IN MY SUFFERING I STILL HOPE

. 

Job 13:1-28

The gospel is a great reminder of the hope that is to come for the believer that goes through terrible times and sometime struggles with the why questions. There is something that Job says in this chapter that sticks out to us and gives us something that world is lacking greatly…… and that is hope. The underlining truth of this chapter I want us to concentrate on is that Job is still looking Heavenward to the hope of God and His sovereign delivering power over his sufferings. This is where you need to rest and focus on when you go through the storms of life; whether they are little storms or big storms. Our hope lies in this truth that God is sovereign and trustworthy. And that in His providence He will see us (the believer) though whatever storm for our good and His glory. Isaiah 4:6 says “There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.” Rest in His sovereign arms of grace.

Job was a man who underwent an excruciating trial in a hopeless situation. Job’s spirit was sinking faster than a sinking ship; and as it was getting lower and lower to the point that death seemed to be the only way to escape this suffering. But! There is one thing that suddenly strengthen Job to continue and that was his hope in God to renew his broken and weary soul. The gospel reminds us of this wonderful truth. There is a story about a Russian man who was a political prisoner in Russia for many years. “It is told that he became an icon of perseverance though suffering for the cause of freedom. Forced to work twelve hours a day at hard labor while existing on a starvation diet, he became gravely ill. The doctor predicted his imminent death. One afternoon he stopped working, even though he knew the guards would beat him severely. He just could not go on any longer. At that precise moment another prisoner a fellow Christian, approached him. With his cane the man drew a cross in the sand and erased it quickly. In the midst of his despair, that emblem of hope where Christ fought to win the victory over sin and this gave him the courage to endure that difficult day and the grueling months of imprisonment that lay before him.” We can learn a great deal from this story as we can from the life of Job. What do I mean? When we feel like throwing in the towel we are reminded ever so gently about the hope that lies within our hearts.

Not even suffering can take that joy away.

Jesus uses the example of a mother giving birth to explain this joy to his disciples who were fearful and sorrowful because Jesus was speaking about leaving them. In John’s gospel we read this “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me." So some of his disciples said to one another, "What is this that he says to us, 'A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me'; and, 'because I am going to the Father'?" So they were saying, "What does he mean by 'a little while'? We do not know what he is talking about." Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, "Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, 'A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me'? Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” John 16:16-22

Nothing can steal or take that joy, that hope we have in the Christ. See this isn’t a man who is trying or living with a sort of fabricated joy or some mechanical joy that is synthetic or artificial. This is a deep seated joy that believers know and feel as they go through suffering in this life. It’s a joy that cannot be bought or stolen from you, if you are a child of the Living God. Paul wrote “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Roman 5:1-5. See, this is what we can learn from Job as we have seen him colorfully lament the deep hidden parts of his heart though his suffering. 

“Though He slay me, yet I will hope in Him.” (v15)

Though my life doesn’t seem be so great and death would be better for me, yet I will hope in Him. Though my friends are terrible and not helping, yet I will hope in Him. Though I have lost everything that I loved and lived for, yet I will hope in Him. Though I know I’m innocent in all this and even if I die, I will still hope in Him. Put yourself in these shoes and your present suffering! What is your hope? What does your heart reveal about you and you and present circumstances as it lines up with the gospel? For Job, his soul was suddenly strengthened with hope, a renewed hope in God and His sovereign goodness. Job found a restored confidence in God’s grace and mercy over his life. This is what fuels Job to continue even when he feels like giving up. This colorful commentary of Job, reminds us of God’s grace and goodness of what we have in Christ and this is what renews our brokenness on a daily basis. The gospel of Christ is our hope for every generation.

Where do we see that hope in the Old Testament besides here in Job’s confession?

Noah had this hope
Abraham had this hope
David had this hope
The Prophets had this hope
The Shepherds had this hope
Simeon had this hope
The Disciples had this hope
The Church has this hope

Paul said “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.” Phil 3:20-21. Our hearts should always reveal our deep seated joy and hope that we have in the gospel because it’s because of Christ that we have a hope at all. Job pleads his case continually to God, so that God would respond and deliver dear Job from this living nightmare. (v18-v28) And he continues to do this until the end of chapter 14, which we will touch in next week. But Job’s hope doesn’t change even if this court case and God responds brings about his death. “Yet I will hope in Him.” What have learned from the life of Job so far? It’s that we can have and find this hope in the darkest trails of our lives. A hope that will keep us strong, even though we feel weak in the difficulties of life. To help find that strength we need to understand and remind ourselves that…..

1. God sends trials 

This was certainly the case for Job; his painful life change came directly from the throne of God’s grace. We need to understand that the sovereign God of the universe sends trials our way according to His perfect plan. That is going to look drastically different for each and every one of us, but the end is to strengthen our love and hope in His eternal promises. Our trials are to transform us into the image of Christ, but also to encourage those around us to endure for His glory. Paul wrote “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.” 2 Cor 1:3-7

One theologian said “Ongoing pain and suffering tends to turn our focus inward on ourselves. It’s so constant that it begins to consume and color everything we do always living in a protective stance. However, God beautifully comforts the suffering through the means of fellow-sufferers. In fact, Paul says that’s one of God’s plans for our pain.”

2. God uses trials

God always has a divine purpose for what He does and allows us to go through. Remember “God causes all things to work together for good” Rom 8:28. The more we read Scripture and under the Theological truth and character of God, there is a sense of peace even amongst the fear as we endure suffering and trials for His glory and our good. God does not waste our suffering and we need to remind ourselves that every time we go through suffering. We read in Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Paul writes that we’re brittle “jars of clay”. And our cracks exist for a purpose: to shine forth the gospel, our treasured possession even especially in our pain. Paul wrote “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” 2 Cor 4:7-10. Even when Paul’s was suffering in prison his physical chains, encouraged him to keep proclaiming the truth which lead him to find joy and hope to spiritually unchain him! As Paul said “At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.” Col 4:2-6

3. God controls trials

No storm of life is ever out of control in your life. Do you remember what happened in the boat when the waves came crashing down on the disciples? In Mark’s gospel we read “On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?" And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" Mark 4:35-41. This is the God we can trust as we go through trials. A God who is in complete control of the weather has the storms of your life right where He wants you to be.

  

4. God removes trials

No trial is without an end, at least for the child of God who is saved by sovereign grace. Steve Lawson said “Weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning. There will eventually come a break in the storm. According to God’s perfect timing, this present trial will pass. It may be soon, or it may be later. It may be in this life, or it may be in the life to come. But this trial will pass. So we should have hope in God. He will eventually clear out this turbulence in our lives.” This is so true and we need to remind ourselves this with the help of Job’s story written in the Scriptures for our learning and understanding as we go through trials. As I’ve said from the beginning the only way to make sense of our suffering and trials is to look to the Cross. This is where our hope and foundation lies in the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus our Lord. The One who gives us an eternal hope for this present life to a glorious future to live with Him for all eternity. 

As Peter said “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:3-9 

The life we must live and the prayer we must pray as we close this chapter of Job’s response is….. ”Lord God, strengthen and increase our hope in You.” As we go through trials and sufferings we are reminding ourselves of His great love that we have in the gospel. We are saying with Job “Come what may and may my suffering never deter me from doubting you, but that it strengthens my hope in You.”