Why?, Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. And it says, seven days and seven nights, no one speaking a word to him. He saw his pain was very great. It was excruciating. They never said a word.

By the way, this part of their action is very, very good. If you have someone you love and they are suffering in this way, what seems to be at this stage of life, this is a great example to follow. Warren Wiersbe writes this, Wiersbe says the best way to help people who are hurting is just to be with them saying little or nothing and letting them know you care. Don't try to explain everything. Explanations never heal a broken heart.

There's nothing to say here. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's word meets our world. The word is excruciating. When you hear that word, it demands a response, excruciating. The resetting of the bone was excruciating.

You can feel it. That word, by the way, comes from the word crucible. And which comes from the Latin word crux.

Which comes to the English word cross. Excruciating. Job was in the crucible.

And it was excruciating. The last time as we went through this story of how excruciating it was for him, we were also proud of Job. I mean, as you read through those scriptures early on in this book, you're so proud of Job. He lost his possessions. He lost his servants. He lost his 10 children.

He lost his own health and he lost the respect of his wife. And we read in that section through all this, Job did not sin, nor did he blame God. So Job looks like he was doing great. And if that's all we knew about the story of Job. We would simply say that Job is the perfect example of how a believer should suffer and that we should follow Job's example. But the story in Job continues and it reveals a lot of new information.

That we need to see. Open your Bibles to Job chapter two and verse 11. We're introduced to one of the themes of the Book of Job. And something that really does apply to our own lives.

We see what's introduced here is this. Having friends is a wonderful thing. But not always. That's what we're going to learn in Job. Having friends is a wonderful thing.

But not always. It says now when Job's three friends heard of all the adversity that had come upon him, they came each one from their own place. Three friends.

And please understand something here. If there is a word that's meaningless in our culture, it's that word. The Hebrew word for friend, the Hebrew concept of a friend is extremely different than ours. Solomon wrote in Proverbs, there is a friend who stays closer than a brother. That's a friend. Unfortunately for us, we define friends as how many we have on Facebook. Those are our friends. They are not.

And if you ever need a kidney, you'll know why. That's not what friend is. These are friends. These are people bound to him. And notice something about him. How are there his friends?

We don't know. It could be because he has done such great business in that part of the world. And these are three other significant men. But what's interesting, the friends heard of this adversity and they came to him at great distance. Because that's what a friend does. Friend doesn't ask to be asked to come. Someone's going through adversity, a friend comes.

And that's exactly what they did. These friends show up. And they're introduced Eliphaz, a Temanite. Eliphaz, a Temanite, that's an important town in Edom.

In that part of the world. And in Jeremiah 49 and verse 7, it said it was known for its wisdom. That even Jeremiah the prophet coming that much later said that place has always been known for wisdom. And that's where Eliphaz comes from. And Bildad, who is a Shu'ite. He comes from the land of Shu'a.

And Zophar, the Nemethite, who comes from Nema. He said, and they made an appointment together to come and notice all they want to do is exactly what a friend should do. They wanted to come and sympathize with him and to comfort him. They have pure motives. They want to sympathize and comfort him.

But as the story unveils itself. They cause Job more suffering than Satan did himself. Because of their worldly advice to him. They attack his relationship with God. Over and over again. They become a tool of the enemy.

By applying worldly wisdom. It said when they lifted up their eyes at a distance. They did not recognize him. An unimaginable sight. He's outside the city. He's on the dump.

And he's scraping all the sores off of his body. It's been excruciating for him. Have you ever seen somebody who has been suffering that you hadn't seen for a long time suffering stage four cancer?

End of chemo. And you finally visit him in the hospital and you almost don't recognize them. You see what the toll of suffering is and that's what happens to them.

It's an unimaginable sight. It says they raise their voices and they wept. That word is Gakia.

Gakia in Hebrew. It means to weep in a sense bitterly and quietly. They're not wailing here. They're just sobbing and crying.

Now obviously Job sees that but they're just sitting with them and they're sobbing and crying. And it says that each of them tore his robe. They're grieving. You tear your robes at a funeral. They're tearing the robe. They know that.

These are wise men. They've seen people die before. They tear the robe and then it says and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky. Again a funeral idea. Back to the ashes to ashes and dust to dust. He's a dying man.

Right here in front of us. What's interesting about that too is that it then says that they set down on the ground with him. For seven days. They see a dead man sitting. And they just sit down with him.

And it says seven days and seven nights. No one speaking a word to him. They saw his pain was very great. It was excruciating.

They never said a word. By the way this part of their action is very very good. If you have someone you love and they are suffering in this way. What seems to be at this stage of life. This is a great example to follow. Warren Wiersbe writes this. Wiersbe says the best way to help people who are hurting.

Is just to be with them saying little or nothing and letting them know you care. Don't try to explain everything. Explanations never heal a broken heart.

There's nothing to say here. And they don't but they start it and it becomes very bad. Just imagine this scene.

These three men come. Job can perceive them. He's suffering immeasurably. And they just sit down beside him and they sit there for seven days. No one says a word to him. That's an amazing scene when you think about it.

But I want you to think of something else about Job then. In this silence. How lonely is this suffering?

By the way do you notice that? Do you really really suffer? You suffer alone.

We all do. You suffer. There's a loneliness to suffering. Thomas Wolf wrote a book called the Anatomy of Loneliness. And he says the most tragic sublime and beautiful expression of loneliness. Which I have ever read on suffering is in the book of Job. He suffered.

Alone. Matthew 26 says. And then Jesus said to them my soul was deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch with me. And he went a little beyond them and he fell on his face and he prayed. And he said my father if it's possible let this cup pass from me.

Yet not my will be done but yours. He's alone. He's suffering alone. Luke picks up on the story and says and being in agony. Excruciating and being in agony. He was praying fervently and his sweat.

Became like drops of blood. Falling to the ground. And if you remember even when he came back from that what were the disciples doing?

Sleeping. On the cross my God my God. Why have you forsaken me? He's alone. And when you have excruciating suffering in your life just like with Jesus or Job you do it alone.

Having friends is a wonderful thing but we'll see later not always. But then something happens in chapter 3. And the theme of chapter 3 to me is this. What extreme suffering can do to even the best of us. What extreme suffering can do even to the best of us. It is easily the darkest chapter in the book of Job. It's an incredibly dark chapter. You get Job reveals his heart to us in this chapter.

He is speaking for himself and in a sense he's speaking to himself. There is a pain so deep that we can't see the light. That we can't find the relief and that we can't grasp any hope.

And it can affect the very best of us. It says afterward Job opened his mouth and he cursed the day of his birth. He put a curse on the day of his birth. I wish I was never born in this excruciating agony.

Hold your place here this isn't that unusual. Look at Jeremiah chapter 20. Jeremiah 20 and we'll come back to Job verse 14. By the way what's the story of Jeremiah? He's a prophet.

What was he known as? The weeping prophet. Why is he weeping? Because no one listens to him. And his life stinks.

He's suffering. Notice what Jeremiah the prophet says in verse 14. Cursed be the day when I was born. Let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me. Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father saying a baby boy has been born to you. And made him very happy. But let that man be like the cities which the Lord overthrew without relenting.

And let him hear an outcry in the morning and a shot of alarm at noon. Because he did not kill me before birth. So that my mother would have been my grave. And he said in her womb. He said ever pregnant.

Why did I ever come forth from the womb? To look on trouble and sorrow. So that he said my days will be spent in shame. That's Jeremiah. Extreme suffering can affect even the very best of us.

All of us. Turn with me back to Psalm 88. The Psalmist. Psalm 88. In this one I want you to look at the inscription.

It's very important. The inscription says a song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah for the choir director. We're going to sing this. This is something we ought to put to music.

Here's what he writes. Oh Lord. The God of my salvation I have cried out by day. And in the night before you let my prayer come before you. Incline your ear to my cry. For my soul has had enough troubles. And my life has drawn near to Sheol. I am reckoned among those who go down to the pit.

I have become like a man without strength. Forsaken among the dead. Like the slain who lie in the grave. Whom you remember no more.

And they are cut off from your hand. You have put me in the lowest pit in the darkest places and in the depths. Your wrath has rested upon me. And you have afflicted me with all your waves.

And then Silah which is pause. That's the first verse. Let's sing that together.

My life stinks and I find no way out. You see, why does God tell us this? Because it's reality.

It's true. We can suffer at such an excruciating depth. That the perspective that we have when we are not suffering is not something we can always carry through the deep pain that we feel.

Now back to Job. You know when I think about this whole week in preparation. You know, I am amazed over all these years how many people I know in this church that have suffered. From my point of view in an unimaginable way. Just terrible horrific suffering.

You see and if you haven't, that's fortunate. But for almost all of us this kind of suffering can visit us. And it can visit the best of us. It visits Jeremiah, it visits Job, it visits Jesus. It can happen to anybody.

I get so angry when I hear what I would call so called teachers especially on television. Telling people that if they are faithful people they will never suffer greatly at all. They will never find themselves in a dark place.

They will always be victorious. That's a lie. There is no truth in that at all.

To me that is just a shallow trite Christianity. Job then begins to speak here. And Job said, and right there the whole book changes. Right up till now everything in the book has been prose. It's a historic narrative.

It picks that back up in chapter 42. And now it becomes a poem the rest of the way. It's Hebrew poetry. Everything now in the rest from here through chapter 42 is written in poetry. So you have to interpret it in a sense poetically.

But Job starts speaking and he speaks in a sense through his poem. He said, let the day perish on which I was born and the night which said a boy is conceived. I don't even want the day that I was born to exist. And I don't want the night I was conceived to exist.

I'd rather have never been conceived and certainly never been born. Why does he say that? The pain.

Unbelievable pain. He said, may that day be darkness. He said, let not God above care for it, nor light shine on it. That's what this chapter is all about is darkness.

Job loves this term. In all the way through scripture, you see the idea of darkness and light. When God created in Genesis and he created light and he said, it is good. Jesus said, I'm the light of the world, but there's darkness. And Job says, I'm in a very, very, very dark place. He said, let darkness and black gloom claim it. Let a cloud settle on it. Let the blackness of the day terrify it. As for that night, let darkness seize it. Let it not rejoice among the days of the year.

Let it not come into the number of the months. Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful shout enter it. Wow.

The day I was born. He said, just wish it never existed. Please understand the despair of his suffering.

We read it and we go, oh, that's terrible. But understand what has happened. It's not just that he lost all of his possessions and all of his servants. He lost his families.

He had 10 children in that Semitic world. His legacy is extremely important to him. He has no legacy. He has no respect. He has no possessions. And he does not have a relationship with his wife at this time.

And he's sitting out on the city dump. How could he not feel this way? Why was I ever born?

What's the point? Notice, Job doesn't curse God in this. He doesn't curse God. That's great. And he doesn't talk about the present because he believes that's not up to Job.

But he knows he believes in his own mind. I don't think I have a future. So all I can do is go back to the past. Boy, I wish I was never born.

That's what I wish. He says in verse 8, Let those cursed who curse the day, who are prepared to rouse Leviathan. Now, the idea of rousing Leviathan. Leviathan is the sea monster of chaos. And those who rouse Leviathan are known in that culture as the enemies of God.

And every once in a while, they would rouse Leviathan and Leviathan would cause chaos. So he's just using a poetic picture here of what's happening. He's expressioning his own lament here and how he sees it. He said, Let the stars of its twilight be darkened. Let it wait for light, but have none. He said, Neither let it see the breaking dawn. He said, Because it did not shut the opening of my mother's womb or hide trouble from my eyes.

How hurting do you have to be? You see what I mean? If we only ended what last time, we would have said, What a great example Job is to us. He just took it like a man.

No, not necessarily. He is taking it like a man. The excruciating pain and suffering can have an enormous effect even on the very best of us. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com. That's OnePlace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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