Job's Complaint Series

A lawyer, a doctor, and a preacher went hunting together and when a large deer ran past them and they all got excited and fired at the exact same time and then they watched as the deer dropped. The problem was, there was only one bullet hole in the deer and they didn't know which of them had shot it. So, they decided to take it to the registration center, hoping that the man in charge could figure out which of them could claim the deer. He said, “Let me take a look at it. Sometimes I can figure it out.” He asked a few questions, examined the deer carefully, and then he said, “It was the preacher who shot this deer!” Amazed, the doctor and lawyer asked him how he knew it was the preacher. And stooping down he pointed to the wound and said, “See here. It went in one ear and out the other.”

Before I begin, I want you to know that my wife has advised me, not to try to be witty; not to try to be funny; and not to try to be intellectual. In fact, she said, “Just be yourself”.

Job 14:1-14

“Man, who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. 2

He comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and does not continue.

3. And do You open Your eyes on such a one, and bring me to judgment with Yourself? 4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one! 5. Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass. 6. Look away from him that he may rest, till like a hired man he finishes his day.

7. “For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its tender shoots will not cease. 8 Though its root may grow old in the earth, and its stump may die in the ground,

9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant. 10 But man dies and is laid away; indeed, he breathes his last and, where is he?

11 As water disappears from the sea, and a river becomes parched and dries up, 12 so man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor be roused from their sleep.

13 “Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, that You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, that You would appoint me a set time, and remember me! 14 If a man dies, shall he live again?

We’ve all been to the visitation before funerals and stood before the casket and wondered, “Will I ever see this person again?” We all have many in our lives who’ve never made a public profession of their faith and although they were nice enough people, we were never really sure if they were ever saved.

I’ve heard many say, “Well, who knows what happened in the last moments of their life. They might have been like the thief on the cross who repented. And that’s true but most people who have ignored Jesus all their lives are not likely to turn to Him in the last few minutes.

So, what I want to do here today is to answer a question and the question is; where does one find hope in what seems to be a very hopeless world?

In the passage I read we find this man Job who according to the scripture had lived for and served God all of his life and then through no fault of his own he lost everything that was important to him. He lost his children, his friends, most of his servants and all his personal investments he had spent his entire life accumulating. In one day almost everything he ever valued was gone. And then three of his best friends show up and they were more of a nuisance than a comfort.

And this crisis caused him to stop and to take a very realistic look at life because from a human perspective all he could see were problems. And he begins by focusing on the human condition.

Job begins by speaking of the sinfulness of mankind when he says, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.” The Bible tells us that all of us were born in sin and then we’ve spent our lives sinning. We inherited our sin nature from our parents and they got there’s from their parents; all the way back to Adam and Eve. And because of our sinful nature Job says, “Who can bring what is pure from what is impure?” And what he’s saying is, because of our sin and sinfulness we are incapable of being all that God wants us to be.