Please turn in your Bibles this evening to Job chapter 2 as we continue our study through the Word of God. As you may remember from our last study, we were introduced to a man named Job from the land of Uz. He was a good man who loved the Lord but the story is just getting started.

            You see, we moved from the land of Uz to heaven were we see Satan come before the Lord and the Lord tells Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job” and he goes on explaining what a great guy he is. And Satan responds back saying the only reason Job loves you is because you bless him and if you did not bless him, well, he would not bless you but curse you! And God said to Satan that he can stretch out his hand upon Job but he can’t touch him, he can’t bring harm to Job’s physical body.

            Now we go back to the land of Uz and we see devastation upon Job’s business and family. He lost everything, even his children in one day in a series of circumstances. And I am sure at this point Satan felt he has got Job where he wants him and he will curse God because of all this, how can he love and worship God when this has come upon his life? And we concluded last time with the response of Job, “. . . ‘Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.’ In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.”

            Of this Clarke wrote, “In this Satan was utterly disappointed; he found a man who loved his God more than his earthly portion. . . . He had been so often successful in this kind of temptation, that he made no doubt that he should succeed again.” Satan may have failed but it is not over. And that is where we will pick up our study this evening, in Job chapter 2, starting in verse 1 and let’s see what the Lord has for us as we study His Word.  We will pick up our story back in heaven. 

VERSES 1-3

            As we saw last time, Satan and the angels that rebelled against God, we call them demons, still have access to God but make no mistake about it, nothing happens without God approving it or allowing it. That is what we saw in chapter 1 and that is what we see here in chapter 2. So once again we see another board meeting in heaven, as the angelic hosts come before the Lord, and Satan also comes.  And we see Satan anxious, going to and fro seeking who he may devour but before he can do anything, he must come before God!

            Now this is hard for us, we can’t understand how or why God allows this to continue on. Well, believe it or not, Satan is serving the purposes of God at this time. You see, we are not robots programmed to love God. He has given us a free will to serve Him or not to serve Him. If we don’t want to, then we must have an alternate choice, and that is Satan. If you don’t serve God then you are serving Satan, there is no area of neutrality, no matter how you may feel or think regarding this issue.

            In verse 3 it speaks of God being “incited” and the King James puts it like this, “although thou movedst me against him.” It seems to be saying that God was incited or enticed or provoked into allowing Job to be afflicted by Satan! I can understand that when applied to man but I don’t see God being incited or enticed or provoked like us, that is very confusing! First of all we need to understand this, and it is so important. We are trying to understand an infinite God with our finite minds and limited vocabulary, and that makes it very confusing. When Paul was caught up to the third heaven and saw and heard words that he could not even speak and why could he not speak them? Because he could not put into human terms or words the heavenly beauty that he saw. In fact, if he did try to describe it would not give you a clear picture. (II Corinthians 12:4). God is in control and He is not pushed into situations by Satan. What we need to do is fall back on the character of God, what we do know about Him and try to understand this from that perspective.

            What is interesting to me is that the Septuagint renders this as follows, and it does seem to make it much clearer. “And thou hast ordered to be destroyed in vain” and the idea here is that this is speaking of it occurring without accomplishing the purpose that Satan intended! God was not provoked to do this, He allowed it and in the end, the trial or test that God allowed in Job’s life showed his love for God. Satan used it to tempt Job to sin and Satan lost!

            Now some will say that Job deserved this, we all deserve it. But that is not what God is saying here. God said that Job was “blameless” that he was “upright”, that “he fears God” that he “shuns evil” and the key is that it says that Satan wanted God “to destroy him without cause.”

            You see, the Lord allowed Satan to do this to Job and there was no cause, it was not that Job had sinned and rebelled against God that this came upon his life! People are always saying, “Why does God let this happen to me?” Perhaps the answer from the Lord is, “There is no reason, at least not one you would be thinking of for you to go through this. I am not spanking you. I am not punishing you. I just want to bring you closer to Me.” That is what He did with Job. It was without a cause in, in a sense, for Job. He did not see the reason for this, but God knew exactly what He was doing!

Others point the finger at people and say things like, “They must have some sin in their life that this has come upon them.” We will see that with Job’s friends, they blame this on Job sinning and refusing to repent of the sin. But, as we will see in our study of Job, God is testing him, and many times that is true in our own lives.

            In John 9:1-2 we see this played out, that any sickness, any illness was thought by the Jews that it was because of some sin. We are told, “Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’” Obviously this man was well known in Jerusalem, they knew he was born blind. Now the disciples of Jesus held onto a tradition that basically said if you were sick then you must have some sin in your life. Now this man being born blind lead them to conclude that either his parents were sinners and thus their son was born blind or this man sinned in the womb, prenatal sin, which caused him to be born blind.  What a terrible theology! And please don’t come to the conclusion that this theology, as wrong as it is, is not around today. Many feel that sickness is a result of some sin in a person’s life. It could be, but it does not mean that it is!

How do I know that? Listen to what to what we are told starting in verse 3 of John chapter 9, “Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.” John 9:3-7.

Do you see what Jesus is saying here? Not all sickness is a direct result of sin, as in this case here.  Yes, some sickness is a direct result of sin like sexually transmitted diseases can be a result of sexual promiscuity. But not all sickness is a direct result of sin as the book of Job clearly shows us!

In fact, we see Jesus use this man’s blindness to glorify God as He heals this man of his blindness. In our lives God allows things to happen so that He might accomplish His works in our lives.  Don’t complain or get angry as you go through these things in your life, but see what God is going to do in you and through you as you are going through them. And you may not understand why you are going through things. Please understand that Job does not have the insight we do to what is going on in his life, all he sees is the tragedy that has come upon his life. Many times we are like Job, we don’t understand it and that is where we need to fall into the hands of the living God and rest in Him!

VERSES 4-6

            Again, Satan does not give up and he is looking for that Achilles’ heel, that weakness in Job so that he can get Job to turn from God. Thus, his second philosophy on human nature deals with self preservation or that drive to live, for if he can confuse Job in this area, he will get him to stumble. When his health is gone, he will surrender to me, is the thinking on Satan’s part. You see, the last attack by Satan was not against Job directly but his family and his possessions. Now Satan wants to attack him physically.

It is as Lawson wrote, “In Job’s ancient culture, ‘skin for skin’ was a bartering term meaning to trade one skin for another. The Devil is accusing Job of being willing to risk the skin of his children and livestock in order to protect his own skin.”

            And make no mistake about this; we do see this played out in the Scriptures. Remember the story of Abraham and how he betrayed his wife to save his life. Then David pretended to be insane to protect his life from the Philistines. Peter even denied knowing the Lord to save his life. It is as Satan said, “all that a man has he will give for his life.”

            How does this apply to us today? It is the same issue, our life, our health, our well being sometimes trips us up because we have lost the focus, we have lost the perspective of things! You see, as tough as things are going to get for Job, and as tough as things may be for you right now, understand what Paul said in I Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” We give up far too easy many times, for God is right there with us, He is always with us.

And we need to remember that Jesus has taken the sting from death and to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. When these bodies go back to the dust of the earth, Satan has not won; we go to be with the Lord! When you have that perspective, nothing will move you from the course that God has for you, nothing will cause you to curse God or turn your back on Him. But if you lose that perspective or you don’t know the Lord, yes, you will curse God and blame God for these things! God will use them to draw you to Him but you can reject what He is doing and fall prey to what Satan is doing, causing you to curse God to His face!

VERSES 7-8

            What a pathetic picture we see here of a man who had everything and is now reduced to nothing, and even his health has failed him now. We are not exactly sure what disease this is but it seems to resemble Pemphigus. With this you see clusters of blisters that appear in and around the throat and mouth and spread over the entire body. When these blisters burst, they leave round patches of raw, tender skin. Not only does the skin itch and burn but it gives off an offensive odor. It is difficult to eat so they tend to lose their appetite and lose weight. They experience weakness, chills, sweating, fever and-so-on. We don’t know for sure if that was the illness, but what ever it was, it was bad. It is hard to imagine what he was going through! All he could do is scrap his skin with broken pottery to ease the itching. All he could do is cover his body with animal waste to help soothe his sores. He had to live outside the city, alone. The man who had everything now seems to have nothing!

            And as you read through the book of Job you will see how much more there is to this condition, to what he was experiencing!

            Intense pain (My bones are pierced in me at night, and my gnawing pains take no rest; Job 30:17).

            Peeling and darkened skin (My skin grows black and falls from me; Job 30:30a).

            Pus-filled, erupting sores (My flesh is caked with worms and dust, my skin is cracked and breaks out afresh; Job 7:5b).

            Anorexia, emaciation (My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh; Job 19:20)

            Fever (My bones burn with fever; Job 30:30b).

            Depression (I loathe my life; I would not live forever; Job 7:16 and My heart is in turmoil and cannot rest; days of affliction confront me. I go about mourning, but not in the sun; Job 30:27-28).

            Weeping (My face is flushed with weeping; Job 16:16a).

            Sleeplessness (When I lie down, I say, ‘When shall I arise, and the night be ended?’ Job 7:4).

            Nightmares (Then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions; Job 7:14).

            Putrid breath (My breath is offensive to my wife; Job 19:17).

            Difficulty breathing (He will not allow me to catch my breath; Job 19:18).

            Failing vision (On my eyelids is the shadow of death; Job 16:16b).

            Haggard looks (When they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him; Job 2:12).

            Painful swollen sores all over his body (painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head; Job 2:7).

            Intense itching (to scrape himself; Job 2:8).

            This condition lasted for months (Oh, that I were as in months past; Job 29:2 and I have been allotted months of futility; Job 7:3).

Satan moved in and he could not kill Job but he surely wanted to die with all the pain and suffering he was going through. But at least he still had his wife, she would bring him comfort, or would she? Let’s read on and see!

VERSES 9-10

            When Job lost all of his family back in chapter 1, why didn’t Satan take Job’s wife? I think this verse gives you an indication to why Satan did not kill Job’s wife, she was more help to him alive than dead! Now some say she was being tenderhearted here because she wanted the pain her husband was going through to end. That is a possibility, but notice that Job calls her “foolish” and the Hebrew word is NABAL, (naw-bawl’) and it speaks of being stupid, being wicked, being a vile person. I don’t think it had anything to do with love; she just couldn’t stand him anymore and wanted him dead! In fact, she was coming against his faith in God!

            Bradley wrote regarding this, “Renounce, she says, God and die. Leave the unprofitable service of this God, Who has left thee to so undeserved a fate. Leave Him, and quit life, a life that has nothing left worth living for.”

            And so we see everything taken away from Job, even his wife here who is not supporting him, helping him through this, but tells him to “curse God and die!” Nice! Who does Job have left? Well, as we will see in a few minutes here, he has his friends, but again, we will see that they are not going to be helpful, they are not going to be encouraging either. You see, all he will have is God and that will never change! When everyone else has failed us, God will not!

            Now I don’t know about you, but this would be tough for anyone to handle, and yet Job did not bring any foolish accusations against God. Job told his wife that we are not only to accept good from God but also whatever comes our way. He was not just giving up; he was placing his life in the hands of a sovereign God. Remember what Paul said in I Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

            Notice that Paul doesn’t say to rejoice when things are going well but to rejoice always!  How can we do that? Because, as Christians our joy is not based in outward circumstances but in the Lord and He never changes. That is what Habakkuk found out as he said, “Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls - Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills.”  Habakkuk 3:17-19.

            We are to pray without ceasing which simply means our lives should be in tune with God throughout the day, our lines of communication are always open to God so that He can direct us throughout the day!

            But how in the world can I give thanks in everything?  The only way we can is by knowing and believing that, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”  The Amplified Bible puts this verse, Romans 8:28 like this, “We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.”  Does that mean we will always know the good that will come out of a difficult situation?  No, we must learn to trust God by faith, to rest our weight fully upon Him!  God is still on the throne, He is still in control, and nothing happens without His knowledge!

            And here is the key to all of this; rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, giving thanks in everything to God, it is God’s will for our lives and it is not that we have to do it, but we get to do it! Job is going to learn some valuable lessons through this trial, it will test his faith but he will come through it shinning brightly. But make no mistake about it, this will not be easy!  We need to remember that because God will test our faith just as He did with Job. Not necessarily in the same way, but He will allow us to go through things to make us stronger in Him or we can turn from Him and let Satan tempt us to sin and curse God! It truly is our choice!

VERSES 11-13

            We are now introduced with three friends of Job and these guys were true friends.  Why were they true friends of Job? Because they are the only ones who come to Job and they come to comfort him during this difficult time. The problem is they fail miserably; in fact Job calls them miserable comforters. You see, they couldn’t understand why this all happened to Job and they came to the conclusion that it must be because of some sin in his life. Friends yes, but misguided in their thoughts. They did take the time to comfort Job when everyone else stayed away or at least they tried to comfort Job.

            And we do get some insight into what they saw when them came before Job. In fact, this man Job must have looked a mess and at first his friends did not even recognize him. Here was a man who had it all and now he was reduced to this. And for 7 days they could not say anything, they just sat with him and mourned with him. These were friends and they were doing well until they opened their mouths to try to reason why this was happening. As the saying goes, “It is better to be a fool and keep quiet than to open your mouth and prove it to everyone!”

            These first 2 chapters now set the stage for the rest of the book of Job as he tries to understand why all this has happened to him and his friends will interject their feelings why this is happening to Job. And for 35 chapters we will see them engage each other. It is as Bradley tells us, “We leave Job and his friends seated in silence. There is calm around them, but we feel that the air is heavy, and that there is a tempest in the sky. We shall hear the storm burst and the thunder roll when next we meet.”

            Now when we go through difficult times we may lose sight of God’s love for us. We may see ourselves as worthless in God’s eyes. It was during the Dark Ages that Mueritus, a brilliant scholar, fell sick and was picked up on the highway. The doctors, thinking he was a bum, began talking about him in Latin. They said, “Shall we operate on this worthless creature?” Mueritus understood Latin very well. He raised up and answered them in Latin, “Do not call a creature worthless for whom Christ died.” Remember that the Devil tries to cause us to lose our sense of worth and the dignity of our own personality. It is as Jesus said in Luke 12:7, “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” May we not forget that no matter what we are going through and especially when we are going through difficult times!

            Now we have spent a lot of time with the first 2 chapters of Job and the reason being is that it lays the groundwork for the rest of the book. It is that important that we understand what is going on and who Job is. You see, if we get that wrong, then we will come to the wrong conclusions why this is happening to Job as his friends will do! And I think as chapter 3 opens up with the words of Job, those seven days of silence must have been hard. I think there was some shaking of their heads, some disapproving looks and now Job is going to open up, he can’t keep silent any longer! All the pain, the hurt will burst forth and not necessarily correct in what he is saying, but he is crying out in pain!

VERSES 1-7

            What I want you to notice here is that Job is not cursing God, Job is cursing the day of his birth. Job is wishing it would be wiped off the face of the calendar. He is not cursing God, like I have said, but it does sound like he is questioning why he was even born if he was going to have to live a life like this. Job is not a stoic and God is not allowing these things to come upon his life to see if Job can just sit there unmoved, emotionless. God has a purpose for all this, to increase Job’s faith. James 5:10-11 tells us, “My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord; that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”

            I think that as we look at the faith of our brothers and sisters in the Lord, what they endured, it will strengthen our faith as we go through difficult times.  That is what James is doing here, he is basically saying, “Hey guys, I know it is tough. I know it is hard.  I know the persecution is growing but hang in there. Not only is the Lord coming back, but look at the examples of the prophets and what they endured for their faith.  May that be an encouragement to you!”

            Now, how many of you, as you are in the midst of a trial, feel the compassion and mercy of God upon your life?  I have a feeling that most of us don’t see it in the midst of the trial but we should. Listen to the perspective that David had as he went through hard times. In Psalm 27:13-14 we are told, “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.  Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!” 

You see, as you have a correct perspective of God, you can see the goodness of God as you live out your life no matter what you are going through.  We all understand that all the pain and suffering will go away when we go to be with the Lord, but David is speaking of God’s goodness now and how that gives us great courage and it will strengthen our hearts knowing that God will see us through these times! You see, I truly believe the goodness of God and in the end, I know He is coming back to set up His Kingdom on this earth and righteousness will flow throughout the land!  Perspective is everything! May we not loose sight of that fact!

VERSES 8-10

            Here we see Job continue with his complaint and he can’t understand why he was even born. Have you ever felt that way before? I am sure many if not most of you have and you have felt that way when your life was a mess, when things were going bad for you. And when we have gone before God we have seen the foolishness of statements like that. In fact, we come to realize that we really did not mean it. And understand, like Job, that as we go through times like this, that God does extend His grace to us, but we don’t have to accept it. If we don’t, then we can easily become bitter and angry at God instead of resting in His peace. You probably have known people like that or maybe you have been like that before. Mad, angry at God for all that is happening in your life and you have lost the correct perspective. God is aware, He is with you and He will see you through.

            And I think we can come to God and be at peace even through the storms of life. Remember what Paul said in Philippians 4:6-7,  “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” You see, peace is found, a peace that surpasses all understanding and that tells me that it is during even the most difficult times because we can’t understand why or how we can be at peace during this time!

            Not only that, but that peace comes as we give it all to God and let him guard our heart or our emotions. Let’s face it, our emotions can get the better of us at times and yet, God can guard our emotions. We are not anxious, fearful and-so-on because His peace is guarding our hearts.  Also, His peace guards our mind or our thoughts, the enemy can’t mess us up because our thoughts are upon the Lord and based in the truth of His Word!  It is as Peter is admonishing us in I Peter 5:7, “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” So it is up to us in how we view the situations we face in this life, with peace or being anxious!

            You may remember this story that happened several years ago. In this story is an example of this grace being applied into ones life! There was this couple from Illinois who were traveling to Wisconsin to visit their son at school. And the whole family was with them as they traveled up to the school. But on the way their van hit a piece of metal debris on the road and their car caught on fire and soon became a raging inferno, killing all 6 of their children who were in the car. And even though they hurt, even though they mourned the death of their children, they were still able to worship God and give Him the glory knowing that their children were with the Lord. That faith was displayed in newspapers and televisions across America. They let God’s grace flow through their lives and the country saw what God can do in the face of tragedy. They saw the love and peace of God flow through their lives. This was a peace that surpasses all understanding; it is a peace that comes from God. What a witness!

VERSES 11-19

            Job was wishing that he was born dead, for it would be far better than this. At least that is what he was thinking!

            Now please understand that Job is speaking out of frustration and not revelation when he speaks of being better dead than alive. You see, Job is saying that in death there is peace not only for the righteous, but also for the wicked. Now the Seventh-day Adventist and the Jehovah Witnesses formulate their doctrine for soul sleep and annihilation of the wicked from this Scripture as well as some Christians. They say that the righteous will be resurrected when the Lord returns, but until that time, in death, the soul is asleep.

Also, for the wicked they are asleep in death until the Lord returns and then He will cause them to cease to exist, to be in a state of nothingness, no punishment at all. This even goes for Satan. First of all we must understand where Job is coming from. He is speaking out of frustration and not out of revelation as I have said. And that is important for us to understand.

And don’t think that this is just my own personal bias, for God said to Job regarding this issue in Job 38:17-18 “Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.” Job did not understand what he was talking about regarding death for he had never experienced it. In Revelation 20:10 we read, “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” No soul sleep or annihilation there and for the wicked, there is no peace, but there is torment day and night! Also, in Mark 9:43-44 we read, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched; where ‘Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.’” Again, eternal punishment, not nothingness!

This deception is remarkably widespread regarding the death of the wicked and where they are going. Many feel that all will go to heaven or just go away and there is no judgment, there is no torment for them. But that is not what the Scriptures teach us. I am sure you remember this example. It is the case of the infamous Columbine murderers. The two young men, teenagers to be exact, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, left behind a videotaped document spelling out their motivation. In the last segment of tape, which they shot the morning of the murders, Harris and Klebold are dressed, I believe in black, and say they are ready for “our little Judgment Day.” Then Klebold, looking tense, says goodbye to his parents. He concluded, “I didn’t like life too much. Just know I am going to a better place than here.” Incredibly, these young men believed they were going to a better place. But the Lord says in Isaiah 48:22, “‘There is no peace,’ says the Lord, ‘for the wicked.’”  You see, this is as good as it gets for the wicked, there is no peace for them!

      For Christians, there is no soul sleep. Paul tells us in II Corinthians 5:8, “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” You see, there is no soul sleep here! And what did Jesus say to the thief on the cross in Luke 23:43, “. . . ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’” Again, no soul sleep and thus, as I have said, we cannot base what Job says as true, it comes out of his frustration and not from revelation because God rebukes him for his lack of knowledge regarding death in Job 38 as we have seen!

VERSES 20-22

            Notice what Job is saying here. “When a man is as miserable as I am, why can’t he just die?”  Job was at the point where death itself was more precious to him than all the treasures of the world. He just wanted to die. But in all this I think it is important to note that even though he wanted to die, Job never contemplated suicide. Poole picks up on this and he tells us, “But it is observable that Job durst not lay violent hands upon himself, nor do any thing to hasten or procure his death; notwithstanding all his miseries and complaints, he was contented to wait all the days of his appointed time, till his change came, Job 14:14.”

            Suicide is wrong; it is a sin because it is the taking of a life, your own. But also keep in mind that it is not the unpardonable sin or blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which is rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit in your life and His work is to bring you to Jesus. If you reject Jesus than you have committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and you will go to Hell! But make no mistake about it, life is precious but it is not always easy. We need to number our days and live them to the fullest unto the Lord. God has a plan, He has a purpose for all the things we go through and thus, once we understand that, whatever comes our way, we will be able to stand strong. And I understand that there is pain, there is hurt, it is not easy for us to go through, but God is with us and the refining process will be complete! Don’t take the life that God has given to you but use it for His glory!

VERSES 23-26

            Job is wondering why God allows those in such misery, such turmoil, such pain to go on living. He feels that it would be better to have this life end than to continue on. Now before we are too harsh on Job, think about all he has gone through and what he is going through now. The pain, the hurt, the agony and he has given up you might say. He sees no hope, no way out, he feels that God has hedged him in; God has done this to him.

            And it is interesting that Job is not whining and wailing that the Lord has taken away his children, his servants, his animals, his building, but he is complaining that God has allowed all this to come upon him and he just can’t take it any longer! He is not cursing God but he is not living life, he is curing his life! Job has lost the perspective of God and he is so focused on the situation he is in, as difficult as it was, and he is drowning in it. That happens to us many times as we go through difficult times. We become so focused upon the situation and leave God out and we start to drown. The only solution is to get our eyes back on Jesus for His hand is reaching out to us if we would only take it!

            Job has not lost his faith. He is just complaining because of the difficult situation he is in. All this has come upon him and he just can’t understand why it should have come upon him in the first place. And, as I have said before, for a majority of this book Job is going to try to figure this out. And then God will step in and set things in order and get Job back on track!

            Now those that are in the positive confession movement like to point to verse 25 and say that because of his negative confession, because of all those fears that Job had, all this has now come upon him. That is foolishness.

            Let me give you a couple of examples to show you what I mean. First of all Marilyn Hickey makes these claims about positive confession,

            Say to your body, “You’re whole, body! Why, you just function so beautifully and so well. Why, body, you never have any problems. You’re a strong, healthy body.” Or speak to your leg, or speak at your foot, or speak to your neck, or speak to your back; and once you have spoken and believe that you have received, and don’t’ go back on it. Speak to your wife, speak to your husband, speak to your circumstances; and speak faith to them to create in them and God will create what you are speaking.

- Marilyn Hickey, “Claim Your Miracles” Audiotape #186 side 2

            You see, if you make a positive confession then that is what you will get but if you make a negative confession, that is what you will get! Foolishness! Listen to what Hank Hanegraaff wrote regarding Charles Capps.

            Charles Capps takes this same proof text to an even more illogical conclusion. [Speaking of Proverbs 6:2]. In warning people that they get exactly what they say, Capps explains that people who utter such expressions as “That just tickled me to death” and “I’m just dying to do that” are “buddying up with death.” He then adds that “Adam was smarter than that. It took the devil over 900 years to kill him, but now the devil has programmed his language into the human race, until people can kill themselves in about 70 years or less, by speaking his words.”

            Such reckless reasoning brings up an interesting question: When God said that He covers us with His wings (Psalm 91:4), does Capps believe the Almighty is in danger of becoming a chicken? And on a more serious note, does Capps believe Jesus would have been “buddying up with death” in the Garden of Gethsemane when He said, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38)?

- Hank Hanegraaff, Christianity in Crisis, p. 77

            And lastly, from Kenneth Copeland listen to what he has to say and you tell me if this is not from the occult! Here he is speaking of having a physical ailment and what you need to do. He said,

            When you get to the place where you take the Word of God and build an image on the inside of you of not having crippled legs and not having blind eyes, but when you close your eyes you just see yourself just leap out of that wheelchair, it will picture that in the Holy of Holies and you will come out of there. You will come out.

- Keeneth Copeland, “Inner Image of the Covenant” Audiotape #01-4406, side 2

            This is straight from the occult world. They believe you can create your own reality. They believe that words have power and it will not only affect our lives but the world around us depending on how we use them. They believe they can speak things into existence by visualization. Do you see how dangerous this is and how wrong this is!

Look at what David, in I Samuel said, “. . . ‘Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. . .’” I Samuel 27:1. That was a negative confession by David; did Saul kill him because of it? Of course not, we know that did not take place even though it was a negative confession. In fact, as I have said, this whole idea of power in words is occultic and we as Christians must distance ourselves from it. The only power comes from God, and not our words! Yes, God’s Word is living and powerful but we can’t visualize or by using certain words cause things to happen, that is not of God. You see, Job understood that things may happen in his life and thus, he took precautions against it. Look at Job 1:5, “So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, ‘It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ Thus Job did regularly.” It was not the words, be they negative or positive that Job was concerned about, but the actions of his children that could cause God to discipline them and thus, he interceded for them!

            Job finishes up by saying, “I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes.” Job 3:26. How can a man of faith fall into such great depression like this? Because we are frail, we are weak and even great men and women of faith can fall into great depression. Let me share this story with you and you will see what I mean. We are told,

“I was lying upon my couch during this last week, and my spirits were sunken so low that I could weep by the hour like a child, and yet I knew not what I wept for – but a very slight thing will move me to tears just now – and a kind friend was telling me of some poor old soul living near, who was suffering very great pain, and yet she was full of joy and rejoicing. I was so distressed by the hearing of that story, and felt so ashamed of myself, that I did not know what to do; wondering why I should be in such a state as this; while this poor woman, who had a terrible cancer, and was in the most frightful agony, could nevertheless ‘rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.’”

- Charles Spurgeon, The Christian’s Heaviness and Rejoicing

            You see, perspective is everything and we need to focus on the Lord and realize that others are suffering in this world and it does not mean that God does not love them or care for them. And outside of Christ, this is the best it will get for them. But for us, this is the worst it will get and thus, may we, in all our pain, in all our hurt, in all our suffering, be able to give the peace of God to those that are hurting!

            As we close this evening, Job is done with what he has to say and now it is time for his friends to speak their mind and that is exactly what they will do. They will speak their mind and not the mind of God. How do I know that? Because we will see God rebuke them, Job’s friends, at the end of this book. So we have many things to learn from the Lord as we go through this book of suffering and surrender and see that even though we may not understand the how’s and whys of God, we can learn to trust in Him through all we go through in life!