Can God Be Trusted in Your Troubles? | Part 1

1:21 Let's turn to the 13th chapter of the book of Job, and we're going to look at one verse and then many other verses in the book. But this is the verse that sets the tone for what I have to say today. And here it is, Job chapter 13 and verse 15. Job says concerning Jehovah, though He slay me, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Now, the title of the message is, Can God Be Trusted in Your Troubles? All of us know that God is necessary. We know we could not exist without Him. I hope you know that. But that's not really the greatest question. Not only is God necessary, the great question is, is God enough? And we all know that God brings blessings.

2:19 But we have to admit also that God allows troubles. Now, can God be trusted with our troubles? You know what the devil thinks? The devil thinks that anybody who serves God without some ulterior motive is a fool. Just go back to Job chapter 1 and look, if you will, in the first three verses. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was perfect and upright, one that feared God and eschewed, that means, and turned from evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was 7,000 sheep and 3,000 camels and 500 yoke of oxen, 500 she-asses and a very great household. So that this man, now here's a big statement.

3:12 This man was the greatest of all the men of the East. Now he was the big shot. Spiritually, he was a great man. Financially, he was a great man. domestically. He was a great man. But the devil is suspicious of the motives of Job. The devil says, well, now wait a minute. The only reason that Job serves God is God has been so good to him. God has bribed him and God has bought him off. Skip on down to verse 6 and you'll see this. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. And watch this. And Satan came also among them. Did you know that Satan is called in the Bible the accuser of the brethren? And so the angelic creatures are coming to present themselves. And along comes Satan. And the Lord said unto Satan, and by the way, the word Satan means adversary. Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it. And by the way, he's still doing that today, isn't he? And the Lord said unto Satan, Has thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, and one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

4:33 Now watch verse 9. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? That is, God, isn't there some ulterior motive that he serves you? Then verse 10, Now here's the challenge that Satan throws into the face of God concerning Job.

5:16 God, he doesn't really love you. He doesn't really care about you. He's not really trusting you. You've just bought him off. You've bribed him. He doesn't even know what trouble is. You put a hedge around him. I know there's a hedge around him because I've been trying to get through that hedge and you won't let me. Satan says, you just let me at him. Let me give him some industrial strength problems. Let me hurt him. Let me put him into darkness. Let me cause him loss and suffering and pain. God, I'll tell you how much he loves you. He'll spit in your face. He will curse you to your face. And notice verse 12, And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power. Only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. Now Satan, we're going to see, is going to cause incredible trouble for this man, Job.

6:16 And finally, after all of this trouble, Job says, Though he slay me, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Now, the devil said, God, he loves you because. He loves you because. Because you've been good to him. Because you've given him riches. Because you've given to him children. Because you put a hedge around him. That's the kind of love he has for you, because love. And by the way, that's the weakest kind of love, isn't it? You say to your wife, I love you because you're beautiful. You say to your husband, I love you because you provide for me. Well, what if he loses his job or she loses her beauty? You see, that kind of love can be threatened. And that's the kind of love that Satan thought that Job had for God. You love him because. Take away the because and he won't love you anymore. And by the way, let me just say parenthetically and incidentally here, that if you're expressing love to your children, to your wife, to your husband, to anybody that you truly love, take the becauses out of it and just say, I love you.

7:22 I love you not for what you have or for what you've done, but I love you for who you are. Now the devil could not believe that Job loved God for who God is. There has to be some ulterior motive. And the world is that way. You know what the world will say? Well, that man just goes to church for business reasons. Or that man is in the ministry just for what he can get out of it. Or whatever. You see the devil, he's full of that kind of lie. That no one can simply love God because he loves God. And so the book of Job is going to show that God in Himself not only is necessary, but God Himself is enough that we can love God and trust God even in the midst of our problems. Now, here are three questions that I want to ask you. And if you can answer yes to those questions, you have the same kind of faith that old Job had. Question number one, can God be trusted when you are submerged in suffering?

8:20 Can God be trusted when you are submerged in suffering? Now remember what Job said, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Job suffered incredible loss. Beginning about in verse 13, we're in chapter 1. There was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And there came a messenger unto Job saying, The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them. And the Sabaeans fell upon them and took them away. Yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee. That is, first of all, Job had lost his finances. His animals, his flocks, his herds. He was a rancher. and in one fell swoop they were all taken away. Now, if tomorrow morning you wake up a pauper, if the stock market crashes and goes to the bottom, and you have everything in stocks and bonds, and your so-called fortune is gone, can you still trust God? Can you? Well, I hope so.

9:21 Job became bankrupt overnight. There was the loss of finances. That's verses 13 through 17. And then right on the heel of that, not only the loss of finances, he lost his family. Look, if you will, in verse 18 of chapter 1. And you're going to see what else happened. And when he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men. And they are dead, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. The entire house fell in upon Job's family. Now he just lost his finances. And then right on the back of it, back to back, heel to toe, he now loses not only his fortune, he loses his family. But the devil is not finished with him yet. He's going to also lose his fitness.

10:17 He's going to lose his health. Go to chapter 2 and look, if you will, in verse 4. And Satan answered the Lord and said, skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand, but save his life. And now Job is covered from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet with great huge ulcers and boils that rack his body with fever and pain, his body is consumed with infection. Infections that erupt with such putrefaction that Job goes out on the ash heap and takes a broken piece of pottery and begins to scrape away the substance that oozes from his boils. Can you imagine just covered, not with one painful boil, but from the top of his head to his feet. He has lost his fortune. He has lost his family. Now he has lost his fitness and the devil is not finished with him yet. Now he has three friends who come, his comforters to speak with him and to try to give him comfort.

11:34 Some comforters they are. I want you to hear what one of them said. You might look in chapter 4 and verse 7. And this was a man named Eliphaz. And he says, Remember I pray thee, whoever ever perished being innocent? Or where were the righteous cut off? That is, Job, you old rascal, what have you been doing wrong? Nobody ever suffered like this who was innocent. Righteous people have never had God turn their back on them. Old Job has a secret sin. If old Job had been doing right, none of this would have happened. You see what he lost, he lost his fortunate he lost his family, he lost his fitness, and now he loses his face. What I mean is this, that even his reputation, and all of us are grateful for our reputation. What if your reputation were taken away from you? What if you'd done nothing wrong and everybody thought you did? What if people are criticizing you and blaming you? You see there are a lot of people who have that philosophy today. There are some of the people who will get on television. I call them the Joy Boys.

12:42 They get on television and they have this message. If you get right with God, you're going to be healthy. You're going to be wealthy. It's cash, comfort, Cadillacs, key to Fort Knox. You'll have it all. Just, by the way, send me a little money. Send me a little money. But you have it all. Have you noticed that? the idea of the philosophy is that the only reason you suffer is that you've done wrong. You can just get right and believe God and have anything you want. There's just one thing wrong with that philosophy. It ain't so. It ain't so. Some of God's choices of saints have suffered. But here's old Job. Now Job has lost it, folks. I mean, he is submerged in suffering. He becomes bankrupt. His kids die in a tornado. His body is infected with a horrible disease. And then on top of that everybody is saying, I wonder what he did wrong. I wonder what he did wrong. Well, now in the midst of all that Job praises God and gives God the glory. Can you do that? Can you trust God? Can you trust God when you are submerged in suffering? Now don't think that faith is the way to get out of suffering. Faith may be a way to endure suffering. Put a bookmark there in Job, the book of Job, and turn to the book of Hebrews, would you please, for just a moment. In Hebrews chapter 11, God gives a roll call of the heroes of the faith, those people who did incredible things by faith. And like most preachers, he's running out of time. And so he begins to collapse and just give little snapshots of victories. And he says, beginning in verse 32, I mean, he's been going for 31 verses, And now he comes to verse 32 and he says, what shall I more say?

14:33 For time would fail me. You see, I told you. For time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of Samson and of Jephthah and David also and Samuel and of the prophets. And then he tells what they did by faith. Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of aliens. Women received their dead, raised to life again. Boy, if that's all I read I'd say sign me up. Boy, if that's what the Christian faith is, sign me up. Looks to me like It's all honey and no bees.

15:24 But now wait a minute. Verse 36, there is a change. Just underscore this phrase, and others, and others. Now look at this. And others had a trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. Well, you say, what did they do wrong? Well, let's continue to read. And these all having obtained a good report through faith. A good report.

16:19 They hadn't done anything wrong. Not one thing wrong. We think of all of those who escaped, and we say, how did they escape? Well, they were given faith to escape. We think of the others who endured. How did they endure? They were given faith to endure. Some have faith to escape. Some have faith to endure. others were delivered and some died do you have faith to be delivered I'm happy for you do you have faith to die I wonder what I'm trying to say that you can have faith and calamity all at the same time faith does not mean that you are going to escape always faith is not receiving from God what you want. Faith is accepting from God what He gives. Now the question, the question again is this, can you trust God when you are submerged in suffering? Can you say with Job today, though he slay me, yet will I trust him? If you can, if you can, you will shut the devil's mouth. You see, the devil just thinks, let those Christians have a little trouble. Let them have some persecution. Let them have some bankruptcy. Let one of the children die. Let them have some greedy malady that consumes their body. Let them have those kind of troubles. And then let people blame them for doing wrong when they haven't done anything in the world wrong.

17:55 they'll curse God. But old Job said, I'm not going to curse him. I'm going to praise him. Job said, the Lord gave, the Lord had taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Look in chapter one, verse 20. Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped and said, naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Now watch this. In all of this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly. Now here's the second question. First question is can God be trusted when I am submerged in suffering or when you are submerged in suffering? Here's the second question. Can God be trusted when you are forsaken by friends? When you're forsaken by friends. Now it's one thing to be submerged in suffering. But what about when we suffer and there's nobody there with us to suffer with us?

18:57 There's nobody there who really cares. As I say, Job had three friends, three comforters, but what kind of comforters were they? Ultimately we're going to see all they did was to come and give platitudes and to critique him and to criticize him. They weren't really friends at all. Turn to Job chapter 19, and look what poor Job had to say in verse 14. Job said, my kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. Can you trust God when you're forsaken of friends? My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. And then look in Job 19, verse 19. All my inward friends abhorred me, and they whom I loved are turned against me. Am I talking to somebody who's going through that right now. Has your husband forsaken you? Have your children abandoned you? Has a friend that you've trusted turned on you? Perhaps a business associate? The devil says, yes, let that happen to him. God, he'll curse you to your face. But that wasn't true for Job. I thank God for friends. Friends are wonderful. But what happens when your friends don't understand? When you're in trouble and nobody seems to understand. And by the way, they cannot understand because they didn't know any more about what was happening than old Job did. Job was completely in the dark and so were they in the dark. And perhaps even worse than suffering physically is to have friends to forsake you.

20:28 There's probably not a deeper hurt than this. Psalm 41 verse 9, Yea, mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. That was a prophecy of what Judas would do to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the psalmist says in Psalm 55 verses 12 through 14, for it was not an enemy that reproached me. Then I could have borne it. Neither was it he that hated me that didn't magnify himself against me when I would have hid myself from him. But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together and walked into the house of God in company. Think about it. Here's Job's best friends. Here's Job in his deepest need.

21:22 And his friends have just turned their back on him. It's like old Paul was in the Philippian jail. And Paul, needing some comfort, had to say, Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. Now, that can happen to you. Perhaps I'm talking to some preacher right now, and your church has turned on you. Perhaps the pulpit committee that called you to the church now wants you to leave. And the reason is you're just preaching the gospel. Don't think that if you preach the gospel, the world's going to love you. The same world that hated Jesus is going to hate you. You can get in trouble for preaching the gospel. Sometimes your closest associates, the people that you take counsel with in the house of God, will turn against you. That's what happened.

22:10 Preacher, listen. You'd better trust God when friends forsake you.