Job Part 1

[0:00] Am I on? All right. Good morning. I am blessed to see class of 2020 Mason Pagan come back and visit. It is such an encouragement. It's been almost three years. So, you know, if they come back after three years, that's a good thing. They must be good fertile soil and brought his grandma.

[0:25] All right. Well, you know, Matt Landek, is he here today? Matt's always calling me old, so I wanted to call him out, you know. So, you know, old people are supposed to tell you that God is faithful.

[0:42] And though I disagree with Matt, I've been around now 57 years and God is faithful. And we need to be reminded that God is faithful.

[0:52] Because sometimes you wonder, is he going to be faithful? Am I going to get through this? Is God faithful? But I've seen God be faithful. I have seen God work through my family.

[1:04] I've got six kids. I've looked at my daughter, you know, on her bed, just bedridden, having difficulty breathing, wondering, is she going to make it? You know, will she make it?

[1:15] And watching that, you know, will she be faithful? And seeing my son, his body completely shut down with fibromyalgia and seeing him just in pain and such agony and depressed and thinking, what's the point in going to college, Dad, if I can't get a job in society?

[1:38] And seeing them go through that. And as a parent, the hardest thing I think you'll experience as a parent in this world is to watch your kids suffer.

[1:52] And so you need to trust God that you can watch them suffer so they learn to trust God. Because if you don't trust God, then you can't say, hey, you just need to trust God. It'll be all right.

[2:08] It'll be good. You got to know it. And God is faithful. And I've seen him be faithful. And my daughter this morning walked in the kitchen with a great smile on her face, beautiful hair.

[2:27] And we had a great conversation about Jesus just yesterday. And my son, we had some really good conversations. It's like talking to a 50-year-old.

[2:39] That guy's got deep insight into the Lord. Incredible. He's just 26 years old. Really encouraging. God is faithful.

[2:50] And as guys, as military types out there, you'll relate to this, we want to control.

[3:03] You know, if something's going kind of wrong, well, I just need to get in there and fix this. You know, I just need to control that. Things aren't going the way they should, so I'm just going to, you know, help out a little bit.

[3:14] And we just kind of mess things up by doing that. We have a hard time being patient and waiting on the Lord. But God is faithful. We need to be patient and wait on the Lord.

[3:25] David said, I was young, Psalm 37. I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging for bread.

[3:36] They always are generous, and they lend freely. Their children will be blessed. That God gave me when I was 21.

[3:48] Psalm 37, that entire psalm, and that was important to me. I wanted my children to not ever be begging bread. They are not. One guy who was pushing 80 said to me, he's like, Carl, at the end of my years, all the suffering, I have learned two things.

[4:08] There is a God, and I'm not him. And I'm thinking, what? There is a God. I got that.

[4:19] And you're not him. Like, what? I had to think about it. I'm not as smart as that guy. He's saying there is a God. He's worthy to be praised. He's sovereign. He's in control.

[4:30] He knows how to do things. I'm not sovereign. I'm not in control. I don't know how to take control of my life. And I can trust him to take control, to trust him, take care of me in the midst of suffering.

[4:46] And you get that perspective after you've been there. Well, we're going to look at Job. Cadets are on spring break, so I thought, well, you know, I'll come share what I learned in Job.

[5:00] You know, I've been looking at Job for the last two months. And who has fallen asleep reading Job? Like, oh, my goodness, it's too much. You know, it's just me. Who has said, I don't understand what Job and his friends are talking about, Carl?

[5:11] I mean, some of that looks good, but then they say it's not. I mean, what is it? Is it good or is it not good? I'm confused. You know, Leviathan's in there, all kinds of crazy stuff. Like, what is going on? So I thought, why am I supposed to come down?

[5:24] Well, Matthew 13, 52, Jesus said, therefore, every teacher of the law is like an owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new things as well as old.

[5:38] So I hope today that I bring out something new, but I also hope I bring out something old because we need to hear it again and again. And you know how you know those stories that old people tell you?

[5:50] Because they repeat them several times, okay? You need to hear it. That's why. Well, there's two important truths I want to really highlight over the next two Sundays. I'm going to share one with you this Sunday, and I'm going to keep you on the hook so you got to come back the next Sunday for the second important truth.

[6:06] But if you go, oh, Carl, I'm not going to be here. Just ask me. I'll tell you what it is. All right. Some people think that Job is a story. You know, maybe you've heard that. Like, oh, Job really didn't happen.

[6:16] It's a story, you know. And Job was written probably around, you know, the author wrote it down around King Solomon or after that. But Job happened sometime after Abraham.

[6:31] He lived sometime after Abraham, much closer to Abraham than he was to Solomon. And there's evidence for that. And Ezekiel quotes and talks about Job as a person.

[6:44] James talks about Job as a person. So we use the Bible to reference other parts of the Bible to bring validity to the understanding. So they quote Job. They don't say, oh, yeah, he was a story. No, they say he was a person. You have God quoted speaking for himself.

[7:01] Now, in other parables and stories, you have, like, well, the master, you know, and he said, you know, the farmer. But this is God. And he's being quoted. He's not being represented by anybody.

[7:13] God is being represented by God. So in other places in the Bible, we know there's a story. We know what a story looks like. But here, it's clear that this is not a story.

[7:26] But people think, oh, you know, I don't know. That Job is just too far-fetched. I mean, it seems a little far-fetched. It seems kind of weird. Does it seem a little weird, a little far-fetched? I don't know, Carl. It just seems kind of crazy to me.

[7:38] So I'm okay with this invisible being speaking into existence the universe. But having this guy named Job going through that, that's just too much for me to handle.

[7:52] I'm okay with you raising someone from the dead. But come on, a basket full of loaves and fish and you fed 5,000 people, that's a little too much, a little over the top. We do that, right?

[8:04] We're like, I don't know. Now, we got to go back to, like, wait a minute. We don't even understand gravity. I was just looking at gravity the other day. I got some engineers in here like, oh, Carl, we know what gravity is. You know, there's gravitons.

[8:15] Like, really? Have you ever seen a graviton? You know? No, we don't. Like electrons, we can like, oh, yeah, see, we have evidence electrons. But not gravitons. We just think they're there. And then it was like, gravity actually is, it's on waves.

[8:29] It's not like straight lines. Ooh, all those Newtonian people out there are like, whoa, that just messed me up. I thought it was a straight force vector. No, it was like, talk about these waves of gravity. Did you know that, Mr. Ph.D. guy?

[8:42] That's just weird. Well, God can do that. So Job has four main sections. You got the first two chapters. It's the setup, right? Satan comes.

[8:53] Then you got the next 35 chapters that you're going, what is going on here with his friends, coming in, talking to him, you know, back and forth. And then four chapters of God's response.

[9:03] And then the last chapter, you got Job responding and how the great ending happens. But non-Christians ask us all the time, why do bad things happen to good people?

[9:18] And we have to be able to answer that. And, of course, Jesus would say, well, you know, why do you call me good? No one's good. Only God's good. But nevertheless, people are like, oh, you know, they're pretty good. You know, they were a coastie.

[9:29] They did 25 years. They saved people. You know, they're a good person. Why does bad things happen to good people? And I got to go back to Genesis. And I say, well, we know that Adam and Eve sinned.

[9:41] So they sinned. And Satan's like, oh, now what are you going to do? You know, your little creation sinned. You're just, so you got to do something about it. And you're righteous that can't be in your presence. So I guess I got you.

[9:54] And God, and being righteous, he's got to have a way for someone to be that righteousness and someone to take on that wrath.

[10:04] And the only person who can do that is God himself. So that's Jesus. So he's going to put in Jesus. Was it plan B? No, it's plan A all from the beginning. God doesn't do plan B. It's plan A, which can blow your mind as well.

[10:18] Like, wait a minute. Did you actually plan for that? Right. So he puts Jesus in there. So now he's going to give us Jesus. But he can't force Jesus on you because that would be rape and God doesn't do that.

[10:30] He's not going to force. So now he's going to make Jesus irresistible for you. So how is he going to do that? He's going to show you that you have a need for a Savior. Instead of thinking that you're all that and three bags of potato chips, which is what we will naturally do.

[10:44] So he makes it so we have a need for a Savior by giving us suffering. So the whole world, we read in Romans 8.20, that the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own, but by him who subjected it.

[11:02] Now that word frustration is also futility. Also can be translated hopelessness. So the creation was subjected to hopelessness, not on its own, but by him who subjected it in hope.

[11:14] It was subjected to hopelessness by God for the purpose of hope. Subjected to hopelessness for the purpose of hope.

[11:25] Now wait a minute, God. And the next verse says, in order that we might be set free from bondage, from bondage to sin.

[11:35] And so that's why we have suffering. So that God, who loves us so much, and he is just, and yes, he does care about when evil things happen, and he will deal with that.

[11:48] There is justice. And he is righteous. So I've got to be able to answer that. And there are really, there are two types of people in the world. There are just two types of people.

[12:00] What is it? Those who need Jesus and those who need more of Jesus. So those who need Jesus, you know, they need to suffer in order to get Jesus.

[12:13] And those who need more of Jesus, we need to suffer in order to get more of Jesus. So Job needs more of Jesus. We're going to look at that second type of person today about needing more of Jesus.

[12:30] But we're going to bring up one of my best friends who helps me so often. He's an encouragement to me. I cry on his shoulder.

[12:41] I whine to him all the time. And he's like, Carl, stop whining. And he gives me a hug when I need it. And he rides mountain bikes with me when I'm not broken. Dan Couture. He's going to read Job 1 and 2.

[12:52] All right.

[13:05] Job 1 and 2. For the record, he's normally whining on his mountain bike, going up a hill. Job 1. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job.

[13:16] And that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There was born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all people in the east.

[13:35] His son used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day. And they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all.

[13:55] For Job said, It may be that my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus Job did continually. Now there was a day when the sons of Job came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.

[14:11] The Lord said to Satan, From where have you come? Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro on the earth, from walking up and down on it. And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil?

[14:30] Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

[14:44] But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face. And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.

[14:56] So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. Now there was a day that his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house. And there came a messenger to Job and said, The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them.

[15:10] And the Sabines fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword. And I alone have escaped to tell you. While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep, and the servants consumed them.

[15:26] And I alone have escaped to tell you. While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword.

[15:39] And I alone have escaped to tell you. While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house. And behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house.

[15:53] And it fell upon the young people, and they are all dead. And I alone have escaped to tell you. Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshipped.

[16:04] And he said, Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I shall return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

[16:19] Again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, From where have you come?

[16:30] Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it. And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil?

[16:45] He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Skin for skin, all that a man has he will give his life.

[16:58] But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face. And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, he is in your hand, only spare his life. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

[17:14] And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. Then his wife said to him, Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die. But he said to her, You speak as one foolish woman, you speak as one of the foolish woman would speak.

[17:31] Shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place.

[17:44] Eliphaz, the Temanite, Bildad, the Shuhite, and Zophar, the Nehomethite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.

[17:57] And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept. And they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their head toward heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights.

[18:09] And no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was great. Am I back on?

[18:21] So that's a lot. First you see, at the beginning, Job is blameless, upright, feared God, shunned evil.

[18:36] And it says in verse three, he was the greatest man in the east. Wow. That's pretty neat. That's important to think about because the theme that's going to be played out we'll talk about more next week is how his friends accuse him.

[18:57] In verse eight, you might be surprised. The God is the one who initiates this whole thing. You're like, what's going on there?

[19:08] God initiates that. So you're thinking, hmm, was it God's plan for Job to suffer?

[19:21] Does God plan for me to suffer? Does God plan for this tragic event to come into my life, this evil event to come into my life?

[19:32] Is it God's fault? And maybe you could make an argument. Well, it is God's fault because if, you know, he's the one who made me. And if he just would have made me like a robot, I wouldn't have any problems.

[19:45] You know, and some days, I'd rather just be a robot than deal with my own sinful nature if I was just an AI. So you could say, okay, yeah, it's God's fault if you want to go there. But that's not it because even a two-year-old knows that they're wrong.

[20:02] They know. We know. In our hearts, we know. And we might try to struggle with that. And that word plan, and my daughter said to me like, Dad, you know, you gotta be careful when you say God's plan.

[20:17] You know, we know that God is sovereign. He has authority over everything. But when you say plan, you get in the nuance. And you have a smart, people that argue all the time.

[20:28] As soon as you try to explain God's word, and you put down on paper words to explain God's word, you come up short, and some other people with 10-pound heads over here, you know, tell you how you're not right. And then someone else says, no, that is not exactly right.

[20:40] And you go back and forth, and all these people are way smarter than me, but I know what God's word says. And that's what I can hold to. And some things that are clear to me is like, well, does God do the evil, or does Satan do it?

[20:57] So I see that Satan is the one who does it. Is God threatened at all that his will won't happen? Even if I sin, is God threatened by my sin that his will isn't going to happen?

[21:17] He's got me for 80 years. Would Job agree with Joseph at the end, at the end of the time, would Job agree with Joseph that what you meant for evil, God meant for good?

[21:31] Now Joseph, if you remember, his brothers wanted to kill him. They ended up selling him as a slave. He goes as a slave. He gets falsely accused. He gets life in prison and then forgotten about.

[21:45] And the entire time, he's got this great attitude. It's almost like he must know something. And he said to his brothers in the end, what you meant for evil, God meant for good.

[21:58] Would Job agree with that? Now some of you are thinking, why doesn't God just smoke that guy? Right, Ryan?

[22:08] Just take care of that Satan guy. Just crush him. Just Thanos him right there. You know, just make him go away. Well, you can do away with the accuser, but the accusation still remains. Right?

[22:20] So he's going to deal with him. He's going to be dealt with at the appropriate time. In verse 9 through 11, chapter 1, Satan accuses Job as only honoring God because he honors, because he himself is being blessed.

[22:39] He only honors you because you take care of him. But in verse 22, it says, in all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. He didn't sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

[22:52] That's important to remember that because we're going to talk about his friends if you jump to the end, which we will in a moment. Job 42, verse 7. God says to his friends, like, you guys are in big trouble.

[23:08] You did not speak rightly about me like my servant Job. You spoke wrongly. You didn't speak rightly about me like my servant Job. That's important.

[23:19] He says, I'm angry with you. And then he repeats that in verse 9. So anytime, you know, Jesus or God repeats something twice, you know, it's going to be on the test. If he had professors like that, they repeat things twice, those are good professors.

[23:32] You know it's going to be on the test, okay? That's important. He repeats it. And then verse 10 in chapter 2, again, he says, shall we accept good from God and not trouble?

[23:44] In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. that's pretty incredible. But when you suffer, you ask a question.

[23:56] When you suffer, what is it that you want to know? Why? You want to know the why. I want to know the why. I want to know the why. And Job asks the why.

[24:09] He asks the why. Does God give him the why? No. He could have easily given the why. It's right there in the first two chapters. We got the first two chapters.

[24:19] Why doesn't he give him the why? It's right there. He could have easily given the why, but he doesn't give him the why. Instead, he shows Job himself. He says, let me show you who I am.

[24:31] And he shows him that he does what he says. This is who I am and I do what I say. Why does God do that? I think underneath the question that Job asks is not the why, but what he wants to know is, can I trust you to make this all work out?

[24:52] Can I trust you that you're going to work all of this for my good, for us who love you? Can I trust you that you're going to make this all work out?

[25:03] I think that's his real question. And to trust somebody, you think about it, if you're going to trust somebody, you know, I just come up to a complete stranger and go, here, here's a package. Take on the airplane for me.

[25:14] You know, that'll work with TSA. If you're going to trust somebody, you need to know that they're a good person. who they are. And then you need to know that they're going to do what they say.

[25:27] That's how I trust. Do I know that you're going to do what you say? And so what he shows Job is he shows him this is who I am and I do what I say.

[25:40] But we ask the why. But you know, knowing the why doesn't help. Knowing the why does not help.

[25:52] What do you mean, Carl? I think I'd like to know the why. Well, you already know the why and yet you still ask. We know the why. We know that suffering helps us trust.

[26:07] Helps our faith. We know that why. Just turn in your Bible. Go to New Testament almost all the way to the back to Hebrews. So if you hit Revelation and went too far, back up, you know, see John, Peter, and James, then Hebrews.

[26:23] Go to Hebrews 5. Hebrews chapter 5. This is a good verse for you to know. Hebrews chapter 5, verse 8 and 9. I always ask the question, well, what does Jesus have to do with this?

[26:38] And we're going to look at Jesus here. Hebrews chapter 5, verse 8 and 9 says, though he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And once made perfect, he became the source of our eternal salvation.

[26:52] Now that word obedience really can be seen as trust and obey. He learned to trust and obey. If it was just obedience, that would make Jesus a Pharisee who just knows how to follow rules.

[27:03] And Jesus wasn't about just being a Pharisee. It's though he was a son, he learned to trust and obey through what he suffered and once made perfect, became the source of our salvation. So what is the purpose of suffering?

[27:18] Trust and obey. Be like Christ. If the son of God had to suffer to be trusting and obeying.

[27:32] Can we skip that final? Can we just test out of that? Look at James chapter 1, which is right past Hebrews.

[27:44] James chapter 1 is another great resource for us. Look at verse 2.

[27:56] Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials, suffering of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith, faith is trusting and obeying.

[28:08] The testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. mature and complete.

[28:19] That complete, you're Christ-like. You're not lacking anything. You're made like Christ. Not lacking anything. So we need to suffer. Look at verse 5, though.

[28:31] That seems kind of weird. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God to give generously without finding fault and be given to him. I thought we were talking about trusting and obeying, Carl, and his suffering. What's this wisdom stuff?

[28:43] Well, let's look at Scripture to interpret Scripture. Jump over to James chapter 3, verse 17 and 18. James 3, 17 and 18. It says, But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure and peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere, peacemakers who sow in peace, raise a harvest of righteousness.

[29:08] And it sounds like the Holy Spirit and Jesus to me, right? So the purpose of suffering is for me to trust and obey and be like Jesus. God wants us to experience his son, to see Jesus, to experience that type of trust and obeying.

[29:24] That's why we suffer. It makes it all worth it. Job in the end is like, this is all worth it. I get to experience you.

[29:35] I get to trust you just like Jesus. So we know the why. Well, how about 2 Corinthians? 2 Corinthians, Paul talks a lot about his suffering.

[29:48] You see his suffering in there. He says, you know, I think it's in chapter 12. It's like, five times I was beaten. 40 lashes minus one.

[29:59] Do the math on that. What was that? 195? Three times I was beaten with rods. One time, I was stoned to death, but then I woke up.

[30:11] Three times shipwreck a day in the night on the open sea. I had hypothermia. I was hungry. I was naked. I was in danger.

[30:22] Even my own people abandoned me, he said. And then in chapter one, at the beginning, before he gets into all that, he's like, you know, there were times we despaired even of life.

[30:34] We suffered so much, we despaired of life. In chapter one, verses eight and nine, he said, and then he says, but all this happened so that we wouldn't trust in ourselves, but we'd trust in God.

[30:50] You know what my default is? I trust in myself. I trust in myself. It's a naval aviator thing also. Of course, you're going to trust in yourself. You have to trust in yourself.

[31:01] Every naval aviator out there trusts himself. They're so full of themselves, their hat size is like this big. You always know you're talking to a naval aviator because they'll tell you.

[31:14] So the purpose of suffering, Paul says it, so we learn to trust in the Father. So you already know the why. You've studied all those scriptures and yet when you suffer, you go, why?

[31:28] Why? And the smoking gun here is, if you still don't believe me, if you were satisfied with the why in your suffering, then you would self-schedule suffering because you know how good it is for you.

[31:46] How many of you self-schedule it? You got it on your calendar right now? No one? All right. Well, let's do what I did.

[31:57] We read the first two chapters and then I jumped to the end. I'm like, I can't handle this. I need to know how this ends. You know, I want to know how it ends. You know, that stuff in the middle is too crazy. So I do that sometimes with movies, you know, believe it or not.

[32:08] I just want to fast forward. Like, okay, it works out okay for me. I'm okay with that. So let's go to Job 42. Go to the middle of your Bible, get to Psalm, turn left, and you'll hit Job.

[32:28] Job 42. 42 chapters. Mike's like, Carl, you want to do two Sundays? You're going to do two Sundays on Job? Like, 42 chapters. How am I going to cover it all? You know, it's like a lot. How am I, I don't even know how I'm doing it in two.

[32:40] Some people do this years. I was reading one guy, I spent over 20 years going through Job. You know, it was like back in the day in England. Incredible.

[32:50] Well, let's look at Job 42, one through five here. Job replies to the Lord. And in verse two, starting in verse two, he says, I know that you can do all things.

[33:06] I know who you are. No purpose of yours can be thwarted. You do what you say. My sin is not going to mess up God's will.

[33:21] You know, there are two truths in the universe. One is God's sovereignty, and the other is man's responsibility. And we try to explain those all the time, and we don't do a very good job, but the fact remains that there's God's sovereignty, and there's man's responsibility, and they work together.

[33:41] I don't know how, but they do, and that's the way it is. Verse three, you asked, who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge? Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.

[33:59] He told him, you need to know some things that you don't know. You need to have some epigenosis. That is heart knowledge.

[34:11] That epigenosis is that heart knowledge. You need to have this heart knowledge, because you only have this kind of head knowledge stuff. You know, what you need is this. So I want you to get this, Job, because you don't have it right now, and you need it.

[34:23] Verse four, you said, listen now, and I will speak. I will question you, and you shall answer me. And if you read that, Job is told that twice by God.

[34:39] It's like in 38, and then chapter 38, and then chapter 40, at the beginning. Does that seem kind of harsh? Like, brace yourself like a man. I'm going to speak to you.

[34:49] You know? Does that sound kind of harsh? Brace yourself. I'm going to speak to you. Now, he doesn't use language, like, stand up at attention, you maggot.

[35:03] Brace it up. I'm going to lock you up right now. That's what we do in the military. That is like, really pulling rank. But he doesn't do that. He just, he's more of a teacher. It sounds, it might think that, but he says, brace yourself like a man.

[35:14] I have something to say to you. You need this. You need to focus right now. So he's a teacher. He's not a, he's not a drill sergeant. He's a teacher. God is coming at him.

[35:26] He's firm, but he's gentle, like a dad. Right, Tyler? Amen. You got to be firm and gentle. Tyler is firm and gentle. You got to be that way.

[35:37] And that's what God is. He's firm and gentle here. That's important to see. In verse five says, my ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.

[35:49] Ephesians one 18 talks about the eyes of your heart. That's the eyes of his heart because he didn't see him. God just didn't appear and they walked in. Oh yeah, I see you. And they described me like this. No, it's the eyes of his heart are enlightened.

[36:02] I heard of you, but now I have that epigenosis. Now I get it. Like, oh, so worth it. It's made it all worth it. Now, some of you parents out there, some of your moms like, I don't know, Carly lost seven sons and three daughters.

[36:17] I kind of have an issue with that. I kind of got an issue with that. A little, a little frustrated by that. Not, I don't, I'm unsettled because I'm a parent. I'm unsettled by that. Amen.

[36:27] I get it. You know, I've talked with, with people. And, and, uh, my pastor, my mentor, I've talked with many people.

[36:39] and, and, and Nico, Colossios, you know, Nico Colossios. He tells me, after, his newborn son, lived seconds, and he held him in his arms.

[36:53] There's just something about, knowing God. And Nico is telling me about how God was good. God is sovereign. And he's good.

[37:05] That's epigenosis in his heart. Even though he's holding his newborn baby, who's now dead, his son. And, and he's telling me like, oh, God is good, Carl.

[37:15] Where's that baby go? Where's his son? Skips finals, goes right up to heaven. How many of you would like to skip finals?

[37:28] Yeah. His son is not crying and go, oh, I wish I could go back and suffer some on earth. You know, that would be really good. I'm looking forward to paying taxes.

[37:38] You know, I missed out. 80 years is like this, compared to eternity. So he's, in heaven. We know that because when King David lost his son, he's like, I'm going to see him again.

[37:54] You know, and even though he fasted for seven days, hoping that he would still live, as soon as he finds out that he's dead, he gets up, he shaves, he showers, he eats, and goes in and prays God.

[38:07] Just like that. He just receives grace. He's like, can't do anything about that. He's up there. Now I need to go on. He receives grace. That's Jesus in the Old Testament. There's no God of the Old Testament, God of the New Testament.

[38:19] There's God. And you see Jesus on the very beginning. So, they're in heaven. They're not suffering.

[38:30] Job is the one who's suffering. And Job is saying, that is worth it. That's important for me to know. Because if you're going to trust God, that it's okay for your children to suffer, so they learn to trust God, you've got to get that.

[38:48] Because we're parents. And what do we want to do, Mom? We want to rescue. No. I don't want them to suffer. We want to rescue. And we short circuit.

[38:59] We get in there, and we want to control. See, moms want to rescue, and the dad's like, well, this is what you need to do, so I'm going to get you, we're going to get a job. You're coming with me. You're filling out this paperwork. I did that. Sometimes it was a little helpful, but I went too far.

[39:17] That's when we don't let our children suffer so they learn to trust God. What is more important? But in the moment, oh, we are so weak.

[39:27] You're like, oh, Carl, I want my son to graduate from the Coast Guard Academy, but don't you want to learn to trust God? Oh, can we wait on that? These are great people.

[39:39] These are missionaries and pastors, and when it comes down to their little Johnny, suffering, oh, my goodness. Okay, so what's God's response? Let's take a look at God's response.

[39:50] Job asks why, and God says, you need me. I'm like, what? Well, now, you need me.