Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. - James 5:10-11

 

Job was a man of integrity. The scripture says that he was blameless. He was a man that lost all of his possessions and his family. When he refused to turn his back on God, the devil said that if he was allowed to touch his body that he would turn away from God. Therefore, God let him do that as well.

 

He had friends that were blaming him and saying that he must have sinned. Through all of this Job Questioned a bit and wanted to know why these things were happening to him. However, he never turned away from God. You and I might be tempted to turn away and do what Job’s wife asked him to do, which was to curse God.

 

B.R. Lakin, (100,000 conversions in his evangelistic ministry) told this story about setbacks:
I watched some stone workers hewing an odd-shaped stone as it lay on the ground. "What are you going to do with that?" he asked. "We are cutting it here, so it will fit in up there," the worker answered, pointing to an opening high on the tower of the great building. Sometimes that is what is happening in times of trouble.

 

C.S. Lewis once wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains- it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

 

This evening I want to talk about some things that Job knew that we need to know whether we are in trouble or not. They were the basis of Job’s strength in time of trouble. They can be the basis of our Christian life whether we are ever in trouble or not.

 

One of the great Christian virtues is patience.

 

In the great love verse of 1 Cor. 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith1 that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. - 1 Corinthians 13:1-7

 

So then how important is it for me to have patience.

 

Three things that Job knew that helped have patience:

 

 

1} Job 1:21

And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, And naked shall I return thither: The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord. - Job 1:21-22

 

He knew that the Lord was the Giver of all that he had.

 

He earned nothing it was all given. Job realized that all that he had was a gift from God. Many people today feel that what they have is a result of only their own efforts and so when they loose it they feel cheated. Job did not like loosing all that he had but he did not feel cheated.

 

Job knew his own estate in life. He came into the world with nothing and was going to leave with nothing. Moreover, what he gained in-between was a gift from God and he could keep none of it in the end.

 

It is very important as Christians to keep that in mind.

 

Job did not know of the conversation between God and satan. He knew that his 7000 sheep were gone, his 3000 camels were gone, and his 500 yoke of oxen were gone. In addition, his 500 female donkeys, and most of his servant had been killed. Then worst of all his children were gone.

 

All of this in one day.

You talk about a bad day.

 

I remember a family in Tusket who lost their infant daughter to a disease of some kind. When they returned from the funeral home, they found their house was on fire. When things go wrong they truly go wrong.

 

I cannot imagine being in Job’s shoes. No one person in his or her right mind would want to be.

 

Job was the beneficiary of God’s wonderful grace and he knew it. He didn’t feel cheated because all this stuff had been given by the hand of God.

 

He knew that the one who had given had every right to take away.

 

2} Job 13:15

Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: - Job 13:15

 

He knew that he could trust God.

He knew that he served a God that was trustworthy.

 

UCLA alumni and fans made UCLA football coach Pepper Rodger’s life miserable during a season when the Bruins got off to a horrible start. Nobody in Southern California would hang out with him. “My dog was my only true friend,” Rodgers said of that year. “I told my wife that every man needs at least two good friends. So she bought me another dog.” Rodgers was rigid in the face of adversity. When his players at UCLA were having difficulty adapting to the wishbone offense he had installed and the school’s alumni demanded that he adopt another system, Rodgers did not budge. The wishbone, he said, “is like Christianity. If you believe it only until something goes wrong, you didn’t believe it in the first place.”

 

 

During the dark days of the American Revolution, when the continental Army had experienced several setbacks, a farmer who lived near the battlefield approached Washington’s camp unheard. Suddenly he heard an earnest voice raised in agonizing prayer. Coming nearer he saw it was General Washington, down on his knees in the snow, his cheeks wet with tears, asking God for assistance and guidance. The farmer crept away and returned back to his home. He said to his family, "Its going to be all right. We’re going to win!"
    What makes you think so? His wife asked.
Well, I heard General Washington pray out in the woods today - - - such fervent prayer I have never heard. And God will surely hear and answer that kind of praying.
*The farmer was right then and he’s right now

 

People have trusted God for some very big stuff. How is your trust level? Trusting gives you patience because trusters know that the answer is coming.

 

Be silent to the Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him:- Psalms 37:7

 

Job knew that patient people trust in thee Lord. Job could have sung the old song the God of the mountain is still God in the Valley.

 

Psalms 31

My times are in thy hand

to the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; Let me never be ashamed: Deliver me in thy righteousness.

 

We serve a God that can be trusted.

 

The centre of the Bible says.

It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. - Psalms 118:8

 

 

3} Job 19:25-27

For I know that my Redeemer liveth, And that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me. Job 19:25-27

 

He knew that his Redeemer lived

 

The fact that Christ is coming should produce patience in us. We shall see face to face the lover of our souls.

Job knew that he served a living God.

 

When the Berlin wall came down and when communism fell one of the amazing things that happened was that people had access to the files that the secret police had kept on them. For many people it made uncomfortable reading. People whom they trusted had betrayed them – family members, husbands, wives, children etc. they thought they knew these people but they were wrong. It left them wondering: What can I know for certain?

 

Sometimes our relationship is not personal enough.

 

 ‘I’ we have here a settled personal conviction. ‘I, yes I, know.’ Here is personal knowledge of what he is speaking about. Not ‘we’, not ‘you’ but ‘I’. This is personal knowledge gained from a living relationship with God.

‘Know’ = knowledge, not speculation. To know something is to understand, to be acquainted with, to declare, to teach and to learn. All of these Job could say about his redeemer.

‘My Redeemer’ = again it is personal. My redeemer – mine personally. Intimate personal knowledge. My redeemer speaks of a personal relationship and that is the vital key to understanding this statement.

 

The question that I ask myself today is am I patient enough.

In that area of my life am I pleasing God.

If my main aim in life is to please God and have a very close relationship with Christ sometimes, I need to work on some things.