Job 20-23

0:01 Calvary Church is dedicated to doctrine and we want you to experience the life change that comes from knowing God's word and applying it to your life. So we explain the Bible verse by verse, every chapter, every book. This is Expound. Job chapter 20. Job is having a very bad day. A bad several days. And to make matters worse, he has to put up with what we call Job's friends. So if you think you have had bad friends in your life, Job should be a comfort to you. He has already told them, miserable comforters are you wall. If you guys are trying to be counselors, you need a new job. He's already told them that. But it goes on from bad to worse. Now, there is a belief system that they have, and it shows up every time they give a speech. The belief system is the false theology that says, if you had enough faith, if you walked with God, if your life was right with God, you would be healthy, you would be prosperous, you would be blessed by God. If you are not blessed by God or if you have sickness, then you are disobeying God or living a Satan-defeated life. Now, that might ring a bell, and it should because that theology is still with us today in what is called the word of faith movement by a host of false teachers like Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, and a bunch of others of that ilk who have spewed that same nonsense that Eliphaz and Bildad, the Shuhite, and Zophar have spewed to Job, that has been around and it is patently false. And the case in point is Job

2:09 himself. God said Job was blameless, upright, the best of the best. And yet unbeknownst to him, God has allowed in this case, Satan to oppress him, harass him. And Job is being very honest. and sometimes that honesty, you know, we go, we get shocked by it. And we shouldn't. But when a person is suffering, they say what they feel. And he is getting rebuked by his friends.

2:45 I have heard people say, you know, not only should you have enough faith, but you shouldn't even make a negative confession. Because if you make a negative confession, Your words themselves have power. And what you say may just indeed happen. So you should never say if you're feeling sick, I feel sick today. You should say, I feel great today, even though you're lying, which the last time I checked is a sin, but you're supposed to make a positive confession. Because if you say you feel sick, you're going to be sick. and you know if you say oh man I it killed me or I could just die don't say that you might die so it gets to be ridiculous because what if the fellow says we'll all be a monkey's uncle will he then turn into a gorilla of course not and Job is countering the reprimand of these friends. Their whole basis and philosophy slash theology is an oversimplification of a very sordid problem in humanity, and that is that human beings suffer, that we have suffering in this life. So in chapter 20, Zophar, the Naamathite, answered and said, Therefore, my anxious thoughts make me answer.

4:13 Because of the turmoil within me, I have heard the reproof that reproaches me, and my spirit, the spirit of my understanding, causes me to answer. Job, you have been rude to us with your words. We feel insulted by you, Job. Now it's my turn to get you back. do you not know of this of old since man was placed on the earth that triumphing of the wicked is short he makes again an argument from history going back to the ancient fathers his forefathers that a sinner's joy is cut short that's his idea the joy verse five the second part the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment. That's what you are, Job. You claim to be so righteous. You're nothing but a hypocrite. Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens, his head reaches to the clouds, you big-headed sufferer, you. Yet he will perish forever like his own refuse.

5:30 you you are pushing yourself up to the heavens you're being brought down to the dunghill which is where you're sitting job because of what you have done those who have seen him will say where is he who have seen job will say where is he he will fly away like a dream and not be found yes he will be chased away like a vision of the night the eye that saw him will see him no more Thank you. nor will his place behold him anymore. His children will seek the favor of the poor, and his hands will restore his wealth. His bones are full of his youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in the dust. His kids will beg for food, and he'll just waste away like you are doing, and then he'll be heard of no more, and people will forget him. though evil is sweet in his mouth he hides it under his tongue it's like somebody that has chewing tobacco in their mouth or a piece of candy under their tongue that nobody can see he's hiding it though he spares it and does not forsake it but still keeps it in his mouth yet his food in his stomach turns sour. It becomes cobra venom within him. He swallows down riches and vomits them up again. God casts them out of his belly. So he's hiding something under his tongue, but what he has been feeding on, he'll vomit up and have diarrhea. And this is his good friend.

7:18 he will suck the poison of cobras. The viper's tongue will slay him. He will not see the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream. These are symbols of prosperity, honey and cream, for which he labored. He will not swallow it down.

7:41 From the proceeds of his business, he will get no enjoyment. for he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently seized a house which he did not build. Job, you were wealthy, but your wealth has been taken away probably because you acquired your wealth dishonestly is the implication because he knows no quietness in his heart. he will not save anything he desires nothing is left for him to eat therefore his well-being will not last in his self-sufficiency he will be in distress every hand of misery will come against him when he is about to fill his stomach God will cast on him the fury of his wrath and it will rain it on him while he is eating. This is Zophar saying, God is angry with you, Job. That's why this is happening. Not only are you sinful, but in your sin, in your casting away of God, you've been found out. Your wickedness is short-lived. You acquired your wealth dishonestly.

9:00 God is angry with you. As I listen though to Zophar I get the idea that it's not God that is angry with Job but Zophar that is angry with Job and he's projecting onto Job which we do don't we? but you know it's a lot easier to say God doesn't like this in you or God's angry with you or God told me something about you and to hide behind that and that's presumably what he is doing verse 24 he will flee from the iron weapon a bronze bow will pierce him through it is drawn and comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his gall. God is angry with you, Job.

9:52 And if you escape one source of God's anger, he'll hit you with another source. You cannot escape what you're going through because this is the punishment of God. He's shooting his arrows at you. And Job had said, I feel like I'm being used for God's target practice. terrors come upon him total darkness is reserved for his treasures an unfanned fire will consume him it shall go ill with him who is left in his tent the heavens will reveal his iniquity the earth will rise up against him the increase of his house will depart remember what job said he was crying for a mediator he was crying for somebody in heaven who could represent him before almighty god lay his hand job said on us both and zophar is remembering that job is calling out for a heavenly attorney and he says actually job both heaven and earth will be witnesses against you. You won't find somebody to represent you up there or plead your case up there.

11:12 But heaven and earth will rise up against you. The increase of his house will depart. His goods will flow away in the day of his wrath. This is the portion from God for a wicked man, the heritage appointed to him by God. So we get what Zophar is accusing Job of. Job, you lost everything so suddenly, and that is proof that you've been living a wicked life. See, it's sort of the same argument, but from a different angle. It explains your calamity. The only explanation is that you're just not a great guy. So now Job answers him back. Job answered and said, listen carefully to my speech and let this be your consolation. If you guys would slow down enough to actually listen to what I am saying, you would feel sorry for me. You would console me.

12:19 and you know he brings up a very valid point somebody who is suffering needs a listening ear not a lecturing mouth and they were good for a week they sat there for a week at first they said nothing that was the most comfort they gave to job then they started talking and it went all out the window at that point. So he's just saying, button it up and listen to my words and you'll console me. Let this be your consolation. Bear with me that I may speak. And after I have spoken, then mock on, keep mocking. As for me, is my complaint against man? And if it were, why should I not be impatient?

13:22 in the last couple of rebuttals in this conversation between Job's dissenters and Job himself, you remember that Job will talk to them and then like midstream, he'll look up and pray to God. And then he'll speak back to them and then he'll pray to God. So it's this kind of dual conversation Job is having with them. But then in front of them, he is praying to the God that he doesn't find or see or understand. And so he, he asked them, listen to me, listen to my words. You, you console me. And my complaint isn't against you. Well, it actually is. He has complained against them and he has insulted them. But what are you saying? My root issue is with the one that I was praying to. And that is God. I was looking for God. I was looking for a representative in heaven. So what he's saying to them is, you know, really, when I was praying, I'm not talking to you guys, I'm talking to him. There's a great story when Lyndon Johnson, the president, was in the White House and he had a special envoy, one of his aides, invited to the family residence for dinner in the White House, sat down with the Johnsons and the special envoy, the special aid, was asked to pray for the food, to say the blessing.

14:46 that night. So he was praying kind of with a low voice and the president was at the other end of the table and mid-prayer, President Johnson interrupted him and said, speak up. And the man looked up and said, with all due respect, Mr. President, I wasn't talking to you. So Job is saying, with all due respect, fellas, I wasn't really talking to you. I was talking to him when I was praying. look at me verse five and be astonished don't just hear my words but I want you to see me look at me get a look at what you what you have before you look at me and be astonished put your hand over your mouth even when I remember I am terrified and trembling takes hold of my flesh. Why do the wicked live on and become old? Now he's countering their theology, their philosophy that says wicked people are going to get their comeuppance in this life.

15:54 They're going to be punished and die young in this life. So Job says, he's already said that's not true. Then he's asked this, why do the wicked live on and become old? Yes, become mighty in power. Their descendants are established with them in their sight and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear. Neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull breeds without failure. Their cow calves without miscarriage. They send forth their little ones like a flock and their children dance. They sing to the tambourine and the harp. They rejoice to the sound of the flute. He's saying, you guys, here's the truth. There's lots of bad people in this world that seem to live very carefree lives. They have the best music systems. Their kids go to parties. They have the best that life has to offer. They can afford whatever it would take.

17:00 their flocks are doing well their businesses are doing well and um so he's he's turning their argument against him on its head and saying look there are plenty of people that we know about that i know about who are wicked and who live a long long time now this whole issue is something we have discussed in job and i'm going to bring that word up again in case you don't know it, I want you to learn this word, theodicy. Theodicy, T-H-E-O-D-I-C-Y. Theodicy is how do I reconcile God and suffering? How can there be a God who is all-powerful and sovereign and all loving while so many people suffer so much, even God's own people.

18:03 Job is struggling with that. He's not the only one. And one of the reasons probably that Job is such a long book, 42 chapters, and why this theme goes over and over and over again is because this is a common theme in humanity. Something we all deal with, something that everybody deals with. In fact, the Gallup organization asked people, if you could ask God one question and you knew he would answer you, what would the question be? Invariably, in all of these polls, the one question I would ask God is, why is there so much evil in the world? And why don't you do something about it? If I knew I could get an answer from God, that's what I would ask him. Why is there suffering and why is there evil? So Job is saying, exhibit A, tons of wicked people live very old and very pampered lives. What do you guys do with that evidence. They spend their days, verse 13, in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave.

19:11 Yet they say to God, depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of your ways. These are rich, pampered, long-living atheists. Who is the Almighty that we should serve him, and what profit do we have if we pray to him? indeed their prosperity is not in their hand their counsel the counsel of the wicked is far from me when we suffer, we cry out. And we say it's not fair.

19:51 Now, let's just suppose you're driving down the street to your destination, and you're a little bit late. So you're going 25 miles over the speed limit. It's a 35 mile an hour zone, you're going 50. No, you're going 60. A police officer pulls you over. and write you a ticket. you deserve it. Do you get angry because that happened? No, but now let's say you're driving three miles over the speed limit. You get pulled over and you say, officer, come on, everybody's allowed five over. Give me a break. You were going three miles over the speed limit.

20:49 I'm going to give you a ticket. Or let's say you were going the speed limit, but the officer said, I actually, I clocked you on my little device. You were going one mile over the speed limit. You're getting a ticket. You would go home and you would be so mad that you got that ticket. but let's say you were going 25 miles over the speed limit back to the first illustration and you made it all the way to your destination and you didn't get caught now you feel empowered you think every time I drive I can do that some of you do that Now, when you break the speed limit, and I'm not just looking at you, I'm with you. and you get away with it. Do you go home that night? You have managed to escape a ticket. Even if you were pulled over and the police says, ah, don't worry. Or let's say this, you're going over the speed limit. You see a policeman with his little clock, you're going 25 over, and he just puts it down and waves at you as you drive by. You make it home.

22:01 Do you feel guilty? Do you go to the police station and turn yourself in? Do you lose sleep that night because you failed to get justice done in your life. No, you don't. But if somebody else breaks the speed limit and forces you out of the way or passes you up, you go, oh, you start praying for a police officer. You want justice for them. You want mercy for yourselves. So this whole issue of what is fair and not fair has many different sides to it and angles to it. And this is part of the conversation that these, these four are having. Verse 17, how often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Okay, now I want you to stop there and just turn back a couple of chapters to chapter 18. Just go back. In chapter 18, this is Bildad, one of the three. Look at verse 5. He says, the light of the wicked indeed goes out. Now back to our text. Job asked them, how often is the lamp of the wicked put out? You guys keep saying, you know, if you're really wicked. That's why you suffer. And that's why you're saying I'm suffering. Really? Can you give me examples of that? How often does what you say happen actually happen?

23:36 how often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their destruction come upon them? They seem to be getting by with a lot of bad stuff. The sorrows God distributes in his anger. they are like straw before the wind and like chaff that a storm carries away. They say, God lays up one's iniquity for his children. Let him recompense him that he may know it. Let his eyes see his destruction. Let him drink of the wrath of the almighty. For what does he care about his household after him when the number of his months are cut in half? Let me tell you what's going on here. And he says, you know, the common saying, including with you guys is, well, if that guy doesn't get punished for it, the children will suffer because of it. And he said, if that is true, that's not fair. That wouldn't be right. The guy who does it is the guy who should get the punishment, not the children. Can anyone teach God knowledge? Verse 22, since he judges those who are on high, one dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and secure. His pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moist. Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, never having eaten with pleasure. They lie down alike in the dust and worms cover them. What Job is saying is simply this.

25:15 God might allow one person to enjoy prosperity, but God will allow another person to endure poverty. But then they both die, and in the grave they're both alike. Worms eat both bodies. Decay happens to both people. So therefore, Job is saying, so what good is being good? Now, he has claimed that he hasn't done anything worth the suffering that has come upon him. He is indeed correct. He is a righteous man. God has acknowledged that. He knows of nothing that would push him into this condition he's in. But he asked a question, what good then is being good?

26:09 and this is a throw in the face of these three friends who are saying um uh if you're healthy and wealthy it must mean you're a bad guy and job is saying no that's not true health and wealth aren't the measuring stick for a man's character like you guys say it is because you might have a wicked guy and you might have a righteous guy and one is in poverty and one is in prosperity but then both die and share the same fate. So what good is being good? Now there are good answers to that theodicy issue. And I have done a little mini series on why, why is there evil in the world and gone through them? So I'm not going to do that here, but that is what they're wrestling over. Verse 27. Look, he says, look, I know your thoughts. I know what you're thinking. I know what you're going to say, and the schemes with which you would wrong me. For you say, where is the house of the prince? Meaning Job. It has been destroyed by what has befallen him.

27:19 For you say, where's the house of the prince? And where is the tent, the dwelling place of the wicked. Have you not asked those who traveled the road? Don't you get out much? You guys should get out more. You guys need to travel a little bit more, or at least talk to people who do travel a lot and see different kingdoms and situations. You would see that what I am saying is accurate. Have you not asked those who travel the road? Do you not know their signs? For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom. They shall be brought out on the day of wrath. Who condemns his way to his face? Who repays him for what he has done? Yet he shall be brought to the grave and a vigil kept over his tomb.

28:13 The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him. That is his grave. Everyone shall follow him. He'll have a nice parade at his funeral. as countless have gone before him. How then can you comfort me with empty words? Such falsehood remains in your answers. I think what Job is saying is, okay, you guys, I do agree with you that the wicked will be recompensed and will be judged eventually. Not immediately, like you think in this life, but eventually. The problem that I have with you guys is though I agree the wicked are going to go down. My contention is that you're applying that to me and saying that what I am suffering temporarily is what the wicked will indeed suffer eternally and eventually. He said, since your falsehood remains in your answers. Okay. We have had two rounds of speeches. We're about to enter the third round of speeches. There are three rounds in the book of Job. In the first round, they accuse Job of being a wicked dude and telling him that he has to repent. In the second round, they sort of tell him the same thing, but they kind of focus more in on what horrible fate is in store for Job for what he has done. But in this third round, they get very specific. Here is why God is judging you. Here is why we say you are so wicked.

30:00 Job has been saying, where's the evidence? You've been saying I'm a bad person, I'm a wicked person, bring forth the evidence, like what have I done specifically? So they're going to get specific, even though they're wrong. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, can a man be profitable to God, though he who is wise may be profitable to himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or is it gain to him that you make your way blameless?

30:36 Look, Job, God is not affected by your goodness, by your righteousness. You're not affecting God. You're not moving the needle in heaven at all. It makes no difference to God. And the only explanation for your condition is the fact that you are not a righteous person. You claim to be righteous, but if you are righteous, then explain your condition, Eliphaz would say. Is it because of your fear of him? You're afraid that God is getting you and judging you, that he reproves you and enters into judgment with you. Is not your wickedness great and your iniquity without end? Without end. You are wickeder than infinity.

31:31 Remember playing that game with your sibling? You'd go, you know, I love you to the moon and back, or I hate you to the moon and back, and I, more on you, and then infinity, and you can't go more than me because I just said infinity. So they're just piling it on. Your iniquity without end. Now, now they're getting specific. This is what you've done wrong specifically, Job. You, for you have taken pledges from your brother for no reason, and stripped the naked of their clothing. You have not given weary to the weary water to drink. You have withheld bread from the hungry, but the mighty man possessed the land. The honorable man dwelt in it. You have sent widows away empty, and the strength of the fatherless you have crushed. Job, you have abused people. You've not fed people who are hungry. You've not given people who are thirsty to drink.

32:30 you've hindered the poor, you've abused the orphan. Now, none of this is true. This is fake news. They're just making stuff up. There's no evidence that Job did that. Again, God bragged on Job. So they're just without evidence trying to pin this on him. Therefore, verse 10, therefore For snares are all around you and sudden fear troubles you. Or darkness so that you cannot see. And an abundance of water covers you like the waters of the flood. You're being judged. The waters of judgment are covering you.

33:12 Is not God in the height of heaven? and see the highest stars, how lofty they are, and you say, what does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness? Now stop right there. Job never said that. Never once did Job say, look at what I'm suffering, and God doesn't even know it. No, Job said God knows it. He does know it. He called God the watcher of men in previous chapters. So all of these accusations, these are false accusations that they're piling on Job. sorry I have to keep turning back that AC keeps blowing that page thick clouds cover him so that he cannot see verse 14 he walks above the circle of heaven will you keep to the old way which wicked men have trod who were cut down before their time whose foundation were swept away by a flood. They said to God, depart from us. What can the Almighty do to them? Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. He said, Job, you are experiencing the flood of God's judgment.

34:44 you Job are following the same path as people in the days of Noah who experienced the judgment of God upon the earth by the flood that's the reference I think that they are bringing up here there was knowledge at that time there was a universal knowledge at that time from early on that there was a flood that covered the earth. it's interesting that geologists, if you were to study the writings of most geologists, most geologists today will believe in what we call catastrophism, that the prevailing cosmology is not uniformitarianism, where everything just slowly, over time gradually stayed the same, hence the evolutionary theory, without any abrupt changes.

35:50 But they will say, rather, as I look at the geology of the earth and I look at the strata layers of the earth, I look at things like the Grand Canyon and other phenomena, I have to concur that there was at some point in whatever length of time the earth has been around catastrophes that have punctuated history because the fossil record why is it that on some mountaintops you have the fossils of sea life ocean life how'd they get there or how do you have fossils embedded in strata of coal in the earth and you have a fossil embedded not horizontally but vertically through several layers that represent supposedly millions of years look like it got violently thrown there the flood, the universal flood, and I do believe not in a local flood, but a universal flood that covered the entire earth. It gives the best explanation for a number of things, one of them being the presence of inland seas. In countries like the United States of America, China, and other countries, you have these large inland seas, like in America, the Great Basin that covers the land of Nevada, Utah, all the way to the Rockies, just this huge area where they believe Lake Bonneville once stood that is now just a tiny little remnant of that dried up almost. The Great Salt Lake was much, much, much bigger. And what accounts for those fossils and what accounts for those inland seas and other extant phenomena would be the great flood. So nonetheless, they're saying, Job, you're like those guys that God judged in the flood, the flood of judgment, likewise, is coming over you like those wicked men. Verse 19, the righteous see it

38:02 and are glad. You know the righteous are in Eliphaz's estimation? Him. And Bildad and Zophar. Those three guys. We're the righteous ones and we're watching God's judgment on you and we're glad.

38:23 Again, these are friends. Now, to be fair, Job said, mock on. So they are. They're mocking him. The righteous see it and are glad. The innocent laugh them to scorn. Surely our adversaries are cut down and the fire consumes the remnant. Now acquaint yourself with him and be at peace. Thereby good will come to you. Receive, please, instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up. If you remove iniquity far from your tents, then you will lay your gold in the dust and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. Yes, the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver, for then you will have your delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to him. He will hear you and you will pay your vows. You will also declare a thing. It will be established for you. So light will shine on your ways.

39:34 When they cast you down and you say exaltation will come, then they will save the humble person. He will even deliver one who is not innocent. Yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands. So it's the same theology, but saying, look, get right with God, turn back to God. Start walking with God. And if you do, if you have enough faith, Job, and if you walk righteously with God, you'll be wealthy. You'll be rich. You'll be blessed.

40:11 Same old false theology coming up again. If you walk with God, he'll make you rich. Now, there's a mention really quickly of the gold of Ophir. I'm just going to touch on it. that is mentioned in Genesis it's mentioned in Psalms it's mentioned in Isaiah but it's mentioned in the days of Solomon that he mined the gold of Ophir in Chronicles and in Kings and we believe though we're not sure that that is the southwestern shores of the Arabian Peninsula that is a reference he's making then Job answered and said even today my complaint is bitter my hand is listless because of my groaning oh that I knew where I might find him that I might come to his seat I would present my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments I would know the words which he would answer me and understand what he would say to me. Would he contend with me in his great power? No, but he would take note of me. There the upright could reason with him and I would be delivered forever from my judge.

41:28 Okay, Eliphaz, you guys are saying, turn to God and you'll be all right. Great. Where is he? I have a problem you guys I'm looking for him I can't find him look verse 8 I go forward but he is not there and backward but I cannot perceive him when he works on the left hand I cannot behold him when he turns to the right hand I cannot see him God is invisible. because God is invisible, people have a hard time with him. How do you have a personal relationship with a person you never see? This is why idolatry is always a temptation, because you are making something visible that you can see, that you can touch, that will remind you of him, be it a picture or a statue, something visible. That's why so many religions have had idolatry.

42:39 God is invisible. And in Isaiah chapter, I think 45, I mentioned that earlier with Cyrus, but Isaiah said, oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down. I want to see this God that I am praying to, that is working behind the scenes. And I will even say as Christians, though we live by faith and walk by faith and not by sight, we too will not be satisfied until we see him face to face. when I awaken your likeness David said then I will be satisfied when I can see you then I'll be satisfied and so Paul writes to Titus and he said looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior the Lord Jesus Christ we like Job too long to see him face to face and we will. But he goes, I'm looking for him everywhere. Now in a court case, if the judge doesn't show up for the court case, you can't present your case before him. And that's, that's what Job is saying. I'm here for court. Judge isn't showing. Everywhere I go, I can't find where he is, but here's the jewel. Here's the gem. Here's now the high point in this chapter.

44:06 verse 10. Though I can't see him, verse 9, verse 10, but he knows the way that I take. And when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. I don't know where God is, but God knows where I am. Where is Job? In the furnace. Where is Job? On the dunghill. where is Job in the place of suffering? And Job is saying, I can't find God, but God knows I'm in this situation. He knows the way that I take. He's aware. If you can grab a hold of this truth, it can revolutionize your pain. Where was God on 9-11?

45:02 Right there. He wasn't hiding, wasn't distant. The Lord is near to all who call on him. When my son Nate was a little boy, I'm going to rat on him now, he was afraid of the dark. Probably most of us were.

45:28 One night we were playing hide and seek. Turn off the lights. and it was my wife Lenya's turn to seek. So I took Nate, and I hid him in the perfect spot where she couldn't find him. I put him on a top shelf on top of one of my bookshelves in a spot that he would hate in the dark ordinarily. He was up there and then I hid under my desk so he couldn't see me and it was pitch black and he started laughing. He started snickering because he thought mom will never find me. If he was up on that shelf on any other night, he wouldn't be laughing. He'd be terrified. Why was he laughing and snickering and confident at that point? Because he couldn't see me. He didn't know where exactly I was. He didn't know where I was hiding, but he knew that I knew where he was hiding. That was enough for him. It was enough to set it hard at ease and to get him to laugh. So in your hiding, in your sorrow and in your pain, know that God knows. Understand that God sees and let your heart be lightened. He knows where I'm at. He knows what I'm going through. He knows the way that I take. And then I love how he ends verse 10. When he has tested me, I'm going to win the gold. I will come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way. I have not turned aside. In ancient times, a goldsmith would heat up the gold, and then the impurities would rise to the surface. Probably most of you know, he would then skim off the impurities with a tool, and then let the gold

47:33 continue to simmer. And then he would scrape off the impurities with his tool. And the idea is that when the impurities were gone and the goldsmith could hover over that little pool of gold and see his image in the gold, he knew it was done. The impurities were taken away. when will your trials be over when the image of Christ is perfectly formed in you which means never until you get to heaven you're getting better I see more and more of him more and more every day in your life I hope you do too but it's only when the image is the perfect reflection, the trials are done. So take heart. When you're tested, you'll come forth as gold. This sets the unbeliever or the believer apart from the unbeliever because an unbeliever really can see no purpose in suffering. Their only hope in a relationship with suffering is to avoid it at all costs. But the believer knows, no, I'm in the furnace, but my father's eye is on me. He sees me. And my father's hand is on the thermostat. And when I'm tested, I'll come forth as gold. That revolutionizes our episodes of pain and suffering. Verse 12, let's finish this chapter up. I plan to go through 24, but I'll spare you.

49:21 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Now stop, go back real quick. Chapter 22, verse 23, the accusation of Eliphaz. If you were, if, uh, verse 22 receive, please instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart. And Job is countering that and saying, I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food, but he is unique. And who can make him change? Whatever his soul desires that he does, for he performs what is appointed for me and many such things are with him. Therefore, I am terrified at his presence when I consider this. I am afraid of him for God made my heart weak and the Almighty terrifies me because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness and he did not hide deep darkness from my face.

50:32 let's close on that note in verse 12 I've treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food that verse of scripture I found early in my Christian life and I if you were to look in books in my library or bibles past bibles that I have you will see that I have inscribed this verse at the beginning of books and at the beginning of Bibles, because it's just one of my, I remember reading and going, yes, I've esteemed his word even more necessary than my food. Now, I'm not saying that we can all claim that or that I can even claim that all the time, but here's my challenge. Feed your faith before you feed your face. as you feed your face make sure that you esteem feeding your faith even more than feeding your face i've esteemed the words of his mouth even more necessary than food jeremiah in chapter 15 said your words were found and i ate them and they were to me the joy and the rejoicing of my heart so the word of God and we'll we'll kind of get back to that as we finish out Job's rebuttal in chapter 24 and then we get as continue in this final round let me give you this challenge invisible does not mean unavailable invisible does not mean unapproachable because you cannot see god he is still accessible

52:23 and will give you what you need in your time of pain i had a friend he's now in glory he's now in heaven his name was ken mansfield he's spoken at this church before ken i met many years ago he was the manager for the beatles when they signed on to apple records in their second part of their career and he was one of the guys on the rooftop concert in london the very last public appearance the beatles ever made. So Ken and I became friends. He gave his life to Christ and he's had written several books, but he came down with cancer. And I remember talking to him when he was battling cancer and he said, you know, Skip, I pray. I don't hear from God. He was very much like Job. And he said, I'm praying and praying and trusting, but it's like the heavens are silent.

53:21 and this is he goes this is not good for our relationship mine and God we're not we're not doing well right now but he said you know what that has been my posture until just the last few days this is close to his death he said the Lord just spoke to my heart that scripture, be still and just know that I'm God. You don't have to remember anything else, Ken. Just remember I'm God. I know where you're at. I see where you're at. Just let that. And he goes, we're okay now. That truth has embedded its way into my heart. he knows where I'm at. I'm still before him. Now he's enjoying the fullness of God's glory.

54:16 Father, thank you that even in this world of pain and suffering and unanswered questions, our relationship with you, though it may be said to be awkward having a relationship with a person who we don't see or visibly or hear from audibly. Yet you do speak to us. You do comfort us through a variety of ways outlined in your word. Therefore, your word is so necessary to us. It nourishes our soul. It fortifies our being. May we desire it even more. than a meal. Father, I pray that you'd strengthen those who are suffering here in our congregation, as well as brothers and sisters again in the nation of Iran, suffering greatly.

55:16 Many who have lost loved ones in this revolution. Lord in the midst of that revolution would you bring a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ and be glorified in that place as well as in our place we commit it to you in Jesus name God's people said