It is not
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: only the old who are wise, not only the aged
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: who understand what is right. Illy who was saying, I
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: have stayed silent out of respect. But wisdom does not
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: come from age alone. It comes from God. And God
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: has given me insight I need to share. He turned
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: to Job's three friends first. Therefore, I say listen to me,
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: I too will tell you what I know. I waited
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: while you spoke. I listened to your reasoning, while you
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: were searching for words. I gave you my full attention.
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: But not one of you has proved Job wrong. None
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: of you has answered his arguments. Do not say we
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: have found wisdom. Let God, not a man refute him. Eli,
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: who was calling them out? You failed? He said you
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: accused Job, but you could not prove him guilty of
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: what you claimed. You said, you spoke for God. But
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: you only spoke your own limited understanding. Then he turned
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: to Job. But Job has not marshaled his words against me,
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: and I will not answer him with your arguments, Eli,
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: who was saying, I am not going to repeat what
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: they said. I am going to offer a different perspective.
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: I am full of words, and the spirit within me
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: compels me inside. I am like bottled up wine, like
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: new wine skins ready to burst. I must speak and
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: find relief. I must open my lips and reply Eli,
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: who could not hold it in any longer. He had
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: been listening for days, maybe weeks, and the pressure had
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: been building inside him. He had to speak, not out
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: of arrogance, but out of conviction that he had something
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: important to contribute. I will show no partiality, nor will
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: I flatter any one, For if I were skilled in flattery,
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: my maker would soon take me away, Eli, who was saying,
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: I am not here to take sides. I am not
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: here to make any one feel good. I am here
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: to speak what I believe is truth. And if I
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: fail to do that honestly, God will hold me accountable.
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: Then he addressed Job directly. But now Job, listen to
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: my words, pay attention to everything I say. My words
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: come from an upright heart. My lips sincerely speak what
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: I know. The spirit of God has made me. The
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: breath of the Almighty gives me life. Eli, who was
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: claiming that his words had weight not because of his
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: age or status, but because of divine insight. Answer me, then,
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: if you can stand up and argue your case before me,
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: I am the same as you in God's sight, I too,
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: am a piece of clay. No fear of me should
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: alarm you, nor should my hand be heavy on you. Eli,
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: who was leveling the field. He was not claiming superiority.
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: He was simply a man made by God speaking to
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 1: another man made by God. And then he began his argument,
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: But you have said in my hearing, I heard the
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: very words you said. I am pure, I have done
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: no wrong. I am clean and free from sin. Yet
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: God has found fault with me. He considers me his enemy.
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: He fastens my feet in shackles. He keeps close watch
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: on all my paths. Eli, who was quoting Job's own words,
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: back to him, and then he said something crucial. But
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: I tell you in this you are not right. For
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: God is greater than any mortal. Why do you complain
• 1:09:39
  Speaker 1: to him that he responds to no one's words. For
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: God does speak now one way, now another, though no
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: one perceives it. Elli, who was saying, Job, you are
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: not wrong to declare your innocence. You are not wrong
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: to want answers, but you are wrong to assume that
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: God owes you an explanation on your God is sovereign.
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: He does not answer to us. We answer to him.
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 1: deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds,
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: He may speak in their ears and terrify them with
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: warnings to turn them from wrongdoing and keep them from pride. Eli,
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: who was saying, God does speak, but not always in
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: the way we expect, not always in the way we want.
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: Sometimes he speaks through circumstances, through suffering, through silence itself.
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: Or someone may be chastened on a bed of pain,
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: with constant distress in their bones, so that their body
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: finds food repulsive and their soul loathes the choicest meal.
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: Eli who was describing Job's exact condition, and he was suggesting,
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: this is not necessarily punishment for past sin. This could
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: be God's way of refining you, of teaching you something
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: you could not learn any other way. Yet, if there
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: is an angel at their side, a messenger one out
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: of a thousand, sent to tell them how to be upright,
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: and he is gracious to that person and says to God,
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: spare them from going down to the pit. I have
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: found a ransom for them. Then that person can pray
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: to God and find favor with him. Eli who was
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: pointing towards something Job's three friends had completely missed, that
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: suffering could have a redemptive purpose. That God might be
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: using pain not to destroy Job, but to refine him,
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: to prepare him, to bring him to a place where
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: he could encounter God more deeply than ever before. He continued,
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: God does all these things to a person twice, even
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: three times, to turn them back from the pit, that
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: the light of life may shine on them. Eli Who
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: was saying, God is patient, He works, he refines, but
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: his goal is always restoration, always life, always light. Many
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: scholars debate eli Who's role in the book. Some see
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: him as preparing Job for God's appearance, offering a bridge
• 1:12:08
  Speaker 1: between human wisdom and divine revelation. Others see him as
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: yet another flawed counselor younger and less experienced than the
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: first three. The text itself does not explicitly condemn or
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: commend him, leaving his speeches open to interpretation. What is
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: clear is that Eli Whu offered a different perspective. He
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: did not accuse Job of hidden sin like the others. Instead,
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: he suggested that Job's suffering might be part of a
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: divine process whose purpose would eventually become clear. Eli Who
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: spoke for several more chapters, addressing God's justice, God's power,
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: God's wisdom. He challenged some of Job's assumptions. He corrected
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: some of Job's statements, but unlike the three friends, his
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: tone was less accusatory and more instructive. When Eli huo
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: Who finished speaking, there was silence again, But this time
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: the silence felt different. It was not the silence of
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: defeat or frustration. It was the silence of anticipation, because
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: something was about to happen, something no one expected. The
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: sky began to darken, the wind began to rise, and
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: out of that wind, out of that storm, out of
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: that whirlwind, a voice spoke, God himself was about to
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: answer Job. Chapter ten, God speaks from the Whirlwind Part one.
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: Then the Lord answered Job. Out of the storm, not
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: out of the silence, not out of the stillness, not
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: in a quiet whisper, out of the storm, out of
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: the whirlwind, out of a wind so powerful it bent
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: the trees and filled the air with thunder. For thirty
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: seven chapters, God had been silent. Joe had cried out,
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: he had demanded answers, He had signed his name to
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: his defense and challenged the Almighty to respond. His three
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: friends had claimed to speak for God, Eli who had
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: spoken about God. But now God himself spoke, and when
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: he did everything changed. Who is this that obscures my
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: plans with words without knowledge? God's first words were not
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: an explanation. They were a question, and the question was pointed.
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: Who are you, God asked to speak about things you
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: do not understand? Who are you to question my purposes
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: with words that lack foundation? It was not a rebuke
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: born of anger, It was a challenge, born of reality.
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: Job had been speaking about God's justice, God's fairness, God's
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: purposes as if he had the perspective to evaluate them,
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: and God was saying, you do not. You cannot because
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: you do not see what I see. You do not
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: know what I know. Then God said, brace yourself like
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: a man. I will question you, and you shall answer me.
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: This was the moment Job had been waiting for an
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: audience with God, a chance to present his case. But
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: it did not go the way Job expected because God
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: did not come to answer Job's questions. God came to
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: ask his own, and the questions he asked were not
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: about sin. They were not about guilt or innocence. They
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: were about something far greater. They were about the vastness
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: of God's power, the depth of his wisdom, the scope
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: of his authority over all creation. God began with the
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: earth itself. Where were you when I laid the Earth's foundation?
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: Tell me if you understand who marked off its dimensions,
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: surely you know who stretched a measuring line across it
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: on what were its footings set? Or who laid its
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 1: corner stone? While the morning stars sang together and all
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: the angels shouted for joy, God was taking Job back
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: to the very beginning, to the moment when the Earth
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: was formed, when the foundations were laid, when the dimensions
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: were set, and he asked, where were you, Job, were
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: you there? Did you see it? Did you help? The answer,
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: of course, was no, Job was not there, no human was.
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: The creation of the world happened long before any person existed,
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: and yet Job, in his pain, had been speaking as
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: if he had the standing to question the one who
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: spoke the universe into existence. God continued, who shut up
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb?
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: When I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: in thick darkness, When I fixed limits for it and
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: set its doors and bars in place, When I said
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: this far you may come, and no farther here is
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: where your proud waves halt the sea. In ancient thought,
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: the sea often represented chaos, danger, the untameable force that
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: could destroy everything, And yet God set boundaries for it.
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 1: He commanded it. He said, you will come this far
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: and no farther, and the sea obeyed. Job had felt
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: overwhelmed by chaos, by suffering that seemed limitless, by pain
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: that crashed over him like waves. But it seems God
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: was reminding him that even the sea, vast and powerful
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: as it is, obeys the voice of the creator. Nothing
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: is beyond his control. Have you ever given orders to
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: the morning, or shown the dawn its place that it
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: might take the earth by the edges? And shake the
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: wicked out of it. Every single morning the sun rises.
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 1: It has done so since the beginning, it will continue
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: until the end. And Job had never once commanded it.
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: He had never told the dawn where to appear. It
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: happened without his input, without his permission, because God ordained it.
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: Then God asked, have you journeyed to the springs of
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 1: the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep.
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: you seen the gates of the deepest darkness? Have you
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: comprehended the vast expanses of the earth. Tell me if
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: you know all this. God was asking Job. If he
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: had explored the depths of the ocean, if he had
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: seen where the waters begin, if he had walked through
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: the gates of death and returned, if he had measured
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: the earth from end to end. And the answer was no,
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: Job had not. He could not. These were mysteries beyond
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: human reach. What is the way to the abode of light?
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: And where does darkness reside? Can you take them to
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: Surely you know, for you were already born. You have
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: lived so many years There was gentle irony in God's voice,
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: not cruelty, but a reminder. Job, you are a man,
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: You were born into this world. You did not exist
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: before it. You do not control it, You do not
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: even fully understand it. So how can you question the
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: one who does. God moved from the earth to the sky.
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or seen
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: of trouble, for days of war and battle. Snow, hail,
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 1: They seem simple, common, But God was saying, I control them,
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: I store them, I release them according to my purposes.
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: Even the weather, which seems random to you, operates under
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 1: my command. What is the way to the place where
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 1: the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: winds are scattered over the earth. Who cuts a channel
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 1: for the torrents of rain and a path for the
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: thunder storm? To water a land where no one lives,
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: an uninhabited desert, to satisfy a desolate waste land and
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: make it sprout with grass. God was pointing out something profound.
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: He sends rain to places where no human lives. He
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: waters deserts that no one sees. He causes grass to
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: grow in lands that no one visits. Why not for
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: human benefit alone, but because he cares for all of
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: his creation, because his purposes extend far beyond what humans
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: need or understand. Job had been thinking of God's actions
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 1: primarily in terms of how they affected him, his suffering,
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: his loss, his pain. But it seems God was revealing
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: something larger. I am not just concerned with you, Job,
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: I govern the entire universe. I care for the sparrow
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: and the lion. I send rain to the desert and
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: snow to the mountain. My purposes are vast. My plans
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 1: extend beyond your comprehension. Does the rain have a father
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: who fathers the drops of dew? From whose womb comes
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: the ice, who gives birth to the frost from the
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 1: heavens when the waters become hard as stone, when the
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: surface of the deep is frozen. God was using the
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: language of creation, of origin. He was asking who made
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: these things, who sustains them, who keeps them in order?
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: And the answer was clear God alone. Then God turned
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: Job's attention to the heavens. Can you bind the chains
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion's belt? Can you
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: bring forth the constellations in their seasons, or lead out
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: the bear its cubs? Do you know the laws of
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: the heavens? Can you set up God's dominion over the earth?
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: The stars, the constellations? They move across the sky in
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: perfect order, night after night, year after year, century after century.
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: And Job had no power over them. He could not
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: move them, He could not change their paths. They obeyed God,
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: not him. Can you raise your voice to the clouds
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 1: and cover yourself with a flood of water? Do you
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 1: to you? Here we are? God was asking do you
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: command the storm? Do you tell the lightning where to strike?
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 1: Do you control the rain? And the answer was no.
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: Job could not. These forces were beyond human power, beyond
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: human understanding, beyond human control. Who gives the ibis wisdom
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: or gives the rooster understanding? Who has the wisdom to
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars
• 1:23:09
  Speaker 1: of the heavens? Even the animals and birds have knowledge
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: that humans do not possess. The Ibis knows when floods
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: are coming, the rooster knows when dawn approaches. They have
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 1: instincts understanding that God gave them, and Job for all
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: his knowledge, for all his righteousness, could not explain how
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 1: they knew these things. God was not humiliating Job. He
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: was expanding Job's vision. He was saying, you have been
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 1: so focused on your own suffering that you have lost
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: sight of how vast I am, how great my works are,
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: how far beyond your understanding my ways are. Job had
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: demanded answers. He had wanted to know why, why did
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 1: his children die, Why did he lose everything? Why was
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: he sitting in the ashes covered in sores? But God
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: did not answer those questions directly. Instead, he revealed himself,
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: and in doing so, he revealed something far more important
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 1: than an explanation. He revealed his character, his power, his wisdom,
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: his sovereign care over all creation. It seems God was saying,
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: I am the creator of the universe. I laid the
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 1: foundations of the earth. I set the boundaries of the sea.
• 1:24:31
  Speaker 1: I command the morning, I store the snow, I direct
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: the lightning, I order the stars. I govern all things.
• 1:24:41
  Speaker 1: And you, Job are part of my creation. You are
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 1: precious to me, but you are not the center of
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: it all I am. And that was the beginning of
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: God's answer not an explanation, but a revelation, a revelation
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 1: of who God is. And in the presence of that revelation,
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: Job began to understand that some questions do not need answers,
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: they need perspective. The storm continued to roar, and God
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: was not finished speaking. Chapter eleven, God Speaks from the Whirlwind,
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 1: Part two. God's voice did not soften, the whirlwind did
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: not calm. If anything, the intensity grew because now God
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 1: moved from the inanimate creation to the living creatures, from
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: the stars and the seas, to the beasts and the birds,
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 1: And in doing so he revealed even more of his wisdom,
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 1: his power, his care for all that He has made.
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy
• 1:25:46
  Speaker 1: the hunger of the lions when they crouch in their
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: dens or lie in weight in a thicket. The lion,
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: the apex predator, the king of beasts. It does not
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 1: hunt because it learned how, it hunt because God designed
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 1: it to. It knows when to wait, when to strike,
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: and when it kills. It is part of the order
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: God established. The lion eats. Balance is maintained, and God
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: oversees it all, Job had been consumed by his own suffering.
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 1: But it seems God was saying, I care for the lion,
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 1: I provide for its needs. I watch over it. Do
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 1: you think I am not also watching over you? Who
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: provides food for the raven? When it's young cry out
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: to God and wander about for lack of food. The
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: raven one of the most common birds, unremarkable, often overlooked,
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: and yet God hears its cry when the young ravens
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: are hungry. When they call out, God provides not because
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 1: they are special, but because he is faithful to what
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 1: he has created. Jesus would later say, look at the
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: birds of the air. They do not sow or reap
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 1: or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 1: It seems God was making a similar point to Job.
• 1:27:13
  Speaker 1: If I care for the raven, do you think I
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 1: do not care for you? Then God turned to the
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: wild animals of the mountains. Do you know when the
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 1: mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the dough
• 1:27:25
  Speaker 1: bears her fawn? Do you count the months till they bear?
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: Do you know the time they give birth? Mountain Goats
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: live in the highest, most remote places, places where humans
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 1: rarely go. And yet God knows them. He knows when
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 1: they give birth. He watches over them in their most
• 1:27:45
  Speaker 1: vulnerable moments. Their struggles are not invisible to him. Job
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 1: had felt invisible, forgotten. But it seems God was saying,
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: I see the mountain goat in the wilderness. I see
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: the dough in the forest. Do you think I do
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 1: not see you? Then God asked about the wild donkey.
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 1: Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied its ropes?
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 1: I gave it the wasteland as its home, the salt
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 1: flats as its habitat. It laughs at the commotion in
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 1: the town. It does not hear a driver's shout. The
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: wild donkey is the opposite of the domesticated one. It
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 1: refuses to be tamed. It will not pull a plow.
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 1: It lives in the desert, far from human control. And
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: God was saying, I made it that way. I gave
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: it freedom. Not every creature is meant to serve human purposes.
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: Some exist simply because I chose to create them. Job
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 1: had been trying to make sense of his suffering. He
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: had been looking for a reason, a purpose, a lesson.
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: But it seems God was saying, not everything in my
• 1:28:54
  Speaker 1: creation exists for your benefit or understanding. Some things exist
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: simply because I will them into being, and that is enough.
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will it
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 1: stay by your manger at night? Can you hold it
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 1: to the furrow with a harness? The wild ox was massive, powerful,
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: stronger than any domesticated animal, and yet it could not
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 1: be controlled. It would not work for humans. And God
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 1: was saying, I made it that way. It does not
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: exist to serve you. It exists because I say it does.
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: Then God turned to the Ostrich, and here his words
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 1: almost seem to carry a note of gentle humor. The
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: wings of the Ostrich flap joyfully, though they cannot compare
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: with the wings and feathers of the stalk. She lays
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: the sand, unmindful that a foot may crush them. She
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers.
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: She cares not that her labor was in vain, for
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 1: God did not endow her with wisdom or give her
• 1:30:03
  Speaker 1: a share of good sense. The Ostrich seems strange. It
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 1: has wings, but cannot fly. It lays its eggs in
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: the sand and seems to forget about them. By all appearances,
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: it seems poorly designed. But then God said, yet when
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: and rider. The Ostrich is the fastest bird on land.
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 1: It can outrun a horse. What seems like foolishness is
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 1: actually design. God made the Ostrich exactly as it is,
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 1: and it thrives. It seems God was saying to job,
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 1: you look at your life and think it makes no sense.
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 1: You think your suffering is a mistake. But just as
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 1: I designed the Ostrich with purpose, even when that purpose
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 1: is not immediately clear, so I have designed your life.
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 1: Trust me, even when you do not understand. Then God
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 1: spoke of the horse. Do you give the horse its
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane? Do
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: you make it leap like a locust, striking terror with
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: its proud snorting It paus fiercely, rejoicing in its strength,
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: and charges into the fray. It laughs at fear, afraid
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: of nothing. It does not shy away from the sword.
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: The war horse fearless, powerful, eager for battle. It does
• 1:31:27
  Speaker 1: not hesitate, It charges forward, even into danger, because that
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: is what God created it to do. And it seems
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: God was saying, I gave it that courage, I gave
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: it that strength. Do you think I have not also
• 1:31:42
  Speaker 1: given you what you need for what you are facing.
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 1: Then God turned to the birds of prey. Does the
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread its wings
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: toward the south? Does the eagle soar at your command
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 1: and build its nest on high? From there it looks
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 1: for food, its eyes detected from afar. The eagle sees
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 1: what humans cannot. It soars to heights humans cannot reach.
• 1:32:09
  Speaker 1: It survives in ways humans cannot replicate. And God was saying,
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: I designed it that way, I gave it vision, I
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: gave it strength. Job You cannot see what I see.
• 1:32:23
  Speaker 1: You cannot go where I go. You cannot understand what
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 1: I understand. But that does not mean I am absent.
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 1: It means I am infinite, and you are finite. And
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 1: then God came to the climax of his speech. He
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 1: spoke of two creatures that have puzzled scholars and theologians
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: for centuries, Behemoth and Leviathan. Many interpreters debate what these represent.
• 1:32:49
  Speaker 1: Some believe they are real animals, perhaps the hippopotamus and
• 1:32:53
  Speaker 1: the crocodile, described with poetic exaggeration. Others see them as
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 1: mythical creatures, symbolizing untamable chaos and power. Still, others suggest
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 1: they represent something beyond our current understanding. The language God
• 1:33:08
  Speaker 1: used to describe them suggests power that is awe inspiring
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 1: and beyond human control. Look at Behemoth, which I made
• 1:33:16
  Speaker 1: along with you, and which feeds on grass like an ox.
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 1: What strength it has in its loins? What power in
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 1: the muscles of its belly. Its tail sways like a cedar,
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 1: The sinews of its thighs are close knit. Its bones
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 1: are tubes of bronze, its limbs like rods of iron.
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: Behemoth was a creature of immense size and strength. Its
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: tail was like a cedar tree, massive and strong. Its
• 1:33:43
  Speaker 1: bones were like bronze, unbreakable. And yet God was saying,
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: I made it, I control it. It obeys me. Can
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: any one capture it by the eyes or trap it
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 1: and pierce its nose? Behemoth could not be tamed. It
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: could not be captured by human means. And God was saying,
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 1: this creature, which you cannot control, obeys me. Do you
• 1:34:09
  Speaker 1: think I cannot also govern the circumstances of your life.
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 1: And then God spoke of Leviathan, and here the language
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 1: became even more dramatic, even more overwhelming. Can you pull
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: in Leviathan with a fish hook or tie down its
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 1: tongue with a rope? Can you put a cord through
• 1:34:28
  Speaker 1: its nose or pierce its jaw with a hook? Will
• 1:34:32
  Speaker 1: it keep begging you for mercy? Will it make an
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: agreement with you? Leviathan was beyond taming, beyond controlling, beyond
• 1:34:41
  Speaker 1: human reach. You could not catch it, You could not
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 1: bind it. You could not make it serve you. If
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: you lay a hand on it, you will remember the
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: struggle and never do it again. Any hope of subduing
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: it is false. The mere sight of it is overpowering.
• 1:34:59
  Speaker 1: God was saying, if you encountered Leviathan, you would not
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: fight it. You would recognize immediately that it is beyond you.
• 1:35:08
  Speaker 1: It is beyond all humans. No one is fierce enough
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 1: to rouse it. Who then is able to stand against me?
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 1: Who has a claim against me? That I must pay?
• 1:35:20
  Speaker 1: Everything under Heaven belongs to me? And there it was
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 1: the point of the entire speech. If you cannot stand
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 1: against Leviathan, How can you stand against me in judgment?
• 1:35:32
  Speaker 1: If you cannot control the creatures I made? How can
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 1: you question the creator? If everything under heaven belongs to me?
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 1: What claim do you have? God was not being cruel,
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 1: He was being honest. He was saying, Job, you are
• 1:35:48
  Speaker 1: a man. I am God. You are finite. I am infinite.
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 1: You see a small part of the picture. I see
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 1: it all, and you must trust me even when you
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 1: do not understand. The storm was still raging, but for
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 1: the first time since it began, Job found his voice,
• 1:36:09
  Speaker 1: and what he said next would bring this long, painful
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 1: journey to its resolution. Chapter twelve Job's repentance and restoration.
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 1: Job had demanded an audience with God for thirty seven chapters.
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 1: He had cried out for answers. He had signed his
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 1: name to his defense. He had challenged the Almighty to respond, and,
• 1:36:34
  Speaker 1: now standing in the whirlwind, having heard the voice of
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 1: God thunder through the storm, Job finally spoke. But he
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 1: did not argue. He did not defend himself further. He
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: did not present his list of grievances. Instead, he said,
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 1: I am unworthy. How can I reply to you? I
• 1:36:54
  Speaker 1: put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once but
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 1: I have no answer. Twice but I will say no more.
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 1: Job realized something profound in that moment. He had been
• 1:37:06
  Speaker 1: speaking about things he did not fully understand. He had
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 1: been questioning God's justice, God's purposes, God's ways as if
• 1:37:14
  Speaker 1: he had the perspective to evaluate them, but he did not.
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: He could not. And now, in the presence of the Almighty,
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 1: he saw himself clearly for the first time. He was
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: not being crushed by God's response. He was being humbled
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 1: by it. There is a difference. God had not condemned him.
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 1: God had not accused him of the sins his friends claimed.
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 1: God had simply revealed himself, and in that revelation, Job
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 1: saw the truth that God was infinitely greater, infinitely wiser,
• 1:37:50
  Speaker 1: infinitely more powerful than he had ever imagined. But God
• 1:37:54
  Speaker 1: was not finished. The Lord spoke to Job a second
• 1:37:57
  Speaker 1: time out of the storm. Brace yourself like a man.
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 1: I will question you and you shall answer me. Would
• 1:38:04
  Speaker 1: you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 1: God was pressing the issue. Job, in his pain, had
• 1:38:14
  Speaker 1: come close to accusing God of being unjust. He had
• 1:38:17
  Speaker 1: demanded answers as if God owed him an explanation, and
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 1: God was saying, do you really want to go there?
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: Do you really think you can put me on trial?
• 1:38:28
  Speaker 1: Do you have an arm like God's? And can your
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 1: voice thunder like his? Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor,
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 1: unleash the fury of your wrath. Look at all who
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 1: are proud, and bring them low, crush the wicked where
• 1:38:43
  Speaker 1: they stand. Then I myself will admit to you that
• 1:38:47
  Speaker 1: your own right hand can save you. God was saying,
• 1:38:50
  Speaker 1: if you think you can govern the world better than
• 1:38:53
  Speaker 1: I do, then try. If you think you can bring
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: justice perfectly, then do it. If you think you can
• 1:38:59
  Speaker 1: save yourself, then prove it. But you cannot. Only God
• 1:39:04
  Speaker 1: has the power to judge rightly. Only God has the
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 1: authority to save. Only God has the strength to hold
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: the universe together. And Job understood. Finally, fully he understood,
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 1: He replied to the Lord, I know that you can
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: do all things. No purpose of yours can be thwarted.
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: You asked, who is this that obscures my plans? Without knowledge?
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 1: Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: too wonderful for me to know. Job was confessing not
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 1: hidden sin, but ignorance. He had been speaking about God's
• 1:39:44
  Speaker 1: purposes as if he could comprehend them, as if he
• 1:39:47
  Speaker 1: could see the full picture, as if he had the
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 1: standing to demand explanations. But he did not. God's ways
• 1:39:55
  Speaker 1: were too high, too deep, too wonderful, beyond human reach.
• 1:40:01
  Speaker 1: You said, listen now, and I will speak. I will
• 1:40:06
  Speaker 1: question you, and you shall answer me. My ears had
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 1: heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 1: Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 1: This is one of the most important statements in the
• 1:40:18
  Speaker 1: entire book. Job said, my ears had heard of you,
• 1:40:22
  Speaker 1: but now my eyes have seen you. Job had known
• 1:40:26
  Speaker 1: about God. He had worshiped God, he had served God,
• 1:40:31
  Speaker 1: he had offered sacrifices to God. He had feared God.
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 1: But he had never encountered God like this. He had
• 1:40:38
  Speaker 1: heard about him through tradition, through teaching, through inherited faith.
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 1: But now, in the whirlwind, in the storm, in the
• 1:40:48
  Speaker 1: overwhelming presence of the Almighty, he had encountered God directly,
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: and that changed everything. Job said, I despise myself and
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 1: repent in dust and ashes. Not because he had committed
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 1: the terrible sins his friends accused him of But because
• 1:41:05
  Speaker 1: he had spoken as if he understood things he did not.
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 1: He had questioned God's justice, he had demanded answers on
• 1:41:12
  Speaker 1: his terms. He had treated God as if he were
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 1: accountable to human standards of fairness. And now, in the
• 1:41:19
  Speaker 1: light of God's revealed glory, Job saw how limited his
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 1: perspective was, how small his understanding was. This was not
• 1:41:28
  Speaker 1: the repentance of a guilty man confessing secret sins. It
• 1:41:33
  Speaker 1: was the repentance of a finite man who had finally
• 1:41:36
  Speaker 1: grasped the infinite majesty of God. And then something unexpected happened.
• 1:41:41
  Speaker 1: God turned his attention to Job's three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad
• 1:41:47
  Speaker 1: and so Far, the men who had sat with Job
• 1:41:50
  Speaker 1: in silence for seven days, the men who had then
• 1:41:53
  Speaker 1: spent chapter after chapter accusing him of hidden sin. The
• 1:41:58
  Speaker 1: Lord said to Eliphaz, I am angry with you and
• 1:42:01
  Speaker 1: your two friends because you have not spoken the truth
• 1:42:04
  Speaker 1: about me as my servant, Job has wait. God was
• 1:42:09
  Speaker 1: angry with them, not with Job. Job was the one
• 1:42:13
  Speaker 1: who had cursed the day of his birth. Job was
• 1:42:16
  Speaker 1: the one who had demanded answers. Job was the one
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: who had questioned whether God was being just and yet
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 1: God called him my servant. God said Job had spoken
• 1:42:27
  Speaker 1: the truth. Why because Job had been honest. He had
• 1:42:32
  Speaker 1: brought his pain, his confusion, his questions directly to God.
• 1:42:37
  Speaker 1: He had not pretended to have all the answers. He
• 1:42:40
  Speaker 1: had not hidden behind religious formulas. He had cried out
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 1: in raw, unfiltered honesty, and God honored that. But the
• 1:42:49
  Speaker 1: three friends had done the opposite. They had defended God
• 1:42:53
  Speaker 1: with false accusations. They had insisted that all suffering is
• 1:42:57
  Speaker 1: punishment for personal sin, even though that was not true
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 1: in Job's case. They had accused Job without evidence. They
• 1:43:05
  Speaker 1: had made God small by trying to fit him into
• 1:43:07
  Speaker 1: their limited theological systems, and God would not tolerate it.
• 1:43:12
  Speaker 1: He said, So, now take seven bulls and seven rams
• 1:43:16
  Speaker 1: and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 1: offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you,
• 1:43:24
  Speaker 1: and I will accept his prayer and not deal with
• 1:43:26
  Speaker 1: you according to your folly. You have not spoken the
• 1:43:29
  Speaker 1: truth about me, as my servant Job has. This was extraordinary.
• 1:43:35
  Speaker 1: The three friends had to go to Job, the man
• 1:43:38
  Speaker 1: they had condemned, and ask him to pray for them.
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: The man sitting in the ashes was now their mediator,
• 1:43:44
  Speaker 1: their intercessor, the one who stood between them and God's judgment,
• 1:43:49
  Speaker 1: and Job did it. After Job had prayed for his friends,
• 1:43:53
  Speaker 1: the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 1: much as he had before. Notice the order. Job prayed
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 1: for his friends first, before his own restoration, before his healing,
• 1:44:06
  Speaker 1: before his blessings returned. He interceded for the very people
• 1:44:10
  Speaker 1: who had wounded him deeply with their words. And only
• 1:44:14
  Speaker 1: after that act of forgiveness, only after that demonstration of
• 1:44:18
  Speaker 1: grace did God restore him. All Job's brothers and sisters,
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 1: and every one who had known him before came and
• 1:44:24
  Speaker 1: ate with him in his house. They comforted him and
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought
• 1:44:30
  Speaker 1: on him, and each one gave him a piece of
• 1:44:33
  Speaker 1: silver and a gold ring. The people who had kept
• 1:44:36
  Speaker 1: their distance when he was suffering now returned. They brought gifts,
• 1:44:41
  Speaker 1: they offered comfort, But their comfort came too late to
• 1:44:44
  Speaker 1: matter in the way it might have earlier. Job had
• 1:44:47
  Speaker 1: already been through the fire, he had already faced the whirlwind,
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 1: He had already encountered God, and nothing they said or
• 1:44:56
  Speaker 1: gave could compare to that the Lord blessed the latter
• 1:44:59
  Speaker 1: part of Job's life more than the former part. He
• 1:45:03
  Speaker 1: had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke
• 1:45:07
  Speaker 1: of oxen, and a thousand donkeys, double what he had before.
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 1: And he also had seven sons and three daughters, the
• 1:45:15
  Speaker 1: same number he had lost, not double. Because children are
• 1:45:19
  Speaker 1: not possessions that can be replaced. They are not interchangeable.
• 1:45:24
  Speaker 1: Job's first ten children were still his children. They were
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 1: not forgotten, and many believed that one day he would
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 1: see them again in the place where the righteous go
• 1:45:34
  Speaker 1: after death. The first daughter he named Jemima, the second Keziah,
• 1:45:39
  Speaker 1: and the third Karen. Happuch. Nowhere in all the land
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 1: were there found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and
• 1:45:46
  Speaker 1: their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.
• 1:45:50
  Speaker 1: This was unusual for that time and culture. Typically only
• 1:45:55
  Speaker 1: sons inherited property, daughters were provided for through marriage. But Job,
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 1: having seen the true value of life, having learned what
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  Speaker 1: truly matters through his suffering, gave his daughters an inheritance.
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  Speaker 1: He honored them, he blessed them, He treated them with
• 1:46:13
  Speaker 1: dignity and equality. After this, Job lived a hundred and
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  Speaker 1: forty years. He saw his children and their children to
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  Speaker 1: the fourth generation, and so Job died an old man
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  Speaker 1: and full of years. Job's story did not end in
• 1:46:28
  Speaker 1: the ashes. It ended in restoration, in blessing, in peace,
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  Speaker 1: in a life fully lived. But the restoration was not
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  Speaker 1: the main point. The point was the encounter. The point
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  Speaker 1: was that Job, in his darkest moment, met God face
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  Speaker 1: to face, and that encounter transformed him. He did not
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  Speaker 1: get all his questions answered. He never learned about the
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  Speaker 1: conversation in the Heavenly Council. He never knew that Satan
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  Speaker 1: had challenged his faithfulness. He never knew that his suffering
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  Speaker 1: was a test to prove that genuine, unconditional worship exists.
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  Speaker 1: He died without knowing the full why, but he knew
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  Speaker 1: the who, and that was enough. The Book of Job
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  Speaker 1: is widely considered one of the oldest books in the Bible,
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  Speaker 1: and it wrestles with one of humanity's oldest questions, Why
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  Speaker 1: do the righteous suffer? Job's three friends had an answer.
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  Speaker 1: Suffering is punishment for sin. If you are in pain,
• 1:47:35
  Speaker 1: you must have done something wrong. Confess, repent, and God
• 1:47:40
  Speaker 1: will restore you. It was simple, logical, comforting in its certainty,
• 1:47:47
  Speaker 1: and completely inadequate Illi, who offered a different perspective. Perhaps
• 1:47:53
  Speaker 1: suffering is not always punishment. Perhaps God uses pain to
• 1:47:57
  Speaker 1: refine us, to teach us, to pare us for something
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  Speaker 1: we cannot yet see. It was closer to the truth,
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  Speaker 1: but still incomplete. God gave no direct answer to the
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 1: why question. He did not explain why Job's children died.
• 1:48:14
  Speaker 1: He did not explain why Job lost everything. He did
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  Speaker 1: not explain why innocent people suffer while the wicked often prosper. Instead,
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 1: he revealed himself, and in that revelation, Job found something
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  Speaker 1: better than an explanation. He found peace. Because here is
• 1:48:34
  Speaker 1: what the Book of Job teaches us. Sometimes suffering has
• 1:48:39
  Speaker 1: no clear explanation. Sometimes pain has no obvious reason. Sometimes
• 1:48:45
  Speaker 1: the righteous lose everything and there is no hidden sin,
• 1:48:49
  Speaker 1: no secret lesson, no purpose that makes sense from a
• 1:48:52
  Speaker 1: human perspective. But God is still sovereign. God is still good.
• 1:48:58
  Speaker 1: God is still present even in the whirlwind, even in
• 1:49:03
  Speaker 1: the storm, even in the silence that feels like abandonment.
• 1:49:08
  Speaker 1: Job's story reminds us that faith is not a transaction.
• 1:49:12
  Speaker 1: It is not a contract where we give God obedience
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: and he guarantees us comfort. It is trust, trust that says,
• 1:49:21
  Speaker 1: even when I do not understand, even when life makes
• 1:49:24
  Speaker 1: no sense, even when everything is taken from me, I
• 1:49:28
  Speaker 1: will still worship because God is worthy, not because of
• 1:49:33
  Speaker 1: what he gives, but because of who he is. Sometimes
• 1:49:37
  Speaker 1: God's answer is not an explanation, it is his presence.
• 1:49:42
  Speaker 1: Sometimes what we need most is not to understand why,
• 1:49:46
  Speaker 1: but to know who. To encounter the God who laid
• 1:49:49
  Speaker 1: the foundations of the earth, who set boundaries for the sea,
• 1:49:54
  Speaker 1: who knows when the mountain goat gives birth, who provides
• 1:49:58
  Speaker 1: food for the raven, who commands the morning and stores
• 1:50:02
  Speaker 1: the snow, and guides the stars in their courses. The
• 1:50:05
  Speaker 1: God who sees you, who knows you, who has not
• 1:50:09
  Speaker 1: forgotten you, even when it feels like he has tonight
• 1:50:14
  Speaker 1: as you rest. If you are carrying pain that has
• 1:50:17
  Speaker 1: no clear explanation, If you are facing suffering that seems unjust,
• 1:50:22
  Speaker 1: if you are asking why and hearing only silence, remember job,
• 1:50:27
  Speaker 1: Remember that God sees you. Remember that your pain is
• 1:50:31
  Speaker 1: not proof of his absence. Remember that one day, when
• 1:50:35
  Speaker 1: the storm passes, you will understand more clearly. And even
• 1:50:39
  Speaker 1: if some questions remain unanswered, in this life, you will
• 1:50:43
  Speaker 1: know him, and that will be enough. May you find
• 1:50:47
  Speaker 1: rest tonight in the presence of the one who never sleeps,
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 1: who watches over you with care that extends beyond your understanding.
• 1:50:55
  Speaker 1: May you release your questions into his capable hands. May
• 1:50:59
  Speaker 1: you trust that he is working even when you cannot
• 1:51:02
  Speaker 1: see it. And may you know deep in your soul
• 1:51:06
  Speaker 1: that you are loved not because you are perfect, but
• 1:51:10
  Speaker 1: because he is faithful. Rest Now, the God who counts
• 1:51:15
  Speaker 1: the stars and calls them each by name, also knows
• 1:51:19
  Speaker 1: your name. He knows your pain, he sees your tears,
• 1:51:24
  Speaker 1: and in his time, in his way, he will bring restoration.
• 1:51:29
  Speaker 1: Until then, May his peace, which surpasses all understanding, guard
• 1:51:33
  Speaker 1: your heart and your mind. As you sleep. You are
• 1:51:36
  Speaker 1: not alone. You are seen, you are known, you are held. Amen,