Job Chapter 38:ALL

Welcome to Cross the Bridge with Pastor David Job chapter 38, and we're within four chapters of the end of the book of Job. There's a lot of things that we can learn from the book of Job, and some of them are obvious, and some of them are not quite so obvious. If we watch overall Job's response to what happened, it really is amazing, because, you know, things in life are gonna happen. Some really awesome, glorious things. Now we're gonna have some painful things. Our tendency when we go through painful things is to say, why?

As if, if only we had the answer, then somehow if it made sense, then we would understand, and somehow that would make it all okay. Let's read through Job 38. Job's three friends have gotten to speak. Job has gotten to speak. This new guy, Elihu, who really seems to be from the Lord, has spoken, and now God says, okay, you spoke, Job. It's my turn. And then the Lord answered, Job out of the whirlwind and said, who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

Now prepare yourself like a man. I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding, who determined its measurements?

Surely you know. Or who stretched the line, the measuring line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone? When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God or the angels shouted for joy?

Or who shot in the sea with doors? And when it burst and issued from the womb? When I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band?

When I fixed my limit for it and set bars and doors? When I said, this far you may come, but no further. And here your proud waves must stop. Have you commanded the morning since your days began and caused the dawn to know its place that it might take a hold of the ends of the earth and the wicked be shaken out of it? It takes on form like clay under a seal and stands out like a garment. From the wicked their light is withheld and the upraised arm is broken. Have you entered the springs of the sea or have you walked in search of the depths? Have the gates of death been revealed to you?

Or have you seen the doors, the shadow of death? It was important for God to clear up something that Job had said earlier. He talked about the rest and the peace in death. And God said, wait a minute, what do you know about death?

Because what you're saying is wrong. Verse 18, have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this, where is the way to the dwelling of light and darkness? Where is its place?

That you may take it to its territory, that you may know the paths to its home. Do you know it because you were born then or because the number of your days is great? Have you entered the treasury of snow or have you seen the treasury of hail, which I reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? But what way is light diffused? Or are the east winds scattered over the earth? Verse 25, who has divided a channel for the overflowing water or a path for the thunderbolt to cause it to rain on a land where there is no one, a wilderness in which there is no man, to satisfy the desolate waste and cause to spring forth the growth of tender grass? Has the rain a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb comes the ice and the frost of heaven? Who gives it birth?

The waters harden like stone and the surface of the deep is frozen. Can you find the cluster of Pleiades or loose the belt of Orion? Can you bring Mount Maseroth in its season?

Can you guide the great bear with its cubs? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds that an abundance of water make over you?

Can you send out lightnings that they may go and say to you, here we are? Who has put wisdom in the mind and who has given understanding to the heart? Who can number the clouds by wisdom or who can pour out the bottles of heaven when the dust hardens and clumps and the clods cling together? Can you hunt the prey for the lion or satisfy the appetite of the young lions when they crouch in their dens or lurk in their lares to lie in wait?

Who provides food for the raven when its young ones cry to God and wander about for lack of food? Job didn't have a lot of answers, but he had some. And friend, when you fall into a situation where you're not sure of what's going on, fall back on what you do know. Fall back on what you do know. In Job 19 25, something that Job knew, not something he thought, not something he was questioning, he says, I know.

What did you know that could have possibly helped him with this situation? Job knows in chapter 19 verse 25, for I know that my Redeemer lives and he shall stand at last on the earth. Me encourage you, when you're not sure of things around you, fall back on what you do know. And also, when you're confused, go back to your, in the military, they call them the last standing orders. You continue with what God told you to do until you know that he's telling you to do something else. And then Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25, talking about what we know, talking about Jesus, our high priest, it says, therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost, or the guttermost, those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For who?

For us. Jesus is right now making intercession for us, praying for us. In John 15 16 17, and hopefully you're rereading that gospel, we get a glimpse into the heart of God and he says, look, I'm not praying for everyone. I'm not praying for the world. I'm praying for you and the people that believe.

Beautiful. In Proverbs, we are told, or warned, if you will, not to lean on our own understanding. Now there's some things that your own understanding, and probably lean on it, and there's not a lot of danger, not a lot of harm, you know, your understanding of how the remote works or something like that. But there's certain things that if you lean on your understanding, it's like leaning on a sharp stick.

And the moment you begin to put in your real weight on it, it's gonna get painful. Proverbs chapter 3 verse 5 tells us, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. Don't lean on your answers.

Don't count on your understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. The chapter is a beautiful chapter.

It goes on. Also, don't trust in your stuff and things and honor the Lord with the first fruits, but don't lean to your own understanding. There's an interesting thing that Job says in chapter 38. There's different little sections, and one of the sections in verse 31 of chapter 38, he says, can you blot the bind, the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the belt of Orion? Can you bring out the Maseroth in its season, or God the Great there with its clumps? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?

Can you set their dominion over the earth? That's talking about stars and constellations, and it's very interesting that people were watching the stars writing these things down and were very familiar with what they did and how they moved, so much so that they were able to tell when there was a difference. When something happened that hadn't happened before, we don't know exactly what happened. I've been to a wonderful presentation down at, of all places, UNC Chapel Hill, who's not known for their conservative stances, but this one thing in their planetarium, and they showed these things, and it very possibly could have been a movement associated with the lion, that something happened, that it reversed, and they noticed that. And because they had been watching those things, it brings us to a life lesson.

Here's the life lesson. The ancient people watched the stars for signs from the beginning of time, and it was only through patiently watching the stars for a long time, recording where they were, when they were, that one day after many, many, many years, they saw a star that was different than a star left in the Bethlehem. It's such a cool story, you just ought to think of it, because these guys are watching the stars, and you know people are giving them a heart, what are you doing? Star watcher, you know, you're wasting your time. And yet some of these people were called by God to do that, and they couldn't stop, they kept going, and praise God they kept going.

Amen. Understand wanting answers. Job thought he wanted answers. Job's friends thought he wanted answers. Elihu thought he wanted answers. Answers aren't enough, they're really not. And I say that as somebody who I've been in a lot of those moments where people are asking, why the death of parents or the death of children? And sometimes we can say, well, God did this because, or maybe somebody was sick and hurting, and God was merciful.

But sometimes, sometimes words aren't enough. Pastor David will be back in less than one minute as he continues teaching in the book of Job. A great way to start out each day is with a practical email devotional every morning from Pastor David.

Visit crossthebridge.com to start receiving yours for free. If you have a cell phone, you can also text the word encourage to 94253, that's 94253, to receive a short encouraging text from us each day. And now back to the teaching. Again, we're all going to have things happen to us, but we're measured by not what happens to us. We're measured by our response to what happens to us. How you respond when something happens? How do you respond when something good happens? Do you get the glory to God and you're thankful? Or do you pat yourself on the back?

When something tough goes on, do you reach out to God first or last? Life lesson here. The true measure of a person is not how they do when all things are going well. The true measure of a person is how they do when tough times happen. The true measure of a person is not how they do when all things are going well. The true measure of a person is how they do when tough times happen. How we respond.

And sometimes we get answers, but again, fall back on what you know. I know my Redeemer lives. I know I've been forgiven. As a matter of fact, if you haven't ever done this, of saying those things in your prayer time, I would encourage you to do that.

To start to do that. I am a child of God. I know that God loves me. I know that I've been forgiven. I know that I have eternal life.

Take time to say those things. Verse 32 says, can you bring out Maseroth and its seasons? And that's the Hebrew zodiac. But then he says, or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs? Now, he's speaking of a constellation named Arcturus.

Now, you know, it's really interesting. And this is 3,000 years ago plus. Can you guide, can you steer Arcturus? What's really intriguing about that reference is the Great Bear or Arcturus travels at 4,200 miles per hour.

Has been estimated to be as large as seven times the size of the sun. Now again, this is written 3,000 years ago or so. And the Lord is saying, can you guide or can you steer Arcturus? Arcturus, not too long ago, began to move faster than the other stars. It shouldn't happen. It doesn't happen in science. There's laws of physics that shouldn't happen, but it started to happen. And they were measuring it so they could see. And this star became known recently as the runaway star. And yet 3,000 years ago, God says, can you steer the runaway star?

Now, if you really want to bake your noodle, think about this. Had it already happened and the light was just moving in, or did it actually occur later, it just shows how big God is. And yet He loves us personally, intimately, cares about what we do and what we go through. I'm going to close with this story. If you've been here for years, you've heard this story before, but I'm going to tell it again because there's some people that haven't heard it.

Maybe there's something that you can get in the repeating of it that you didn't get the first 12 times. We were out in California and traveling, and we had a little dog that we had gotten in Nashville when we lived in Nashville. And we called her Brown, and she was my dog. You know, when I was in the bathroom getting ready, she would lay against the door, waiting for me to come out. And Nora could send her into a tizzy by saying, where's Daddy?

Where's Daddy? And she'd run around the apartment or house or whatever, trying to find me. And she was great with the kids. She wouldn't growl at them to save her life.

One time we looked back and Benjamin had her ear, and she was like, but never once growled. We were in Los Angeles and she got a scent of something, I don't know, and she got off the leash and she was killed. So then I needed to figure out how to get her back here. And so I was calling the airlines, and every time I tried to tell the story, I would begin to break up and we couldn't bring her back as she was.

We needed to have her put in a little box. And so anyway, that Sunday we were at another place and I was sharing, speaking, singing, and was sharing this song called Love Letter off the first album. And it says, I give to you my children, I give to you my wife, I give to you my music, I give to you my life. And I'm singing this at the endless service. And I start to sing, and I've given you my dog. So I started thinking about the dog and then it just fell apart. And I thought, oh. And keep in mind, I mean, I come through every year and a half or something to this church, so they're watching us going, does he do this every time? Or what's this part about?

You know? And so I've turned around and I feel like, well, okay, I need to explain what just happened so they don't think I'm Tammy Fay and just begin the waterworks at the end of the song. So I explained that that week that this special dog had died and that it was still very fresh and painful, you know, so that's what happened. So after that, I gave the altar call and there was a wonderful response to the altar call.

So we finished up and we started loading up and you had somewhere else that we were going to that night and we had all the lights and the sound and the, you know, the CDs and the t-shirts and some packing and all that and loading up. And we were just finishing up loading and the pastor comes and he goes, man, you got just a few minutes. And I was so tempted to say, bro, and I really don't.

I'd love to chat, but I really can't. But I didn't. Praise God. I said, yeah, yeah. He said, because I got to tell you a story.

So what is it? He said, there's a lady in our church. She comes every time the doors are open. She loves this place, loves me.

Her husband, not so much. He doesn't come. He doesn't like her coming. He comes Easter Christmas and she invited him to come this morning because it was a special event with you sharing.

And so he responded by coming and they're in their 70s. And he said, I've never seen any movement from this man towards the Lord. You need to know that this morning that man gave his heart to Jesus.

And you need to also know that they lost two dogs in the house fire this week. And when you were up there talking about your dog, you made a connection with him that I've never been able to make. And because of that connection, you led him to the Lord. God is so good.

God did not have to tell me that. That could have stayed a question mark, but it wasn't. And so many of the question marks in my life God has answered so that I can trust Him with the remaining question marks.

Can you? Can you trust Him with what you don't know? Can you trust Him with what you don't know about other people? Can you trust Him? He's trustworthy, no doubt about it. And sometimes He gloriously gives us the answer and reveals to us why something happened or why things happen the way they do. But sometimes He doesn't give the answers.

And that's when we trust Him. Let's pray. God thank you.

Thank you for answers. Thank you for not answering sometimes. Lord thank you that we can trust you. We can trust you with all things. We can trust you with our lives. We can trust you with the lives of our children. We can trust you with our eternal lives.

God we can trust you with the offense in our lives. And Lord we are all going to come to moments in our lives where we do not have all the answers. And that's okay because while we don't know all the answers, we know the one who has all the answers.

God you know everything. You knew that this star was going to be a runaway star long before it was. You knew we were going to be here this evening gathered. You knew who would be here. Lord you know what the future holds.

Who comes into leadership? Who doesn't? And Lord you've told us so much of these things in the scripture and yet you haven't told us everything and we can trust you tonight. Tonight Lord we don't wait for the next event, the next occurrence or the next relationship event. Tonight we say to you we trust you. We trust you with our lives. We trust you with our loved ones. We trust you with our salvation and we trust you when we don't have the answers.

What about you friend? Are you in a place right now where you're troubled because you don't have all the answers? You're troubled as you look out into the future and because you don't know everything. What's going to happen here?

What's going to happen there? There's only one of us that has all the answers and it's not you and it's not me. It's God and we can trust Him. These are indeed troubling times. The Bible says they're perilous times but we can still trust Him. As we see things happen He says let not your heart be troubled. When you hear vores and rumors of wars don't let your heart be troubled.

He says I've gone to prepare a place for you and if I'm preparing a place I'll come back. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Lord thank you that we do not understand so many things. We don't understand these constellations. We don't understand everything that's going on in the Middle East.

We don't even understand everything about ourselves. But we trust you. We trust you. We trust you when things are going well. We trust you when things are not going well. Knowing that somehow you're using these events for our blessing and our benefit. Trust the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.

Thank you Jesus for an awesome night in you. If you need prayer, maybe you got something physical going on, you want somebody to pray over you, an oil or there's some other prayer need, then after we close we'll have the elders come up and they'd love to pray for you. Surely if you are unsure, if you know the Lord or not, come up here after the service and talk to these folks.

They don't love to talk to you. But I don't think this this teaching is as simple as come forward and it's all done. You know it's decide tonight that no matter what happens you're gonna trust the Lord. Because apparently there's some kind of shaky interesting times coming up. Trust the Lord. Trust the Lord when you understand. Trust the Lord when you don't understand.

Don't lean to your own understanding. Lord thank you for an awesome time in your Word tonight. Thank you that we can trust you. Thank you for the book of thank you for the book of Job. Thank you for the leaders like DA, like James.

Thank you for the good reports. Thank you for those who serve those who sow into this ministry. Hallelujah.

Thank you Jesus. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord's face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His face to you and give you His peace, His shalom, His protection, His provision, His prosperity, His healing, His wholeness. His name is upon you. In Hashem Yahshua the name of Jesus. And everybody says Amen. Amen. So trust the Lord with all your heart.

Lean not to your own understanding. Remember God loves you and we love you. You've been listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge Weekend Edition.

Tune in again next Saturday afternoon at 4 30 Eastern and 1 30 Pacific time as Pastor David continues teaching lessons from the life of Job on most radio stations. Friends God loves you and wants you to experience His peace, forgiveness, and life. The Bible says for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. How do you receive this gift of everlasting life from God? First acknowledge you're a sinner in need of forgiveness. Believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and died for you on the cross taking your sin upon Himself to provide forgiveness for you. Then ask for Him to enter your heart in life turning away from your sins that is your own selfish desires and then open your heart to follow God's plan for your life. You can start your new life by praying something like this from your heart. Dear Jesus I believe that you died for me that I could be forgiven.

I believe you are resurrected that I could have a new life. Lord I have done wrong things and I'm sorry. Please forgive me for all of those things and please give me the power to live for you the rest of my life. In Jesus name.

Amen. My friend if you prayed that prayer today for the first time or are coming back to God after wandering away please let us know. Email PastorDavid at CrossTheBridge.com and share your good news. That's a great first step to growing in your new faith. We'd love to email you back some more ways to continue in this wonderful adventure of faith. Remember that you are not alone and you are loved. Also don't forget to visit CrossTheBridge.com to discover more resources provided at no charge to help you learn more about the Bible. If you'd like to help us share God's word with others please click on the donate button and support this program with your regular gifts and tune into Cross the Bridge weekend editions each Saturday and Sunday on this station or on the CrossTheBridge.com website. God bless you and have a great day.