FBC Morning Light – April 19, 2022

A good Tuesday morning to you. Hope your week's gotten off to a good start, and that your Monday was a day of abundance, that you were abounding in the work of the Lord yesterday. Today we're looking at the book of Job, a few chapters in the book of Job.

Job’s Suffering and the Misreading of God’s Providence

It's a challenging book to read, just because of the grief and the pain and the misery that Job is going through, not only that which he is receiving physically, and the emotional duress and the anguish that it causes him, but also because of the grief that he gets from his friends.

One of the things that comes out in our passage today, we're reading in chapters 16 -19, is that even good godly people, when tragedy strikes and we're going through very deep, dark waters, a very difficult time to go through, it seems that God has it in for us.

This is the way Job expresses it in chapter 16, verse 7. He says, God has worn me out, you have made desolate all my company, you have shriveled me up, and it's a witness against me. My leanness rises up against me and bears witness to my face.

He tears me in his wrath and hates me, he gnashes at me with his teeth, my adversary sharpens his gaze upon me. Job, who is a godly upright man, he believed in and trusted in God, but he was suffering so deeply that he concluded, God must be against me, he must hate me.

When we get to that point, as Job did, part of the problem is we can't see all that God sees. We can't see the big picture, we don't see the end from the beginning, we don't see the purposes behind things and the causes of things, we're just so very limited in what we can see.

That was Job's problem, and I think that's our problem too. It's difficult because of what we can't see when we're going through deep anguish, to have a faith that says, this is for my good. God loves me, and he's being good to me, even in this anguish.

The False Accusations of Job’s Friends

Another thing that comes out in this passage is that these friends of Job's, they keep coming back to this same theme, which is, this is your fault, Job. This is on you, because you're so wicked. For example, listen to what Bildad has to say in chapter 18.

He goes through this whole litany of the devastation that comes upon the wicked. He says, starting in verse 5, the light of the wicked indeed goes out, and the flame of his fire does not shine. The light is dark in his tent, and he goes on through all of this.

He's talking almost in a third person. This is the way it is with those who are wicked. They suffer like you're suffering, Job. Then he comes down to verse 21, and he ends his little speech and says, surely, such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him who does not know God.

What Bildad is actually doing, in a not-so-subtle way, is saying, this is you, Job. This is why the light has been put out from your tent, because this is the way it is with the dwellings of the wicked.

You're getting what you deserve, because you don't really know God. You are indeed a wicked man, and you're suffering because of your wickedness. What a tragic thing. Job responds to that accusation, which is totally false, because Job's friends are just as blind to this as Job is.

What they're doing, Job is saying, I didn't do anything to deserve all this. They're saying, well, you've got all this, and so you must have done something to deserve it. Job, finally, in chapter 19, in the second part of verse 2, he says, how long will you torment my soul and break me in pieces with words?

What a tragedy it is when those who should be our friends and should be expressing love and compassion and encouragement to us, instead respond with words that are cutting and hurting when we're going through it, as if it's all upon us, it's all on us, it's our fault, we are to blame because of that anguish that we're going through.

One of the problems here that may be difficult for us to balance out is that it is appropriate to reprove someone when the sin is clearly known and it is clearly sin. It is totally inappropriate to conclude that you're suffering, you must have sinned somewhere, let's find out where the sin is.

That's not appropriate to do to somebody who is going through grief. How utterly sad that when someone who is hurting needs the balm of Gilead and needs the words of encouragement from his church family, his loved ones, his friends, that instead he gets grief.

Job’s Hope in the Living Redeemer

As Job cries out in verse 21 of chapter 19, he says, have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has struck me. Can't you at least have pity on me? What a sad cry, what a sad cry.

It might seem that Job has totally given up all hope, but when you get to the end of chapter 19, he expresses that he hasn't given up all hope. Why? Because he says in verse 25, I know that my Redeemer lives, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he shall stand at last on the earth, and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

Let me ask you this, can you say that? Can you say, I know that my Redeemer lives? We celebrated resurrection Sunday the other day. What were we celebrating? We were celebrating the fact that our Redeemer lives, and that because he lives in our flesh, we shall see God, whom we shall see for ourselves in those resurrected bodies with those resurrected eyes when Christ transforms us in the resurrection and refashions and refits us for eternity.

I trust that this faith of Job's is your faith as well, knowing that our Redeemer lives. Don't despair. If you're going through difficulty and anguish and you're one of Christ's followers, don't despair.

God hasn't forsaken you, God doesn't hate you, and he's not beating up on you. There's a bigger picture that we can't see right now, but hold on to this. Know that your Redeemer lives, and so shall you.

Our Father and our God, we do thank you this morning that we can be confident that because of the empty tomb, our Redeemer lives, and so shall we. Bless these thoughts to our hearts, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

All right, well, have a good rest of your Tuesday. I trust God will bless you in it. Have a good day.