Book recommendations:

What Grieving People Wish You Knew about What Really Helps (and What Really Hurts): about what really helps (and what really hurts) https://a.co/d/i8LZXud

How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil https://a.co/d/cu4p5LM

00:00 Welcome and Intro

00:11 Quote on Suffering by D.A. Carson

02:08 Job's Plea to God

06:32 Zophar's First Response

09:09 Job's Rebuttal to Zophar

16:39 Final Thoughts and Prayer

You're in the right place.

2

This is the Daily Bible Podcast, and

I am Pastor Rod, your host for today.

3

Thank you so much for joining me.

4

Today is January 6th, and we're going

to look at Job chapter 10 through 13.

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But before we jump into that, I

want to start us off with a quote.

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It's from one of my favorite

books on the topic of suffering.

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In fact, I would heartily

commend it to you.

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I'm sure I mentioned this last

year, but I offer it again to you

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this year for your consideration.

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In the book, How Long, O Lord, D.

11

A.

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Carson writes this, The book of

Job will not let us off the hook.

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There is such a thing

as innocent suffering.

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The degree to which we struggle with

this question is likely to be related

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to the extent of our own sufferings.

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He goes on to make the point that as

we're prepared for it, as we prepare

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mentally and spiritually for the

occasion of our suffering, We're going

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to be better able to handle some of it.

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Now, he concedes later on in the

next paragraph, he says, thinking

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through the theology of suffering

and resolving in advance how you will

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respond, however, praiseworthy the

exercise cannot completely prepare

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you for the shock of suffering itself.

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And so on the one hand, he commends it

and he uses Job as a good example of that.

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Job had considered these things

in chapter three, verse 25.

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He says, what I feared has come upon me.

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What I dreaded has happened to me,

which tells us that Job was thinking

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about these things beforehand.

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And.

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Carson submits the reason why he

was able to respond nobly as he did.

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And I've been encouraging you these past

several days, as we enter into the book

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of Job, so early in the year, it's good

for us to use it as a preparation for the

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rest of the year, to help prepare us for

whatever the Lord has in store for us.

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Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and verse 2,

the preacher writes, it's better.

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To go to the house of mourning than

to go to the house of feasting,

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that is, to go to a party.

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He says, the reason why is that

this is the end of all mankind.

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And the living, those of us who still have

breath in our lungs, will lay it to heart.

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Now there he's talking

about our own demise.

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The fact that going to a funeral is better

than going to a party because you're going

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to have a better sense of what awaits you

and that's going to help sober you into

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making some better decisions, ideally.

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Well, in these next few chapters of

Job, Job is still in the pits, and he's

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still wrestling with how God would allow

this, and why God persists in giving

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Job life, despite the fact that he's

really eager to be done with it all.

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He's reached the end of it,

and his frustration reaches

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something of a boiling point.

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Now we're nowhere near the end

point for him, but he continues to

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express his frustration toward his

people, and I think his friends are

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listening in to his prayer requests.

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Job chapter 10 picks up with his continued

plea toward God, what he's praying.

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And in his prayers, a lot of things that

you would have already expected for him

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to say things that you might've heard him

saying in one way or another, but in verse

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two and three, I begin to send something

that I think is helpful for us to notice.

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Look at verse two.

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. I will say to God, do not condemn me.

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Let me know why you contend against me.

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Does it seem good to you to oppress,

to despise the work of your hands

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and favor the designs of the wicked?

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Boy, Job gets really close here to

charging God with evil, doesn't he?

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If he doesn't overstep the line,

he's dancing on it really closely.

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But notice that Job is commanding God.

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Don't condemn me, number one,

and tell me why, number two.

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Don't let me suffer because I'm innocent.

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And of course, once more, we have

to affirm God, God says this,

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and so we would agree with Job.

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He's innocent.

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But then he says, tell me why.

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It's like that old Backstreet

Boys song, tell me why Job is

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singing this left and right.

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And he's asking God, I want to know,

I want to please show me, please tell

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me, help me understand what's going on.

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And we just have to, and this is

another conversation I had with my

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friend that I mentioned yesterday.

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At some point, we have to confess that

even if God were to try to explain

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to us why he does what he does.

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Our finite human brains could never

comprehend the extent to which

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he plans all of creation, all of

humanity and all of his wisdom.

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It's impossible for us to explain

to an ant how the internet works.

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In fact, I'm not even quite sure

how the internet totally works.

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I know that it's networking and

connecting through wires and

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cables and underwater pipelines.

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But that's really the

extent of my knowledge.

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But if I were to try to explain that to

an ant, there's no way for us to do that.

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There's just, it's never going to work.

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Never going to happen in a similar

way, an infinitely greater way, if God

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were trying to explain to us, if God

were to attempt to help us understand

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what he knows, which is the past, the

present, and the future, and to apply

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it in the right way, which is his

wisdom, his omniscient wisdom, Wisdom.

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If he were to try to do that, I

think our brains would explode.

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We just can't contain

that kind of information.

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We don't have that level of ability.

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And so even though Job begs God, please

tell me why, help me understand this.

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God stands back and effectively says,

trust me because he never responds to him.

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At least not yet.

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The answer for us then is to trust him.

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With what we can know from

scripture, with what we do read from

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scripture, we should be able to.

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Say with confidence, he's in control.

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He's good.

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He's worthy of my trust.

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And so Job commands God, don't

condemn me and tell me why.

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And the reality is folks,

let's just be honest.

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God doesn't owe us an explanation.

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It's more than just that

he knows more than we do.

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It's more than just that he has infinite

wisdom greater than our capacity.

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It's that he doesn't owe it to us.

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He's the creator.

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And don't we want that?

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Don't we want a God who is so high,

so lofty, so exalted, so transcendent

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that we can say, I don't need to know.

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If you know, I can trust that

that's good enough for me, those

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are some lofty thoughts, heavy

thoughts, but thoughts that are

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worth percolating and considering.

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In the rest of chapter 10, Job

is praying, he's asking God

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again, why, why do this to me?

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Why allow me to go through this?

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You made me and yet you're destroying me.

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This doesn't make any sense.

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This seems unnecessary.

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You renew your witnesses against me

and increase your vexation toward me.

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You bring fresh troops again.

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In other words, you're sending a

barrage of assaults against me.

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Remember, he's lost

everything, his wealth.

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His family minus his wife.

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And then in verse 18, he returns

to a topic we've seen before.

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Why did you even bring me out of the womb?

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Would that I had died

before any eye had seen me.

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He begs God, even though he's asking

for something he can never have.

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Please just let me go.

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Let me go to the land

where I won't return.

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The land of darkness and deep shadow.

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That's better, that's preferable to life.

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Now, it's a heavy place to be,

and Job's not done, but he ceases

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for now in order to give way to

Job chapter 11, Zophar's response.

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Actually, this is Zophar's

first occasion to speak.

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You'll remember he's only going to

speak twice, here and in chapter 20.

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So he's only got two arguments to make.

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And in this first one, He says this,

Zophar the Nehemiathite, Should a

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multitude of words go unanswered, And

a man full of talk be judged right.

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So he says, dude, Zophar to

Job, You're talking so much and

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you're, you're saying nonsense.

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This is unnecessary and unhelpful.

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Then he says this, Zophar

says, But oh, that God would

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speak and open his lips to you.

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Now remember, God is going to speak.

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Several chapters from now, God's

going to step in and set everybody

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straight, at least in some way.

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He doesn't do it in a way that would

be satisfying to Job, I can imagine.

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But Job does get the point.

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Here, Zophar predicts this.

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Oh, man, would God speak and

tell us what we need to know?

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And you and I can sit here

and say, oh, yes, buddy.

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Can't, can't wait to see

how that goes for you.

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And so he says, let God speak.

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However, He also then turns around and

assumes to speak on God's behalf, he says

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in verse six, know then that God exacts

of you less than your guilt deserves.

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And this is a thrust of his argument.

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You deserve far worse than

what you're getting job.

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So you should be grateful that

God isn't giving you level 10.

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What you're really experiencing is

level four or something like that.

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Some kind of less than

what you deserve response.

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And then he goes back to the

inscrutability, the transcendence

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of God and verses seven through 12.

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He says, look, God is

beyond your comprehension.

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Deep things of God.

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He knows more than you.

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He can measure everything.

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He knows it all.

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And you're not privy to it.

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Now, this is an argument that I'm

just making to you earlier on.

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I appreciate this argument.

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But then in verse 12, he turns and says,

but a stupid man will get understanding

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when a wild donkey's cult is born.

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A man in our common vernacular.

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A stupid man will

understand when pigs fly.

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That's what he's saying to Job.

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In other words, Job, you're going to put

yourself in the camp of the fool, the

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stupid man, if you don't agree with me.

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It's kind of like one of those questions.

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How often do you beat your wife?

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There's no right way to answer that.

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It's a trick.

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And in this way, Zophar is intending

to, I don't want to say manipulate,

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but to push Job into a corner such

that he has to agree with him.

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Yes, I guess, I don't know.

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I'm not a stupid man.

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I understand these things as well.

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So, Zophar continues.

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It says if you prepare your heart, you

will stretch out your hands toward him.

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If iniquity is in your

hand, put it far away.

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Uh, you've seen this before.

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Repent and be restored.

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God will lift you up.

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He'll take care of you

if you simply repent.

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Confess your sin, Job.

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Stop being so obstinate.

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Your life will be brighter than

the noon day, you'll lie down and

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none is going to make you afraid,

but the wicked, they're in trouble.

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So that's the extent

of Zophar's arguments.

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Again, in a nutshell, you're

getting less than you deserve.

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If you simply trust the fact

that God has inscrutable, deep

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ways about his operation with

mankind, man, you'll be better off.

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And by the way, you should repent

and trust that God will restore you.

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In chapters 12, 13, and 14,

Job does respond to Zophar.

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Now, Zophar has considerably

less ink spilled, but Job spends

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a lot of time responding to his

charge, and even beyond that.

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In chapter 12, Job replies, you are the

people and wisdom will die with you.

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Pastor PJ and I love this part.

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He's saying to his friends, look,

you guys got it all going on.

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You have it all figured out.

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Don't you?

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You are the wisest of people and

wisdom will die when you perish.

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That's the idea here.

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And he says, who doesn't

know these things?

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You guys are telling

me things that I know.

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Have you not been listening

to what I'm saying?

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I agree with you.

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God is inscrutable in his ways.

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I agree with you that God is doing

what God does, but have you considered?

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And he turns the tables on them.

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He turns the tables on them.

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He says, have you considered in

verses 13 through 25, that part

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of God's inscrutability, part of

his transcendent operations with

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mankind is that he will often.

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Do the opposite of what we expect.

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In other words, God is in the

business of role reversals.

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And this is part of the way that he acts.

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We don't always understand why

he does those things, but haven't

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you considered guys that God

reverses the expectations commonly?

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So he goes through a list of some of

the times where he reverses things.

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He does things that you would not expect.

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He says, uh, he loosens the bonds of Kings

and binds a waste cloth on their hips.

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He leads priests away, stripped

and overthrows the mighty.

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He deprives of speech, those

who are trusted and takes away

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the discernment of the elders.

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These are things that God does clearly

as the King of the universe, as the

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sovereign ruler, And he says, explain

that fellas, if your understanding is

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right, that a plus B always equals C

and God is always going to act in these

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particular specific ways, then explain

why and how these reversals take place.

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I think it's a fair point.

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Job is helping them see, look,

there's a little more nuance to the

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way that God acts in humanity than

what you're giving it credit for.

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Job chapter 13.

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Job says, look, I've all my, my eyes

have seen this, my ears heard it.

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And what you know, I know.

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I'm not inferior.

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Everything that you're

saying, I've heard before.

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And then he says in verse 4, As

for you, you whitewash with lies.

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In other words, you guys

aren't saying the truth here.

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You're being deceptive.

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And then he says something funny.

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Worthless physicians are you all.

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You're committing malpractice.

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This kind of spiritual

malpractice is devastating.

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It's awful.

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Please stay silent, he says in verse

five, and that would be your wisdom.

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And now remember, this is how

they started out with Job in

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chapter two, verses 11 through 13.

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They come and they just

sit with him in silence.

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And what a good thing that is.

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In fact, I was thinking about

a book that I read recently.

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aNd by recently, I mean within

the last maybe five years.

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Um, it's a book by, I

believe it's Nancy Guthrie.

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I should know this.

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But the name of the book is what

grieving people wish you knew about

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what really helps and what really hurts.

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She says in chapter four, uh, she makes

a case for why you should be a listener

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and that's what Job commends here.

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You guys should be listening

instead of condemning, accusing.

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And so Nancy says here, we need someone.

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This is her talking about the struggle of

the sufferer who's going through grief.

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She says about that person, we need

someone who will come alongside

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us and be comfortable with our

confusion and with our need to

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simply vent the pain that is inside.

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for listening.

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She continues, for the person who's

attending that sufferer, don't begin to

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think when you've been willing to listen

that you haven't really done anything.

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To be a gracious and generous

listener is giving a gift grieving

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people really need that many people

are simply ill equipped to provide.

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This is exactly what Job is saying.

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You're worthless physicians.

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You're committing spiritual malpractice.

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And it would be your

wisdom to simply listen.

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To let me speak.

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Now, part of us who know our theology,

at least I trust that many of you do,

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your initial inclination is going to be,

well, let me correct what you're saying.

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You're speaking poorly.

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That's not true.

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Let me correct your theology.

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Let me tell you what God is doing.

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And there's a right time for that.

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We should do that.

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That's part of our

obligation as Christians.

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That's part of our

obligation as Christians.

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But there's great wisdom in keeping

our yap shut when someone's hurting

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and learning to listen and ask

helpful questions and to give them

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space to share their pain with us.

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Nancy also says something to the

effect of, the fact that people need,

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another person to share their pain.

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That's one of the most consoling

and comforting things that we

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can do for someone who's in pain.

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Share the pain with them.

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That might mean weeping with them.

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That might mean crying with them

and not necessarily offering a quick

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fix solution to resolve the pain.

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That's what Job says.

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He wishes that his friends would do.

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That's what they started

doing until they went awry.

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And then he charges them in verse

seven with speaking falsely for God.

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He's right on this.

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God's going to confirm this

later on in the end of Job.

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He says you ought to be aware because

you're speaking deceitfully for him.

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And in the end, when God holds

you account accountable, will you

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stand or fall because of this?

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He says your maxims are proverbs of

ashes, your defenses are defenses of clay.

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In other words, they're weak, fragile,

inconsistent, incapable of producing the

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kind of thing that you're looking for.

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He begs them to give him silence.

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Please stop speaking.

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Let me just sit and think.

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And then he utters words that I

hope you and I can take to heart.

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Maybe memorize verse 15, though

he slay me, I will hope in him.

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Oh, I love that.

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Would that every Christian had this verse

ready on their lips and on their heart.

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Though he slay me, I will hope in him.

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It's an interesting

thing to say, isn't it?

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Because it affirms two things,

at least, at least two things.

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God is in control of everything,

all the things that happen to me.

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And two, I have no recourse, but

to trust him, to hope in him.

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Imagine the non Christian,

what would he or she do?

331

What hope do they have?

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But we have him and his love,

his trustworthiness has been

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proven in the greatest act of

love that we could ever receive.

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Jesus, the righteous given on our behalf.

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So again, we see Job struggling

with something and we see

336

in him a glimpse of Jesus.

337

Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.

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Jesus gives us that hope.

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He gives us that confidence to

the point that even if God were

340

to slay you, we can say, so be it.

341

May the will of the Lord be done.

342

The last part of Job chapter 13 and

verses 20 through 28, he's praying

343

again, asks God to grant him two things,

withdraw your hand and then call me.

344

And then I would love to answer.

345

I want to know what's my transgression.

346

I want to know why you

hide your face from me.

347

Why am I worth all this trouble?

348

And again, we see that Job is asking

for answers to questions that he's

349

not going to get the answer to.

350

There are questions that all of us

will ask that we may never have a

351

solid answer to at least this life.

352

But that doesn't mean that God

doesn't want us to pursue him and to

353

deepen our knowledge and awareness

of what he's doing in our lives.

354

There is a way to see what God is

doing, although not comprehensively.

355

So I'd encourage you to lean into

your prayer in your Bible time.

356

I commend this book to you, and I

commend it to you and more than just

357

the daily Bible reading program.

358

In fact, one of my goals this

year is to read more of the Bible.

359

It's funny.

360

I have a, a measurement that I'm

using for that, but I'm going to do my

361

daily Bible reading program with you.

362

But I'm also going to read

additionally on top of that and that's

363

because I feel like I want more.

364

I feel like I need more.

365

I want to have a mastery of scripture

and that necessitates uh, something

366

of an obsessive approach to scripture.

367

And I would encourage you to think about

this year as you prepare for the year

368

as you're at the beginning of 2025.

369

How will you prepare yourself for the

future to be ready to have the word

370

of God deeply ingrained within you?

371

So that when the evil day comes you

are prepared with the word of God.

372

Some really good things for us to

think about and to prepare for.

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Okay.

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That's it for today.

375

Thank you again for joining me.

376

Let's pray.

377

Lord, we thank you that you have blessed

us and sustained us so much given us life.

378

We've just finished a great year in 2024.

379

And by great, I don't necessarily

mean that everything went our way.

380

But you demonstrated

your faithfulness to us.

381

We never have reason to

doubt you This year lord.

382

We want to deepen our trust in you I

want to be ready for whatever you give

383

us Trusting that you have good plans and

purposes It's hard for us to do lord.

384

We're fickle creatures.

385

Our hearts can so often get distracted

and weighed down by so many senseless

386

things Please keep us focused Help us to

deepen our love for you, our understanding

387

of you through your word, and to be

prepared to do good for the sake of

388

Christ, even while we suffer, knowing that

you have good purposes in store for us.

389

Let us believe that now.

390

Let us trust that now.

391

Let us be ready for that now,

so that you might receive all

392

the glory that you are due.

393

We ask all this in Jesus name.

394

Amen.

395

Amen.

396

All right, folks, thank you again

for joining me and I'll look forward

397

to seeing you again tomorrow.

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Have a great day.