Father, I want to personally thank you for this congregation, so many people that love you, that love your word and love one another. What a privilege to serve among them. Lord, you are a rewarder of those who diligently seek you and thus I pray that his group, your people would be richly rewarded as we seek You in your word. Now we understand Father that you desire to teach us, to speak to us via your word and that the truth would penetrate our very lives. And therefore we have made a commitment that this is as much a part of our worship experience as singing a song to you to tell you that what you say is so important that we4 want to give you our undivided attention. And we pray Lord that in this atmosphere of listening and expectation, that you by your Spirit would deliver what we need. In Jesus' name. Amen.
I was reading in Reader's Digest, it happens to have lot of great nuggets in there, about a little boy named Doug who was outside looking at the moon with his mother. Full moon, and said a classic kid question, "Mommy, is God on the Moon?" And Mommy said, "Well, God is everywhere." But you know with kids it never ends there. So, the little boy said, "Mommy, is God in my tummy?" Well, you know she doesn't know where he's going with this and she said, "Well sort of, why?" And he smiled and said, "Mommy, God wants a banana." Isn't it amazing how kids can take complex issues and make them so basic, the irreducible minimum, You know, there's got to be a reason my stomach is growling and that reason is God. Well, that little boy's issue is something that not only children but adults deal with. Even Job, and that is not only where is God but how can I experience God? How can I perceive, feel, see, how can I know that when I'm dealing with God, I'm dealing with reality. That's a huge question. I understand that philosophy courses have been written around that. I've taken a lot of them and typically I get out of the course more confused than when I went in to the course. Somebody said that a philosopher is somebody who talks about what he doesn't understand but makes it sound like it's your fault. I've discovered some truth in that. But if you follow Jesus for any length of time you will eventually come to this point of crisis let's call it. For some people it's an intellectual roadblock. Things like: how can a God of love exist while evil exists? Hopefully they'll study that and follow that to it's logical end and come out satisfied. Other people have a doctrinal roadblock, dealing with hard issues like the Trinity, trying to explain that. Or different belief systems. Other people will have a moral roadblock, like why is God unfair, or seemingly unfair. Or, why is He so silent, so absent? Job dealt with all three of those things. And though, last week we saw him at his high point, in chapter 19 where he said, "I know my redeemer lives," Job is still human and his experience isn't this in the book. It's more like this, up and down. He's experiencing questioning and longing here for God.
I brought with me a book besides my Bible this morning, I just want to pull it out and how you. It's a book called Disappointment with God by Phillip Yancy. It's a great read. Now Phillip Yancy says that there are three questions that lurk within the minds of every person. They're often not spoken out loud because we would feel it's unspiritual to voice such questions. But the whole book is built around the premise of these three questions that lurk within everyone. Number one: Is God unfair? Number two, Is God silent? And number three: Is God hidden? Is God unfair? Is God silent? Is God hidden? Job answers or at least wrestles with all three.
Is God unfair? Most of the book is built around that question. Job argues with his friends, his three friends, and then a fourth. And now in chapter 23 those second two questions come to mind: Is God silent? And Is God hidden? Well, in this book Phillip Yancy tells a story. It says, "There was a missionary couple that went to an Indian village in Peru, a Shapibo Indian village. The missionary couple started a church, things were going well. They had a little child, a boy, a son, six months old. The son died. The missionary husband placed the body of his son on the path on the way from the village to the church, there's a granite marker there today. As time went on, the husband developed symptoms, strange tropical-disease-like symptoms. Thought he must have an amoeba, diarrhea, vomiting uncontrollably. They flew him to Lima, Peru for evaluation and they found no organic disease, no presence of any amoeba. And they diagnosed him with what they called hysterical diarrhea. That is, he became so emotionally unhinged that he exhibited these symptoms. So, Yancy in writing about that and I wanted to sort of open this morning with this, writes, "As I stood beside the crumbling granite marker, which Indian women now use as a place to rest their water pots, I tried to put myself in the young missionary's place. I wondered what he had prayed as he stood there in the noon day sun. And those three questions kept coming to mind. The missionary had brought his family to serve God in the jungle. Was this their reward? He had also prayed for some sign of God's presence or at least some word of comfort but he felt alone, as if distrustful of God's own sympathy, the missionary took on a form of sympathetic suffering in his own body." Yancy continues, "True atheists do not I presume feel disappointed in God. They expect nothing and they receive nothing." But those who commit their lives to God no matter what instinctively expect something in return. Are those expectations wrong?," Yancy asks. Are those expectations wrong?
Job chapter 23, it's a special place for me, it's a chapter that has helped, shaped my entire life. There's some truths, there's some nuggets that have just forged within me a confident joy in the midst of suffering. As I look at what Job has learned.
Now this morning what I am doing is I am dividing up our study into two camps. On this side is God, on this side is Job. On this side is God and he's behind the scenes and he is actively working. And on this side is Job and his attitude toward God. And I'll show you in a minute but what I want to do is divide that more, instead of just analyzing Job, looking at it this way: God's activity and then our attitude toward God's activity. And so let me begin as we go into the outline by giving you three applicational statements and we'll look at all three, in the first camp dealing with God. Number one, God is not always apparent. Job will voice that better than anyone I've ever read. God is not always apparent. But here's the second applicational point, God is always aware. And third, God is always at work. And then those truths demand a certain attitude from us and we'll close with that.
Let's go and read the first nine verses together. And here's the first truth, God is not always apparent. "Then Job answered and he 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 is God), that I might come to his seat. I would present my case before 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 not of me. There the upright could reason with him. And I would be delivered forever from my judge. Look, I go forward but he's 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.'" So here's Job, unable to sense or perceive God.
Now, back to last week's study. In last week's study, Job said, "I know my redeemer lives," it was the high point of the book. Here Job is simply, I believe, crying out, longing for fellowship with God. I just want to be able to personally, face to face if I could, tell him how I feel. I want him to hear it from me and I want his own counsel back. But I go forward, he's not there. I go backwards, can't perceive him. I go to the right and to the left and God is out of touch. Now, this brings up a problem. This actually helps us to see why, though it's inexcusable, the children of Israel kept going back and back into idolatry in the Old Testament. Do you ever wonder, why is it that the children of Israel were leaving the true and living God and following and worshipping the idols of the Babylonians, on and on and on. It's the problem with the invisible nature of God. People want something they can touch, see, display. You see, we have a problem having a personal relationship with a person you never see. How do you have a personal relationship with a person that you never actually see with your eyes in this life, which the Bible invites us to do. That's difficult, we're visual creatures. I was reading a little book, I love these little books Children's Letters to God, you know how kids not only say but ask very cool questions. An honest letter, little Lucy in grade school wrote, "Dear God, are you really invisible or is that just a trick?" Now in her question what she is saying in that question is, "I expect something at some point from God, that God will somewhere along the line manifest himself to me. They tell me he's invisible, is this just a trick? When is he going to show up? When is he going to manifest himself?
Years ago a book was written and from that movies and all sorts of shows on television, called The Invisible Man, H. G. Wells books The Invisible Man, built on the premise of wouldn't it be cool to be totally invisible. Because then you could hear what people are saying and they wouldn't know you're in the room. You could see what people are doing but they wouldn't know you're there. But it turns out it's not that cool, because nobody trusts you when they don't see you. And it's also a problem because you can't really touch visible reality without being noticed. You couldn't put money in your pockets because they'll just see change floating down the street. You can't eat anything because they'll see the food going into the mouth, into the gullet, into the stomach until it is finally dissolved into the invisible man. So it's not all that fun to deal with reality while you're invisible. Well no wonder Moses, though he had heard God's voice and seen God's work, in Exodus 33 said, "Lord please show me your glory." Remember that, show me, he was from Missouri, show me your glory. I want to see something. We relate to the prophet Isaiah who in chapter 45 of Isaiah said, "Truly you are a god who hides himself." And one of the reasons you and I look so longingly toward the future is because we believe one day we will see God. Titus writes in chapter 2 of his book, "Looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. That's something we're all looking forward to actually seeing.
Now this is especially true for somebody who is suffering. You see, a sufferer sees and feels life very acutely. If you're suffering, you feel pain. If you're suffering, you see, you watch your own body withering away or somebody else's withering away in front of you that you love. So, not only are you not feeling and perceiving and seeing God, you are seeing all of this stuff that makes you question God. That's Job. What Job is dealing with is not in the theological classroom of debate. He is suffering in his own body, "Oh that I could know where I could find him."
I'm going to tell you about a book, an author, and it's a good one, it's a good read, though it will be challenging for you, I promise. Ellie Vesel is the author, he wrote a book called Night, Ellie Vesel was a Jewish teenager in a Nazi concentration camp. He was in Buchenvald, Auschwitz and Buchenvald. He saw atrocities so bad, he said, "I can't even tell you what I saw." It was horrible, it shook him up. One author writes about Vesel and says, "For him," that is Ellie Vesel, Nietsche's cry (God is dead) expressed an almost physical reality. God is dead, the God of love, the God of gentleness, the God of comfort has vanished forevermore. And how many pious Jews have experienced this death? On that day, horrible, even among those days of horror, when this child (Ellie Vesel) watched the hanging of another child who he tells us had the face of a sad angel. He heard someone behind him groan, "Where is God?" Where is he? Where can he be now?
Well now here's Job. Job is suffering from bone pain, the sluffing off of skin, necrosis, neuroopathy, he's got ulcerations on his skin, he's been scraping them with pottery. And he's saying, "I just want to find God, I just long." God is not always apparent. And here's the second truth: Though he's not always apparent, he's always aware. Job continues and let's just get it for context sake, begin in verse 8 and then we'll read to verse 10, "Look I go forward but he's not there, backward but I can't perceive him. When he works on the left hand I can't behold him, when he turns to the right hand I cannot see him. But he knows the way that I take and when he has tested me I shall come forth as gold." Do you see what Job is saying? "But he know the way I take." This is what he's saying, "I'm looking for God, I don't know where he is but God knows where I am. And to me that is the most important thing, not that I know where he is but that he knows where I am. Job for him, that could sustain him through enormous grief, just knowing that God knows where he is, that God is aware.
Now where is Job? Well notice what he says, "And when he has tested me I will come forth as gold." That's a metaphor of being in a furnace. Can you relate? Being in a fiery trial. "God knows that I'm in this furnace," says Job, "God knows that I am suffering these ulcerations and this itching and burning and neuropathy. He knows all about what I am facing. He sees it, he's aware." So here is Job's mature view of God. It's as if Job is saying, "What is hidden from us is certainly not hidden from God." Now if you let it, this truth has the potential to revolutionize your episodes of suffering and pain and calm your nerves. I'll give you a little example in a child's scale: When my son Nate was a wee tyke (as they say in Scotland), he loved to play hide-n'-seek. So a lot of times at night, Lenya my wife and Nathan my son and I would play hide-n'-seek, turn off all the lights. Well one night he was hiding from his mom and I said, "Nate, I got the best hiding place." So while Mom was going to go count, I pushed Nathan up on top of my bookshelf, really high, very narrow ledge, the kind of place that any child would be scared of, especially in the dark, especially when I was now going to hide and Nate did not know where I was. So he didn't know where I was, didn't know where Mom was, but here's Nate on top of the bookshelves on the narrow ledge snickering, just having the time of his life. Now, why is it that a child who'd normally be scared in the dark on top of a tall ledge be having such a great time? Because he knew that I knew where he was. Do you get that? That knowledge enabled him to enjoy the whole experience. He didn't know where I was, he didn't know where Mom was, but he knew that I knew where he was and he had the time of his life. Here's Job, "I don't know where God is but God knows where I am." He knows where I am.
It says in Psalm 1, "the Lord watches over the way of the righteous." He knows where you are. Psalm 37 helps further that truth, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." God knows where you are. So God is not always apparent but God is always aware. And here's the third applicational truth about God: God is always at work. He is always at work. Did you notice in verse 9, he says, "When he works on the left." Job knows that God's working around him. He can't perceive it, he says, but he's working around him. But more to our point, in verse 10, the second part, "When he has tested me I shall come forth as gold." God's not just working around me, God's working in me. When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. Now this has been a sustaining truth for me, for many years I've resorted to this verse, because what it tells me that Job discovered is that God isn't just up there knowing things, see that's just not enough, to say, "Well God knows. And there's God, he's up in heaven, folded arms just sort of stroking his chin knowing. He's knowing everything, he's knowing you're going through this and there you are and he knows that." It's more than that, he's not just up there knowing things, he's doing things. He's actually using this experience to work something out in me. That's the idea of the verse, "When he has tested me I shall come forth as gold." I hope you can see this, that this is the great dividing line between the believer and the unbeliever; between the follower of Christ who believes in the grand design of God versus the unbeliever who doesn't follow or believe in some grand design for his life. You see an unbeliever at his purest, the humanist at his purest, not only sees no grand design for himself or the universe but sees pain as absolutely purposeless, useless, except to be avoided at all costs. "All I know about pain is it hurts and I don't want none." That's about it.
Dosteyefsky, Theodore Dosteyefsky, the Russian novelist was accurate when he said, "If there is no god, then everything is permissible. And the first thing that is permissible is despair. He was dead on. If there is no God then there is no purpose for the universe, there's no purpose for my suffering. I just need to figure out a way to get out of it and get around it and avoid it at all costs. And typically that can lead to despair. However, that is not Job's philosophy. For Job this furnace that he is in is a divine appointment. Behind the furnace is a goldsmith, a divine goldsmith, a master goldsmith. And Job is in the furnace not to pay off some sin, not to adjust some karma, but God has him there to test him, to purify him. Now what I have been told is that when a goldsmith would heat up gold, and this ism ore like in the old days of it, that fire would be applied to the bottom, the gold would heat up, it would melt, it would turn to liquid. And the dross, the impurities would rise to the surface and once they would rise, the goldsmith would skim them off. He'd wait a while longer, apply more heat, more impurities would rise, he would skim them off. And when was the goldsmith finished? When he could look atop the surface of the gold, peer just for a moment and see his reflection without impurity. When he could see his reflection, he was done. Do you see where I'm going with this? When are your trials going to be all over, when do you not need to go through any more pain or any more heat? When Jesus Christ is perfectly seen in you. You're sitting there a quiet as if to say, "There's a lot of work to be done yet." The master goldsmith is at work. Gold doesn't fear the fire, does it? Because when gold goes into the fire, it goes in impure and comes out pure, better, improved. That's the thought of I Peter chapter 1, "These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It's being tested as fire tests and purifies gold. And your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor in the day when Jesus is revealed in the world." Let me just say this, if you're going through the furnace now, God's eye is on you and his hand is on the thermostat. He hasn't forgotten about you, it's not like he allowed you to go in the furnace and then he got distracted like some divine case of ADD and he forgot all about you there. And then one day he goes, "Oh no, they've been like roasting too long." Not at all. Always under his careful supervision. And have you noticed as I have noticed that just as gold gets purer from the greatest amount of heat, so lives of Christian people seem to get better and sweeter when they're tried by affliction? Have you ever thought about some of the great songs that have been sung? Or things that have been written? And when they were written? You know the song that is sung at every Graham crusade "Just As I Am without one plea but hat thy blood was shed for me. And that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God I come." Charlotte Elliott wrote that when she became an invalid. And there feeling useless as an invalid came the strong revelation of God to her heart. And she wrote that song of surrender.
Pilgrim's Progress, one of the great pieces of literature of all time, written by John Bunyan in the Bedford jail. I'm so glad he want to jail, I am so glad, how many countless thousands, millions have been blessed by his writing. And by the way, I'm glad Paul the apostle went to jail, let's see: Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon, Colossians, those were prison epistles, those were written while he was suffering in prison. And some of the great sweet fruit that has encouraged us are because of those times of suffering. So here's Job amid the furnace of suffering. And Job says, "I'm here in the furnace. I didn't find God. But God has found me. And in the furnace I have found comfort knowing that God has found me and I am in a refining process.
So, that's God's activity. What is our attitude to be? Well, I'll just say this as we jump into these final two verses: Your attitude will make or break you. It's all about your attitude. Do you know people with bad attitudes? It doesn't matter what happens to them, always a bad attitude. Some people, it's always a good attitude. The attitude of the Christian in suffering is all important. You see, you and I getting through these episodes, good or bad, pass or fail, all depends on our attitude toward the will of God and our attitude toward the word of God.
So number one, what it takes is the pursuit of God's will. Verse 11, "My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way and have not turned aside." Just let that sink in for a moment. Hear what he's saying. What Job is saying strikes a deathblow to Satan's accusation. Remember back in chapter 1 and chapter 2? Satan accused Job saying, "God look, let's get real here all right? This Job character is so righteous because you have so financially blessed him. I'll guarantee you, if you remove your blessing, if you take away his stuff or if you take away his family, he will curse you to your face." It never happe4ned, never happened. Not only did that never happen but Job here says, "My foot has held fast to his steps. I have stuck with God, I have dogged his steps and I have pursued him and I have perservered." By the way, you know that Job is only mentioned one time in the New Testament? You know what he's mentioned for, you know what he's noted for? Perseverance. James chapter 5, "For you have heard of the perseverance of Job." What is James referring to? This. What Job is saying, "You know what, whether God strokes me with blessings, or strikes me with blows, I'm going to follow him. I'm going to pursue his will for my life." So Satan's finally silence, because Job was not an Alka-Seltzer follower. Let me explain that. It's a little phrase I came up with years ago. You know Alka-Seltzer, you throw it into the water, it makes a big splash and a lot of fizz. But then it fizzles out. There's people like that. They come to Christ and they make a big splash and "Oh God, Hallelujah, praise Jesus. Whee." And you see them a year later and they don't even have a Bible any more. They are not, they took their Bible and have gone home. Some expectation they had of God wasn't met and they just stopped following him altogether. That's an Alka Seltzer follower. Here's Job, imagine what he's been through. And he says, "God's will is all important."
The second thing and it dovetails into it is a passion for God's word. Verse 12, "I have not departed from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food." Do you hear this? This is Job saying this while his body is still covered with boils. It's not like he just had a bad day, couldn't find a parking place. He's on a bed of pain. But he's saying, "I rest my soul on the soft pillow of God's transforming truth. I've treasured the words of his mouth more than my food." This is one of my favorite all-time verses in the Bible. I've enscribed it on the front of many of my Bibles, I've enscribed it at the beginning of many of my study books in my library, I love verse 12. I love verse 12. He's saying, "god's word is my nourishment." Verse 12 ranks right up there with other great texts that teach the same truth. Like Jeremiah 15, verse 16. The prophet said, "Your words were found and I ate them and they were to me the joy and the rejoicing of my heart." That's Jeremiah 15:16. Or, Matthew chapter 4, Jesus quoting Deuteronomy, you know it well, "Man shall not live by bread alone but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, that's my nourishment." Somebody put it so well, I've said it and you've heard it a dozen times this month. "A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to somebody who isn't." Nourishment.
Now understand that I watch people who suffer. I watch them a lot. It's the vantage point that I have as a pastor. Not only do I get to suffer, I get to watch others go through it. And I see the different responses. And I see some people who go into the fire and get burned. Burned, they come out burned and bitter and singed and almost consumed by an episode of a trial. But I watch others go through a fire and they're not burned. In fact, they're better. They're improved, the come out and you go, "Man what happened to you? You sound so mature. It's like you have character. What happened?" "I've been suffering lately. By God's grace, I've been in the furnace. I've been tried. The goldsmith has turned up the heat and this is me coming forth. What makes the difference? Attitude. Attitude toward the will of God, attitude toward the word of God. You see it works this way: If you are nourished by the word of God and submitted to the will of God; when you go through the furnace, it's going to hurt but you'll be better. It will hurt. It's not like Christian's pain is any less than unbeliever's pain. It's not like broken leg, "Well I'm a Christian, so it's actually okay." No it's not, it hurts.
But if on the other hand you resist God's will, and you fail to feed on his word, the fire will burn you and not make you better but make you bitter. Bitter. I see a lot of bitter people who are consumed by the trials.
I was on the phone this week to a friend of mine. I'd become a friend of his over the last eight years or so. His name is Ken Mansfield. Ken Mansfield was the president of Apple Records USA, he was the Beatles manager when they were in the States. He was on the rooftop when they did that outdoor concert in London. And he became a Christian. And so I've corresponded with him and I've done some events with Ken. Ken has had a bad bout with colorectal cancer lately and has had radiation and chemotherapy and therapy and therapy and therapy. He said, "Skip, it was the darkest part of my life. I sent dark," he said, "I went dark." And then he said, "Skip, I was trying to find God. I couldn't perceive him, I couldn't hear him." Now he's telling me this as I'm reading and preparing for this message this week. He happened to call me. He said, "I cried out, I just wanted to hear some word of comfort from God. And I got nothing for awhile. In fact it got so bad, I said, ‘Honestly God, this is hurting our relationship." He said, "What I heard from the Lord, what scripture friends of mine and pastors of mine spoke to me, spoke into my life isn't what I expected or wanted to hear, it was simply, ‘Be still and know that I am God.'" He said, "Strangely I was able to be still enough to let that comfort me. Now I know that he knows." And he said, "I'm back."
So, understand that invisible doesn't mean unavailable. "But I can't see." So. "I can't hear." Okay. But is knowing that God knows and is using this and this is temporary, you will hear from him, he will manifest himself at some point. Will that carry you through?
Do you remember the story in the New Testament because Jesus really is the ultimate fulfillment of all of this, he is the word made flesh, he came and was God manifest in human flesh so he could say, ‘If you've seen me you've seen the Father.' But he left, he's not here any more either. So do you remember the time when Thomas was in the upper room after Jesus rose from the dead. Thomas didn't believe it and Thomas goes, "Okay, you guys may all fall for this religious stuff but I'm a pragmatist. I've got to actually touch the holes in his hands, feet and side before I'll believe." Now the only ones in that room were Thomas and the other friends of Thomas. Jesus wasn't in the room when he said that. A few days later, Jesus shows up, just ta-dah appears in the room, doesn't even come through the door, just shows up. Walks right over to Thomas, "Thomas, I heard what you said, here's my hand, place your finger and touch and see that it is Me and be no longer unbelieving but believing." What do you think were the first thoughts that crossed Thomas' mind? I think they must have been, "How did he know that? He wasn't here when I said that. How did he know that I said that? I only told them." Ah, he wasn't there? You just though he wasn't there. You couldn't see him but he was there. He was there. You didn't perceive him but he was there. You didn't hear him but he was there. You didn't touch him but he was there. Unavailable is not the issue, imperceptible is the issue. So invisible does not mean unavailable. God knows where you're at, is working in the midst of it. Hold on, follow him, be nourished on the word and watch what great fruit will come out.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your truth, your word, your Spirit, your heart of love for each one of us. Lord, we love it that you're not content looking at us as being just tin or tarnished gold, you want us to become your jewels. You want depth and character and the only way those things are ever forged in a person's life are through successful periods of pain. So thank you Lord, you know what you're about. We even thank you, we dare to thank you for the furnace, because of what that will yield and we pray that it will. For your glory. In Jesus' name. Amen.