WWUTT 859 Job Laments that God is in Control?

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There is nothing that happens outside the will of God. His hand is over everything.

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And knowing that, we can rejoice that He is still working in the midst of this trial. Though Job didn't feel that way when we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text, studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Thank you for subscribing, and if this has ministered to you, please let others know about our program. Here once again is

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. In our Old Testament study, we continue in the book of Job, picking up in Chapter 23 today.

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Now, last week we concluded with a response that was given by Eliphaz, one of Job's friends.

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And now following that response is this one from Job. But it was actually a pretty good place to stop, because even though Job's response in 23 is supposed to be a response to Eliphaz, it's not actually a response.

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Job kind of ignores everything that Eliphaz just said, and instead he laments over the fact that wicked men do not receive their comeuppance in the timing in which

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Job believes that the wicked should get their just desserts. Why does the

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Almighty not bring judgment upon those who truly do judgment? And why is it that those who are poor and needy continue to be poor and needy and do not have their needs met?

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So these are just some of the things Job laments over in this particular section.

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It's not really a direct response to Eliphaz. But then what we're going to get to in Chapter 25 is that Bildad will try to speak up, but Job immediately cuts him off.

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And then that's the last response from one of Job's friends that we're going to see. So we've really come through the last of the friends who are kind of going through their long monologues.

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What we've got left is Bildad will try to speak up, but Job is immediately going to cut him off.

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And then Job continues with his soliloquy until Elihu speaks up, and then

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Elihu is going to be the last person to speak up before God ultimately speaks into the situation here.

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So let's begin in Chapter 23. Job answered and said,

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Today also my complaint is bitter. My hand is heavy on account of my groaning.

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Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat.

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I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me.

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Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No, he would pay attention to me.

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There an upright man could argue with him and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

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Now this is really quite different from something that Job has said earlier in which he did not believe

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God would ever listen to his case. But in this particular soliloquy, he's expressing that God would listen to him.

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Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No, he would pay attention to me.

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An upright man can argue with God is what Job is saying because he believes that he would be found innocent in the eyes of God, able to search his mind and heart and know the genuineness of this man whom

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God even singled out to Satan at the start of the book as an upright man. So Job goes on in verse 8,

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Behold, I go forward, but he is not there and backward, but I do not perceive him.

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On the left hand, when he is working, I do not behold him. He turns to the right hand, but I do not see him, but he knows the way that I take.

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When he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. My foot has held fast to his steps.

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I have kept his way and have not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of his lips.

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I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.

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But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does.

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For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind.

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Therefore I am terrified at his presence. When I consider, I am in dread of him.

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God has made my heart faint. The Almighty has terrified me, yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face.

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Now remember, once again, we're reading the oldest book of the Bible. This was written even before the

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Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Job even precedes

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Moses having written those books. And it's also part of wisdom literature. In fact, it's the first book in wisdom literature.

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Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. These are the books that make up the wisdom literature.

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And so, since Job is a book of wisdom, we find this wisdom repeated in multiple places throughout the

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Scriptures. And here we have a couple of other examples of this. In verse 13 in particular,

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Job says, but he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? Where else have we seen that?

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Isaiah 14, 27, for the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it?

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His hand has stretched out, and who will turn it back? And Job goes on to say, what he desires, he does.

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We see that in the Psalms. Elsewhere in wisdom literature, our God is in the heavens.

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He does all that he pleases. Psalm 115, 3. Then in Psalm 135, 6, whatever the

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Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the deeps.

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So he will complete what he appoints for me, is what Job says then in verse 14.

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And many such things are in his mind, therefore I am terrified at his presence.

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What does God have in store for us? What is going to happen tomorrow? What's going to happen to you?

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You do not know. So fear the Lord. And this is one of the reasons why I believe the Apostle Paul instructed that we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that we are in the hand of the almighty

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God, and he will either deliver us if we are in his son. If we believe in the

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Lord Jesus Christ, we will be delivered by the hand of God. But if we are against his son, and therefore against his ways, he will destroy us.

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So we must continue in fear, a reverent fear of God, knowing that he holds all things in his hand, and he is a great and amazing and incredible, powerful

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God, who is not to be trifled with and always to be taken seriously.

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He is to be revered, not to be blasphemed or spoken about irreverently.

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And so we behold God, knowing that he loves us and he cares for us.

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He's demonstrated that through the cross, through the death of his son, Jesus Christ, for our sins.

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But he is still a great judge and a powerful judge, and one whose ways are justice and always right, no matter what he does.

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So let us stand in fear of the almighty, trusting that everything that is happening to us is ultimately for our good.

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Now, Job is a little bit more pessimistic in that sense. He says that he will complete what he appoints for me.

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And I believe that. But at the present, I believe that in a lot more positive sense than Job does in this particular sense.

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He's had everything taken from him. Even his health has been taken from him. And whatever else would befall him, he knows is the purpose of God.

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God has appointed that this would take place. And so we must trust that in every and all circumstance,

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God is still in control and he is working this out ultimately for his glory.

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You know you are on the right side of God when you follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Job 24, starting in verse 1, why are not times of judgment kept by the almighty?

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So now we go from what Job had just questioned in chapter 23. The heart of the question was basically where is

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God? But then in chapter 24, he's going to ask why God does not bring judgment or justice about for those who have been treated unjustly.

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So again, chapter 24, verse 1, why are not times of judgment kept by the almighty? And why do those who know him never see his days?

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Some move landmarks. They seize flocks and pasture them. Let me repeat something there about verse 1, where Job says, why do those who know him never see his days?

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Why do those who know him, God, never see his,

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God's days? So the his days are the Lord's days. That's what Job is referring to.

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And the day of the Lord, which is referred to in the New Testament as the day of judgment, also has that reference in the

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Old Testament as being the same event. So the day of the Lord, whether you're talking about Old Testament or New Testament, it's in reference to the day of judgment.

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So what Job is saying here is why do those who know God, why don't they ever get to see the day of God?

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That day when he pours out his judgment on the earth, where is the almighty?

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If he is almighty, now Job is certainly not putting it in the context of if he is almighty, why doesn't he show himself as almighty?

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Just pardon me for asking this question as crudely as I do, but if he is indeed almighty, why doesn't he show his almighty power, especially on the wicked?

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Job is not doubting that God is almighty. He's not seeing justice perverted and so therefore doubts that there is an almighty judge at hand.

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He's just wondering what's taking him so long. Isn't God going to show himself upon those who are wicked?

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But again, Job has kind of previously answered this question earlier and it's like he is ignoring himself.

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God is unchangeable and who can turn him back? What he desires is what he does. He will complete what he appoints for me.

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Just as we read in Psalm 115 .3, our God is in the heavens. He does all that he pleases.

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So this is all in God's good and perfect timing, not according to what we want.

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Job has really answered his question. He just kind of ignores what he has said earlier and he's continuing on to mourn over the unjustness that he sees.

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Verse two, some move landmarks, they seize flocks and pasture them. They drive away the donkey of the fatherless.

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They take the widow's ox for a pledge. They thrust the poor off the road. The poor of the earth all hide themselves.

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Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go out to their toil seeking game.

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The wasteland yields food for their children. They gather their fodder in the field and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

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They lie all night naked without clothing and have no covering in the cold. They are wet with the rain of the mountains and cling to the rock for lack of shelter.

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There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast and they take a pledge against the poor.

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They go about naked without clothing. Hungry, they carry the sheaves. Among the olive roves of the wicked, they make oil.

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They tread the wine press but suffer thirst. From out of the city, the dying groan and the soul of the wounded cries for help.

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Yet God charges no one with wrong. So Job is lamenting the oppression that he sees that will come about on the poor.

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And it is done. This oppression is done by the hands of those who have all the money and all the power, all of the influence.

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They are wicked. They have grown fat and heavy. They've grown confident and prideful, believing that they are invincible because they continue to do wicked things, taking advantage of lesser men.

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And yet the judgment of God is not poured out on them. But what do we read in the scriptures?

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Proverbs 16, for the Lord has made everything for its purpose. Even the wicked for the day of trouble.

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Proverbs 11, 21, be assured an evil person will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.

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Psalm 1, which as a congregation, we read together in church this past Sunday, the whole

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Psalm, Psalm 1, 5. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

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For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

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So there is going to come a day of judgment upon the wicked. It is just not according to our timing.

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It's according to according to the Lord's timing. And God is using even the wicked deeds of evil men to accomplish his ultimate purpose.

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And yet all things that he does are good and no one can charge God with any wrong.

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So we continue verse 13. There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways and do not stay in its paths.

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Jesus said something similar to Nicodemus in John chapter three, verse 20, for everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his work should be exposed.

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But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

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Job continues on verse 14, the murderer rises before it is light that he may kill the poor and needy.

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And in the night, he is like a thief. The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying,

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No, I will see me. And he veils his face in the dark. They dig through the houses by day.

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They shut themselves up. They do not know the light for deep darkness is mourning to all of them, for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

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You say swift are they on the face of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the land. No treader turns toward their vineyards, drought and heat snatch away the snow waters.

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So does Sheol those who have sinned. The womb forgets them. The worm finds them sweet.

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They are no longer remembered. So wickedness is broken like a tree. They wrong the barren, childless woman and do no good to the widow.

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Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power. They rise up when they despair of life.

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He gives them security and they are supported and his eyes are upon their ways. They are exalted a little while and then are gone.

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They are brought low and gathered up like all the others. They are cut off like the heads of grain.

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If it is not so, who will prove me a liar and show me there is nothing in what

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I say? Now, even though Job is not directly responding to Eliphaz, there is still a response to what it is that Eliphaz and all of Job's other friends have said.

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The reason why all of this disaster has befallen you, Job, is because you've done something wicked and the wicked will always receive their just desserts.

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But Job is saying that's not true. First of all, he says that he is an upright man and had said to them, point out to me exactly what it is that my wrong is so that I might repent of it.

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But they won't tell him. They just continue to say, well, you can know what it is and you need to repent of it.

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Before God. But here in this in this last chapter in chapter 24, chapters 23 and 24, really,

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Job has been making the case that the wicked are doing fine. So this idea that you guys have that the wicked are always going to face judgment.

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OK, then why are there wicked guys that are doing all right and continue to oppress the poor and no judgment comes upon them?

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How am I like they are? Can you tell me somebody show me a liar? So show somebody show me that I am a liar, that what

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I say is not true, that the wicked dwell in relative safety and it's even by the hand of God that they are preserved.

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And that's really true. The Lord doesn't destroy them for a couple of reasons. Number one, in Romans chapter two, it says that God's kindness, forbearance and patience is meant to lead you to repentance.

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So he doesn't destroy them, giving them an opportunity to lead them to repentance. That's number one. Number two is that God is using even evil to bring about his ultimate purpose, and he will be glorified either in the righteous man or in the unrighteous man.

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If God was able to use the most evil act ever perpetrated by man, which was the crucifixion and the murder of the son of God, if he can use that for some ultimate good, and it was indeed the most incredible good that has ever been done on planet

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Earth for us, if God can do that, then surely he can use the evil that is going on in this world, which is still incredibly heinous, but not like murdering the son of God.

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He can use even this evil to accomplish his ultimate purpose. And this is why we come to understand verses like Romans 8, 28, for God works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

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Job chapter 25, verses one through six, this is Bildad the Shuahite answering and said,

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Dominion and fear are with God. He makes peace in his high heaven. Is there any number to his armies?

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Upon whom does his light not arise? How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure?

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Behold, even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes. How much less man who is a maggot and the son of man who is a worm?

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And and Bildad is just repeating things that have already been said. None of these phrases are new. We've even seen them in the book of Job.

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And so Job cuts him off as Bildad is about to go off on the same nonsense that all of other all of Job's other friends were saying.

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So Job cuts him off, which is why Bildad's response is only six verses long. Job answered and said, how you have helped him who has no power, how you have saved the arm that has no strength, how you have counseled him who has no wisdom and plentifully declared sound knowledge.

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With whose help have you uttered words and whose breath has come out from you?

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Here's basically the point that Job is making. And we're not going to go into the rest of 26 because we're out of time today.

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But this is how Job is responding to Bildad. You're trying to uphold the case for the poor and the needy and those who have been persecuted by evil.

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What have you done for them standing here talking to me about that? Like you're just trying to make me feel bad, which which is really what

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Job's friends are doing. They're just trying to make him feel more miserable than he already feels. That's all you're accomplishing by this.

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Why don't you go out and help those who you claim are so poor and needy whom God is going to lift up?

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Go and do it. That's essentially what Job's response is here to to these miserable friends.

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But we'll conclude there and pick up again next week. Let's close with prayer.

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Our wonderful God, we thank you for the kindness that you have shown to us in your son,

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Jesus Christ. And I pray that we would honor him in all that we do and give praise to you for all things, that even the trials and the circumstances that we are going through right now are ultimately for some good.

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And so instead of asking where you are in this situation, trusting that you are indeed there so that we may place faith in you and be able to grow in the midst of this trial.

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As James said in James 1, 2, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.

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For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

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Give us all good things as you have promised you would in your son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

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This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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.com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast, or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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And let your friends know about our ministry. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's Word when we understand the text.