And what he's saying there is
this. He had asked in previous chapters the Lord to cut him
off. Let me go. Let me die. Let me cease to exist
because my days are no good. I'm seeing no good in my days.
There's no use in me staying on this earth. There's no purpose
to me continuing here. I have no comfort, no joy, no
peace. Nothing but confusion and pain
and misery of soul and body, of mind, spirit, and body. But he said, my soul is weary
of my life. What a contrast that is to the
sentiments of man in general. People, generally speaking, would
do anything to prolong life. Isn't that right? Billions of
dollars and effort and time spent upon medications and health products,
surgical procedures, etc., to prolong life. And that's fine.
But men are obsessed with that. We talk about the fountain of
youth. We just find the fountain of youth. We just live and live
and live forever. And most people think they're
going to live forever anyway, though they wouldn't agree with
that mentally. We act as though we shall. So practically speaking,
we think we are. And even after all of the practical
functions of life have ceased in so many cases, and any real
quality of life has ceased to be enjoyed long since, people
are hooked up to machines so that as pitiful as it is, life
can be preserved as long as possible. Just for the record, I have no
interest in that. I don't want to just exist. If
my life, practically speaking, is over, Keep me alive on a machine. I've got no interest in that
whatsoever. But people want to just hook
them up and make them breathe. They can't breathe on their own.
Let's breathe for them with a machine. Just a prolonged life. Job was
just the opposite. I don't want to live anymore.
I'm done. I'm done. He pleads with God
to end his life. And we understand that, don't
we? Misery, confusion. These are things that nobody
wants to endure. And that's all Job had. God wasn't
speaking to him at this time. God wasn't giving him the comforts
of Christ, the joy of his Redeemer, right here at this time. He's
going through a dark, dark, deep valley. And he fears the very
wrath of God upon his soul. Would you want to live under
those circumstances? We sympathize with Job, don't
we? And I can't claim in any way
that I would have acted or spoken any differently than he did here.
Would you? Would you claim that? But notice
how short-sighted Job's solution here was. Death, he considered. Job thought that death was the
best and only resolution to his problem. The only thing that's
going to solve this is death. But God had other purposes for
Job. And this seems like a good time
for us to look ahead again. Look at Job, chapter 42, and
think about Job's prayer. Lord, just cut me off. Take away.
My soul is weary of life. I'm done with life. I have no
interest in living anymore. But look at Job, chapter 42,
verse 10. It says the Lord turned the captivity
of Job when he prayed for his friends Also, the Lord gave Job
twice as much as he had before. Then came there unto him all
his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of
his acquaintance before." I don't know where they were when he
was on the ash heap, do you? But now Job's better. He's okay
now. Let's go see Job. "...And did eat bread with him
in his house, and they bemoaned him. and comforted him over all
the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. He could have used
a little comfort before that, couldn't he? They weren't there
then. But they came and they sympathized with him. And every
man also gave him a piece of money, and everyone had an earring
of gold. The Lord laid it on their hearts
to restore to him all that he had lost, all of his goods, all
of his cattle and lands that had been destroyed, his crops.
But the Lord put upon the hearts of his people apparently there
to restore Job all of that as well. So the Lord blessed the
latter end of Job, verse 12, more than his beginning. He was
a great man before and had the favor of God and had all the
blessings of God, physical and spiritual. But God blessed him
at the end more than his beginning. So, for he had 14,000 sheep,
he just had 7,000 before. Now he got 14,000 sheep. People
said, here, take some of mine. And 6,000 camels, and 1,000 yoke
of oxen, and 1,000 she-asses. And he had also seven sons and
three daughters. And he called the name of the
first, Jemima, and the name of the second, Kizia, and the name
of the third, Kerenhapak. And in all the land were no women
found so fair as the daughters of Job. I reckon they were fair
to him, don't you think? And their father gave them inheritance
among their brethren. After this lived Job 140 years. God not only didn't answer his
prayer to take his life, he lived longer after that than you and
I could ever dream of living. and forty years. And here's the
key to it now. Look at the rest of it. And saw
his sons and his sons' sons, even four generations. So Job
died being old and full of days. He died with the blessing. The
Lord blessed the latter end of Job. It wasn't just a hundred
and forty years. It'd be better just to die if
you're just passing time. But the Lord was blessing to
live under the blessing of the Lord Jesus is life indeed. It's life abundant. But he was
wishing that away, wasn't he? Have you ever heard that expression?
You're wishing your life away because you keep saying, I wish
it was Friday. I wish it was Friday. I wish
it was. If you had that wish every time your life would be
over with before long, wouldn't it? Well, Job was wishing his
money in just like that. Just I'm done with it. If he gets his way here, in chapter
6, verse 8, he said, Oh, that I might have my request and that
God would grant me the thing that I long for. What do you
want so bad, Job? Even that it would please God
to destroy me. Destroy me. That he would let
loose his hand and cut me off. We talked about how Job knew,
he knew whose hand his life was in. All God's got to do is let
go and you're a goner. Did you know that? Job knew that.
And he could have taken his own life, but he knew that's God's
prerogative to give and take life. And he said, Lord, you
take it. You take it. It's yours to take.
You gave it and you can take it. And nobody knew that better
than Job did. But if God grants this request
in chapter 42, it never takes place. So you see how short sighted
I started to say Job is. We are. How short sighted we
are. We can't dream what the best
is for us. What a lesson here. In Romans
8, 26, we see this taught. It says, Likewise, the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought. Job didn't know he was praying
for death. He didn't know what to pray for as he ought, did
he? And neither do we. The Spirit has to make intercession
for us with groanings which we can't even utter. We can't even
imagine. Do you know what to pray for?
Do you really? It's hard, isn't it? People talk
about having a little talk with Jesus. Prayer is a lot more than
that. Do you know what to pray for?
Sometimes I do. People ask me often to pray for
them about specific things, and I'm glad about that. It's flattering
for somebody to ask you to pray for them. That's a privilege.
I'm glad to pray for people. And I love to do that, and I'm
anxious to do that. I want to do that. I want to
know. I can't pray for something I don't know about. If you want
me to know about it, I want to know about it, and I'll pray
for you in it. But I don't always know what to pray for. Not always. People say, well, pray that so-and-so
will be healed or that they'll get that new job, that so-and-so
needs a job. Pray that he'll get that job
and specific things like that. But we're creatures of right
now, aren't we? We want these things to be solved.
And how do you pray for specific things like that, especially
with regard to somebody that you don't even know? A lot of
times it's pray for my brother. Well, I don't even know your
brother. I'll pray for him. But I may not pray exactly like
they wanted me to. You understand what I mean by
that? Usually, I'll pray that God's good purpose in that thing
would be accomplished, whatever it is. If the Lord wants him
to be without that job for a couple of years, or get a different
job, or if he doesn't want that surgery to go so well and he
wants to take them, it's his to take, isn't it? That life
is his to take. You see what I mean? But I want
God's good purpose, whatever his good purpose is, in it to
be accomplished. And I pray to that end. Well,
that's going to happen anyway, Chris. That's right. And I agree
with God in it. The Lord Jesus Christ prayed
to the Father, Thy will be done. You reckon He knew the Father's
will was going to be done? Prayer's not trying to change
God. It's bowing to God. It's submitting to God, saying,
Lord, Your will be done. We acknowledge our submission
and our dependence upon him when we pray. I'm not trying to get
him to do something that he wouldn't have done otherwise. You talk
about futile. If he was going to do it, it's
the best thing that could be done, isn't it? I don't want
to change that. I don't want to mess that up. And he's not
going to let me mess it up. And I'm glad of it. So you see
what I mean by that. Don't lose me, though. Listen
to what I'm saying. Whatever takes place, we want
God's good purpose to be accomplished in it. And I want this. I want
the person involved to come to know Christ by whatever means
are necessary and good in the sight of God. If God will use
it one way or the other to bring him to Christ, I'd like to see
that, wouldn't you? That may not be his purpose.
It may or may not. But I'd like to see that. That's
what I pray for. And he's instructed us to do
that. If somebody doesn't know the
Lord Jesus Christ, now, if they don't know Christ, they're outside
of the grace of God in Christ. Praying that they would get a
certain job or that their surgery would go well seems very petty,
doesn't it? Very small and insignificant in comparison with that. I want to see them come to know
Christ, and whether the surgery goes well or not, They'll be
okay if they're in Christ. All will be well, won't they?
But we're creatures of right now. We don't think beyond our
current problems, just like Job. I just want what's wrong right
now to be gone. Well, wait a minute. Let's think
beyond that a little bit. Let's think about the glory of
God, shall we? We're not going to do that without
His grace. We're going to be just like Job.
I just want to die. I just want this to be gone.
the surgery to go well in this problem to be over with. I just
want to get that job so I have some money and I won't have to
worry about that no more. Wait a minute, though. God uses things
like that. We can't think beyond that. If
all of our earthly problems were solved and we were yet strangers
to the Savior, what real difference would it make? And as religious
unregenerate sinners by nature, we tend to think That we should
always pray for every earthly problem to be resolved for everybody. Somebody's got a problem, let's
pray that that wouldn't be the problem anymore. But wait, God
uses things like that to accomplish a far greater purpose than just
immediate comfort or success, doesn't he? He did in Job's case. Job came to the place where he
was able to say, I've heard of God, but now I see him. That's
a pretty good purpose, isn't it? That was more important than
Job's comfort. Though Job couldn't see that
then. Shall we pray against God's good purpose? No. But let me
say this, though. I'm not saying that we cannot
voice our desires before God. I'm not saying that. I'm not
saying that you should worry, well, that may not be God's purpose,
so I'm not going to pray for it. That's not, that's not the
teaching of scripture. Don't misunderstand me. All I'm
saying is bear in mind who it is you're praying to. And that
his purpose may not be what your desire is. And if it's not, that's
okay. Because he doeth all things well. But King David, he prayed for
deliverance from his enemies. And victory in battle. And it
wasn't always God's pleasure to grant those things. Paul said
pray for the sick. Well, what if the Lord don't
want to kill him? Well, he may want to do that. And it's important
to understand that that's his prerogative. That's why you pray
to him about it, because it's in his hands. But there's nothing
wrong with praying for sick people and think people that have problems.
That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying we don't always
know, do we? The right way to pray about things
like that. But we can voice our desires,
can't we? We should make our requests known
unto God. Just because we don't know if
they're according to His will doesn't mean don't pray them.
Philippians 4, 6 says, Be careful for nothing. Don't worry about
it. That word careful means anxious. Don't be worrying about things
all the time. I know some folks like that,
just constantly biting their nails, worrying. Don't do that,
Paul said. to the Philippians. Don't be
anxious about it. Here's what you do in everything
by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Thank God for all
that He's done, and then let your request be made known unto
Him. That's OK, isn't it? That'd be fine. This is my request,
Lord. Ah, but what did the Lord Jesus
say? Nevertheless, not my will. Don't change your mind. I told
somebody that prayer doesn't change God's mind, and you'd
have thought I'd hit him over the head with a two-by-four.
Prayer changing the mind of God? Are you kidding me? Christ said,
not my will, your will be done. Your will be done. And we're
always to bear that in mind as we make our requests known, whatever
they are. That's what I'm saying. We remember
who it is we're praying to. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes
5, 2, Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty
to utter anything before God. Don't have a little talk with
Jesus. Don't do that. Don't be hasty to utter anything
before God. Why not, Solomon? For God is
in the heaven and you're on the earth. He ought not to have to
explain that to us. We ought to know better than
to talk flippantly lightly before God. He's God, after all. You're on the earth. Therefore,
let your words be few. And I don't necessarily mean
always just pray short prayers, although that could be good advice
at times. It means let your words be select.
Don't just pop off in God's presence. He's God. And you're not. So you see, you see that. And
you see that here in Job. He was hasty, wasn't he? His
solution was just to die. Well, that's not right, Joe. That's very short-sighted. And
guess what? We're exactly the same way. Exactly. But our request, they should
always be as far as we can understand according to His will. As far
as we can understand and perceive according to His will. 1 John
5, 14. This is the confidence that we have in Him. That if
we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. He hears
us. Well, how do we know His will?
Well, you know His will about quite a bit, don't you? We always know that it's always
God's will to worship and exalt His Son. So our request should be according
to that. According to that which would
be honoring to His name. And exalting of Christ. and not
contrary to it. We, we believers were just like
Joe. We, we just want whatever we're facing right now to be
resolved. And we're not able to think so often beyond that.
And this was what confused Joe. He said, I'm confused. And here's
what confused him. He reasoned this way that God
had blessed him. So before this trial, And so
it didn't make sense to joke that God would prosper him as
he had, both physically and spiritually, only to bring him to such a miserable
end. We saw that in verse 8, didn't
we? Thy hands have made me and fashioned me together round about,
yet thou dost destroy me. Did you make me just to knock
me down? Remember, I beseech thee, that
thou hast made me as the clay, and wilt thou bring me into dust
again? That thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like
cheese." It's not Satan doing that. Satan's just doing what
God's letting him do. "...Thou hast clothed me with
skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinew." You
granted me life, and not just physical life. You granted me
favor, life and favor. "...And thy visitation hath preserved
my spirit." What Satan said, that you've hedged him about.
And Job said, you've hedged me about. He saw that. But why? Why now, this, seeing
that that's true? Thou hast granted me these things,
and these things thou hast hid in thy heart. I know that this
is with thee. Job said, I'm not telling you anything you don't
already know. Don't pray to God as though you tell him something
he doesn't already know. He knows, Scripture says, he
knows what you have need of before you even ask him. So that's not
the purpose of our prayer. And Job acknowledged that. I
know that you know these things, Lord. I know that you're not
blind to this. But Job is asking, why would
you fashion me as you have? The psalmist said, I'm fearfully
and wonderfully made. And Job said, why do that, only
to destroy me? He said, you're dealing with
me like a little child. Did you ever, when you were little,
build, have those blocks and build something, build like some
kind of a structure? And the only reason he was building
it so you could watch it fall over. I love to do that. Just
put something up and then like pretend a hurricane was coming
through and do everything. He said, Lord, did you set me
up just to knock me down? No, God doesn't do like that.
But it looks that way. That's why Job was confused.
It looks as though God was doing that. He knows that he's not
literally doing so. And verse 13 shows that. Thus, Job's confusion. And in
verse 14, he said, If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou
wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity. He's letting the words
of his miserable, comforting friends creep in a little bit,
isn't he? Maybe the Lord is punishing me
for my iniquity here, and he's not letting up. If I be wicked,
woe unto me! And if I be righteous, if I be
right in this matter, that you're not dealing with me according
to my sin, Because you don't deal with sinners that way. You
deal with them in Christ. You don't deal with believers
according to their sins. Therefore, see thou mine affliction,
I am full of confusion. For it increased that thou huntest
me as a fierce lion, and again thou showest thyself marvelous
upon me. And then look at verse 19. He
said, I should have been as though I had not been. We can't really say that, can
we? Whatever God does is right. When
we say, it should have been this way, what are you doing? You're
questioning, you're second-guessing God Almighty. It should have
been that way. If it should have been that way,
it would have been that way. If God's on the throne, it's
just as it should be with me. I should have been as though
I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to
the grave. I had a little light shed upon
verse 19 one time for myself. I was in the hospital with my
pastor, Jack Shanks, and I was there visiting my father, who
had suffered a stroke. I spoke with my father that morning,
and that day, that afternoon, he had a stroke, and I never
spoke with him again. Very sudden. He was 56 years
old. And Jack and I were up at the
hospital visiting him, and we had just been in the room to
see him, and it had not been a pleasant experience. I had
never really watched anybody die before, and he wasn't peaceful
in it. He was not conscious, but he
was struggling, moving around and his eyes were rolling around
in his head and it was a horrible thing to see. It wasn't pleasant.
And we came out of the room and we sat out on a bench in the
hallway there, outside the room, and as we sat there I heard a
sound and it was babies crying down the hall the other direction.
And I looked down there and I realized that the maternity ward was located
just down the hall there. from the ICU unit where my father
was laying, and I looked from one end of that hall to the other.
And we'd been going through the book of Job there at that time,
and the thought crossed my mind, from the womb to the grave. What
a picture that was. What a short distance it truly
is from the womb to the grave. Those babies were only minutes
or a few short hours, a few days, a little time. God said, your
life is a vapor that appears for how long? A little time,
and then vanisheth away. And those babies were just out
of their mother's womb. And I thought to myself, in a
few ticks of the clock, they're going to be at the other end
of this hall. And that's not being morbid, that's just reality.
That's just the truth. That's just the way things are.
Job desired that he had been carried from the womb to the
grave, but in a very real sense, we all experience that very thing.
We're carried from the womb to the grave, and there are a few
stops in between, a few experiences, some good, some not. At least
in our estimation of good and bad, we experience a few things. But what's the point of it all?
Have you come from the womb? Are you headed to the grave?
And when you look back on everything that's been in between so far,
what's it all for? What's it all for? It's for nothing. It's for nothing unless unless
listen to what the psalmist said in Psalm 90 in verse three. He said, Thou turn there with
me and we'll close with this this morning. Psalm 90. Look at verse three. Thou turnest man to destruction,
and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years
in thy sight, Lord, are but as yesterday, when it is past. And
as a watch in the night, thou carriest them away as with a
flood. They are as asleep. In the morning
they're like grass, which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth
and groweth up, and in the evening it's cut down and withereth.
Have you ever mourned for a blade of grass that was cut down after?
It's just grass. That's how sinners are. Your
life is nothing. You grow up in the morning, and
in the same evening you're cut down, and nobody even gives it
a second thought. Listen to the rest of it. For we are consumed by thine
anger, and rightfully so, his wrath against us. By thy wrath
we are troubled, and we deserve it. We are worthy of nothing
but his wrath. Thou hast set," verse eight, "'our iniquities
before thee.'" That's why his wrath is on us, because of our
sin, not because he's a mean God, because you deserve wrath
and nothing more or less. Our secret sins in the light
of your countenance For all our days are passed away in our wrath. We spend our years as a tale
that is told. The story of your life. Somebody,
someday after you're gone, may tell the story of your life.
And what will it be? Just a story. The days of our
years are three score years and ten. That's if the Lord doesn't
take us sooner than that. He can take us when He wants
to. And if by reason of strength, Maybe four score years, maybe
I'll live to be 80, you know, by reason of strength. Maybe
if I take good care of myself, you know, and exercise and eat
right, maybe I'll live to be 80. If I do, my life's over,
halfway over right now. You think about that much? Yet is there strength, labor,
and sorrow? What if I do live to be 80? Is
that something to be excited about? Just living to be 80?
Labor and sorrow. For it is soon cut off and we
fly away. But I'm glad the psalmist didn't
end the psalm there. There's nothing more miserable
and meaningless than a godless life. Paul said, if we in this life
only have hope, we're of all men most miserable. But look at verse 12. So teach
us, Lord, to number our days, to value our days, to count them,
to make them count. That's what that literally means
there. You look at it. It means teach us to make our
days count. Why? That we may apply our hearts
unto wisdom. Let us realize, Lord, how short
and how vain life is without Christ, that we might seek and
lay hold of him who is the wisdom of God. Return, O Lord, how long,
and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. This life is so vain. We grow
up in the morning, we're cut down and we fly away. It's soon
cut off. Lord, satisfy us early with Thy
mercy. You see that? That we may rejoice
and be glad all of our days. If the Lord has mercy on us in
Christ and we're in Him, then whatever our days are, however
many there are, we'll rejoice in them and be glad. Is that
your desire? If there's not that much time
left, or if I live to be 140, like Job did just in the time
after his suffering. Not going to happen, is it? But
however much it is, I want to rejoice in Christ and be glad. Don't you? All our days. How many is that? I don't know,
but I want to rejoice in Christ. All of them. All of them. However
many they are. Make us glad according to the
days Wherein thou hast afflicted us. Wouldn't it have been a good
prayer for Job? It's easy to second guess somebody
else, isn't it? But Job could have prayed like
that. Make me glad. According to the days wherein
thou hast afflicted me. You can do that. You can turn
this around. In the years wherein we have
seen evil, let thy work appear unto thy servant. Thy work. Thy
work. He does all things well. Let
your work, your cross work, your redemptive work, your saving
work appear unto thy servants. Job knew something of the saving
work of Christ, didn't he? He offered blood sacrifice every
morning for himself, for his children. He knew something of
that. He could have prayed that way.
Let your work appear. Let me realize that whatever
else you do, You sent your Son to die for me, and my sins are
gone, and my hope is in you. Let me rejoice and be glad all
my days, whatever they are, in your glory unto their children,
and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. However much time I've got on
this earth, I want the beauty of the Lord my God to be on me,
don't you? Lord, give us, give us, cause
your face to shine upon us and give us peace. Give us patience
in trouble. If Job could have read chapter
42 while he was praying to die, what would have his reaction
been? He would have said, oh, oh. God may be pleased to take us
when we're relatively young, like Stephen. He took Stephen
unexpectedly. Or we may die old and full of
days like Job. But whichever it is, may we live
and die in Christ." John said in Revelation 14, 13,
I heard a voice from heaven saying, a voice from heaven now, and
he said to John, write this, blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord. Amen. Let's bow in prayer. Lord, thank you for the comfort
that we do have in Christ. We're not anxious about this
life. We're not afraid of the grave.
We're still flesh and bone. We're still human and thus apprehensive
about anything unknown like that. But we do have a boldness, Lord.
We have a peace, because we know that when we die, you described
it falling asleep in the Lord. And that doesn't sound unpleasant
at all. Paul said, I'm ready to depart.
Simeon said, Lord, let thy servant now depart in peace. Your people
have no fear or anxiety of death, but we embrace it. Where is the
sting of death? Where is the victory of the grave?
Because in the Lord Jesus Christ, we fall asleep and we awake in
His likeness. What a blessing. Thank You for
that truth and the comfort that it gives. And let us rejoice
in Him, Lord. And let us not be hasty to pray
anything before Thee. And let us not be hasty to order
our own lives and to insist upon things our way, but to see that
our lives are in Your hand and to bow to that and rejoice
in that, knowing that you do all things well. May Christ be
honored and glorified whatever our life is and however long.
In his precious name we pray. Amen.