HAVE YOU FELT LIKE GIVING UP LATELY?
INTRO.- ILL.- The backwoods preacher found a small boy all alone, playing in the dirt. “Where’s your
father?” the preacher asked. The boy said, “He was hanged last week.”
“Where’s your mother?” “She run off.”
“Where’s your sister?” “She’s in jail.”
“Is there anybody else in your family?” “Yup, I’ve got a brother.”
“Where is he?” “At Harvard University.”
“Well, at least one member of your family is doing well. What is he studying?” “Nothin’. They’re
studying him.”
Brethren, that boy had to be discouraged with life! I don’t think anybody’s life could be as bad as that
boy’s. BUT WE ALL MUST ADMIT THAT LIFE CAN GET PRETTY DIFFICULT AT TIMES. And certain things happen to us that can cause us to want to give up on life.
ILL.- In November 1988, Marie Balter began work as an administrator of Danvers State Hospital in Boston. It is a mental hospital. AND IT IS THE SAME HOSPITAL WHERE SHE SPENT 17 YEARS.
At age 17, Marie went through some very difficult personal ordeals and became clinically depressed.
She was misdiagnosed, labeled schizophrenic and sent to Danvers Hospital. She stayed there for the next 17 years of her life.
After persistent friends worked to get her out, she was finally released from the hospital in 1964. She
went back to school. she lectured across the nation. She worked with psychiatric patients. She earned a master’s degree from Harvard. Now she is at work as community affairs director at the hospital which was once her prison.
Brethren, I think it would have been very easy for Marie Balter to have given up on life as a result of
her hospitalization. HOW SHE WAS ABLE TO PICK UP HER LIFE AND PUT IT BACK TOGETHER AFTER SPENDING 17 YEARS IN A MENTAL HOSPITAL IS BEYOND ME!
I think most of us probably could never have been able to do that. We would have wanted to give up. Period.
We must admit that sometimes life is tough. And for some people, life just plain sinks.
ILL.- Red and Rhoda Sigler had three children: two girls and a boy: Sheila, Peggy and Butch. Rhoda, the mother, knocked on my door one day and was in tears over some of the things her oldest daughter had been doing.
I had never seen Rhoda before in my life. And why she came to my door is beyond me. I don’t think I ever knew why, but I did my best to help her and her family.
Her oldest daughter, Sheila, had become extremely rebellious and was running around with the wrong crowd. Sheila continued in her rebellion and was a constant source of trouble for her parents all while
she lived at home. She drank, smoked, you name it and I think she did it.
Their daughter Peggy ended up getting pregnant by some carnival worker who came through town. And their son Butch was even worse. He was always in trouble at school, with the neighbors, with the police, etc.
I tried to get him involved in lifting weights, thinking that might help curb some of his misdirected
energy. But it didn’t take Butch very long before he was back into trouble again. It seemed like every
time he turned around he was into something no good. Finally, he got married at about the age of 19 or 20 and I thought he was going to straighten up his life. Soon afterward, we heard he was killed in an automobile accident. IT SEEMED LIKED THAT YOUNG MAN WAS DESTINED FOR NOTHING BUT TROUBLE OR AN EARLY GRAVE.
Brethren, when you’re a parent and you’ve got problem-children like those were, it would be awfully easy to want to give up on life. Or at least, give up on those children.
Life is not easy. We all experience problems that nauseate us or are a nuisance to us. Family problems, children problems, work problems, financial problems, health problems, loss of loved ones, and so on.
ILL.- A man by the name of Joseph Bayly and his wife lost three of their children: one at the age of 18
days after surgery. Another at 5 years with Leukemia. And a third at the age of 18 years from a
sledding accident.
It’s hard to imagine the depth of their loss. And yet as great as their losses were, I can think of another
which was far greater.
Job 1:1-3
Wherever Uz was, it had one citizen who had the respect of everyone. Job was upright, God-fearing,
and clean-living. He had 10 children, fields of livestock, an abundance of land, a house full of servants and a big bank account.
No one at that time would deny that Job was “the greatest man of the East.” He had earned that title
through years of hard work and honest dealings with others. BUT THEN, SUDDENLY, WITHOUT ANY WARNING, DISASTER HIT HIM LIKE A TON OF BRICKS!
Job 1:13-19
Brethren, it’s hard to understand how anyone in their right mind could handle such a tremendous amount of suffering and grief! Bankruptcy, pain, ten fresh graves and the loneliness of those empty rooms! AND YET WE READ SOMETHING ABOUT JOB THAT ALMOST BORDERS ON THE MIRACULOUS!
Job 1:20-22 Job worshipped God! He didn’t blame God! And he didn’t sin in his sorrow!
It would have been so easy for Job to have given up on life at this point and time. WE PROBABLY WOULD HAVE GIVEN UP, BUT NOT JOB! And then, to make matters worse, JOB LOST HIS HEALTH! His trials didn’t end with the loss of his children and all his wealth!
Job 2:3-8
Job’s body was covered with itchy, irritating, ulcerated sores. He became so sickly that his face became unrecognizable. His body was filled with sharp agonizing pain. His sleep was destroyed. His cancerous type boils burst open and were filled with maggots.
Job 2:11-12, 3:26, 7:5
Brethren, how was it possible for Job to be able to survive such extreme suffering? How was he able to
ward off all bitterness and thoughts of suicide?
PROP.- I believe that three answers are given in this book as to how Job kept from giving up.
1- Job looked up
2- Job looked ahead
3- Job looked within
I. JOB LOOKED UP
ILL.- The story is told about a minister visiting a racetrack for the first time in his life, hoping to win
enough money to help make some badly need repairs in his church.
The preacher was near the stables where he saw a priest bless a horse. He decided to bet on that horse and it won! For the next three races, the priest did the same thing. He blessed certain horses and the minister bet on those horses and they won. He absolutely delighted at his good fortune.
The preacher was now about a thousand dollars ahead and since he had been winning on all those horses which the priest blessed, he decided to put all his money on the next horse. As the gun was fired, the horse jumped out of the gate but suddenly dropped dead only a few feet away.
The preacher went to the priest and said, “I don’t understand this. The first four horses that you
blessed won their races. And this 5th horse just dropped dead. What went wrong?”
The priest said, “Reverend, I’m afraid what you don’t understand is the difference between a blessing and the last rites.”
Brethren, in the first place, that minister shouldn’t have been at that racetrack. THAT WAS NOT THE PLACE TO SOLVES HIS CHURCHES’ PROBLEMS.
When most people are confronted with difficult problems in life, they often go to the wrong places
looking for help with their problems. Some either look out into the world or within themselves for the
answers instead of looking up.
ILL.- While I ministering in Iberia, MO, between 1973 and 1984, a bass fishing friend named Jackie Fancher pulled up to my house one day and was in tears. He had been married 14 years, had one child and his wife told him she wanted a divorce. I immediately began to point him to the Lord because he had little or no relationship at all with the Lord. I told him I would be glad to do whatever I could.
It wasn’t long before Jackie went to a couple of different marriage counselors for several sessions. And both of these counselors did not help him one bit. One basically just told him to forget about his wife and get on with his life. THAT WAS NOT WHAT HE WANTED TO HEAR. He wanted help with reconciliation.
Jackie was grabbing at straws, so to speak. He wanted help but he went looking in the wrong place. And the reason I say, the wrong place was because these counselors were far from Christian. They were looking at his situation from a merely worldly perspective.
He finally came back to me and asked for my help. I DIDN’T HAVE THE ANSWER TO HIS PROBLEM BUT I KNEW WHO DID!
Brethren, when many people are confronted with difficult problems they often go to the wrong person
for help. Some people belly up to some bar, some go talk to some ungodly or unchristian neighbor or
friend. Or some people may even try to handle the situation with their own human wisdom, which is
generally deficient.
BUT JOB IMMEDIATELY LOOKED UP TO THE LORD!
ILL.- Capt. David M. Cronin was piloting United Airlines Flight 811 from Honolulu, Hawaii to Auckland,
New Zealand, on Feb. 24, 1989. The Boeing 747 jet had just reached 22,000 feet. Passing through some thunderstorms, everything seem routine. Suddenly there was a tremendous decompression explosion as an 11-by-20-foot opening was ripped in the right side of the plane. Apparently, a cargo door had not been properly closed or a latch on the door was faulty. Nine people were sucked from the jet to their deaths over the Pacific Ocean.
Captain Cronin, due to take mandatory retirement at age 60 on March 23, managed to get the plane back to Honolulu during the next 18 minutes which must have seemed like an eternity.
Using everything he knew from 38 years of flying, he dealt with the loss of two of his four engines, a
stuck right wing flap, and a huge hole in the side of the plane which sent tornado-like winds through the plane, shaking it violently. 345 passengers and crew members praised him for making the right decisions. The plane’s landing was gentle and took only 2/3’s of the runways.
Brethren, when there is a crisis which has already killed some people and threatens to kill everyone else
on board, you want the right person at the controls of a jumbo jet! AND AT THE CONTROLS OF THE UNIVERSE!
The Lord is at the controls of the universe. He has all the answers and he pulls all the right levers.
AND JOB WAS SMART ENOUGH TO LOOK UP TO HIM!
Job 1:21 “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
Job sincerely believed that the Lord who gave everything to him also had the right to take it away.
That’s humble submission to Lord!
When are we ever going to learn that the Lord is always the right person to seek when we’re having
problems?!
Instead of looking out into the world for worldly answers we must look always look up to the Lord and
seek His will. HIS WILL IS ALWAYS THE RIGHT THING TO DO! It’s always right to go by the Bible!
We must not question His authority. We must learn to submit to His authority BECAUSE HE IS AT THE CONTROLS OF THE UNIVERSE. Because He is God and always knows the right things to do and besides, He loves us more than anyone.
1- Job looked up
II. JOB LOOKED AHEAD
ILL.- Someone wrote:
Patience is a virtue,
Possess it if you can,
Seldom in a woman,
Never in a man.
I don’t know if that’s true of not, but I do know that most of us are not very patient when it comes to
getting answers to life’s problems. We want something done and done right now. It doesn’t make any different whether it’s our car, our house or our life. We want it fixed and we want it fixed last week.
ILL.- Preacher Phillips Brooks was known for his poise and quiet manner. At times, like most of us, he
suffered with frustration and irritability. One day a friend saw him pacing the floor liked a caged lion.
He asked, “What’s the trouble, Mr. Brooks?” Brooks replied, “I’m in a hurry, but God isn’t!”
Brethren, we are so much like that. When it comes to getting our problems solved we’re not too patient.
But our friend Job had a faith that outshines ours. He counted on the Lord to work out everything but
not necessarily immediately. He looked forward to a time when all pain, death, sorrow, tears, and trials
would be removed. JOB LIVED BY FAITH IN THE GOD OF THE HEREAFTER AND HE BELIEVED IN THE HEREAFTER ITSELF!
Job 19:25-26 “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, YET IN MY FLESH I WILL SEE GOD.”
Job believed in and counted on the resurrection from the dead! That’s astounding, considering the time
and era in which he lived. He knew nothing of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus at that time. We do
and often, we still don’t have that much faith in the resurrection from the dead! We often say we believe that heaven is the greatest and best place there is, but we’re not in a hurry to get there.
Job believed in the resurrection and he apparently believed that if God wouldn’t cure his problems right
here and now, then He would there and then!
ILL.- A woman was diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. As she
was getting her things in order, she contacted her preacher and asked him to come to her house to discuss some of her final wishes.
She told him which songs she wanted sung at her funeral service, what Scriptures she would like read,
and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. She also requested that her favorite Bible be buried with
her.
As the preacher was about to leave, the woman suddenly remembered something else. She said, “There’s one more thing.” “What’s that?” asked her preacher.
“This is important,” she said, “I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.” Her preacher stood
looking at her, not knowing what to say.
She explained, “In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, when the dishes of the
main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, ‘KEEP YOUR FORK.’ It
was my favorite part of the meal because I knew something better was coming - like velvety chocolate
cake or deep-dish applie pie.”
“So, when people see me in that casket with a fork in my hand and they ask, ‘What’s with the fork?’ I want you to tell them: ‘KEEP YOUR FORK. THE BEST IS YET TO COME!’”
Brethren, that dear woman had the right idea! And so did our friend Job! He knew the best was yet to
come and he was looking forward to that day! WHAT ABOUT YOU? Please don’t put all your eggs in one basket. There are so many people in our world who put all their hope into this life, BUT GOD HAS PREPARED SOMETHING BETTER FOR US.
Brothers and sisters, please don’t let your burdens and trials get you down! Some day they will all be
over and we will experience the best God has for us! We have a bright and beautiful future waiting for
us!
1- Job looked up
2- Job looked ahead
III. JOB LOOKED WITHIN
Job 42:1-4 “Job replied to the Lord. I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak...’”
Did you hear those words? Job didn’t understand all the “whys” of his life! What a relief to know that.
Surely, that must make us feel a lot better. There are just so many things in life that we humans don’t
understand.
ILL.- Bill and Tammy Powell’s first baby, little Billy, was born completely mentally retarded. He lived to be only 2 and a half years old. He showed no emotion, never smiled, never laughed and had to be fed
through a tube in his nose.
One day our local funeral director called and said, “Get down here to Bill and Tammy’s quick. Little Billy just died.” And when I got there, mother Tammy was still holding little Billy, cradled in her arms and was talking to him. “Oh, Billy, now you’re free!” Talk about emotional. THAT ROOM WAS FILLED
WITH EMOTION!
After little Billy died, Bill and Tammy were told by the doctor that the chance of having another child like
Billy was at least 50/50. As it turned out, Bill and Tammy had 3 or 4 more children, BUT PRAISE THE LORD, EACH ONE WAS BORN HEALTHY!
But why little Billy? Why was little Billy the only one who didn’t turn out to be healthy? That’s just one
of those tough questions that we will never understand. At least, not in this life.
ILL.- When my dad died suddenly I hadn’t seen him for about 4 months. I didn’t get to say, “Good bye” to him and tell him, “I love you.” Why wasn’t I allowed to see him? I confess, I don’t understand why his death happened that way.
Brethren, many things happen in our lives that we just don’t understand. But if nothing else, these things should cause us to look within ourselves, examine ourselves and think how we can do better in our relationship to the Lord.
This is what happened to our friend Job.
Job 42:10 “After Job prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.”
Job apparently looked within himself and realized he needed to pray for his friends who had been critical and accusing of him. Even though his friends were dead wrong, Job prayed for them and that’s when God turned his life around.
What a tremendous lesson for us! Perhaps one of the reasons we suffer so much in life is because we
haven’t learned the blessed lesson of demonstrating mercy to others.
We need to stop carrying grudges around! We need to stop harboring ill will toward others because of
what they did or said to us. We need to stop the anger and hatred toward others and learn to
demonstrate mercy.
Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Matthew 5:44
Any time someone has hurt you, offended you, criticized you, disturbed you, etc. then it is time for you to get on your knees and pray, “God, have mercy on so and so. Please forgive him because he doesn’t know what he is doing.”
DO THESE WORDS SOUNDS FAMILIAR? They should. Jesus prayed them on the cross in regard to those who offended Him, that is, those who crucified Him!
Job looked within and realized he needed to pray for his negative, critical friends. And that’s when God
turned his life around. PERHAPS GOD WILL DO THE SAME FOR US IF WE DO WHAT JOB DID!
1- Job looked up
2- Job looked ahead
3- Job looked within
CONCLUSION-----------------------------------------
ILL.- On a low-income salary, Elmer and his wife raised two children and gave them a good education.
The entire family followed Elmer’s example of devotion to the Lord Jesus in everything. Their family
involvement with other people was responsible for several people becoming Christians.
Elmer did all this in course of a lifetime filled with disappointment and pain. He and his wife lost a third
child, a daughter, when she was only three. He suffered a massive heart attack from which the doctors
said he would never recover. Inadequate health insurance left him with thousands of dollars in bills, but he did recover and went back to work.
In spite of his health problems and the financial strain his illness had created for his family, he took in a nephew whose family had kicked him out after a run-in with the law. Then, seven years after his heart
attack, he was found to have cancer.
Although he suffered tremendously in the last few weeks of his life, nobody ever heard him complain.
When Elmer died, he left a mortgaged house, a pile of medical bills, but also a rich legacy of spiritual
treasure to all who had known him! ELMER WAS A MODERN-DAY JOB OF SORTS!
When your walking turns to stumbling,
And your stumbling to a fall,
When you’ve climbed above the mountains,
Yet the alps rise rough and tall,
Don’t quit!
Look up. Look ahead. Look within. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
