...Yet I will hope in Him

Faith in difficult times

It’s wonderful to be speaking here and quite an honour too. This is the first time I’ve given a message at the Foothills Hospital, and the 2nd message I’ve ever given to a group of adults, so as long as you manage to stay awake, well I think I’ve done my job right there. it is the same hospital that I was born in, so it’s good to be back full grown 32 years later to share this message that will hopefully comfort and encourage you in the midst of whatever trial you may be facing.

I wonder what gives you joy, what gives you hope, especially when you are faced with difficultly? It’s interesting to see how a person’s belief about God and the world is revealed through trials. Now we all are of course in many different places in life with some having more years of life experience with a different collection of sorrows, joys, achievements and aspirations. I would love talk with you and listen to some of your stories afterwards so we can encourage each other.

But first I’m eager to share with you the story of Job specifically in verse 15: “Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him”. Can you imagine saying those words in the midst of such pain as he was going through? Although Job did not understanding the reasons for his affliction, he knew in his heart that God is good, even though he didn’t see his circumstance with the same clarity as God. It’s these words that undoubtedly have strengthened many in their time of need. “Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him”.

Job was a man who was going through great trials as we know. He lost much, suffered much. He was considered to be one of the wisest people around at the time and the most righteous living person in his day. He started out with much wealth, possessions, respect, a large family and many friends, just like some of us at times. But of course as the story goes, and some of you already may know this first hand in your own lives at times, that can all come crashing down one day.

Maybe you have, you are or at least can imagine what it would be like to loose everything you’ve worked hard to achieve. Day after day Job would sit on the ground scraping the boils off of his body. He lost children, his house his money, and his own wife even told him to just curse God and die! Can you imagine that? The few friends he still had, Job found them to be “miserable comforters” every one of them as job had said, for they all were convinced in their minds that Job must’ve done something wrong. And yet one of the prevailing lines throughout the story was “In the midst of all of this, still Job did not sin”. Don’t get me wrong, he was frustrated beyond measure. If I’ve ever seen someone depressed, I’m sure that Job fit the description.

The story began to escalate as it turned out more like a court case: “I will plead my case with God” Job would say. His desire increased dramatically no more for the comfort of his friends but ever increased more and more to speak with God himself, to take his complaint up with God. Oh the longing he must’ve felt. Eventually that frustration peaked when Job finally cursed the day that he was born, and his demand towards God for a reason why he was suffering grew increasingly intense. Have you ever got to that point, where people just aren’t helpful anymore, and you just want to take your complaint to God to find your answers, your comfort?

It’s amazing that in Job’s case, God actually did show up speaking audibly to him. I love the poetic words that come in the next chapters about how God formed the world in his infinite wisdom. How can we fully comprehend the magnitude of what he is doing in our own lives in any given situation? The passage makes me want to praise God as the words written in may come to mind. “Oh Lord our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth!..” and “when I consider your heavens, the moon and the stars which thou hast made, what is man, that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that though visitest him…” “Oh Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

God finally stilled Jobs arguments by reminding him of his absolute wisdom and sovereign control over the world. How could Job maintain his argument? When faced with the creator God of the universe, how could Job answer a single question as to how God made the world, or why he allows things to happen the way they do.

The thing that Job did however, which is also the example that I would like to leave you with today, was his humble posture. Finally he resolves to lay down his anger at God and just rest in knowing that God is in control and he knows exactly what He is doing. I would like to echo Job’s words once more that humble resolve, that quiet submission: “Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him.

Lets pause for a moment and reflect on Job’s experience in light of our own. Except in our case, we see our experiences in light of what Christ has done for us. You can close your eyes, you can keep them open if you want. Think about all the challenges you may be facing right now. Sicknesses surgeries, emotional, family issues, all those things that you can hardly control... Now I want you to think about our Lord and Saviour Jesus. We don’t always know why we are going through what we are going through, but one thing we do know is that God is not standing back watching our trials from a distance.

Though he was God,[a]

    he did not think of equality with God

    as something to cling to.

7 

Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b];

    he took the humble position of a slave[c]

    and was born as a human being.

When he appeared in human form,[d]

8 

    he humbled himself in obedience to God

    and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

9 

Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor

    and gave him the name above all other names,

10 

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 

and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,

    to the glory of God the Father.

Father we take our please to you. we bring our complaints our sorrows our sickness our joys and our praise to you. In the midst of our trials we thank you Jesus that we can turn to you. People fail us but you never fail us. Surely you who bore our infirmities will hear us. Bless these people here today and all of us that we may trust you and rest in your sovereign control. In Jesus’ name amen.