WHEN LIFE CAVES IN

Amazing Grace Lesson #1033

Taught by Dan Dozier

8/11/91

Most of the time when someone comes up to you and says, "How are you doing today?" -- They really don't want to know. We are just making conversation. We recognize that. It's just polite conversation. Social interchange. And so we say, "I am doing fine. How are you doing?" Whether that's really the case or not. Most people don't really want to know if we are having a bad day. But you know, if we are really truthful, there are times when we aren't having a very good day and if we were to just really spill the beans, we would have to say, "You know, I'm not doing very well today. I am having all kinds of problems, all sorts of difficulties." And we could just begin to enumerate all those things.

Last week I went to see an elderly aunt of mine who is close to ninety years old, she is quite ill, she is confined to a nursing home and I walked in and said, "Aunt Mamie, how are you doing today?" And she wasn't complaining. You would have to know my Aunt Mamie. She is not one to complain, but she really wasn't playing that little social game that you and I play everyday either. She said, "Well honey, (in the sweetest tone) I'm just not feeling very well today." Well, we are not surprised that a woman who is ninety and has been sick for a long time and who is confined now to her bed almost all the time would have bad days, really a lot of bad days, but what about the times when you and I who are not that age who maybe are well have those difficulties and hardships that just hit us right between the eyes very unexpectedly. A thief breaks into our home, or into our car and steals our possessions. Or a job is lost or maybe a business turns belly-up. And so we are in a situation where we never expected to have to deal with those kinds of problems, but there are problems that are even worse. Those things that are tragedies that come without any kind of warning, totally unexpected. A tornado hits, or a fire strikes your house and everything you worked for years, maybe decades, is suddenly lost. Or there is a divorce in the family, or a child is born with severe birth defects when there was really no warning of that, and all the hopes of that family seemed almost bedashed at that very sad and tragic news. Disease strikes a family member and they only have a few months to live. What happens when a perfectly healthy four and a half month old baby boy dies of sudden infant syndrome as was the case with one of my friends just a few weeks ago. How do you deal with that? How do you respond to that kind of tragedy which is worse than most of us would experience.

That's why I love the story of Job in the old testament because it tells us about a man who experienced more trials, more troubles and more tragedy than most of us will ever even imagine in our lives. But before we get to that story of Job, I think we need to dispel some terrible misconceptions often times that many Christians have about troubles.

One of those misconceptions is that because you are a Christian, all of your problems are going to be solved. The Bible never says that. That's a wrong conception. There are times when actually following the Lord will create some difficulties for us that would have not been there if we weren't following him. or another misconception is that if you are having problems as a Christian, you must not be very spiritual. Oh, what a tragic misconception that is, because it sets us up for failure; it sets us up for all kinds of problems. The very fact that we are human means that we are going to have trouble and just because we are Christians does not guarantee that we are going to be trouble free. Another misconception is that all the problems that you will ever face have their answer and their description right there in the Bible. That's not true, either. And while I believe the principles for dealing with all life's problems are there, every situation we face in life is not addressed in the Bible and there are some things that happen that are mysterious to us. There is just no explanation, and so we are required to live by faith. Christians do suffer. Christians do have trouble. All of us have trouble whether we are Christians or not, but certainly Christians also have troubles.

One writer has said, "No amount of biblical input or deeper life conferences or super victory seminars will remove our human struggles. cod promises no bubble of protection. No guaranteed relief from calamity." That's exactly right. All you have to do is look at some the great men and women of scripture to know that even those servants suffered terribly.

Look at the life of Joseph. Look at the life of David, or look at the life of Moses, or of Daniel, or of the apostle Paul, or any number of other men and women of biblical times. They suffered greatly.

Today, I want us to look at that familiar story to many of us. It's the old testament of Job. If you haven't already done so, let me invite you to turn to that book. It's found right before the book of Psalms and we will be reading from that first chapter in just a moment. I am not going to spend a great deal of time with the actual story itself, because I do think it is relatively familiar to most of us, but let's just summarize it.

You know how it begins. There in the first chapter, let's read the first three verses. 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 seven sons and three daughters 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. And so here is a man who has been blessed by God almost immeasurably. He has a large family, he has a beautiful home, he has all kinds of herds, and yet everything he has is about to be taken away from him. In one day calamity struck, his children were killed, all his cattle were destroyed, his house was destroyed, and now Job is beginning to wonder what has happened. Look at verse 13 of that first chapter. One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!" While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!" While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!" While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, when suddenly a might 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!" At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. (Obviously in great grief). I do not know anyone else who has ever suffered that much tragedy in one day or even in one year. His wife came to him a little later and said in chapter two, "Job, why don't you just go ahead and curse God and die." And listen to what Job says in verse 10. "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"

Well, Job was eventually vindicated and God restored to him all his blessings but how did Job deal with all those problems that hit him until he finally got to that point.?

There have been a number of authors and psychologists who have tried to help us understand grief but I think we can see those same principles right here in the story of Job. Almost the first reaction that Job had to the news was the reaction of numb shock. He couldn't believe what had happened. It was almost like it was a dream. It was like -- surely not. This couldn't be true. I know you have told me the story, but this just could not have happened. He could not internalize it, and even though people came, friends came to try to comfort him, Job didn't say a word, he didn't say anything for seven days as he is just trying to soak in the tragedy that has hit him. But finally he comes to reality and he moves on to another stage. And that stage is one of utter despair and hopelessness.

Look at chapter three with me in the Book of Job and let's read the first five verses. After this, 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 darkness and deep shadow claim it once more; may a cloud settle over it, may blackness overwhelm its light."

And then verses 20 through 23. "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, who are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave? Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?"

Go with me to the seventh chapter of the Book of Job. "Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul." And then in verse seven he says, "Remember, 0 God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again."

We can also turn over to the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Job and see again that despair and sense of hopelessness Job is experiencing. Chapter 19:9 and 10, "God has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head. He tears me down on every side till I am gone; he uproots my hope like a tree."

Do you see what Job is feeling. He says my hope has been uprooted just like someone had come and jerked a young tree from the ground and its roots will never take nourishment again. I have nothing to live for. I will never see another happy day as long as I live. There is no way to go on. There is no reason to get up.

Some of you have had experiences in your life when you felt just this way. There will never be another happy day in my life. Never again. But Job seems to be able to move beyond that and he goes on to another stage and that's a stage where he begins to become very nostalgic and he starts remembering and he starts remembering the past, mostly good things of the past. There are a number of chapters we could read from, but let's go to the twenty ninth chapter of the Book of Job and read the first six verses. Job continued his discourse: "How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, when his lamp shone upon my head and by his light I walked through darkness! Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God's intimate friendship blessed my house, when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me, when my path was drenched with cream and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil."

And so he is overcome with all of these memories of the past and memories are good and memories are wonderful and hopefully as we face tragedies in life we are able to look back and draw upon those precious memories, but there is also a danger with nostalgia. Often times when there is tragedy, there is that old game of what if. If only I had done this or that, if I only could have been there, if only I had said this, or if only I had not done that, maybe things would have been different. We begin playing all of those guessing games that just heap guilt on top of guilt and that's not good, but that's part of what happened to Job. He began thinking about the past.

Then he moved on to another stage, and by the way, I don't think these stages necessarily just follow very strictly one after the other. Sometimes they are all jumbled up and fade into one and fade into another and maybe experience several at one time, but almost everyone who experiences tragedy experiences these things and one of the things he felt was resentment. He was angry. He was very bitter about what had happened.

We talk about the patience of Job and he was a patient man. After all he did not take the advice of his wife, he did not curse God and die. He was a man of great integrity. But if we don't see this particular characteristic of Job's experience, we have missed the picture of Job, because Job was angry and wanted to argue with God. As a matter of fact, he did argue with God. And he even blamed God and God didn't smite him. God dealt with him toward the end of the Book and we will look at that in a moment, but he expressed all of those feelings of rage and anger and blame.

Again, lets go back to the seventh chapter of the Book of Job. Chapter 7:11,Job says, "Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. "Look at chapter 9:14 and following. "How then tan I dispute with him? How can I find words to argue with him? Though I were innocent, I could not answer him; I could only plead with my judge for mercy. Even if I summoned him and he responded, I do not believe he would give me a hearing. He would crush me with a storm and multiply my wounds for no reason. He would not let me regain my breath but would overwhelm me with misery."

Job is not very happy, is he? He is not very happy with God. He is wondering if God is not behind this somehow, and then in chapter 9:32, "He is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God's rod from me so that his terror would frighten me no more. Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot. I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul."

Well, finally Job gets to the point where he is ventilated all of that and he is ready to listen to God. Ready to hear what God has to say and is expecting now for God to give him a complete answer, but we are going to be disappointed, because God doesn't really give him all the answers for all the tragedy in his life, but he does do two things .

He points Job to the past and then he points Job to the future, and basically

in forcing Job to look at the past and asking his some questions that he can't answer, he is saying to Job, "Job, don't you realize that everything you have in life is a gift?" Certainly Job didn't deserve to have everything he had. He didn't deserve to lose everything he had, but everything he had, nonetheless was a gift from God. Even the people that he loved the most were a gift from God.

But then in looking to the future, God said to him in effect, "God has given you all of your yesterdays and the great blessings of the past and is certainly capable of giving you all of your tomorrow's, Job. You trust in me." And we know how the story ended. God did give Job more than what he had to begin with. He had a new family, he more than doubled his possessions. We need to be careful that we don't try to force that principle upon every situation we face. Sometimes God blesses us in ways that dollar signs can't describe. It may be more patience, it may be more compassion for others, it may a deeper sense of mercy and understanding, but if we look to God in faith, God will bless us and help us. He will give us that security and purpose and renewed direction that we need.

God didn't give his same children back to him and I am sure he missed them, but he gave him other children, and he gave him something to live for.

As you and I go through those stages of numbness, shock, despair, remembering, being angry, the thing we need to remember the most is that we do what Job finally did and that is turn to God and trust in faith and God then begins to rebuild his life. It's not easy. I am skeptical of anyone who has easy answers for tragedies, but God loves us and God will help us as we turn to him.