Now, as of Friday morning, I was planning to preach to you two sermons in light of Reformation Day and in light of the upcoming election. But by Friday evening, all that changed. And so I will preach to you out of the Book of Job. Although life can offer many blessings, It can also bring us many sorrows. Sometimes those sorrows are so deep, they drive us over the threshold to inconsolable grief. Job was such a man. He was a man who was brought to that very abyss of sorrow, who not only offers us insight, into our Lord Christ and the sorrow that he had to endure. But Job provides for each and every one of God's elect lessons so that we may cope whenever the heavy hand of frowning providence visits us. We're all coming to reading for this Lord's Day morning coming from Job in chapter one. As we contemplate Job's calamity, his crisis, and his patience. By the inspiration of God, the scripture says this. There was a man in the land of Oz whose name was Job. And that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil. Job was such a powerful example for the saints of God that even the Apostle James References him our new covenant reading coming from James chapter 5 2 verses only 10 and 11 by the same spirit and the spirit that upheld Job in his time of trouble the Apostle writes this 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 You 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. Thus far is the reading of God's most holy and errant and finally authoritative word. The grass withers, the flower there fades away, but the word of God stands forever. By his holy words, the gospel once again and the comfort of God paraded before us. Now with a simple mention of the name Job, the mind immediately goes to the man who was sorely afflicted by God. Even a man who was not even deserving of the affliction of God, apparently for no other reason but to prove his fidelity to Yahweh. And while the story, as well as the man, can be seen as a great type of our Lord Jesus Christ and the situation that he had to endure, The Book of Job is a message to each and every one of us. But more than simply a message, it is one of the most important lessons for the Christian, since the people of God must, and I declare to you this day, the people of God must, in one season or another, the people of God must go through many sorrows throughout their lives, some of which are so dreadful that it seems that there could be never any hope of comfort, never any hope of getting back to normality. The Book of Job directs each and every one of us, however, how to navigate seasons of sorrow under a frowning providence. Consider for a moment the opening verse of the Book of Job. I think the opening verse of the Book of Job is one of the most important verses of the entire book. And notice what it says. There was a man in the land of us whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil. You see here in the opening verse of this book, God purposely begins by setting forth to the reader as to the character of the man. Notice firstly, the man was from a certain region called Uz. And we don't know where that region is, but it really doesn't matter. because the word itself declares where this place was. The word is a form of the Hebrew word which means consultation. But it is more often translated, not as to consult, but more literally, a word which means to take advice. So it seems as if, while Job may have been a man to whom people might go to in order to receive counsel, his life, His entire existence is to be turned around whereby he will have to take the advice of God's providence. And that's what our life is all about. When God decrees a providence upon us, he is giving us advice. Second, the scripture also tells us of his name. His name is Job. And like his name, so too was his fate. since his name actually means to be persecuted. So here is a man who has the unfortunate title in his own name that he is about, under the providential orchestration of a decree of God, that he is about to be persecuted, that he is about to take advice that he doesn't want, but he is about to take advice that he absolutely needs. And we, too, ought to take such an advice. And here we see how this too relates to the Lord Jesus Christ as the anti-type of the type of Job. Third point. God tells us immediately so that we don't have any kind of concern about what kind of a man this Job was. He was perfect in the sense that he was an obedient man. The Hebrew word here actually means that he was undefiled. He was not a reprobate man. He was not a slanderous man or a thieving man or a wicked man in any sense of the word. He was an obedient man, a man who was undefiled. And again, we see again, once again, the type here in the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet this character is Job's character in particular. He was an obedient child of God. Fourthly, His first verse says that he was upright in that he was well-pleasing to God. God is looking upon this man, this persecuted man, Job, and Job is well-pleasing in the sight of God. Then we read that he feared God. The fifth point here is he feared God. And this is probably the most impressive trait that any of us could have, because a man that fears God will never blaspheme God and will charge God for any wrongdoing. He will be an obedient servant of God, and he will be God's man, because he knew God to be the living God. Furthermore, the man who fears the Lord will live in the eye of God, conscious of God's watchful eye always upon him. He was conscious of that, and therefore he eschewed evil. And finally, the sixth point, he shunned evil. He was very careful, in other words, to keep any unlawful thing that might offend God from him. He would see evil, he would run from it. He doesn't want any part of it. He didn't gravitate toward evil. He eschewed evil. He shunned evil because he feared God. And this is how God begins Job's story. so that we would make no mistake as to what man we are dealing with, what kind of a man we are dealing with. And then God goes on to describe Job's situation. And they were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep and three thousand camels and five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred she asses and a very great household so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East. Providentially, God makes this man the greatest man in all of the East. Here is a man of great wealth, great power, great influence. He's given sons, he's given daughters, he's given livestock, which might have pointed us to the possibility of that He had in his sons and his daughters, a great hope of a future generational legacy, a continuity of generational fidelity. And his name of course was known throughout the land of us. A man of great influence, a man of impeccable character. And yet he's about to face the most difficult trial of his life. John Calvin comments, he says, although in times of tranquility, because that's where Job was at this point in his life, he's in the best place of his life. Although in times of tranquility, Calvin writes, believers may flatter themselves that they have attained a greater degree of consistency and patience. When they are humbled by adversity, they learn how far they have been deceived. worn by such evidence of their diseased spiritual condition. They make progress in humility and in divesting themselves of their sinful confidence in the flesh. They cast themselves on the grace of God. When they have done so, they experience the presence of the divine power, which proves to be ample protection. Job is about to understand more than he ever could have understood during his time of prosperity. Notice verses four and five. And his sons went and feasted in their houses every one in his day and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. Notice here we find they're feasting. They have more than the heart could wish for. There's no poverty here. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them. The concern of a father, when he rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all, for Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. And thus did Job continually. Notice the things that stand out here. Job acts here as a priest of his house. Of his entire household, he is acting as the priest. He also understood the nature of his children. And so he is sure, especially since now they're in the seat of prosperity. They have no want. They have no affliction, no sorrow at this point. And he is concerned. And so he understands the nature of man, the nature of his own children. And so he is sure to continually sacrifice for their sanctification. Again, we see the great type here. And we see our Lord Jesus Christ, who continually sanctifies us because of his glorious sacrifice. But this verse also has a functional aspect. Parents, especially fathers, acting as priests in their own house, should be praying for their children continually, especially when they have all that a heart could wish for. This is the duty of fathers, priests of the house, prescribed by the word of God. But as the historical account progresses, God sees fit to test Job, to test his fidelity. So God sends in motion a providential orchestration which was according to his divine and sovereign decree to bring Job into the dregs of despair, to bring Job into the depths of sorrow, to bring Job into the depths of doubt, and to bring Job into the depths of fear. And yet here is Job, a man who feared the Lord, eschewed evil, an upright and a righteous man, and yet he now is the target. of God's frantic providence. God is doing this to his own servant who is righteous in order to drive home a lesson to us. But this testing is not some little bump in the road. It wasn't that Job's flowers died or that he got a flat tire on the highway one day. Or he had his little sniffle, or he stubbed his toe. This is no bump in the road. Nor does it seem that Job can ever recover from it when we finally realize the extent of it. Because now it strips him of his entire substance. It destroys not only his children, but the legacy that he ever would have hoped for. And it brings upon his flesh a disease so grievous that it stops the mouth of his miserable counselors. Observe the frowning providence of a holy, righteous God on his own child, on his own man of great faith. And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them. And the Sabians fell upon them, and took them away. Yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. And while he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God has fallen from heaven, and it burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. And while he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee." And while he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house, and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead. And I only am escaped the lone totality. It wasn't just one thing that happened. The sheep were killed, the camels were killed, the oxen. It was a barrage. One after another, the hits just kept on coming. And if these verses don't take your breath away, then you have no heart. As a man of God, Job knew one thing. He did know something here that we fail to understand or embrace. So many Christians fail to grasp what Job was able to grasp. He was able to grasp that this was God's doing. And while many would defer the reason, giving credit to Satan, it was God who providentially orchestrated and decreed this. Tragedy upon righteous Job. And that's a hard thing. But that is what Job understood. And that was his first test. Note how the man responds. Then Job arose. And he rent his mantle. He shaved his head. And he fell down upon the ground. And he worshiped. He worshiped. He worships God. God just took everything from him. He worships. He doesn't curse God. He doesn't blame God. He doesn't even blame the devil. He doesn't even pray that God would take the trial from him. We don't read of anything. All he does, he bows and he worships. He falls upon the ground and he worships God. He doesn't do any of the things that normal men might do. He simply falls to the ground and he worships God. He looks past the circumstances to the God of circumstances and he worships. Now obviously, He did give vent to his emotional sorrow. He's still a man. He tears his mantle, he shaves his head in a show of grief and humility in such a time as this, a time of crisis. But he has enough spiritual integrity to worship God. Calvin says this, in the very bitterness of tribulation, we ought to recognize the kindness and mercy of our Father, since even then He does not cease to further our salvation. God afflicts us, not in order to ruin or to destroy us, but rather to deliver us from the condemnation of the world. Let this thought lead us to what Scripture elsewhere teaches. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction. For whom the Lord loves, He corrects, just as a father the Son in whom he delights. We are most contrary. If we cannot bear Him while He is demonstrating His goodwill to us, and the care which he takes of our salvation. Job worships God. But then God increases the intensity of Job's trial by afflicting his health. He takes everything from him, and then he afflicts the man. So when Satan fought from the presence of the Lord and smote Job, sore boils from the sole of his foot into his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself with all. And he sat down among the ashes. Now, of course, this was all too much for his wife to bear. And so as the temptress as she was, she urges him to forsake his God. She's telling a man who feared God and had his whole life invested in the God of Scripture to forsake God. Then said his wife unto him, dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die. Give it up. Just curse God and die because you're already dead. So even in the depths of physical pain, Job retains his integrity of fidelity toward God. And notice what he says to her. Verse 10, but he said to her, thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? And here it is. Shall we receive good at the hand of God? And shall we not receive evil? And shall we not receive calamity? And shall we not receive trials? And shall we not receive temptations and afflictions and sorrows? In all this, did not Job sin with his lips? Who says that? I will tell you who says that. Let me tell you who says that. A man who fears God, that's who says that. And a man who understands that all things are ordained by God for divine purpose, even though that purpose is hidden. In fact, that purpose may be hidden forever. You know, we all want to know why, why, why we may never know why we just know what we leave the why with God. So here's a man that knew that even in this crisis where his entire family is killed and where he now is afflicted physically and where his wife. who should be his counselor, who should be his helpmate, who should be the comforter, who should be the encourager, she tells him to curse God and die. But he understood. What Paul, years later, said forth to the church at Rome, that all things, all things, every single thing, the good, the calamities, the afflictions, the trials, all things together, as a whole, as a comprehensive unit, all things work together for good. The apostle Paul writes to the church of Rome, and we know, in Romans 8.28, that all things work together for good to them that love God, and to them who are the called, according to His purpose. His purpose. But you see, the key here is all things. Not just one thing, but all things together. The good things, the bad things, the hard things, the soft things, the happy times, the grievous times, together, together, they have to work together for the good. Because suffering teaches us so many things. It teaches us patience and hope. It teaches us obedience. Calvin comments once again, he says, when Paul says that tribulation produces patience and patience character, he is explaining the lessons taught by suffering. God has promised to be with believers during times of trial, and when they feel the truth of the promise supported by his hand, they endure patiently. They could never do this by their own strength. Patience, therefore, gives believers experiential proof that God does indeed provide the help that He has promised whenever there is need. In this way also their faith is confirmed, for we would be very ungrateful not to expect that in the future God's truth will be, as they have already seen, firm and constant. We now see what benefits we derive from the cross as tribulation undermines our false opinions of our own strength and exposes our hypocrisy. We need suffering. We need affliction. We need to fear the circumstances so that we are driven to the God of circumstances. Now consider for a moment, because Job is a man. He's just like we are. Notice how he brings his emotions into a sober consideration of who he is as opposed to who God is. Notice what he says, verse 21. Naked came I out of my mother's womb. Naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of Yahweh. You see, Job understood his place in the universe Whatever he had, whatever he was, whatever he hoped to be, he had of God. He could claim nothing as his own. Not his sheep, not his oxen, not his household, not his influence, not his wealth, not his sons, not his daughters, not his health, not his psychological or his emotional well-being. Nothing was his. He knew his place in the universe. He knew his place in God's universe where God, according to his divine providence, dictates all things. God dictates all things. And he understood how the universe worked, how God worked within God's world, within God's universe. He understood something that we in a first world nation don't understand. Job understood that life is not guaranteed. Not our life, not our children's life, not our parents' life, not our spouse's life. Life is not guaranteed. We are held by the hand of God, and when God dictates that it is over, it is over. And we fly away as a vapor. He understood how God worked in his universe. He understood reality because he was a man who knew how God worked with mankind, and he understood what mankind deserved. Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. Shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord and not calamity? Who do you think you are? Job knew that mankind deserved nothing but because God was a merciful God, sending rain on the just and the unjust. Both good and evil would come upon man according to the providential workings of God. He understood that. And therefore, he wasn't surprised, wasn't happy. He is at the crossroads where he has to now cowboy up, where he has to tell himself, I will remain faithful. And this is why he is able to rightly observe, shall we receive good and not evil? But notice what he says to his wife. What? Don't you know that this is how it works? As if to say to his wife, you should know better. Are you, as one of the foolish women, not to know that if we are given good things of the Lord, should we not also endure hard things? Are we not to endure hard things? You know, young men, you will endure hardship in your life. It's coming. Steal yourself. Steal your minds upon the things of God because it's coming. It's a storm that cannot be avoided, but it is for the good of your own souls. That's how we have to think about God. Arthur Joseph Hill observes this. He says, because we are so inclined to put our own comfort and advantage first and avoid adversity, Calvin asserts, quote, our most merciful father comforts us by this teaching that he promotes our salvation by inflicting the cross upon us. These are hard words. And only the people of God can embrace these words. It is not a message of, well, now that you've chosen Jesus, everything's going to be good. You're going to be prosperous. You can have a rosy life. No, no, that is not how it works. Because God's providential dealings with us don't work that way. Okay, so what is providence? We talk about providence all the time. So what exactly is providence? Well, the Westminster Confession of Faith explains it this way. God, the great creator of all things, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least. by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible foreknowledge and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, through the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy." It continues in section 5, "...the most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave for a season His own children to manifold temptations and the corruption of their own hearts." to chastise them for their own former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, so that they are humbled, and to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support unto Him, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends. It's all for the good of God's people. And so now, Job was bearing this heavy burden. And although he is now bearing a burden that many of us would crumble under, he refuses to sin, nor does he act foolishly. We read this in verse 22. In all of this, in all of this, in all of these terrible, horrible things, Job sinned not, nor did he charge God foolishly. He didn't say, oh God, you're so mean, you're such a meanie. In other words, He did not act faithlessly by blaming God. But even in this, he trusted God. As hard as that was. And I say this so often, we think now, if ever we had to face anything like this, would we be able to? And the answer is no, until it happens. Because we're in a need to basis because when it happens, God grants us that grace. When it happens, God gives us that strength. When it happens, we become that Job, where we don't act foolishly, we don't blame God. We don't look at the what, we look at the who behind the what, and that's who we trust. For Job, God's frowning providence descended upon him at this point like a flood. The Reverend Thomas Adams puts it this way, he says, quote, sorrow commonly comes on horseback, but goes away on foot. Martin Luther adds this, he says, and this was a man, if you know anything about Luther, and if you know anything about Calvin, these were men who were brought about such affliction, persecution, sorrow, that no man could bear alone. Luther says this, you learn your theology most where your sorrow takes you. Tribulation, sorrow, and grief is our lot. Jesus tells us as much in order to prepare us for those seasons of sorrow and confusion, for tribulation and affliction. But he doesn't leave us in the sorrow of that tribulation. Christ promises an overcoming by the spirit of all sorrows and tribulations. Notice John 16.33. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace, In the world ye shall, please underscore, ye shall have tribulation. And then he says this, be of good cheer. How in the world are we to be of good cheer when we know that the whirlwind is coming? He tells us, be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. So Job's faith at this point is being tried. Jesus alludes to this in his parable of the sower. He says in Matthew 13, but he that receiveth seed into stone, he placeth the same as he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth. Yet hath he no root in himself, but doreth for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, by and by he is offended. But Job was not offended because he had the root, the root and the offspring David the son of God Christ himself. That was his root. That's where he planted his flag. And so Job was not offended. Instead, he embraced the will of God as hard as that was. Calvin again gives this counsel. He says, quote, Well, there are many reasons it is necessary for us to live constantly under the cross. The only thing which made it necessary for our Lord to undertake to bear the cross was to testify and prove His obedience to the Father. As feeble as we are by nature, and as inclined to believe in our own goodness and righteousness, we readily trust in our own ability to stand unimpaired and invincible against all difficulties. Unless we are vividly reminded of our own weaknesses, hence we indulge a stupid and empty confession in ourselves, and then, trusting to it, we puff ourselves up with pride before the Lord Himself, as if our own abilities were sufficient without His grace. This arrogance is best restrained when the Lord proves to us by experience how great our weakness and our frailty are. Therefore, he visits us with disgrace, or poverty, or bereavement, or disease, or other afflictions. Feeling altogether unable to bear these burdens, we immediately give way. Humbled in this way, we learn to invoke his strength, which alone can enable us to bear up under the weight of affliction. Even the holiest believers, however, well aware that they do not stand in their own strength, but by the grace of God, would feel too secure in their own fortitude and constancy, were they not brought into a more thorough knowledge of themselves by the trial of afflictions. However, from Job's speeches, we know that he didn't like the suffering. It wasn't fun. It wasn't even edifying. at least not at the moment. In fact, at this point, Job didn't know if it ever would be edifying. He didn't know if he would ever know why. And throughout, he's questioning himself, he's questioning God, he's questioning this thing and that thing and the other thing. He's full of questions, and there were no answers, at least not yet. All he could do was what he was able to do, and that was he was patiently waiting upon God. And James explains to his readers how they are to deal with the suffering of affliction. Note how he tells them to look to the prophets of God in James 5, 10, and then 11. Take my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience. So what is James telling us? What is he telling the New Testament church? Learn from the old. Learn from the prophets that came before you. Learn from the men of God. It was not happy. Jeremiah was not happy. Micah, Amos, Haggai, Habakkuk. Habakkuk. He knew that his whole nation was going to be destroyed. Were they happy? No, they weren't happy. They were under the throes of God's afflicting providence. And they had to learn patience, because patience is a learned experience. It's a learned character trait. You just don't wake up one morning like that little boy praying at his bedside, asking the Lord, oh Lord, oh God, please give me patience, but give it to me now. Behold, we count them happy or blessed, which endure. Notice, there's an aspect here. Not only patience, but endurance. These are the two main character traits that we must master in this life. For when, as Calvin says, our faith is tested by suffering, as gold is tried in a furnace, and we depend with confidence on God and rely entirely on His help, we will be granted the most excellent gift of patience, and through faith we may victoriously persevere to the end. Endurance and patience. But now consider the humanity of Job. Remember, he's a man, like passions as we. And as a result of the genuine fear of God and the fact that he would never wish to blame or blaspheme God, he wishes that he was never born. This is a man. He's real. He's not some stoic prophet. He's a real man. He's just gone into the depths of oppression, depression by the oppression of God. He's gone into the depths of depression and he wants to die. If he was a pagan man, maybe he would have killed himself. But no, he says, I just, I just wish I was never born. I would rather never have been existing. than to bear this grief knowing that God has orchestrated this affliction. Job 3, 1 and following, after this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. Notice he's not cursing God, he's cursing himself. Job spake and said, Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. Let that day be darkness, let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it. Let a cloud dwell upon it. Let the blackness of the day terrify it. As for that night, let darkness seize upon it. Let it not be joined unto the days of the year. Let it not come unto the number of the months. Lo, let that night be solitary. Let no joyful voice come therein. Let them curse it, that curse the day, who are ready to rise up in their mourning. Let the stars of the twilight therefore be dark. Let it look for light, but have none. Neither let it see the dawning of the day, because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes. Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? He's a real man. Dealing with real problems, real sorrow, with real grief. And now when you think about Job, and you compare it to your life, you compare it to my life, We're in Shangri-La. It's just another day in a first world nation of comfort and ease. We still have our children with us for the most part, but even if they had departed, we should be like Job. Job cursed the day that he was born. Now you think about what's happening here. He's groaning. These are the groanings of a man A real flesh and bone and blood man. These are the groanings of a man afflicted beyond any consolable possibility. Who's going to console him? His miserable friends? Miserable counselors? Who's going to help this man? No one can help this man. And while he was able to pour out his grief in so many words, when we are in such a place, we often cannot even speak. And there are some times when We're under the heavy hand of God's darkened, frowning providence of affliction, sorrow, and grief. Perhaps we can't even pray. Not because there are no supplications that we need to offer up unto heaven, but because we can only groan under the weight of our darkness and under the weight of our sorrow. And such was the sorrow of our Lord Jesus Christ. When he came to the tomb of his beloved Lazarus, all he could do was groan. The Word of God himself could only groan. The sorrow upon him was so great that all he could do was groan over the grief of Lazarus' loved ones. He empathized with them. He was sensitive to them. He understood what it was to weep with those who wept, to mourn with those who mourned. And he groaned. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And he said, where have you laid him? And they said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. We don't know how long he wept. We're not told of the intensity of his weeping, but I, knowing passion and the compassion of our Christ, he was sobbing. Then said the Jews, behold how he loved him. He didn't just shed a tear, he wept. He wept, even knowing the end of Lazarus, that he would rise once again, that He would bring the power of the Father down, the Spirit of the God of heaven and earth, the God of the universe, He would bring that power down, and Lazarus would be resurrected. He even knew that, and yet he weeps. Behold how we loved Him. And some of them said, Could not this man which opened the eyes of the blind have caused that man, even that man, that he should not have died? And then, verse 38, of John 11, Jesus, therefore, again, groaning in himself, groaning in himself, coming to the grave. We should never be too distraught when we find ourselves only able to groan. Sometimes all we could say was, oh God, oh God, oh God. Because we're so frightened as to what the end might be, All we can say is, oh God, oh God, have mercy, have mercy, have mercy. Both Luke and Paul assure us that even our groanings are heard in the courts of heaven. In Acts chapter 7, notice Luke recounts God's words in Acts 7, 34. I have seen, I have seen, God is saying, the affliction of my people, which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groanings. No words. Just groanings, inconsolable grief. And notice immediately what God says, and I am come down to deliver them. Paul says that when we are unable to verbalize our prayers, the spirit brings our hearts to God. As our hearts are sorrowful and afflicted. Paul says this, likewise, the spirit also helps our infirmities. So the spirit intercedes. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. " Calvin says, thus, when faith is shaken, it is just as when, by the violent blow of a javelin, a soldier standing firm is forced to step back and yield a little. And again, when faith is wounded, it is as if the shield were pierced, but not perforated by the blow. The pious will always rise. and be able to say with David, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for God is with me. There's another thing that troubled Job. He knew that this affliction was directly from God. Notice what he says in chapter 16, verse six and following. Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged. And though I forbear, what am I eased? But now he, God, hath made me weary. Thou hast made desolate all my company, and thou hast filled me with wrinkles which is a witness against me. And my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face. And then he says this about God. He teareth me in his wrath who hateth me. He gnasheth upon me with his teeth. Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me. Naturally, he's questioning himself, the miserable counselors that suggested that it was some sin in Job, that he should seriously consider things that he might've done. Was this a punishment for his sin? Was it because of the sin of his children, his wife? Was this God's way of pointing him to repentance? If so, how did he sin? What did he do? What should he be repenting of? He didn't know. And that plagued him emotionally, that plagued his mind emotionally. But as we know, Job's affliction had nothing to do with anything he did amiss. It was to prove that once God's spirit is in a man, he will face the fire and not be consumed. Now consider some of the practical directives, because to be forewarned is to be forearmed. Number one, every single one of us. are destined to face very hard things throughout our lives. And some of those things may seem overwhelming to the point where we think we cannot survive. But that is not true. That is not true. God will be with us in all of those trials. Notice once again, Calvin, no stranger to affliction, no stranger to sorrow. newborn son dies. His wife dies soon after. He is persecuted. He is hated. They're trying to assassinate him. He is no stranger to problems. And he says this, when we see these poor men who are completely exhausted and utterly wasted and broken, take heart only because they have seen the haven What must we do when we draw near to our finishing line and can look back and see that while we were running, God always held us fast by the hand and that though we stumbled many times, yes, and sometimes even fell, our God rescued us and lifted us up before we became too much grieved. Must we not strive earnestly, therefore, to come to God and to draw all the closer to Him This, then, is what we need to learn from this phrase, I have finished the race, end quote. And that race is the race of affliction. Secondly, we need to bolster our faith. And the way we do that is we read the word of God. We stop looking at the circumstances that surround us. We look to the God of circumstances. We read the scriptures. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. Thirdly, we must put it into our heads, at least intellectually, at this moment, before the affliction comes, before the storm comes, as we prepare for the storms of our lives, we must put it into our heads, at least intellectually, how will we deal with the deepest of sorrows and afflictions. In other words, prepare now. Practice patience, practice waiting on God, practice focusing on the God of circumstances. You know, it's interesting how, how so many people are preparing for a famine or during COVID we're stocking toilet paper. We're preparing while our spiritual preparation is quite dim. We need to prepare. Number four, we must know that when the trials do come, there will be sorrow. There will be tears. depression, fear, anxiety, confusion. Now if you know that these will be the emotions that you will face, you will not be surprised when they come. When you face these things and your body shakes and trembles and you weep and uncontrollably weeping and you're falling on the floor because of the grief, don't be surprised. Because this is how the body responds. But know this also, just because you've anticipated these sorrows, these afflictions, and that you will experience these emotions during the time of these deep sorrows and afflictions, you can't even imagine the intensity that they will come upon you when the reality of the afflictions do actually come. In other words, you can only prepare so much. So don't be surprised when your grief is more than you ever could have imagined. Finally, don't stifle your grief. Grief is a natural process for healing, but you must eventually give your grief over to God after you deal with the emotional trauma, because God has promised over and over and over to comfort us in our fiery furnace of affliction, and therefore we must trust Him. Now, Job finally wanted to know why. Naturally, Job wanted to know why. Why did this happen? What was the purpose? And what does God tell Job? You would think that God, loving God, say, okay, Job, sit down, let me explain all of this to you. He does no such thing. All he tells Job is that he is God and he can do whatever he wills because his will is perfect and righteous. And so we may never know the why But what we need to know is that God is with us, even in that darkness, even when we don't know why, because he does all things for the good of his people, even when it seems otherwise. For the child of God, that is all we need to know. Jeremiah 29, 11, God says this, and take this home. Take this to the bank. God says this, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you. saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of calamity, to give you an expected end. And so I will leave you with this, this morning, by a man who knew what it was to experience deep sorrow, even David the King, when he says, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. For what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. May God continue to increase our faith as we continue in our pilgrimage in service to Him among many deep and dark trials. And this we shall do, God helping us unto the praise of the glory of His grace. Amen.