Job Walked with God in Confusion

 Temple Baptist Church - 5-21-2023

Job 1:20-2:10; 23:1-12

Introduction:

 

A.  What a great series of messages to preach.  

 

1.  The key to walking with God is agreement with God coupled with a wholehearted trust of His will and way. 

 

2.  This morning, I am going to preach one of the most important messages that I will ever preach.

 

B.  The Book of Job is said to be the oldest book in the Bible. 

 

1.  Eusebius gave the date of 1800 B.C. as the time of its writing because of the customs or lack of customs mentioned in the book.  Moses wrote the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Bible, around 1500 B.C.  I will take their word for that. 

 

2.  The antiquity of the Book of Job shows that suffering has always been present with God’s people.  From the death of Abel coupled with the exile of Cain, in Geneses 4, to the present—life has been hard and sufferings great.

 

3.  Job was a godly man: perfect, upright, feared God, eschewed evil. 

 

Job 1:1  There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

 

4.  Job described life in this way.

 

Job 14:1  Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.

 

C.  Job is an honest book of the Bible that spells out the often-underserved trials that we face.  Not trials and troubles of our making but sufferings that greatly affect our lives.  Trials that we cannot control or understand. 

 

D.  Job was a wealthy man who lost all his possession, servants, and children. 

 

1.  The Sabeans came and stole Job’s the oxen and asses while killing his servants with the sword.

 

2.  Fire fell from heaven and devoured Job’s sheep along with those servants who kept them. 

 

3.  A great east wind smote the oldest son’s house in which Job’s 10 children were eating and drinking.  His worst fears were realized in a moment of time. 

 

4.  Satan smote Job with sore boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

 

5.  Job’s wife said, “Doest thou still retain thine integrity?  Curse God, and die!”

 

6.  Job’s three “friends” showed up to “mourn” with him.  What are friends for?  They should have stayed at home.

 

7.  Job cursed his day in chapter 3 and in chapter 23, went looking for God to “order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments.

 

E.   Job maintained his integrity in chapter 1.  He sat down in sackcloth and ashes and said: “And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.  (22)  In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” (Job 1:21-22)

 

F. When Job could not find God and God continued in His silence, Job maintained his trust and walk with God, not knowing how his trial would end.

 

1.  In the Book of Psalms, I find “How long” 17x and “Why” 24x.  This tells us that there are times when we serve the Lord in confusion.

 

2.  Job walked with God in consistency not knowing the reason nor the outcome.  God never told him why or how long!

 

Job 13:15  Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

 

Job 23:10-12  But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.  (11)  My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.  (12)  Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

 

G.  As believers, we often set the guidelines of our peace of God.  This message could get extremely long so I will get to the gist of it. 

 

1.  Peace with God is something God does but the peace of God is something that each of us control. 

 

2.  If we suffer in a certain manner or for a certain period, we will trust the Lord.  BUT:

 

1.  There may come a day in your life when you have no answers.  Nothing makes sense as you search for verse after verse in the Bible but things are all going “south” in your life.  Will you walk with God in your confusion?

 

2.  There may come a day in your life when you are confused with your circumstances.  Right goes down hard while wrong prevails!  The righter that you try to do the more wrong that happens to you.  Will you walk with God in your confusion?

 

3.  There may come a day in your life when your friends sit with you while forsaking you at the same time.  They will remind you that God blesses faithfulness and rewards judgment to the sinful.  They may say that your circumstances were created by sin or disbelief in your life.  Will you walk with God in your confusion?

 

4.  There may be a day in your life when God seemingly does not hear, and relief is nowhere in sight.  You pray and seek God but He is silent.  You search your heart but find no cause for such pain and suffering.  Will you walk with God in your confusion?

 

5.  There may be a day in your life when you just must continue with God despite everything going wrong.  At this point, so many fail of the sufficient grace of God and fall to the wayside.  Will you walk with God in your confusion?

 

Conclusion:  

 

a.  Walking with God and circumstances need have nothing to do with each other.  I have heard preachers say that Job was blessed double in the end of his life.  Yes, God did bless Job and he lived a long life with much happiness, BUT, he and his wife suffered the loss of their first 10 children all their life!  Job never understood why he and his wife suffered so but they stayed with God in their confusion. 

 

b.  There may well come a day in your Christian experience when things happen that can make you bitter.  There may come a time when you will even complain to and argue with God.  There may be a time when the heavens seem to be made of bass, your prayers go unanswered, and God is silent.  These are times when many of God’s people fail of the grace of God and choose not to walk with Him.

 

c.  As I get toward the end of life, I have found that I have many unanswered questions.  To the unsaved, this would make my serving the Lord a matter of foolishness.  Why serve a God who allows sad things to happen to His children?  At this point, I have no problem saying that serving God is not an option to me, it is a continual way of life.

 

Job 23:11-12  My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.  (12)  Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.