Tired of Life

| ______________________Job 3----

 At last Job spoke, and he cursed the day of his birth.  He said: “Let the day of my birth be erased, and the night I was conceived.  Let that day be turned to darkness.  Let it be lost even to God on high, and let no light shine on it. Let the darkness and utter gloom claim that day for its own.  Let a black cloud overshadow it, and let the darkness terrify it.  Let that night be blotted off the calendar,
never again to be counted among the days of the year, never again to appear among the months…. Why wasn’t I born dead?  Why didn’t I die as I came from the womb? Why is life given to those with no future, those God has surrounded with difficulties?  I cannot eat for sighing;
my groans pour out like water.  What I always feared has happened to me.  What I dreaded has come true.  I have no peace, no quietness.  I have no rest; only trouble comes.” --Excerpted from Job 3 (NLT), presented dramatically by Darrell Fulton on October 28, 2007 during Sunday morning worship at the Donelson Fellowship. *** In my early years here at The Donelson Fellowship, I invited a British pastor named Geoffrey King to preach here for a Bible conference.  Rev. King, who is now in heaven, ranks among the top Bible teachers I’ve ever heard in my life, but he was somewhat eccentric.  He dressed peculiarly, had odd views on hygiene, and constantly set me into spasms of laughter without meaning to.  While he was here with us in Nashville, he had two requests.  He wanted to play all the organs in town—and he wanted to ride all the rollercoasters.            One day I look him to Opryland theme park and, despite his age, he headed right to the big coasters. As we barreled down the first great drop on one of them, he turned to me with a huge grin and shouted, “Rob, Rob, never grow up!  Remember that God has given us richly all things to enjoy!”            It was my one and only sermon on a rollercoaster, but I’ve never forgotten it.  I understood what he was telling me.  Jesus wants us to enjoy life more abundantly.  He surrounds us with goodness and mercy every day of our lives, and from the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another.  As Proverbs 15 puts it, “The cheerful heart has a continual feast.” But there’s another side to that truth.  There are some days and some seasons in life in which it’s hard to hear the melody of the organ or whoosh of the rollercoaster.  Some days and some seasons in life are so full of pain that it’s hard to function. My favorite old preacher, Vance Havner, wrote in one of his last books:  “It’s nice to visit Disneyland but we cannot live there.  The Christian life is not a vacation but a vocation, not a picnic but a pilgrimage.  Its mountain-top experiences can flatten out and drop from the majestic to the monotonous and even to the miserable.  Even our Lord said, ‘Now is my soul troubled.’  Paul did not spend his last days writing his memoirs on the sunny Riviera.  If you can believe tradition, all the disciples but one died violent deaths.  The roll call of faith heroes in Hebrews lists many who subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the swords, and otherwise were eminently successful; but it lists another category (“and others”) who died in adversity.” (Vance Havner, Playing Marbles with Diamonds (Grand Rapids:  Baker Book House, 1985), p. 89 Every single character in the Bible endured hardship, suffering and pain at some point along the way; and Exhibit A is this man named Job. I want to show you what is happening in the story.  In chapters 1 and 2, we’re introduced to Job, who was described as the best man on earth and the greatest man in the east.  But then Satan came, and in a very short period sent one disaster after another into Job’s life.  Everything dear is taken from him, including his family, his wealth and his health; and within the space of two chapters he went from highest position to deepest pain. Well, of course, word spread like wildfire; and at the end of chapter 2, Job’s friends came to console him.  Look at Job 2:11-13:  When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Sophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.  When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads.  Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights.  No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was. And now we come to chapter 3.  This chapter is a soliloquy; it’s a monologue.  Job opened his mouth and began ventilating his emotions and trying to talk it through and to make some sense of it all.  And here in chapter 3, he had three points to make or three things to say.  There is a definite progress here to his thoughts, and I don’t want to belabor it overmuch, but I’d like for you to see it. First, Job wishes that he had never been born (verses 1-10).  Listen to how he puts it:  Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.  He said:  “May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, ‘A boy is born!’  That day—may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine upon it; may blackness overwhelm its light…. Notice that the dominant idea here is darkness and blackness.  This is the image that Job uses over and over:  …may it turn to darkness… may no light shine upon it… May darkness and deep shadow claim it…. May a cloud settle over it… blackness overwhelm its light… may darkness seize it…  To Job, everything was black, darkness, and hopeless, and he wished that he had never been born. Second, in verses 11-19, he wishes that he had died at birth.  Look at verse 11:  Why did I not perish at birth and die as I came from the womb?  And the rest of the paragraph is an expansion and expatiation of that idea. Third, in the last part of the chapter (verses 20-26), Job wishes that he could die then and there:  Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure….   So there you have a simple three-sentence summary of Job 3:  I wish I had never been born; I wish I had died at birth; I wish I could die here and now.  Now, what can we learn from this?  Why did God put this chapter in His Book?  I come away from this chapter with four impressions. Pain is Unavoidable in This LifeFirst, pain is unavoidable in this life.  Every single character in the Bible encountered suffering.  Look at Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Jesus, Paul—none of them were immune.  And sometimes the level of pain that we encounter makes us want to die. I want to say something very personal, and I’ve wondered whether I should even share this, but I’m going to.  There has been one period in life—I’m not going to discuss details—but there’s been one period in my life in which I felt a level of emotional pain that was so great that I didn’t think I could bear it and I asked the Lord to take me home to heaven.  There were several occasions during this period when I lay on the floor in so much pain and heartache and anxiety that I earnestly asked the Lord to let me die, because I didn’t think I could bear the pain. So this chapter in Job is very precious to me.  It shows me that a great biblical hero, one of the greatest men in the Bible, once felt just the way that I have felt on a few occasions in my own life. And not just Job.  Let me show you another passage.  Right now I’m reading through the book of Jeremiah for my devotions, and on Thursday I came to Jeremiah 20.  Look at verses 14ff:  Cursed be the day I was born!  May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!  Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, who made him very glad, saying, “A child is born to you—a son!”  May that man be like the towns the Lord overthrew without pity….  Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame? Now, I think it’s important to say that this is not suicide talk.  Job and Jeremiah were not suicidal.  They both felt like they wanted to die, but they made no attempt to expedite the process.  But there’s more!  Moses once asked the Lord to take his life because he had so much pressure he didn’t think he could bear it; and Elijah once asked the Lord to take his life, because his emotional pain and depression were so great. Some of you understand this.  You’ve been through something so horrendous—or you’re going through something right now so horrific—that you just want to die.  You’re not suicidal, and you haven’t lost your faith in the Lord.  It’s just that the pain is almost too great to bear. Well, you’re in good company.  Some of the greatest heroes of the Bible went through a similar period in their lives, and the Bible records it for us; and somehow I find that strangely encouraging. Pain Raises Honest Questions in our HeartsSecond, pain raises honest questions in our hearts.  Look at Job 3:11, and notice the questions:  Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb? Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed? Verse 20 says:  Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul? Verse 23 says:  Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden? When I began studying the book of Job for this series of messages, I read through all 42 chapters and listed all the questions asked in this book.  I think that I jotted down every single one.  There were 290 questions, and every chapter in the entire book (except for chapter 29) has at least one question mark in it.  And the word “Why?” occurs 28 times. Recently someone who was facing a crisis at the hospital said to me, “I know we’re not supposed to ask questions, but I can’t help having them.” Well, it’s all right to ask questions, and it’s all right to ask “Why?”  It’s not all right to let these things destroy our faith.  It’s not all right to become bitter or to become agnostics or to shake our fist in God’s face.  It’s not all right to demand immediate answers for things that can only be processed and understood in eternity.  But my goodness, even the Lord Jesus Himself cried out on the cross and said, “My God, my God, why…?” Pain Makes Eternity SweeterThird, pain makes eternity sweeter.  Now, I want to say something and I don’t want to be misunderstood.  We’re speaking within the context of Job 3, but here’s my point.  It is alright for a Christian to want to die.  It’s alright to want to be with the Lord.  Paul told the Philippians that he wanted to go on to heaven—he had a desire to depart and be with Christ, which was far better—but for the time being it was needful for him to remain to finish his work. Let me show you some phrases here in Job chapter 3 about this:  In verse 13, Job says that if only the Lord would take him home, he would be in such a better situation:  For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest. Notice these three ideas.  When we die in Christ, we lie down in peace.  Second, we fall asleep.  Third, we are at rest.  This is New Testament language.  Over and over in the New Testament, when someone died in Christ it says that they fell asleep, that they rested from their labors.  It doesn’t mean that their soul fell asleep, but that their body fell asleep to await the resurrection. As I studied this, I was reminded of one of the most unusual verses in the Bible on the subject of death, and it’s found in Isaiah 57:  The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.  Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death. In other words, sometimes God takes us home to heaven to spare us additional suffering and sorrow in this life.  He rescues us.  The New Living Translation says:  Good people pass away, the godly often die before their time.  But no one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come…. This week I visited someone in the prison, and as I was leaving I bumped into a man I knew.  I hadn’t seen him for quite awhile, but I heard that he had been sick.  I said, “Ken, I’ve heard that you’ve had some sickness.”  “Yes,” he said, “I’m in bad shape.”  “Well,” I said, “you certainly look good to me.”  He replied, “Well, I’m about ready for a trade-in.  I’ve got enough miles on this old body, and I’m ready for a new model.  I think it’s just about time to trade it in.”  Well, I believe that one of the reasons God allows sickness and suffering to encroach our lives is to wean us from earth and make us homesick for heaven. Jesus is a Pain-Management SpecialistBut there’s one final point that I want to make, and it’s this:  Jesus is a pain-management specialist, and He has the answers to all the pain and suffering in life.  Years ago, someone wrote a book with a wonderful title.  I don’t have a copy of the book, and I’m not sure I’m quoting it exactly right, but it was something like this:  The Answers of Jesus to the Questions of Job.  The author evidently took many of the 290 questions in the book of Job and showed how Jesus answered them in the Gospels. For example, the entire book of Job can fit into just one verse in the Gospels—John 13:7:  Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Just listen to our Lord say those words to you in whatever you’ve faced in the past or are facing right now.  He spoke those words on the night He was betrayed, and 24 hours later, His pain-wracked body was pulled from the cross and buried in the tomb of Joseph.  But then He arose—and the power of His death and resurrection redeems all the sin and sorrow and suffering in life.  And we may not be able to figure things out now; but later we’ll understand. Not now, but in the coming years,It may be in the better land,We'll read the meaning of our tears,And there, some time, we'll understand. We'll catch the broken threads again,And finish what we here began;Heaven will the mysteries explain,And then, ah, then, we'll understand. We'll know why clouds instead of sunWere over many a cherished plan;Why song has ceased when scarce begun;'Tis there, some time, we'll understand. Why what we long for most of allEludes so oft our eager hand;Why hopes are crushed and castles fall,Up there, some time, we'll understand. God knows the way, He holds the key,He guides us with unerring hand;Sometime with tearless eyes we'll see;Yes, there, up there, we'll understand. That poem was written many years ago by a man named Maxwell Cornelius who was a building contractor in Pittsburg.  One day there was an accident and his leg had to be amputated.  As time went by, he became a minister of the Gospel, but he went through many other hardships.  But out of his difficulties he wrote that poem that says: Not now, but in the coming years,It may be in the better land,We'll read the meaning of our tears,And there, some day, we'll understand. As I left the services last Sunday, someone asked me with great concern how it could be that God would allow Job to endure so very much pain and suffering.  It’s as though God and Satan made a wager on how much Job could endure; and it bothered this man that Job would become the rope in a tug of war, as it were, between God and Satan.  How could a loving God allow Job to suffer so much? My reply was this:  If Job could beam down right now and talk to us, he would say, “Now, look here.  I had a wonderful and enriching life before my troubles.  And I had a wonderful and enriching and happy and blessed life after my troubles.  It’s true that I had a rough patch, but it all turned out well in the end, and my story occupies a central spot in the greatest and most widely-read book in history, extending for 42 chapters.  I’ve been able to encourage every generation of human beings for the last 4000 years.  And, as a result of my rough patch, I now have 20 instead of 10 children up here with me in heaven.  I wouldn’t want to go through it again, but I’m so glad I went through it the one time, because I learned that the sufferings of this present life are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed.” Pain is inevitable, and it raises honest questions in our hearts.  But it also makes us homesick for heaven, and it drives us to our Lord Jesus Christ who alone gives us grace in time of need. |