Blessed in times of Destress
Notes
Transcript
Job 1:13-22
You ever have one of those weeks where it seemed like everything that was going to go wrong. Feels like the devil is on your back. We all go through those times, and I believe that it is through those times, we kinda get a feeling of how Job must have felt.
Job is thought to be the oldest book in the Bible, and the story that we read here, should make us all feel a little better about what we are faced with. And also encourage us, that if Job went through all of that, and God never left him, then it is a reminder that God hasn’t left us either.
[Read Scripture]
Now this account of this man’s life, is an example to us today, and I don’t know what you are facing, what you are going through, but remember, if you are a child of God, he is there for you. Now understand, that when you accept Jesus, that life doesn’t become smooth sailing. Friend you will be in the boat and the waves will at times feel like they are swamping the deck. But the good news is, that the one who can walk on water, will carry you through. Now think about what read here in this passage.
Job’s Great Loss (13-19) (ruin)
· When you think about Job, we think about his patience. But remember Job faced a lot of problems in life. He endured great loss.
o Loss of Live Stock
§ Illustrates loss of possession
o Loss of Loyal Servants
§ Illustrates loss of work
o Loss of Loved Sons & Daughters
§ Illustrates loss of family
· We all lose important things, lose opportunities, and lose people
· We can think the loss is because God doesn’t care, but maybe God sees something in us that we don’t see ourselves.
· Loss can be hard to recover but we can either stay faithful to God, or we can allow it to defeat us.
· Think about what you have lost, do you feel like Job? Here was a man whose world basically collapsed on him.
· We think that these things are so important – Mark 8:36 “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
· Life isn’t over when you lose things, but don’t let the loss of things take your eyes off of God.
Job’s Grieving Look (20)
· What Job endured was intense, and you can see the loss all over Job’s life. And that brings us to the second point, Job’s grieving look. First…
o It was Overwhelming
§ Job’s world had crashed upon him
§ He endured the news that he lost all of his money, possessions, servants, and children.
§ The only people that remained in his life were a few friends and his wife. And the devil wasn’t going to take her.
§ We hold on to the myth, God will not put on you more than you can bear, but friend that is not what the Bible says.
§ That kind of saying is taken from another verse and it gets spun.
§ 1 Corinthian 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
§ Job was so overwhelmed by this that he arose and rent his mantle.
§ You might feel like this, overwhelmed in life. Just to much to bear.
§ Now who brought this on Job – The Devil. It wasn’t God, it was the Devil.
§ 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
o It was Outward
§ Now the grief that Job endured affected his outward appearance
§ He rent his clothes, shaved his head, and fell down on the ground.
§ Our grief can be so great that it can be seen by others.
§ It is okay to be open about grief, it is okay to cry.
§ It is not our job to criticize a person on their appearance, but to come along side of them and love them.
§ Now what Job was doing was demonstrating an outward sign to the Lord and to the world of the sorrow he had been faced with.
§ We do not need to keep grief bottled in.
o It was Overshadowed
§ Job had endured so much, but Job did something that should be example to us as well – he took this time to worship the Lord.
§ What we need to do is go to the Lord, allow his to overshadow whatever we are facing.
§ Job could have overreacted, he could have objected, but instead he offered worship to the Lord.
§ Now ask yourself, are you at that point in your walk with Jesus, that when your hit with problem after problem, pain after pain, that you can get down on your knees and worship Jesus.
§ Friend, when the world caves in on you, you are not strong enough to lift it off, you need to go to the one who has the whole world in his hands.
Job’s Glorifying Language (21-22)
· Beholds Life
o What is life? What is it all about? The age old question.
o To many people, it is about being successful and gathering together all sorts of things to show the world how wonderful we are.
o But for every dollar you earn, for every possession you receive, for every thing you gain in life, the reality of the fact is that you cannot take it with you.
o Its like the man who died and wanted his wife to bury him with all the money, so she wrote a check and put it in the coffin.
o You can’t take it with you, and Job states that!
o Job knew that all these things were not his to begin anyway. What you are afforded in life is a gift of the Lord.
o You mean the things I have are not really mine?
o Life is not about what you obtained in this world, life is about how you lived it for Jesus.
o I mean, some people are so focused on materialism that they forget what life is about.
o Job realizes that life is meant for the Lord, and when he died, he wouldn’t be taking any earthly possession with him.
o Friend it is time for you to behold what life is about, it not about you, it is not about what you can obtain, it is about Jesus.
· Blesses the Lord
o Now you would think that everything that happened to Job, that it would make sense to us, to ask God why did he allow this.
o We look around and we see all the bad happening in the world, and we ask God why don’t you do something about it.
o He did, he sent Jesus.
o What we should do with our life, when all calamity and peril come, is to just turn to Jesus and praise his name.
o God had a purpose for Job, and that was to show up Satan. God was going to use this man, to prove the devil wrong.
o Don’t let the devil win in your life, don’t turn on God, come to him and just praise him, give him your life. Just bless the Lord.