Why?, Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. I get so angry when I hear what I would call so-called teachers, especially on television, telling people that if they're faithful people, they'll never suffer greatly at all. They'll never find themselves in a dark place. They'll always be victorious. That's a lie.

There's no truth in that at all. To me, that is just a shallow trite Christianity. 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. You know, when I think about this whole week in preparation, you know, I am amazed that 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're faithful people, they'll never suffer greatly at all, though they'll never find themselves in a dark place.

They'll always be victorious. That's a lie. There's 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 and 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 don't 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.

And he says 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 that's not up to Job.

He 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. When I wish I was never born.

That's what I wish. He says in verse eight, Let those curse it who curse the day who are prepared to rouse Leviathan. Now, the idea of rousing Leviathan, Leviathan is the. This 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 in the vice and 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'd have said, what a great example Joe Bizder was. He just took it like a man.

Well, not necessarily. He is taking it like a man. You see. Excruciating pain and suffering can have an enormous effect even on the very best of us.

He then immediately goes to questions, four questions, three times he says why the other time it's inferred. By the way, whenever you're really suffering, what's the question you always bring up? Why?

Why? Whenever we're being blessed, we don't even ask that question too much. So often we think it's because of our own efforts. You know why we're so good? Because I'm so successful. But why?

That's his question. Why did I not die at birth? What's the point of me being alive? I have no children, no legacy.

I have no possessions. Why? Why couldn't I just die at birth?

Lots of children do. Why come forth from the womb and expire? Why couldn't I just be stillborn? Why did the knees receive me and why the breast that I should suck? Why was life given to me? And that's because he suffered so much.

He said, for now I would have lain down and been quiet. Don't miss that. When you suffer as much as Job is, and some people do, death is viewed as rest. I just want to stop. I just want to stop. I just need the rest.

That's what he's saying. I just need rest. And I wish I'd have been resting since the day of my birth.

He goes on and he says, I would have slept then and I would have been at rest. Now what's interesting about this is Job now reveals something different to us. He reveals a very primitive view of death. Job doesn't have your view of death in mind. He might be the most righteous man on earth at this time. He's back there about the time of Abraham. If you understand something, Job has no scripture.

None. He has no scriptures at all. He's faithful. He's a good man. But he doesn't have any of that. His view of death is a very interesting view.

And he paints it very clearly here. He goes on, he says this, with kings and with counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves. Or with princes who had gold who were filling their houses with silver. Or like a miscarriage which is disregarded. I would not be as infants that never saw the light. Now you've got to love those two verses. Job says, you know one thing I know about the dead, it doesn't matter who you are. You could be a king or a prince or a stillborn, you're dead. They all go to rest, they're just all dead.

That's Job's perspective here. He goes on and he says, there the wicked cease from raging. And there the weary are at rest. The prisoners are at ease together.

They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster. He said the small and the great are there. And the slave is free from his master. He said it really doesn't matter. Everybody who's dead is dead. It'll be a place of rest. We know better, don't we? Death is not necessarily a place of rest. We know that. Everybody does die. But the worst thing that could ever happen to a human being is to die without Christ. We know that. Separated then forever from God. We know that. There's something much worse than physically dying.

It's remaining spiritually dead. Job didn't understand that at this time. And so then he starts doing again what he's been doing all along.

He starts asking questions. Why? Why? That's what the, why? You understand as we move on in the book, his friends are going to say, we know why. That's why we're wise. We know why because you did something wrong. We know why that you don't have an honest relationship with God.

We know why. By the way, I think Job actually believed the same thing. I think his world view would have been just like that. But Job knows something they don't know.

He knows he hasn't done anything. Remember how sensitive Job is to his walk with God. That even when his children would have birthday parties for the boys, we saw. Job would go afterwards and make offerings to God in case they sinned during their party. That's how sensitive he was about sin in life of his children, let alone his own life.

So that leaves Job with this tremendous amount of questions. And it's always the same. He says in verse 20, why is light given to him who suffers?

I love the light there. Think about it this way. Why would you endow me with so much wisdom?

Remember he's one of the great men of the east. Why would you endow me with so much wisdom to have me sitting on the city dump out here, scraping sores off my body? Why?

What does that represent? I have no legacy. I have no children. I have nothing. I don't have health. I don't have a marriage. I don't have anything.

Why would you do this? You see, that is a great question. It's interesting. Why is light given to him who suffers is singular in Hebrew. The next part of the verse, and life to the bitter of soul.

That's plural. He means all of us who suffer. Why is life given to us to suffer so immeasurably? You see, why? Why give us life and then we suffer?

He said, look, let me describe myself. Who long for death, but there is none. He longs to die. You can suffer that much.

In our culture we say it differently. We can pull the plug. Because we long to die. You see, that's Job's feeling. We long to die. He said, and dig for it more than hidden treasures. He just doesn't long to die.

He longs to die. Think of the 49ers gold rush in California. How were those miners?

What were they like? Boy, they were looking for it, right? I mean, don't do anything to find the gold. Treasure hunters are treasure hunters.

They're enthusiastic about the gold. Job says, that's how I am about death. I want to die. You see, I pray for death. He said, they rejoice greatly and exalt when they find the grave. You want a happy moment for me, it will be my last.

That will be happy. All my wisdom is of no use. I just want to die. He says in verse 23, why is light given to a man whose way is hidden and whom God has hedged in? He knows that likely there's an enemy, but he says you hedge me in. Remember he said, blessed be the name of the Lord. The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, you've taken away.

Why? He says, my cries pour out like water. What's the point of my life? That's what suffering can do to us. He says, for what I fear comes upon me and what I dread befalls me. I'm in perpetual suffering. This is excruciating pain. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet. I am not at rest.

Turmoil comes. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Why? That's what enough suffering can do to people just like you and me. And people better than us from a spiritual point of view. Remember this is a man that God said is the most righteous man on earth. But he is suffering. He is feeling this incredible agony. What a depressing chapter.

I mean really. The friends who come but don't help. See what suffering can do to even the best of us. But there's more here in this chapter I think than meets the eye.

First thing I'd say is this. Even in his darkness, Job can't avoid God. Even in his darkness, what he's expecting, he can't avoid God. He says what was given to me.

Well, given implies something, doesn't it? A receiver and a giver. Who gave me this? God did. I can't avoid God in this. And in his restlessness, I'll put it, whether he realizes it or not, he has a glimmer of something here.

You have to think about this. He has a glimmer of hope. He said, no, no, I think he was hopeless.

Well, let me tell you something. If you're hopeless, there's no point in asking the question why. You see, there's no point in saying why if it's hopeless. There's no point in saying anything. But he does talk about that. He talks about the why.

He says that he wants to die but the why question betrays him. Why is this happening to me? What a picture this is. Out of this darkness, there's something going on here.

Very important for you and me. God is at work. In the middle of all this, God is at work. There is a man who came 2,000 years after Job and came 2,000 years before you and me. You see, there was that man.

Job is a picture. And as much as Job suffered, even Job's suffering can't compare to what happened to Jesus Christ. The suffering would be overwhelming. A man hung on the cross. And by the way, when he was hanging there and suffering, what happened in the world?

What does gospel writers tell us? It became dark. Dark. It's an interesting Greek word too. It means can't see your hand in front of your face, dark.

Not really a solar eclipse. I know everyone wants to talk about that. This became supernaturally dark. And in the darkness, there's one crying out, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, crying it out. My God, my God, why?

That's what he said. Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, my God, my God, why? That's what that kind of agony brings that question about, why? Now, Jesus knew why. He was born to die.

For the last year and a half of his ministry, he told his disciples, the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem, be arrested, be crucified. He knew that. He knows why. But in that agony and suffering, that's his question. He cries out, why? And for all we know, there was silence.

But I think he understood something in a still small voice. Jesus said, why? And the Father said, because I love them and I have a plan. And that's always the answer to why. If you're suffering and suffering immeasurably and in agony and you can identify with Job and you cry out to God, why? You know what he says to you?

Because I love you and I have a plan. Wow. You see, one thing I've learned from studying the Bible all these years, the Bible tells you and I that God will give us promises to live on. He does. And he tells you and I that we have to believe his promises.

That's what he says. You have to believe what I promised. The Bible is big on promises and the Bible is small on explanations. God doesn't explain himself. You'll find later he doesn't explain himself to Job. You see, he doesn't explain himself. And he may not explain himself to you. But he says, look, here's my promise.

Because I love you and I have a plan. Let's pray. Father, this kind of chapter is one of those chapters that means almost nothing to us when life is going well and everything seems to be wonderful. But unfortunately for virtually all of us, we go through our own valley of the shadow of death. We go through excruciating suffering and agony. We grieve the loss of those we love. We grieve the loss of our own health. We grieve, Father, the loss of our meaningfulness and our purpose in life as we lose it, as we age. And Father, in the midst of all that, we often cry out to you why. Thank you for the example of Job. It's honest.

It's straightforward. And he is such a perfect picture of Jesus Christ. Father, I pray for us that we have to come to this realization that living on a cursed planet as sinful people will bring a pain about in our lives that was never intended in your creation, but is the result of sin. Father, thank you for the rest of the book because we know that in the end, we win.

And as believers in Jesus Christ, we know that the worst thing that could happen to us can't. But Father, may these verses help us the next time we suffer. In Jesus' name, Amen. In Jesus' name, Amen. In Jesus' name, Amen. If you're looking for, you can listen online. Or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.