Well, let us turn to God's Word
and I want to direct you to the verse that we find in the book
of Job. In Job chapter 37, Job 37 and verse 19. Teach us what we shall say unto
him for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. Here in
Job 37 and verse 19, teach us what we shall say unto him, for
we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. This remarkable book, some say
the oldest part of all the Word of God, it predates the books
of Moses, the first five books of Scripture, and it is full
of remarkable truths and so here in this particular verse of course
it's towards the end of the book and from chapter 32 right through
to this 37th chapter we have the words of a man called Elihu
remember how the book is really principally made up of cycles
of speeches from chapter 3 through 31 We read of these three men,
Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, the friends of Job, and they make
their different speeches, and each time Job answers them. So we have these various speeches,
these cycles of speeches. And Job says of them, in chapter
16 and verse 2, Miserable comforters are ye all, And then, after they've
made their various speeches, we're introduced to this fourth
character, this man called Elihu. In chapter 32, So these three
men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.
Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barakel, the
Buzite, of the Kirid of Ram, against Job. was his wrath kindled
because he justified himself rather than God. Also, against
his three friends was his wrath kindled because they had found
no answer and yet had condemned Job. And so he begins to speak
there and he continues right through and here in chapter 37
we're coming really to the end of what he has to say and then
we have these words of what I've announced for the text. He says,
teach us what we shall say unto him, for we cannot order our
speech by reason of darkness. And looking at this verse in
particular, I want to take up the theme of ignorance in prayer. That's what seems to lie at the
heart of what this man is saying, ignorance. In prayer we observe
two things, the cause, the cause of the ignorance, and the way
in which this ignorant might be cured. It's a request that
his making teach us what we shall say unto him, for we cannot order
our speech by reason of darkness. First then, to say something
with regards to the cause, and it is of course the native darkness
of our minds. We cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. The darkness
of our poor minds is such a hindrance and such a stumbling block to
us. We are ignorant of many things
with regards to God who is the one that we come to speak to
in our prayers. We have many exhortations in
scripture to pray time and again when the Apostle Paul comes to
the end of those epistles where he gives those practical words
of instruction and exhortation he will say pray, pray without
ceasing be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving state your requests be made known
unto God many a time then as he comes to the end of the letters
to the churches or to individuals, he would encourage them in prayer. And yet, how hard it is, because
of our ignorance, because of our native darkness. As we were
saying on the Lord's Day morning when we come to prayer, of course,
we really enjoy the great blessing of access and entrance. In prayer
we come into the very presence of God. In the Lord Jesus we
are told we have access. Prayer is not so much praying
to God who is at a distance but we have the very ear of God.
He hears us in a very intimate fashion when we come to pray
to Him and yet we are so ignorant with regards to God and this
is what is really being said by Elihu in this chapter. He says in verse 14, Harken unto
this, O Job, stand still and consider the wondrous works of
God. Dost thou know when God disposed them and caused the
light of his cloud to shine? Dost thou know the balancing
of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?
now thy garments are warm when he quieteth the earth by the
south wind and so with him spread out the sky which is strung and
is a molten looking glass he's asking all these questions and
what is the answer? well Job really like anyone else
is one so ignorant of God as we see in the in the following
chapter there at verse 4 where was thou? this is God speaking
here Elihu was finished his long speech then the Lord answered
Job we're told at the beginning of verse 8 and the Lord says
at verse 4 where was thou when I laid the foundations of the
earth declare if thou hast understanding who hath laid the measures thereof
if thou knowest or who hath stretched the line upon it Whereupon are
the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the cornerstone thereof?
When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted
for joy? These rhetorical questions, you
see, what is the answer? There's no answer really. Man
has to confess and to acknowledge he is so ignorant of God and
of the ways of God. Previously, one of the speeches
made by a friend of Job called Zophar, back in chapter 11, verse
7 following, Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find
out the Almighty unto perfection? It is high as heaven, what canst
thou do? Deeper than hell, what canst thou know? The measure
thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the seas. Who
can know God, when we think of the immensity of God? Surely
God is altogether above and beyond our comprehension. He is the
creator, we are the creatures. He dwells in eternity, we dwell
in time. How can we really begin to understand
the wonder of this great God and then when we discover that
God is one and yet God is three. Our reason fails with all our
powers. Our faith must prevail only by
faith that we can know him we're ignorant then of many things
concerning God and of course all is compounded because we're
not only feeble frail creatures and so limited in our understanding
we're also fallen and sinful creatures having the understanding
darkened alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance
that is in us, because of the blindness and the hardness of
our hearts. That's our condition. We're full
of so many infirmities, so many infirmities. We cannot really
begin to understand the wonder of this great God. he says here at verse 20 shall
it be told him that I speak if a man speak surely he shall be
swallowed up or what is man then that God should be mindful of
him or the son of man that ever God should should visit him we
are as I said so full of of infirmities remember those words that we've
read just now in Romans 8 a familiar word at verse 26 how the Spirit
helpeth our infirmities or what of these
infirmities we may sometimes try to think on spiritual things
but we cannot attain to the right spiritual understanding of those
spiritual things and Paul of course there when
he writes those words in Romans he doesn't exclude himself he
doesn't just address himself to the church at Rome he says
The Spirit helpeth our infirmities, not your infirmities. He includes Himself. All believers
feel their infirmities, their inability to even begin to think
right thoughts of God or to pray right when they come to address
God in prayer. We know there's a great difference
between saying words in prayer and actually real prayer. We're
so full of infirmity, so full of weakness. But we're not to
conclude that all weakness is necessarily sinful. The amazing thing is that when
we come to consider the one who is the mediator through whom
we pray to God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only mediator, We're
told, aren't we, we have not an high priest which cannot be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities. That he was tempted
in all points like as we are. Yet without sin he feels something
of our infirmities. He himself knew them. Of course,
he knew nothing of sinful infirmities because he was altogether without
any sin. He was holy, he was harmless.
He was only far, he was separate from sinners. He had a human
nature that was preserved even from the taint of original sin,
that holy thing that was born of the Virgin Mary, was to be
called the Son of God. But he knew something of a human
infirmity. He knew what it was to be wearied.
He was wearied in his journey as he was traveling through Samaria. there in John chapter 4 and feeling
weary he sits at the well at Sychar. And the strange thing is that
we read those words in 2nd Corinthians 13 4 that he was crucified through
weakness. Now it's interesting because
that word weakness is really the same word that we have in
Romans 8 26 Now the Spirit helpeth our infirmities,
our weaknesses. You see, the Lord Jesus, when
He came to His prayer life, when we think of His human nature,
oh, He was dependent upon the Holy Spirit as He came to pray
unto His Father. That's the amazing, the remarkable
thing with the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, the Spirit was there to help
Him, to support Him in the days of His flesh. We had offered
up prayer and supplication with strong crying and tears unto
him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that
he feared. He had the fear of God in his
heart. That word fear there in Hebrews 5, it has to do with
piety. He knew as a man his need of
that gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit. who is touched with
the feeling of our infirmities. That's a wonderful thing. Coming
to these words of the text. Teach us what we shall say unto
thee, for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. These are words that are really
being addressed to Job. And they might on the surface
seem to be rather harsh words Adam Job on a previous occasion
said, I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth
with arguments. And he showed some determination
that he would try to reason with God. Doesn't God invite man? Come now, let us reason together,
he says, back in Isaiah chapter 1. And yet here is Elihu uttering
these words, teach us what we shall say unto him, for we cannot
order. We cannot order our speech by
reason of darkness. The words might seem to be harsh
being addressed to a man like Job, who would order his cause. And
of course we have that word of exhortation in the prophecy of
Hosea, when he says, take with you words and turn to the Lord. Well, to take with us words,
we're to turn to the Lord and to speak with him. So how do
we square that with what is being said by this man? We cannot order our speech by
reason of darkness. Well, doesn't Job really acknowledge
When he comes to order his cause, he acknowledges his complete,
his utter dependence upon God. We see that in the words that
he speaks in chapter 23. In the opening words of that
chapter, Job answered and said, even to die, is my complaint
bitter, my stroke is heavier than my groaning, or that I knew
where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat.
I would order my cause before Him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which
He would answer me and understand what He would say unto me. Will
He plead against me with His great power? No, but He would
put strength in me. Here is Job, you see, acknowledging
his dependence upon God. Will God plead against me? He
asks. No, he would put strength in
me. God's power is not going to be against me. God's power
is going to be for me. God will help him. And God must
help him. And God must help us. We need
to know then that gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit. And so, turning,
as it were, from the situation that Job is in, and
the cause of all his trouble, and something of the truth, really,
of what Elihu is saying in this particular verse. But turning
from what causes his trouble to the cure. And what is the
cure? It is the teaching of the Holy
Spirit. That's all. We are completely
and utterly dependent upon that ministry of the Holy Spirit.
I said that as a man, the Lord Jesus Christ was ever dependent
upon the Spirit. That's the life that He lived
here upon the earth, when He lived that life of faith. It's
the mystery of the person, isn't it? His human nature is as real
as your human nature or my human nature. He was a real man. and he had to live that life
in which the Spirit helped him in all his communion with God. And we need the same. Teach us
what we shall say unto him. For we cannot order our speech
by reason of darkness. It is the Spirit who must help
us in all our infirmities. What does he say? The Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what to pray
for as we ought. And then he goes on to speak,
doesn't he? The Spirit itself. That's what it says there in
the end of that 26th verse in Romans chapter 8. The Spirit
itself helps our infirmities and makes intercession with groanings
that cannot be uttered. And you'll see therefore that
the end of that verse that we read in our short scripture reading
contains an emphatic pronoun. It doesn't just say the Spirit,
but it says the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits
that we are the children of God. That's what's said previously
in that same chapter of verse 16. and so both in verse 16 and
then again in verse 26 we have the emphasis with the introduction
not just of the noun spirit but the pronoun also spirit itself. Now, it's interesting isn't it
because we would say that the spirit is a person The Spirit is not just a force
or a power. The Holy Spirit is the third
person in the Godhead. In the Trinity we speak of God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. One God,
but one God and three persons in the Godhead. And yet there,
In those two verses, Romans 8, 16, and then again 26, in our
authorized version, instead of the Spirit Himself, it reads
the Spirit itself. Now, if you pick up the New King
James Version, or you pick up the New International Version,
I haven't got a copy of the English Standard Version, which is now
the popular version among so many, but I dare say it's the
same as the other two, they do actually have the word himself
rather than the spirit itself. However, that only betrays that
the authorized version is a much more literal translation of the
original than those modern versions are because the Greek word that's
rendered itself, or the Greek word I should
say that's translated, the noun that's translated spirit, is
a neuter noun. It's not a masculine noun in
the original. If it was a masculine noun, of
course, the pronoun correctly would be himself. But because
that particular noun, the word that's translated as spirit,
is a neuter noun, The authorized version is exact in rendering
it as itself. And that doesn't mean that the
authorized version then is denying the truth of the personality
of the Holy Spirit. We know quite clearly from what
we are told on other occasions in Scripture that the Holy Spirit
is a person. In Acts 5, there in the opening
verses of Acts chapter 5, We have the terrible sin of Ananias
and Sapphira. They sinned against the Holy
Ghost. They lied to the Holy Ghost. You can't sin against a power or a force. You can only sin against a person. There it's clearly indicated
then that the spirit is a person. And we need to know that blessed
person of God the Holy Spirit helping us in all our prayers.
We need to know him as that one who comes and indicts our prayers
within us, who moves and directs us with regards to the way in
which we are to pray. There are two things that we
see here with regards to that ministry of the Spirit. There
are those prayers that in a sense are unutterable, and there are
other prayers that are made which are unuttered. Now what's the
difference? Well, unutterable prayer. Emaker's
intercession for us, it says, with groanings which cannot be
uttered. Sometimes, when we come to pray,
our thoughts and our feelings fail us. We cannot find language
adequate to express what we want to say to God in prayer. Wasn't that the case with that
gracious man, that godly king, Hezekiah? When the Syrians were
there at the gates of Jerusalem, the Northern Kingdom Israel had
already gone they'd been taken away by the Babylonians scattered
and then the armies of the Assyrians under Sennacherib had continued
in their southerly direction they'd fallen upon many of the
walled cities in the kingdom of Judah and they're there at
the very gates now of Jerusalem itself and it seems as if Jerusalem
is going to fall but it doesn't and the king pries He gets that
letter from the Assyrian general and he is sick, he cannot do
much with it, he is in bed but he lies it. Well initially he
can, he goes to the temple and he spreads it out before the
lords. That's what he does initially, but then when he is sick all
he can do is turn his face to the wall. and try to pray to
his God, and God hears, God answers, and we have that remarkable prayer
of thanksgiving in Isaiah chapter 38 when God had answered that
prayer and delivered the city, and the Assyrians had not been
successful, they'd had to withdraw, and then eventually Sennacherib
was killed by his own sons. What a remarkable deliverance.
And what does the king say in his prayer of thanksgiving? Well,
he says, like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter. I did mourn
as a dove. Mine eyes paled, O Lord, undertaken. You see, they were unutterable
prayers. And he likens his praying to
the chattering of birds and the mourning of doves. Unutterable prayers. That's what
he says. All real prayer then is much
more than just an outward form. It's very much a matter of the
heart of man, surely it is. And how God hears and answers
these prayers, it was so with regards to the children of Israel
when they were there in all the bondage of Egypt as we see at
the end of Exodus chapter 2 and the bondage is so great and they're
sighing and they're groaning under the burdens and the Lord
has respect unto them and he hears their sighs and he hears
their groans those are unutterable prayers
but there are also prayers that really are altogether unuttered
not just unutterable but unuttered You see, the Spirit doesn't just
help our infirmities by working within us and bringing us to
those groanings. He also intercedes for us. That's what the Spirit does.
He maketh intercession for us, it says, with groanings that
cannot be uttered. Indeed, that searcheth the heart
knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he makes intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. Here it says in
the text, we cannot order our speech. That's an unuttered prayer. We cannot order our speech by
reason of darkness. Do we not in a sense have a remarkable
example of that in the case of Hannah? Well, remember what we
were told there in the opening chapter of 1st Samuel? How Hannah,
she spake in her heart, it says. Only her lips moved, but her
voice was not heard. Nothing was uttered. Nothing
was uttered at all. And when the high priest Eli
accuses her of being in a drunken stupor, As she answers him and
says, I have poured out my soul before the Lord. How did she
pour out her soul? In unuttered prayers. That's
the wonderful thing. He that searcheth the hearts
will knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit. Because he maketh
intercession for the saints according to the will of God. That's what
the Spirit does. And that's the one that we're so utterly dependent
upon. How God is the one who must help
us. Oh yes, it's through the Lord
Jesus Christ that we know the blessing of access. He is the
mediator. He is the high priest. He is
the advocate. He is the one that we plead.
And how we address our prayers unto God himself. But how we
need that blessed ministry of the Spirit. Through Christ we
have access, it says, by one Spirit. It's always by the Spirit
of God, and how we have to continually learn that lesson, our complete,
our utter dependence upon that gracious work of the Spirit.
All real religion is a spiritual religion, and that means a life
lived in complete and utter dependence upon Him. Isn't that why Christ
granted that glorious donation of the Spirit when He poured
Him out on the day of Pentecost. And every time we come together
in this fashion, we should desire that we might be truly in the
Spirit, be it the Lord's Day, be it Thursday evening, or teach
us what we shall say unto Him. for we cannot order our speech
by reason of darkness. Can we not make the verse in,
as it were, a prayer that we address to the Spirit himself
and acknowledge always our dependence upon him that we might make requests
according to the will of God. Will the Lord then be pleased
to help us as we come to him in prayer, but we'll first of
all As our usual practice is, we'll sing God's praise in our
second hymn. I'm going to sing the hymn 1002,
the tune St. Flavian, 220. Prayer is the soul's sincere
desire, uttered or unexpressed, the motion of a hidden fire that
trembles in the breast. 1002, tune 220.