Job is the story of a man undergoing a very severe testing of his faith. As we saw in Chapters 1 and 2, Job was unaware that he was the subject of a test and he experienced a tremendous series of calamities that wiped out all that he held of value. In one tragic day he lost all his possessions, and his children. Subsequently, he lost his health, and was afflicted with a disease that left him covered with boils from head to foot, disfiguring his countenance, and turning him into a very repulsive looking man. To top it all off, his wife turned against him, and she suggested that he curse God and commit suicide. And yet, despite all these pressures, Job is still trusting in the mercy and love and grace of God and he still refuses to do what Satan is trying to get him to do: curse God and die. At this point in the book of Job, Satan moves up his big guns. He leads three of Job’s friends to come and comfort him, and when these friends arrive they are shocked at what they see. Here is their dear friend Job, respected, admired, a most attractive man, now an empty hulk, sitting on an ash heap, scraping the pus from his sores with a piece of broken pottery. They sit in silence for seven days before they can muster up enough courage to speak to Job about his troubles. But it is also apparent, as we get into this story, that while they have waited in silence they have begun to suspect that perhaps Job is going through something he really deserves, and we will see how Satan uses this to increase his torment and anguish. Chapter 3 begins with a bitter lament from Job. At least a Week has gone by since he was first afflicted with this painful disease, and God does not seem to explain what he is doing. Job knows nothing of what we have been informed of in the opening chapters, so, baffled and buffeted and tormented with physical misery, he now opens his mouth with a tremendous cry in which he longs for death. I do not know if you have ever felt that way, but have been times when I wished I could have dropped out of the scene entirely and gone home to heaven. That is where Job is found in the opening part of this book, crying out for death, cursing the day on which he was born.Someone recently asked me if a phrase came from the Bible, "God helps those who help themselves." This phrase is not in the Bible, and is not consistent with what the Bible teaches.
All of us have been in situations where we are powerless or unmotivated to help ourselves. If God only helps those who help themselves, all of us would be in deep trouble and without hope of God’s help. Everyone, given enough time, knows the feeling of helplessness. But not everyone knows how to recover from times of helplessness. We will discover some answers this morning from the Book of Job, chapter 3.
Here is a man with a death wish. Before we look at how to survive helplessness, I want to review briefly and make two observations from Job 3. This way, even if you have not been with us during our study in Job you’ll still have context for understanding.
The first observation is that suffering is not always the result of sin.
In chapters 1 and 2, we read that Job was blessed with great wealth and many children. And if we were not given revelation about what went on in heaven, we might guess the wealth and children were taken from Job, because Job disobeyed or displeased God. The opposite was true. Job was faithful to God. Yet, Job lost his wealth, many of his servants and his livestock. A tornado killed his children. And Job became afflicted with painful sores from head to toe. And we read in chapter 1, verse 22, "In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing." Suffering is not always the result of sin.If God were to punish us today for the sins we’ve committed, all of us would be in the hospital or in the grave. Not one of us would be well enough to be at church this morning. We need to thank God for His patience and mercy, rather than believe our sins deserve only physical and mental anguish. The truth is, suffering is not always the result of your sins.
The second observation is that when God doesn’t answer our questions, we already know enough for the test. In this chapter we will find that Job asks three very poignant questions: The first one is, "Why was I ever born?" Listen to the beautiful, way he expresses that, Verse 1:After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job said: "Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night which said, ’A man-child is conceived.’Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.Let gloom and deep darkness claim it.
Here Job is looking back to the day of his birth and, although he cannot change that, he is saying, "May the anniversary of it be ignored. Let it be a day that is darkened, let no one rejoice in it. Let it be a day of cursing instead of blessing." The reason Job gives for this outcry is in Verse 10, "because I was born on that day; it produced me." You can see at this point how his life has become so miserable that he longs for death. Even all that he has enjoyed in the past seems of no value in the face of this tremendous anguish that he must endure. Although Job comes very close to cursing God, he never does. He does curse the day of his birth, and he curses what God has allowed to happen. You can see how the pressure is increasing, and Job is beginning to break and crumble under it, as this unceasing, unexplained anguish goes on.I do not think anything is harder for us to bear than unexplained trouble. If we could see some reason for what we have to go through, we could endure it much more easily. But when trouble seems to be pointless, and nothing is accomplished by it, it is a terrible strain upon the soul. This is what Job is experiencing, so he cries out, "Why was I ever born?"
When we are in the midst of life’s test, we often ask, "Why me? Why do I have to have cancer?""What is the purpose of this test? Can’t I learn the lesson some other way?""Why can’t it end now? I can’t handle this any longer."When no answer is given, many respond by cursing God and longing to die. Others ignore the reality of God and try to face the test alone. They are consequently destroyed by the test because they leave the only One Who can help them pass the test.Job did not curse God. Job did not leave God. We read his reply in Job 2:10, "Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. Job knew enough about God’s goodness to answer his own heart’s questions.Many of us are still in the middle of the test. The test can be an illness, a frustrating marriage, horrible work situation or hurtful in-laws. We have our questions. And God hasn’t answer them. Have we looked at what God has already said in His Word, the Bible? Do we know enough of God’s ways and goodness to answer our own heart’s questions? .Knowing enough for the test does not mean that we will apply what we know to the test. During a test, most of us draw blanks and forget what we know. Job forgot the specific ways God was good to him. Life’s tests have a way of blurring God’s goodness. Job was in such anguish that he wanted to die. He lost everything that gives us meaning, his possessions and his family. The one who remained, his wife, encourage him to take his life.
In Verses 11-19, his second question is, "Having been born, why didn’t I die at birth?"11 "Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb? 12 Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed? (Job 3:11-12 NIV)"My life has been totally meaningless," Job says. "It would have been better to have died when I was born." But why didn’t Job take his life? Why didn’t he commit suicide? I believe Job didn’t give up, because Job knew God’s character didn’t change in the midst of life’s test.
Job’s lament and questions reflected his helplessness but not his hopelessness. Helplessness is the feeling or the fact of powerlessness to help oneself. Our wealth, our friends, our support systems and even our will to live can be taken from us. At that moment, we are helpless and our only hope is in God & He will enable us to recover.
Job’s third question is, "Why can’t I die now?" "Why was I born? But, having been born, why didn’t I die when I came out of the womb? And since that didn’t happen, why can’t I die now?" Verse 20 -26:20 "Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, 21 to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure, 22 who are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave? 23 Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? 24 For sighing comes to me instead of food; my groans pour out like water. 25 What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. 26 I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil." Job’s argument is, "What’s the purpose of my life? Of what use is a life that is so filled with misery that you can do nothing but suffer and feel anguish? My life produces only fear and trouble, so it would be better to end it now." Many people feel that way. I do not think Job is thinking of suicide -- he is asking God to take him home. There is no purpose to life, he says, when it is not enjoyable. That is a very common argument, and one of the reasons we have been given this book is to help us understand that life can still have a great deal of meaning even when it looks absolutely useless.Job’s suffering was tremendous. But worse than that, there seemed to be no end in sight to his pain and things weren’t getting better. You know, the most severe test of life is not the immediate crises but the prolonged pain that follows. That is why it is important that we learn to hold on to our faith when we are in what Jill Briscoe calls, “God’s waiting room.” Where we are waiting for answers or some relief but it just doesn’t come.
Where we put our hope in good times and in helpless times will determine whether we have the will to live, whether we regain strength for the race, and whether we will pass the test. I want to highlight three characteristics of God in which Job placed his hope. We won’t find this in his confession of helplessness, but they are revealed in later chapters. Let’s look together.
First, Job placed his hope in God’s sovereignty. We read this in Job 7:17-19 17 "What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention, 18 that you examine him every morning and test him every moment? 19 Will you never look away from me, or let me alone even for an instant?and 42:2. 2 "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. By God’s sovereignty, we are saying that God is control. He is in charge. This is not to say that we are like puppets on God’s string , that we will stay put until God moves us. Instead, God’s sovereignty assures us that even when the earth quakes, even when the doctors can’t help, even when our life’s dream turns into a nightmare, even when we are out of control, God is still in control.Job was helpless, but he was not hopeless. Job didn’t know he was the subject of a test between God and Satan, but he knew God was in charge and that he belonged to God. And that was enough for Job. God’s sovereignty is enough for us.
Second, Job placed his hope in God’s righteousness. We read this in Job 4:1717 17 ’Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?,, 8:3 3 Does God twist justice? Does the Almighty twist what is right?(NLT) and 12:13. 13 "But true wisdom and power are with God; counsel and understanding are his.(NLT)
When we speak of God’s righteousness, we are speaking about the fact that God will always do what is right. God has full understanding of the situation, and His motives are pure. We do not know the future and cannot see our situation in light of the whole picture. Our moment of helplessness may turn out to be the foundation for our triumph.
Job was helpless, but he was not hopeless. Job did not curse God or take his own life in times of helplessness, because he put his hope in the fact that God will always do what is right with his life. And that was enough for Job. God’s righteousness is enough for us.
Third, Job placed his hope in God’s redemption. We read this in Job 19:25-27. 25 "But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. 26 And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God F18 ! 27 I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!(NLT)
By redemption, Job is speaking about God as the One Who will justify or pay back what we’ve lost in life. No matter how we have been abused, persecuted or served an unfair hand in life, those who hope in God’s redemption will see God make the correction and the payback, if not in this life, for sure in eternal life.
Unfortunately, many people drop out of the test because we want immediate gratification. We want our situation to improve right away. But only by putting our hope in God’s redemption can we overcome helplessness in this life.
Paul said "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.... For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently (Romans 8:18, 24-25).God has never promised that the pain will end in this life. Your pain could exist till day you depart this world. But God has promised us eternal life and a guaranteed end to this misery. So would you gain an eternal perspective. What Chuck Swindoll calls a vertical perspective on life. This is what Job did. He said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25).
In a materialistic and instant society, it is hard to hope in the unseen and to hope in the future. But if we want to have courage, strength and perseverance to move through helpless times, we must have hope in God’s future redemption.
Job was helpless, but he was not hopeless. Job persevered, because His Redeemer is God.
Conclusion: In the last Chapter 42:7-17, Job is blessed and vindicated by God. We need to remember that Job had none of the New Testament teaching of God’s grace, yet this book reveals that he knew that God loved him.
The point to learn here is this:Trials will come your way but remember, God loves you and He will bring you through. What we need to do is to go through the trial and carry an attitude and a response that stays focused on the Lord.
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