I will trust in Him

Hey, hey, welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This Monday morning, January 4th, is where every weekday morning at 9 a.m., and on the weekends when I get a spare moment from my kids, you and I, we get together, we have some coffee, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together.
And this year, 2020, we'll make it through all the wisdom literature. Well, today we are at Job chapter 11 through chapter 15. Job chapter 11 through chapter 15. Again, Job is meant to be read in chunks. It's a whole book, and we should make sure we read it that way, or else we'll get kind of messed up as we go through.
Why don't we go ahead and have some coffee. We'll pray, and we'll get to God's Word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for what a joy it is to worship you. Thank you for giving us your word. Thank you for giving us a book that is both difficult but also enlightening. Thank you for giving us a book that is hard for our souls and it also enriching to our faith.
We pray that you would care for us this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, here we go. Job chapter 11 through chapter 15. Let's go ahead and pull that up for you. Again, if these videos are helpful, please hit the like button. Let Facebook and YouTube know that this is valuable to you and other people should watch also. Job chapter 11. Then Zophar, the Naamathite. Ooh, that's a mouthful, isn't it?
Zophar. answered and said, should not the multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk be vindicated? Should your empty talk make men hold their peace? And when you mock, should no one rebuke you? What is Zophar saying here? Dude, you're about to get it. I'm about to come on you. You've said a whole bunch of stuff and I'm going to answer you. He's being tag teamed in here. This ain't good.
For you have said, my doctrine is pure, and I am clean in your eyes. But oh, that God would speak and open his lips against you, that he should show you the secrets of wisdom, for they would double your prudence. Know, therefore, that God exacts from you less than your iniquity deserves. Man, these guys, his friends are really theologically astute and pastorally dumb.
These guys, they're like a lot of new young Calvinists. And I say that as a Calvinist. This is difficult here, right? He's being bold. He's saying my doctrine is pure and I'm righteous and I'm going to speak for God to you. Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven. What can you do? Deeper than Sheol. What can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea. If he passes by in prisons and gathers to judgment, then who can hinder him? For he knows deceitful men and sees wickedness also. Will he not then consider it? For an empty-headed man will be wise when a wild donkey's colt is born a man.
If you would prepare your heart and stretch out your hands toward him, if iniquity were in your hand, and you put it far away, and would not let wickedness dwell in your tents, then surely you could lift up your face without spot. Yes, you could be steadfast and not fear, because you would forget your misery and remember it as waters that have passed away. And your life would be brighter than noonday, though you were dark, You would be like the morning and you would be secure because there is hope. Yes, you would dig around you and take your rest and safety. You would also lie down and no one would make you afraid. Yes, many would court your favor, but the eyes of the wicked will fail and they shall not escape.
And their hope, loss of life. Man, these guys seem to have only one answer for Job. It's your sin, you need to repent. I'm always amazed by this type of things that happen even today when there's things about hurricanes and earthquakes and volcano eruptions and tsunamis and typhoons and you'll always have some quack-a-doodle Christian who's saying, oh, this is God judging this nation or judging this people because of this exact sin. And I'm always thinking to myself, dude, you're neither a prophet nor a son of a prophet. We should be really careful. We should be really careful here.
We don't know ultimately, cosmically, what God is doing in his providence, the God who created the entire universe. The God who put Orion in his place and set the Pileates and controls the universe, who holds up the storehouses of snow. We ultimately don't know why he's doing any one thing. And often when God is doing one thing, he has a thousand reasons why he's making every minute thing happen. We need to be careful not to flatten God's providence and push down so we can understand, oh, God's doing this exact thing for this exact reason.
And that exact reason is because he's punishing you for sin. Well, you don't know that. All right, let's go to what Job says as he answers some. Then Job answered and said, no doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you. But I have understanding as well as you. Am I not inferior to you? Indeed, who does not know such things as these?
I am one mocked by his friends, who called on God and answered him, the just and blameless who is ridiculed. A lamp is despised in the thought of one who is at ease. It is made ready for those whose feet slip. The tent of robbers prospers, and those who provoke God are secure in what God provides by his hand.
But now, ask the beasts, and they will teach you. and the birds of the air, and they will tell you, or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, and the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? And whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind? Does not the ear test words, and the mouth taste food?
Wisdom is with aged men. and with length of days understanding. With him are wisdom and strength. He has counsel and understanding. If he breaks a thing down, it cannot be rebuilt. If he imprisons a man, there can be no release. If he withholds the waters, they dry up. If he sends them out, they overwhelm the earth. With him are strength and prudence.
The deceived and the deceiver are his. He leads counselors away, plundered. He makes fools of the judges. He loosens the bonds of kings and binds their waist with a belt. He leads princes away, plundered, and overthrows the mighty. He deprives the trusted ones of speech and takes away the discernment of the elders. He pours contempt on princes and disarms the mighty. He uncovers deep things out of the darkness and brings the shadow of death to light. He makes nations great and destroys them. He enlarges nations and guides them. He takes away the understanding of the chief of the peoples of the earth and makes them wander in a path of wilderness. They grope in the dark without light and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.
Again, what is Job saying? You're gonna tell me that I don't have wisdom? He has a firmly orthodox view of God's justice and righteousness and sovereignty. Job knows these things. Job's an old dude. Job knows this stuff. He looks at his friends so far and he's like, look, does wisdom die with you? You act like I don't got wisdom?
Man, I know who God is. Job loved God, Job worshiped God. And he's gonna continue. Behold, my eye has seen all this. My ear has heard and understood it. What you know, I also know. I am not inferior to you, but I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.
But you forgers of lies, you are worthless physicians. Oh, that you would be in silent and it would be your wisdom. Just zip your lips and you'd be smarter. Even a fool seems wise when he shuts his mouth. You're horrible friends. You're not good doctors. You're not prescribing comfort to my soul. You're not mourning with those who mourn or weeping with those who weep. You just want to castigate me and cast me down. I know these things. Now, here are my reasoning. and heed the pleadings of my lips?
Will you speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for Him? Will you show partiality for Him? Will you contend for God? Will it be well when He searches you out? Or can you mock Him as one mocks a man? He will surely rebuke you if you secretly show partiality. will not his excellence make you afraid, and the dread of him fall upon you? Your platitudes are proverbs of ashes, your defenses are defenses of clay.
Hold your peace with me, and let me speak, then let come on me what may. Why do I take my flesh and my teeth and put my life in my hands? Though he slay me, yet I will trust in him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation, for a hypocrite could not come before God. Listen carefully to my speech and to my declaration with your ears. See, now I have prepared my case. I know that I shall be vindicated. Who is he who will contend with me?
If now I hold my tongue, I perish. Right, Job is confessing again here. I just want to talk to God. I want to know why this is happening. It's easy to know that God is sovereign, but it's hard to know it in your soul and know why this is happening to you. Job just wants to know, God, why are you doing this?
And we're not gonna find out until the end of the chapter. Now, we got a preview for it in chapter one and in chapter two, but Job doesn't know this. Job is crying out, but he's still confessing his trust. Though he slay me, yet I will trust in him. Job in all of this is not saying, God's unrighteous and God is evil and I'm righteous and God is wrong for doing this. Job is asking, why? I still trusted him, I still love him, but I don't know why.
What sin have I committed that all my livelihood was destroyed, that all my livestock was taken away, that all my children died, that my wife tells me to curse God and die? Why has this all come upon me? Why are my boils heaping up and splitting apart and maggots in my wounds and I scrape myself with a paw shirt and I can't drink enough and my mouth is like clay?
You guys are worthless friends. You don't get it. I just want to cry out to God. It doesn't stop there. Only two things do not do to me. Then I will not hide myself from you. Withdraw your hand far from me and let not the dread of you make me afraid. Then call and I will answer or let me speak. Then you respond to me.
How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my transgressions and my sin. Why do you hide your face and regard me as your enemy? Will you frighten a loaf? a leaf driven to and fro? And will you pursue dry stubble? For you write bitter things against me and make me inherit my iniquities of my youth. You put my feet in the stocks and watch closely all my paths. You set a limit for the soles of my feet.
Man decays like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten." Do you see Job's humility here? He's even saying like, okay, God, if I've sinned, If there's iniquity in me, show it to me. But Job compares himself to a leaf that's blowing in the wind, something helpless. And it feels like he's got no mooring. He's got no say in it. He's just being a victim of what's going on around him. And he says, I'm going to die. I know I'm going to die. All men are going to die. But God, if I have sinned, show me my sin.
A man who is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away. He flees like a shadow and does not continue. And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me to judgment with yourself? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one. Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with you. You have appointed his limits so that he cannot pass. Look away from him that he may rest. till like a hired man he finishes his day.
For there is hope for a tree. If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its tender shoots will not cease. Though its root may grow old in the earth and its stump may die in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant. But man dies and lays away, and is laid away. Indeed, his breath Indeed, he breathes his last, and were it he, as water disappears from the sea, and a river becomes parched and dries up, so man lies down and does not rise, till the heavens are no more, and they will not wake, nor be roused up from their sleep.
Right, Job is saying, if I die, I'm gonna die. Man doesn't get another chance. I go down to the grave, and is it done? I'm not like a tree, right? God can cut down a tree, but it will sprout again. But God, why am I in this state of death? It seems like I'm never going to get out of this. Oh, that you would hide me in the grave, that you would conceal me until your wrath has passed, that you would appoint me a set time and remember me. If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my hard service, I will wait till my change comes. You shall call and I will answer you. You shall desire the work of your hands. For now you number my steps, but do not watch over my sin. My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and you cover my iniquity.
But as a mountain falls and crumbles away, and as a rock is moved from its place, as water wears away stones, and as torrents wash away the soil of the earth, so you destroy the hope of a man. You prevail forever against so many passes on, You change his countenance and sent him away.
His sons come to honor and he does not know it. They are brought low and he does not perceive it. But his flesh will be in pain over it and his soul will mourn over it." This is a grief of Job's heart as he's talking about death. And about just the emptiness of it. Let's look at how his friend Eliaphaz answers. Then Eliaphas, a Temanite, answered and said, should a wise man answer with empty knowledge and fill himself with the east wind?
Should he reason with unprofitable talk or by speeches with which he can do no good? Yes, you cast off fear and restrain prayer before God, for your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty. Your own mouth condemns you and not I, yet your own lips testify against you. What is Eliaphaz gonna say here? What's he just talking about? Dude, even your own testimony condemns you. You just talked about God being righteous and you are not righteous. And I'm not gonna answer you're a fool according to his folly. That's what he's saying.
Are you the first man who is born? Or were you made before the hills? Have you heard the counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? What do you know about, what do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not in us? Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, much older than your father. Are the consolations of God too small for you? And the words spoken gently with you? Why does your heart carry you away? And what do your eyes wink at that you turn your spirit against God and let such words go out of your mouth?
What is man that he should be pure? And he who is born of woman that he could be righteous. If God puts no trust in his saints and his heavens are not pure in his sight, how much less man who is abominable and filthy, who drinks iniquity like water, What is what is the life as saying here?
He's essentially telling Telling Job Dude, you think you got all the wisdom look at us. We got old men and young men We have wisdom too and we're gonna answer you but but I don't think you get it, dude You're not pure. I Will tell you hear me What I have seen, I will declare. What wise men have told, not hiding anything, recede from their fathers. To whom alone the land was given, and no alien passed among them.
The wicked man writhes with pain all his days, and the number of his years is hidden from the oppressor. Dreadful sounds are in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer comes upon him. He does not believe that he will return from darkness, for a sword is waiting for him. He wanders about for bread, saying, Where is it? He knows that a day of darkness is ready at hand. Trouble and anguish make him afraid. They overpower him like a king greedy for battle. For he stretches out his hand against God and acts defiantly against the Almighty, running stubbornly against him with a strong embossed shield. Though he has covered his face with his fatness and made his waist heavy with fat, he dwells in desolate cities and houses which no one inhabits, which are destined to become ruins.
He will not be rich, nor will his wealth continue, nor will his possessions overspread the earth. He will not depart from darkness. The flame will dry out his branches, and by the breath of his mouth he will go away. Let him not trust in futile things, deceiving himself, for futility will be his reward. It will be accomplished before his time, and his branches will not be green. He will shake off his unripe grape like a vine, and cast off his blossom like an olive tree.
For the company of hypocrites will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery. They conceive trouble and bring forth futility. Their womb prepares deceit." Man, what a huge thing to lay upon Job. He's saying those people who are prosperous, they're sinners. And God's going to bring them down to the ground. They fatten their bellies. They hold on to their embossed shields. They think they got it all together. Remember who Job was. Remember the wealth that he had.
And he's preparing him to this fat, power-hungry man who's brought to nothing. Brothers and sisters, this is an anti-type. This is a voice of one who speaks evil. This is a guy who's condemning Job for things that Job didn't do. This is the accuser. This is the type of person that Jesus would say, get behind me, Satan. This is not what godly friends do. He's not encouraging him towards righteousness. He's not praying with him, he's not caring for him, but he's just accusing him. Accusing him, accusing him.
Even though, notice that neither of these men, I'm gonna go ahead and change this up, right? Notice that neither of these men are able to bring a specific charge against Job. Neither of them are able to say, Job, here is your specific sin. I saw it with my own eyes. No? Nope, they're just supposing that he's sinned. They're just presupposing that He did these unrighteous things, and He deserves everything He gets. I pray that we're not those types of counselors. This is why Jesus says that we need to have the testimony of one or two witnesses.
But when there's hard things that come in our lives, we can respond to our brothers and sisters, and we can search out with them, Are there hidden sins? Are there things in your life that need to be repented of? Maybe there are. Maybe there are things in your life that you do need to repent of.
But if we can't find anything that makes us situationally unrighteous, meaning that we're not actively harboring any known sin in our hearts, the reality is sometimes God is taking things away from us that he might become bigger to us. The reality is sometimes we just need to look to our friends and say, I don't know what's going on, man. Whatever I can do to help, I'm here.
Maybe his friend should have just stayed silent. They started off well, coming and sitting down next to him for a week and mourning and covering their heads in ashes and dust. Maybe they just should have stayed that way, mourning with him instead of turning towards us, accusing him.
Isn't it beautiful that God doesn't accuse us. For those who are in Christ Jesus, there is therefore now no condemnation. Yes, God might chasten us, God might discipline us, God might do things that we might grow as His children, but we know, we know that if we are of Christ, that if we are in Christ, that we are blameless, and that all things which God are doing, all things which God is doing, is for our good.
So if you're struggling today, sure, look for specific sins. Be humble. Cry out to God, though. God, I don't know what's going on. If I have hidden faults, forgive me, wash me. But Lord, be near to me. For even though you slay me, I will trust in you. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for this day. Lord, we pray that we would have the faithfulness of Job that even in the midst of accusations, even in the midst of friends who would make false claims about us, Lord, we pray that we would still trust in you. Though we might lose everything in this life, Father, who can take Christ from us? Lord, we pray that you would bury these truths deep down in our souls. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. And may you go about with the gentle peace of Jesus Christ ruling in your hearts. See you tomorrow, bye.