Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: As believers, sometimes we lose hope. We're not perfect. But as long as we live in this body, as long as we are on this earth, we are going to have moments of doubt. And we're going to say things that are wrong. Does that mean that God doesn't love me anymore? No. God understands. He knows us. He knows every one of our thoughts.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Today we're moving forward in our study of the book of Job, a book chronicling the acute suffering and resolute faith of an Old Testament follower of God. Today, Raul will encourage us all to follow in Job's footsteps, trusting the Lord even in our darkest hours. As you stay tuned today, you'll find out that God is always with you in every trial. He can fill you with hope and strength as he guides you through the valley. Today's lesson is taken from Job chapters six through ten. Here's Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: As we've been studying the philosophy of Job, it is amazing how God has his ways of humbling people, drawing them close to himself. Not because he hates people, but because he loves people. And Job was one of the great characters of the Bible that we have been studying and watching how God allowed Satan to take his family from him, all of his children. He allowed him to lose all his property, all of his camels, all of his sheep. Everything he possessed he lost, as God gave permission to Satan to do that, but not to touch Job.

And then in a second temptation, remember in chapter two, once he had lost everything, he said, "Naked I came into the world, naked I leave. Blessed be the name of the Lord. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be his name." That Satan came again and God asked him where he had been. He says he had been cruising up and down the earth. And then he said, "Have you ever considered, have you been strategizing, a general on top of a hill looking down on its enemy, how am I going to attack my enemy and overtake him? Have you considered my servant Job, that there's no one like him in the world?"

And Satan came back and said, "How can you say that when you're always protecting him? You have a hedge around him." And God said, "I'll tell you what, you go ahead and you can touch him, but you can't take his life." And Satan left. Immediately Job was covered with boils from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. He could not stand, he could not sit, he could not lie down, and he was in pain. And his wife said, "Job, why don't you curse God?" And remember, he rebuked her.

Because Job understood that he served a gracious, loving, caring God. And that's who God is. God never tempts us to evil. He will test you, but he will never tempt you. Whenever we are tempted and we're drawn away by our own lust and desires, we sin against God because God has made a way of escape for every temptation, the Bible says. And yet there are probably people tonight blaming God for everything that's happened. And yet people don't understand that this is a fallen world, a world that has sinned against God. That's why Jesus is coming again to take the world back to himself.

If you remember in the book of Revelation, after sharing in chapter one and two the introduction, in chapter three to the seven churches, in chapter four, John is taken to heaven. And in chapter four and five, John in heaven sees the Lamb of God. As the Lamb of God is the only one worthy to stand up and to walk across the room and take the title deed to the earth that was lost by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden for all those years.

And Satan tonight knows he's running out of time. He knows he's a defeated foe. He doesn't get a second chance. He's done. He's doomed. So Satan is doing his best in this world to bring chaos, to take as many people as he can to hell with him. But yet God's love and God's grace and God's mercy is there for people to reach out and to touch the Lord.

And sometimes maybe tonight there are believers like Job that maybe lost their house, they lost everything, and they're doubting God in their minds and in their hearts. That's because we're human. And at the same time, we realize that this is what happened to Job because Job, after being tempted, then his three friends came. Remember his good friends? And they came and when they saw Job's condition physically, they sat down for days and just didn't say one word and they wept with him where he was weeping.

We begin to see as Eliphaz begins to speak out against Job. Even as Job passes through great grief in his own personal life, at this particular moment in chapter six, Job in a way is doubting God and he's thinking, "Man, I wish I could die. I wish I was dead." You ever think like that? I think we all have. I think when everything collapses, everything goes wrong, people give up and they don't want to live anymore.

And as believers, sometimes we lose hope. We're not perfect. We will be perfect one day when we go to heaven. But as long as we live in this body, as long as we are on this earth, we are going to have moments of doubt. And we're going to say things that are wrong. Does that mean that God doesn't love me anymore? No. No. God understands. He knows us. He knows our rising up and our sitting downs. He knows every one of our thoughts. And he told us, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

At this particular moment, Job feels betrayed by his friends. Betrayed. Because they began to condemn Job. They began to say to Job, "Job, maybe the reason you're going through all this, there's sin in your life." You ever have people come to you like that? People that you know? "Well, maybe you got sin in your life." And Job felt really bad because he knew in his heart who he was and he knew who God was.

And yet, notice beginning with chapter six tonight in the book of Job, Job here responded to his two passionate appeals. The first one, he appeals to his three friends that they might show more understanding and sympathy for him. And a lot of times people don't understand what we're really going through. It's like if you've never really had cancer, how can you really speak to someone that has cancer? You can't. You can't. Unless you've had cancer. You can't comfort anyone that lost someone unless you lost someone you love.

That's why we have this lifetime as God puts us through the fire and he tests our lives so that not only we can pass the test, but we can also help other people in comforting them in what they're going through in their own lives. Like the three Hebrew children of Israel in the book of Daniel. When King Nebuchadnezzar threw them into the fire and as he was standing back and one of the guys that threw the three men into the fire, he got consumed by the fire and Nebuchadnezzar stood back and said, "Did we not throw three guys into the fire? Why are there four? And the fourth one looks like the Son of God."

The Bible tells us that even though we have to go into the fire, he will be with me in the fire. When King Nebuchadnezzar finally said, "Hey, you guys, come out here, I want to talk to you." They came out of the fire and the Bible says they didn't even smell like the fire. And I feel that sometimes we're misunderstood by people. Job was being misunderstood. And at the same time Job in being misunderstood, he was keeping himself down. He was getting on his own self. He was being critical in himself.

Maybe you're here tonight like Job. You've kind of at the bottom of everything in your life and you feel like God doesn't love you anymore. And maybe you feel like God's picking on you because maybe you're disabled, lost your job, lost your wife, your wife took off with your children. Everything has a purpose, especially if you're a child of God.

Guest (Male): This is Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. We'd like to take a short timeout to remind you that we are here to support you as you walk with God through all of life's ups and downs. Visit somebodylovesyou.com to browse through our extensive selection of Bible-based resources, including Raul's series, When Trials Come. We'll tell you how you can get a copy of that in just a few moments. But first, let's get back to more with Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: In chapter 6, verse 1, here he begins with they didn't really feel the heaviness of Job's suffering. You can look at people and you can play that you're trying to comfort or you can say, "I feel what you feel," but you really don't, unless you're going through it. That's his friends on the outside. So here Job says, "Then Job answered and said, 'Oh, that my grief were fully weighed, and my calamity laid with it on the scales!'" Job in a way is kind of exaggerating here. He says, "For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash. My words have been rash. I don't think that I'm getting anywhere with my prayers."

You ever feel like that? You pray and you feel like they're bouncing off the ceiling. But you know God has his ear open to each one of us individually because of his love and grace and mercy that he has for us. And yet Job in continuing here in verse four, we see that neither his friends were understanding of the bitterness and the suffering that Job was feeling in his own personal life, personally he was feeling that. Verse four says, "For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; my spirit drinks in their poison; and the terrors of God are arrayed against me."

Notice that Job is saying in himself, "I am history. This is it. Even God is against me." Job felt like a target, and God has never made us a target. Ever. At the beginning we saw that whenever we face something in our lives and God gives permission, he says what? There's a way of escape. He will protect you. He will watch over you. He will take you by the hand and he will lead you.

He says in verse 5, "Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass, or does the ox low over its fodder?" Notice that. "Can flavorless food be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?" I mean, he lost his appetite. He's just feeling horrible. Horrible. "My soul refuses to touch them; they are as loathsome food for me." And now Job tries to get his friends to feel hopeless of his situation. He says, "Why don't you have some pity on me?" He says, "Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant me the thing that I long for!"

What do you long for, Job? "That it would please God to crush me, and that he would loose his hand and cut me off. I want to die." So you see you're not the first one that wants to die. Job's the first one. He says, "I wish I could just die." He was in bad shape. He was at the lowest of his life, as low as you can go. "I wish I could just call it quits. Then I would still have comfort; though in anguish, I would exult, he will not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One."

And check this out. "What strength do I have, that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life?" Literally, "What am I waiting for? What is life? Life is only getting worse. I don't want to live anymore. I wonder what will come tomorrow, the next day, the next week, the next month, the next year. Forget it. Let's end it now, God. Let's do it." This is probably why here it explains why Job wanted God to take his life.

He was feeling horrible. "Is my strength the strength of stones? Am I like a stone, a rock? Or is my flesh like bronze or brass? Is my help not within me? And is success driven from me?" And then all of a sudden here now in verses 14 through 30, courageously Job points out the effectiveness of the ministry to him. He starts out here speaking to Eliphaz. He says, "To him," Job says, "who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty." I mean, if you're really my friend, why aren't you feeling sorry for me? What kind of a friend are you?

"My brothers have dealt deceitfully like the brook, like a stream of the brooks that pass away." They were his friends for a long time when he was prospering. But now that he's in trouble, where are his friends? They're against him. Maybe you've experienced that tonight. There are people like that. But go ahead and lose everything and have nothing and see how many real friends you'll have. When you're totally stripped from everything, who's going to come around to comfort you? That's Job.

He says, "My brothers have dealt deceitfully like the brook, like the streams of the brooks that pass away, which are dark because of the ice, and into which the snow vanishes." Here he's talking about his friends. Verse 17, "When it is warm, they cease to flow; but when it is hot, they vanish from their place." You know, where are they? "The paths of their way turn aside; they go nowhere and perish. The caravans of Tema look, the travelers of Sheba hope for them. They were confident; they come there and are confused. For now you are nothing; you see terror and are afraid. Did I ever say, 'Bring something to me'? Did I ever ask you for anything? No, never."

Notice that. "Did I ever call for you? No. 'Offer a bribe for me from your wealth'? Oh yeah, when I had all my sheep and my goats and I had all my money, you were always in contact with me. But now that I have nothing, where are you? Where are you? Where are your real friends when you really need them? Or, 'Deliver me from the enemy's hand'? Or, 'Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors'? Teach me," notice here, Job now makes his request to his friends, "Teach me, and look upon me; teach me, and I will hold my tongue; cause me to understand wherein I have gone astray. Tell me something that is worthwhile. Quit rebuking me. Quit bringing no comfort to my life. Don't talk to me anymore if you can't say something nice."

"How forceful are right words! But what does your arguing prove?" Notice that, Job gets pretty sharp here with his words. "Do you intend to rebuke my words, and the speeches of a departed one, which as which are as wind? Yes, you overwhelm the fatherless, and you undermine your friends. And now therefore, be pleased to look at me, for I would never lie to your face."

Notice this. Job here closes his address of his friends with a passionate appeal for them to reconsider his actual situation. "Look at me again, and look what I'm going through. Are you sure you're my friends? Yield now, let there be no injustice; yes, concede, my righteousness still stands." He says here, "Reconsider for my integrity sake. I have integrity, I haven't lost my integrity yet. Verse 30, "Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern the unsavory?"

And now in chapter 7, what he does here, Job appeals to the Lord now, to God. And what's interesting here because Job is appealing to God now that he would consider his plight and make it lighter instead of heavier his suffering before the Lord. "Lord, can you step in and help me?" He felt like God had abandoned him, too. So he starts in chapter 7, verse 1, "Is there not a time of hard service for a man on earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired man?"

Job is here using several vivid pictures of desire to futility of life. "Like a servant who earnestly desires the shade," that is the shadow of the sun, "and like a hired man who eagerly looks for his wages, so I have been allotted months of futility, and wearisome nights have been appointed to me." Job is a sick man. He is at the bottom. "When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I arise, and the night be ended?' For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn. I can't even sleep because I'm going through this whole thing."

Verse 5 says, "My flesh is caked with worms and dust," his condition physically, "my skin is cracking and breaking out afresh." Can you imagine when they saw Job, they could not believe what they saw with all those boils from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet? Where he could not lie down, he could not sit, he could not walk. And then verse 7, "Oh, remember that my life is as breath; my eyes will never again see good." Notice Job also here is kind of watching his life as a breath or a cloud that is returning to nothing. This is the Old Testament, remember. And yet there is hope, by the time we get to chapter 14, you'll see.

Guest (Male): We hope it's been comforting for you to hear how Job shared his honest thoughts and feelings with God in a season of immense personal anguish. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's lesson is being made available to you in its unedited form for a donation of five dollars or more. To get your copy, just call us at 800-634-9165 and mention today's teaching from Job chapters six through ten.

Now, if you're facing hard times and wrestling with your response to the Lord, we'd like to tell you about Raul's nine-part study titled, When Trials Come. It's available on both CD and thumb drive. Every lesson in this series will guide you in drawing near to God in your suffering, allowing him to strengthen you and fill you with a grounding peace that can only come from him.

To order When Trials Come, visit us at somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165. We'll send you Raul's nine-message series on CD for twenty-three dollars or on thumb drive for just thirteen dollars. Our number again is 800-634-9165. Or you can order by writing us at Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765. Thank you for your partnership in this listener-supported ministry. Every gift you give helps us reach more people with the good news of Jesus Christ.

Well, it is a privilege to explore the Bible's truths with you, and we invite you to join us next time as we continue our study of Job with further affirmation of the Lord's unwavering faithfulness and perfect provision in our adversity. This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.