Job Ch. 6 | Men's Bible Study by Rick Burgess

Find more at http://www.burgessministries.com and http://www.TheManChurch.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in to the Wednesday Bible Study. We are thankful
that you are here. We are continuing our study in
the book of Job. Job is actually is a book
that generates so many questions, but sometimes we just need
to be calm and let God say what he has
to say. And if you'll just stay with it, usually God,

(00:21):
if he so desires, will offer explanation. And sometimes God
says and does what he does and we realize that
He is God and we are not. So we are
going to talk more about that today and so much
application that you might not have expected in a book
like Job for our own lives and the things we

(00:41):
continue to struggle with, and talking about pain and suffering
and where God is and all this. We always open
up in a word of prayer. I know a lot
of you out there, you're drawn to this particular study
because you're looking for answers, You are struggling, and you're
asking the question sometimes where is God in these times
where I feel I've been abandoned, only to discover that

(01:04):
He's right in the middle of it. And we're going
to open up in a word of prayer. We are
going to say a special prayer for the blanking ships
who are connected to a lot of people. The men
that are actually in this room is they are facing
just a few more hours here on earth as husband
and wife together, as Hannah is about to stand in
the presence of the God who created her being fully healed.

(01:26):
But they are spending their final moments together. So we'll
pray for that husband and that wife, and for that family,
and for all of you out there who have been
through similar or are going through similar things as we
open our study of chapter six today. Lord, thank you
for the opportunity to be together. Thank you Lord for
the fact that you also tell us that you are

(01:47):
in the middle of all these things, and you've taught
us to persevere and to trust and to have faith.
But you've also comforted us by reminding us in some
in places like Psalm thirty four, where you were us
that you are near to the broken hearted, and that
because of the sin of this world, until you return,

(02:07):
our bodies do deteriorate, they do give out. But you
have given us so much hope that ultimately you have
offered the healing that we all are seeking, both spiritually
and physically. And we look forward to the day that
all these things are resolved. Until then, we place our
faith only in you and pray that you'll be with
the blanken ships right now. Lord, in a special way.

(02:28):
They sense your presence close to them. It's so obvious
they do. And thank you for watching them live out
which you always intended marriage to be. And Lord, thank
you for our time together. Give us the discernment that
we need, and be with those that are hurting. And
the glorious name of Jesus, we pray Amen. So Themanchurch
dot Com brings you this Bible study. We've been around

(02:51):
for over a decade, doing this most every single Wednesday.
If you'd like to find archives of Bible studies past
or even some you've missed in this series, you can
go to the Manchurch dot Com. You'll see that there's
a drop down menu on the homepage. Look at the
media button and you click that media button and you
can either watch archives or listen to them. You can

(03:13):
go there and go through any of the studies we've
done over the last decade. Here, the Manchurch dot Com
is a hub for men's ministry. We are a complete
strategic setup. This strategy features high challenge in the form
of conferences and events followed by high equipping in the
form of forty week curricula or individual resources for individual men.

(03:37):
If you'd like to find out more, go to the
manchurch dot com and join the movement of over twenty
three one hundred churches that are now implementing our strategy.
And we're ready to answer any questions, show you the
resources that are available, and then help you plug those in.
So let's go to Job chapter six. Now, last week

(03:57):
we've now started. The friends are now weighing in on
the suffering of Job and Eliphaz, who is beats around
the bush a little more than say you're going to
see with Bill Dad coming up here and not this
next week, but the week after when he's going to
weigh in. He's not going to be a soft spoken

(04:19):
he's not going to be passive aggressive. He's going to
be quite aggressive. But in between that you now have
a response in chapter six and seven from Job himself. Now,
this response is not just at eliphas It's going to
be to all three of his friends. He's speaking. He's
responding to what Eliphaz has said, but he's really speaking

(04:40):
to all three of these men that have been sitting
with him. During his time of struggle. Starting in six,
you're going to see that. He starts off by making
it clear that have you ever heard the walk a
mile in somebody else's shoes before you try to weigh
in on what they should and should be doing. If
you're not in their situation, you are limited to what

(05:03):
you actually know. And uh, and job is gonna make
that pretty clear, going, y'all, y'all are y'all are not
suffering like me. You're you're not in this, This is
not happening to you. And and uh, you know you're
you're willing to give us all this advice. Uh, well,
give you're willing to give me all this advice. But
if you were in the suffering that I'm in, if

(05:23):
all this were happening to you, you would understand some
of my lamenting. Uh. And then he goes far as
far to say he's gonna he's gonna own that he
has spoken strongly. He said, but my sorrow that I'm
in is so bad it gives me good reason to complain.
I'm not complaining for no reason. I'm not looking for

(05:45):
answers for no reason. I'm in a tough spot right here.
And frankly, you're not uh so uh He's saying, I'd
like a little more grace, a little more mercy on
some of the complaints that I've had, some of the
complaining that I just had, uh me wish for death
and things like that. So I don't know how many
times you've ever been through that, And I think it's

(06:07):
something to learn because I know there's something I struggle
with sometimes I want to I want to get into
conflict with my friends and family and start trying to
get them out of the sorrow they're in. And I
want to run in with all the answers before I've
taken the time to say maybe for a minute, I
just need to just be sorrowful with you about the

(06:27):
situation I remember, and you can imagine in this study
just like you would I would think in my same situation.
You're going to reference things that you relate to in
this And I remember when our son died his earthly death.
I remember having a similar situation where with the people

(06:48):
that we were buying the plots from at the cemetery,
because believe it or not, you really don't think about
buying a plot for a two and a half year
old and then when you have to, you really haven't
handled that yet. So we had to do it, you know,
right after his earthly death. So we decided at that time,

(07:09):
I guess now we know where we need to put everybody,
because now he's going to be the first one there.
You would have thought it would have been somebody else,
but now we'll just kind of put the family there. Well,
this was really fresh. I mean this was days after
his earthly death. And I remember the person showing us
the plots was being a little cold, frankly, and so

(07:29):
I took the person aside and I said, hey, you're
gonna have to show a little more compassion. And the
person told me which I understand, which was I do
understand their situation. Well, you have to understand that we
see this every day, and if we get emotionally attached
to every single situation, we want him able to come
back to work. And I said, understand, you got to

(07:51):
play some distance, but you've got to balance this a
little better. I said, right now, you're treating a mourning
mother like she's picking out a used car. Okay, we're
not here to buy a used car. We're here to
buy a plot for a baby. Okay, And so I'm
not asking you to get all involved. I'm not asking
you to, you know, to get in here and waller

(08:12):
with us. But what you're doing right now is too
far the other way. Okay. You got to show a
little more compassion. And so I think that's where job is.
I understand y'all got some accusations, and I understand you
got some some you want to shoot some truth at
me real quick. I really would appreciate it if right
now you just kind of understand this is a very
difficult situation and there's nothing wrong with that. You know.

(08:33):
The answer is, we can get to that, but sometimes
we got to use some discernment. I'm talking to me
because I can be one of the worst. Some discernment
that there's a time right now to be gentle, to
be compassionate, to be soft and la fast going there
with his kids. That was, in my opinion, that would
have been the one that probably would have been, Hey,
that's over the line. That's way too soon. You ever

(08:54):
heard that term that's way too soon? So you're gonna
get a little bit of that from from job. Uh.
And here's what he says on the little summary that
I just gave you. Then Job answered and said, oh,
that my vexation were weighed and all my calamity laid
in the balances, for then it would be heavier than

(09:16):
the sand of the sea. Therefore my words have been rash.
You don't really know what I've gone through. This has
not been laid upon you. I kind of wish it was.
And that way, if it was laid upon you and
all the calamity that I'm in, you probably could give
me a little more balance here, because you're missing the
one part of it. You don't have the sores on you.

(09:37):
Your children aren't dead, your wife isn't telling you to
curse God and die. You haven't lost everything you've ever owned.
You're not in that situation. And I think sometimes when
we're not, we have to acknowledge that. I mean, I
think sometimes it's okay to say, I really don't know
how bad it is for you right now, I'm just
here for you. We'd maybe sometimes let those people ask

(09:59):
you questions before you come in with all the answers,
and even though it may be very well meaning. And
so that's one thing I think we can take away
because remember, when we're studying this, I think we're supposed
to be doing two things. Look, we put ourselves in
the position of Job, but we must also put ourselves
in the position of his friends and learn from that

(10:22):
too how not to handle things. So we see that
being pretty clear. So next in verses four through seven,
you're going to see kind of an interesting commentary from
Job when he realizes this is being done to him
ultimately by God. He's not naive to that. He says

(10:45):
in four for the arrows of the Almighty are in me,
my spirit drinks, they're poison. The terrors of God are
arrayed against me. I know that's where this is coming from.
But I think you're going to see as we go through.
It's one thing to know where it's coming from. It's

(11:06):
quite another to know why. He doesn't know why, and
that's really a struggle for him because he knows enough
about God. He's blameless and upright. He had a great
relationship with God, and you know, so he understands that
ultimately he seems to have some grasp. Now he doesn't
know about the conversation between God and Lucifer. He doesn't

(11:28):
know about that. He doesn't know any of that, But
he does know God and I think that that's something
we need to take away because there's two things that
are true. There's comfort. I mean, I've said this in
the last two weeks to someone struggling right now, just
cling to the promises of God, cling to the things

(11:49):
you know about him, Well, that can be comforting. But
on the other side, Job has said, I know so
much about God. I know he's allowing this, that the
arrows ultimately are coming from him, because why he certainly
could have stopped it. So so the things we know
about God, but all of it should remind us that

(12:13):
he's in control. We dealt with this on my day
job today. We have this segment where we now take
emails from people and a lot of it can be
silly and funny, but some of it can be quite serious.
And you know, I like being would do all that,
but I had too that I was kind of hanging
on to and and I thought, I think I will
deal with him at some point, but I got to

(12:34):
wait till God's perfect timing on it. And today, while
we're doing the Bible study, it kind of lends itself
because that's everybody knows that's coming. So I said, you
know what I think I'll do one segment on that
today because we've done a lot of funny stuff, and
we've done a lot of you know, update you and
everything that's going on. And really it was two questions
about if God is sovereign, then then then first of all,

(12:57):
why did he ever make us if he knew everything
we were going to do. That was one question, and
then the other one is talking about reading my wife's
book and the guy said it helped him tremendously, but
now he said, as I was reading it, I had
two things that happened to me about learning about God's
sovereignty and where he is in calamity. And the guy

(13:17):
who sent the email says, now that I'm a father,
this book is a lot different to me. And I've
listened to the audio and I've read it. Now I
find myself afraid. And he said, I want more control
over what's going to happen to my kids, and I'm
struggling about I don't. I want how can I make
sure that this doesn't happen to us? And he said,

(13:39):
and I've come to the realization I can't, And so
I'm struggling with that. How do I release my kids? Ultimately?
To the sovereignty of God. And I said, boy, what
a great question. And I said, well, I think that
you're looking at it. There's no we've said this all
throughout this study. Yeah, we can look at it and
say this. This concerns me that Lucifer apparently can come

(14:05):
before God and ask to sift me and get the
go ahead. But at the same time it should comfort
us that God is still in control of what can
and can't be done. So you can get to the
point that whatever if you're right with God. Now, if
you don't have a relationship with God, now your life
is just you're making it up as you go. But

(14:25):
if you're under the authority of the one and only
Living God and his hand is on your life, and
you have been redeemed and you now have been presenting,
presented fully righteous to Him, blameless and upright now through
the prism of Jesus, then you you also have to
rest and have a peace that whatever He allows is right,

(14:46):
and whatever he's allowing or under his barriers and his limits,
that Lucifer, uh and and and the demons can't just
do to you whatever they want to do. That there's
a comfort in that that God is in con and
if he's in control, whatever room he's allowing is ultimately
for his glorification and our own good, so that they

(15:11):
gave a good opportunity. And then of course the one
about why did he ever create this? Now this gets
into this which we're not gonna do. This is where
you get in some of these theological battles between the
Armenians and the and the Calvinists, and you know where
his choice and this and that and and this is
the guy's like, well, if God is all knowing and
when when he created human beings and he knew what
was gonna happen, why in the world did he ever
do it? Uh? And I said, what's a really good,

(15:34):
profound question. I said, but and this is this is
nowhere near where God is. But it's a nice human,
finite mind. Look at this. We if you have children,
our grandchildren, A lot of men in this room do
some of you out there do, and a lot of
you you do. Well. I mean, what if I knew everything,
my kids were gonna do everything? I mean, you know,

(15:56):
all the mistakes that were going to make, all the
problems that was going to cause me, all the heartache
that was coming would I look at that with all
the wonderful blessings it's given me all the hope like
in God's eyes that he has a plan for redemption
of these very frustrating people. He sees the end. He

(16:17):
didn't see the beginning in the middle. He sees the beginning,
the middle, and the end. I do not agree with
those that say that God created some people just to
burn in hell. I don't agree with that because it's
got a lot of theological problems through quite a few
scriptures to get there. But ultimately I do believe in
and know that God is sovereign because he says he is.

(16:39):
And I do believe these all knowing him because he
says he is, and we know that in scripture. I
would not as a dad if I was given everything
I know about my children. I'm talking about all five
of them. There's never a moment I would look at
that and say, well, I just wish I had never
had them. Even if I knew everything that was gonna happen,
I would still never say I wish I'd never had them.

(17:01):
Because of the blessing it has been and for the
fact that those that are still living, even those that
are wayward. It's not over. See, God with us already
saw that redemption would be provided. So even though he
created us and the rebellion was coming, he also knew
that there was redemption that was coming too. He saw

(17:23):
that as well. And you know what, he came to
the conclusion that we were worth it, just like I
think we would. Now it's a different deal. I'm not God,
and I can't create, but I can, as a dad
look at a heavenly father and look at an earthly
father and say, I'd still be all in on these
five kids. I wouldn't decide not to have them. So

(17:44):
that was kind of where we went with that. Well,
you see where Job is saying, I know God's in this,
but I just don't know why. And then he goes
to five and six. I think this is kind of
funny when he says, does the wild donkey bray when
he has grass or the low over his fodder? Can
that which is is tasteless be eaten without salt? Or

(18:07):
is there any taste in the juice of mallow? My
appetite refuses to touch them, and they are so they
are as food that is loathsome to me. He said,
why are y'all surprised that I'm upset right now? I mean,
let's look at animals. God created animals. When they don't
have food, eat, what do they do? They start making

(18:27):
a lot of noise. When animals don't when they don't
feel like they're being cared for by God, they complain.
And so here I am. I mean, do y'all like
when somebody serves you food that's terrible? Do you do
you have an appetite for that? Why would y'all think
that I would be jumping up and down and being
jolly right now? I know God's in this. I haven't

(18:49):
decided to kill myself. I said it might be better
if I were dead, but I'm not going to do it.
I'm kind of and you'll see in a minute, I
might ask God to take me out of this. I'm
not gonna take myself out of this. I believe in God.
I trust God. I just don't like what's happening. And
he said, is that surprise you? Would you enjoy this?

(19:10):
Do you remember what I said before? Do you think
I'm glad that my son died? No, I haven't enjoyed.
I have not enjoyed that at all. I still am
heartbroken by However, do I see what God has done
through it? Yes? I do. Do I like it? No?
Am I grateful for what's been accomplished in it? Yes?

(19:33):
Do I trust him? Yes? Well I see my son again. Yes?
Have I enjoyed the difficulties that God has allowed in
my life? I have not? Have I benefited from them? Yes?
Have I been refined? Yes? Have I been made more steadfast? Yes?
Do I have a better perception on what's important and
what's not? Yes? Have I been humbled? Yes? Have I

(19:59):
been broken? Yes? Am I more dependent on God than ever? Yes?
Have I been made weak? Yes? And all those things
are good? But have I enjoyed it? That's a big note. Okay,
and I don't like it. But you know who, I'm

(20:19):
mad at myself because apparently I'm so sinful. This is
what it takes. You know. I ain't mad at him.
I'm sure he would say I didn't want to go
this way either. This is just what it takes. Right,
You ever had that with your kids? I didn't want
to go this way. I really want us to have
a good day to day, but you messed that up,
you know. And now I've got to discipline you because
I love you. This is what you need. Have you

(20:41):
ever done that before? You ever wanted to do something
that you canceled because you kid wouldn't do what you
told them to do and you wanted to go to
you hated y'all it get to go. I want to
go fishing too. Now we're a home. Now you're sitting
in the room having to study. You've been punished, and
now I'm punished too. But I had to. So that's
where it is. So really that to me, those three
verses are funny because Job saying I don't understand why

(21:03):
y'all are shocked by my agony right now. So then
he moves on, and then he does do another request.
He's saying that animals don't complain either when they're well
taken care of, and he says, I think my complaint
is pretty normal. Why God is dishing out and doing this,

(21:29):
he said, I don't know, but the food that the
Lord's providing for me right now is tasteless. I don't
like what he's providing. So then he makes a request
for death, but he doesn't do that, saying I'm gonna
do it. He makes the request from God, which means
He's showing it's God's call whether he lives or die,

(21:50):
not his. That's important. He says, Oh, that I might
have my request and that God would fulfill my hope.
That it would please God to crush me, and that
he wouldn't let loose his hand and cut me off.
He says, this would be my comfort. I would even

(22:13):
exult in the pain, unsparing, for I've not denied the
words of the Holy One. That's important. Underline that one.
What is my strength that I should wait? And what
is my end that I should be patient? Is my
strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh bronze? Wow? Wow? Wow?
Have you ever been here before? God? I think you

(22:35):
expect more of me than I can do. I only
take so much. I mean what he's saying right here
to the Lord. If it would please you, then crush me,
be done with me. Do you remember we actually established
this and have this in our family now, and we've
even talked about it in our business. We call it

(22:57):
to kill me stage Now. I know that sounds kind
of crude. Get this from Moses? Do you remember Moses,
He's had enough? Have you ever been just so frustrated
with a situation or with people, you just say, Lord,
just take me out. I mean, I don't want to
deal with these people anymore. I don't want to deal
with this anymore. Just take and when you get to
that point, you're pretty unstoppable because you're just done. You

(23:19):
don't carry anymore, You're not trying to appease people anymore.
I'm just done with this whole situation. Moses actually becomes
so frustrated with the Hebrews he asked God to kill him.
Just take me out, Please, don't make me deal with
these people another day. Well, what you have here is
Job getting to that too. If this pleases you, now,
this is important. He is not making the call. His

(23:41):
wife's already said, just curse God and kill yourself, and
Job will not do that, But he is asking God
to do it. And really, what he's saying is, in
my suffering, I don't want to continue on like this.
It would be pleasing to get the final peace of
my life being over. And the only reason why he

(24:02):
wants his life to be over is because this particular
suffering would end. I see. That's important, because you don't
don't let the adversary take you into despair, because there
are times some of you you have already had these times.
If not, I hope you don't. But you may have
these times where the situation you're in is so miserable

(24:23):
that you're thinking death would be so sweet. Not because
you're not thinking about what you're doing to your family,
You're not thinking about what you're doing to your ministry.
You're getting to the point where you're just telling God,
this would be the best thing for me, just because
it's the best thing for us. Does it mean it's
the best thing for the kingdom. Does it mean it's
the best thing for your family, Does it mean it's

(24:45):
the best thing for your ministry? Okay, be careful with that,
but I do understand it. I mean I've had things
that were nothing like this that in the moment, And
one of the worst ones is physical agony, you know,
where you're just like, man, I can't get comfortable, I
can't get still, I can't sleep, I am in excruciating pain.

(25:08):
And you have to be real careful of cutting any
deal you can just to get the pain stop. And
you know, sometimes you have to say, if God's allowing
the pain to go on, let me learn from it.
I may have mentioned this before, I'll mention it again.
This is not I'm not the person to stand on
what you should and shouldn't do, But I will just

(25:29):
tell you this is that when my wife, it was
in the excruciating agony of all she saw, all she
went through in that horrific event, people were offering her
comfort to kind of give her some relief, and she
turned it down. I do not want any drugs. I
don't want anything like that. I want to feel every

(25:51):
bit of this. Do not deny me feeling this. I
don't want to be numb to it. I don't want
to be comforted that way. I want to be comforted
by God. I want to be comforted by the discipline
and the refinement of this. Do not rob me of that. Now.
Is that me saying that if you do that, somehow
you're I'm not saying that. I'm just saying I understood

(26:14):
her point and I think it's a valid point. Doesn't
mean I'm saying if you don't do that, you're wrong.
But because sometimes people do need something to help them
get through so they can survive it, I just want
you to know, for her, I thought that was a
pretty solid point, made a lot of sense. It would
been really easy to say, hey, just knock her out,

(26:35):
but she said, oh no, no, no, that's the last
thing I want. I don't want to miss any of this.
So this job is asking for that kind of relief.
But he is saying that God is the one who
makes the call if it pleases God. What as I say,
your will be done? Right? That's her takeaway right there?
What did Jesus tell us? You can go ahead and

(26:57):
make plans, and you go ahead and say you want
to do things, but remember to put in and ultimately,
if it be your will this I want to be
in your will. I mean, I've gone as far now.
Jesus has taught me that it probably gets on people's nerves.
And I hope they don't think I'm being sanctimonious. I'm
really not. It's just who I am. Now. I'll say

(27:18):
things like I've said it today. Next weekend, Lord Willing
sharing I'll be in Missouri and we'll do a marriage conference.
But I mean, I don't know whether we'll be there
or not. Only the Lord knows that that's our plan.
If the Lord allows us, we'll be there and I'll
do things like Lord Willing will talk tomorrow because that's
what Jesus said to do. Because I don't know about y'all.

(27:38):
I've seen enough that that's not always a given right.
And Jesus reminded us that. Now, Jesus didn't say don't plan.
He just said, be careful making all these plans. Be
sure you say if the Lord allows, that's what I'm
gonna do, because it may not be what he allows.
So Joe does have that right. And then he gets
to the point where you just talked about it, brother,

(28:00):
where it kind of your heart kind of breaks, because
he said, I don't know what God thinks I'm made of.
But you know, one of the things that I love
about this, it's hopelessness that he's running into. But I
love when he finally says these lines because I want
us not to be bothered by this. I want this

(28:21):
to actually comfort be comforted by this. What is my
strength that I should wait? What is my end that
I should be patient? Is my strength? The strength of
stones are in my flesh, bronze? Why much does he
think I can take? And that's the thing where job
is getting a little off base. It's the thing if

(28:42):
you've probably learned it, have you been through it. I
had to learn it. No, that's not the point. The
point is God is trying to drive us to the
point that we finally stop depending on our own strength.
We realize we don't have it, which means it has
to be you, God, because I can't do this. I
can't carry it this way. So no job. God doesn't

(29:06):
think you're strong enough to do it. He doesn't. He
knows how strong you are, so he's taking you beyond
that strength so that you then turned totally to him.
And let me tell you, once you do, that is
a sweet place to be. Now you fighting claud getting there,
but it's a sweet place to be because our first
reaction is I got to be strong, and there's nothing

(29:27):
wrong being strong. We could use more strong men, okay.
But what I'm saying is God loves us enough to
get us beyond our own strength, and that's okay because
He steps in and fills that void, and you realize
then that the problem may may not have been you
weren't strong enough. You've got plenty of strength. The problem

(29:47):
is sometimes we're not weak enough, and He knows that,
so he puts a burden on us so heavy we
don't even have choice, and that's where job is. And
he's asking how strong do you think I am? He knows,
and he's gonna get you to the end of it.
So now we get down to thirteen, where he says,

(30:07):
have I any help in me when resources? When resource
is driven from me? You know what he says, I
can't do it anymore. I have exalted, exhausted all my resources.
Sometimes we exalt them too, I think, but I have
exhausted all my resources. If I'm gonna live through this,

(30:28):
it ain't gonna be by me, right, that's where he's
taking us. Okay, so that's been done. So now he's
done with this. Okay, he's done with this, and he's
asked all these rhetorical questions, and he knows the answer
to all these rhetorical questions is what no or none.

(30:50):
It's no. He's come to the end of himself. I
don't have it, I can't do it. It was all rhetorical,
but all the answer he knew was no or none. Okay. Well,
now now he's gonna turn to his friends and he's
gonna say, disappointed in you, y'all heard my laments, You've
heard where I am. I'm gonna let you know that
I'm disappointed in you. You ever been there, you ever

(31:15):
looked up? Here come your friends and the very thing
you need they don't bring. And he's disappointed, and he's
starting to say, have you guys really been any help
to me at all? And he starts in fourteen and
he says, he who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes

(31:36):
the fear of the almighty. Ooh, I tell you the
way y'all behave, And I don't think y'all representing God
at all. You may be representing yourselves, but you don't
sound like you're representing him. He saying, have you really
helped me? And then he goes on to describe, here's
how much help you've been to me. My brothers are

(32:00):
treacherous as a torrent bed of torrential streams that pass away,
which are drink with ice where the snow hid itself.
When they melt, they disappear when it's hot, they vanish
from their place. Wow, he starts out, and he says,

(32:21):
I tell what you guys are. You're kind of like
a desert stream. Storm comes, everything fills up, everybody's got water.
Everything looks great. But when that sun comes back out,
things get a little hot, things get a little bit miserable.
Apparently y'all just dry right up. You know what he's
saying is, Yeah, yeah, y'all are great as long as

(32:42):
everything's going well. But once I start having trouble, do
y'all not much help? You're not providing anything for me. Well,
I will tell you this. If you've ever been through it,
trust me on this one. And I know I can
see the faces and I can't imagine the stories out there,

(33:03):
Okay that are listening and watching it. It's very interesting,
isn't it. When difficult times come, you kind of have
a delusional number of how many friends you think you have.
The number is too big because when it gets down
to it, that number gets real small when you're when

(33:26):
you're in the valley and you're struggling. You can gather friends.
When times are good, you got friends everywhere. Everybody wants
to go the ball game, everybody wants to go to
the restaurant, everybody wants to get in the fund zone.
Everybody wants to get together. But you start being a
killjoy with your disease, your dead kid, your battle will,

(33:49):
your daughter, and then before you know it. You're just
not that much fun to be around anymore. And you
look around and those numbers begin to get kind of small.
And then God forbid that you need people to defend you.
You want me to get in the middle of this
battle you're in and then have these people mad at

(34:10):
me too. I'll pray for you a long way from here,
but know that I'm praying those that get in there
and get dirty with you. It's a small number, and
that really shouldn't surprise us. And again, we shouldn't just
look at it from the person who's struggling when somebody
else struggling. Are we the ones that fade? We don't

(34:33):
like to get our hands dirty. We don't want to
be in the middle of this. This is uncomfortable, This
isn't fun. I don't really want to sit here all
day at the hospital. I don't want to cry anymore
with you. This is sad in here. But and I
understand that I do. But that's exactly what job is saying.

(34:55):
I guess we're only friends when I'm doing what y'all
want me to do. Now. When I had the money,
being friends with me was fun. Now that I got
nothing and all my kids have been killed, and my
wife's upset, and I've got disease all o me and
I'm hard to look at. You aren't being very helpful now,

(35:20):
and so he is. He's throwing that at him, and
he says, so here's how you respond. Look at the
next few verses. He says, the caravans turn aside from
their course. They go up into the waste and perish.
He says, the caravans of Tima Luke, the travelers of
Sheba Hope. They are ashamed because they were confident. They

(35:44):
come here and they're disappointed. You have now become nothing.
You see my calamity, and you're afraid. Have I said,
make me a gift, or from your wealth, offer a
bribe for me, or deliver me from the ad series hand,
or redeem me from the hand of the ruthless? What

(36:05):
if I asked you for haven't? I haven't asked you
for anything. Everybody was all excited about the trip and
all about the caravan, but when they got there and
they saw calamity, nobody wanted any part of it. I
have not asked you for anything tangible. I've not even
asked you for protection from my enemies. I haven't asked

(36:28):
you for anything. What could y'all possibly be upset about?
That would be different if I called y'all here and
asked you to bail me out, or I called you
here and asked me to give me some money, or
I've called you here and said go find the people
that stole my stuff. I haven't done any of that.
I haven't asked you for anything. I just asked you
to come be with me. I just asked you to

(36:49):
and I didn't even ask you that. You showed up
on your own, you decided to come here. What complaint
do you really have against me? Why would you you
treat me this way? What have I ever done to
you that deserves this? And that's what he wants to know,
And it's it's a good question, it's a it's a
hard question. It's a difficult moment. So then now that

(37:14):
he said that, I've looked up. I've never needed anything
from you, never, And now that I do, you present
me with empty hands. Have you ever been through that
where you're like, I never asked you for anything, and

(37:37):
now I've made a request for some just some comfort,
nothing tangible, none of your money, none of your protection.
And I can't even I can't even get that from you.
Probably a disappointing day for job. And then this is
the thing I've kind of been through some of this recently.

(37:58):
Make your accusation. You keep saying there's an accusation. You
keep saying I've done something wrong, but you won't tell
me what it is. I mean, I couldn't. I couldn't even,
Like I said, I told you the other day, I
had somebody who claimed to be some sort of I
guess he is. I don't doubt it, some pastor that
was calling me out and saying I need to repent.

(38:20):
And then when I I guess he didn't realize I
could see his phone number on the text line, which
I thought was cowardly. I mean, why not reach out
to me? You know, I noticed that this pastor must
have studied all the Bible except Matthew eighteen. He must
have skipped that. But but I said, of course, I
didn't take long telling him that. But I said, but
I said, where was the initial contact to me personally?

(38:41):
Where was the personal reach out? My email is readily available.
We can start there. And now I'm talking to you
on my phone. You have my phone. Where was the
reach out. I have a problem with you. I would
like to address it. And then if I don't give
you a satisfactory answer, which I would have, then you
got some other people and then y'all all come to me,

(39:03):
my brothers and say, our brother asked you. We didn't
like your answer. Do you have a new answer. Tell
us what's going on here. Here's our accusation, here's where
we think you're in sin that didn't happen. And I said,
and then if I won't repent and there's obvious sin
and I'm still being rebellious, then you take it out
to a public platform and you say, we have a

(39:24):
problem with this man because he's done this sin. We've
confirmed he's done this sin and he will not repent
of it. But you didn't do any of that. And
I said, so tell me what it is I need
to repent of. Well, I don't want to get into
all that. I guess it's really none of my business.
Well no, I mean you just publicly and said you
sent me something that said I need to repent. So

(39:46):
what do I need to repent of? And this is
what job is now going to do. And by the way,
if you're calling someone to repent us and you don't
know why shut up? Okay, I mean you kind of
need to have that part. Can't just be the way
you feel. I mean you have to know I just
feel like you've done something wrong. Well, that's not going

(40:06):
to do it. You've got to actually point to the
fact that someone's done something wrong right. You can't just
feel it or think it or wonder it. Something's not
right here. I don't like the way this feels. No,
you go to somebody and say, hey, brother, this has
bothered me, tell me what happened here, and you may
get an answer that you go, well, I really am concerned,
or you might, bizarrely, like yesterday with another person, get

(40:30):
the explanation and apologize. Okay, So but you're supposed to
go find out that that's the whole thing. So now
job is saying, Okay, if this is the way y'all feel,
tell me, why teach me what I've done wrong? Look
what he says next, Teach me and I'll be solid.

(40:51):
Make me understand how I have gone astray. That's that's
a legitimate statement right there. You're upset with me, and
he's not just talking to elafa as he's talking to
all three of them, because apparently he must see the
look on their faces. He must say bill a dad
ready to go? Okay, And by the way, this has
no impact on him. By the way, he's still fires

(41:12):
right in there. But anyway, he says, I want to
know what I've done. I want you to point out
the sin I've done. This caused God to do this.
If God's punishing me, show me why this is punishment
and not just something else. I can't find the sin.
I don't know what I've done, but you seem to know,
So why don't you tell me? Absolutely that's what we

(41:33):
should say, And there's no need to be arrogant about
it in a jerk about it. You can see I
got a little frustrated about it. But that's not the
way I started. I started with this person saying, hey, brother,
you got to complain against me, tell me what it is,
and let's deal with it. You know, and maybe maybe
there's something you can tell me, maybe I'm missing something.
But when they wouldn't do that, then you now have

(41:55):
lost our credibility. Okay, you got to have that information.
If not, you're just a gossip. Okay. So and that's
what he wants to know. Point to me where y'all
come to this conclusion? All right? And then he goes
into twenty five How how forceful are upright words? But
what does reproof from? You reprove? What are you reproofing me? Up?

(42:20):
Give me some honest words. Okay. If you guys have
got this and you're upright and you're right with God
and I'm not, then you should have some honest words
for me. If you're going you're giving, you seem to
be reproving me. I'd like to know what I'm being
reproved for. Right. That's fair. Again, we may find out

(42:43):
that we deserve the reproof, but you've got to be
able to point it out. Okay. And so he's asking
them right now, it seems like you're upset, but you
haven't been specific about what you're upset about. You're making
an accusation, Ela Fast you were a little passive aggressive
of course, the comment about my kids. Wow. But but
he's saying, you got to your point. I see what
you're saying. Come on out with it, right am I

(43:06):
The only man in the world just wants somebody to
get to the point. Come on out with it. Let's
have this discussion. I had someone say to me yesterday, Well,
sometimes you come across like you enjoy conflict. I said no, No,
I despise conflict. I'm just willing. I'll get in the conflict,
but I don't like it. I don't like having hard conversations.

(43:28):
I hate it as much as anybody. I'm just willing
to I'm also willing to receive a hard conversation. But
what I don't like is when people get upset and
they get all passive aggressive and they talk around something
and they won't come to it. Let's talk about it.
Let's get it out there. And if I've given you
the opportunity and you don't take it, then I'm done
with it. Don't run off and go tell somebody else.

(43:50):
When I had you sitting right in front of me
and I said, here, I am any complaint you want
to make against me, now's the time. And if somebody
takes a pass on that and then runs off and
it's still mad somewhere else, then that's on them, right,
because that's not the way we handle things, and we
shouldn't do that to other people either. If you've got
a problem with somebody, tell them. You have to be

(44:12):
mean to be a jerk about it. But if you
don't want to talk to them about it, then don't
talk about it at all. Right, So that's what he say.
I want you guys to tell me exactly what you
think I've done twenty six? This is good? Do you
think that you can reprove words? When the speech of

(44:36):
a despairing man man is win? Can you really disprove
anything I've said? And now, now this is a shot
at aliphaz here when he's talking about wind, he is saying,
you just gave me a bunch of wind? Is what
you were? Okay, you are a big bag of win.

(44:57):
That's what you are. You didn't do anything, but if
you talked around this thing. So what I want you
to do is I want you to say, right now, job,
everything you just said to us about your complaint is
nothing against God. Is just somebody who's miserable. You know.
I'd like to also know you claim I've committed to sin?
So what is it at this point? If you can't

(45:18):
tell me that or disprove what I just said, You're
just a bag of wind. That's really what he's saying.
And Elafa has had a lot of really beautiful words,
but he never really got there. Bill a dad will.
So anyway, he says, in twenty seven, now he starts
taking on the character a little bit. You would even

(45:41):
cast lots over the fatherless and bargain over your friend,
little little character attack. Now, now job's getting upset. He said,
you know what you are. You're cruel. You're just cruel people.
I mean, you come down here and you speak to

(46:04):
me the way you speak to me, and frankly, frankly,
it's cruel. So then he says, and then we continue.
It continues on, and he says, but now be pleased
to look at me, for I'm not gonna lie to

(46:25):
your face. So he's let them know that he doesn't
like the way they've handled it. He finds what they're
doing to be cruel. Now he's going to say in
the last few verses, now he's going to say, I'd
like some understanding. I'm begging you for some understanding here.

(46:46):
So he gets in twenty eight and he says, now,
please look at me. I'm not gonna lie to your face.
I'll tell you the truth, but you got to ask
me what you want to ask me. You've got to
point out what you think I've done, and I'll tell
you the truth about it. I might own it. Have
you ever had somebody come to you and say, I
really think you're wrong on this, and even in the
beginning you thought I don't know about that, let me hear.

(47:08):
And then they finish, you're like, now, you're right, I
messed that up. You're right, I didn't see it that way.
He says that if you'll just tell me, I might
agree with you, but you got to be able to
tell me. So then he says, please turn, let no
injustice be done. Turn now my vindication is at stake. Now.

(47:33):
This is an interesting moment here in twenty eight and
going into twenty nine. There seems to be some realization
right now by Job that maybe he's been a little
harsh that his response you see him trying to take
it down a little bit. You ever had some elevate
and you start trying to take the heat of the
room down a little bit. Now, Now Job's kind of like, Okay,

(47:55):
I'm really upset now, y'all hurt me Adler has said
this before, or even in a joking way on the show.
Hurt people. Hurt people, You know, when somebody's hurt, then
they hurt other people. And so he is I think
he's realizing now things have elevated a little bit. And
that's when he says, man, I'll tell you the truth.
And then he says in twenty nine, I want you

(48:17):
to face me. Now, what does this tell us? They
must not be they must have their heads down those
we're looking at the ground. You ever been in one
of those situations or something in the conference room, or
something in the office, or something at home. Things got
out of hand, Things are starting to elevate, and you
find yourself just kind of looking down, just kind of
wanted to be over. Oh wow. And so he's trying
to now connect back to them. Hey, y'all, look at me.

(48:41):
You ever had to do that. You ever had your
parents tell you that, look at me, don't turn away
from me, look at me. You ever told your kids
that look at me? You ever had somebody in authority
say look at me. So job is saying, everybody, get
your eyes up, now, look at me. Let's take it
down a little bit. Turn that no injustice be done.

(49:05):
Turn now look at me. If you look at the
actual word here, you'll see that's really more. What he's saying,
my vindication is at stake. Let's relent all this. I
ask you to relent the charges against me. You're charging
me with evil. I asked that you relent that charge.
Let's not do it that way. Okay. One of us

(49:28):
I love this is wrong here. It's either me or you.
But we're in disagreement. You say I've done something wrong
that has caused God to punish me. I disagree with
that accusation. You haven't pointed out what it is. So
if you do, I may find out that I'm wrong.
But one of us is wrong here, and he says, so,
we got to deal with this right now. I honestly,

(49:52):
if you ever had this, ever ever had to say this,
or had somebody say it to you, I honestly do
not see the accusation you're making. I don't see it. Now.
Maybe you can clarify that, but I gotta have you
do that. I don't see it. Don't think I'm figuring
it out. Have you ever had to tell somebody we
all love this, we all love this, this man and

(50:14):
woman thing. But I have had to say to my wife,
who is a wonderful, powerful woman, I don't know who
told y'all that men can figure out what y'all what
y'all mean? I really wish you'd just tell us. Okay,
if there's something that you need, or something you want,
or correction you'd like to see me make, just say it.

(50:36):
I know you think I'm gonna figure this out. I'm
just not. I don't see it. I'm not tracking, and
so just tell me, right, And that's really what job
is saying. If y'all think that I'm supposed to figure
it out whatever you're saying, I haven't figured it out.
So why don't you just face me and tell me?
And let's stop with all these accusations. Just tell me,

(50:57):
stop with the passive aggressive stuff. Just say it so
then he finishes for our study this week? Is there
any injustice on my tongue? Cannot my palate discern the
cause of calamity? This is that big one I thought

(51:20):
y'all knew me. Do y'all really think that I can't
discern where I'm wrong? If I'm in sin? Right? Now?
Have I lived that way? I seem like that guy?
Remember God called him blameless and upright, and apparently that's
how everybody else should have seen him right, if that's
how God saw him, and he's really asking them what

(51:42):
happened to my integrity? Here? Where was my benefit of
the doubt? Where was boy? God's doing something to Job.
But it can't be because he sins, because we know Job.
I don't think Joe would have sinned against God to
cause this. That doesn't sound like him. Now we may
find out because some times we were not consistent. We
do things we normally wouldn't do. But Joe said, I

(52:03):
don't see y'all even considering that. Have I said anything
wicked or unjust? Have y'all seen me as some sinful man?
Point out what I've done? And he said, and this
is what he says. If you can't point out what
I've done, then my integrity we have to fall back
to that. True. This is that thing where I start thinking,

(52:28):
what would people think about us? I wonder if we
get the benefit of that. I wonder if we've lived
our lives in such a way that if somebody makes
an accusation, not people who don't know us, because we
shouldn't expect them to know, that doesn't count. I'm not
talking about strangers. I'm not talking about acquaintances. I'm talking
about the people that spend time with us, the people

(52:51):
that know us, the people like these three are supposed
to be, that are our closest friends. If someone made
an accusation about us, have we lived in such a
way in those real friendships which are few, and those
real friendships where our friends would say, I don't think
that's true. I'll find out. I'll go ask him. But

(53:15):
I am not going to jump into this bashing of
him until I talked to him directly and the and
I know him well enough to know that your accusation
against him or her doesn't sound right until I hear different.
Their integrity stands until I hear it from them. And

(53:38):
that's really what he's asking, Why have we not gone
that way? And he's hurt, But but he's not. He's
not passive. He is making the heat. He's he they
they want to make some accusations against him, And since
they're not asking the questions that he thinks they should
ask and be direct, He's gonna sure ask them some.

(54:02):
And and I gotta think right now, it's it's a
pretty uncomfortable little ash heap they're sitting in. UH. And
so we come back UH, you're gonna get a little
more from Job next week and that'll probably take up
all next week. And then the Bill Dad's coming in
and Bill Dad will go ahead and do what he's
asked eliphas to do, and he'll get right to it,

(54:25):
and he's gonna he's just gonna call Job to repentance
and it's it's ugly. Uh. But next week we won't
do that. I don't think we have enough time to
do both of those, but we will. We will finish
Job's final response to eliphas and really all three of them.
And then week after Wednesday, Lord willing, Bill Dad will

(54:47):
have his way and we'll learn something from him too.
Uh and uh, he's handful, so so look forward to that.
So let's uh, let's close in prayer. Lord, thank you
for today, thank you for these these difficult questions that
we have to ask ourselves. Is again, we're moving through
this study where we're putting ourselves in the position of Job.

(55:07):
We can some of us can relate there and and
but there's been times where we've been the friends and
we got to look at that and see how we
how we handle that and assess ourselves on either side.
Thank you for this incredible documentation, and how wonderful it
is to continue to get to know you, because the

(55:29):
more we know you, the more we love you, and
the more we love you, the more we obey you.
And Lord, I pray that you just crush any resistance
we have, and our flesh that is still against you,
refine us and to people you can trust in your
holy name, we pray Amen. Thank you very much