Let's look for our message today
to the book of Psalms, and the verse of scripture that I'm going
to read and use for text is found in Psalm 119, verse 71. Psalm
119, 71. David writes, it is good for me, good for me, that I have
been afflicted, that I might learn. that I might learn thy statutes
and thy way." In other words, David is saying, I was taught
by trouble. I was taught in and by the troubles
that God brought upon me and into my life. Now if you want
to read about real trouble and real trials and real affliction,
read the book of Job. Here was a man who was tried
by God as perhaps no other man has ever been tried by God. He
lost everything, literally everything. He was so high, he said, I was
at ease, and God brought me so low. In Job 16, let's just read
a few of the things that he had to say about this trial, this
time of affliction. In Job 16, verse 11 and 12, now
listen carefully. He said, God hath delivered me
into the hands of the ungodly. God has turned me over into the
hands of the wicked. I was at ease, but he hath broken
me asunder. He hath taken me by the neck
and shaken me to pieces. He hath taken me by the neck
and shaken me to pieces. That's what Job said. In Job
19, verse 9, he says this, God has stripped me of my glory. He hath taken the crown from
my head. He hath destroyed me on every
side, and I am clean gone. I am gone. All my friends hate
me, and they whom I love are turned against me." In Job 23,
verse 8, he said, I go forward and God is not there. The Lord
God not only took him by the neck and shook him to pieces
and destroyed him on every side, but God withheld his presence
from Job. He said, I go forward and he's
not there. And I go backward and I cannot
see him. On the left hand, I cannot behold
him. He hides himself on the right
hand. I cannot see God. I cannot find
God. Now Job was so high and brought
so low. But now listen to this. Listen
carefully. Job didn't try to hide his sorrows. He was a man
in great sorrow. He wept. He wept. It's no sin to weep. It's no
sin to mourn in time of trial, in time of sorrow. God's people
are people with tender hearts. And when they bear the rod, they
feel it. They feel it. They weep. When they walk through
the valley of trial and suffering, they hurt. And they weep and
they mourn in time of trouble. Paul said this, he said, I have
great heaviness of heart. I have continual sorrow of heart
for my brethren. Peter said this, if need be,
you are in heaviness, heaviness through many trials. I see the
hand of God in things that happen in my life and you see the hand
of God in things that happen to your life, in your life, but
they still hurt. You still feel the pain, you
still weep. It's no sin to feel pain and
to weep and to feel sorrow. Paul said this, he said, we sorrow,
but not as those who have no hope. We do sorrow, we know what
sorrow is, we know what trouble is, we know what trial is, but
But we don't sorrow as those who have no hope. When my son
was killed in the Vietnam War, I knew it was God's will, I knew
it was the purpose of God. But that didn't take the hurt
out of it. It still hurt, and it hurt deeply. And it hurt for
a long time. It still hurts. Just because
we recognize the hand of God in a matter doesn't take the
hurt out of it. Doesn't take the affliction out of it. Doesn't
take the sorrow out of it. We sorrow. And don't you let
anybody ever tell you that it's a sin to weep or a sin to know
what sorrow is. Our Lord was a man of sorrows
acquainted with grief. But a believer's sorrow is sanctified
by worship. When Job received the sad news
of the destruction of all of his property, he was disappointed. When he received the news of
the death of all ten of his children, He was plunged into deep sorrow
and heavy grief and mourning. You imagine? He lost one. He
lost the whole family. He rent his clothes in sorrow. He shaved his head in grief.
And he fell down on the ground. But he worshipped God. Now there's the difference. A
believer's sorrow is sanctified by worship. By worship. He didn't murmur. He didn't complain. He didn't grumble. He didn't
find fault with the purpose of God. Not at all. He didn't find
fault with the providence of God. He didn't compare himself
with others. He didn't say, well, why did
this happen to me? It should have happened to the fellow down the
road. I'm a better man than he is. Why did it happen to me?
Why didn't it happen to him or to her? He didn't charge God
with foolishness, with injustice. But when he brought in the news,
His heart was broken, he was plunged into deep sorrow and
tears. His heart was broken, but he
worshipped God. He worshipped God. Now here's
what I'm saying. If grief presses you to the ground,
then worship that. Then worship that. You don't
have to jump up and run, click your heels, and say you don't
hurt, and you're not sorry, you're not in sorrow. If grief presses
you to the ground, worship God there. If trial has laid you
low, worship God there. If floods of sorrow have weighed
you down, worship God there. They came and told Job, everything's
gone, your children are all dead. He poured ashes on his head and
tore his clothes and laid down on the ground in sackcloth, but
he worshiped there. He worshipped that. He fell down. It was his grief that brought
him down. It was his sorrow that brought him down. It was his
affliction that brought him down. He fell down and worshipped. Well, not only should a time
of trial and sorrow be a time of worship, but a time of learning. And that's what I'm talking about
in this message. Taught by trouble, a time of
learning. David said in my text, it's good
for me that I've been afflicted, that I might learn, that I might
learn some things. You know, David talked to himself
one time in trouble in Psalm 42, verse 5 and 6. He's talking
to himself here. He says, Psalm 42, 5. Why art
thou cast down, O my soul? It was cast down. His soul was
cast down in sorrow. He said, why are you cast down,
O my soul? Why are you troubled in me? So
why are you troubled? Hope thou in God. I will yet praise him for the
help of his countenance. Hope thou in God. And David learned
in his times of trouble. These men of God, their times
of trouble were sanctified by worship. by worship, but also
sanctified by a time of learning. They learned in time of trouble.
They learned in the valley of the shadow of death, in affliction.
Job fell down and worshiped, and he said, naked I came 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. I'm saying that Job learned four
things in this awful time of sorrow and trouble. He learned
four things. The first thing he learned was
this, and I see all four things in what he said. They came and
told him, the Sabaeans fell upon your oxen, the Chaldeans fell
upon your sheep and camel, the Tornado struck the house and
killed your children, and Job fell down and worshiped God.
And then he said some things, he learned some things. He said
naked I came 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."
What did Job learn? Number one, Job learned the brevity
of life and the certainty of death. Job learned the brevity
of life. He said, I came, I shall return. I came, and I shall return. That's
his summary of life. I came and I shall return I read
a story one time there was an old man standing on a street
corner and a friend of his walked up to him and they were they
exchanged a time of day and a word of greeting and then the friend
said to the old man he said my friend what is life what is life
and the old man stood there silently not a word And then in a moment,
he turned and walked away. And sometime later, these two
met again, this old man and this friend. And the friend walked
up to him and said to him, the other day, I asked you a question,
and you didn't answer me. And the old man said, I answered
you. No, he said, you didn't, you didn't. He said, I asked
you what is life, and you were there, and then suddenly you
were gone. You were there one moment, and
then you were gone. You never did answer my question. The old
man said, I did answer your question. You asked me what is life, and
I told you. That was my answer. My answer
was, we're here one moment, and gone the next. And gone the next. We're here one moment, And the
place thereof shall know it no more. That, my friend, is life. The scripture says it's like
a steam vapor. It's like a shadow. It's like
a weaver's shuttle. Job said in chapter 42, man that
is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. He cometh
forth like a flower and is cut down. He fleeth as a shadow and
continueth not. Life is so brief. Job said, I
came I shall return I say life sometimes I think of it like
a procession or a parade as you're standing watching a parade go
by we're going down the valley one by one the old song used
to say we're going down the valley one by one with our faces toward
the setting of the sun I think about my own my own life when
I was a child I knew my grandparents quite well. I spent quite a bit
of time with my grandparents, but they're gone. They were here.
They were very real to me as a young boy. I used to spend
days with them, weeks with them. But they're gone. And my parents
are gone. And my only brother is gone.
And one of my sons is gone. They were here. They were here. They were really here. They were
here for a good while, seemed like to me, but they're gone.
Now it seems like they've been gone a long time. So Job learned
in this time of trouble, it shut him up to some truth. And maybe
David was saying the same thing, it's good for me that I've been
afflicted, that I might learn something. Slow down and shut
up and learn something. And I learned the brevity of
life. I came and I'll leave. Children were all gone and in
Job learned the frailty of earthly possessions. Listen to what he
said naked I came Naked I came That's how I came. I came and
I shall return I came naked and that's where I'm going naked.
I Didn't bring anything with me not gonna take anything out
with me Job had nothing when he was born neither did you but
he lived to accumulate great wealth, Job lived to accumulate
great possessions and great wealth and large holdings and a big
family and here he sat after the whirlwind of judgment had
swept through everything gone it was all gone, he thought of
course when he got that case of boils and was scraping himself
with the piece of glass and All but dead. He thought this is
the end and he said naked I came into this world and I'm going
out naked I'll tell you when we leave this earth. We'll take
nothing with us. We will go out naked Why is it
so hard for us to learn this lesson? That's so obvious That
a man's life does not consist and the things which he possesses
you're born into this world and you just You kind of grow up
and go to school, get an education, learn something, then start fighting
to get all you can get. Fighting to get property, and
fighting to get a boat, and a house, and a farm, and stock, and savings,
and securities, and bonds, and status, and influence, and power,
and prestige, and office, and position, and all these things. Then one day you get cancer,
or heart trouble, or lay down and die. And you leave every
bit of it. And they don't even remember
you very long. Don't even remember you. There's a fellow waiting
down the road to take your place. Take your job, take your position. Live in that house you live in.
Somebody's going to live in that house you're living in someday.
Actually, you're talking about your yard and your trees and
your flowers and all that. God's flowers and God's trees.
And somebody else is going to live on that. Somebody else is
going to lease that land one of these days and live on it.
And then he's going to be gone too. The fashion of this world
fadeth away. Somebody moves in, dies, and
take him out. Somebody else moves in, dies,
and take him out. Somebody else moves in, dies. It just keeps
on. It's like a procession. Procession. Rich young ruler,
the Lord told him, said, sell all you have and give it to the
poor and follow me. He'd like to have that option
again, wouldn't he? He made the wrong decision. He made the wrong
decision. But we can't learn him. We just
can't learn it. If you be risen with Christ,
set your affections on things above, not the things of the
earth. And here's the thing, if God is determined to teach
us that lesson, He can teach it. But He'll have to teach it
in time of trouble. In time of trial. Because we're
such poor learners when the sun's shining. We're such poor, we
just haven't got time to learn. We don't have the desire to learn.
We're just bent on these things of the world, and we just don't
have time to sit down and listen. We're too busy. Well, God can
un-busy you real quickly. And God can, you say, I don't
have time to read. Well, if He's pleased to show
His grace to you, He'll give you some time to read. Well,
I just don't have time to pray. I don't have time to worship
God. I don't have time to search the Scriptures. You're one of
His own. He'll make the time for you,
but he may do it in a hard fashion. Job learned the frailty of earthly
possessions. The frailty. And then Job learned
something else. Job saw the hand of God in everything. The hand of God in everything.
Listen to what he said. He said, the Lord giveth and
the Lord hath taken away. He learned the brevity of life.
He said, I came and I'm going to leave. And then he learned
the frailty of human possessions. He said, naked I came into this
world, and naked I'm going to leave. But in the meantime, I
enjoyed some things. I enjoyed a house, and a farm,
and some animals, and a bunch of fine children, grandchildren,
and so forth. But the Lord gave them. The Lord
gave them. And the Lord had taken them away. Job learned that He saw the hand
of God in everything. He learned that what he had,
God gave it. God gave it. The Lord gave it. Listen to Hannah's prayer in
1 Samuel 2, verse 6. The Lord killeth, and the Lord
maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave,
and he bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and the
Lord maketh rich. Did you know that? The Lord maketh
poor, and the Lord maketh rich. The Lord raiseth the beggar from
the dunghill, and sets him on the throne among princes. What
hast thou that thou hast not received? Paul asked that question
in 1 Corinthians. He said, Who maketh thee to differ?
What do you have that you didn't receive from God? Well, if you
received it, why do you boast as if you didn't? Why are people
so class conscious? Let a fellow get a little bit
of money, and he gets so proud and boastful and so high and
mighty and lifted up above his poor neighbors, God gave it to
him. Let a man get a position. He gets to be elected chief of
police or mayor or senator, congressman. He gets so all fired proud and
arrogant, you know, like he did it himself. God gave it to him.
Let a fellow have a little strength and ability to play a little
ball. These young kids do that in high school. They get so arrogant.
Or in college, some of these star athletes, they get so proud. So proud. And then one of them
gets his neck broke on a football field and he gets so sweet and
humble all of a sudden. God gives and God takes away. God gives. Job didn't say, I
earned it or I deserved it. This is the product of my hard
work. He said the Lord give it. The
Lord give it. Our Lord Jesus Christ said a
man can receive nothing except it be given him from above. James said every good gift and
every perfect gift cometh from God with whom there's no change.
Now Job was a wise man. He learned something. He said,
I came into this world naked. I'm going to leave here naked.
And in the meantime, I've enjoyed some rich blessings and some
good gifts. But the Lord give it. The Lord
give it. And all that I have materially,
all that I have physically, all that I have spiritually is the
gift of God. Did you know that? Did you know
that? Repentance is the gift of God.
Have you been led to repent toward God? Then it was the goodness
of God that led you to repent. Have you been given faith in
Christ and an understanding of the Scriptures? Faith is the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For God
so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son. 1 John 5,
11, this is the record. God hath given us eternal life. Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin
is death, but to what? The gift of God is eternal life. Job saw that Everything he had,
God gave him. Now wait a minute, but Joe saw
also that God was pleased to take it away. Take it away, God
did. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh
away. Now this servant rushed in and
said, the Sabaeans have fallen upon the oxen and taken them
away. The Chaldeans, those wicked Chaldeans
have come down in a great band and took all the sheep and the
camels. And while he was yet speaking, another servant rushed
in and said, hey, a tornado hit the house where your children
were having a celebration and killed every one of them. And
Job didn't fall down to the ground and tear his hair and rent his
garments and say, those awful Sabaeans, I'm going after them.
Those awful Chaldeans, they shouldn't have done that. That awful tornado,
why did it happen? No. He fell down and he said,
the Lord gave. And the Lord had taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. Job learned that God gave. And God has the right to take
it away. It's his prerogative. It's his
right. He's God. That's what David said. Listen
to Psalm 39. This is a good text. Psalm 39.9. David said, I open
not my mouth, For God did it. That's a good time not to open
your mouth. I open not my mouth because God did it. That's what
David said. And then Eli, when Samuel told
him that the Lord was pleased to kill both of his sons, wouldn't
you know what that old man said? He said, well, it's the Lord. Let him do what he will. It's the Lord. Let him do what
he will. Our Lord took Jeremiah to the potter's house and let
him watch the potter take the clay and mold a vessel on the
wheel. And he said, Jeremiah, as that
clay is in the hands of the potter, so are you in my hands. And Paul
picked it up and said, he will, according to his will, make of
the same lump a vessel unto honor and a vessel unto dishonor. It's
not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, it's of God
that showeth mercy. God gave and God took away. And then the fourth thing Job
saw was this. He saw that the Lord was to be
praised in all things. That God was to be praised in
all things. Because this was the end of his
little sermon. When they brought the bad news,
the horrible news, he fell down. tore his clothes, put on sackcloth
and ashes, and wept openly. And he said, O naked, naked,
I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord now
hath, in his good providence and purpose, taken it away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Paul summed it up in 1 Thessalonians
5, 18. Paul said this, in everything,
in everything give thanks. Whatever, whether in a funeral
or a wedding, give thanks. Acknowledge and recognize the
hand of God in these things. Whether in a funeral or a wedding,
give thanks in everything. In birth or in death. Give thanks. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that's within me. Bless his
holy name. Who forgiveth all thy iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases, who satisfies thy mouth with
good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle. Rejoice
evermore. Give thanks. Learn to give thanks.
Any of us can give thanks in birth. But he said in everything. In death too. Give thanks in
health. Give thanks in sickness. I know
this is difficult, but it's something we must not throw up our hands
and say, I just can't get it, I can't attain unto it, I can't
lay hold of it. Let's try. Job did, and Job,
like Elijah, was a man of like passions. Give thanks in gain
or in loss. Give thanks in success or failure. Give thanks in plenty or poverty. Give thanks in summer or winter.
Because all things work together for the eternal good to them
who love God with a call according to his purpose. Learn in trouble. Taught by trouble.