From His Heart

Guest (Male): Job had things fall apart in his life like that. Job, the Bible says, was the greatest of all the men in the East. Everything was coming up roses for Job, but then the bottom fell out on Job. And it fell out without any warning to Job. One day, can it get any worse than losing all your family, and all your finances, and your physical health all just in this short little period of time? Job asks the question, "Why? Why?" And here’s our question today: What do you do when life unexpectedly caves in on you? Because that’s what happened to Job.

Larry Nobles: This is *From His Heart* with Pastor Jeff Schreve, and thank you for joining us today. Question: In your own life, have you ever felt like Job from time to time, asking yourself that rhetorical question, "Can things get any worse?" If so, here's a better question to consider: Are you trusting God, who has your life in His hands? Today's lesson is from Pastor Jeff's five-lesson series, *Got Trouble? What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do*. Today, we're in part two of the lesson called, "Can Things Get Any Worse?" If you missed the program from yesterday, go to fromhisheart.org and click the "Listen" link.

But first, open your Bible to Job, chapter 2, as Pastor Jeff reveals help for those who have ever asked the question, "Can it get any worse?"

Dr. Jeff Schreve: If you have ever read the book of Job, I think you would agree with me: things couldn't get any worse for him. Can it get any worse than losing all your family, and all your finances, and your physical health all just in this short little period of time? What do you do when life unexpectedly caves in on you? You remember three truths. Truth number one: Remember there are things happening behind the scenes.

Things happening behind the scenes that you don't see. See, the story of Job, Job chapter 1, Job chapter 2, it takes place on two different levels. First of all, we are on the earthly level and we're finding out about Job, the greatest man in all the East, and all that he has, and his family, and how Job was such a godly man. And then it shifts to the heavenly realm. Well, Job can't see into the heavenly realm. Job doesn't know, but there are things taking place above him in the heavenlies that he has no concept of.

Verse 6 of chapter 1 says this: "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord, Yahweh, said to Satan, 'From where do you come?' Then Satan answered the Lord and said, 'From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.' And the Lord said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job?'" God is so proud of Job.

And Satan responds to the Lord in verse 9: "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has on every side? You've blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth your hand now and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse you to your face." What does the devil want to do? He wants to destroy you in order to discredit God.

So remember, there are things happening behind the scenes. Second truth: Remember the trouble you are facing is a test. It's a test. James says this: "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." All trouble is a test. Now, here is the whole crux of the challenge between God and Satan. It's Job chapter 1, verse 9: "Does Job fear God for nothing?"

That's the crux of the challenge. God, you're having to buy his loyalty. You're having to buy his worship. Does he fear you for nothing? Of course not, God. The only reason Job fears you, the only reason Job serves you, is because you're his sugar daddy. But here's the deal, God: you take away the sugar, and he will curse you to your face. So that's the crux of the challenge.

That's what the devil is throwing in the face of God. Remember I told you, he hates God, and he will use you and me to try and get at God, to try and hurt God, to try and dishonor God and discredit God. And see, the trouble will test your motives. Your motives. This trouble is going to show, verse 9: "Does Job fear God for nothing? Does Job follow God for nothing? Does he serve God for nothing? Does he love God for nothing?"

Or is it the thing that he wants, the stuff that God gives? Does he serve God for love, or does he serve him for loot? Does Job have a passion for God, or is it just all about the possessions that God gives him? I mean, if God is just going to rain down blessings upon you, are you going to serve him for the blessings? If he takes the blessings all away, then what?

See, the trouble is going to blow away all the other things that we try and put upon our real motive. The trouble shows you your real motive. It always does. And your response to that trouble will reveal your heart. What's really in your heart? Because that's going to come out when the trouble comes. And when it comes in like a flood, it can't help but come out. And we read about Job, and it's just amazing.

When he gets all the bad news in chapter 1, what does he do when he hears that? The scripture says, "Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell to the ground and worshiped." And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Through all this, Job did not sin, nor did he blame God.

Wow. What a response. It showed what was in his heart. He really did love God, and it wasn't for things. And then in chapter 2, when his wife says, "Curse God and die," he says in verse 10, "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. Wow, his response. Now, we're going to find out he asks lots of questions.

He is hurting. He's not just sitting there singing *Kumbaya*, "This is great." He's hurting, and he is somewhat upset with God for allowing all this to come into his life. He has these three friends, but they're no help to him at all. They're no comfort at all. He says, "What a sorry lot of comforters you guys are." He gets angry with them because what do they do?

They tell Job, "You got sin in your life, pal. That's why all this bad stuff is happening. Don't you know that sin brings disobedience, that brings curses, but obedience brings blessings? Job, you got to get yourself on blessing ground." And Job says, "I'm on blessing ground. You guys don't understand." And no one understood what was going on because no one was privy to what was happening in the heavenlies.

Your response reveals your heart. I've talked to people over the years who have had something terrible and tragic come into their lives. And so often, they get bitter. It's easy, if you're not careful, to get bitter at God. God, you could have prevented that. We may not say, "God, you caused it," but we definitely know, "God, you could have prevented it, but you didn't prevent it."

And if we're not careful, we can start blaming God. We can get bitter at God. Listen, if you're here today and you're bitter, the way you deal with bitterness is you get honest about it. And you step back, and you say, "Wait a minute, maybe I'm warped in my perspective here. Maybe I'm not seeing things correctly here." We get a warped perspective, especially when we go through trouble.

And we tend to look at other people, what other people have. And we say, "God, that's not fair. God, you're not doing right by me." And the Lord says, "Get your eyes off other people. Get your eyes on me. This trouble is a test. It's only a test." So you consider it all joy because the testing of your faith produces endurance. So what am I to do when I don't know what to do and life drops out on me and the bottom drops out?

You remember that there are things going on behind the scenes you don't know. Remember number two, that this trouble is a test. And you remember number three, that the victory is found in trusting God. What to do when you don't know what to do? You trust God. That's what you do. Because you don't have anything else, so you trust God. The key verse in the book of Job, Job 13:15: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him."

God, you are killing me. And I don't understand, God, but I'm going to still trust you. That's always the right response, to trust God. I believe that whenever we go through trouble, the Lord says the same thing to every one of us, every time we encounter devastating trouble. He says, "My child, will you trust me? Will you trust me?" I was listening on YouTube to the amazing testimony of a missionary, Darlene Deibler Rose.

I first heard her testimony years and years ago. They played her testimony on *Focus on the Family*. She was a missionary in Indonesia when World War II broke out, and she had just devastating, horrible things happen to her. And the Lord would come back to her time and time again: "My child, will you trust me?" She lost her husband, and she said, "I felt like the Lord left me."

And the Lord spoke to her: "Trust me. When you walk through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, I will be there with you, and the flame won't kindle upon you. Trust me." When she finally got free of all the terrible things, they put her in death row and she thought for sure she was going to die, and all the terrible things that happened to her, and finally the war was over and she was getting to go back home.

And she was there on the boat. Her husband had died. And she was there on the boat, and she was hoping to see her mom and dad, whom she hadn't talked to in four years, hadn't heard from them at all in four years. And she said, "I thought for sure I would have gotten a telegram or something." Nothing. And she said, "Then it dawned on me: they're gone too."

And she said she got alone and just prayed, and she said, "Lord, you took my husband Russell. Did you have to take my mom and dad too?" And then she said God spoke to her so sweetly: "My child, you can trust me. You can trust me." And she said, "All right, Lord." She got up off her knees and in the next five minutes she met a Red Cross worker who said, and she said, "You have to help me. I don't have any money. I need to get back home, and I don't have a passport, I don't have anything."

And the Red Cross worker said, "What's your name?" And she said, "Darlene Deibler." And she said, "I've been looking all over for you. I have four telegrams for you from your parents, and they can't wait to see you. And they have money for you and they have provision for you." And Darlene said, "I was so glad that God didn't let me meet that lady until I had that time of prayer, to hear the Lord's voice say, 'You can trust me. You can trust me.'" Hey, in your difficulty, you can trust God.

And you can trust God even when he doesn't make sense. Have you noticed that about God? So much of the time he doesn't make sense. God's ways are higher than our ways. We don't know what God's doing and why God does what he does. He doesn't check with us. He never asks me, "Hey, Jeff, I'm getting ready to do this. Do you think that'd be okay?" He just does what he does. He's God, right?

And I think I've told you before, but it's worth repeating. I mean, if God were to explain himself to you and to me, it's like explaining quantum physics to a three-year-old. Try that sometime, see how well that goes. A three-year-old can't understand quantum physics. God, his mind is like the Pacific Ocean in vastness. You know, when you look out on the Pacific Ocean, it just goes forever. It's just so vast.

You can't see the end of it. That's the mind of God. That's the understanding of God. You know what you and I have in terms of mind and understanding? A teacup. Teacup. That's about all we can grasp. And we come to God with a little teacup mind and we say, "Lord, I demand that you tell me what you're doing here. I need to know what's going on here." And God says, "I can't get the Pacific Ocean in the teacup, sorry."

So I'm not even going to try. You just trust me. Even when you don't understand and God doesn't make sense, you can trust him. And you can trust him even when he doesn't respond. You ever had that experience? You're going through trouble, and you pray, and you ask God why, as Job asked God why. And you do it reverently, but still, you want to know. And it's a deep prayer: "God, why is this happening to me?"

And God doesn't respond. God speaks in Job chapter 1 and in Job chapter 2. And then he doesn't speak again until Job chapter 38. From chapter 3 through chapter 37, none of God. Thirty-five chapters, nothing of God. He's not speaking. And what do you do? And Job is asking God, "God, what is up?" He says in Job chapter 13, "How many are my iniquities and sins? Make known to me my rebellion and my sin. Why do you hide your face and consider me your enemy? God, why are you not answering my prayer?"

It's tough when God is silent. It's tough. Maybe some of you are here and you know what? You got a big, big, big, big problem, and you're only in chapter 23. You got a bunch more chapters till you hit chapter 38 in your life. And God is not going to speak. And how long can you go before you say, "Forget it, God, I'm out of here. I throw in the towel, I quit." Job didn't do that.

He wanted God to kill him, but he didn't throw in the towel. He didn't call Doctor Kevorkian. He just still trusted: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." And you can trust him even when he doesn't respond. David said this in Psalm 27, "I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord."

He will answer, and he'll answer at the proper time. Humble yourself, the scripture says, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares upon him because he cares for you. And so you wait on the Lord, and it's hard to wait on the Lord, but it's always the right thing to do to wait on the Lord. And so you trust God, even when he doesn't make sense.

And you trust him even when he doesn't respond. And you trust him, you know why? Because he's trustworthy. He's trustworthy. That's why. Because God's a good God, because God is love, because God is God. That's why. That's why you trust him. He's worthy of your trust. The Lord, the Lord, this is what God says of himself: "The Lord, the Lord, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth. You can trust me."

Romans 8:32 says: "He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? You can trust God." You know, when God comes on the scene, Job has asked why over and over and over again. Job was starting to not just ask why, he was starting to demand why. I want to have a conference with God so that God and I can work this out, so that I can show to God and say to God, "God, I'm being unjustly treated here."

And when God comes on the scene, very interesting, you read from Job 38 to the end of the book, chapter 42, you find out this: God never answers Job's why. God doesn't explain God, he just reveals God. He doesn't explain himself to Job, he just reveals himself to Job. And he reveals himself to Job this way in a series of questions. Job's been asking God questions, now God asks Job questions.

He asks him, I think it's 69 questions that he asks Job. Just in rapid fire. He asks Job three categories of questions: "Can you explain my creation? Can you, Job, oversee my creation? Can you, Job, subdue my creation? You're asking a lot of questions, Job. You're bringing your little teacup to the party here and I'm the Pacific Ocean, so I'm going to ask you some questions. Gird up your loins, Job, if you're a man and you're so smart and you can answer me."

When Job hears from God, he says, "I heard of thee with the ear, but now my eye sees thee, and I retract and I repent in dust and ashes. Who am I to question God? You're God." God is worthy to be trusted. He knows what he's doing. What to do when you don't know what to do? You trust God. That's what you do. You just trust him. And you say with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him."

And listen, this is why you can trust God: because when you read the end of the book of Job, God restores Job. Job repents, and then God says, "Now Job, you pray for your three friends." And Job had to do that to make sure his heart wasn't bitter at his three friends who were terrible comforters. And then the Bible says God blessed the latter half of Job far more than the former half of Job.

And as he was rich before, now he had double everything. Double everything. And he gave Job ten more children, three beautiful daughters and seven sons. I was talking to Charles Lowery one day about that. I said, "You know, he didn't give him double children." He said, "Yes, he did, because his children weren't gone, they were in heaven with God." So he gave him ten more, so now he had double.

He had double everything. That's God. He is a God that you can trust. And I thought about this too with this story. I've thought about how hard it was for God to watch the one he loved so much, Job, experience all that terrible, horrible suffering. I've thought about how hard it was for God to not speak for those 35 chapters, but he was doing something deep in Job's life.

Listen, God loves you and God loves me, and God longs to do good to his children, just like you as a mom or dad long to do good for your children. But God has a deeper purpose, and God is working a deeper work. Job's life was forever changed through the experiences that he went through. Would he want to repeat them? Absolutely not, but he wouldn't trade them for anything.

I've talked to people over the years who have gone through terrible, horrible tragedy in their life. Would they want to repeat it? No, but would they trade it? No way. Because they heard of God with the ear, but now in a way they have seen God and they've seen how faithful he is. You know, Darlene Deibler, when she closes her testimony, she says, "You know, I tell my testimony and sometimes people weep for me."

And she said, "I always tell them, 'Don't weep for me.'" She said in those times in that prisoner-of-war camp where they were beating me every day, she said, "I never cried before them, but I cried when I would get to myself." She said, "I cried buckets of tears." But she said, "I was never alone." She said, "Those were some of the sweetest times in my whole life because God was so real."

Listen, I don't know what you're going through today, but I know that there's one thing that God wants you to do more than anything, and that is trust him. Will you do it?

Larry Nobles: What a wonderful testimony from Darlene Deibler. In the worst situation imaginable, God was still with her. Listen, just like Darlene, you and I face a lot of troubles, and it's something everybody is all too familiar with. But sometimes trouble reaches fever pitch and we literally don't know what to do. But God does. And this month we're airing the series, *Got Trouble? What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do*, a series with obvious hope for the hurting.

These are available in our resource center when you go to fromhisheart.org or call 866-40-BIBLE, 866-40-BIBLE. And for your gift this month of any amount, we'd like to say thank you by sending you Pastor Jeff's new three-lesson series, *God and Money: What the Bible Says About Managing Money*. Go to fromhisheart.org for details.

Well, our time is gone for today. I'm Larry Nobles. Thanks for joining us and we trust that you'll join Pastor Jeff Schreve on *From His Heart* tomorrow for the next message in the series, *Got Trouble? What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do*. The lesson is called "Bitter Sweet". Be with us on Wednesday when we open God's Word to share real truth, real love, and real hope from His heart.