 So here we are. We're in chapter 23. I'll read verses one and two and give you an introduction, and then we'll move into our study. Job chapter 23, we'll look at verses one and two and then with the introduction then move on into our study tonight. In verse one, Job answered and said, even today my complaint is bitter. My hand is listless because of my groaning and I'll stop there. As we look at this passage, I'll remind you that last time we looked at Job last week, we saw that Job's friend, his friend Eliphaz, had become irritated at him. We saw that he had started his speech to Job by reminding Job that Job just wasn't that important. And he had made it clear that he believed Job was being judged for having no fear of God. In chapter 22, verse 5, it said, is not your wickedness great and your iniquity without end? What he's doing, and this is something interesting, is he's finally sharing what's really on his heart. He's finally saying what he really feels, what's been in him for a long time. It's finally coming out. You know, it's been said if you kick a vat of a sweet substance, we'll say soda, you kick a vat of soda, you know, root beer, because I like that. You kick it, root beer comes out. But if you kick a vat of vinegar, vinegar comes out. It just depends on how you shake it up and how you move it. Well, inside we can have something sweet or we can have something bitter, and it would seem to me, as we've been looking at this, it would seem to me that Eliphaz is actually saying what's been on his heart all along, what he has actually felt all along. Is it possible that a friend could still be a friend and yet be jealous or envious of you and your success? The answer to that is yes, obviously. It is possible for you to have success and have a friend who all along is saying, it's great, I'm glad you're being blessed and all of that. But in the back of their mind, they're thinking, why you and not me? Why is God blessing you and not me? And so if something bad happens, that person may say to you, I knew it all along. I knew it all along. I knew. You know, I had a feeling and that's what's happening here with Eliphaz. Eliphaz is now finally opening up to Job and saying, these are the things I've actually thought. These are the things that I've felt all about your success and all about everything about you. And that's what he's been doing. He's saying, is not your wickedness grating your iniquity without end? That's how he's speaking to his friend. The fact that you're suffering so greatly. Well, it ought to make it obvious that you are incredibly evil. And since a just God punishes evil, the fact that you suffer so greatly is proving my point. So that's what he's saying to his friend. We actually saw how Eliphaz gave a list of sins he believed that Job was guilty of. He said that Job had taken advantage of the poor because he extorted them. He said that Job failed to care for those in need, that he withheld food and water from those who deserved it. He believed that Job had become wealthy because he had bullied people and taken their land. He went on to say, Job, you have starved widows and neglected orphans. He said in verse nine of chapter 22, he said, you have sent widows away empty and the strength of the fatherless was crushed. So he's just laying on him all the things that he believes about Job. Job, you're a hypocrite. Job, you've been hiding your sin. So because of this, he reminded Job that God sees everything and nothing is hidden from his sights. And since God sees everything, he's saying to Job, you need to repent. You need to repent and you need to ask for forgiveness. Stop being ungodly. Stop being so greedy. Stop being so uncaring towards those who are in need. And if you do, well, God will deliver you from your pain. He's going to prosper you. He'll strengthen your faith. He'll bless your plans and he will use you to lift up those in need. And so that's what he's been saying to Job up to this point. And now Job is going to respond. And that's what he's doing here in verse 20 and verse one of chapter 23 where it says, Job answered and said, even today my complaint is bitter. My hand is listless because of my groaning. So in spite of all that his friends have said, Job says, I have a right to complain so bitterly. All that you have said hasn't relieved the pain of my body and it certainly hasn't brought comfort to my heart. Verse two, my hand is listless because of my groaning. God's chastisements are so heavy upon me I can't find any relief. I have no words adequate to express my pain. And just the groaning in and of itself isn't deep enough. It doesn't express how deeply I'm hurting. And so he's beginning to speak and he says in verse three, oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come to his seat. You're telling me that I need to come to him. You're telling me that I need to acquaint myself to him. I wish I knew where he is. If I knew where he was, I could do this. I wish I could come to his throne. I wish I could plead my case before him. And this is what you would call a desperate cry. It's the desperate cry of a human soul. He's simply saying, I wish I could speak to him. I'd love to. I'd love to come to him. But I would never dream that he would come to me. I wouldn't dream that he would actually come to where I am. I would rather go to him. Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come to his seat. Well, one of the beautiful things about the New Testament, it reveals to us that God did come to us, that God came to us as Jesus Christ. And though we couldn't go to him, he came to us. When Paul was writing to the Philippians in chapter two, verses five through eleven, in the New Testament book of Philippians, he said your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taken the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. Job says, I wish I could come before his throne, but in the New Testament, God sends his son to come before us and to minister to us. Now, it's interesting as I was preparing the study today, I was thinking about how that when Job first began to suffer, he expressed a hesitation to speak to God. He knew that he was impure. He lacked that moral purity. He lacked the wisdom to be able to approach him. And in chapter nine, in verses two and three, he had said, indeed, I know that this is true, but how can a mortal be righteous before God? The one wish to dispute with him, he could not answer him one time out of a thousand. So he's already spoken and said, well, I hesitate, I don't really intend to want to bring my case before him. But later he would say that he wished he had a defense attorney that could plead his case. In Job nine, once again in verse 32 and 33, he said, he's not a man as I am, that I may answer him and that we should go to court together. Nor is there any mediator between us who may lay his hand on us both. He didn't have Jesus, the Messiah, the mediator in the Old Testament. He wasn't there at that time. He's saying, I wish I had an advocate. I wish I had someone who was a defense attorney, somebody who could mediate. I wish I could. But now his suffering is driving him to desire a face-to-face talk. In Job 13, verse three, he said, I would speak to the Almighty. I desired a reason with God. So from his hesitation to his wish for a mediator, he has moved now into the area of saying, I wish I could speak to him. I want to see him. Well, what would you do, Job, if you could? Verse four, I would present my case before him, fill my mouth with arguments. I would put my arguments in order and I would go point by point and plead my cause before him. I would present my life to him. I would appeal to the way that I've lived. I would point out that I worship him. I would point out that I have love and charity for others that I've lived righteously. I would point this out. Well, his pain is now in control. He's becoming overly bold, if you will. I'm not afraid because though he's powerful, he wouldn't crush me for asking is what he's saying. In verse five, I would know the words which he would answer me and understand what he would say to me. I'd have the chance of knowing what I've done wrong. And as we speak face to face, if you will, I would be able to receive his decision as I present my case. And I would accept his decision in my case. I'd be willing to accept it. It says in verse six, would he contend with me in his great power? No. But he would take note of me. I don't desire him to exhibit his awesome power as he's judging. He's obviously much too powerful. What I desire is for him to just listen to me. Allow me to present my innocence. Let me speak my heart. Let me share. Let me tell him what I'm feeling. I want to see him. I want to speak to him. I want him to hear me. In verse seven, there the upright could reason with him and I would be delivered forever from my judge. There at his throne of grace, I can humbly plead with him. You see, I know I'm not guilty and I believe he would agree with me. I know that I'm not guilty. I haven't done the things that my friends have accused me of doing. I haven't stolen from the poor. I haven't been unkind to the orphan. I haven't been what they've said that I am. I'm not guilty. And if I were able to look at the Lord and I were able to speak to him, I could say to him face to face, this is what has happened. I want you to see how it's gone. I want you to see my life. How I had children I raised to fear you. How my wife was also a holy woman. How I cared for the poor. How I took care of the orphans and the things that are being said about me is simply not true. I wish I could speak to him. I could be at his throne of grace. I could let him know. Because my heart isn't condemning me. In verse John, in the third chapter, at verse 21, John said something there that goes along with what Job is saying. He said, beloved, if our heart doesn't condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And Job's heart was not condemning him at this moment. He had a confidence. He had a willingness to present his case before the Lord. Because as he's been examining his own heart, he simply hasn't found anything in it that should be worthy of the kind of pain he's going through. He said, I'd be delivered forever from my judge. In verse 8, look, I go forward, but he's not there. 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. As I was preparing this, I used several commentators, people who have studied the scriptures and are scholarly, and what they said about this, I found very interesting. I'll point it to you. It's not so interesting that we'll stay here for a long time. But the point he's making is very simple. We'll start with the point. He's been saying, and he returns to it, I can't find God. That's what he's returning to. The fact that I can't find God. I can't find him. So when he says, 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. That's more than simply speaking about going forward and backward or a left hand and a right hand. The people during his day, when they spoke in this way, and every commentator that I looked at said the same thing, so I'm going to assume this is accurate, would actually, when he's saying, look, I go forward, it's speaking about the direction he's facing. And this is a simple thing, but it's interesting nonetheless. So if I go forward, so that was a way of saying, if I look to the east, if I go forward, is another way of saying, if I look to the east, and you'll see why this is important in a moment. If I look forward, if I go forward, I'm looking to the east. If I go backward, I'm looking to the west. If I go to the left hand, that's the north. If I go to the right hand, that's the south. And so the point he's making is no matter where I go, north, south, east or west, I can't find him. I can't find him. I've been trying to see him. And no matter where I look, I can't locate him. It seems like he's disappeared. And so I'm not able to locate my creator. Remember in chapter 11, verse 7, one of his friends, Zophar, said, can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? By searching, can you find him? The answer to that question is interesting as it may seem at the moment is this. By searching in your own strength, with your own wisdom, with your own impulses, you aren't going to find him. Why? Because our God is a God who reveals himself. He's not playing cosmic hide and seek. From the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation, what you have is a seeking God. When Adam and Eve fell, it was God's voice they heard in the garden. It was God who said, Adam, where are you? You don't see in the scripture, Adam saying, God, where are you? What you find at the beginning in chapter three of Genesis is a seeking God, God searching for lost man. And when God said, Adam, where are you? I've said this many times, some of you may remember the voice of God in that commentators have pointed out when he said, Adam, where are you? It wasn't the voice of a police officer seeking somebody who had broken the law and that voice of authority with anger and all of that. Where are you, that kind of thing? It wasn't that. My commentators that I have read in the past that have impressed me said, this is the broken hearted voice of a father who has lost his child. Anybody who's ever taken your kids somewhere, if you're a parent, you've taken your kids somewhere and you've started looking in the shelf or something, whatever it may be, and your toddler wandered away, I had that happen with my daughter, Corinne. She wandered away, but we found her. But anyway, I still remember that. She was only a year and a half and we were in Sears, in Pomona, when Sears, I don't even know if it's open anymore. But we're there and I was looking at something and my wife, Marie, and I were together and the baby was standing next to us and I'm telling you, you know, they can get away very quickly. I learned that because they looked down for her and I couldn't find her. And my heart just was, I was, I got, I feared. I had great fear. Somebody could have walked away with my baby. And I remember that very well and I called out Corinne and it was a concern. That's how the Lord is portrayed when Adam and Eve took of the forbidden fruit. It wasn't that God was angry and he was going to come and just tear him up. It was a broken heart that was crying out, where are you? Where are you? You knew what I told you. You knew what I told you not to do. And you did it anyway. Where are you? And it's a broken heart. You have reaped the consequences of disobedience. When my children were young and under my roof, I told them the way I'm raising you is so that you don't have a testimony like mine. I don't want you to have a testimony like mine. I want yours to be saved from the pain I caused and have been suffering and have suffered. I don't want you to know what it's like to do the things that I did. I don't want you to have the regrets that I still, to this day, can carry the sorrow of heart. When I remember what I have been, I don't want you to have that. And I don't want you to be lost. I don't want you to have a broken heart. And when they have failed, and as a father, I could say the same kind of thing. Where are you? Now where are you? You've gone through these things. You've experienced these things. Oh yes, you've fashioned your own testimony. But now where are you? Where are you? Well, God is the seeking God. You see it all through Scripture. He gives invitations. He calls to us. The Spirit and the Bride say come. We'll see that in the book of Revelation chapter 22. It actually is basically closing with an invitation. At the beginning, Adam, where are you at the end? The Spirit and the Bride say come. There's invitations that you see in Scripture. One of my stories that I like is found in the Gospel of Luke that illustrates the searching God. It's in Luke chapter 15 verses four through six. And Jesus said, What man of you have in a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he's found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors saying to them, Hey, let's eat some lamb. No, he didn't say that. He calls his friends and neighbors saying to them, Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost. Rejoice with me. Scripture goes on to say there is joy in the presence of the angels of God when one sinner repents. It's not the angels that rejoice. The angels don't understand salvation having never experienced it. The fallen angels remain fallen for eternity. Those who did not fall remain unfallen for eternity. They don't have a personal acquaintance with salvation and what it means. So God's the one rejoicing. God is the one rejoicing because he knows the work that he's doing. And Jesus was speaking in that way because he was pointing out that he's the shepherd who seeks out the lost sheep. That's what Jesus does. And there's joy. And the bottom line is that he is the one who searches out for the lost coin, for the lost sheep and for the lost son in Luke chapter 15. And so the creature is never able to locate the Creator. God, the Creator has to reveal himself. And he's done so in Jesus Christ. He's done so by the power of the Holy Spirit. He's done so through the reality of creation and the reality of a conscience. He's done so through the revelation that we receive in hearing the gospel and coming to faith in Christ. And he searches us out. His word goes forth. And he speaks to us. We'll be seeing this this upcoming Sunday a little more as we go through the book of Revelation. But it's the Lord who gives his gospel and calls people to salvation. Well Job knew that it would be God who would seek him out because Job knew that he could not locate God himself. It says in verse 10, but he knows the way that I take when he's tested me. I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Though I can't see him, I know that he sees me. In Proverbs 15 verse 3 it says, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. The eyes of the Lord are in every place. He sees everything. Jeremiah 23, 24 says, can anyone hide himself in secret places so I shall not see him? Says the Lord. Do I not feel heaven and earth? Says the Lord. Where can you flee? And the Psalmist said, where can I go? How can I get away from your spirit? He says, no matter where it is, you're there. God is omnipresent. God sees everything. And so that's the point he's making. It's a very simple point, but it's a point saying that he knows me. He knows the way that I take. He knows where I'm at. He knows everything about me. But he also speaks concerning the fact that he's going to be tested. When he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. When he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. God is revealing the genuineness of my faith. God is purifying my faith. God is refining me. Isaiah 48, 10 says, behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I've tested you in the furnace of affliction. Have you guys ever prayed and said, God, I'd like patience. God, help me. I'd like patience. It's been said, the only people who really pray for patience is doctors. You know, do you? Thank you. But have you? And what happens? What happens? You go through things right to test your patience. God, you know, teach me to love. You ever pray something like that? And then what happens? You get married. You have children. You know, God, help me. You know, I discovered that a long time ago. The Lord wants to give us those things. But the way he gives them to us is not necessarily the way we thought we would get them. He doesn't just kind of, while you're asleep, you know, just kind of pour these things on you and then you wake up more patient and you wake up more loving. It doesn't happen that way. You go through what has been called the school of affliction. You go through trials. You go through times of pressure that can be very, very difficult. You're refined. Even again, as he said in Isaiah, I refined you not as silver. I tested you in the furnace of affliction. He knows my way. But God knows what he's doing in Job. And God is purifying Job. Even though he is declared in chapter one, the most righteous man on the face of the earth, he still had areas of his life that God is working on. And so, he knows God is revealing the reality of my faith and the afflictions are being used by God to purify me and to develop a strength. You see, the fruit of trials will be a deeper walk with God when you go through the trial. In 1 Peter 1.7, it says, Peter said that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious in gold that perishes, though it's tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. You're going through affliction. You go through the furnace of affliction. You go through trials. And as you go through them, your faith is strengthened and you are purified. The things that at one time mattered, they cease mattering. The things that at one time you pursued and wanted, those things lose their luster. You don't want those anymore. You come to a different place in your life. Afflictions actually have a purifying effect on believers. Psalm 3419 says, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Many. So, believers, don't act as if some strange thing happened to you. Be very careful because the enemy, the enemy will use the difficulties you go through as a way to try and pry you from, from your relationship to the Lord. The enemy will use the pain that you suffer and the disappointment that you experience, the heartaches that you can have, and he will, he will point those things to you and you'll say, if God were loving, he would not let you go through this. If God really was good, he would not break your heart like this. Job said, that which I was fearing most has come upon me. He could very easily have said, these are the things my secret fears, the ways that I prayed for my kids and for the things that God had blessed, these are the things I was concerned with. It's the material things, the material things I, I can recover or live without. But my children, the thing that I feared the most has come upon me and Satan had said, you touch him, touch his possessions, he'll curse you to your faith, face. I mean, he didn't, skin for skin. All that a man has, he'll give for his skin. Touch him. Let me, let me add him. I guarantee you, he will curse you to your face. And even, even the most precious person in his life outside of his kids, his wife, even she, remember, even she said, how long will you hold fast to your integrity, curse God and die. I can't take this anymore. Watching you, the pain, just curse God and die. Oh, you speak like one of the foolish women. Shall I not receive, shall I receive only good out of the hand of the Lord and not evil also? I didn't serve God because of all the good. I serve God because he's worthy. Don't you understand that? Don't you understand that, baby? Many are the afflictions of the righteous. The Lord delivers them out of them. One of my favorite devotional writers is a man by the name of A.W. Tozer. Tozer said, God will never use anyone greatly until he tests them deeply. That's a good thought. He'll never use you greatly until he tests you deeply. The question has to be for the believer, how deep do you want to go? How far do you want to go? I remember a young missionary who carried with her, carried with her on her person her contract with God. She had drawn up a contract with God. And one day, as she was in the mission field, one of her friends said, what is that paper that you carry? She said, oh, it's my contract with God. And so her friends thinking that she must have made some kind of list of things, you know, I will do this if you do that, because normally that's what a contract seems to be. So she said, may I see it? She was curious. So the young missionary hands her her contract and the girl opens it up and it's a blank piece of paper with a signature at the bottom. Her contract with God was simple. Anything you want me to do, I'm going to do. That's what I'll do. I wonder how many believers have actually gotten to that point. Of learning that when you trust the Lord, he always put you in the right place. When I first started ministry, I was already doing home Bible studies and I was going to Biola, Christian College in Lamarada at that time. And I had said to the Lord, you know, God, I want to be used by you and I'm pretty much willing to do anything you want. But I don't know how this is going to sound to you. I've said it before, but I said, you know, Lord, I just I've never been in the gang life. So I'm just going to let you know, don't send me to gangs, you know, anything else I'll do. But I was never a gangster. So just letting you know. So my contract had no gangs. And so you'll be surprised how God has a sense of humor, because I had a friend of mine named Jim and Jim was ahead of ministry outreaches. And Jimmy came up to me and asked me if I wanted to be part of a ministry there at Biola to an outreach. And I said, of course, and he said, great, I need you to to work in Boyle Heights. I said, Charlie, no, I said that. I said, anything God says, anything God says. And I loved it. I loved it. I discovered that when you're in the middle of the will of God, you're in the perfect place. See, there I was telling him, I'll go here, I'll go there, I'll go here, I'll go there, but I won't go here. No, no, you're not going to go here, there here, you're going to go here. And that's what the Lord did with me. What a joy that was for us. What a joy. You know, I think about it, I get teary-eyed. What a joy. We took these babies, these little kids living in a pretty rough area, and we put them on a bus and we took them to a park. They had never been out of their area. They'd never been out of where they lived. And we took them to La Mirada to a park. And these little kids climbed off the bus and they played and I'll just never forget that, taking them places they've never been, visiting with them and loving them, sharing with them. God taught me a long time ago, don't tell me where I'm supposed to send you. Don't tell me where I'm supposed to send you. You just go and I'll be with you. I learned that a long time ago. Do you think I prayed that God would send me to Chino? Are you kidding? The only thing in Chino is flies and cows at that time. Are you kidding me? The Lord knew that, so he gave me a girl who was from Chino. And I had to come here. And you know what? I've been blessed ever since, because when you're in the middle of the will of the Lord, that's the best place for you to be. And God will work with you there. And God will work in your will. And God will whittle away the things that are rough edges in your life. And he does it through difficult times. And God will put you in. And you say, Oh, I'll do this for you, Lord. I'll do this for you. Okay, really? Okay. What if I have you go here? What if I have you do that? Will you still go? And the answer is yes, Lord, we will. I will follow. I'll go with you. Notice verse 11, how he says, my foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way and not turned aside. I have followed him closely. I have walked in his footsteps, if you will. I have walked in mercy. I've walked in holiness. I have walked in justice. I've remained faithful to him. I haven't turned to the right. I haven't turned to the left. I've pursued him in Deuteronomy 532. Moses wrote, therefore you shall be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. The psalmist in Psalm 128 verse one said, blessed is everyone who fears the Lord who walks in his ways. And that's what he's saying. My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, not turned aside. I've been faithful as I pursued him. I've gone where he would lead me. I've followed him in his steps. He says in verse 12, I haven't departed from the commandment of his lips. I've treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Now when he says this, and I'm going to spend a moment developing this with you, notice in verse 12 how he says, I have not departed from the commandment of his lips. I've treasured his words. That gives us insight into the fact that some of the commands of God at that time were known because this takes place. The book of Job takes place before the Bible had been completely collected into a single document. And much of what he knew was not necessarily written down. What he knew had been passed on to him through oral tradition. And so those who had before him have memorized the ways of God, the commands of God, the things that they knew of God, and they had passed them down generationally. And so there may have been a collection of God's commands that were generally known. And that is what he's speaking about. I haven't departed from the commandment of his lips. I've treasured his words. But what has kept him safe? What he's saying kept him safe, and it's the same thing that keeps you and me safe, is I have been kept safe in God's word, the word of the Lord, which can help us in our times of confusion. In Psalm 119.103 it says, How sweet are your words to my taste. Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Psalm 119.127, Therefore I love your commandments above gold. Yes, above fine gold. In the book of Jeremiah chapter 15 verse 16, your words were found, and I ate them. Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. I'm called by your name, oh Lord God of hosts. I have treasured your words. I have feasted on them. I have kept your commandments. I haven't departed from them. So when he says I've treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food, well the word treasure, that's interesting. I looked this up and I spent some time in this this afternoon as I was preparing this because when it says that he treasured the words, the word treasure is defined as hiding or laying up treasure. It speaks of concealing something valuable, keeping it safe. In the book of Proverbs we see something similar in chapter 2 verse 1 where Solomon says, my son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you, receive my words, treasure my commands. So Solomon told his son to receive and treasure. To receive means to take, to choose and accept, to receive. But treasure speaks of storing, speaks of storing up, of safeguarding something from loss, hiding it from discovery. During the time of Christ, if you had something of value, very often what you would do is you would take that valuable object and you would put it in a vase of some sort very often and you would bury it. You would have this earthen vessel that you would put your treasure in and then you would go out somewhere on your property and you would dig a hole and you would bury your treasure there and you would cover it up. And so not everybody would put their money somewhere to gain any interest and so very often many people would do that and that's one of the stories Jesus gives about a man who went into a field and found a treasure and promptly went and bought that field so he could own that treasure because that was common during that day because many times when the Jews were taken by enemies and all they would be burying their stuff so that if they were ever released they could come back and bring their stuff back. They'd be able to find it once again. It's treasuring, it's hiding it, it's keeping it from being lost and it's what's valuable to you and that's what he's saying. He's saying your words, your words have been treasured, your words are valuable, your words that I have in my heart, I've hidden them deeply in me so that I have them. I've protected them by internalizing them. I have safeguarded your word. I have kept it safe. It's what he's saying. I have valued it more than my necessary food. I have valued your word more than my allotment of food to live on. I hunger for your word. I love your word. Peter said in 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 2 as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. As a newborn baby desires their mother's milk you should be hungry and thirsty for the word of God. Anybody here who is a parent, especially you mommies, you know that when you're infant, if you're a nursing mom, you know that when your infant doesn't want to nurse and she should or he should want to nurse and that baby doesn't want to nurse, there's something wrong. You know that. You know that. There's something wrong. The baby's not nursing. She's sick. There's something wrong because babies nurse and that's where they, that's how they grow. When they nurse, I was listening to a nurse speak concerning this one time and she said, you know, I found this interesting. She said when a mother gives birth to her baby, that baby's mother, the mother's milk has a special kind of connection with the baby under normal circumstances and that baby when that baby nurses from its biological mother is receiving nutrients and various things that are specifically for that baby because it's coming from the mother of that baby and when you are born again, here's something for you. You can know your own spiritual health very easily. How hungry are you? You can know your own spiritual health that way. Do you hunger for God's word? Do you need to read? Do you need to meditate on it? Do you do that? That helps you. That'll help you. It was the last time you picked up your Bible just to spend time with God, that kind of thing because God has a lot of wonderful things to reveal to you if you spend time with them. You know, when I used to do more marital counseling and much of the problems that we saw in relationship with simple communication problems, they just didn't know how to communicate, they didn't know how to speak to one another, they didn't know how to. So what did they have to do? What was our remedy? Well, spend more time, turn the TV off, spend more time with them. And not only that, but why don't you spend time in the Word of God? Why don't you read with one another and pray for one another and together, because you have disagreements, why don't you read together and make a decision that what the Word of God says both of you will follow. That has a way, by the way, of putting you together. You know, we've seen that many times in our church where the husband begins to simply do what God said to do in the Word, and the wife has an agreement she will too, and their life changes. They begin to work closer together because together they've decided to drink of God's Word. And that's what he's saying here. I have desired God's Word more than my daily allotment. I have, I've desired God's Word more than my necessary food. I wanted to make sure my spirit is fed long before my physical needs are met. That's how we can meet the difficulties that we live in even today. Again, I'll quote Tozer. Tozer said, we must meet the uncertainties of this world with the certainty of the world to come. We're just passing through. We know this world is not our home, but we know where we're going, which gives us hope, and we move forward because of that. And we get that hope from the Word of God. He goes on and he says in verse 13, but he is unique and who can make him change? And whatever his soul desires that he does, he has formed his own plans and no one can overturn them. So the point seems to be that God has decided to bring affliction on me and there's no stopping it. In verse 14, he performs what is appointed for me and many such things are with him. He's doing what he has determined to do and there's nothing I can do to stop it. Remember in Job 9 verse 12 how it says, if he takes away who can hinder him, who can say to him, what are you doing? So for whatever reason he may have, this is what God has determined to do. In Proverbs 19, 21 it says, there are many plans in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the Lord's counsel that will stand. And so he's speaking about God being unique, who can make him change. He performs what is appointed for me. And he speaks of many such things there in verse 14. What he is doing is not for me alone, but is intended to be extended to others. So this is interesting. When he says in verse 14, he performs what is appointed for me and many such things are with him. The point he's making is the things I'm going through are going to be used later for other people. Some of the things, if not most of the things that you go through, can be used to comfort and advise other people. Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians concerning the comfort that the Corinthians received and he said, you've received this comfort so that you can be of comfort to somebody else. It's one thing for me to be able to say to somebody, you know what? The Bible says this, this, this and that. And it's true and the Bible by itself needs to be just respected for that. But it also helps a lot if I can say, and that is something that I have some internal knowledge of because I've gone through that myself and I can tell you God will be with you. I've had the opportunities many times over the years you can to imagine how many to be able to minister to somebody and to kind of know where they're at because been there done that. And this is what I've learned. Been there and done that. This is what I know. God never leaves you. God never forsakes you. No matter what you're going through, he's going through it with you and don't think you're alone because the enemy is going to try and make you feel that you're alone because he wants to isolate you like a pack of wolves chasing down a herd of buffalo. If they can get the one calf on its own by itself and isolate it, they'll destroy it. So stay close to the herd. I've learned these things over time that fellowship matters. The word of God matters. Prayer matters. Those things are important for me because it's kept me strong in the Lord and the lessons I've learned, I'm able to give to somebody else. And that's how it works. God wants to do something for others through you. You see, in this knowledge, Job appears to take comfort because he knows his suffering has a purpose. His suffering would be an example that others are going to be able to learn from. Again, I mentioned this to you out of James chapter five verse 11, how that James said, we count them blessed to endure. He said, you have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. Job was saying that many such things are with him. God is doing something with me that he's going to use for other people. And James points that out in verse 15. Therefore, I am terrified at his presence when I consider this. I'm afraid of him for God made my heart weak. The Almighty terrifies me because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness. He did not hide deep darkness from my face. I'm terrified at his presence. I don't know where to find him, but I'm still terrified. Though I can't see him, I believe he considers me his enemy and it frightens me. He's brought many afflictions upon me. I don't know what to do. So I'm afraid because I believe he's going to bring even greater pain to my life. When he says in verse 16, God made my heart weak and the Almighty terrifies me. He's taken my health. He's undermined my peace. My security in him has been replaced with fear. I don't know what he's going to do next. And then he said, finally, because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness, he did not hide deep darkness from my face. He's delivered me. He hasn't delivered me from my afflictions. He hasn't taken away my misery. He didn't put me out of my misery by letting me die. What am I going to do? And I'll close with the answer because it's what he does. What am I going to do? What are you going to do when you're walking through that valley? What are you going to do when you're going through that loss? What are you going to do when you experience that pain? What are you going to do when you have that disappointment? What are you going to do when you feel that God is abundant? What are you going to do? Let me close with this. Learn to trust him. Your God loves you. Your God loves you. Oh, if you can grab hold of that, you're going to be okay because no matter what you go through, no matter what the pain is that you experience, no matter what the loss, he never leaves you nor does he ever forsake you. He is with you and you have to trust him. Psalm 62 verse 8, trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge to us. Pour out your heart to him. The Lord and I have had many personal conversations. It's really been me speaking to him, not so much that he's verbally speaking to me. But there have been many conversations over these many years that I've been a Christian where I've said, God, let me speak to you about your judgments. I don't think I understand what you're doing right now and I don't know why you're doing this. God, help me to understand. I did that just last year. It's been a year and when we got back from Israel, only to have the churches shut down by orders. And for the first time and since the church had begun, I didn't have a place to go on a Sunday to go and teach and to be with my people. And that was hard. And then the first time I was unable to celebrate Easter with my church family, that was hard. Some people didn't care, I understand, it doesn't matter to them, but it mattered to me. It mattered to me that I wasn't able to be with my people on Easter celebrating the most glorious reality of the Christian faith that Jesus Christ is alive and all of the joy that we have on Easter. So he taught me a lot of things. I began to wonder what's going on, Lord. I'm used to speaking to this many people and now it's not even a third of what it used to be, Lord, what's going on. But you know what he did? He gave us other things to do right now. If everybody who's watching us right now were here, this place would be full. So I'm still speaking to a group of people. I'm still able to minister to them. And the Lord has taught me, look what the devil meant for evil. I mean for good. You're going to have your word going out further than it ever did before. And that's a fact. And that's what happened. And these countries opened up to us and all these countries are listening and people from different states are listening. And it just gave us an opportunity because the enemy cannot stop the gospel. He can't stop it. He couldn't keep Jesus in the grave and he certainly can't keep his word from being spread. So God, you know, he taught me that. So what do we do? We trust the Lord. We trust God. I don't know exactly what's going to happen tomorrow, but I know someone who does. And so I'm trusting that one. And someone says, how naive you are. Yes, I guess I must be. For 50 years, he's been teaching me to trust him. And if that's naive, I, well, I'd rather be naive because my God is able. My God is with me. My God does not forsake me. He doesn't leave you. He loves you and he makes his word. His word is true. Like it says in Proverbs 30, verse five, every word of God is pure. He's a shield to those of what they're trusting him. So what should you do? What should you do, Job? You're afraid. You think he's going to do more. He's going to terrify you even greater. Your heart is weak because of that. What should I do? Trust him. Trust him because he loves you. You know, and I'll close with one last thought. You know, when my kids were small to this day and my grandbabies now, God taught me something a long time ago. And maybe some of you parents, maybe someone listening right now needs to remember this. I'll close with this. I would be concerned for my kids. I lifted them in prayer every day of their life. And I would be concerned, oh Lord, one day God's word just spoke to me and a thought came to my mind that I've never let go of. And it's a very simple one, and you probably already had it. It's not my thought alone. It's this. God imprinted in my heart one thought, and that was this, I love your children more than you ever will. I love your children more than you ever will. So trust me. And I do. And I do. He loves my babies more than I ever will. He loves my grandbabies more than I ever will. So I trust him. I trust him with them. And I've trusted him with me. And guess what? He's never let me down. And he'll never let you down, either because he loves you.