Hope for the Hopeless

HOOK

Merry Christmas everyone!

SUFFERING Beaten Into Higher Value

A bar of steel is worth five dollars. When it is wrought into horseshoes, it is worth ten dollars.

If made into needles, it is worth three hundred and fifty dollars.

If wrought into penknife blades, it is worth thirty-two thousand dollars.

And if it is wrought into springs for watches, it is worth two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

What a drilling the poor bar must undergo to be worth a higher value.

But the more it is manipulated, the more it is hammered, and passed through the fire, and beaten and pounded and polished, the greater the value.

Those who suffer most are capable of yielding most; and it is through pain that God can get the most out of us.

BOOK | LOOK

The life & sufferings of Job was after the tower of Babel, before the time of Abraham

Job was an upright God-fearing wealthy man that habitually avoided evil

Job 1:1 (NIV)

1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.

He had 7 sons & 3 daughters and he was extremely wealthy

Job 1:2–3 (NIV)

2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

God is in sovereign control— nothing happen to us without His approval

Job 1:12 (NIV)

12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

God - He is God and in control of us, our situation, surrounding, and all aspect of life. We can see He is also in control of Satan, nothing can happen to us without His approval.

JOB’s FIRST ROUND OF SUFFERING:

Sabeans attacked and killed his helpers

Job 1:15 (NIV)

15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

Lightning burned his sheep and servants

Job 1:16 (NIV)

16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

The Chaldeans [Ancestors of the Babylonian Empire] stole his camels and killed his servants

Job 1:17 (NIV)

17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

All of his 10 children died

Job 1:19 (NIV)

19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

Job admitted his nothingness

Job 1:21 (NIV)

21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

JOB’s SECOND ROUND OF SUFFERING:

God said to satan, inspite of what you did Job maintains his characters, integrity (devoted to God, true to his word, and honest again most of all he hates evil.

Now this time satan is now going for Job’s health. This time with all the afflictions on his body, his wife said still holding on to your integrity, Why don’t you curse God and be done with it.

Job was afflicted with sores all over his body

Job 2:7 (NIV)

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

Accept both good and bad from God

Job 2:10 NIV

10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

It is in sufferings that you will know who your true friends are

Job 2:11 (NIV)

11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar 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.

Although Job’s friends offered bad counsel, they did something good that true friends ought to do to a suffering friend:

They heard, they came, they coordinated with each other, they showed appropriate emotion, they showed solidarity with Job, they stayed with Job, they didn’t speak

Some times it is best to just to sit and listen

Job 2:13 (NIV)

13 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.

TOOK

IN YOUR HOPELESSNESS DO NOT SIN

SA IYONG KAWALAN NG PAG-ASA AY HUWAG KANG MAGKAKASALA

Job 1:22 (NIV)

22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

QUESTION: When you felt hopeless, were you tempted to blame God for your sufferings? How could you restrain yourself from blaming God for your troubles?

ACCEPT SUFFERINGS WITHOUT ASKING GOD WHY

HARAPIN ANG KAPIGHATIAN AT HUWAG NG TANUNGIN ANG PANGINOON KUNG BAKIT

Job 2:10 (NIV)

10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

Job 2:3 (NIV)

3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

QUESTION: God do not owe us explanations. He is God and He is sovereign. But our tendencies is to always get reasons for the sufferings that we face. Do you ask God the question, “why it happened to me,” or do you ask the Lord “what am I going to do about it?

DO NOT OFFER TO COUNSEL WHEN YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT PEOPLE ARE GOING THROUGH

HUWAG MAG-ALOK NG PAYO KUNG HINDI MO LUBOS NA NAUUNAWAAN ANG KANILANG PINAGDADAANAN

Job 42:7 (NIV)

7 After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.

QUESTION: We always want to be there for people in need, but how could you be an effective counsel to a hurting friend?

CLOSING | BENEDICTION

1 Peter 1:3 (NIV)

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1 Peter 1:6–7 (NIV)

6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

1 Peter 5:10 (NIV)

10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.