Job 16

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I struggled with this chapter, and I'm going to try to show you why. And maybe you will understand why
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I say I struggled. Or maybe you won't struggle, and that would be great, too. But I did struggle through this chapter a little bit, particularly as we get through verses 7 through 14.
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And the reason why, we're going to read the chapter together, but the real reason for it is
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I'm not sure who is the one that Job is addressing.
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And you'll see it as we read through this, and maybe you'll have some different thoughts. But it's not always easy in the book, especially in Job, because of the way it's written and because of other things.
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It's not always easy to tell who is being spoken of.
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But you'll see it as we read through it. So we haven't read the chapter. Let us read it together. Job chapter 16.
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And this is now Job going back after Eliphaz. Remember last week,
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Eliphaz came full barrel against him again and told him it was all because of his secret sin and all those things.
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And now Job responds back to Eliphaz. And so chapter 16, Job answered and said,
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I have heard many such things, referencing back to what Eliphaz has said.
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Miserable comforters are you all. Shall words of wind have an end?
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What provokes you that you answer? I also could speak as you do if your soul was in my soul's place.
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I could heap up words against you, shake my head against you. But I would strengthen you with my mouth and comfort you, and the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.
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And though I speak, my grief is not relieved. And though I remain silent, how am I eased?
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But now, and this is where I ask you to focus in and see if you can begin to understand who the he, the they, and the you is.
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But now he has worn me out. You have made desolate all my company.
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You have shriveled me up. And it is a witness against me. My leanness rises up against me and bears witness to my face.
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He tears me in his wrath and hates me. He gnashes at me with his teeth.
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My adversary sharpens his gaze upon me. They gape at me with their mouth.
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They strike me reproachfully on the cheek. They gather together against me.
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God has delivered me to the ungodly. Turn me over to the hands of the wicked.
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I was at an ease, but he has shattered me. He also has taken me by my neck and shaken me to pieces.
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He has set upon, he has set me up for his target. His arches surround me.
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He pierces my heart and does not pity. He pours out my gall on the ground. He breaks me with the wound upon wound.
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He runs at me like a warrior. I've sewn sackcloth over my skin. I've laid my head in the dust.
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My face is flushed from weeping and on my eyelids is the shadow of death. No, although there is no violence in my hands and my prayer is pure.
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Oh, earth do not cover my blood. Oh, let me cry. Let my cry have no resting place.
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Surely even now my witness is in heaven. My evidence is on high.
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My friends scorn me. My eyes pour out tears to God. Oh, that one might plead for a man with God as one pleads for his neighbor.
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And when a few years are finished, I shall go away, I shall go the way of no return."
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Well, if you just think about it, just you could almost sense,
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I think, I hope you can. You can almost sense the intensity of Job's speech.
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And that, again, as I said, and I'm gonna try to draw it out a little bit as we continue on in the book, this is not being spoken of in a vacuum.
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This is not a debate between one person on this side of the table, another person on another side of the table.
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This activity, as I said last week, this was really an energetic interchange between these groups.
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And I will show you, particularly next week, a little bit more, that I don't think, and I could be wrong, but I think
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I have some reasons to state this, that this is not just a conversation between Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophaz, that there are other people who are observing this.
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And I'm not saying at every point, but again, I don't think these are just four guys locked in a room having this discussion.
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There is others that are taking notice of it.
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And certainly we'll see it as we get further on in the book. But as I said to you this morning, when we started,
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I do have a problem with verses seven through 14. Let me just read it again. We'll look at what comes before it, but this really, to me, is not as easy to understand.
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Where he says in verse six, though I speak, my grief is not relieved, and though I remain silent, how am
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I eased? But now he has worn me out. You have made desolate all my company.
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You have shriveled me up, and as a witness against me, my leanness rises up against me, and bears witness to my face.
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He tears me in his wrath and hates me. He gnashes at me with his teeth.
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My adversary sharpens his gaze upon me, and they gape at me with their mouth.
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They strike me reproachfully on the cheek. They gather together against me. God has delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over to the hands of the wicked.
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I was at ease, he has shattered me. He also has taken me by my neck and shaken me to pieces.
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He has set me up for his target. So, here's what I want us to think about.
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Now, anybody here reading the NIV this morning? Okay. If you were to read this in the
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NIV, what's interesting, in verse seven, where it says, but now he has worn me out, the
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NIV inserts God instead of he. Not only do they do that in the
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NIV, but in verse nine again, where it says, he tears me in his wrath, the
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NIV inserts God. Now, in what I read, is the
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New King James, the only time where God is used is in verse 11. God has delivered me to the ungodly, and in all translations that I checked, the same thing takes place where, in verse 11,
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God is the one that's mentioned there. So, I'm sure someone here is reading the ESV, correct?
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Okay. Does it not say God in verse nine? Right. So, in verse seven, it says he.
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Verse seven, okay, thank you. All right. So, here's something to think about, and this is why
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I think others have struggled. Some translations, and remember now, when there's, you read different translations, and you're reading somewhat how they interpreted it and translated it, right?
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So, you got God and he. I'm gonna give you three things to think about.
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One, is his friends, and then we'll put
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God, and then I'm gonna ask you to think about this, because I think that you have to deal with this in almost verse by verse or statement by statement, and this is why
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I struggle, because I can't come away with a firm conviction of who really is the main character in view.
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Is it God? Is it his friends? Is it
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Satan? And you'll see why I included this, and actually,
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I went back and checked, and there are a good number of commentators, good commentators, who will say the he here, other than verse 11, because that one specifically says
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God has delivered me, that they think that Satan is in view.
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So, hope that gets you stirring a little bit, because, and it doesn't mean that it has to be one or the other for the whole section.
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In other words, it could go back and forth, right? And I think somewhat, that's the trouble, but as we get to this, you'll see a little bit further, but I do wanna deal with the verses before first.
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So, when Job answers and said, I've heard many such things, and when he tells them in verse two, basically, you are nothing but miserable comforters.
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You are really, not only are you not helping me, Eliphaz Bildad and Zophaz, but that you are actually making things worse.
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Miserable comforters are you. And so, as you think about that, and I looked up that word, miserable, because I wanted to see if it has some extended meaning, and what
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I came away with was that it really means worthless. And so, what is he saying to them?
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Hell, you guys are not worth a thing to me. Because again, all you're doing in your speeches and in your words to me, is making my situation worse.
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And Job is in a terrible situation, I think we all agree, but what he tells them is, he can't really find no comfort from them.
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And I thought about this. I thought about how would I be considered?
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Would I be considered, and this is, I think we could ask ourselves this question of all of us.
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Are my words, are my actions, is my character one of comforting?
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Or am I one who seems to be more of a confronter than a comforter?
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Because I think we could, if you think about it, those things are pretty opposite. And I wonder if that's in some way what he's saying, not only are you guys worthless, but you keep confronting me in my situation.
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I keep trying to tell you what's going on inside of me. And although Job is not always spot on, right?
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Because he does say some rather rash things. But I began to think, what would be the way people perceive me?
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As a comforter or a confronter? And I will say this, and maybe you have a different thought.
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I'll pose it as a question. Is it possible to be a confronter and a comforter at the same time?
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Yes. Yes? Expand on it. Most likely when you're confronting somebody in love during maybe an individual is going through sin or something like that.
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Okay, so at that point, your comfort would really come out of your admonishment.
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It would come out of your rebuke. It would come out of your correction. But it would still be in the framework of seeking to bring comfort, right?
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What's a confronter do? Someone that's not looking ultimately for the better.
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And I think you could probably spend some time thinking, are Job's friends really trying to help him or are they just trying to throw more wood on the fire?
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And so if I'm confronting, if you take that view, would you not agree that a confronter really doesn't care about the comfort that he brings?
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All he really wants to do is confront, right? All he really wants to do is argue. All he really wants to do is pretty much bury you.
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You know, you get, I don't want to get too far off track, but have we not all, at times when we're in a discussion,
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I don't care where it is, husbands, wives, parents, children, people in general, employees and employers, have we not all been in a situation where it's not just enough to confront, we want to bury them.
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We want to make sure that they understand that we got our knee on their neck, kind of.
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And we're not going to be happy till we get that pound of flesh from them by being a confronter.
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So I do think, and I would agree with you, you can be a confronter and a comforter. You could be a comforter and there are many ways to comfort, but when you start becoming a confronter, with a wrong intent, then you're always going to come up with wrong results.
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And so when he says this, I've heard many such things. Miserable comforters are you all.
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And then in verse three, guess what? He goes back to the same thing that they've accused him of, he accuses them of.
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Here we go back with the shall words of wind having, these guys keep calling each other windbags. I mean, it's almost in a sense, almost in a sense that they're trying to ensnare each other with their words.
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They call him a windbag, he calls them a windbag. He says that they don't understand, they say he don't understand.
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He says, I've thought about these things and they say, we've thought of, it just seems to be in a sense, it's rather confronting, but yet he views it right or wrong.
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But I think in many ways he has good ground for it, where he says, you're nothing but a bunch of windbags.
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And then at the end of the verse, he says, what provokes you that you should answer? And then he says this, and I think this verse four and verse five to me reveals a little bit of the character
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Job that perhaps is, hey baby, that perhaps is not seen by his friends.
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Look what he says. He says, I could speak as you do if your soul was in my soul's place and shake my head at you.
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You know how people will say, well, if you only knew what I was going through, and it could be anything, could be physical, could be mental, could be emotional, could be just the trials of life.
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And you say to someone, if you only knew what was really going on, you might have a different attitude.
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But Job says, listen, I could easily do what you do. And what is it that they're doing?
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I think what they're doing is they're still confronting him. They're still trying to accuse him. They're still trying to get him to believe that what they're saying about him being a secret sinner is the truth.
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And until he comes to that, there's no hope for him and no hope for him.
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But he says that in verse five. And it's to me a bit of a eye opener concerning what he really thinks.
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But he says this, I would strengthen you with my mouth and comfort you and the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.
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Do you think his friends when they first came had that in mind to actually bring him relief?
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What do you think? Yeah, I would say they probably, remember when we talked about it in the beginning, they pretty much, at least in part, they're pretty much on the same level.
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Like in other words, none of these men are poor, right? They're all somewhat, or at least they consider themselves somewhat a cut above.
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They all have a bit of notoriety. They all have a bit of wealth.
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They all have a bit of respect from other people. I believe that when they first came, they came truly to comfort, right?
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But again, and this is where we gotta be careful. Sometimes we have the right intention and then that intention gets lost out of sight, especially when things get heated.
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You ever have, you begin talking to someone and you're really just enjoying the conversation and then a word is said or something happens and all of a sudden people say your blood starts to boil.
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You start, all of a sudden the meter goes to the other side and so I do think that they came originally to bring comfort and Job is saying to them, if I came to you,
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I would truly try to comfort you. Now, whether Job was able to do that,
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I don't know. Job might've fell into the same trap that they fell in. But I do think it reveals a little bit of the character of his heart that he would,
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I would strengthen you with my mouth and the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.
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I don't think Job believes that they are actually out for his good. And you know, that goes a long way, right?
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When you don't think someone is out for your good, does that not usually send up the defense shields?
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I think of Star Trek, raise the shields, Scotty. And many times that's the way we are.
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When we sense that someone is not for us, usually that turns in our mind to, he must be against me.
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Right, and then of course the mechanisms go up and, but Job is saying that he would not do the very thing that they do, that he would seek to bring comfort in the situation and I think it's a good lesson for us to just ask yourself that and just in your own, way of thinking and in your own life, ask yourself, would
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I be characterized more as a comforter or a confronter? And I agree with you brother, you can definitely do both, but I think that the part of being, of wanting to comfort must always be present, right?
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Sister. If you're talking to someone, you've got to step over into the real comforter and that's when the fireworks start and then defensive or you might just keep trying to, you know what
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I'm saying? Oh yeah. Because that happens so much, you'll be on just an even heel but they'll step in it so to speak and you let it go.
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And usually sometimes it could be one word, it could be even what you sense, right, all of a sudden or it could be a whole bunch of words where you've come to kind of bring comfort and now they are throwing rocks at you and again, the shields go up and what do we do?
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Okay, I know how to throw rocks too and back and forth and then you get into, you're a windbag, no you're a windbag, you're useless, no you're useless and back and forth.
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But I do think if we really have a desire to comfort, encourage, help, aid, that that will be, it's interesting if you think about it and again,
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I'm a little bit off center of what I wanted. Think about the Lord Jesus, was he not confronted over and over and over again?
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Were there not those who actually prodded him and poked at him and tried to what?
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Try to get him, remember he even says it in the gospels at certain points that they tested him to see if they could what?
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Catch him in a trap, ensnare him and again, especially when energy is high, right?
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It's not that difficult to get caught in a trap and yet Jesus never did, why?
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Because Jesus not only, I shouldn't say not only, but because he was the sinless son of God but also because he came to what?
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Remember he said, I didn't come to be served, I've come to serve. That his heart was so full of compassion and desire to bring comfort that they couldn't get,
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I use this term, they couldn't get under his skin and that's something for us to think about, brother.
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It's a universal tendency to pile on to someone when they're down and out.
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Oh yeah. But the point we're being taught. Yeah, and yet how many of us would not say there are times that we've done that, right?
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We pile on. Yeah, yeah, it's sin and it's an easy, pit to fall into, right?
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Especially if that person has some things that are worthy of being confronted, right?
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And again. And also if you don't go into, if you go into a situation without praying about it, you go into it in your flesh, a lot of bad things can happen in one of those circumstances also.
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Yeah, and again, we start out with good intent but good intentions are not always the way to handle things.
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Like you say, there has to be forethought, right? There has to be consideration.
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In other words, if you can't maintain yourself, you're gonna have a hard time maintaining your conversation with someone else.
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That's worth listening to. Yeah, absolutely, for sure.
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And listen, there's a lot of disguises and a lot of costumes that evil wears, right?
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You ever meet someone and again, I've mentioned this a number of times. Someone says, bless your heart.
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I remember when I first, you know, in New York, no one says, bless your heart. They say, get out of my way, bro. But when
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I came down here and then people would say, well, bless your heart. And after I heard it a couple of times,
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I started to think, now, are those people trying to be nice or is that sarcasm?
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Is that just polite sarcasm? And honestly, I still don't know sometimes when people say that.
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But yeah, if we have the right intent as we go through it and as Job says this, I think in a great sense, it reveals a bit of the character of Job that he could pile on too.
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But his attitude would be more of a thought to strengthen and comfort than just tear down and destroy.
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So verse six, because I really want to get to the heart of my thoughts for this morning.
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So verse six, and this again, I think is a way in which Job is revealing the frustration.
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Because look what he says. Though I speak, my grief is not relieved.
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And I think that goes back to what we've been talking about. In other words, you guys came to be comforters.
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I have spilled the beans to you and it doesn't do me any good because you just keep throwing more wood on the fire.
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So he says, though I speak, my grief is not relieved. Then he says, and though I remain silent, how am
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I eased? In other words, Job is bound up. And how can he get this?
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How can he get this great burden, if you will? Because it is a great burden, right? How do
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I get it off my back? I can't say anything. And I cannot say anything. And again,
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I think you can relate to that where sometimes you feel frustrated because you say something that's perceived in the wrong way or responded by in the wrong way.
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And then if you keep silent, how many of us have not said what the psalmist says where at one point he says, though I keep quiet, yet the fire burns within and before I know it, have we not all done that?
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Maybe you guys are just so much better than me where I say, uh -uh, I'm not gonna say anything.
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I'm not, I'm not, nope, you're not gonna get me in that trap, nope. And you walk away and all of a sudden, it's like somebody turned the heat up, right?
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And what do you do? Oh, I gotta say something. And again, we are, we're interesting creatures, to say the least, right?
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But if we can maintain our spirit, and I think that goes back to what you're talking about, are we prepared?
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Because a prepared heart will know how to respond in every situation, right? It's so often that our hearts are not prepared.
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And because of that, it's easy to fall into the traps that are set out and do not think that the evil one does not know what works and what doesn't work, because he does, right?
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He's got a lot of tools in his toolbox. So he says that in verse six, though I speak, my grief is not relieved, though I remain silent, how am
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I eased? And now we get into this verse seven through verse 14 of what's in view.
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As I said to you, some of the translations already will insert God in verse seven, where it says, but now he.
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And so if you take that stance, he's really saying that God has brought all this on him and basically not accusing
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God, not cursing God, because that's the very thing. Remember, that's the very thing Satan said, right? If you touch all that he has, what will he do?
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He'll curse you to your face, brother. Even the new King James capitalizes E. Yes, yes, it does.
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That shows their thinking on that. Yeah, and it's actually consistent through the passage and that's what I have too, right?
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So there's this thought of God is the one who has worn me out.
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And then he goes back and he says, you have made desolate all my company.
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And this is where I think it presents a problem. Who's made all this company? Who's done that? Is he referring back to God again?
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He's saying God wore me out and God, you made desolate all my company and you,
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God, have shriveled me up and is a witness against me. My leanness rises up against me and bears witness.
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He tears me in his wrath and hates me. Now, he gnashes at me with his teeth.
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I wanna say one of the reasons why I struggled with saying that this is
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God in view and I'm not saying he's not in view because certainly he's in view in verse 11, right?
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Where it says, God has delivered me to the ungodly and we'll talk about that. But where he, in verse nine where he says, he tears me in his wrath and hates me.
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Is this Job saying with a wrong understanding that God has done this to him or is there something else in view?
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So again, some will say that the predominant character in these verses is
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God himself. Now, also some will say, as I said, that it's his friends in view, but I'll tell you what,
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I struggled with the fact that it's his friends and here's why. His friends were not involved in the situation before I got bad, buddy, right?
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They were off living in their own little palaces. And it's not till after the fact that Job finds himself.
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In other words, I don't think we can rightfully say that he's talking about Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophaz in verse nine, where it says, he tears at me with his wrath and hates me and he gnashes at me with his teeth.
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Although I've read some that believe that that's who he thinks is in view because they've been coming after him and coming at him.
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And even in the remainder of verse nine, where he says, my adversary sharpens his gaze on me.
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And then in verse 10, they gape at me with their mouth. Now, this is where I could say, do think that you could consider that in the realm of his friends because he uses the word they too.
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You're catching my drift. I mean, I don't know, maybe this is all too simple and I'm just making more of it than it is.
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But some of the words seem to me to indicate his friends.
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Some of the words, certainly, as I said to you in verse 11, and just hang on a minute on that, that God has delivered me to the ungodly.
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In other words, does not Job believe in a sovereign God? Absolutely. And that ultimately everything proceeds where?
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God, from God, for of him, to him, and through him are all things. Sister, interesting.
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What translation you got? Okay. Yours says people.
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Barry? That sounds a lot like Isaiah 53. Doesn't it? I was just gonna bring it up in here.
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Here's something I don't wanna, if we start talking about it, it might take up a lot of time and that would be okay too.
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And I hope you've noticed this before because you're gonna see it more and more. There are wide brush characteristics of Christ.
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Isn't there through the book of Job? Especially, as you say, because that was one of the things
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I was gonna bring up where it talks about striking reproachfully on the cheek.
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There's another section in the next chapter or two that we're gonna read where it says, they spit at me. And so throughout the book of Job, and I think we gotta be careful because there's certainly places in the book of Job where you could see a type, a shadow, again, a wide brush of the
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Lord Jesus, right? But you wouldn't wanna make that, you wouldn't wanna hold that too tight, right?
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Because there are other times when Job just blurts out stuff he should never have said, right?
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And even in his complaining, remember, complaining is different than cursing.
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But yeah, I agree with you, brother, that there are a good number of overviews or pictures or types, and we'll deal with that as we go through.
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So it could be men, and he's turned me over, verse 11, turned me over to the hands of the wicked.
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I was at ease, but see, and now it goes back again. I was at ease, and I think he's referring to what his life used to be.
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He says, hey man, I was living high on the hog. I don't know if he would use that term, but he was, right?
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He had, remember, he was the richest man in the land that he was at, and he had all those kids and servants and everything.
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He says, I was at ease, but he has shattered me. And again, now is he going back and referring to God?
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He has taken away my neck and shaken me in pieces. He set me on high for his target.
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And then he says, his archers surround me. Now again, I guess you could say, is his archers those that were his friends, that have they become archers against him?
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Well, I think there's some reality to that, because he keeps saying, you guys are miserable comforters. You're not helping, you're hurting. He pours my gall on the ground.
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He breaks me with wound upon wound. He runs at me like a warrior. But the thing that I really have trouble with, thinking that he's speaking always in these verses about God, is what he says in verse nine, that God hates him.
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Unless it's just a misunderstanding on his part. Because does
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God hate Job? Possibly, yeah.
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Do you hate me or what? Yeah. Knowing that he doesn't. Yeah, and the fact that he says, he gnashes at me with his teeth.
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And again, that would come out of rash thinking, and certainly his situation.
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Again, remember, it's very easy to think great thoughts.
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I always think about things as far as the ocean, because it's just, I don't know how I just do. But I can remember being on my boat, and it's a nice day.
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Man, I'm just having these thoughts just come. The lilies of the valley are just floating down gently.
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And everything is wonderful. And I've been out there when the swells were above.
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I mean, if you've ever been on water, and you get in a swell where all you see is water in front of you and water behind you, it ain't good, bro.
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And so at that point, really calm, the lilies aren't coming, man.
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But it's lightning bolts and white knuckles grabbing onto whatever you can. So let me just, before we end, suggest to you this thought.
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And I wanna read these verses again. I'm not saying that you have to accept it, but read it again with that in mind.
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Then he says, but now he has worn me out, and that could it be that he's making reference to the evil one?
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Because who was the one who was given permission to go and to tear him up?
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And remember, the first time it was only what? It was everything other than Job. And he did it, didn't he?
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Took his kids, took his house, took his cattle, took everything that he had. And that if you were to think about that, is he complaining about that from the standpoint of he realizes that he's being challenged by the evil one?
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And then he says, you have shriveled me up, and it's a witness against me, and it bears witness. He tears me in his wrath and hates me.
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Would you not think that Satan hates Job? Would you not think that Satan hates us?
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The devil goes about how? He's a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
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Does the devil really care about devouring those that he already owns?
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Now, I'm not saying he doesn't, but who's his real adversary? It's the ones that are in Christ, right?
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The demons came against Christ, right? They did come against people, but really, again, it's still an attack against Christ.
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So something to think about. And then he gnashes at me with his teeth, and my adversary sharpens his gaze.
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And then again, I do think it goes back to his friends, that they gape at him, and they strike me, they strike me reproachably on the cheek, and they gather together against me.
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And when he says in verse 12, I was at ease, but he has shattered me. Does Job have some insight that perhaps he knows where this is coming from?
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Do we not, and we'll probably have to end with this, maybe we'll finish the chapter next week. Do we not at times feel as if, or think, have you not questioned yourself at times?
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Now, I realize God is over it all, right? God is sovereign, no question. But have you not, and I not at times said, is this, ultimately it's all the hand of a gracious God.
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But are there not times where we said, is this the evil one coming after me? And sometimes it's not that easy to make that dichotomy unless your mind is set that God works everything for good to them that love
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God, right? Then you know that that's the umbrella that covers it all. But I wonder if at times we don't question, ask.
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Anyway, read through this again. Maybe I'll have some more thoughts next time when we'll finish the chapter, but I do think that there is some merit in saying it's his friends.
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There's certainly a lot of merit in saying God is the one of you. And I do think there's some merit in saying it's the evil one.
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So that's why I struggle. I can't honestly say this is it.
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And again, how many of us would say so much of the Bible is basically that? I think this, but I'm not certain, right?
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So, okay, let's pray. Our Father, bless us, we pray in Christ's name.
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Lord, help us to see you for who you are, worship you in truth and in spirit. And Lord, just be with us now as we fellowship with one another in Christ's name, amen.