Sermon Tone Analysis
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Prayer
We have been following the book of Job for several weeks now.
This week we come to the end of the arguments.
This week we will hear Job conclude these arguments with a speech.
The book of Job acts as a photo negative...
The image only becomes clear as we see the negative.
As we look at the inverse, the form becomes more clear.
We are meant to see the question without an answer, and behold the substance more clearly.
Or like we will see this week, in a desire without a fulfillment.
The message for today is entitled...
The Longings of the Soul: Hungering for Home
I wonder if you have you ever considered your day dreams?
The thoughts that circulate in your head when there is nothing else to ponder.
The content of your mind goes to when you’re just relaxing.
Or how about what you desire when life becomes “uncomfortable”?
These day dreams/heart longings reveal what our heart is most desiring for.
This can be revealing as to what our hearts are located on.
Since our hearts yearn toward the ultimate, we must pursue shaping our hearts according to God’s Word.
Now don’t be mistaken, there is no way to eliminate the longings of your heart.
We CAN’T stop longing or yearning.
To be human, this side of eternity, is to ache and yearn for something.
What we see in this discourse from Job is a man who has desperate yearnings for life to be made right.
But just like our own yearnings, there are hints and scents of truth to the yearnings.
There are hints or whispers of things that are true, good, and beautiful that we can see in our longings.
Like we have seen in Job before, he is acting both prophetically and exemplary for us.
Prophetically pointing us forward to Jesus Christ
Exemplary in leaving us with examples of how to handle suffering.
Notice how Job begins this discourse....
Longing for Friendship
“The Desire for Companionship”
Another translation hits it well..
Of all the things you would think Job could say that he longs to have back
He could say he wants his children back...
Which would not be wrong to want back.
or his livestock,
or his servants,
or any of the things he has taken.
What’s surprising is he misses the presence of the Lord the most.
The days when God would shine a lamp upon Job's head and he was able to walk by the presence of the light of God.
Remember, Job is fully aware that the Lord has allowed this evil to befall him.
He knows the Lord is NOT to blame, but he is aware that the Lord is sovereign over his situation.
There is a problem for Job here...
He is beginning to associate the Lord’s displeasure of him with his physical surroundings.
He is starting to look at the blessings of the Lord as an indicator of the Lord’s pleasure or displeasure with him.
Human’s as Meaning Making Machines
A part of the nature of being human is the ability to assign meaning to things.
Picture if you will a library that receive lots of books.
(Illustration from Jeremy Pierre, Dynamics of the Heart)
On those shelves are books all categorized with a number and a genre.
Every time a book is returned, it is put on a shelf in it’s proper place.
Well humans are a lot like a library in that function.
We make order and meaning out of everything.
Everything that comes into our lives we seek to find a proper place for it.
Job’s issue is that these friends have been beating on him for so long that his categories are beginning to shift.
God’s Blessing ≠ God’s Pleasure
He was correct in saying that God allowed this misfortune to come upon him.
But Job is beginning to be categorically deceived.
The presence of affliction and suffering is not proof of God’s displeasure.
Nor is the absence of affliction and suffering proof of God’s favor.
Rather, affliction and suffering are from God and may or may not occur because of our actions.
From this side of heaven, no one can be sure.
But we can be sure that God uses all human suffering and affliction for his glory.
Since Job is beginning to see God has being against him, his desire is extremely important to pay attention to.
What is this longing exactly?
His desire is for his friendship with the Lord to be renewed.
Above and before every other thing he could mention, the nearness of the Lord is paramount.
He describes it well in verse 4-5...
He says he wants his friendship with the Lord back.
This is the kind of relationship he desires again.
The word there for “prime” is the same word that would be rendered as "autumn days" or harvest.
Job is NOT simply reflecting back on his prime...
Job is reflecting back on the times when he perceived God allowed his friendship to be of ripe maturity.
The thing Job is most longing for is to have his friendship with the Lord restored.
Job’s desire is for the friendship of the Lord to again be on his house.
Notice the way he talks even of his children...
Even when he does mention his children,
it's with respect to the fact that they were but a gift when they were around him.
The desire to have his children back were not ultimate...
Rather, they were a sign that God’s blessing was on his house.
The days when he was so wealthy that milk and butter or "cheese curds" were so plentiful that he could wash his feet with them.
The "oil" was so abundant that it literally came out of the rock.
These are both idioms to express how prosperous he was.
But of all of these things, the thing that is MOST precious to him was his friendship with God.
Job is longing for the loving hand of God to be near him.
Job's longing is instructive for us.
The yearnings are instructive because they reveal something of Job's heart.
His heart is only satisfied with God's presence.
Christ the True Friend
“What a Friend!”
Longing for A Savior
“The Desire for Justice”
Job’s discourse goes on…
Job now turns to longing for the dignity he once received in the city square.
The place where elders would make judgments, the place of honor and respect.
The young men would see him and shrink back because they are marked by folly and foolishness.
The aged rose and stood as a sign of respect and honor toward Job.
The princes kept from speaking out of a desire to hear Job's words of wisdom and insight.
The voices of the nobles were hushed because the noblest of the nobles was speaking.
Job is NOT asking for dignity for dignity sake.
He’s not seeking to simply be respected from others…
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