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I decided today that I didn’t want to step into the middle of pasture, going through the churches, the the seven churches in Revelation two and three. And so I’m going to look at a different book today, and hopefully we can get some application from that book, not only for our personal lives, but some application for us studying and looking through the Book of Revelation. And so if you want to follow along, turn to the book of job this morning. Job. Job is just before Psalms in your Old Testament Bible. So the book of job, um, I think pastor has done just a great job of, of, of letting us know some of the things to expect as we go through the Book of Revelation. And two things that stood out to me so far is, is he says that the Book of Revelation is a book of hope. And that’s encouraging to me, because no matter what we’re going through, no matter what’s happening in our lives, uh, God is always there. God, we can always have hope in our Lord. Right? And so hope is it’s a wonderful thing and we’re going to see it in Job. We’re going to see it in Revelation. And and the other thing that pastor has mentioned is that Revelation is a book of worship. And I love that. I love that we get back to the place of worship. We get to worship here every Sunday morning.
Right. And our our music group is so amazing and the worship is so incredible. And so that’s a praise. But we get to see. I hope you get to worship daily. You come across times when you want to, when you can worship in your personal life all the time. And we’re going to see that that not only is Revelation the book of worship, but job we see is a book of worship as well. And again, I think I think these things help us, help us not only in our personal lives, but help us as we’re going to study Revelation. So job is an interesting book. Um, one of the things that makes it so interesting is we have no idea who wrote it. We can speculate a whole bunch about who wrote it, but we really have no idea who wrote the book of Job. And so since we don’t know who wrote the Book of Job, it’s kind of hard to tell when the Book of Job was written. And so we don’t know these things about job. Um, we do know a little bit. And we’re going to look at that in these first three verses of job. So job chapter one, verses one through three say this. It says there was a man of the land of us whose name was job, and that man was blameless and upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.
Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. His possessions were 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants. Now listen to this. And that man was the greatest of all the men of the East. Wow, that’s a statement. We’ll come back to that in a minute. But. But it says that job was from the land of Oz. And and again, we really don’t know where that was. There are several references to us in the Bible, but none of them can conclusively tell us that that’s where job is from. And so but it does say this, that he was the greatest among the men of the East. And when the Bible talks about the East, it’s really it’s really unique. The Bible is talking about east of the Jordan River. East of Israel is anything east. And so Ammon, Moab, Edom, they’re all east of the Jordan River. And on that east side well also is Arabia. Arabia just keeps going east, and it’s a long ways east. I mean, the, the wise men who brought gifts to Jesus in Bethlehem. Where were they from? They were from the East. They traveled a long time from the east to get there. And so these guys, the east is all of that. And so we know job was from somewhere in all of that. But what’s incredible is that he was greatest among all the men and all of that.
That’s what a testimony that is to job. So really an incredible thing to to see about job. And and oftentimes since we don’t know so much about who wrote it and when it was written, and even where job lived. And sometimes people come up with this idea. Well then, is job really a real character in the Bible or is this a parable? Did job really exist? And I think the Bible helps us with that. In Ezekiel chapter 14, verses 12 through 20, God is telling Ezekiel some things, and he tells him four different times. He says four different times, something like this. If a country or a land sins against me and I pour out my wrath against it, then I’m going to do it in various ways. There’s various ways God listed in each of those four times, but then each of those four times two, he says something like this out of verse 20. He says, even though Noah, Daniel and Job were in the midst as I live, declares the Lord, they could not save either their son or their daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness. Wow, that’s pretty amazing. I mean it. So we learn a couple of things about job. Job was righteous. I mean, if job was in one of these lands that God was going to pour out, his wrath on, job wouldn’t be affected by it, just like Noah and Daniel.
I mean, that’s pretty good company to keep. And I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anybody say that they thought Noah and Daniel were parables. And so I think, I think we get a pretty valuable information from, from that about job being a real person. And here’s the second one. And I like this and a whole bunch. This is out of James, out of the New Testament now. And in James chapter five and verse ten says this as an example, brothers and sisters of suffering and patience take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We count those blessed who endure. And you think about it. If you look at Hebrews chapter 11, you see what he’s talking about. You see what some of these prophets endured and what they went through. And and if you’re a student of the Bible, you know, these some of these prophets. It was crazy what they dealt with, what they endured. He’s talking about and he says we count them blessed because of what they endured for their suffering and patience. But now listen to how he ended, he said, and you have heard of the endurance of job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and merciful. So really, when you see these things that happen to job, it’s pretty obvious that job’s a real person.
And not only did these things happen so that we could see his righteousness, but they happened so that we could see God’s compassion and his mercy on people. And so job was a real man. We learned. We learned some amazing things about him. He was blameless. He was upright. He feared God, and he turned from evil. We also learned that he had ten kids, and that he had a whole bunch of animals and a whole bunch of servants and and if you go on in chapter one, you learn this about him. Job’s ten kids would get together and they would have these big dinners, and they would have these big gatherings. And and after his kids would get together the next day, job would rise up early in the morning and he would offer burnt offerings for each of his kids, and he would do that, the Bible says, just in case any of them sinned or cursed God. He wanted to make sure he could do everything he could, to even make sure his kids were good, were clean. We’re right with God at the time, and so it was pretty amazing. It’s pretty incredible to see the type of person Jobe was. But here’s something Jobe didn’t know. There was a real spiritual heavenly battle going on for Jobe, and we see that in the next few verses. In chapter one, starting in verse six, it says, now there was a day when the sons of God came and presented themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them.
That’s amazing. The sons of God are angels. The angels come and present themselves before God, and Satan also comes with them. And it’s interesting that we get to hear Satan’s exchange with God, because God says to Satan, from where do you come now? God didn’t need to know. God already knew, right? God knows everything. God knows where Satan was. He knows where he’s been. He knows where he’s going to go. I mean, God knows everything. He didn’t need to know that. But this statement is made more of a Satan. Give an account of yourself. I want to hear what you’ve been doing. And so Satan says this. He’s he answers the Lord. And he says, from roaming about on the earth and walking around on it. Oh, man. Kind of reminds you of first Peter chapter five and verse eight, doesn’t it? Satan roams around, walks around on the earth seeking whom he may devour. That’s what he could have said to God. I’ve just been out looking for who I may devour. And then God says this amazing thing to him says, have you considered my servant job? What a wonderful title. Wouldn’t everybody like to say if God addressed something about you? Oh, there’s my servant. So. And so. That would be pretty good.
Good. Good stuff. But then he says, for there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and an upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil. Now we got the the blameless and the upright and fearing God, and turning away from evil. We got that out of verse one. But listen to what he says there. There is no one like him on the earth. God had already said there was no one like him in the East. He was the greatest among the men of the East. And now God is telling Satan, there’s nobody like job on the entire earth. What a testimony that is! That’s amazing. And you’d think that Satan would say, well, I should think before I act, but Satan don’t do that. Satan. It’s really shocking, the boldness with which Satan approaches God. And we see it starting in verse nine. It says, Then Satan answered God and it says, Does job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a fence around him and his house and all that he has on every side. And have you or you have blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land. I mean, God, you’re taking care of job. Of course he fears you. Of course he’s in awe of you. I mean, if he didn’t or if you didn’t, if you stopped doing this, then job wouldn’t fear you anymore.
He wouldn’t do it. That’s Satan’s accusation. If you stopped, then job wouldn’t. He would stop worshiping you. He would stop fearing you. And I think it’s pretty amazing that we get to listen in to this exchange and this conversation between God and Satan, because job helps us see in just an incredible way that God is in control of everything. Nothing goes on that God’s not in control of. Even Satan has to come before God and get permission to do what he does. God is in control of it all. There’s nothing that goes on that God God’s surprised by it. There’s nothing that goes on that God doesn’t know about. There’s nothing that goes on that God doesn’t even know what the results are going to be after it goes on. I mean, that’s how completely in control God is in of everything. Nothing is out of God’s control. And so God says, or Satan had said, reach out and touch your hand and with your hand, and touch all that he has, and he will certainly curse you to your face. And so God says, okay, go ahead. He says, he’s in your power to do whatever you want to do. He says, but you can’t harm him. You can’t hurt him. And so Satan uses the Sabians and the Chaldeans, and and he has them come and he has them raid everything that job has.
All of his children are killed. All of his servants are killed. All of his livestock is taken away. A pretty much virtually everything that he has is gone. And look at job’s response 22 or in verse 20 it says. Then job got up, he tore his robe and he shaved his head, and he fell down to the ground and he worshiped. Oh, my. I don’t know about you, but when I’m going through tough times, that’s not my response. My immediate response isn’t worship. I mean, I praise the Lord. I think it comes eventually, but that’s not my immediate response. Job fell down and worshiped and he said this. He said, naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I shall return there. Listen to this. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And despite all this job did not sin, and he did not blame God. Satan come to God and said, take all this stuff away, and job will sin and he’ll curse you. And job didn’t. That messed up for a minute? So he comes to God again and look in chapter two and at the first few verses in chapter two and you see the exact same thing going on, Satan again comes before God. And this time God says to Satan, he says, if you consider my servant job, and he says this about him, he says, who still holds firm to his integrity, though you have moved against him, he says, I know what you did, Satan.
And yet job is still holding firm to to his belief in me and who he believes I am. And he hasn’t sinned against me, and he hasn’t cursed me like like you thought he would. Satan and Satan challenges God again. He is again. He’s just incredibly bold. He says, put forth your hand and and mess with his bone and his flesh. Put forth your hand and hurt him physically, and then he’ll curse you to your face. And God says, okay, you can do that, Satan. He says, but you can’t harm him. You can’t kill him. And so, you know, if you know the story, you know what Satan did. Is he afflicted job with the boils, with the sores all over him? I mean, it was it was so messy. It was so painful, and job was so miserable. I mean, he was scraping himself with pieces of pottery, broken pottery, trying to clean the stuff up and and trying to get a little relief. And it was so bad that even his wife chimes in and his wife says this. She says, are you still maintaining your integrity? Cursed God and die. Are you still? Are you still going to stand up and say, yep, I believe God, I trust God, he’s in control. Why don’t you just curse God and die and get and be done with it? You’re going through so much, and job’s answer to his wife is really an amazing answer.
And it’s a question that I think it would be good for us to ask ourselves once in a while. Job says this, he says, but he said to her, you are speaking as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we accept good from God and not accept adversity? Despite all this, job did not sin with his lips. What a great question. Shall we accept good from God and not accept adversity? It’s so easy for me to stand and say, oh God is so good when things are going good for me, right? God is so good. But when things aren’t going so good, do I still say that? Do I still say God is so good when I’m struggling? When things are going on, whatever it might be. Is God still good? We know he is. But am I saying it? And that’s what job’s trying to tell us here. Should we accept the good from God and not the adversity? Really a good question. And, you know, any time we talk about Satan, I think it’s important to bring up a couple of things about Satan, because as powerful as of being a Satan is, he’s not in control of everything. Like we said, he has to come to God. He has to ask for permission.
But there’s a couple of other things about Satan that I think are important for us to know. Number one is he has no idea what we’re thinking. Satan can’t get into our mind and look into our mind like God can. He don’t know what we’re thinking. The only thing Satan can operate from is what I show him. The only thing he could operate from with job was he was righteous. He was. He was blameless. He was upright. He feared God. I mean, that’s the only thing Satan had to operate from. So who did he accuse? God. He stands before God and accuses God. The only reason saint or job is so good is because of you, God. And so he. That’s the only thing he had to work with. He has different stuff to work with for me and he’ll use it. But Satan can’t do anything that I haven’t showed him already. The second thing Satan doesn’t know is Satan doesn’t know the future. The only thing Satan knows about the future is the same thing. We do what’s in this book and he knows it well, but he doesn’t. He can’t determine what’s going to go on next week. Only God does that. So to me, those are a couple of valuable things about Satan that keeps me from from giving him too much power in my life because he is an incredible, powerful, incredibly powerful being.
And really, nothing’s going to stop him from accusing us before God. That’s his goal. That’s his plan. Pastor is going to cover this soon in the Book of Revelation. But Revelation chapter 12 and verse ten says this. It says, then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the salvation and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come. For the accuser of the brethren and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before God day and night. Comes a time in chapter 12 of Revelation when Satan is thrown out of heaven again. And and but what he was doing while he was there is he was accusing the brethren day and night, and that’s what he’s going to do. He’s going to spend that time accusing us. He’s going to accuse us continually until he can’t accuse us anymore. And so job in this interesting place that he’s at, all of a sudden he runs into some accusers that he wasn’t expecting. We’re introduced at the end of chapter two, or toward the end of chapter two to his three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. Now these three friends come along, and their purpose and their desire is to be show job some sympathy and to mourn with him and to care for him. And when they first come, they did that. They were great at it.
Listen to this says when they looked from a distance and did not recognize him, he was so messed up they didn’t even recognize him. They raised their voices and they wept. And each of them tore his robe, and he threw dust over his head toward the sky. And then they sat down on the ground with him. And for seven days and for seven nights no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great. What an impressive thing. What a great thing to come and just sit with a guy and mourn. You know, we oftentimes get the opportunity to try to be an encouragement to someone. And if you’re like me, I always think I got it, say exactly the right thing. So I’m always trying to think, what’s the right thing to say? Maybe sometimes it would be better for me just to sit down and be quiet and just mourn quietly with them. Maybe I just need to give them a hug. Maybe I just need to hold a hand, you know? Maybe I just need to cry with them. Right? Maybe I don’t need to say a word. I mean, there will come a time when maybe we do. But maybe I could just be quiet like these friends of of job. Now, unfortunately, the friends of job couldn’t stay quiet. They. It’s a it’s a really an interesting time, but they couldn’t keep quiet.
And actually, over the next 28 chapters of the book of job, job will heal in chapter three. He’ll he’ll mourn that he was even born, and he’ll wish he was dead. And so he spends chapter three doing that. And then starting in chapter four, his friends start in, and their whole goal is to convince him that he’s a sinner. Job. You’ve got to be a sinner. You’ve got to have sinned or God wouldn’t be doing all this stuff to you. And they spent the next 28 chapters doing that, and job spent his part of the next 28 chapters defending himself. No, I didn’t sin, I didn’t sin, and at first that was his focus. No, I didn’t sin. Later on, as we’ll see, he also started saying, no, I didn’t sin. And I’m a pretty good guy and I’m a pretty good guy all by myself. It didn’t come from God, and God will challenge him about that. But for for what we see with job and with his friend is his friends. As they spent all this time arguing their positions and job says some pretty unique things as he’s stating his defense. And I want to look at a couple of them because I think they’re kind of fun. In chapter 16 and verse 21, he says, oh, that one might plead for a man with God as a son of man with his neighbor.
Job said, man, I wish somebody would just plead to God for me. I wish there was somebody that could do that. And those of you that are familiar with First John know this first John chapter two and verse one says, my little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Jesus Christ is doing for all of us exactly what job was hoping somebody would do for him. Stand before God and advocate for him. What an incredible picture of of job looking for what Jesus Christ does for us. Pretty nice. In chapter 19 we have another one. And this one is great. You’ve probably heard this one before, but he says yet in 25 yet as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that the last he will take his stand on the earth. What a great verse in Colossians chapter one, verse 13 and 14. We have somewhat of a parallel and and there’s many for this one, but this is for he has rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sin. Job says, I know that my Redeemer lives. You know job again, we’re not sure, but job probably lived at a time when no other scriptures were available.
He didn’t have a Bible to go look at. He didn’t have the law to go look at. He didn’t have any of that stuff to go look at. Yet he’s able to make the statement, I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that he’s alive right now, and he’s one day going to stand on this earth, both as a man and in his second coming. What an incredible statement by job. Really amazing. And so job maintains, all this time I didn’t sin. But like I said, he does come to this place where he starts to question how God is dealing with him. He starts to question God’s justice and how he’s dealing with him and his three friends. Continue over and over and over again. Yep. You must have sinned or God wouldn’t be allowing what’s going on here. And then in verse 32, a whole new guy shows up. All of a sudden a guy named Elihu shows up. Elijah, who’s younger than the other guys, but he had to have been there all along because Elihu’s argument is, he argues, from what job and his three friends have been arguing about already. And Elihu, he in the next six chapters states his point, and his point is much more godly. This is this is really good. He starts out angry. Elihu says, job, I’m angry with you because you justified yourself and not God, right? You you eventually got to the place to where you found your justification within yourself.
When when you know that God’s the one that justifies. And. And then he was angry with the three friends because they spend all of their time, they didn’t give job any godly advice. All they gave him was condemnation. And so Elihu was angry at them as well. And Elihu comes at this whole thing with a whole different point of view. The other guys were trying to prove job was a sinner. Elihu didn’t want to prove job was a sinner. Elihu who wanted to show him that his view of God, what he was saying about God, his questioning of God is wrong. He had no no right, no reason to be questioning God. And he said things about God like this. He said, God’s gracious, God’s just. God’s great. That’s the kind of things that Eliyahu covers as he’s going through his all of these statements to to job and to his three friends. Now, like, like I said, Eliyahu goes on for six chapters. And then all of a sudden in chapter 38, uh, job Eliphaz Bildad Zophar, none of those guys got to talk because God said, I’m done with all this. It’s my turn to talk. I’m ready to talk. I need, I need to be the one that comes in next. And so God starts talking and, you know, job questioned God’s justice.
He he he challenged God. He questioned Job and God. And even though God’s going to challenge job and it’s interesting to realize God’s challenge of job still comes on the heels of God calling him things like a man. There’s no other man like him on earth, and calling him blameless and upright and the greatest of the men of the East. But God has to has to help. Job. See? Did you forget that I’m the one that gives you that character? I’m the one that gives you that stuff. And so? So God addresses job and. And there’s all kinds of questions that he asks. There’s there’s actually 77 questions in these chapters, these five chapters that God questions job. And in those 77 questions, he asks him things like, were you there? Did you do this? Did you do that? Who did do those things? And so he’s challenging job with all of that stuff. And his goal is to help job realize that you really have no right to question God. You should not be questioning God. And as you can guess, I mean, job’s got to be shrinking way down, you know? I mean, if God’s talking to you and challenging you like that, good job shrinking way down. And and he can barely speak at one point at the in chapter 40, God questions him directly. And so job answers like this. He says, behold, I am insignificant.
What can I say in response to you? I put my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once and I will not reply or twice, and I will add nothing more. Man, I don’t mind saying I probably should do that once in a while, right? I mean, I’ve spoken too much, but but job says I’m done and God continues to challenge him through the first part of chapter 42. And we finally see the place where job reaches this humble response, where? Where it’s obvious that job has come to that place of repentance. He’s understood. He’s got to that place of repentance. And and he he no longer feels like he can question God. He no longer thinks God was unjust to him. And so he says these things. Starting in verse two of chapter 42, he says, I know that you can do all things, and that no plan is impossible for you. Who is this who conceals advice without knowledge? Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand things too wonderful for me, which I do not know. Please listen, and I will speak. I will ask you and you instruct me. I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear. But now my eyes see you. Therefore I retract, and I repent, sitting in dust and ashes. What an incredible statement Joseph or Job makes in these few verses, because it’s so good for us, no matter what we’re going through, to come to that place where we say, I know you can do all things, and no plan is impossible for you.
I mean, just get to that spot where we know God’s in control of everything. You can do it all. Nothing’s impossible for you. And if you keep reading in verse or in chapter 42, you see, this job at this time is repenting. He’s humbling himself, and he declares all these amazing things about God. And this is before God does anything for him. And I think that’s important. God eventually is going to restore everything to job. As a matter of fact, he’s going to restore it double. He’s going to have double of what he ever had. But God doesn’t restore it before job makes these statements, and he doesn’t restore it before job prays for his three friends. Listen to what God says to his three friends, he says in his wrath. Uh, God tells job’s three friends, it’s I didn’t speak or you didn’t speak of me. What is right. But my servant job did. Isn’t that great? He was servant job. And now, at the end of the book, he’s servant job again. I like that, but he says. But my servant job did so offer a burnt offering. And job will pray for you. And I will accept him. I will accept job’s prayer for you. What a great thing.
And it’s after job. Prayer prays that God restores everything to job and double. And I think it’s unique to notice. Also, Elihu isn’t included in this. This is just the first three friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. They, Elihu, spoke for God and and God’s wrath was not poured out on Elihu relating to all of this. So it’s important for us to remember, I think, that that no matter what we’re going through, acknowledge that God is who he is. I mean, sometimes we we want to maybe God did this. Maybe God is this. Maybe God doesn’t love me. I mean, we sing about that this morning and man, he don’t ever take his love from us. Acknowledge God for who he is. No matter what we’re going through. Even if the response from him isn’t what you were hoping for and what you thought it might be. Acknowledge God for who he is. Acknowledge that he’s in control of everything. Acknowledge that he’s great. He’s almighty. Just everything about him. And so I want to apply this as we’ve looked at job and everything that goes on with him. And we went quickly through the whole book and it was fun. But I want to acknowledge some things that that I hope help us that, that, that, that are that when we’re going through some things, we need help. Right? I mean, we’re going through stuff and I need help.
And so the first thing I want to point out is that job really helps us a lot with is, is God’s in control? I mean, even Satan has to come to him and ask permission to do stuff. God’s in complete control. There’s nothing that God isn’t in control of. And I know that. I know that God’s in control, but sometimes it’s kind of hard to apply that truth. So my prayers this morning is that when we’re going through stuff, if you got something going on and you’re going through stuff, maybe if you come back to the book of job, it helps you to see God is in control. Don’t ever forget God is in complete control. Job. Job was at the place at the first of the book when he knew God was in control. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. He knew God was in total control, but later on, after he after he started to justify himself a little bit, then then things got a little dicey for him, but thankfully he got back to that place. I know you can do all things and no plan is impossible for you. That’s the example job shows us, and understanding God’s in control. And really it’s important to recognize God is in control. When we start to get into the Book of Revelation, I mean, you’re going to see stuff in Revelation of God’s wrath and his destruction.
You’re going to see the Antichrist, you’re going to see beast, you’re going to see dragons. I mean, you’re going to see all this stuff. And it’s really important to know that God is still in control of all of it. It’s all still under God’s control, whatever is described in this Book of Revelation. Secondly, we’ve talked about this a bunch of times. Revelation is a book of hope. And really, job is a book of hope as well. And job expresses that in such a great way. When he gets to this place where he says, I know that my Redeemer lives. And you and I, the hope that we have is incredible. No matter what we’re experiencing, Jesus is alive. Jesus is our rock. He’s our strength. He’s our fortress. He’s he’s he is our hope. And no matter what’s going on in our lives, we can hang on to that. That’s something really valuable that we can grab Ahold of in the Book of Revelation is a book of hope, too, because that’s exactly what we see in Revelation. We see Jesus and we see him in a bunch of different ways and in a bunch of different descriptions. But here’s a few of them. He’s the faithful witness. He’s the firstborn of the dead. He’s the Alpha and the Omega is the beginning and the end. He’s the first and the last.
He’s. You’re going to see. He’s the rider on the white horse, and he’s the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. That’s the kind of stuff that’s in Revelation about Jesus that’s exciting. And we’re going to get to see that. And Pastor Nathaniel has done a great job about. He mentions that that Revelation embraces the glory of Christ. And I would be willing to say that we can we can embrace that glory every week as we look through Revelation. There’s going to be something else that we can embrace about the glory of Christ every week. And I mean, I’m going to look for it and it’s going to be exciting to see. And so and finally, we’ve mentioned that Revelation is a book of worship. Um, I love the job. Gets back to that place of worshiping. He started out worshiping. Remember when everything went wrong and he he tore his clothes and he and he sat down in sackcloth and ashes and he just worshiped. And then he got to that place where he thought he was pretty good, but eventually he got back to this place where he says, I’ve heard of you in the hearing of the ear, and now my eye sees you. In other words, I knew about you. Now I know you intimately. Now the eye of my understanding knows you. And the other thing that he knew is he knows that God is with him.
God. God has not left him. God is with him. And that’s such a valuable thing for job. You and I are going to face all kinds of difficulties. We’re going to face all kinds of challenges. There’s probably people in here right now that are not going to, but are. And the the thing that’s amazing about that is we know that God is with us. And please don’t let these challenges don’t let these things change your understanding about who God is. God is always who he says he is, no matter what I’m dealing with. And that’s important. And also, don’t let any of these things going on in your life keep you from worshiping God. Sometimes that’s the last thing I want to do. And yet it’s the most important thing. One of the most important things I can come and do is come where God’s people are and worship with them. And so don’t let that happen. If you’ve got these wild and these crazy things going on in your life, God always has a plan for all of us, for every one of our lives. And God is always worth our praises. He’s always worth our worship. Warren Wiersbe summarizes it like this. And I think this is pretty fun. He says, no matter what God permits to come into our lives, he always has his afterword. He writes the last chapter, and that makes it worth it all.
And I like that. God’s in control. He’s writing the book. He writes the last chapter. So? So it’s my prayer as we study through Revelation that that we just come away with this new and fresh understanding about just how amazing our God is, about his power, about his majesty, about his awesomeness. I mean, there’s just so many great things about God and that we end up in the same place that job did at the first job and in the same place that John did in Revelation chapter one, verse 17, where he just fell on the ground and worshiped. And I pray that’s where we end up, is at a place of worship. You know, job suffered a lot, but in the end, he knew that God had not left him. God. God didn’t leave him alone to deal with it. And in the midst of whatever we’re going through, whatever pain, whatever suffering, whatever, just whatever’s going on in our lives, we can be comforted knowing that God’s not leaving us. God’s never going to leave us, never going to forsake us. He’s always there. He’s always in control. He’s always. He’s always our hope. And he’s always worthy of our worship. And I think we can see that same God of comfort as we go through the Book of Revelation in the coming months.