Few people have ever endured as much hardship and loss as Job. What did he learn and what can we learn from all that he went through? Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah shares three lessons we can take away from Job's ordeals. and take to heart when we face our own challenges.
To introduce the conclusion of his message, when trials become our teacher, here's David.
Well, thank you so much for joining us today. As we get close to the middle of the month of July, we're talking about some passages of scripture that are meant to encourage and strengthen us wherever we are and whatever our walk may look like. And during this month, we're making available a special book by my friend Rob Morgan. This book has to do with the scriptures that have made a difference in the history of America. It was written some years ago, but finds its way into the 250th anniversary of our nation, very comfortably helping us understand some things.
You know, the Bible has played an essential role in American history. From the Mayflower, to the To modern times, America's moral and intellectual foundation. a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. That's the Bible. And while not every founding father was a Christian, Each was known for his understanding of the Bible, and while none of them was perfect, many embraced a deep faith in the unfailing word of God.
Rob Morgan has captured some of the key moments. In the history of this nation, and written them in a devotional way. This is a wonderful book, hardback book that you can read and enjoy. especially maybe on your summer vacation during this anniversary year. It's yours for the asking when you send a gift of any size to Turning Point today.
Simply ask for a hundred Bible verses that made America, and it will be on its way to you in just a short time. Here we go with When Trials Become Our Teacher, Part 2. After Satan struck the first time, against Job. All Job had left was his wife and his friends.
Now we read that even his wife has abandoned him. You cannot imagine how painful that must have been to the patriarch. Chrysostom A church father who is not supposed to have any sense of humor about this at all wrote that the only reason Satan didn't kill Job's wife when the rest of his family was killed was because he knew he was going to use her later on to do some more damage to Job. And the most difficult thing to accept about the seventh verse of this chapter is the fact: if you look at it carefully, Job's wife asked Job to do exactly what Satan wanted him to do. Did you see that?
Satan wanted Job to curse God and die. And she said to him, Why don't you curse God and die? One of the things we have to be careful about here is to recognize that even though people are close to us, sometimes they can give us wrong messages. Adam listened to Eve. Abraham listened to Sarah.
Job's wife advised him to give up his faith. and commit suicide. But I want to tell you something. There's another side to the story that we need to be careful to mention. Before we throw Job's wife under the bus.
I'd like to try to put this whole scene in perspective. Don Baker has written a book called Pain's Hidden Purpose. And in that book, he has written these words. He says: Many have speculated as to just what Job's wife may have meant when she looked at that emaciated and blackened body and suggested that Job end his suffering.
Some see Job's wife, he wrote, at this point, as hardened and bitter, unconcerned for his relationship with God. I see her, wrote Don Baker, as a sensitive, caring, concerned woman who loved Job and honored his commitment. No family could have enjoyed the oneness that Job's family shared if their mother had been calloused or cruel. But she was stretched at this point. Weeks of suffering had passed without relief.
Every morning she woke up to the same pain, only to find it intensified. Every night she'd pray for her husband's healing, but it never came. And there was no medication, no Tylenol-3, no Percidan, no Demerol, no morphine to ease the pain, no Valium, not even an aspirin to help him go to sleep. His suffering was so intense, his looks so hideous, his condition so infectious that he was forced to move out of the house. and relocate at the city dump.
And she couldn't stand it any longer. In a moment of deep and frustrated anguish, she suggested Job. Why don't you curse God and die? Tell God you've had enough. He's not going to heal you.
He's gone back on his promise. He's not even aware of your problem. Job, I'd rather see you dead than like this. Maybe we could die. together.
End of quote. It's hard to blame this woman, isn't it? when you realize what she was experiencing. But to his credit Job didn't listen to his wife's advice. He gave a solid answer in verse 10.
He said to her, You speak as one of the foolish women. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. Job's response here was profoundly simple. As you read the language, here's basically what he said to her: He said, Woman, Don't talk like a foolish person.
You're talking like an unbeliever. Don't do that. Shall we accept good from God, he said, and not accept his adversity? And he rejected her suggestion. Job was slowly Methodically being stripped to the very nakedness of his spiritual being.
All the things that clothe the spirit of man were being ripped apart. All that man leans upon for help and strength was taken from him until we now see this man left alone, a soul. That was forced to stand naked in the universe of God. All the props removed. I want to stop for just a moment and Put a little counsel in here if I might.
I want to take just a moment and remind all of us now that we've done away with all of the ups and downs of Job's wife. And just say to the wives here. Don't ever, ever underestimate your importance to your husband. Don't ever think your words of affirmation Are less important than others. I promise you, your husband cares more about what you say.
than what anybody else on the earth says. And especially when you're going through times that are stressful and difficult. He needs you. And without you, he probably won't make it.
Sometimes, when difficulty comes, couples have a tendency to pull apart. But if you read the scripture and follow God's way, you will know that when difficulty comes, godly couples come together. and they face the trauma and difficulties of life as a team. And they go through. and come out victorious.
I remember reading about a time when Martin Luther was going through a very difficult time in his life. He was being criticized by everybody, and he was overwhelmed, and like sometimes happens, he got really depressed. His wife realized how serious things had become for Martin, and she decided that she would do something to help him come out of his depression.
So she put on a black dress. and began to express herself as if she was in mourning. She went about her duties in the house. With a terrible look of sorrow on her face. And Luther was startled by her appearance, and he said to her.
Who died? She says, oh, God did. God died? What in the world do you mean, woman? She said, Well, the way you've been acting, God must be dead.
And all of a sudden Luther got the point. And he came out of his depression.
Now, I don't know how creative you ladies are, but that's certainly one you can't use because I've told everybody about it. There's all kinds of ways to encourage your husband and to help him see things. As he should.
So we've come through the first two sections of the second chapter: Job accused by Satan and abandoned by his wife, and now we come thirdly to Job assaulted by his friends. And we read in the second chapter of Job. In verses 11 through 13, Now when Job's three friends heard of All this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Namathite, for they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him and to comfort him. And when they raised their eyes from afar, they did not recognize him, and lifted their voices and wept. And each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven.
And they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights. No one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.
Now, today, whenever you say the phrase Job's comforters, What you mean is you're talking about somebody whose counsel only makes you feel worse than you did before they came. Most of the commentary about Job's friends is negative, but let's take a moment and think about the good things that they did. First of all, They came to Job when he was in trouble. Do you know it's easy to be a friend from afar off? But these three guys got together and they went to where Job was.
And there was some kind of commitment on their part. They made an appointment, it says, together to go and see Job. And they also had hearts of compassion when they saw him from afar. They were taken aback by his appearance and they began to weep. The intensity of their mourning was the kind usually reserved for death or total disaster.
The Bible says they tore their robes. And they wailed and they threw dust into the air. And then the wisest thing they did. They kept quiet for seven days. They didn't say a word.
Joseph Bailey. Is a man who suffered a lot, and I have a number of his books. He's got a book about death and how you face it with other people. And he wrote this little paragraph. He said, I was sitting torn by grief.
Someone came and talked to me of God's dealings, of why it happened, hope beyond the grave. He talked constantly. He said things I knew were true. I was unmoved except to wish he'd go away. He finally did.
Another came. And sat beside me. He just sat beside me for an hour or more, listened to what I was saying, and answered briefly, prayed for me, and left. I was moved. I was comforted.
I hated to see him go. Many of us have observed that Job's friends made up for their silence later. And they sure did. And as you read the rest of this book, you discover. That the dialogue between Job and his friends.
was basically negative. They saw Job in the midst of his anguish. They saw the horrific picture of a reeking dump and heaps of ashes and smoldering fires and stench. buzzing flies and scampering rats. And all the other ruins of civilization.
Even before Job opened his mouth, his friends had already formed a clear opinion as to what his problem was. Was it not clear to all the world that a man whose body was rotting away like this must be a terrible sinner? And in the chapters that are ahead, they're going to accuse Job. of that. They were totally wrong.
But that's what they decided was the problem.
Now As we review these chapters that we have studied, I want to take just a moment at the end of this sermon. And ask what do we learn? From Watching this man go through this incredible time. of anguish. There are three principles I want to leave with you.
Put them in your notes. Most of all, put them in your heart. They are found in the first two chapters of Job, but they're also all located in one verse, in the 10th verse of the second chapter.
So let me share with you what they are. First of all, trials teach us patience. Job turned to his wife, and he said to his wife, You speak as a foolish woman speaks. Patience is the passive side of endurance. In Job's answer to his wife, he demonstrates his patience.
He doesn't scold her, he doesn't rebuke her. He does not try to put her down or respond to her in a negative way. He reasons with her. And he tries to help her see God through his eyes. In the only mention of Job in the New Testament, Almighty God gives us a clue as to God's purpose for Job's suffering.
In James 5:11, you read these words: Indeed, we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. This verse indicates that Satan's purpose was to try to get Job to be impatient and to give up. Job became impatient with himself. Later on, he becomes a little impatient with his critical friends.
but he never lost faith in his God. Though he did not know what God was doing, he did not know what he could. do about what God was doing, he did know that he could trust God. In essence, especially to his wife. Job mirrored the compassion and the mercy of his God.
How many of you know that when you're going through tough times, one of the things you really need more than anything else is patience? When you're under pressure. And you feel the weight of the pressure. If you're not careful, you're flying off in every direction and you're ending up acting in a way that you don't normally act. By the way, did you know that the only way you can learn patience is through going through trials?
I didn't make that up. Over in the book of James, chapter 1, verses 2 and 3, it says it just as clearly as it can be said. Listen to this. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
So here's some advice: don't pray for patience because if you do, you will get tribulation. That's how God gives patience to His people. Secondly, trials not only teach us to be patient. But they teach us perspective. In Job chapter 2 and verse 10, Job says to his wife, Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?
Job's perspective on God is clearly evidenced by this statement. When it comes to trials and to life itself, Perspective is everything. Perspective is how you see something. From your perspective. I read a story about a man who was scheduled to sing at a youth group meeting for high school students at his church.
Before he left, To go to the meeting, his four-year-old little girl tugged at his sleeve and said, Daddy, where are you going? He said, well, I'm going to go sing for some kids at church, honey. She said, can I come too? Sure, he said. You can come.
So the man took his daughter to the youth group meeting, and they arrived. The little girl looked around at the high school kids, and then she tugged at her father's sleeve and she said, Daddy, you said there are going to be kids here. Where are they? Her father looked around and pointed to the 30 or 40 high school students in the room. Just look, he said, they're kids all around you.
The little girl put her hands on her hips and scowled, and she said, Daddy, those aren't kids, those are babysitters. It's perspective, isn't it? is how you look at something. When you're a little kid, teenagers are babysitters. That's what they are.
Job had perspective on his trials, and I love this section. of Job's comments. He realized that he had been the recipient of many undeserved blessings from God. My friend Erwin Lutzer Right after 9-11, he wrote a little book called Where Was God. And in this book, he tries to answer some of the arguments and the questions that were leveled at God about that terrible tragedy.
If you're looking for a little perspective, listen to what he said. He said, Before we ask why so many people die in natural disasters, We should ask a different question. Why are so many people, ourselves included, still living? We've learned that sunshine and crops are a sign of God's mercy, yet how many people give Him thanks for beautiful weather and the numerous benefits that nature regularly bestows upon this planet? And so the sun shines to warm us, and the rain falls to bless us, and the stars shine to remind us that God is not only in heaven, but also on earth to give us mercies we do not deserve.
We should be grateful for the times when the earth is firm, when the tornadoes do not blow, when the floods do not come. The book of Lamentations describes the grief of Jeremiah and then says, Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Lutzer goes on to say that life is a gift, and God has the right to give it and to take it.
We cannot approach this question with an attitude of entitlement. Believing that we have the right to life, liberty, and happiness. We can pursue these things, but God is not obligated to give us the blessings He graciously chooses to send our way. Often he said, the same people who ask where God was following a disaster. Thanklessly refused to worship and honor him for the years of peace and calmness in their life.
They disregard God in good times, and yet they think He's obligated to provide help when bad times come. They believe the God they dishonor when they are well should heal them when they are sick. The God they ignore when they are wealthy should rescue them from impending poverty, and the God they refuse to worship when the earth is still. should rescue them when it begins to shake. We must admit that God owes us nothing, said Luther.
Before we charge God with not caring, we must thank Him for those times when His care was very evident to us. We are ever surrounded by undeserved blessings, even in his silence. God blesses us. And that's what Job said to his wife. He said, Honey.
Yeah, these are tough times. But we've had a lot of good times. And shall we not accept good and bad equally? Do we get a pass on all the difficult things? No, no.
Job teaches us patience. And he teaches us perspective. The book of Job teaches us that when things are good, we can praise God. When things are tough, we can praise Him. Because God is good, He never changes.
And he is worthy of our trust no matter what is happening. Finally, trials teach us persistence. The Bible says in all this, Job did not sin with his lips. Job proves that it is possible to worship God in difficult times, even if God chooses not to explain to us what's going on. Calvin Miller says, having answers is not essential to living.
What is essential is the sense of God's presence during dark seasons of our questioning. Our need for specific answers is dissolved in the greater issue of the Lordship of Christ over all the universe: those that have answers and those that don't. Anna and Horatio Spafford. Returned home. to Chicago.
after the terrible tragedy. in the mid-Atlantic. And they had a second family. First a daughter. Finally, a son.
And then one more daughter. But sorrow was no stranger to their home as a scarlet fever epidemic claimed their young son.
So in 1881, the Spaffords left America to begin a new life in Jerusalem, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire. They rented a house in the Old City section of Jerusalem, determined to live there. as the early Christian church did centuries before them. Within a year of their arrival in Jerusalem, the family had become widely known for their love and their service to the needy in Jerusalem and for their firm belief in the teachings of the Bible. Today, more than a century later, the Spafford Children's Center is serving Jerusalem and the West Bank by providing health care and educational support to as many as thirty thousand children annually.
under the leadership of descendants of the Spaffords. And I know that because I've been there and I've had lunch. in their home. and I met their 93-year-old granddaughter. Anna and Horatia Spafford suffered severe things in their faith.
but they allowed themselves to learn through their testing. And to use their pain and their suffering to bless others and further the gospel of Christ. One writer said of them, they came to Jerusalem to do good. And they stayed. to do well.
And I could only hope that for any of us who might be going through difficulty, and facing the uncertainties and unexplainable things of life. That we would understand that during these days we have a choice. We can get bitter or we can get better. It's all up to us. You can't change the circumstances.
You don't have the power to do that, but you are in charge of your response to them. And what Job teaches us more than anything else is this. That the circumstances of life do not have to alter our commitment and our faith in Almighty God. Job stood in the midst of it all. with everything that was dear to him falling apart.
And the Bible says he blessed. God And so can we. And so can we. You know, there should be courses offered in seminary on the theology of adversity because adversity may be the greatest teacher God has ever given us. I'll be honest, most of the important things that I've learned about life and about Godliness, I've learned during difficult times.
There's an old adage that adversity is a great teacher, prosperity is a very bad teacher. And so here we have these passages that help us take our adversity and mine the truth that is in it so that we can go forward. Maybe you're going through a tough time right now and wondering what God is up to.
Well, He's trusted you with some learning, and that learning is going to help you be a better person going forward. Grab hold of it with grace and expect God to do some good things. Don't forget, you can get a copy of our book for the month. It's 100 Bible Verses That Made America Great by Rob Morgan. Yours for the asking when you send your gift today to Turning Point.
Now, have a great day, and we'll see you next time right here on this good station. Today's message originated from Shadow Mountain Community Church and senior pastor Dr. David Jeremiah. Drop us a note and let us know how God is using this ministry in your life. Right to Turning Point, PO Box 3838, San Diego, California, 92163.
visiting our website at davidjeremiah.org slash radio or calling 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of Robert J. Morgan's book, 100 Bible Verses That Made America. It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also download the free Turning Point mobile app to instantly access our content.
Search the App Store for the keywords Turning Point Ministries. Visit davidjeremiah.org slash radio for details. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series Making Sense of It All on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
