Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Job 3 - Job Despises His Birth

Job Despises His Birth
At the end of yesterday’s chapter, Job’s friends had come to comfort him and mourn with him. When they saw the desperate state he was in they couldn’t even recognize him. The friend they had known maybe all their lives was now reduced to a wretched looking heap of sickness and death sitting in a pile of ashes. Can you imagine their response when they encountered him? They had to be shocked to see such a strong man of God, wealthy in every way reduced to this pile of darkness and despair. Surely they had never encountered such a thing in all their days! They sat down with their friend and for seven days they sat there without saying a word. What could a person say in a situation like this anyway? Many times when we go to comfort someone we think we have to say something. But we cannot know the pain they are experiencing beyond what our eyes can behold. Most of the time the best solution in a case like this is to just be there with them. We can cry with them and hold them. What else can we do?
In chapter 3 Job has now opened his mouth to speak after the seven days were passed. He has gone from a state of praising God to a state of deep, dark despair. He was exceedingly sorrowful. He despised ever having been born. Friends, that is about as low as a human can go. That is a spirit of depression that will overtake a person if they do not fight it. The devil was right there and he was certainly encouraging Job to think negatively about his situation. You see the devil hoped that if he was patient, sooner or later Job would go beyond the stage of worshiping and praising God into the deep sadness that would surely come after experiencing so much loss. The devil is a persistent cuss. He can wait for us to go through all that praising God for a short period when trouble comes. Once a little time has elapsed and we calm down and get a little more quiet then the enemy can start bringing all the negative thoughts.
Saints, once this happens, we are given over to the devils tactics and that is where we begin to lose the battle in our storms. It is when we get quiet and stop praising God that the enemy can make us feel like the storm is over taking us. And the more we think that way the worse it gets. Why? Because now we have left the realm of faith and entered into the sense realm where the devil operates. And once we go there we are already defeated. But this is what Jesus said to the storms He encountered… 
Mark 4:36-41
Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. and a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.  But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
Can you see this saints? When the storm came up all they had to do was speak to the storm, just like the Master had done and it would have calmed right down. But what was their first response? Panic and fear. I knew of a lady at church who was one of the loudest ones to yell “Amen!” during our services. She seemed so passionate about the Lord and His word. Even the car she drove was loaded with scripture verses. I thought, “Wow, this lady must be really strong in her faith!”
One day as we were walking out of church we had an opportunity to talk with her and formally meet her. She pointed to her car and said that she was having trouble with it. What she said next really surprised me. Out of her own mouth she said with a grimace of despair in her face, “I just don’t know what I am going to do!” What could we say except that the Lord would provide, and she had heartily agreed. But did she really? Or was she just agreeing with us because it was the easy thing to do at the moment? Did she really believe that the Lord could help her in her trial with her car? We will never fully know. She has since gone home to be with Him so her car troubles are over for good! Hallelujah! 
I don’t think there is a single person that is reading this study who has not experienced some severe trials in their lives. And some more than others for sure. When one despairs even of life, there just isn’t anything to look forward to when a person wakes up in the morning. The depression can overtake us like a flood and even performing the daily tasks of life like bathing and eating become a cumbersome and unpleasant task. How do I know this? My friends, I have been there.
As a young girl I had lots of family issues going on. They were not good. But most of the time I seemed to maintain my inner joy – it had to be the Lord! As much as we went through I was still able to dance around the house and sing. I liked to sing and was trying to learn to play the guitar. I enjoyed dancing and cheer leading and baseball. Actually everything from ice skating to climbing trees and riding horses, you name it. I was in for anything fun and active. I enjoyed life even in the midst of some very difficult family times.
At age 13 I had my first taste of depression when I was forced to break up with my first love. It devastated me. I was overwhelmed with grief. One night I woke in the middle of the night and I literally saw Jesus in my door which was closed. It looked like He blended in with the door. I could hear Him say to me, “Everything is going to be alright.” After that I never gave it much more thought. We were not church goers and life just went on. Little did I know when He spoke those words to me how much grief and sorrow I would become all too familiar with in life before I would truly surrender my life to Him.
That visit was at age 13. When I was 47 I stepped into the storm of the century when I left my husband of 22 years for another man. What I thought would fix the problems in my current marriage turned out to be the curse that almost took my life. The new husband turned out to be a prescription drug addict and I was clueless about what I was getting into. The devil had stepped right into the middle of my life to bring destruction, and I was totally unaware of his tactics at that point.
The new marriage went from bad to worse and I ended up broke. I lost everything except for a few personal belongings like some clothing and a few family photos, etc. Over time I just kept losing things. I lost the daughters I had spent the previous 18 years raising and loved so much. I lost my dog and my cat. I lost my reputation in the family, in the neighborhood and at work. My friends all turned their backs on me. And the ones who tried to talk sense into me I would not hear. I had reverted back to teenage behavior because I had never grown beyond it in all those years. I had only suppressed a lifetime of pain and now it was surfacing with a vengeance and I was spiraling out of control. In just a few short months I was down to driving my daughter’s car and had no place to live. We had to stay with friends or his relatives to survive.
In just one year of being with that man I had come to what I felt was the very bottom of the barrel. I sank into a heavy depression such as I had never known before. It was an effort just to be awake. I cried a lot and sat staring out the window into the dreary winter woods. When I would fall asleep at night I would wish that this had all been a really bad nightmare and that when I woke in the morning I would be back in the house with my former husband and daughters. How many know that we don’t always appreciate what we have until it is gone? By then it was too late.
The reality was that I had made a very poor choice and now I was living out the consequences. So in that way my situation was not at all like Job’s. He wasn’t doing anything wrong, as far as we know at this point. He was living a godly life and lived to please the Lord. I was not living such a godly life though I was calling myself a Christian at the time that all this happened. Though I couldn’t relate to Job’s circumstances that brought the trial in his life, I can relate to his sorrow and despair. The deep anguish of the soul that comes with a terrible storm. 
My storm had started in March of 2003. By April of 2004 things had become so unbearable that I despaired, like Job, even of life. I wanted to die. I began to contemplate my suicide. I even sent an email to one of my friends from the church where I had raised my daughters to find out if suicide was considered the unpardonable sin. I knew that if I killed myself I wanted to be with Jesus so I did not want anything to get in the way of that. Of course my friend did not know why I was asking her this and she answered my question saying, “No, suicide is not the unpardonable sin.”
Little did she know I was seriously planning to take my own life by a drug overdose. “It will be easy,” I thought. I will take several of the strong pain killers that my new husband is addicted to and just lay down and go to sleep, never to wake in this life again. I wanted to go be with the Lord. I really felt that death was my only escape. Again, like Job, who, by now not only despised the day he was born, but now he despised even being alive and wanted to find his grave and find the rest that he felt only death could bring. After a few weeks of planning this suicide the evening came where the devil thought, “Yes, I finally got her! She’s a goner!”
We had been drinking and came home from a bar late in the night. I had no food on my stomach and a belly full of wine. I knew in my heart I was at the breaking point. My husband made some not so good remarks. He always seemed to turn into a different person when he was drinking and it was not a nice person. It seemed he was demon possessed – really it did. I would hear strange voices coming from him in bed at night and it really scared me at the time. After I heard what he said I snapped. I said, “That’s it!”
While he lay in the bedroom spouting off nasty comments, I walked over to my purse in the living room and pulled out a fresh bottle of Percocet 750 mg. tablets and I said this to the Lord, “Lord, forgive me for this. I can’t take any more in this life. I have ruined everything. I am coming to be with You.” After that I began swallowing as many of the pills as I could get down. Then I walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind me. My husband asked me what I was doing and I replied, “Never mind! It won’t matter in a few minutes anyway.” Next I found a bottle of Tylenol PM in the cabinet and started swallowing those until I began to vomit but nothing came up but water  – the pills were staying down.
I stood there and looked at myself in the mirror with tears streaming down my cheeks. I was living in a nightmare and the only way out was certainly death. Suddenly the door popped open. He had used a driver’s license to open the door. I turned and staggered past him and turned the corner to head for the bed. That was the last thing I remembered. I woke up 18 hours later on a ventilator in the critical care unit of the hospital. When my eyes began to open and I saw the lights and the nurse’s station at the end of my bed I began to choke on the ventilator. As they ran to my side to pull it out so I could breathe, I became very angry. I realized that I had not left the earth and I was extremely upset. I looked up toward heaven and said, “God, why am I still here? What good am I? I have messed everything up.” I would not understand the answer to that question for a couple more years.
After that, I began trying to pick up the many broken pieces of my life. I had declared bankruptcy after having had perfect credit. The state had to pay my enormous hospital bill from being on life support and in hospitalized for three days. I had to find a job. The husband and I would break up and get back together several times before I finally knew I had to get away from him permanently at the Lord’s direction. By the next summer I ended up in the church where I heard the Ten Commandments and went home and fell to my knees beside my bed. I cried out, “Oh God, I’m a mess. Will You fix me?”
From that moment on everything changed. I had the Holy Spirit alive in me and my entire outlook on life was changing drastically. Though I was still in the storm and experiencing multiple negative consequences for my bad choices, I started learning to praise God right there in the middle of it. I would take walks around the neighborhood and praise God and talk to Him and cry and praise Him and thank him some more. This has been a habit of mine ever since.
Step by painful step I walked out of the storm. Over the next two years I would go from broke and homeless to prospering here in Florida. When I crossed the Florida state line because God had told me to come here it was as if the Florida sunshine was reflecting the Son’s shine in my life in ways I had never known. Doors began to fly open for me. The Lord gave me back my career in insurance - the career He had miraculously given me in my early twenties. My pay was restored. My car was paid off. My debts, one by one were paid off until finally I had no more debt. My credit score bounced back little by little.
I began sowing after tithing faithfully and I was seeing the Lord work in mighty ways. I was awestruck, and I still am! What a mighty God we serve. I saw Him bring me friendships and clothing and help and comfort when I needed it. He brought me people to teach me and help me grow up in my faith walk with Him. When He had taken me through one level for what He felt was long enough, He would escalate me to another level. Things just kept getting better and better and better. My relationship with my Lord was growing by leaps and bounds and He was and is everything to me. Not long after I came to Florida the Lord had given me this promise in His word…
Ezekiel 36:11
I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bear young; I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.
From that day on I waited and stood on it for 6 years. By the time the six years were ended, the Lord had given me my daughters back, plus grandchildren, a new godly husband, a new puppy and a brand new life in Him! Hallelujah! Give Him a shout of praise! He is good, so good and so faithful to His promises. Here’s the thing. We are all going to go through trials in this life. Some will be our own fault, others will not. It is sin in the world that brings them, but it is faith in God that dispels them.
What if I had allowed myself to stay down in that pity party and keep saying, “Woe is me.” Would I be here today talking to you and telling you about all the great things the Lord has done for me? Hardly! No, in fact I shudder to think where I would be if I had chosen to stay in that pit. I may have been dead and buried in no time if I had not decided to trust in Him during the worst of it once I got a hold of what faith in God and His word can do for a person. Hallelujah! That is and always will be shoutin’ ground saints.
Oh, by the way, I definitely know now why the Lord did not let me die that day in April of 2004 even though I was within seconds of breathing my last breath. It is so I can bring Him glory in the earth by being used of Him to touch other lives. I don’t claim to have experienced everything everyone else has – certainly not! But I have been through a lot so I can talk about what not to do and how doing the right thing with God will bring the right results! I praise God through my Lord Jesus Christ that I am alive today. My life is so sweet now and I stay excited all the time.
I can barely wait to unwrap each new day because He always has exciting things ready for us – hallelujah! It is a joy to carry out His work in the earth, even if it means denying our flesh some temporary pleasures. This life will be over so fast and we will look back and say, “Oh….that was really no big deal, was it?” And we will think of how foolish it was to worry and fret when we had this great big God all along who could help us and make our lives rich with meaning, purpose and fruit if we would put all our faith and trust in Him alone. Now I have a new song in my heart and it aint the blues my brothers and sisters! Hallelujah!
Psalm 40:1-3
I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry.
He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth—Praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.
Saints this is why we are alive. This verse right here. It sums it all up so beautifully, doesn’t it? Job had gone from praising to despairing. I understand what that is like – been there and done that as they say. But what we need to look at here brings a deeper meaning about why this attack happened in the first place. Do you remember yesterday when we did not understand why all this had come upon this wonderful man of God? Well today we can see in verse 25 what the ‘door opener’ was for satan. We know that in order for the devil to be able to get into our lives the door has to be open. Well, look at what Job said in this verse again…
Job 3:25
For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.
 Job had been living in fear and the Lord knew it and the devil knew it. I had been living in fear of lack for many years of my life. Why? I guess because when I was younger, after my mom and dad had divorced we were in a tough way financially. We barely had enough food. The fridge was usually pretty empty. I had to wear my sister’s hand me down clothes. Not that I looked shabby by any means. But we were barley getting by. Most of the time mom was gone and the five of us kids were left to our own devices.
We lived off of sandwiches and boxed foods and canned soups. Bean soup and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were among my favorites. Sometimes my mom would tell us she didn’t know how she was going to pay the rent or other bills that were due. That is a pretty heavy thing to lay on a child. So we carried the burden with her though we were much too young and immature to be able to handle it.
Why do I bring this up? Because my fear of lack that began to grow in me as a young child is the very thing that came upon me in my crises back in 2004-2006. I lost most everything. In addition to this I had developed an eating disorder in my thirties that continued to spiral out of control as the years went by. I went from being a normal eater to a person who ate too much. All of that was a means trying to comfort myself.
It wasn’t until recently that the Lord was able to show me that it had all started from a fear of lack. All addictions are based on fear of something. And all this fear brought a great deal of sickness to my life. Was this God’s plan for me? Absolutely not! But my fear – aka, lack of faith is what let the sickness in. And so it is with Job in our chapter today. What he feared had come upon him. Here is what the Bible says about fear…
1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
Living in fear not only opens the door for the devil to bring destruction into our lives, but it also brings torment. Living in fear is a terrible thing. Fear is sin. Jesus told us not to fear, over and over again in His word.
Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
You can look up the verses on your own – there’s plenty of verses from the beginning to the end of the Bible that command us not to fear. So what is it when we disobey that command? It is sin, plain and simple. And here is what Jesus tells us we are to do…
John 14:1, 27
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Saints, when the Lord tells us to do something in His word, these are not just friendly suggestions. For the true believer and disciple of Jesus, these are commandments. It is what He expects us to do, and why? Because He knows we can do it. In Him we can do all things that He asks us to do. But a life of trust is a life of faith. Faith doesn’t look at the circumstances. Faith doesn’t listen to feelings. Faith doesn’t listen to opposing people. Faith listens to God and responds by believing what cannot yet be seen in the natural realm.
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
We can know in our heads all the cute sayings in Christianity about fear and faith but if we don’t act upon our faith it is useless. The proof is in the pudding saints! Job would have a thing or two to learn about being fearful wouldn’t he? Sadly he was learning his lesson on this the hard way. Isn’t that a lot like us friends? But we can make up our minds right here and right now that we are going to squelch all fear in our lives and learn to really trust God like we so often say we do – amen?!
Questions:
What was Job doing as we opened our chapter today?
What was the key that opened the door to the devil to bring all that destruction to Job’s life?
What have you been fearing in your life? What are you going to do about it?

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

There are three main points to consider from today’s study…

We must maintain an attitude of praise in our trial
We cannot allow fear in our lives for even a moment
Trusting God is the only way out of any storm

Let’s pray…


Heavenly Father,
Thank You for the day You formed me in my mother’s womb. Thank You Lord for creating me in Christ Jesus to do good works that You prepared in advance for me to do. Lord I ask You to show me if there is any fear in my heart at this time. If so I will repent and make a decision to trust You at all times. Thank You for the assurance in Your word that You will bring me peace and I do not have to let my heart be troubled, ever. I can trust in You, my Rock, my Fortress and my Strength. You are good and Your word never fails as You always watch over Your word to perform it. Bring glory to Yourself by using me to do the work You planned for me. In Jesus name! Amen! 

Will you stop fearing and really trust Him now? 

And God Said… You fill in the blanks. 

Haggai 1:1-5

 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying: “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying: ‘Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing? Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ says the Lord; ‘and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the Lord, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!’

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