Listen to the audio above while following along in the transcript below which is available for download at www.biblestudyministriesin.com
As we come to look in the Bible in order to see the Lord Jesus, I want to share this verse from Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and our sons, our children, forever that we may observe all the words of His Law.” So, there are secret things, and God is not forced to reveal them, and in Job’s life there were some secret things he didn’t know about, but the things that are revealed belong to us. So, let’s commit our time to the Lord and then we’ll look in His word.
Heavenly Father, we thank You that we have the privilege to gather again in this place to meditate on Your word and to behold the Lord Jesus in a fresh way. We trust the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide our thoughts and meditations and that we might see Jesus. Thank You in advance that You are going to guide us, and I do pray that You would protect Your people from anything I might say that’s just from my own idea or flesh and blood. Thank You, Lord, that You protect us and that those who are hungry, you have promised You would fill. We commit out time to You. In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
Welcome again to our meditation in the book of Job. Last session I tried to introduce that book. We’re not planning an in-depth study, and there are a couple of reasons for that. The main one is that I’m not prepared or qualified to give an in-depth study to this book. But I think the Lord has shown me enough to give an overview of the book and the heart, the main message, the theme of this book and the revelation of Christ. In our introduction last time basically, we looked at three things. #1 what is the prevailing revelation of the Lord in the book of Job. Of course, in contrast to Job, our Lord is the patient sufferer, but apart from that, Job presents the Lord as El Shaddai, and that’s the God that’s more than enough. More than anywhere else in the Old Testament we have this title of the Lord in the book of Job.
The second thing we looked at was the occasion of the book, in other words, the background. There was a secret conversation between Satan and the Lord. Job knew nothing about that conversation. Job 1:7, “And the Lord said to Satan, ‘From where do you come?’ Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘From roaming about on the earth, walking around on it.’ And the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant, Job. There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless, upright man, fearing God, and turning away from evil.’” Well, God knew that he had already considered Job because he already knew about the hedge of blessing all around him. So, you remember that Satan had a double insinuation that he made to God. One was about Job and one was against God. Against Job, Satan insinuated that the only reason Job served, loved, worshipped and trusted the Lord was because God was a gift-giver; He was a purveyor of gifts, and there was a great hedge of blessing around Job. Job 1:10, “Have you not made a hedge about him and his house and on all that he has and on every side? You’ve blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.” “The reason Job serves You, Lord, is because You put a hedge around him and that’s the only reason.”
His second insinuation was implied but it’s against the Lord Himself. Job 1:11, “Put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has, and he shall surely curse You to Your face.” “Not only does Job serve You for the money, for the blessing, but nobody would serve You if You didn’t give gifts. You are not worthy enough in Yourself. If it was only You, if there were no heaven, if there were no fear of hell, if there were no rewards, if there were no blessings, You would not have any followers.” So, that insinuation was against God, that He’s not worthy to be trusted apart from the hedge.
The challenge, of course, was to take down the hedge. That occasion was the occasion of this book, that conversation between Satan and God. We saw the revelation of the Lord, El Shaddai, and we saw the occasion, and finally we looked at the theme of the book last time. The question that most commentators approach when they study Job is, “Why do the Godly suffer?” That question is not directly answered in the book of Job; it’s the wrong question. That’s why the three friends had such a hard time because if you don’t have the right question, you aren’t going to get the right answers. If the question is not the question, the answers can’t be the answers. They asked the wrong question, “Why do the Godly suffer?” But that’s not the question of the book. The question of the book is, “Is God, is El Shaddi, is He enough when the hedge comes down?” If all you had was the Lord, and nothing besides, and you just had Him, is that enough? That’s the background and the theme of this whole book. Of course, the answer is that El Shaddai, the Lord is unqualifiedly enough when the hedge comes down, and we’ll see that as we go through the book. That’s what we looked at as an introduction.
I want to make two more observations that can be put under the introduction, as we look at this book. This observation is going to be true whether or not you happen to agree with me that there’s a providential arrangement of the books in our Bible. I think the Lord oversaw the arrangement, and so Exodus follows Genesis, and Leviticus, and I think they are in the right order. But even if you don’t agree with that, you have to agree with the truth that I’m going to present.
The next observation is this, that in the present arrangement of the Old Testament books, there are seventeen historical books before you come to the book of Job. In other words, Job introduces a new section which we call “poetry”. First, you have the historical section of the Bible, and then you have poetry. The five books of poetry, or the four that followed Job explain the history. History comes first and then in picture form, in story form the Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, are the explanation of everything that has gone before. That pattern is followed exactly in the New Testament. The New Testament begins with the books of history—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts, and that’s followed by books of explanation, the epistles, and they’re explaining the history. The book of Job and the poetry books that follow are to the New Testament Romans and the twenty-one epistles that follow, God gives a history and then explains that history. It’s important that Job should be first in the explanation books, the first book of the poetry.
I want to go back, way back to the beginning, and that’s Genesis 3:15, often called the first gospel promise in the Bible. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” All of history, redemptive history, is nothing more than that war, the war of the serpent against the war of the seed of the woman. It is Satan against God; Satan against the Lord and His seed, His children. As you start in Genesis, the history, you are going to see all the way through the book of Esther that Satan is out to destroy or corrupt the seed of the woman. You see that in the history. Satan wants to destroy the seed and ruin the line of Christ or corrupt the seed. All through the history you see a counterpart, a reaction to that, and the Lord is purifying the seed, or preserving the seed. So, all the history is just the war of Genesis 3:15, Satan against God, and it’s worked out in the history of His people.
Sometimes when you read the Old Testament it looks like the devil is winning. Sometimes when you read the Old Testament and you see the victories of the Lord, it looks like the seed of the woman is winning, that the Lord is ruling and overruling and preserving and purifying, and so on. So, it’s notable when we come to the first poetical book, the first Old Testament, seed form picture explanation of all the history that has gone before it, in a vivid way because this is poetry, it’s interesting to see that the first thing God does is take us behind the scenes where the war is going on, Satan and God.
Now He is going to explain it. All of that was behind the scene in the history, but now God is about to explain it. So, He brings it to the surface, and we see this conversation between the Lord and God. Right in Job, the first two chapters, we have more about Satan than we have in all the seventeen books that went before it. For example, we learn where Satan is, and he’s not king reigning in hell with horns and a pitchfork. That’s not where he is. Job 1:7, “The Lord said to Satan, ‘From where do you come?’ And Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘From roaming about on the earth and walking on it.’” That’s the first time we’ve got this explanation. Job 1&2 also tells us what Satan does; he attacks the seed of the woman, perfect people, Godly people like Job and his family. We saw it in the history, the attacks on Abraham and Noah and Adam and Moses, and so on, but now He’s bringing it to light.
In the first two chapters, we see when Satan attacks. That was hidden in those first history books. When does Satan attack? The answer is when God lets him, when he has permission from the Lord. Job 1:12, “The Lord said to Satan, ‘Behold, all he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him. So, Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.” Job 2:6, “The Lord said to Satan, ‘He is in your power, only spare his life.’” So, we learn when Satan works. The first two chapters also tell us why Satan works. The reason is that he’s actually accomplishing the purposes of the Lord. We’ll see that as we go through Job. The proud devil doesn’t realize he’s just God’s instrument, that God is using him. I love in the New Testament where God uses a proud devil to keep the Apostle Paul humble. Satan is held by pride, and God gave a messenger of Satan to keep Paul humble.
And finally, the book of Job and the first two chapters reveal how we can have victory. Job 42:5&6, “I’ve heard of You by the hearing of the ear, and now my eyes see You. Therefore, I retract, I repent in dust and ashes.” In other words, victory comes through the revelation of El Shaddai, seeing the God who is everything, the God who is more than enough. You see right at the beginning that God uses Job to introduce us to what is going on behind the scene. We learn about Satan, and we learn where he is roaming on the earth and what he’s doing, he’s tormenting God’s people, and when he does it, when God gives permission, and why he does it, to fulfill God’s purposes, how to have victory, have a revelation of El Shaddai, and so on. This is an explanation book. There’s very little about the enemy spelled out in the first historical section, but now it begins.
The last observation has to do with the arrangement of the contents. I handed out last week an outline of the book (see end of this message for a copy). We’re not going to go through that, but I think that would be helpful, and if you didn’t get one we have more copies here. At your leisure, I think it would be a helpful way to look at Job.
Anyway, let’s get back to the theme, the question raised and answered, “Is the Lord enough, I mean when the hedge comes down?” I don’t mean when it’s trimmed; I mean when it comes down totally, violently, when God brings the hedge down, is it enough just to have the Lord? Job 1:11, Satan challenges, “Put forth your hand now, and touch all he has, and he’ll surely curse You to Your face.” So, God accepts that challenge. So, this morning, Lord willing, I want to show you two things. I want to show you the height, the beauty, the glory of Job’s hedge before Satan was allowed to touch it. I think we ought to see the hedge, and then we’ll look at how God gave him permission to dismantle that hedge right to the ground.
I think it will be helpful if we describe the height, length, width and depth of that hedge, and I’m going to begin in Job 1:3 right at the end, “That man was the greatest of all the men in the east.” It’s talking about Job. That’s a pretty high hedge if you’re exalted to be the number one person in all the known world, and that’s not man’s estimation; that’s what God said about Job. Job was a Godly man, blessed in every direction. We read that Job had a wife and a family. He had ten children. Job 19:17 mentions that he also had brothers. But on the level of earth, he had ten children. Job 1:3, “He was very wealthy. His possessions were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, very many servants. That man was the greatest of all men in the east.” In those days they measured wealth by how many crops and how many animals and how many herds and how many flocks you had. Just imagine having 7,000 sheep and the people that take care of them, and 3,000 camels and 500 yoke of oxen and female slaves and male slaves. I’ll tell you, Job’s hedge was high. Satan was right about that.
He was not only the greatest man on earth and had a wonderful wife and family, and very wealthy, but according to the record he was in perfect health. He was strong and healthy, and vibrant, and he worked very hard. Job 19:14 mentions that he had many intimate friends, many acquaintances, and add to all of that, he had a very wonderful ministry. I know it’s a little lengthy but bear with me as I read Job 29:1-25, “Job took up the discourse and said, ‘All that I were in months gone by,’” now he’s suffering but he’s looking back. He said, “Oh, I wish I was like in the days gone by, the days when God watched over me, when His lamp shone over my head. By His light I walked through darkness as I was in the prime of my days, when the friendship of God was over my tent, when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me, when my steps were bathed in butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil. When I went out to the gate of the city, when I took my seat in the square, the young men saw me and hid themselves, and old men rose and stood, and princes stopped talking and put their hands on their mouths. The voice of the nobles were hushed and their tongue stuck to their palate. But when the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eyes saw, it gave witness of me. I delivered the poor who cried for help, the orphan who had no help, the blessing of the one ready to perish came upon me. I made the widows’ heart sing for joy. I put righteousness on and it clothed me. My justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind. I was feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy. I investigated the cases I did not know. I broke off the jaws of the wicked and snatched the prey from their teeth. Then I thought I’ll die in my mess; I’ll multiply the days as the sand, my root is spread out to the water and dew lies all night on my branches. My glory is ever new with me; my bow is renewed in my hand. To me they listen, and they waited and kept silent for my counsel. After my words, they did not speak again. My speech dropped on them. They waited for me as for the rain, opened their mouth as for the spring rain. I smiled on them when they did not believe, and the light of my face they did not cast down. I chose a way for them. I sat as chief while this came among the troops as one who comforts the mourners.” I read that to show you his hedge was high, and he had a tremendous ministry.
Most of all, he enjoyed fellowship with the Lord. Imagine if your hedge was like that, having a great reputation, you are the number one person in all of the area, and you’ve got a wonderful wife and a large family, and you are in full health, and many friends and many acquaintances, a wonderful influence, a wonderful ministry, sweet fellowship with the Lord, and the Lord said to Satan, “Go ahead; take it down; take that hedge down. I’m going to give you permission. You’ve got a hedge around you, too. You can only go so far, but I’m giving you the permission to take it down.”
Now, I remind you again that even though we have the first two chapters of Job, Job didn’t have those chapters. He knew nothing about what was going on. All that was taking place in the heavenlies, the war between God and Satan. Job just became a battlefield. He had no idea about the war going on in the heavens. Job 1:13, “On the day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job and said, ‘The oxen were plowing, the donkeys feeding beside them, the Sabeans attacked and took them. They also slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.’” And while he was still speaking, another came and said, ‘The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep, the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you. And while he was still speaking another came and said, ‘The Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and took them and slew your servants with the edge of the sword. I alone have escaped to tell you. And while he was still speaking another came and said, ‘Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house and behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you.’”
Did you notice in verse 16, 17 and 18, “And while he was still speaking,” and then, “While he was still speaking,” and then, “And while he was still speaking.” You say that when it rains, it pours. This is the day it poured. Bad news, “The Sabeans came and took all your oxen and donkey and killed your servants, and then lightening came and killed all the sheep and all the shepherds, and then the Chaldeans attacked in three different raids, and they took all of your camels and killed all your servants, and a tornado came and wiped out where all your kids were and all ten of your children died.” That’s five or ten minutes. He got that news all at once. He doesn’t know behind the scenes. All of a sudden everything caved in. Don’t read this la, la, la because Job was a real man. He’s not a mythical character; he’s a real person, and all at once he’s almost bankrupt and grieving over the loss of ten children. The death of one child, I’ve experienced the grief that comes from the death of a grandchild, one person, one loved one. He lost all ten of his children in one blow. Job 9:18 describes his emotions, “He will not allow me to get my breath; He saturates me with bitterness.” I can’t read that verse without thinking of a day in Rhode Island when I thought it would be wise to go out in a hurricane and go swimming and I got caught in one of these tidal waves and I couldn’t catch my breath. I got up and another wave hit me, and I got up and another wave hit me. I thought surely I bought the farm, and I just prayed to the Lord, and I caught a wave that took me to the beach, and that was the Lord’s mercy to do that. That idea that I can’t catch my breath. I remember struggling for air. These were certainly evil tidings. I have on my telephone in my office a verse, Psalm 112:7&8, because usually when I get bad news, it’s over the phone, somebody calls. I taped that verse to my phone, so when I pick it up, I see the verse and it says, “He will not fear evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is upheld; he will not fear.” When I answer the phone, I’ve already seen that verse, “I will not fear when evil tidings come.”
But here’s the question, when evil tidings come in a row like that, is the Lord enough, just having the Lord, is that enough? Suddenly, everything came crashing down. Much of the hedge, even though we saw a lot of it, was still standing. Satan addresses God again, verse 4, chapter 2, “Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘Skin for skin; all that a man has will give for his life. Put forth Your hand now and touch his bones, his flesh, and he’ll curse you to Your face.” He’s a healthy man. Job 2:6, “The Lord said to Satan, ‘Behold, he is in your power; only spare his life.’” God gave permission to Satan to touch his health. Job 2:7, “Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the soul of his foot to the crown of his head. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a sore boil but imagine that many.
Scholars don’t exactly know what disease Job had because so much of this is poetry and very descriptive language, but most think it was form of a leprosy. Some suggest that is was elephantitis. They are just guessing. We don’t know that for certain, but we know from the record that his limbs did swell up. We know that his skin turned black and scaley. We know that he was covered with painful boils. We know that some of those sores were running sores. We know that he had an intolerable itch all over his body. We know that he took a potsherd, just a piece of pottery and just scraped himself in order to satisfy some of the itching. Job 7:5, he describes, “My flesh is clothed with worms, a crust of dirt; my skin hardens and runs.” Job 7:4, “When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’ but the night continues, and I’m continually tossing until dawn.’” He couldn’t sleep; he tossed and turned all night. Job 7:13, “If I say my bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint, you frighten me with dreams, and terrify me by visions.” He had nightmares; he couldn’t sleep, and when he did go to sleep, he was terrified with nightmares, tossing and turning. Job 19:20, “My bone clings to my skin and my flesh; I’ve escaped only by the skin of my teeth.” He’s nothing but a skeleton. He’s disabled. You talk about somebody touching your body, his body was touched. He didn’t just have a cold or COVID and going to get over it in a week. God allowed Satan to dismantle his health.
So, the question comes, is Jesus enough when your health is affected? He lost his family, lost his possessions, lost his health. It must have been an astounding sight for his friends to see him laying there in that agony and in that condition. I’ll tell you right now, as far as my head is concerned, one of the grandest parts of my hedge, and I’ve confessed it before, is my Lillian. I can’t thank the Lord enough for my Lillian. I don’t want to be too hard on Job’s wife. We’re looking at Job but those were her kids, too. Those were her possessions, too. It’s not like she was exempt. She was suffering, as well. And then to look at her husband going through what he was going through, there’s an agony when you see your children suffer and your loved one suffers or a friend suffers, that adds to your own. She couldn’t take it anymore. Job 2:9, “Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.’” I can’t imagine losing the support of my Lillian; he lost the support of his life partner, and in one sentence she tempted him to infidelity, to blasphemy and to despair. It’s a terrible thing. That’s the best part of my hedge; I love my Lillian. If I were to lose her support, if she were to say, “Curse God and die…” Job’s response to her is in verse 10, “’You speak as one of the foolish women speak. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” My heart goes out to his wife.
I share with you in another connection Job 6:26, “Do you intend to reprove my words when the words of one in despair belong to the wind?” Somebody is despair when they say something, don’t put too much confidence in that. They don’t mean it. They’re just bursting out. One in despair, their words belong to the wind. Job had the insight to see that his wife way down deep didn’t mean that. She didn’t mean to curse God and die. Those winds that those words belong to the wind. But it was one of the greatest blows, I think, to Job, to have lost the support of his wife. Proverbs 18:14, “This spirit of man can endure sickness but a broken spirit, who can bear?” Once your spirit is broken, you are in bad, bad shape. When we read Job 29 all about his brothers and acquaintances and relative and intimate friends and his maid servants and his men servants, young children and associates, I’m not going to go through it but you can read it, but they all abandoned him—all his friends, all his neighbors.
Job 19:13, I’ll just read this much, “He has removed my brothers far from me, and my acquaintances are completely estranged from me, and my relatives have failed, my intimate friends have forgotten me, those who live in my house, my maids consider me a stranger and I’m a foreigner in their sight. I call to my servant, and he does not answer; I have to implore him with my mouth. My breath is offensive to my wife. I’m loathsome to my brothers. Even the young children despise me. I rise up and they speak against me. All my associates abhor me. Those I love have turned against me.” God let Satan take down Job’s hedge. Add to all of that, his family, his kids, his possessions, his health, the support of his life’s partner, all his friends, his family, his acquaintances, when you go through this, you think, “Oh, there’s a friendly discussion going on between these three friends and Job.” It got ugly; it’s not friendly. They spit in his face; they slapped him across the face. Read the book of Job; he was going through it. Satan touched his hedge.
I’ve got to ask you again, is the Lord enough when your hedge comes down? What a graphic illustration of a hedge coming down. Job was describing the ministry; he lost his ministry, too. The orphan no longer came to him, or the widow or the needy or the oppressed. The best part of his hedge was still there, I think the most important part, the grandest part, the most beautiful part; he was having sweet fellowship with the Lord. Everyday he was having an intimate relationship with God.
When a Christian loses the sense of God’s presence, the soul becomes pretty heavy and dead, and all that happened. When things comes apart in my life, I didn’t have what Job has. Great day! If I lose my pen or if I lose my glasses, if I can’t find my book, I get all upset. I just lost my pen, and that’s all. What did Job lose? When the hedge comes down completely down, he lost the sense of God’s presence. He said, “I turn to the right and I can’t find Him. I turn to the left and I can’t find the Lord. Where is He?”
When you go through the book of Job under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and ask, “Is El Shaddai really enough when the hedge comes down?” That question has to be answered if you are going to be honest, and not spiritual. Don’t play a game. If you are going to be true, that question has to be answered on two levels. First, on the level of earth. You go through Job, just read his emotions, how he felt, what he said, how he charged God, but was down deep there is a river, way down deep inside the heart. What comes out here might not be going on down here in the deep heart. So, I want to show you Job on the level of earth and come back and look at Job on the level of heaven.
Job got more than discouraged; he got depressed. It was more than depression; he turned to despair. Keep in mind that he didn’t know that God permitted Satan to do this to him, but he’s a man created in the image of God. He’s not some fugitive from a wax museum. He’s not a robot. Job asks in Job 6:12, “Is my strength the strength of stones? Is my flesh brass?” Why are you complaining? “Because I hurt, because it’s not a sin to say ‘ouch’. I’ve got nerves, I’ve got nerve endings, and I’m in pain, and I’m suffering, and it’s chronic. It’s every day and it’s every night. I can’t eat and I can’t sleep. I have nightmares. This is terrible.”
I like what Spurgeon said one time, and he was trying to describe not faking it, and don’t think you’re so spiritual when tough things come into your life. He said, “Don’t be like grandpa’s picture hanging over the fireplace, always smiling even when the house burns down.” Job was a real person, and he knew nothing about Satan and God having that conversation. He thought it was for some reason he woke up one day and God was against him. That’s what he thought. Job 16:14, “He breaks through me with breach after breach; He runs after me like a warrior.” Job 9:17, “He bruises me with a tempest, multiplies my wounds without cause.” “There’s no reason for this.” Job 16:12, “I was at ease; He shattered me. He has grasped me by the neck, and He’s shaken me to pieces, and He has set me up as His target; His arrows surround me; without mercy He splits my kidneys open and pours my gall on the ground.” That’s a real man being honest. That’s what he’s thinking and feeling. Job 10:16, “Should my head be lifted up? You hunt me like a lion, and again You show Your power against me.”
Many times, when you go through the record, Job wishes he was never born, or being born, he longed for death. Job 10:18, “Why, then, have you brought me out of the womb? Would that I had died, and no eye had seen me. I should have been as though I had not been, carried from womb to tomb.” These are real emotions, and this is a Godly man. Job 3:11, “Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire.” While he’s groaning in the flesh and longing for death, there’s another reality that runs through the book. In spite of his ignorance and in spite of his suffering, and in spite of his accusations against the Lord, over and over we see other words. Job 1:20, “After he lost his wealth and family, he tore his robe and shaved his head and fell to the ground, worshipped and said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.’” Through all of this Job did not sin, nor did he blame God. Job was going through it. Some Christians go through it, and they’re not seeing the Lord, you know, and He’s not enough in their view because they haven’t appropriated Him.
Is there any record that Job considered suicide, and there is, in the book of Job he said, “I’m often thinking that I could suffocate myself.” He was just going to bury his face in a pillow and die. That’s what he was going through but down deep Job 2:9&10, “’Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.’ He said to her, ‘Woman, you speak as one of the foolish women. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?’ In all these things Job did not sin with his lips.” Job 13:15, “Though He slay me, yet I shall hope in Him.” Job 19:25, “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. At the last He’ll take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, from my flesh I shall see God, who I myself shall behold, whom my eyes will see not another; my heart faints within me.” Job 23:10, “He knows the way I take, and when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His path; I’ve kept His word and not turned aside, and I’ve not departed from the command of His lips; I’ve treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, I don’t know if you’ve ever known anybody with a hedge that high and that demolished, but even less than that, when people are going through things, and they say things, don’t put a lot of stock in that. Let’s not be quick to judge people who under the rod, who are being tested or are suffering. It’s real, and they’re going through it. Pray for them. We need to encourage them. I think it’s easy to just be judgmental. But is the Lord enough when the hedge comes down? Is He more than enough? On the human side, God spared me and my Lillian. We haven’t gone through a lot of what some Christians go through. We’ve had ministry with those under chronic suffering and so on, but even the little bit we’ve been through, we bow our heads in shame at the way we’ve come through it. It’s like I said in Job 6:12, “My flesh is not stone. I’m not made of brass.” It hurts, and it hurts others at the same time.
Let me ask this question as we get ready to close. We saw Job’s hedge, and it was huge and beautiful and glorious. We saw it come down, and I mean it came down in every way, shape and form. If Job knew all of this in advance, he didn’t know, but let’s just imagine for a moment that he did know in advance. Would that have made a difference as he went through it? Suppose, I’m just going to call it sanctified imagination, suppose when Job was age 12 or 13 or 16 or something like that, and the Lord came to Job and said, “Job, I have a question for you. There’s an enemy out there, a tormentor; there’s an accuser; there’s a liar; there’s a devil, Satan. There’s a day coming that He’s going to challenge me to a contest. He thinks people will never serve Me unless I pay them back, and he thinks I’m not good enough in Myself if he chose Me. Job, I have a plan, and I’d like to use you in that plan. So, I’m going to let you know, and here is what it is. I’m looking for someone to prove forever what a liar Satan is, and what a hypocrite he is, and I’m looking for a human instrument that will allow Me to expose Satan for who he is and show the world forever that El Shaddai is more than enough when the hedge comes down. So, I’m choosing you, and here’s my plan. I’m going to have to exalt you to be the number one person on the known earth. Are you willing? Not only that, but in order for the plan to work I’m going to have to make you a millionaire; I’m going to have to give you these sheep and camels and herds and oxen and servants, and I’m going to have to make you very, very famous. I’m going to give you a wonderful wife, and I’m going to give you ten children, seven sons and three daughters. Are you willing?” So far it sounds pretty good. “Do you want to do that for me? Go right ahead, Lord.” “I’m going to give you a strong body and make you very healthy. I’m going to make you famous. I’m going to make people desire to hear your counsel. You are going to become a giver to the poor, the widow, the orphan, the oppressed, and they are all going to come to you, and you are going to have a worldwide influence. To top it all off, I’m going to be your constant companion. I will be fellowshipping with you day by day and hour by hour, and we’ll go through this together. That’s My plan. Are you willing? Are you willing to be famous, to be a millionaire, to have a great family, to have influence, to have a great ministry? Will you say yes?”
I think at that point Job would say unqualifiedly, “Yes, that sounds like a good deal. Do it.” But then the Lord continues and says, “Job, that’s only the first part. The second part of My plan is that I’m going to have the enemy given permission to take it all away, that whole hedge of blessing that I gave you. You are going to have to lose your wealth and the support of your life’s companion. You are going to have to lose all of your friends and all your acquaintances, and your ministry is going to go down the toilet, and you are going to have no ministry at all. I’m going to allow Satan to take it all down, and you are going to lose everything, and I Myself am going to depart from you as far as the sensible presence, you are going to lose the sense of My presence. You are going to look for Me and not find Me. You are going to call and I won’t answer. You are going to pray and it’s going to be like talking to the ceiling. Are you willing?” I can hear Job saying, “The first part sounded pretty good, but this part I don’t know. I’m a little bit hesitant. And then God says, “There’s a third part of My plan. After I allow the enemy to strip you, the third part of My plan is to restore everything to you double; you are going to become the firstborn spiritually with a double inheritance. The hedge is going to be twice as high. So that you can enjoy it, I’m going to give you an extra 140 years of life to live with that new hedge that is twice as high as the one that was torn down. I’m going to bless your family, and your ministry is coming back, and your friends, and everything will be returned two-fold. Are you willing?” I’d be interested to know your answer to that but just think.
I have an idea it would be easier…. We had a little granddaughter die of a crib death at four months old, and oh what a terrible time for my son and his wife. I wonder if he knew in advance, I wonder if the Lord had come to him and said, “I’m looking for a Godly husband and a Godly wife, a father and a mother. I have a little child I want to put on the earth for four months, and I want somebody to love that child and take care of that child, and just enjoy that child, but at four months I’m going to come and take that child to heaven.” If he knew in advance, would he have had the same grief that he had when he didn’t know in advance, and suddenly….
The reason I brought all this up is because I think that if we knew in advance the purposes of God, we’d say yes. But here’s the question. If that’s true, why doesn’t God tell us in advance? If He knows we’ll say yes, if we knew the whole program, why doesn’t He tell us? I think the answer is it’s because then Satan would win. He’s calling us to live by faith. He said, “I want you to trust Me. I have a purpose for you every bit as wonderful as I had for Job, and just because you don’t know what it is, if you knew you’d say yes, and now you don’t know, why don’t you just say yes by cold blooded faith? Why don’t you just trust the Lord? He has a purpose for you. He didn’t bring you this far to drop you. He didn’t bring me this far to drop me. For every one of us He has a purpose, and all He’s saying is, “Will you trust Me? I’ll be enough; I’ll be more than enough. I’m El Shaddai.” So, we don’t need to know in advance; we just need to know God, and if you know the Lord, you don’t need to know why. If I know the Lord, I don’t need to know why. I just need to know that He is my Keeper, and He’s going to keep me all the way, like He kept Peter, like He kept Job. He’s going to keep us to the end.
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your wonderful word. Thank You for allowing a servant like Job to give his testimony so we can read this and know how faithful You are, even to the end. As we get prepared to look at the rest of the book and the end of the Lord, as James said, just prepare our hearts and work in us and give us the grace to say yes even in the darkness. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
OVERVIEW OF THE CONTENTS OF THE BOOK OF JOB
I. THE PROSE INTRODUCTION (JOB 1 & 2)
II. THE POETRY SECTION (JOB 3-42:6)
THE THREE DEBATES BETWEEN JOB AND HIS FRIENDS (JOB 3-31)
ELIPHAZ
1. ELIPHAZ ROUND 1 (JOB 4 & 5); JOB’S REPLY (JOB 6-7)
2. ELIPHAZ ROUND 2 (JOB 15); JOB’S REPLY (JOB 16-17)
3. ELIPHAZ ROUND 3 (JOB 22); JOB’S REPLY (JOB 23-24)
BILDAD
1. BILDAD ROUND 1 (JOB 8); JOB’S REPLY (JOB 9-10)
2. BILDAD ROUND 2 (JOB 18); JOB’S REPLY (JOB 19)
3. BILDAD ROUND 3 (JOB 25); JOB’S REPLY (JOB 26-27)
ZOPHAR
1. ZOPHAR ROUND 1 (JOB 11); JOB’S REPLY (JOB 12-14)
2. ZOPHAR ROUND 2 (JOB 20); JOB’S REPLY (JOB 26-27)
ELIHU
ELIHU’S 3 SPEECHES (JOB 32-37) GOD’S RESPONSE (JOB 26-27)
III. THE PROSE CONCLUSION (JOB 42:7-17)