Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: I don't care what you're facing here tonight, what you're going through tonight. The Lord loves you, He cares for you, He's compassionate, He's caring, He's loving. And it's a time in your life, a season in your lifetime, that you're going through these things, and we're all going to face things in our lives, and it's only to make you a better person and to get closer to the heart of God if you allow God to work in your life like Job.

Guest (Male): I am falling in love, I am falling in love, I am falling in love, I am falling in love in love with You.

Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Thanks for joining us as Raul continues our series in the book of Job with a word of comfort. Suffering is a universal part of this life and it's natural to sometimes wonder why God allows it. It's also easy to feel overwhelmed by confusion, fear, and sadness in adversity. Stay with us to see that you won't always have answers to the "why" of your suffering, but you can always rest in God's plan, trusting His goodness. Let's join Raul Ries in the book of Job, chapter 16.

Raul Ries: Job is facing some great difficulties in his life. I don't know what you're facing here tonight, and at the same time you may be thinking, "Well, why is God allowing me to go through these things if I'm a Christian?" Well, the Bible tells us that not only Christians but nonbelievers suffer. We all suffer. And why do we suffer? Because of our first parents Adam and Eve, because of the actual fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Sin is the issue.

And yet you might feel sometimes when you suffer that God is not really on the throne, that He's not listening to you because of what you might be facing tonight. And I can tell you that when I went through my valley, I mean I'm a pretty cheerful person, I never get sick, but this past year when I went through that valley that was really a valley, where I started flashing back and going back to Vietnam and having the smells and having the fears and feeling kind of weird as this acid would come up through my throat and hit my brain.

And right in front of the physicians as they were checking me out, it happened, and they were kind of blown away by the whole thing. That Satan tried to bring fear to my life—I'm not a fearful person—to the point where I had to sleep with my wife holding my hand like a little child from the fear that I had, locking my windows, locking my doors, very paranoid. And then the Lord coming in and touching me and healing me. And then at the same time, Satan always tries to bring fear to our hearts.

Imagine how Job must have felt in his own personal life once Satan was allowed, as we studied, that God allowed Satan to go ahead and first of all attack his family and his wealth, his bank account. And then as he lost all his money, and then he lost his family, his children, and then God once again allowed him to be physically tempted, where boils from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet, where he could not stand, he could not sit, he could not lie down, and he was in desperate pain. And then his wife said, "Why don't you go ahead, Job, and curse God?"

But know one thing, that God will never tempt you far and beyond what you cannot bear. With every temptation, what does He do? He brings us through, if we're true children of God, true children of God. And yet this evening we continue with Job's story and we're going to see now Job's response to Eliphaz. Eliphaz, one of his friends, his three friends came, and when they saw his physical condition, remember they sat down and they wept and they cried for three days. They could not believe what Job looked like and what he was facing.

Job becomes a type of Christ in the Old Testament, a type of Christ, because I don't think that anyone has ever, ever, ever had to have gone through what Job had to go through—only Job and Jesus. It was horrible when you read the whole story, horrible what Job had to go through. And maybe here tonight you've gone through some horrible things in your life and Satan not only is trying to mock you and put fear into your heart, but surely we can be assured tonight that if God is for me, then who can be against me?

And maybe tonight you're here and you are actually going through some pretty heavy things in your life. I want you to know that you don't have to worry, that Jesus is with you. Yes, we're going to go through the fire, but He's with us in the fire, no matter what we have to do. Because now in chapters 16 and 17, we see Eliphaz's second speech, his second speech now. And in chapter 18, Bildad, the other friend, gives his second speech. And in chapter 19, Job gives his response to them. And finally, in chapter 20, Zophar's second speech comes to pass as he begins to speak.

So now we begin in chapter 16, Job's reply now to his friends. "You guys are miserable comforters." Imagine what he says to them. Why does he say that? Because when they came, instead of comforting him, they were condemning him. You ever had people like that in your life that always are condemning you? There are people like that, people that have nothing good to say at any time. All they can do is demean and put down. We call that verbal abuse.

It's really important that we understand that if we are truly Christians and living in such a time as this where everything in the world is changing rapidly, there is instability in all the governments of the world, even in the United States of America, that we understand that God not only is moving His timetable, and there are going to be great tragedies coming and happening in the future, not for the church but for the nonbeliever as the Lord approaches His coming.

And right now as long as we live here, yes we're going to be tried, we're going to be sick, we're going to be down and we're going to be bummed out, but man the Bible says we need to look up. Why? Because our redemption draweth nigh. And so Job in listening to his friends not comforting Job but putting down Job, now Job answers Eliphaz. And what's amazing here is that Job finds himself totally forsaken by men. You ever feel like that? Like you're all alone?

And yet we as the church, we as God's bride, we as Christians need to understand that if Jesus was 100% man, 100% God, and He had to go through hell on this earth, then what makes us better than Him? Uh-uh, we can't. We have to by grace receive whatever comes in my life because I know that God is with me and I know that God is for me. Nothing shall separate me from Jesus Christ, nothing, Paul said, not height, not power, nothing.

So listen to Job now what he says beginning with chapter 16. He rejects Eliphaz's analysis of the situation and fights back now by calling his critics miserable comforters. "Then Job answered and said, 'I have heard many such things. Miserable comforters are you all.' That's it. You guys, if you can keep your mouth closed, thank God, but don't talk to me anymore." He says, "Shall words of wind have an end or what provokes you to your answer?"

He said this, "Shall empty words have an end or what provokes you to your answer? I, Job, also could speak as you do. Hey, I could get back to you. I could say a lot of things about you if your soul were in my soul's place. I could heap up words against you and shake my head at you." You know, it's like when you're sick you think, "People come and criticize," and you say, "Oh man, wait till you're down. I'm going to come and harass you."

Verse 5, "But I would strengthen you with my mouth and the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief. Though I speak, my grief is not relieved, and if I remain silent, how am I at ease? But now God has worn me out. You have made desolate all my company." Isn't that something? He's so bummed out that he says God has worn me out. Isn't that something? He begins to look down on God, and yet God is in control. When he talks about my company, that's of all his children that God took away from him. Remember God allowed his kids to be killed and he was stripped of everything.

Verse 8, "You have shriveled me up and it is a witness against me. My leanness rises up against me and bears witness to my face." Notice that. His body was wearing out. Physically, he was wearing out. He says, "He tears me in his wrath and hates me. He gnashes at me with his teeth. My adversary sharpens his gaze on me." He's talking about his friends. "Where are my friends? They're my enemies. I can't believe that they have no comforting words for me but a put-down all the time.

God has delivered me to the ungodly. God has allowed this and turned me over to the hands of the wicked. I was at ease but He has shattered me. He also has taken me by the neck and shaken me to pieces. He has set me up for His target." Notice that. He's saying God has done this to me. Job is down, man, really down.

Guest (Male): This is Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Don't forget we're here to equip you with guidance and hope from God's word. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for a wealth of resources and be sure and join Raul for straight talk on the Somebody Loves You Worldwide YouTube channel every Tuesday at 10 a.m. West Coast time. Now back to more with Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: And then he said, "His archers surround me. He pierces my heart and does not pity. He pours out my gall to the ground," that bitterness. I mean, God really doesn't care about me. You ever feel like that? Like God, where are you when I really need You? And you start getting bummed and then the devil comes in and starts saying, "Yeah, you know what? God doesn't love you, He doesn't care for you. Look where He put you, look what you're going through. Curse God. You shouldn't even pray to God anymore. Why go to church? Why read your Bible? Why pray?"

Verse 14, "He breaks me with wound upon wound. He runs at me like a warrior." Literally here he's saying, "God has made me a floor mat for everybody to step on." You ever feel like that? Like everybody stepping on you, cleaning themselves on you? Job was bummed out, man. He was out and down. 15, "I have sewn sackcloth over my skin and laid my head in the dust." That is, he's running with sores. Imagine having sores and the running sores and they itch and they burn. His body's covered with them.

"My face is flushed from weeping." All he can do is just cry. "And my eyelids is the shadow of death. Really, I'm close to death. I think I'm going to die." I mean, Job is really down deep in a pit. "Although no violence is in my hands." Notice that. Literally, "I do not know why this is happening to me." He says, "And my prayer is pure. O earth, do not cover my blood and let my cry have no resting place." Notice the language he uses here.

He says, "Surely even now my witness is in heaven and my evidence is on high." That is, he has been accused of what, of misreading his friends. And yet he says God knows the truth, Job says, but where is God? God keeps the record. Verse 19, "Surely even now my witness is in heaven and my evidence is on high. My friends scorn me, my eyes pour out tears to God. God, where are You?" You ever feel like that?

He says, "Oh, that one might plead for a man with God as a man pleads for his neighbor." He literally is saying, "Why don't you pray for me instead of accusing me, my friends? If you're really my friends, pray for me. Quit accusing me." Today we have the Holy Spirit. Christ is an advocate, we can go to Him if we're in need. But imagine how Job must have felt all alone and these guys kept pressing him and accusing him and putting down everything he said. And I mean Job is had it with them, he's done.

Verse 22 says, "For when a few years are finished I shall go the way of no return." He says, "Maybe pretty soon I'm going to die and get out of this place." Chapter 17 now, Job continues. He says, "My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, the grave is ready for me." Literally, "I'm ready to die. I'm ready to die. I'm ready to depart. I've had it. Are not mockers with me?" In reference to who? His friends.

"And does not my eye dwell on their provocation?" The friends were condemning Job instead of helping Job. Surely we need comforters, not rebukers, when you're sick, when you're down and out. You need people that are going to love you and are going to help you. Verse 3 says, "Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he who will shake my hands with me?" Literally, who will make an agreement with me?

"For You have hidden their hearts," that's speaking of his friends, "from understanding, therefore You will not exalt them. He who speaks flatteringly to his friends, even the eyes of his children will fail. But He has made me a byword of the people and I have become one in whose face men spit." Wow. Think about that for a moment, how he fell into the place where, "Why don't you just spit on my face?" Because there was no love behind it, there was no compassion.

He says in verse 7, "My eyes also grown dim because of sorrow and all my members are like a shadows. Upright men are astonished at this and at the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite. Yet the righteous will hold to his way and he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger. But please, come back again and of you," he says, "come back again, all of you, for I shall not find one wise man among you," speaking of his friends.

"There's not one wise person among you. My days are passed, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. They change the night into day, the light is near, they say in the face of darkness, and if I wait for the grave as my house, if I make my bed in the darkness." Notice that. He's in total despair now, speaking of the grave when he would die. He felt like dying, he did not want to exist anymore. Maybe you're here tonight, you feel like Job. You don't want to live anymore.

Just hang on. I don't care what you're facing here tonight, what you're going through tonight. The Lord loves you, He cares for you, He's compassionate, He's caring, He's loving. And it's a time in your life, a season in your lifetime, that you're going through these things, and we're all going to face things in our lives, and it's only to make you a better person and to get closer to the heart of God if you allow God to work in your life like Job.

Job can't see chapters 38 and 39 and 40, 41, and 42 yet. We can. We got the whole word of God now. He can't see it. He's writing history for us, he's writing his story. And maybe today like Job, you're writing your story, you can't see to the end of your death when you're going to die, but God right now is working in your life step by step, day by day, month by month, year by year, to produce something good in you so then when you get to heaven you'll be earthly greatly blessed by the Lord.

So here is Job again. Verse 14, "If I say to corruption, 'You are my father,' where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it? Who can see it? Will they go down to the gates of hell, Sheol, the grave? Shall we have rest together in the dust?" Job is really in a low place in his life. I mean, he is bummed. And then all of a sudden as he comes to the lowest part of his life, here comes the other friend now, Bildad, his second speech on chapter 18.

Notice he gives him a series of proverbs here. And then Bildad, the Shuhite, answered and said, "How long till you put an end to your words? Gain understanding and afterwards we will speak." Can you imagine? I would have got up and punched that guy immediately. Can you imagine that? I mean, he's just crying out to God and he says these guys are not my friends, they keep putting me down, they don't have any comforting words, they don't really care about me.

And here comes the other one now. "How long till you put an end to words? Gain understanding and afterwards we will speak." He says, "Why are you counted as a beast, as an animal, and regarded as stupid in your sight?" Imagine that. He says, "You who tear yourself in anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you or shall the rock be removed from its place? The light of the wicked," speaking of Job, "Job, you're wicked."

He doesn't really know what Job is going through internally and his mind and his heart and his body physically, and yet he's condemning Job, condemning Job. "The light is dark in the tent and his lamp beside him is put out." Notice that is literally, "Job, you are condemning yourself with your own words." Notice that. Verse 8, "For he is cast into a net by his own feet and he walks into a snare." Literally, "Job, you have been caught like a fish on a net.

You've been caught just like a fish on a net. Job, you walked into a trap." Can you believe that? He didn't have to hear that. Imagine that. "The net takes him by the heel," he starts explaining to him, "and a snare lays a hold of him. A noose is hidden for him on the ground and a trap for him is on the road." You know, you're walking along and all of a sudden boom, you know, the trap takes you up. Job, you don't have discernment.

"Terrors frighten him on every side and drive him to his feet. His strength is starved and destruction is ready at his side. It devours patches of his skin, the firstborn of death devours his limbs. He is uprooted from the shelter of his tent and they parade him before the king of terrors and they dwell in his tent who are none of his, brimstone is scattered on his dwellings." I mean, who needs friends like him?

"His roots are dried up below and his branch withers above." Literally, again notice, "The memory of his," of him perishes from the earth and has no name among the renowned. That is, people will forget about him. "Job, let me tell you something, you're going to die and people won't even know who you are." Wrong, because we're reading about Job. You see, he's not comforting, he's putting down.

"He is driven from the light into darkness and chased out of the world. He has neither son nor posterity among his people nor any remaining in his dwellings." Notice that. Here he lost all his children. But God, he can't see—remember I told you he can't see chapter 38, 39 to 42—God is going to bless Job more than the first time. But Job can't see it.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. If you'd like to hear today's lesson in its complete form, we'll be happy to send a copy to you for a donation of $5 or more. Just call us at 800-634-9165 and mention today's teaching from Job chapters 16 through 20. Whether you're facing adversity yourself or looking to support someone else in their suffering, we'd like to offer you Raul's nine-lesson study titled *When Trials Come*.

It's available on either CD or thumb drive. As you continue to explore Job's deeply painful experiences, you'll learn more about the intimate relationship with God that he forged in the fires of affliction. You'll also discover the rich blessings that come from trusting the Lord in your hardship, pressing in to spend time with Him rather than turning your back on Him in frustration. To order Raul's nine-lesson series *When Trials Come*, visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165.

We'll send you the CD set for $23 or the flash drive for just $13. That's 800-634-9165. Or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, P.O. Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California, 91765. Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries is entirely listener-supported. We're so grateful for the tax-deductible gifts that enable us to keep sharing the good news of the Gospel. We hope you'll join us again for the next Somebody Loves You Radio as Raul guides us back into God's word for more truths that will save, comfort, and transform us into Christ's image.

I am falling in love with You. This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.