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Last week we kind of looked at chapter 28 and I enjoyed chapter 28 because it really was, if you've never read it before, I think it's an eye-opener that Job has so much understanding in the ways of God and of the things that God has done.
And we talked about that, how God has hidden things in the earth and given man dominion to dig it out, to subdue the earth. And that, you know, you think about it, it's still going on today, right? We're still in, we're still digging things out of the depths of the ocean and out of mines and caves and all these other things.
And just a thought is that God continues to provide just as much as He said that there would always be summer and fall and springtime and harvest and all those things that God continually replenishes.
And I just made mention to you that Job never went, I don't believe Job went to a theological seminary, and yet he is full of understanding in that. If you remember, we left off with, if you have a right worldview, things fall into place.
And again, we can spend a lot more time on that and maybe we will as we go forward. But having said that, as we come this morning to chapter 29 and chapter 30, hopefully there's kind of a real big distinction between the two chapters and you'll see it.
And maybe we'll just read through it together. Sometimes to me, just reading the Word of God is well worth our time. But chapter 29, Job is going to talk about where his life was. And then in chapter 30, he's going to talk about where his life is.
And I suppose we could all say that. I thought it was funny that you were talking before how all of a sudden you realize how old you are, and you're not even old.
It's like I'm only 20.
Yeah. So it's kind of the same thing, right? Where you were, because you had said that thing, and I laughed at myself when you said, you know, you can't do what the boys do now. And I remember when I couldn't throw them around anymore in the pool, and they started throwing me around in the pool, that it was, that was the crossover, right?
And there's no return from that.
My oldest picked up a washing machine the other day, by himself.
Yeah. And you never even, you don't even think about it at that point. And I guess
You think of that like it wasn't much to it.
No, absolutely. And again, I think I had mentioned it to you.
I bet it's going to help me.
I had said to my son not too long ago, I said, Jonathan, can you grab this? Can my son stand with us? I said, can you pick this up? And he almost did it with one hand. And I'm like, dude, come on, man.
Making me look bad. But it really is. In one sense, as Job looks at this, as we read it this morning, Job is, remember, he's still really confused. And I think there is a in which we can relate to that, where if we look really at what has gone on in the past and where we are now, that sometimes that could be confusing.
And Job, in a sense, speaks not only of where he was and how God blessed him, but how he maintains his integrity. And you'll see it as we read through it, that he has done what God had commanded him to do.
And then in chapter 30, he talks about the issues in his own life, and he can't put those two together. And I wonder if sometimes that you and I can relate to that. In other words, we do things in our lives that we think we ought to do or God would desire us to do or God would command us to do.
And yet for all of that, things don't always seem to work out. So I think we can relate to this. So with that, let's just read the two chapters together. And again, they're almost self-explanatory. And we could stop every once in a while after we get through reading.
So read with me. So Job chapter 29, Job continued his discourse and said, Oh, that I was as in months past, as in the days when God watched over me, when his lamp shone upon my head, and when by his light, I walked through darkness, just as I was in the days of my prime, when the friendly counsel of God was over my tent, when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were around me, when my steps were bathed with cream, and the rock poured out rivers of oil for me, when I went out of the gate by the city, when I took my seat in the open square, the young men saw me and hid, the aged men arose and stood, and the princes refrained from talking, and they put their hand on their mouth, and the voice of nobles was hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouth, when the ear heard, then it blessed me, when the eye saw, then it approved me, because I delivered the poor who cried out, and the fatherless, and he who had no helper, the blessing of a perishing man came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy, and I put on righteousness, and it clothed me, my justice was like a robe and a turban, I was eyes to the blind, I was feet to the lame, I was a father to the poor, I searched out the case that I did not know, I broke the fangs of the wicked, and plucked the victim from his teeth, then I said I shall die in my nest, multiply my days as the sand, my root is spread out to the waters, and the dew lies all night on my branch, and my glory is fresh within me, and my bow is renewed in my hand, men listened and waited and kept silence for my counsel, after my words they did not speak again, and my speech settled on them as due, and they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain, if I mocked at them they did not believe it, and the light of my countenance they did not cast down, I chose the way for them and sat as chief, so I dwelt as a king in the army, as one who comforts mourners, but now they mock at me, men younger than I, whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock, indeed what profit is the strength of their hands to me, their vigor has perished, they are gaunt from want and famine, fleeing late to the wilderness desolate and waste, who pluck mallow by the bushes and broom roots, broom tree roots, for their food, they were driven out from among men, they shouted at them as at a thief, they had to live in the clefts of the valley, in the caves of the earth and the rocks, among the bushes they brayed, under the nettles they nested, they were sons of fools, yes sons of vile men, they were scourged from the land, and now I am a taunting song, I am their byword, they abhor me, they keep far from me, they do not hesitate to spit in my face, because he has loosed the bowstring and afflicted me, and they have cast out, they have cast off restraint before me, at my right hand the rabble arises, and they push away my feet, and they rise against me the ways of destruction, they break up my path, they promote my calamity, they have no helper, they come as broad breakers under the ruminous storm that they roll along, terrors are turned upon me, they pursue my honor as the wind, and my prosperity has passed like a cloud, and now my soul is poured out because of my plight, the days of affliction take hold of me, my bones are pierced in me at night, my gnawing pains take no rest, by great force my garment is disfigured, it binds me about as a collar of my neck, he has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes, I cry out to you but you do not answer me, I stand up and you regard me, but you have become cruel to me, with the strength of your hand you oppose me, you lift me up to the wind, and cause me to ride on it, you spoil my success, for I know that you will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for the living, surely he would not stretch out his hand against a heap of ruins if they cry out when he destroys it, have I not wept for him who was in trouble, has not my soul grieved for the poor, but when I looked for good evil came to me, when I waited for light then came darkness, my heart is in turmoil and cannot rest, and days of affliction comfort me, confront me, I go about mourning but not in the sun, I stand up in the congregation and cry out for help, I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches, my skin grows black and falls from me, my bones burn with fever, my harp is turned to mourning and my flute to the voice of those who weep.
Now I don't know about you but to me that's a great, he went from the mountain to the valley and if you think about it again I think that we can all relate to it, maybe not to the degree that Job is speaking of but we can all relate to when things seem to be peaceful, restful, there's a sense of contentment and then at another point in our life and another phase in our life everything seems to be upside down and it's easy to get thrown by the things that we see, feel, touch, the five senses right, they really are powerful, wouldn't you agree, that the things that we sense with our, in a sense with our bodies and in our lives have a great control over us and if you think about it and I think we've done this many times but let's just think about it again, that all of us kind of do this, agree, there's the mountain, there's the valley and where do we really need to be?
Do we need to be, do we always need to be here? Do we always want to be here? No, here's where I think we need to get and this would be, what Memo Paul says that he had learned to what? He had learned to be content in all things.
Can we say that? Can we say that no matter whether we're up here or down there that we are able to walk evenly through it all? Is anybody not affected by the outward things of life? No, I mean sickness, relationship issues, enemies, all these different things that enter into it and what's interesting is you read these two chapters, the one thing that Job continually speaks about is that he sought to be a encouragement to other people and that that in part becomes an issue with him because he basically says, listen, when I met poor people I tried to help them.
When I met needy people, I tried to help them. When people asked me counsel, I tried to give them good counsel and he continually walks through this in his mind and says that there wasn't anybody that he didn't treat in a right way and again, just think about.
That. This is a question though. Go ahead. I think that I think the combination of closeness to God, how things are and hopefully with the combination, you know, with growing closer to the Lord, I think is more consistent.
Anybody else? I'm not saying I don't have ups and downs.
Yeah, I know you do because you're no different than the rest of us but do you agree with that? I think that that's pretty much spot on, that if you think about it, as we grow in grace, we become what we ought to become more of this and less of this and this is the movement of and again, my thought is this is the movement in a way so many people's lives go and the big desire of people is always be here, right?
That's where everybody wants to be no matter what and because you have such an illegitimate desire to be here, when you get here, this becomes a real tragedy, right? You think about it. I often think about all these, I don't even know what you call them, millennials and Gen Z's and Gen B's and all the gens that are out there and if you listen to their issues, they're never really here, right?
And that's their desire and they'll forgo most anything in life to get to that point and there's many, many people who will crawl, mistreat, commit all kinds of things just to get to this point and I do think, Dan, that as we grow in grace, by the way, what does growing in grace really mean?
What does that mean to you, to grow in grace? Any thoughts? Let me ask you about this. What do you need to grow in grace? Can we make a list of anything? I think knowledge is one of them. Okay, certainly knowledge is one.
What else helps us to grow in grace? Trials. I mean, you walk through the fire long enough, you become accustomed to the heat, right? What else? What else contributes to growing in grace and finding this, if you will, I'm going to say this, place of continual contentment?
Prayer. Yeah, absolutely. Certainly that enters into it. How about this? Do you think that's a factor? Because to me, this one in particular, this one's hard to attain, to rightly consider yourself. Again, what you were saying before, that awakening that you have, that you ain't what you used to be, right?
It'll humble you. Yeah, it'll definitely humble you, right? But all these things, Job has a certain degree of all these things and he speaks about them and for all of that, what's really troubling to him is how did I get where I am now based upon how I lived before?
And again, I do think that that is troubling many times to many of us and you could see it as he says it, all that I was in as I was in months past as in the days when God watched over me. And that's an interesting one, right?
Because what is he really saying? Is he saying that this is where God wasn't watching over him? That God only watched over him and think about it for yourself. How many of us would admit if we really had to be honest that when we're here, we think God is smiling on us and when we're here, we think God forgot us.
I know that that affects so many things. So, Job is talking about, well, I wish I was in months past and then in chapter 30, he says, now I'm here and he can't put these two together. His friends could never make it.
They couldn't put it together, right? Because they assumed that this was the result of this. Agree, right? Basically, you acted in an evil way and you can't expect to be here and evidence shows that this is why you're here.
And again, is our life, remember what Jesus said? He said, a man's life consists not in the abundance of things he possesses. And I think that's wider than just saying merchandise. That man's life is more than even this.
That you and I really have to consider ourselves in a way that God is as much with us here as he is here, isn't it? And yet, which one is the easier one? How many of us would choose this over this? I mean, honestly, right?
No, none of us. And that's where humility comes in because you remember what he said in the previous chapter? He said that God performs that which was appointed for me. What was he really saying? That he had in some way realized that the same God that was here is the same God that was there and that this was all under his rule.
This was God's rule for Job. How many of us would say that when we look at other people's lives, it's easy to draw comparisons because we see some people here and we see some people there, right? And if we really submit to God's sovereignty and his rule, which is again a great deal of humility, that we realize that this is not always the same for everybody.
In other words, maybe I think of it like this. Some people's mountains are here and their valleys are there. Agree? Some people's mountains are way the heck up here and their valleys only go like that.
And do we find ourselves at times comparing our life by that and comparing our life by other people's lives? Because again, it's not easy to understand the outworking of life and as Job says these things and he longs to go back in a way when his lamp in verse 3, when his lamp shone upon my head and when I went by his light I walked through darkness.
Almost as if he's reminiscing. Almost as if he's thinking about when he was flying high, if you will, and just as I was in the days of my prime. Again, we talked about that and that relates to you ladies too, right?
How many of you would say you can, man I remember my wife in Kenya, pick up anything. She would pick up, I know, she'd pick up refrigerators and washing machines and I'm not kidding you, I mean she would build decks with me and she could run, you know, from morning to night just like the rest of you.
But it's not the same anymore, is it? None of us can say that we're, well I don't think anybody in this room wants to say they're in their prime anymore. Anybody? Barry, are you in your prime? He's probably closer than any of us.
But a couple of surgeries later you would say you're not in your prime, right bro? And that's the way it is. And how many of us get caught wanting to only enjoy this and we'll go.
That? You know, it's not hard, it's not hard to see somebody that's always, that's struggling more than we are. Yeah. And it seems to, and sometimes it seems like they're always,.
Somebody's always struggling more than you are. Yeah, oh absolutely, yeah. Health-wise, you know, financially, your relationship, whatever it is, situation of life. Yeah. And yet there's a tendency that I think we have to guard against.
When we see people on this side of it, what his friends did was say, you deserve that, right? How many of us would say that that thought never crossed our mind? That we see someone struggling, suffering, languishing, if you will, and somewhere in our mind and in our hearts we'll say, uh-huh, I wonder what they did wrong, right?
And that should not be the character of our life. Again, especially if you think about God's rule and that everybody, although we follow the same patterns, everybody's on a different course. To the unbeliever, this makes no sense at all, because to the unbeliever it is, again, all they want is to be on that.
So as Job talks about these things and he says that, verse six is interesting, right? When my steps were bathed with cream, and that's the way many, many people want to live my life, and the rock poured out rivers of oil for me, and then he talks about how he was treated by others, right?
When I went out at the gate and I took my seat and the young men saw me and hid, and the aged men arose and stood, and basically what he's saying was I had everybody's respect. Everybody revered me. Everybody kind of held their breath for me to speak.
Let me ask you to think about this, too, and I think we need to be careful, but I want to say it. In the book of Job, there are times when I believe we can see Job as a type of Christ, right? And again, when we talk about types, we're not talking about a one-on-one thing.
In other words, it doesn't always fit, just like David is a type of Christ, right? And yet, which one of us would say it's exact? I mean, it's certainly not exact, and even in the Psalms, let me show you something, and maybe you'll understand what I'm trying to say.
Go to Psalm 56 a minute. Let's just do this real quick. Psalm 56, and I was reading this the other day, so I guess that's probably why it's on my mind, but in Psalm 56, and if you read the title, it says, To the chief musician set to the silent dove in distant lands, a Mitchum of David, when the Philistines captured him in Gath.
And this is when David was running away from his enemy Saul, and lo and behold, as he runs away from his enemy Saul, guess what? He runs right into the hands of the Philistine kingdom, and he's confronted by another enemy.
My point is this, and I want you to think about it. Read this Psalm with me, it's really short, and see if you cannot see, to some degree, a picture of Christ. Be merciful to me, O God, for men would swallow me up, fighting all day he oppresses me.
My enemies would hound me all day, for there are many who fight against me, O Most High. Whenever I'm afraid, I will trust in you and God. I will praise his word, and God, I put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can do to me.
All day they trust my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil. They gather together, they hide, they mark my steps, when they lie in wait for my life. Is that not, in some ways, a type of Christ?
Was he not always pursued by his enemies? Was he not always, every day someone was coming, whether it was the lawyers or the the Gentiles or the scribes or the Pharisees? David was constantly, if you will, chased after, and so was Christ.
But it's not exact, is it? It's not an exact, we can't say it in an exact way, but just continue to read it. All day long they twist my words in verse 5, and their thoughts are against me. They gather together, they hide, they mark my steps, when they lie in wait for my life.
Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the people, O God. You number my wanderings, and you put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? When I cry out to you, then my enemies will turn back.
This I know, because God is with me. In God I will praise his word. In the Lord I will praise his word. In God I have put my trust. I will not be afraid what man can do to me. Vows made to you are binding upon me, O God.
I will render praises to you, for you have delivered my soul from death. Have you not delivered my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living? Now, I asked you to read that because, again, it was fresh on my mind, but as you look at Job, in that sense, Job is saying similar things to what David said.
And again, in the reality of, if we think about what Jesus said, he said, you search the scriptures, you think in those you can find eternal life, and they testify of me, that you and I should be able to read through the book of Job and see snapshots of the Lord Jesus, just as much as the enemies, which in this setting is Job's so-called friends, and they got nothing good to say about Job, do they?
They're always trying to tear him down. And whether their intentions are good or not, we could talk about that. But as Job goes through this, I hope you can at least see Job's understanding and Job's misunderstanding.
And again, you and I should be able to relate to that in our life, that there are times when, there are times when God is close to us, and then there's times when we think God is far from us. And what's the truth?
God is always with us, right? I will never leave you nor forsake you. And the only one who really understood that in its completeness was who? Christ. Job understood it in part because he said that in many ways.
He said, though he slay me, yet I will praise him. But the only one who really, honestly, truly, in absolute integrity that ever could say that is Christ. Because he said that his Father was always with him.
And you and I need to, that to me, that's where, that's what this is. That God is always with me. And I can deal with this, I can deal with this. And by the way, neither this nor this changes the relationship that you have given me.
And so as you read through this contrast between chapter 29 and chapter 30, and how Job defends his life, in verse 10 of chapter 29, he says that, he says, the voice of nobles was hushed and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
When the ear heard it, it blessed me. And when the eye saw it, it approved me. Because I delivered the poor who cried out. And the fatherless and he who had no helper, the blessing of a perishing man came upon me.
And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness and it clothed me. My justice was like a robe and a turban. And friends, we cannot think that the way to this is only by obedience.
Let me qualify it. If we are obedient just because we want to get there, is that the way we should live? No. What we should do is seek to be obedient whether we're here or here. And that's the real problem, right?
And that's what he's relating to. He's saying that he did those things that he did out of his desire to be obedient. He was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame and father to the poor. And I searched out even the case I didn't know.
And I broke the fangs of the wicked and plucked the victim from his teeth. And he goes on and on and on. So he maintains his integrity. And then again, just to finish that thought of how it's a contrast.
And then in chapter 30 verse one, but now they mock at me. Men younger than I and whose fathers, I think what he's saying in those opening verses in chapter 30s, he said, even those that were worthless now think that I'm worthless.
And he says it in such a way, he says, whose fathers I disdain to put with the dogs of my flock. Now he's saying that the riffraff of the world or the unbeliever or the evil men, they are taunting him because they assume the same thing.
Well, Job, you're no different than us. You're here because you're just like us and nothing's going to change that. And if you just continue to read through it, he talks about how those things that are coming upon him are, well, let me just show you.
Look at verse nine. Now I am their taunting song. I am their byword. They abhor me and keep far from me. Is that not what they did to Christ? Was he not, did they not seek to taunt him even on the cross?
Come down and save yourself. If you've been a son of God, do this. Rescue yourself. And so they continually taunted him. They continually maligned him. And they had no desire to see his good, but they only had desire to see him continually go downhill.
And so in chapter 30, again, that's what he's really saying. And then you get down to verse 20. I just want to finish this up. We've got only a couple minutes left. Look at verse 20. This is where Job's confusion really lies, right?
I cry out to you, but you do not answer me. Again, easier when we're here to think God's not listening. Right? Again, when we're here, we think we're sitting good, but he says, now I cry and you don't hear me.
You've become cruel to me. Wow. Can God be cruel to those that he has called to himself? It depends how you define cruelty. If our scale is just this, then yeah, it could, and even Job does that. He thinks because he's here, God's being cruel.
Well, what if God is bringing Job here, as we will see as we get to the end of the book, Job's being brought here because God's going to raise him there at the end, right? And that's the way our life goes.
Can we see how these things, the knowledge that God gives us and the trials we go through and our communion with God and our humility, they're all meant, even as Joseph said to his brothers, he said, you meant it for evil.
God meant it for good. Listen, friends, maybe we can just sum it up that way. God never means us evil. He only means us good. We just don't like the ways in which God implements that. Because in our minds, if God really was only concerned with our good, we would never hit these spots because these are uncomfortable.
So as we do this, and now next week, it's the last chapter where Job speaks for a while, and he talks about some different things. And then I said, Elihu comes in, who is the fourth friend, and Elihu is going to try to clear the deck.
And he does a better job than Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophaz, but it's not right. It's not till we get to the end of the book, which starts really in chapter 38, when God says to Job, hey, you stand up. I'm going to question you, and you're going to answer me.
Do you remember, by the way, that Job earlier in the book had said to God, let's just hash this out. Basically, let's you and me, let's stand together, and I'll ask you questions, or you ask me questions, and we'll get this thing cleared out.
And at the end of the book, God takes him up on that. So we'll see that. Okay. I think that would be enough for this morning. Okay, let's close with a word of prayer. Father, again, thank you for our time together.
Thank you, Lord, for in so many ways to see in the book of Job and in Job's life, how you have always been there for Job, and you will always be there for Job, and that you have always been there for us in Christ, and you will always be there.
And help us, Lord, to learn to be content, to be able to walk evenly with the Savior. So bless us this morning, may our worship please you, and may even this time be used by you to help us to grow in grace, and the knowledge of the one who so loved us that he gave himself for us.
Amen.