Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: None of us here tonight can ever be tested or tempted by Satan only by permission. I like that. It brings great comfort to my life. That if something happens to me, I know that I'm going to suffer, but I know also that God is for me, and if God is allowing it, then I want to be a good steward.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries of Diamond Bar, California. Today's lesson continues our study of the book of Job. Pondering Job's example of patience and bravery in the face of extraordinary suffering, Raul will encourage us to trust God's goodness in our trials. Some days may be easier than others, but we always have the choice to receive the Lord's will with humble faith. Let's join Raul Ries now in the book of Job, chapter 21.

Raul Ries: Tonight we are coming back to the book of Job and we come back to that little dark cloud that Job is moving through, and his three beautiful friends that constantly are putting him down. It's pretty amazing as you read the story, but let me read you this little devotional on Job which is really good. It'll really relate to you tonight.

It says this: "The only thing many of us know about patience is how to spell the word. Nobody in the Bible history except Jesus Christ suffered more than Job. And because Job suffered, we can learn from him how to accept tough experiences of life and profit from them. When God puts us into the furnace, he keeps his eye on the clock and his hands on the thermostat, so we don't have to be afraid."

I like that. We can have all these hopes and we can have all these visions about the future, but what do we really know about the future? Not really much. Yes, we know that one day we're going to die, but we really do not know when suffering will come, sickness will come in, and even death. And so we really need to depend on the Lord and prepare hearts in the Lord just in case anything would happen to any one of us individually and to be able to understand that if God is for me, then who can be against me?

Because life has a way, if people don't have an understanding of God, to make people real bitter in life and become bitter against God. Not recognizing that sometimes tragedy can be something that God has allowed to not only get my attention, because he can see the future. He knows that. I don't know that, but he knows that. And as we've been reading through the book of Job and studying it, we've been watching these three friends of his.

When they came and they sat and they looked at his condition with all the actual boils that he had from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet where he could not stand or sit or lie down. And he was in great pain. And they were silent for many days until finally they began to open their mouth. And they began to misjudge Job. And so I think it's really important that as Job is a little bit frustrated with his friends, we too can become frustrated many times with people that are not reasonable or they're not really in tune with what's going on in my life or your life.

And we need not to chalk them off but we need to pray for them, that God will open their hearts and their eyes and give them understanding in whatever thing we're facing, each one of us individually. But here now in chapter 21, if you have your Bibles, Bildad and Zophar have tried to use logic with Job. And yet the reasoning went like this: God blessed the righteous, but he makes the wicked to suffer. Job is suffering, therefore Job is wicked. Wicked.

And that's not really true of every person. Job was not wicked. Job lost his children. Job lost his riches. Job lost almost everything except his wife and his life. And yet because we have the story and we have the Bible, we know that Satan went to God and God gave permission to afflict Job. And the same way, none of us here tonight can ever be tested or tempted by Satan only by permission.

I like that. It brings great comfort to my life. That if something happens to me, I know that I'm going to suffer, but I know also that God is for me. And if God is allowing it, then I want to be a good steward. I want to be a good steward of what I'm facing and what I'm going through. I want to learn. I don't want to misjudge God. And I think that Job takes this position now as he's coming now in chapter 21, as he's responding now to this, actually answering his friend.

Notice in verse one of chapter 21. He says, "Then Job answered and said, Listen carefully to my speech and let this be your consolation." He begins here by pleading with his friends, "Hey, pay attention to what I'm going to say to you. You guys are the spectators. You guys are watching me, but I'm the sufferer. So I want you to pay attention to what I'm going to tell you." He says, "Bear with me that I may speak, and after I have spoken, keep mocking."

He's literally bringing us to what James says in chapter 3, verses 1 through 12. Job was hurt by their words. Their words had actually hurt Job. Their speech. They weren't comforting Job. They were misjudging Job and they were saying that Job was in sin. "The reason Job, you're going through all these things is because there's sin in your life." And yet Job was a blameless man. We read that in chapter one. In all this, Job did not curse God. Remember? He did not curse God.

And so here Job, talking to his friends, his friends are convinced that Job is evil and that he has sin in his life. And yet notice again in verse four. "As for me, is my complaint against man? And if it were, why should I not be impatient? Look at me and be astonished. Put your hand over your mouth." Hey, shut up. Don't say no more. Can't you see what I'm going through? Can't you see my pain? Can't you see the scars where I'm going through in my life? Why do you keep saying things to me?

Verse six, "Even when I remember, I am terrified and trembling," he says. "Takes a hold of my flesh. Why do the wicked live and become old? Yes, become mighty in power?" Now Job comes to that place in his life where he stops and he says, "You know what?" He's the oldest prophet in the Old Testament, the oldest person in the book of Genesis. And yet he's never read the book of Psalms. The book of Psalms is not even written yet.

But the same philosophy that Asaph had in Psalm 73, he's saying here. Because in Psalm 73 what Asaph was doing is he literally was bummed out because he says, "Look how the wicked are prospering. I gave my life to God, I serve God, and man, I love God and I pray every day to God and God hasn't blessed me like he's blessing the wicked. And yet they drink, they cuss, they fornicate, they commit adultery, they murder, they lie, they cheat, and look how God blesses them. I can't believe it."

And then the Psalmist goes on to say, "It's not until I went into the house of the Lord and I saw the end of the wicked that I realized, wow, man, I'm a blessed man." You see? We need to be careful not to misjudge our neighbors, our friends that are not believers. Because yes, they may have more than you have, and yet God blesses them, but he doesn't bless me because... be careful of that. It doesn't work that way. God knows what he's doing.

You see? Even though the wicked may have everything in this life, they don't have God. And that means they're going to go to hell. That's their end. Whatever they have today is for today and tomorrow and the next day, and that's it. Once they're gone from here, it is over. They have zero. Zero. You can't take nothing with you. Nothing with you. Everything stays behind for somebody else to spend it or misspend it or for the bank to collect it. That's just the way it is.

So here Job is really saying, "Why do the wicked live and become old? Yes, become mighty in power?" He's losing heart. He's bummed out. He's got a doubting God a little bit here. We all do that. Verse eight, "Their descendants are established with them in their sight and their offering before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them." God doesn't... see God chasing them. I don't see God punishing them. But me, look at me.

And I was serving God faithfully and what happened to me? God took my children, took my houses, took my money, took my flocks, then he came upon me and look at my body. I'm full of sores. He's actually taking his fist... he's almost with his fist cursing God. "God, why me?" And notice: "Their bull breeds without failure, their cow calves without miscarriages." You know, here, you know, their cows are getting prosperous and they're having babies and yet look at me.

"They send forth their little ones like a flock and their children dance." And I have no children. My children are dead. They're enjoying their children and I have no one to enjoy anymore. I'm empty. "They sing to the tambourine, to the harp, and rejoice to the sound of the flute." They have their parties. They enjoy themselves. They're happy. "They spend their days in wealth and in a moment go down into the grave." And then he says, "You know, they spend all their wealth and then they die."

They die and yet they say to God, "Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of your ways." That's the wicked's thinking, you see? "Here God, they rejected you, they hate you, and yet you bless them? You bless them?" And that can really throw us off a little bit because how many of us... I mean, I know I have done that before. You look at somebody that's real wicked and you say, "Man, how can that guy continue to prosper?"

Look at this guy, Hugh Hefner. A pornographer, Playboy magazine. All his mansions and all his young women. And you think, "How can that happen when he has literally blasphemed against God? And yet millions and millions and millions of dollars keep coming in. And he looks so happy. And yet he's going to be judged tremendously for polluting so many people's minds and misusing so many women."

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. For biblical resources to deepen your relationship with God, connect with us anytime at somebodylovesyou.com. You can also download our free app for live-streamed Bible teaching and other convenient connections to the word of God. Now back to more with Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: So here Job is really bringing it out to the Lord. Then he says in chapter 21, verse 15 now, again, "Who is the Almighty that we should serve him and what profit we have if we pray to him?" See, he's very disillusioned. He's like Asaph on Psalm 73. "I mean, I was praying, I was worshipping, I was giving, I was doing everything right and look at me now. Do I really deserve this when I serve God? And look at the wicked, they are laughing, enjoying, drinking and eating and partying and nothing happens to them."

Verse 16, "Indeed, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked is far from me. How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their destruction come upon them? The sorrows God distributes in his anger? They are like straw before the wind and like chaff that a storm carries away." So Job is now beginning to realize that. They say God lays up one's iniquity for his children. Let him recompense him that he may know it.

Let his eyes see his destruction and let him drink the wrath of the Almighty. For what does he care about his household after him when the number of his months cut off in half? "Can anyone teach God knowledge since he judges those on high?" Of course not. God knows all things. "One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and secure. His pails are full of milk and the marrow of his bones is moist." He's talking about the rich now.

"Another man dies in bitterness in his soul, never having eaten with pleasure." Notice that. We don't even know when that happens. "They lie down alike in the dust and the worm covers them. Look, I know your thoughts and the schemes with which you would wrong me. For you say, Where is the house of the prince and where is the tent of the dwelling place of the wicked? Have you want to ask those who travel the road? Do you not know their sign? For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom."

Oh Job, how do you know that? He knows that, notice that. "They shall be brought out on their day of wrath." So here he's talking about God judging on the day of judgment. Job has a little bit of window of light. He says, "You know what? By the way, I know that when the wicked die, God's going to judge them. I don't think they're going to get away with everything they do or anything they do."

"Who condemns his way to his face? And who repays him for what he's done? Yet he shall be brought to the grave and a vigil kept over the tomb. The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him. Everyone shall follow him as countless have gone before him. How then can you comfort me with empty words since falsehood remains in your answer?" He says, "Hey, why don't you preach to yourselves?" Job's friends here have broken their test against Job.

They have been destroyed. He says, "How can you judge me when you don't even know about your own personal lives?" And then Eliphaz, we see him now with his third speech in chapter 22. This guy's the intellectual. The guy's always talking in a very intellectual way to Job. He says, Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, "Well Job, can a man be profitable to God, though he who is wise may be profitable to himself?" That's a good question. Notice that. That's a good question he's asking here.

And literally what's happening here is the same old story. The wicked. Verse three: "Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous, or is it gain to him that you make your way blameless? It is because of your fear of him that he corrects you and enters into judgment with you." The reason God is allowing this in your life, Job, is because you know you have sinned against God. Notice that. "It's not your wickedness great? Notice that. And your iniquity without end? Job, what's the matter with you? Can't you see it? That you are wicked."

Eliphaz here is again speaking against Job. I mean, friends like that who need? Verse six: "For you have taken pledges from your brother for no reason and stripped the naked of their clothing." Now he makes a false charge against Job. Job never did that. You see, and he's not charging Job falsely. "You have not given the weary water to drink. You have withheld bread from the hungry." That's not true. He's never done that.

"But the mighty man possessed the land. The honorable man dwells in it. You have sent widows away empty and the strength of the fatherless are crushed." Job never did that. "Therefore snares are all around you, Job, and sudden fear troubles you." Oh man, he should get up and punch him. You know that? Verse 11: "Or darkness so that you cannot see and an abundance of water covers you. Is not God in the height of heaven and see the highest stars how lofty they are?"

So now from here what he's going to do is he says, listen to Eliphaz, he says, "Look, this is what's going to happen. Job, though God could not see, yet it happened." So here he is. "And you say, what does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness?" He's making the say that Job is doubting God. "Thick clouds cover him so that he cannot see. He walks above the circle of the heavens. Will you keep to the old way which wicked men have trod, who were cut down before their time, whose foundations were swept away by a flood? They said to God, Depart from us."

"What can the Almighty do to them? Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me." So he thinks that Job is really wicked. "The righteous see it and are glad, and the innocent laugh at them. Surely our adversaries are cut down and the fire consumes their remnant. Now acquaint yourself with God, Job, and be at peace. Thereby good will come to you." So here again his friend, dealing with the sins that he's committed.

And yet God through all this, he says, "He's bringing you to repentance. That's what God wants. He wants you to repent. Receive, please, instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart. Job, when are you going to repent? I mean, how much more do you expect God to bring upon you? When is the time for you to repent, Job?" He says, "If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up. You will remove iniquity far from your tents."

"And then you will lay your gold in the dust and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. Yes, the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver. For then you will have your delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to him. He will hear you and you will pay your vows. So if you just repent, God will do all this for you. You will also declare a thing and it will be established for you, so light shine on your ways."

"When they cast you down and you say, exaltation will come, then he will save the humble person. He will even deliver one that is not innocent. Yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands." Job, when are you going to repent? And here comes Job. Here again. And then Job answered and said, notice: "Even today my complaint is bitter and my hand is listless because of my groaning." Notice, it's like Job is in the courtroom speaking up to the judge.

"Oh, that I knew where I might find God, that I might come to his seat." He says, "Where can I find God?" He's lost faith. When you're really down in the pits, there's doubt that comes in. Satan comes in like a cloud in your mind and begins to put doubt in your mind about God. So here again he's searching for God. "I would present my case before him and fill my mouth with argument." Notice that. "I would know the words which he would answer me and understand what he would say to me."

He says, "Would he contend with me in his great power? No, but he would take note of me." I mean, why hasn't God taken note of me that I'm going through this? Why doesn't he send help? Job, you've got to get to chapter 38. We've got the story, we know already, you see? He does not. Verse seven, "Then the upright could reason with him and I would be delivered forever from my judge." And you know, that happens to us too because we look back at the past, we're living in the present, but we can't see the future.

But God can see the future. It's already written, you see? But we can't see it. That's why Job is. "Look, I go forward, but he is not there." I mean, I'm searching for God and I can't find him. "Behold him," he says, "I go forward, but he's not there. I go backward, but I cannot perceive him. When he works on the left hand, I cannot behold him. When he turns to the right hand, I cannot see him." Why? Because God is a spirit and those that worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth. That's why, Job. You can't see him.

Guest (Male): It's our prayer that your heart will be grounded in the Bible's assurance of God's loving watch over your life even in seasons of suffering. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. To get a complete unedited version of today's teaching, just call us at 800-634-9165 and for a donation of $5 or more, we'll send a copy of today's teaching from Job chapters 21 through 27.

To further stabilize you in the Lord's sovereign goodness, we'd like to offer you Raul's nine-part study titled "When Trials Come." It's available on both CD and thumb drive. As you contemplate the uniquely difficult life of Job, you'll tackle the daunting question of why God allows suffering and learn how to balance the raw emotions of adversity with an unshakable trust in the Lord. To order "When Trials Come," visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165.

We'll send you Raul's nine-message series on CD for $23, or if you prefer on USB for just $13. The number again is 800-634-9165. Or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765. Catch Raul for straight talk every Tuesday at 10 AM West Coast time on the Somebody Loves You Worldwide YouTube channel. You can also enjoy podcasts of all of our archived radio programs. And be sure and look for us on iTunes and Spotify as well.

This ministry with Raul Ries is completely listener-supported. Thank you for your partnership as we share the Bible's eternal truth. Join us next time for more guidance from the book of Job. If hardship is wearing you down and you're struggling to continue in difficult circumstances, you'll get a challenge to prioritize time with the Lord, allowing him to strengthen you as you follow wherever he leads. That's next time on Somebody Loves You Radio.