Insight for Living

Bill Meyer: Have you ever known someone whose life commanded respect? The kind of person a room grows quiet to hear? Job was such a man. And then, in a single season, everything was stripped away. How does a person hold steady when the applause turns to mockery, when the blessings of yesterday become the burdens of today?

On this Thursday edition of Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll continues in Job chapter 29, showing us how reflecting, rehearsing, and reaffirming can carry us through our darkest valleys. He titled his message "The Passionate Testimony of an Innocent Man."

Chuck Swindoll: Every once in a while, there comes across this earth scene certain people who capture our attention and have a command of life, and we long to be near them. He says in verse 25, "I chose a way for them and sat as chief and dwelt as a king among the troops, as one who comforted the mourners."

One man writes, "This verse encompasses every aspect of his role in the community, from leading the council in peaceful times to guiding the people through crisis and caring for the unfortunate. He inspired the whole community."

But now, look at the opening of chapter 30. But now. But now. And maybe Job stands, pulls back the sleeve of his robe, and exposes the boils running with pus. His lips are cracked and bleeding, his tongue is parched, his body is gaunt. The lines are on his face, and he says, "But now those younger than I mock me."

Verse nine, "Now I have become their taunt." In verses 1 through 11, he says, "There is no great honor from men as there once was. You can read it for yourself. I have become even a byword to them, and they abhor me and stand aloof from me." Look at the next one: "And they do not refrain from spitting at my face." This is the one they once sat with in silence and listened to, and now I mean nothing to them.

I am a diseased piece of humanity. I am a thing of shame. Verse 15, "Terrors are turned against me. They pursue my honor now as the wind. My prosperity has passed like a cloud." No longer great blessings from God, verses 16 to 23. "At night," verse 17, "all the nights, at night, it pierces my bones within me, and my gnawing pains take no rest."

One night is followed by yet another miserable night. And the benevolence that I once extended to the needy is now not extended to me. There's none of that that comes my way. That's in verses 24 to 31. Verse 24, "Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, or in his disaster therefore cry out for help? Have I not wept for the one whose life is hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy? When I expected good, meaning good in return, evil came." Have you had that happen?

When I found myself in need having reached out to others, no one reached back. Verse 27, "I am seething within and cannot relax. Days of affliction confront me. I go about mourning without comfort." Roy Zuck writes in his fine work on Job, "Job concluded his poignant rehearsal of his present remorse by stating that his joy had turned to grief. His harp and flute, instruments of expressing joy, now played only funeral dirges in accompaniment to people weeping in grief."

I don't want you to miss that. Look at the end of chapter 30. "My bones burn with fever. Therefore, my harp is turned to mourning and my flute to the sound of those who weep." This instrument made for playing as people dance and celebrate, and this instrument, the flute, with its lilting, beautiful sounds, now playing in the minor key.

You know what I thought of? I thought of the bagpipes in New York City. I thought of the streets where there had been at one time dancing and the light steps of those on Easy Street, moving about the financial center not of our nation, but of our world. And now the sound, the whine of the bagpipe as funeral after funeral after funeral passes by.

Job says, "My harp, my flute provide instruments for those who weep, music for those who weep." I want to show you a song. Look at Psalm 137. It's really worth a look. Turn from Job 30 to Psalm 137. Every psalm has its context, its birthplace. This psalm was born in mourning.

The Jews who are represented in this psalm with the pronoun "we," the psalmist was one of them as he writes. The Jews had been taken captive. Babylon has come in and destroyed the city of Jerusalem. Zion lay in ruins, and the Jews en route to Babylon are making their way back, and the psalmist writes a song with this funeral dirge kind of theme.

Psalm 137 begins, "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in the midst of it, we hung our harps, for there our captors demanded of us songs, and our tormentors mirth, saying, 'Sing us one of those songs of Zion.'" Can you just hear the sarcasm? "Break out one of those great psalms you love to sing. Sing for us now."

They were as silent as you're sitting at this moment, and he adds, "How can we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?" It's as if you and I were taken captive this next week and marching toward the place where we will be imprisoned. One of our captors said, "Sing us one of those church songs. Harmonize 'Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine.' Let's hear that one. How about 'And Can It Be That I Should Gain An Interest in the Savior's Blood'? Sing that one, written by Wesley. Sing that song, 'A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.'" We'd hang our instruments on the willow. You can't sing the Lord's song in a foreign land.

Interesting thing about the suffering that I have seen in hospital rooms and bed chambers of the dying, I never hear songs. I hear prayers, but the song is gone. That's Job's point here. "My harp that once played the great songs our family loved to sing and the flute, no longer."

Now right about now, if those friends are listening, and I have a feeling they were, they're thinking, "Job, from what you had, where your steps were bathed in butter, to where you are, no longer with a song, days of affliction that confront you, crying out for help and no one coming to your rescue, Job, there has been a reason. You are guilty."

So Job writes this 31st chapter and he lists one example after another after yet another that says, "Not guilty. Not guilty. Not guilty." I've reflected on past glory, I've rehearsed my present misery, but I want to tell you I have every reason to reaffirm my present integrity. My integrity is intact.

And he lists several examples. Verses 1 to 12, there have been no sensual secret sins of sex in my life. Verses 13 to 23, there has not been an abuse of power taking advantage of those who were in need or those who were helpless. Verses 24 to 40, I have not compromised my integrity even before God in my private life, my private world.

Look at the examples. "I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze at a virgin?" There's been no lust. Verse three, "Is it not calamity to the unjust and disaster to those who work iniquity? Does he not see my ways and number all my steps?" And there's been no lying. Verse five, "If I have walked with falsehood, my foot has hastened after deceit, let him weigh me with accurate scales. Let God know my integrity." There have been no lies. I've told no lies.

There has not been adultery, verse nine. "If my heart has been enticed by a woman or I have lurked at my neighbor's doorway," that's not true. I've not done that. Verse 11, "For that would be a lustful crime," says Job. "Moreover, it would be an iniquity punishable by judges."

There's no guilt there. There's no oppression, verse 13. "If I have despised the claim of my male or female servants, my slaves, when they filed a complaint against me, what then could I do when God arises? And when He calls me to account, what will I answer Him? Did not He who made me in the womb make him, meaning the servant, and the same one fashion us both in the womb? If I have kept the poor from their desire or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail or have eaten my morsel alone and the orphan has not shared it..."

All the way through this, I have circled the word "if." If, if, if, if. It appears over a dozen times. "If this is true..." It is an oath saying, "If these things are true, may God reveal it and cast me down. Take my life even. If this is true, then I am guilty." But his whole point of the oaths, one after another, is not guilty. Not guilty. This is not true of me.

And so toward the end, he says, verse 33, "Have I covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my iniquity in my bosom?" The implied answer is no. So that at the fevered pitch of verse 35, he says, "Oh, that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature." That's an unusual statement found very rarely, if anywhere else, in the scriptures.

At the end of Galatians, Paul says it. He's taken up the pen and he's writing in his own hand. But here there's a signature. Job says, "I sign the document. All of these oaths that I've taken, these words I swear before God, I sign these and let God read them. Let the Almighty answer me and the indictment which my adversary has written. Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and would bind it to myself like a crown. I would declare to Him the number of my steps. Like a prince, I would approach Him."

He longs for someone to hear him. See how he puts it? Verse 35, "Oh, that I had one to hear me." He's defending himself in this courtroom, and those who are a part of the jury are all frowning. And Job says, "You may think that this is not true, but I stand on these statements, and if there's any evidence you can use against me, bring it up and let God judge. And there is none." I think he says at this point, "The defense rests." The defense rests.

As I've had time to think through these three chapters, and you've been very patient to listen to one after the other, I think there's a lesson in each of the chapters for all of us. And I think there's something for today, even now, in our lives. Here's the first. Chapter 29, as he looked back on the blessings: Reflecting on past blessings gives us reasons to rejoice. Reflecting on past blessings gives us reason to rejoice.

I would encourage you who are still rearing your young to teach them how to do that and to practice that often. Mealtime is a great time to reflect. It's a great time to look back even on a day and to count the blessings. Like David did in Psalm 103: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and don't forget one of His benefits, who heals all your diseases, who forgives all your sins."

And the list goes on down through verse 12, verse 13: "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." He's reflecting on his past blessing. That's why I've always loved Thanksgiving. First of all, I love it that it's not called Thanks-keeping. I like it that it's Thanksgiving. I love it that we can think back, and invariably we do that at Thanksgiving, and we just call to mind the blessings from our God over the past. And we all have them. It's just easy to let the present misery eclipse the past memory.

So I suggest we start with a memory and think back. Don't let yourself get caught in the trap of mentioning the things that did not work out well, or have not been solved or resolved. Go to the blessings. There will be many. That makes us rejoice. It lifts our spirits. It keeps us from becoming negative as we reflect on the good of the past.

Now, chapter 30, where Job rehearses: Rehearsing present trials forces us to swallow our pride. And if there's something we need to swallow, it's our pride. Pride goes with a jaded culture. Cynicism feeds on pride. We look down at others because we see ourselves as better.

I suggest that we rehearse the present trials we're going through and allow them appropriately to cut us down to size. George MacDonald, in a fine novel titled The Curate's Awakening, writes this: "Sometimes a thunderbolt will shoot from a clear sky, and sometimes into the life of a peaceful individual, without warning of gathered storm, something terrible will fall. And from that moment, everything is changed."

Perhaps you are there or you have been there recently, and everything has changed for you. You once knew a delight you no longer know. Allow that to humble you. Allow pride to take a back seat. Face the fact that you, like Paul when he was given the thorn in the flesh, have been given this so that you would not be lifted up above what is appropriate.

In fact, Paul says twice in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse seven, that he was given this thorn. Listen: "To keep me from exalting myself." And then at the end of the verse, 2 Corinthians 12:7, he repeats the same words: "To keep me from exalting myself." What better use of current trials than allowing them to humble us? And goodness knows, humility would wear well on most of us. A few of you have it, but you are rare, and you probably walk in humility because you have learned or are learning from your trial.

Reflecting on past blessings causes us to rejoice. Rehearsing present trials forces us to swallow our pride. Now, the third: Reaffirming our commitment to integrity strengthens us with confidence and courage. Reaffirming our commitment to integrity strengthens us with confidence and courage.

Thing I love about Job is he's not defeated in chapter 31. Not proud, but he's not defeated. He in fact has the confidence and courage to say before God, "If this is true, if that's true, if you find any of that, You strike me." Because he knows in his heart his integrity is intact.

By the way, we all had a good laugh over the story from my book, not my book, but Carter's book, and it's a good place to come back to. Would you have tossed the envelope of $10 million in the grave? Don't answer out loud. Isn't it amazing how creative we get when it's an opportunity to put $10 million in our pocket? "Oh, that's what he would have wanted. If he were in his right mind, that's what..." Integrity says you keep your word. You do as you say you will do, and if you fail at that, you apologize and you make it right.

You say, "Chuck, you drive a pretty hard bargain. This is almost impossible to..." Oh, I've never said it's possible for us to pull it off in ourselves. It's not about what we're able to do. That's why we need Christ. We can't live like this. You think I'd put that $10 million in the grave in my own flesh? Are you kidding? I'd be the most creative guy in the group. I mean, I've got great sources where that money could be put to wonderful use. We could get this church out of debt if I gave that $10 million!

But in our flesh dwells no good thing. That's why there was a cross, because we can't somehow by our own bootstraps pull ourselves up to become good enough to impress God. Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to Your cross I cling. And that's why you're surrounded by all sinners, but some of them have peace and others of you don't. Peace comes into our lives when Christ comes in. I want to talk to you about that.

Let's bow your head. Will you do that? Chances are good that much of your life is spent around Christians. Maybe a few of you are not normally around many Christians, but most of us spend a lot of our lives around Christians. They are not our standard. Other Christians will let us down. Other Christians are like we are: sinful. The difference is when they die, they're going to heaven, forgiven. And if you're without Christ, not a Christian, when you die, you will not.

So this is sort of like planning ahead, let's call it. Some of the benefits come right now. You gain control over your tongue more than you ever had before. Your temper takes a back seat. It affects your response to life's trials and a half dozen other things I could mention, but the best of all is you're prepared to die when you give your life to Christ. And that brings confidence and courage for living.

The cross of Christ is the place where the price for your sin was paid in full. So in order for you to know God personally means you need to make a journey through the cross, or the message of the cross. He died that you might live forgiven and secure, whole and empowered. It comes all as a free gift where you believe in Christ alone by faith alone. No need to beg you. The work of the Spirit is engaged right now. He does the begging. He does the pleading. He does the changing. But I invite you to Christ and a new life will begin for you.

Somehow, Lord, I'm led to pray for those who are on a journey toward death. It may be their physical condition, it may be the doctor's recent diagnosis. For whatever reason, they're close. And I pray for those souls nearest the gate.

And now also, Lord, I pray for those in great health who think they'll live forever. And I pray that You would bring them face to face with the reality of their destiny, that You will use these words that have come tumbling out of an ancient book to help us reflect and rehearse and reaffirm what is true.

Thank You, Father, for working in the lives of those without Your Son. We leave them to You. I would ask that You'd keep them miserable and restless and unable to sleep and unable to even get along until they find a sense of peace and rest and relief at the cross. Thank You, Father, for Your mighty work and for Your word that instructs us in the truth. Help us now to live it in a new way this week by Your power and for Your glory. For I ask it in the name of Christ our Savior. Amen.

Bill Meyer: Reflect, rehearse, reaffirm. Three simple movements that carried Job through his darkest days. First, remembering God's past blessings. Second, honestly facing present trials. And third, standing firm in a commitment to integrity.

Chuck Swindoll has reminded us that none of this is possible in our own strength, which is exactly why there's a cross. So take a moment to let that truth settle in and stay with us because I'll tell you about some resources that will help you take your next steps in your journey of faith.

Here at Insight for Living, we know you may come to this daily program with complicated problems that seem impossible to solve. In fact, maybe you're frustrated right now. You're stuck. You're confused. And you're mulling over your problems all day long. Well, Chuck Swindoll believes it's possible to end the cycle of defeat.

To help you, we offer a variety of resources that will magnify what you're learning in this teaching series. First, Chuck wrote a full-length biography of Job. It brings his suffering and confusion to life, but more importantly, it helps you understand how to cope with unsolved mysteries.

Second, the brand-new Searching the Scriptures Bible study workbook for Job is ready. This spiral-bound Bible study series is designed to help you dig deeply and reflectively into the biblical account of Job.

And third, all 22 of Chuck's full-length sermons are available on CD and MP3. Or you can stream or download the sermons at your convenience. You can find all the details about this bundle of resources for the life of Job at insight.org/offer or call us at 800-772-8888.

Finally, we're excited to give you a heads-up about a once-in-a-lifetime book written by our teacher. Behind the scenes, Chuck has been working on a personal memoir. The title is "Awakened by Grace," and we'd love to send you a copy as soon as it comes out. You can purchase your copy on pre-sale at insight.org/memoir.

When we're suffering, our friends have a lot of opinions. I'm Bill Meyer. Be sure to hear Chuck Swindoll explain who gets the final word Friday on Insight for Living.

The preceding message, "The Passionate Testimony of an Innocent Man," was copyrighted in 2002, 2004, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.