Job 2:9 BAD ADVICE

Psalms 16:8 “I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.”

INTRODUCTION

As you continue on your journey, your walk with Christ. I pray that you are at the point now, that you just want to see what the end will be like. I pray that you understand, everyday will not be perfect. We still have some hills to go over, some valleys to climb out of. But at the end of the day, God is still in control and still in the blessing business. We need to stay in the praising and worshipping business. Because you know when praises go up blessings come down.

However, there will be those that are watching you, while you are on this journey. Watching to see how you react to certain things so they can start questioning and even give you some bad advice.

Questions like, How can a good God allow bad things to happen to His people? Why didn’t He heal them? You up struggling but still giving to that church. It’s only a few of yall, what good is that doing?.....TALK, PREACH....(WORK QUESTIONS)

Advice like, you can just stay at home and watch church on tv now…you should join another church, they don’t preach that old time stuff.....TALK, PREACH...

And I have to be honest some times those giving the advice are not trying to hurt you but they really think they are helping.

let me give you a Marcellus example.......TALK…(GETTING MARRIED TO YOUNG)

But being realistic, there are some folks that do not have your best interest at heart.

And there are times when you can give your own self some bad advice…(MARCELLUS STORY, RUNNING FROM PREACHING CALL, LISTENING TO MYSELF)

If i would have listened to others and myself, I would have missed out on so much. But by knowing His voice....

Jesus said over in John 10:27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” ....when you know the voice or can feel His presence, you will know which way to go.....TALK, PREACH....especially if you are serving Him in spirit and in truth.

Not only would I have missed out on earthly blessings, I would have missed out on some spiritual blessings....let me call the roll.....TALK, PREACH....

Because of this bad advice, church you could miss out on so many blessings. You have to make sure you are staying faithful and true and allowing Him to lead and guide you.

And it seems like its always during the times of trouble, everyone wants to give you some advice. The devil knows who send and when to send them. Its ok to listening but if you know His voice and that advice just doesnt sound or fell right doesnt mean you have to follow it.

And we have a lesson here today that will show us that if the bad advice was followed how much would have been lost.

Let’s walk ....

BODY/POINTS

The story of Job.....TALK…TELL THE STORY.... The book of Job is Narrative History. Its author is unknown yet it is possible that Job himself wrote it. It is possible that Job is the oldest of any book of the Bible written approximately 2100-1800 B.C. Key personalities of this book include Job, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite, and Elihu the Buzite.

In Job, we see a man who God allows to be directly attacked by Satan. He is an example of faithfulness as he loses everything important to him yet remains faithful to God. Its purpose is to illustrate God’s sovereignty and faithfulness during a time of great suffering.

•    In chapters 1-3, God tests Job’s faithfulness through allowing Satan to attack him. God told Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him” (1:12). Through Job’s trials, all is lost including his health, his wife even tells him to curse God and commit suicide, but he remains strong and faithful, “Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.” (1:22).

•    From chapters 4-37, Job’s friends give him plenty of bad advice, in rounds of discussion. They mistakenly blame his sufferings on his personal sins rather than God testing and growing Job. One of them was half-correct in that God wanted to humble him, but this was only a part of God’s test.

•    In chapters 38-42, God speaks to Job and restores him. God knows that Job has received incorrect guidance from his friends, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” God fittingly declares that humans do not know everything. Then He humbles Job by asking a series of questions that could never be answered by anyone other than Almighty God; for example, “Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this”. God then brings him to an understanding that believers don’t always know what God is doing in their lives.

In the end, Job answers God by saying, “I have declared that which I did not understand”. God then blessed Job with twice as much as he had before his trials began.

Some of the most notable scriptures or sayings of Job are,

Naked I came from my mother’s womb,

And naked shall I return there.

The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;

Blessed be the name of the LORD.” and

The New King James Version Chapter 13

Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him

And thru it all Job stayed faithful but for today’s we will examine the bad advice giving to him by someone very close to him.

Job 2:9 “Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!””

This bad advice came from his wife.

Let’s expound on it.....

First we see his wife attacking his integrity or belief.

Job experienced 3 great losses, his children, his possesions and his health.

Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old Testament Chapters 1–3

God permitted this, but limited Satan again, for Satan (who has the power of death when God permits) cannot go beyond God’s will

TALK, PREACH..

Jobs wife was more than likely thinking and asking herself, how could he continue to trust the Lord under such cruel and unjust treatment...

maybe she blamed the Lord

She judged harshly and made a harsh decision and gave bad advice.

And we can not be to hard on wife because she lost everything Job lost....TALK

And led to grief, anger and doubt

And that allowed the devil to sneak in and tempt Job even more.

After the loss of his possesions and children Job still blessed the name of God, Job 1:21-22 “And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.”

So now satan hits his health, and Sister Job now speaks up and questions his belief.

After all of this “do you still hold fast to your integrity?

She banters Job for his constancy in his religion

Is this a God to be still loved, and blessed, and served?"

You stayed faithful and now look at you. What can we learn from that .....

In your dark hours be prepared for satan to send someone to question your committement to God.....TALK, PREACH.....

Next we see and hear the bad advice....Job 2:9 “Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!””

She should have never critizied his faith and now she is telling him to give up.

Give up on his God and give up on life....

Perhaps she just didn’t have the strength to continue watching her husband suffer...

She can’t bear to see her husband suffer like this. Her heart, already crushed by the loss of her ten children, is now without hope. She is saying, ‘Curse God and He’ll strike you dead too. Then you can escape this pain. Death would be better than this.’” (Lawson)

When the folks come and question your comittment, next they will give you some bad advice as well....TALK, PREACH...

But if you trust God like Job, you can renounce them like Job did his wife…Job 2:10 “But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

Church stay trusting , stay faithful and stay prayed up. When evil shows up and trys to give you that bad advice, think about what Jesus said when we taught the disciples how to pray.....lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil

When you know the Lord for yourself and know His voice you will be able to tell that bad advice.....scripture is letting us know that even the strongest will get tempted but it also lets us know that he will leave or forsake you......TALK, PREACH, CLOSE

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Job 1:21.