JOY "The Worship of an Honest Heart" February 4, 2015

February 4, 2015

The Worship of an Honest Heart

    

     I              The 5 Books of The Psalms    1:1-150

    II              Delving Deeper into the Psalms…fighting the enemy

    III            The Psalms…down at the cross…

There are so many wonderful truths in the book of Psalms, I’m sorry that I could only pick one to illustrate our lesson this morning,,,but it’s a good one…..

W. Graham Scroggie, in his commentary on the Psalms, tells the story of an atheist who wanted to persuade his young son with his philosophy of life, who much to his concern was getting interested in the Christian faith. So this atheist father prepared this very attractive plaque and hung it on the wall where his son could see it everyday. This plaque said, "GOD IS NOWHERE."

When the boy got home from Sunday School that day he saw the plaque he was excited. He said to his father, "Why that’s exactly what my Sunday School teacher has been teaching me all along! GOD IS NOW HERE!" (Four words out of three and the way he read it was more appropriate than what his father had intended)

GOD IS NOW HERE. And what a great truth it is. God is right here with us. God is not housed in a church building. God is now here with us. And when we leave this place, He will be with you as we drive home. He will be with us when you lay our head on your pillow tonight. He will be with us when you wake up tomorrow morning. He is with you. He is always "Now Here."

It’s called the doctrine of God’s omnipresence. It means that God is present everywhere.
 And this is what David  talks about in Psalm 139, David starts off the Psalm about how God knows us But God not only KNOWS us, He is also WITH us all the time….there are people who want to escape God’s presence for all kinds of reasons….And there have been times that we’ve all probably tried to…
 And I think most often it is because we try to hide our sin from God. Look at Adam and Eve after they had sinned, "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden."
Somehow they thought that they could really hide themselves from God’s presence. Foolish, but that’s what they thought. Sin does that to us. It makes us want to escape God’s presence. An infinite holy God strikes fear into our hearts and we want to hide from Him. We sin, so we try to hide. This is tragic, because the reality is, God is our only refuge….

St. Augustine said it well when he said,
"The only way to flee from God is to flee TO him." What he was getting

at is that in God alone can we find relief from the punishment that our sin really deserves. And instead of fleeing FROM God, we should be fleeing TO God. Only by running TO Him can we find forgiveness and freedom from the guilt of sin.

God’s omnipresence is one of His greatest gifts to us….

-There are 150 psalms in this book, making it the longest book in the Bible. I don’t know about you, but until this lesson, I didn’t have a clue that the book of psalms is really, five books, in one? But I realize, now, aside from the fact that it’s been written there, the whole time, and I never saw it……I can see that It divides very easily and obviously into five different books, and each of these divisions has a doxology, a song of praise, as it’s closing. The first one is at the end of Psalm 41, and it says,,,,, 

“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.”

These books were deliberately compiled with a special purpose in mind. Scholars, down through the ages, have pointed out that the book of Psalms is the book of human emotions; that every experience of man's heart is reflected in this book. No matter what kind mood you may be in, you will find a psalm will reflect that mood. 

Only our great, and wonderfully, gracious God, could have planned this amazing book, that records, for our benefit, every one of man's emotions and experiences. 

For example, 

*If we’re are fearful, we can read  Psalm 56 or Psalm 91 or one of my favorites, Psalm 23…”the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want….He leads me beside still waters, He makes me lie down in green pastures, He restores my soul….surely goodness and mercy will follow me, all the days of my life….and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever…”

 *And if we’re discouraged, we can read Psalm 42. 

*Feeling lonely, then I would suggest Psalm 71 or Psalm 62.

 *If we feel oppressed with the uneasiness that comes from sinfulness, we can read Psalm 51, which was written after David's double sin of adultery and murder; and Psalm 32, which is a wonderful expression of confession and forgiveness. 

*And then, if we’re worried or anxious, there is Psalm 37 and Psalm 73. 

*If we feel angry, we need to look at Psalm 13 or Psalm 58. 

*If we are feeling resentful, we can read Psalm 77 or Psalm 94. 

*If we are happy and want some words to express our delight, we need to embrace Psalm 66 or Psalm 92. 

*If we feel forsaken, there is Psalm 88. 

*If we’re grateful and we’d like to say that we are, then we need to read Psalm 40. 

*If we’re feeling doubtful and if our faith is faltering, we can read Psalm 119. 

*We could go on and on, because each of the150 psalms have to do with some emotional experience, and we can see ourselves, given our circumstances, in any one of them.

* And keep in mind, that these verses that I’ve listed are just a drop in the bucket, when it comes the richness of God’s word, in this book, and they can govern our emotions, if we let them,,, 

Most of us think the psalms are David's work. The fact is, more than half of them were written by David, Jesse’s son, the sweet singer of Israel, who could sooth the demons that hounded Saul, with his voice and his lyre…..God gave David the wonderful gift of being able to  capture the emotions of his full life's varied experience and put them into beautiful lyrical terms.

And then, David’s songs became the psalm book or hymn-book of Israel. Many of them were written, to be sung in public, which is why we often find written at the head of a psalm "To the chief choirmaster" or "To the choirmaster, " and in some Bibles, we will find the word "Maskil" which in Hebrew, simply means "psalm." 

And for the rest of the Psalms, it’s interesting to note that Psalm 90, was written by Moses, and two more were composed by King Solomon. There are others that were written by a nameless group, called the sons of Korah ,who were specially charged with leading the singing of Israel. Also, a man named Asaph wrote many of them, and even good King Hezekiah wrote ten of them.  And if a Psalm has a title,,,,a lot of times it will be the author’s name…...

It’s all very well thought-out, very well planned and very well orchestrated….

And something else I didn’t know before this study, is that the five books of Psalms, parallel the Pentateuch, or the first five books of the Bible. Those first five books were designed by God, to give us the pattern of God's working, in a human life, working, in the whole of creation, and working, in the whole of world history. 

And God always follows the same pattern, whether with an individual or with a nation. He takes them through the same steps. And those five steps, were revealed by divine inspiration, in the first five books of the Bible.

The Psalms follow the same steps, reflecting the reactions of the human heart to this pattern of God's working in man's life. 

I          The 5 Books

       The 1^st Book…..our Awarenesss of our Needs

To begin with, the first book of psalms -- Psalms 1 through 41 -- is equivalent to the book of Genesis and has essentially the same message. It is the cry of human need. It is the expression in beautiful, poetic terms of the human heart's deepest need. It follows closely the story of the book of Genesis. It begins in Psalm 1 with the picture of the perfect man just as Genesis begins with man in the Garden of Eden. Then in Psalm 2, you have man in his rebellion. It is a notable psalm, beginning with the words:

Why do the nations conspire,
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and his anointed, saying,
"Let us burst their bonds asunder." (Psalms 2:1-3 RSV)

It describes man in his rebellion, just as Genesis pictures him in the Garden of Eden. In the third psalm we see man in his rejection, and right on through in the following psalms in k this first book. Then the grace of God is introduced. Here is the picture of God seeking man out in the darkness -- just as he did in the shadows of the Garden, crying out, "Adam, where art thou?" -- and moving to restore man tohis lost estate. And as you read through this book you will hear the human heart's expression of deep-seated longing, of its separation from God, its calling out to God in need.

The 2^nd Book of Psalms …..Our Longing for Deliverance

 Psalm 42 through Psalm 72, corresponds to the book of Exodus in the Pentateuch. This is the experience of a new relationship. Just as Exodus tells us the story of Israel in captivity in Egypt – living in the of the sorrow, the bondage, and the slavery of sin, and then learning something of the great grace of God in his power to deliver them, to bring them out of Egypt -- the second book of psalms traces the same account, carefully capturing the theme of Exodus. 

Psalm 45 is the psalm of God the king. It exalts God in his sovereign rule over man and reveals man's experience of God, as king. And in Psalm 46 we read the promise of God's delivering help – and we claim the truth, that God is a present help in time of trouble. In Psalm 50 the strength of God is exemplified and Psalm 51 reveals the delivering grace of God to man in his sin. And in Psalm 72, the last psalm of this book, God is pictured in his mighty, conquering power, setting man free from the bondage in which sin has enslaved him.

The third book of psalms,…..Our Hearts Before God

 Psalm 73 through Psalm 89, corresponds to the book of Leviticus. Leviticus is the book of the tabernacle of worship, the discovery of what God is like when man comes before him and what he himself is like in the presence of God. And Leviticus is the book that reveals the inner workings of man's heart: we see his need, his deep consciousness of his own sin, and the discovery of what God offers to do about it. And in these psalms, 73 through 89, the same pattern is carried out. Psalm 75, for instance, is an exquisite expression of man's awareness of God's judgment in the inner heart. Psalm 78 is a record of God's unbending love: although God loves man, he will never let him get away with anything. He never compromises, he never bends; he gives in to man's plea for mercy, but is absolutely relentless in cutting away sin. Then, when man is ready to acknowledge his sin, and to agree with God's judgment concerning sin, God deals with him in love. Psalm 81 describes the new strength that God offers man, and Psalm 84 wonderfully portrays the continuous provision that God offers us.

                                                                                                      

The 4^th book of Psalms…Our Desert Experience

90 through 106 make up this book and they, parallel  the book of Numbers -- the wilderness book – which sets forth the experience of human failure. Throughout this book you will find victory alternating with devastating defeat. Just as in our experience, God steps in and delivers the Israelites in the desert -- working mighty miracles and ministering to their needs, feeding them with bread from heaven, opening the rock for them so that water would flow -- and then, in the next chapter, Israel murmurs and complains and falls into defeat. This pattern is pictured in the fourth book of psalms.

The fifth book, Our Deliverance 

Psalm 107 through Psalm 150, corresponds to the book of Deuteronomy, the experience of the new resource in God. Here these psalms picture the person who has come to the end of himself, and is now ready to lay hold of the fullness of God. And this final book of Psalms is nothing but thanksgiving and praise, from beginning to end. It sounds one triumphant note all the way through and the closing part of it is a constant "Hallelujah, praise the Lord!" It is the expression of someone so excited that all he can do is shout "Hallelujah!" And that is the way the entire book of Psalms closes.

II            Delving Deeper Into Psalms…fighting the enemy

Believers need to try to understand and obey the pattern of God's work in his life. It may be of interest to you to know that the books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon form a separate section of the Bible. These are the books of poetry. In Job we read the cry of man's spirit, the deep cry of a man needing faith -- needing trust in God -- even though everything seems to go wrong, and everything seems inexplicable. When suffering reaches such an intensity that it seems senseless and no longer of any obvious value, then man's only recourse is quiet faith. Man was made to believe in God.

Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes join together to express the cry of man's soul, and just as the soul has three divisions -- the emotions, the mind, and the will -- so these books express these divisions. Psalms is the book of emotions. Proverbs is the book of the will. And Ecclesiastes is the book of the mind, the story of Solomon's searching examination of all the philosophies of men and concluding on the basis of human reason what is right and good. Here then, you have the soul's expression of its need pointing to one great answer -- hope. Just as the answer to the cry of the spirit is faith, the answer to the cry of the soul is hope.

Then in the Song of Solomon you have, essentially, the cry of the body for love. Our deepest need as men and women is love. Children cannot grow up adequately and rightly unless they have love. And this cry of the body is expressed in the most beautiful love poem ever written, the Song of Solomon.

There are many people, who say that they have had difficulty getting much out of the psalms. They read through psalms that seem to be filled only with David's cry against his enemies, or that seem to be only a record of handicaps and trials. Many are quite troubled by what are sometimes called the imprecatory psalms, those psalms that speak with bitter and scorching words against enemies, calling God's wrath down upon them, wishing that enemies be torn limb from limb and hung from the nearest lamp post. This disturbs people. "What kind of writing is this?" they say. "This doesn't agree with the New Testament's message that we are to love our enemies!" But I think we can understand even these troubling psalms if we will remember what the New Testament tells us about the Old Testament, that "these things," Paul says, "were written down for our instruction." (I Corinthians 10:11) And if we put ourselves in the place of the psalmist, right into his world, we will see that the enemies that he faced then are the same enemies that we face today. The New Testament tells us that "we are not contending against flesh and blood." (Ephesians 6:12) Sometimes people are confused about this, thinking that whoever opposes them is their enemy. But people are not our enemies. Rather, the principles of evil, the philosophies of the world, the attitudes of the flesh are our enemies; our real enemies are within us. Jesus said, "Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth ... for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication" and all these other things. (Matthew 15:11, 19)

There is our enemy. And if we read the psalms with this understanding…. whenever you read "enemy", you will think of those temptations toward covetousness or jealousy or pride or ambition within ourselves as the enemy that is spoken of in the psalms, and we will see that this severe language makes sense. We must deal severely with these kind things. They have no right to live in a Christian's heart, in a Christian's life. They have no right to be honored. At all!!!! This is right in line with what the Lord Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount, "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away...and if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. " (Matthew. 5:29, 30) Now he doesn't mean to do that literally; he simply means that we are to deal with temptation absolutely ruthlessly. Don't entertain these things at all. And so these ruthless psalms are simply a picture of the way we must deal with the real enemies of the heart of man.

Here is an an example. Psalm 43 is a very brief psalm and we will look at it together so you can see what I mean. Here is the cry of the psalmist:

Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people;
from deceitful and unjust men deliver me!
For thou art the God in whom I take refuge;
why hast thou cast me off?
Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? (Psalms 43:1-2 RSV)

Now when we read this kind of  psalm, don't think of the enemy as being people -- the neighbors across the back fence, or an overbearing family member. The enemies are within us. Think of them that way. And when we do, ray Stedman says that we are treating Scripture as it was intended to be treated.

 These are instructions for us, as Paul tells us. As you read this psalm, you can see how easily it divides itself. The first two verses record an attitude of attack. And who has not felt this way? These things within us, these burning jealousies, these desires to strike back at people and avenge ourselves and get even with them -- these are the enemy. Such an attack ought to drive us, like the psalmist, to cry out, "Lord defend my cause against these things. Thou art the God in whom I take refuge." And if you feel you don't seem to be getting through to God right away, you can understand what the psalmist means when he says, "Why hast thou cast me away…?”

III          Down at the Cross,,,i

But now move to the second group, the third and fourth verses. There is an appeal from the heart, a prayer:

Oh send out thy light and thy truth;
let them lead me,
let them bring me to thy holy hill
and to thy dwelling! (Psalms 43:3 RSV)

In other words, take hold of some promise out of scripture, some light, some verse that speaks directly to your heart, some truth that you need to remember about the adequacy of Jesus Christ who has already put these things to death on the cross. Then you read:

Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy;
and I will praise thee with the lyre,
O God, my God. (Psalms 43:4 RSV)

This means that your own soul will respond in prayer and praise.

Then in verse five is the application, as you begin asking yourself:

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me? (Psalms 43:5a RSV)

"Look, you've already gone through this, and we've seen what the answer is: God is adequate. All right then, why do you feel the way you do? Why are you going on with this disgruntled mood? Why are you still unpleasant and vexatious to everybody around you? Why do you snap at people so? Why are you disquieted?"because we need to take our focus off of the circumstances and put them where they belong, on the Lord Jesus….

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God. (Psalms 43:5b RSV)

"Just hang on. It's going to work out in a little while and you'll feel a lot better. Just hang on." You see? Now that is using the psalms the way they were intended to be used.

Also, the psalms wonderfully reveal the person of Jesus Christ. Remember that on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection, Jesus said to the two disciples who were so troubled, "Everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled." (Luke 24:44) And here in the Messianic psalms you have a great picture of Christ. They give us an inside glimpse into some of the very same crises in the Lord's earthly life that are described in the Gospels. For instance, Psalms 2 pictures Christ as the man of destiny, the focal point of all history. God says that every nation, every tribe, every people, every individual will find its value or its lack of value in how it relates to the Son.

Kiss his feet, lest you perish... (Psalms 2:12 RSV)

Psalm 22 records the Lord's anguish on the cross. This amazing psalm takes you right to the cross itself:

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Psalms 22:1 RSV)

And he describes the scene of people standing at the foot of the cross, looking on him whom they pierced and numbering him with the transgressors; how they took his garments and cast lots for them; and how his own heart was broken as he felt abandoned by God. This is a vivid, beautiful description of the Lord's prayer and experience on the cross, followed by the prayer of triumph in his resurrection.

Psalm 40 is another of the prayers of the Lord and is quoted in the New Testament as a reflection of the person of Christ. Psalm 45, one of the most beautiful psalms, pictures the beauty of the character of Jesus Christ -- the splendor of the king. And Psalm 72 is a magnificent psalm describing the reign of Christ Jesus, over all the earth. It is one of the greatest shouts of joy and triumpth in the whole Bible.

Psalm 110 is the great psalm on the deity of Christ and is quoted in the first chapter of Hebrews Psalm 118 is the psalm of direction,

This is the day which the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Verse 24)

That day is when the stumbling block of men was taken and made to be the cornerstone on the day of resurrection (verse 22).

All the psalms are designed to teach us to do one thing -- to worship. These psalms reflect every human emotion, but they do so in a distinct and important way: they are emotions seen in relationship to God. Every psalm is written in the presence of God. This book, therefore, teaches us how to be honest before God. If you have a problem, tell God about it. Don't hide it. Don't cover it up. Especially, don't get pious and sanctimonious and try to smooth it over. If you are angry with God, say so. If you are upset about something he has done, tell him so. if you are resentful, bring it out. If you are happy and glad, express that. That is what worship is -- a heart's honesty. As Jesus said to the woman at the well in Samaria, "The true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth." (John 4:23)God is looking for that kind of worshiper. And as we worship Him,   in Spirit and truth, we will begin to discover a new source of strength. If we can be honest before God, even those troublesome problems of wrong moods and attitudes, we will find grace answering all our needs.

(There is an old story of a converted miser who had always been known as an exceedingly stingy individual. After his conversion, one of his neighbors sustained a serious loss. When the former miser heard about it, his immediate reaction was, "Well, they need help and food. I will go to my smoke house and get a ham and take it over to them." But on the way to the smoke house his old nature began to whisper to him, "Why give them a whole ham? Half a ham will be plenty." And he debated this all the way to the smoke house. Then he remembered what he had learned in the presence of God. He remembered that he had resolved then and there that by God's grace he would stand against all the evil qualities of his former life whenever they asserted themselves. The tempter kept whispering, "Give him half a ham," and the old man finally said, "Look Satan, if you don't pipe down, I'll give him the whole smoke house." Now you see, that is adequate grace. Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. And that is the purpose of the psalms: to bring us to grace.

Prayer:

Our Father, we pray that we may immerse ourselves in this marvelous book of experience and find here not only that which speaks of our own moods and attitudes, but also that which answers them in grace. We thank you for this revelation, written not merely with pen and ink, but with blood and sweat and tears, heartache and sorrow, happiness and joy -- in the lives of men and women like ourselves. In Christ's name. Amen.

JOY "JOB : When Bad Things Happen to Good People" January 28, 2015

January 28, 2015

Job…..When Bad Things Happen to Good People

I      Life Happens

II     The Advice of a Few Good Friends

III     The Lord’s Answer                                                                                                                           IV     God Comforts Job 

Gary Carr tells the story of Chippie the parakeet.  

"Chippie never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage, sending a song into the air; the next second he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.

"His problem began when his owner decided to clean his cage with a vacuum. She had stuck the nozzle in to suck up the seeds and feathers at the bottom of the cage when the nearby telephone rang. Instinctively she turned to pick it up. She had barely said hello when-- Chippie got sucked in. She gasped, let the phone drop, and switched off the vacuum. With her heart in her mouth, she unzipped the bag.

"There was Chippie--alive but stunned--covered with heavy gray dust. She grabbed him and rushed to the bathtub, turned on the faucet full blast, and held Chippie under a torrent of ice-cold water, power washing him clean. Then it dawned on her that Chippie was soaking wet and shivering. So she did what any compassionate pet owner would do: she snatched up the hair dryer and blasted him with hot air.

"Did Chippie survive? Yes, but he doesn't sing much anymore. He just sits and stares a lot. It's not hard to see why. Sucked in, washed up, and blown over! It's enough to steal the song from any stout heart." Life is like that sometimes. You never see it coming, but life just sucks you in, washes you up and blows you over……

That’s exactly how Job must have felt, bless his heart,  sucked in, washed up and blown over .We are familiar with the things that Job had to endure. He suffered greatly for the glory of the Lord, and for thousands of years, his life has stood as a testimony to the faithfulness of the Lord and of His ability to bring His people through any trial. Job's story is one of vast encouragement, to us all. In this passage, we will see what the trials of life bring our way, and the most important thing we will learn is that God is always in control, no matter what it might look like…..so we have to trust HiS HEART WHEN WE CAN’T SEE His hand…

The gripping and challenging book of Job is perhaps one of the most fascinating books of the Old Testament, and it begins a new division in the scriptures….Scholars believe that it is the oldest book in the bible, we don’t know who penned it, but there is no doubt that it was authored by the Holy Spirit-----you can feel His presence hovering over the pages as you read it, can’t you? And most scholars agree that it answers the age-old question, “why do bad things happen to good people, more than any other book in scripture…

The books from Genesis to Esther are all narrative books, and are vitally meaningful to us, as living parables….. and because the characters actually lived and are a part of history….it enables us to see ourselves and how we are supposed to or not supposed to behave,…. what we are supposed to believe or not believe….who we’re supposed to obey and who we aren’t….

Job begins another section -- the poetry books of the Bible -- which also includes Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon and Lamentations. Job is a wonderful poem. Some have said that its the greatest poem in all of literature, spiritual and secular alike….. There’s nothing that even  Shakespeare has written, that exceeds the book of Job ,in beauty of expression. It is admired everywhere, as one of the most beautiful writings that man has ever known. 

But it is more than an expressive, dramatic writing; it has a message of truth and honesty as it is played out in man’s soul and of how the battle between good and evil is played out in the heavenly realms….

It is a drama, an epic drama much like The Iliad and The Odyssey, the poems by Homer from the Greek world. But the book of Job is also history. Job was an actual, living person and these events actually took place, but God recounts them for us in this beautiful style so that we might have an answer to the age-old, haunting question, "Why does apparently senseless tragedy strike godly people……..?" Any time we get into difficulties, or experience heartache or disappointment and loss,  we need to turn to the book of Job, especially  chapters 38-41 when the Lord speaks directly to Job….. Here is a man who experienced an agony of human despair and desolation of spirit, which accompanied the apparently meaningless, senseless tragedies that came into his life, as they always do…and he kept his focus on the Lord God…

The ultimate answer to the question of why do godly people suffer? is given right at the beginning of the book. At the opening, we are privey immediately to information that explains something about the drama, that even the actors themselves, are not permitted to know. And it’s the answer to the age-old question “why/”The answer is….. that senseless suffering comes because of the sin that buffets the people and the earth, since Adam and Eve’s fall in the garden and Satan's continual challenge of the Lord God’s sovereign right to rule the world….

So, as the book opens, we find God meeting with the angelic creation. Among them is Satan, who strides in sneering and swaggering, convinced that self-interest is the only real motive for human behavior. Satan's philosophy is that the question "What's in it for me?" is the only accurate explanation for why people do anything that they do, good and bad...

And there, in the presence of God, he maintains that anyone who claims that human beings act from any other motive are really religious phonys; and, he claimed that he could prove it. God patiently, agreed to test his theory." Then He selected Job to be the proving ground.

(A good analogy that we can compare it to, is that during In World War II, at the opening of the war between Japan and the United States, it looked as though this conflict would be staged in the Pacific Ocean -- most likely the islands of Hawaii, because the battle began at Pearl Harbor. But very early in the war, events took a sudden startling turn, and without a word of warning the whole theater of battle shifted abruptly to the South Pacific. For the first time, Americans began to hear of strange names of islands, like "Guadalcanal" and Oconawa…. There, in those quiet, obscure, out-of-the way corners of the earth, the greatest powers on earth were locked in mortal combat. The islands became the battleground for the great fight between empires.)

And something like this happened in the story of Job. Here is a man going about his private affairs, unaware that he has suddenly become the center of God's attention. For the time being all of God's activity is focused on him,because he has become the battleground for a conflict between God and Satan in which God is planning to pull the rug out from under Satan, and to reveal him as the phony that he is. Job is that battleground, and Satan immediately moves in with his shock troops.

I       Life Happens…..

In chapter 1 we read that, one by one, the props are pulled out of Job's life. It is a though some Western Union telegram boy delivers a series of messages to Job about terrible catastrophes. Hard on the heels of the first comes another one, and the messages just keep coming in. First, all Job's oxen have been taken by enemy raids, and then all his donkeys have been decimated. Next, word comes that his sheep have been killed by a terrible electric storm, and crowding in after that is the news that his great herd of camels, true wealth in the oriental world, has been wiped out in a natural catastrophe. Then comes the heartrending news that his seven sons and three daughters were together in one home enjoying a birthday celebration when a great tornado hit and the house was demolished. All of his children were killed in one fatal blow.

Job takes it all in stride. At the end of chapter 1 his response to this terrible series of tragic, senseless accidents  is :

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return; the LORD gives, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21 RSV)

I wonder if we would have responded that way? Satan is somewhat taken aback, and surprised by Job’s response, so he asks God to change the rules of the game. Satan has decided to attack Job more directly and petitions God for the right to strike Job's own body. And God lets him….. Without warning, Job is suddenly stricken with a series of terrible boils, or carbuncles.

(I don’t know if you’ve ever had a boil but when I was in high school, during a period of about 6 months,  I had, maybe 10 boils on my body, even though there there were no more than one or 2 at one time. I was very anemic and apparently, the boils were a side effect of the anemia….Since then I have had a deep sympathy for pooor, sweet Job. There is nothing more aggravating than a painful boil, which won’t relieved by any kind of medication. You can only grit your teeth and endure agony. until the boil comes to a head, and heals itself. And right as one boil is healing, the next one begins….And there ugly too, people are grossed out by them, so I tried to keep them covered up, but it was a constant struggle---they were on my legs and were too big and full of infection, and were in danger of bursting at any minute, so I couldn’t just wear a bandaid,,,,I had to have a wrapped-around-my-leg-bandage It drove me crazy, it was constantly sliding down----and people were always asking about  it….It was painful, mortifying and an aggravation all rolled into one…. ……

Consider how Job was stricken with them from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. He hardly knew what to do, but he was determined to wait it out. As the malady continued, his wife was the one whose faith crumbled. She turned on him and said, "Are you still holding fast to your integrity? Why don't you curse God and die?" 

Job had to stand alone, but he was determined to be faithful. But it was hard to continue to stand as he faced the final test, during a visit from three of his friends.

II                 The Advice of a Few Good Friends

At this point the whole book slightly shifts its focus because we aren’t just looking at Job anymore… but we’re also looking at his controversy with his three friends,…. and their discourse occupies the major part of the book.

 From their (very human) point of view, they attempted to answer that same haunting question, "Why do senseless tragedies afflict men?" The major part of the book, written in beautifully poetic language, records the attempts by these men to come to an answer. And the three friends' answers are all the same. They answer the question of Job's problems with smug, dogmatic assurances that only one explanation is possible: he has committed some awful sin. They try to break down Job's defenses with arguments.

And they aren’t necessarily wrong in their explanation. There are tragic events -- catastrophes, heartache, pain, and suffering -- which do occur because of sin. Any time that we disobey God’s, instructions for our good health and safety, we open ourselves up to the consequences of sin, sometimes there is an immediate and violent physical reaction with a whole lot of suffering that can come from it.... But the problem in his friends' arguments -- and their evil -- lay in their dogmatic assertion that this is the only explanation possible for all suffering.

They each took three rounds with Job. Each of them presented three nice, seemingly valid arguments, but each one played the exact same tune. They tried various approaches. First they tried sarcasm and irony. Then they appealed to Job's honesty. Then they accused him of specific crimes and misdeeds. Finally they acted hurt and went away, miffed and sulking, pridefully appealing to Job' s conscience, not to insult, them, any more. 

And the whole time, they attacked his integrity with the argument, that if God is indeed just, then the righteous will always blessed and the wicked will always suffer; which leads to the conclusion that, if an individual is suffering, it must be because there is something wrong in his life. This is their argument. To those men, the explanation was a simple matter of cause and effect and was very logical. It was neat and tidy and explaind everything, unless you happen to be the sufferer, and were blameless for your trouble.

At first Job is slightly irritated with his friends. But then he became angry and, finally, sarcastic. In the opening lines of his reply, he deliverd a cutting piece of irony: "I am sure you alone are the people and wisdom is going to die with you." (Job 12:2) basically meaning……. "You think you’ve got all the answers, you've solved all the problems, you know everything. So there's no use talking to you any longer!" and With bitter sarcasm he let them know that their explanation of his suffering was in error. And he expressed his own doubts and fears about what God was doing to help him….

He openly entreated them to understand that he couldn’t confess any sin, because he was genuinely unaware of anything he had done that had offended God. And then, with more than a little attirude, he confessed that he couldn’t   believe in justice any more, because the arguments that the wicked always suffer just weren’t true, because there were so many people, in the world, who were  notoriously wicked, and yet, they were flourishing amd prospering and living in ease, and nothing horrible was happening to them.

Then, he confessed that he didn't know what to do because God wasn't listening to him; so he didn't even have a chance to plead his case before Him, and he complains that God was hiding from him and couldn’t be found. 

Eventually Job actually shouted at his friends…. in the turmoil of his confusion, bewilderment, anger, hurt, and frustration. He confessed that he was afraid of this God, who was not the God he had known. He didn't know what has happened to his dear old friend whom he had always been able to rely upon, in the past. Job’s thoughts and attitude had taken a strange turn, since all the awful things were unrelentingly, happening to him… he didn’t know what to think or say…. 

The wonderful thing about this dear man is though, that throughout the whole book, he is utterly and completely honest. Confused and bewildered and puzzled by what was happening, he just blurts out his thoughts. He refused to admit things that he couldn’t accept: "All the pat answers don't help at all!" In his desolation he expressed, in various ways, the ultimate cry of the human spirit. 

Some wonderful verses emerge from this discourse by Job. Stripped to his very soul, he cried out again and again with some of the deepest expressions of the human heart, that we have everyone experienced at some time in our lives…. In chapter 9 he says about God,

“For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should come to trial together.” (Job 9:32 RSV)

which is the cry of a heart that recognizes that God is higher and greater and richer and holier than man, and man can't reach him. It is the cry for a mediator to come between them.

Then in chapter 14 comes another expression out of this man's faithful heart:

If a man die, shall he live again?
All the days of my service I would wait,
till my release should come. (Job 14:14)

"If I knew that after I die I would live again, I would gladly wait until that time to argue my case before God!" "If a man die, shall he live again?"…..  is the question that is uttered by so many – which just wells up from the depths of Job’s desolation and suffering.

Then in chapter 16 Job cries out,

Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
and he that vouches for me is on high. (Job 16:19 RSV)

Earlier he had cried out for a mediator: "Oh, that I might have somebody step in between me and God." Now at last, born of his desperation, "I realize now that the only one who can adequately argue my case for me is God himself. If any cause of mine is going to be fairly presented before God, God himself has to do it."

Then, his attitude came full-circle, when, at last, a ray of light, was pin-pricking thedarkness:

"For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at last he will stand upon the earth;
and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then from my flesh["in my flesh," in the Hebrew] I shall see God." (Job 19:25, 26)

Out of the dark, deep distress of this man came cries, which ultimately found their fulfillment in the coming of the Lord Jesus. He came to be mediator. He came to give assurance that man shall live again. He came to stand between man and God. He came to stand in the flesh upon the earth that man might see him face-to-face. And its clear that Job understood the truth of this by the end of his conversation with the Lord God…

But before it was all over, came the final blow to Job…. after all his so-called friends had had their chance with him and had tried to beat him down, with their arguments pounding him again and again like a club… Poor Job -- bruised, defeated, puzzled, bewildered, and confused --  met with a young man who happened to be standing there all along, but who only, at the end, interjected himself into the picture, and lumped Job’s argument in with the arguments of Job’s negative friends….totally negating Job’s reasoning…. 

His name was Elihu and he was speaking for all youth, when he stood up to say, "You are all wrong. You friends of Job are wrong because you accuse him unjustly, and Job is wrong because he blames God for his difficulty. He is accusing God in order to exonerate himself." Elihu pointed out the weaknesses in both arguments but still offered nothing positive to answer the question of Job's misery.

III                       The Lord’s Answer

Then suddenly, the Lord himself answered Job. In a whirlwind's fury, he came to him and said, "Do you want to debate, Job? You have been saying that you want some answers to your questions and that I have been hiding and am not willing to debate with you. Do you want to debate your case? All right. First, let me see your qualifications. I have a list here of forty questions I would like to ask you, to see if you are competent to understand problems. These are very simple problems, very simple questions, and if you are able to handle these ABC's, then perhaps you are able to debate with me the questions you have in your heart."

Then, in chapters 38 through 40, we have one of the most remarkable passages in all of the Bible. God takes Job on a tour of nature and asks him question after question about Job's ability to deal with this kind of thing or that kind of thing in nature. Gradually these three chapters draw the picture of a vastly complicated, intricately intertwined universe for which is required a tremendous superhuman mind to direct all these activities, to keep life in balance and to answer all the questions that the Lord is asking Job to answer. And Job, along with the rest of us, is pulled up short, as we recognize, just who God is and just who we are in relation to Him…  

And At the end of this overwhelming display of the wisdom of God, Job fell down on his face and said:

"I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees thee;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:5- 6 RSV)

God's essential argument is that life is too complicated for simple answers. If you are demanding that God come up with simple answers to these deep and complicated problems, you are asking him to do more than you are able to understand. He is simply saying that only God can adequately deal with the answers to these kinds of questions. Therefore, man must take the position of trusting him -- not arguing with him. God has displayed in the most amazing way his ability to work out complicated situations while keeping human life and the life of the entire world -- with all their tremendously involved complexities -- in beautiful balance. Now if you really see that, then you must trust God to work out these complicated problems of life. ( Louis Giglio’s Indescrible……)

Job, overwhelmed by the vast might and wisdom and majesty of God, fell on his face, repented, and learned the lesson that God wanted him to learn. Only God has the right to use men for whatever purpose he desires. 

In other words, God does not exist for man but man exists for God. God is not a glorified bell-boy at whom we can snap our fingers and have him run up asking, "May I take your order?" We exist for him. We are God's instruments for the working out of his purposes, some of which are so vastly complicated they are far beyond our ability to understand. There are many questions which simply cannot be answered because our calculating machinery is so inadequate.

IV                          God Comforts Job

The last of the book is a beautiful picture of what James calls the tender mercies of God toward Job (James 5:11). God says to Job, "Now I want you to pray for your friends -- these three dear men, so stubborn, so sure that they had all the answers, so well meaning, so sincere, so dedicated, but such utter blunderers. Pray for them. Job."

Then God said to Job, "How many sheep did you have?" Job said, "Seven thousand." God said, "All right, I will give you fourteen thousand. How many oxen did you have?" And he said, "Five hundred." God replied, "I'll give you a thousand. How many camels?" "Three thousand." "All right, Job, you will have six thousand camels. How many asses did you have?" "Five hundred." "I'll give you a thousand. How many sons and daughters?" "Seven sons and three daughters." "All right, you will have seven sons and three daughters more, doubled. Twice as many. Seven sons and three daughters in glory and seven sons and three daughters on earth." God restored twice as much to Job and he lived the rest of his life in blessedness and happiness. The account closes with the words,

And Job died, and old man, and full of days. (Job 42:17 RSV)

Now the remarkable thing about this book is the answer we are given: the fact that the backdrop to human suffering is the age-long conflict of Satan's challenge to God's righteous government of the universe. This answer is never given to Job, at least while he lives. At the beginning of the book you find God, Satan, and Job. 

At the end of the book, Satan has faded out of the picture totally, and God stands before Job with his arms crossed, saying, "All right, I am responsible. Any questions?" 

The great lesson of the book is that there are times when we cannot be told the whole picture. There are times when God doesn’t adequately explain life to us. There are times when we must trust that not all suffering occurs because we are bad, but because it can also be the source of some final good. The deepest note in the book may be struck. when, out of the desolation of his heart and yet with the Spirit of God within him urging him on to faith in the middle of his bewilde-rment and confusion, Job says,

In 19:25-26 “For I know that my redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the latter day on the earth, and after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God, I myself will see Him, I and no other,,,,how my heart yearns within me…

 “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10 RSV)

That is the lesson of this book. Life is too complicated for us to handle alone. It gets so involved that we can't even be given some of the answers at times, because we can’t understand them, or the burden would be too much for us to bear…. but God is saying, "If you just take a look at all the problems that I keep solving on the very simplest levels of life, and which even then are far beyond your ability to cope with, can't you trust me to work this one out as well?

And God is saying, “If you trust me with your eternal future, why can’t you trust me with your day to day?” 

In Romans, Paul rejoices, "We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)

The greatest truth we need to take away from this study is to do as it says in Proverbs 3:4-5 “trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.”

Prayer: Father God, thank you for this look into Job's heart. Thank you for recording for us the struggles of this precious man as he frankly, openly, and honestly voices his doubts, airs his grievances, addresses you with his complaints. Lord, we hear ourselves, in our immaturity crying out to you, blaming you for our circumstances, unwilling to believe that you have a purpose behind them and are able to work them out. Lord, teach us to rest in you, through the great and wonderful revelation, that in every circumstance we are privileged to be instruments in the hand of Almighty, sovereign God, working out His victory over satan, to demonstrate once and for all that the only life worth living is a life lived by faith. We pray in your name. Amen.