Got a thought about the book of Job this morning Job chapter number 23 Job chapter number 23 job twenty three we're going to be looking at the first ten verses this morning of job chapter number twenty three so if you found your place and if you're able please stand as we reverence the reading of the word of god and look at joe chapter number twenty three verses one through team in job answered and said even today is my complaint bitter My stroke is heavier than my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat. I would order my calls before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which he would answer me and understand what he would say unto me. Will he plead against me with his great power? No, but he would put strength in me. There the righteous might dispute with him, so should I be delivered forever from my judge. Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive him. On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him, he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him. But he knoweth the way that I take, When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Lord, I thank you for the day. Lord, I thank you for your blessings. And Lord, I just want to thank you for being able to be out this morning. Lord, I'm glad we were able to assemble this morning. And Lord, I thank you for that. Thank you for your goodness, your love, protection, your mercy towards us. Lord, just thank you for being good. But Lord, we need you now. Lord, I pray that you'll help me, help the people as they hear, not of me, but anything that you would have to say to them. Lord, help them to be attentive, help them to listen, help them to hear. Lord, help them to be obedient and obey to anything that you would have to say to them this morning. Lord, enlighten the mind, loosen the will, grant understanding. Someway, somehow, Lord, would you do it this morning. Lord, we know that all is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down. So, Lord, please move this morning. Rend the heavens and come down and speak to us today. Lord, help me as I speak. Lord, I'm nothing, but Lord, you're everything. So, Lord, help me as I preach. Lord, just help me to guide my heart, guide my tongue, Lord, help me to say only those things that you would have me to, no more, no less, help me to be sensitive to add or omit anything that you would have me to. Lord, most of all, Lord, through this service, would you get all the praise and all the honor and all of the glory out of everything that's said and done this morning, and we'll praise you in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated this morning. uh... the book of joba uh... an interesting book uh... thinking this morning on the way to church the book of joe bit actually mentions snow six times talks about snow in the book of joe but uh... of course i started the uh... yearly bible reading hope you've done the same uh... this year i'm doing the chronological reading through the bible I don't know that it's accurate, but it's pretty close. Of course, we went through Genesis 1-11, but then after that, chronologically, it takes you to the book of Job. So, my Bible reading here recently has been in the book of Job. When I come to Job chapter number 23, there was a verse this week that really just jumped out at me and I thought it might be good for us here this morning. But the book of Job, one man said that God was so in favor of work that he named a book after it. I don't know that that's true or not, but Job is an interesting book. It's a lot about suffering, a lot about different things, but to me the book of Job is about hope. It's about hope, and especially as I come to Job chapter number 23, I see hope in this book. Especially when I come, verse chapter 23, the verse that really jumped out at me this week was that verse number 3, where Job here said, O that I might know where I could find him, that I might come even to his seat. Basically, Job here is asking, where are you God? Where are you at? I've been looking for you, and I can't find you. Oh, that I might know where I could find you." That's what he's saying. Basically, he's saying, where's God? You say, well, Job shouldn't have done that. Well, lest we look down at Job, there are others in the Bible that ask similar questions. I thought about David. A man after God's own heart, according to the book of Acts. In Psalms, chapter number 13, verses 1 and 2, David said something similar. Psalms 13, verses 1 and 2, he said this, he said, How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Sounds like he wanted to know where you're at, God. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? Basically, David said, Where's God? Where are you at, God? I thought about Asaph. Asaph, he was a He was a Levite singer, probably the head of the worship group there. He was a member of David's court. He was a well-respected man during those days. In Psalms, chapter number 77, verses 7 through 9, he says this, Asaph, Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? Is his mercy clean, gone forever? Doth his promise fail forevermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? And then he says, See law. That means just stop and think about that. Has God forgotten to be favorable? Has God forgotten? Where is God is what he's saying. Where are you at, God? Not only David, not only Asaph, but in the book of Psalms, there's a man named Ethan. Ethan, and he's an Ezraite, one that was very wise in those days, and another member of David's court. Psalms 89, verses 46 and 47, he said this. He said, How long, Lord, wilt thou hide thyself forever? Shall thy wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is. Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? Basically he says, where are you at, God? Don't forget, my time is not very long. I don't have long. Where are you at, God? David thought that. Asaph thought that. Ethan thought that. He said, well, that's just the Old Testament. Well, in the New Testament, in the book of Mark, chapter number 4, verses 37 and 38, the disciples there on the water, it says, And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat to the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hindered part of the ship, asleep on a pillow, talking about Jesus. And they awoke him, and said unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? The disciples thought the same thing. Lord, don't you care about us? We're getting ready to go down for the last time. Where are you at, Lord? Why ain't you doing something? Where are you at? Where's God? David said it, Asap said it, Ethan said it, the disciples said it. And if you'd be honest today, you've said it too. Oh, you might not have said it, you thought it. Where's God? Where's He at? Why is He not moving? Our time is short. What's going on? Where's God? Has He forgotten about me? Does He care about me? Does He even know what I'm going through? Why hasn't He taken care of my situation? Don't He know I'm in pain? He does. So I got to looking at that Job chapter number 23 this week. I want to look this morning at the title, Hope for the Seeker. Hope for the Seeker. And like I said, Job to me is a book of hope. Job went through some things. He did. And it ought to give us hope when we look at the book of Job. First thing I see in our text this morning, I see first of all, Job's pain. Job's pain. Verses 3 through verse number 7 there. We find Job, up until now, chapters 1 through 23, we find Job, he's distressed. He's discouraged. He's desperate. He's despondent. Probably like some of us here today. You'd be honest. There are some here today that are distressed. They're stressed out. There are some here today that are discouraged. There are some here today that are desperate. There are some here today that's despondent. And Job was the exact same way when we find him here in Job chapter number 23. Job had suffered some terrible losses. Lest somebody not know about the book of Job, In Job chapter number 1 we see that Job seemingly in a matter of maybe minutes lost nearly everything he had nearly everything he had. In Job 1, verses number 14 and 15, a messenger runs to him and talks about the Sabians having taken his oxen and killed his servants that were there. In those days, oxen, they were like tractors today. How would you like it if somebody came and stole all your tractors, all your equipment, and stole it all? Not just one, but all of them. But the Sabians came. Took all of his oxen. And it seems as though in the verbiage in the writing here, it says, and while he was speaking, while that one messenger was saying, hey, you just lost all your oxen, another messenger came, and he said, hey, he said, fire came from the sky, and burn up all your sheep out here on the backside of the desert, and the servants that were out there, they're dead too. All my oxen's gone, all my sheep's gone. While he was speaking, another one came and said, hey, he said, the Chaldeans, they took up three bands and they surrounded us and they took all your camels and they killed all the servants that were with them. Oh, it just can't get any worse. I've lost all my oxen. I've lost all my sheep. I've lost all my servants that were with them. Now I've lost all my camels. While that one was yet speaking, another messenger came in verses 18 and 19 of chapter 1 and says, Job, I hate to tell you this, but there was a great wind and your seven sons and your three daughters were all eating and feasting together and the winds blew and the house fell down and they're all dead. Oxen, sheep, his servants, his camels, now his children. Can it get any worse? Chapter number two, he loses his health. He gets sore balls from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet. Now, I've never had one, but I hear they're pretty rough. Just to have one, he had them all over. The Bible says he took a pot shirt, a piece of pot, and he just scraped them open so that they could drain, just to give him a little bit of relief. Lest that be bad enough, we see that in chapter number two, verse number nine, his wife turns on him. Now, she lost children too. She said, Job, just curse God and die. Job, how do you retain that integrity? Jobifies you, I just curse God and die. And then it just keeps getting worse. In chapters 3 through chapters number 37, he had some self-righteous friends that came to him to come to his aid and to help weep with him. And they told him what kind of sinner he was, and how that he had done wrong, and it was the punishment of God coming upon him. And Job just finally told him, y'all are pitiful! Y'all are pitiful comforters! But Job had been through a lot. He was in pain. He was distressed. He had been through a lot. It was a pretty bad situation. One man said this, he said, a week in prison is longer than a month in freedom. He said, well, that don't make sense. A week in prison will seem longer than a month in freedom because of what you're going through. And it might have just been a matter of minutes when he lost his ox and his sheep, his children, his camels, but it seemed like a long time because he was going through that. He was going through it. But in all of these things, there's hope. There's hope in the life of Job. Things might be bad in your life. You might have had equipment stolen. You might have lost this loved one. You might have lost this or that, or your mate might have turned against you. I don't know what, but things in your life might be going bad, but there's hope for the seeker here in the life of Job. You see, in Job's pain, I see the desire of Job. Through all this pain, we see his desire. His desire. Through all the hardships, through all the disappointments, through the distress, through the discouragement, Job had a desire. It wasn't for his sheep. It wasn't for his oxen. It wasn't for his camels. It wasn't for his servants. And it wasn't even for his own children. It wasn't for his wife. Job's desire is in verse number three. Oh, that I may know where I might find him. In Job's pain, all Job wanted to do was to know that God was there. He wanted to know that God hadn't left him and that God's face still shined on him. All he wanted to know was that the presence of God was near him. He thought here that God had hid His face and that He had forsaken him. It was an intense desire here where he says, Oh! This was something that he wanted more than all of that material stuff. He wanted the presence of the Lord. Oh, that I might know where I might find Him. You say, well, I feel the same way. Well, then there's hope. Then there's hope. If you feel the same way, there's hope. And you say, well, why? Because that's not a natural desire. Man in his depraved condition does not want God. If you have any kind of desire inside of you that wants anything to do with God, you ought to thank God for it. You ought to say, thank God. I don't desire Him like I should, but if you desire Him any, you ought to thank the Lord for it. Job here had a desire, and it wasn't natural. You see, natural man loves the world. The natural man loves the things of this world. If you have this desire, though it may be small, though it may be very, very minuscule, you ought to thank the Lord, for that's the Savior's doing, is giving you that desire. It's just grace. It's just grace. There are people going through this life today, they won't even think twice about darkening the door of a church. They won't think twice about reading their Bible. They won't think twice about praying over their food. They won't think about it because they don't have a desire. If you've got any kind of desire, there's hope. There's hope this morning. Not only in his pain, I not only see the desire of Job, but I also see the delay of Jehovah. The delay of Jehovah. Now, Job is crying out to God, yet it seems as though the heavens are brass. Though it's not even getting above the ceiling tiles. Like, from man's point of view, from Job's point of view, we would think that there is some kind of delay. But God's timing is perfect. He's never early. He's never late. God's timing is perfect. I was reading This week I was reading, I like to read Spurgeon, that's no revelation really, but I like to read Spurgeon and I read a sermon this week where he was talking about John Bunyan. He was talking about John Bunyan and he was talking about John Bunyan, of course he's the author of The Pilgrim's Progress, but he was talking about John Bunyan and he said this about him, he said, for many months and many years, He walked this earth, talking about John Bunyan, for many months and many years he walked this earth knowing that he was lost without Christ. Often you would find him on bended knees with tears crying out to the Lord for mercy, but he found it not. Terrible words haunted him continually. Talking about John Bunyan. Terrible words haunted him continually. Passages of scriptures kept ringing in his mind. Yet no blessed consolation until the Lord was pleased to appear to him in a plenitude of grace and led him to cast himself upon the Savior. You say, was he late? No, he was right on time. Well, he sought him for months, he sought him for years. Why didn't he save him then? It wasn't God's timing. God's timing is always perfect. He's never early and he's never late. There's no delay at all. You say, well, I don't understand that. I don't know that I understand it either. But I thought about three reasons why, in man's eyes, we think that there might be a delay. Might be a delay. The first thing I thought about was the sovereignty of God. The sovereignty of God. It's just not His timing yet. Now, that's above my pay grade. He didn't ask me. And if I told him, he wouldn't listen anyway. He's God. He's chief. He's supreme. He's above all others. He's sovereign. He don't need to ask your permission to do anything. He's sovereign God and he'll do it when he wants to and he'll do it how he wants to. We might think it's a delay but on his end it's right on time because of the sovereignty of God. I also thought that not only from our point we think it's a delay not only because the sovereignty of god but also because of seeing seeing you see there's some battle that that that on sunday or on a wednesday night they'll cry after god but on a monday through tuesday and thursday through saturday they're wicked as a junkyard all Now that's not to say that there's not hope for you. All I'm saying is, is that there's still sin, there's still a craving and there's still a desire for the things of the world that the Holy Spirit's going to have to work on you and going to have to draw you and going to have to work that out of you before He can come to you in power. Some, like I said, aren't ready to 100% trust Him. They want to hold on to this or hold on to that. Lord, I'll give you 99.99%, but I just need to hold on to this one thing. That ain't going to happen. Got to be 100%. Gotta be all of it. All or nothing. And so sometimes it's the sovereignty of God. Sometimes it's sin. He's just gotta work on you some more. Sometimes it's for sympathy. So you can sympathize with others. One of these days, you'll be able to put your arm around somebody who's crying out and they're saying, I don't know why, I don't know where God's at, I don't know why He ain't working, I don't know why He ain't dealing with me. You'll be able to put your arms around them and say, I understand, I've been there, I've sat where you've sat. Not a delay, God's timing is perfect. But there's sometimes where we think that there's a delay and it's the sovereignty of God. It may be because of sin or it might be so you can show sympathy. Sympathy to others. I see here Job's pain. But I also see Job's panic. Here in chapter 23, verse number 3, he said, Oh, that I might know where Where? We see here his seeking. He said, Ah, that I might know where. Now a lot of times panic in today's day and age has a bad connotation and it might be bad, but here Job's panic was a good thing. His pain led him to panic that caused him to seek after the Lord. And so we see here his seeking. He said that I might know where. Now that gives the implication that if he knew where God was, whether it be the deepest, the darkest den, or whether it was the driest desert, wherever it was at, Job said, if I knew where he was at, I'd go get him. It tells me that he was ready to go after it with all he had. He said, if I just knew, I'd go get him. In verses 8 and 9, he's seeking. He says, Behold, I go forward, but he's not there, and I go backward, and I cannot perceive him. On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him, he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him. He's in a panic. He said, I've been looking, I've been praying, I've been crying out to Him, and it's like I can't find Him anywhere. Oh, that I know where I might find Him. He said, if I just knew where I could find Him. Does that sound familiar? This is not only Job, Maybe some here have said the same thing. Oh, if I just knew where I could find Him. If I just knew. Ah, Job's panic. He was seeking. But in verse number 8 and 9, he was sorrowing. When he said this, when he said, Behold, I go forward and He's not there. I go backward and He ain't there. I can't perceive Him. I can't understand Him. He didn't say that in a rejoicing way. He said that in a sorrowing way. He was at the end of His rope. He said, I can't find Him. I've been doing all I know to do and He just ain't there. He said, I've looked everywhere I know to look. I've done everything I know to do, yet it still seems like the Lord is hiding His face from me. It still seems like He's forsaken me. But yet there's hope for the seeker. Job's pain, Job's panic. But then I see here in verse number 10, I see Job's peace. Job's peace. Now through all that he's going through here, all of his losses, all of his stress, all of his agony, all of his anxiety, his hardships, his troubles, his trials, he has peace knowing one thing. says verse number 10 but but means opposite of I've been looking for him I can't find him I've looked forward I've looked backward I've looked left I've looked right and I can't find him but on the other hand he knoweth the path that I take he knoweth the Lord knoweth now he had peace knowing that the Lord knew exactly what was going on in his life None of this knoweth his way here doesn't mean that just the Lord checks in on him sometimes. It doesn't mean that he's with him and he knoweth when times are good. This knoweth is a continuous action verb that means at all times, good times, bad times, sorrowful times, rejoicing times, rich times, poor times, happy times, sad times, every time when you're awake, when you're asleep, every time He knoweth the way that I take. He knows what's going on all the time. And Job said, I find peace in that. I find hope in that, knowing that He knows exactly what I'm going through. He knoweth the path that I take. He knoweth the way that I take. It should be an encouragement to you. It should cause you to have hope. to know that he's not hit his face and that he's not forsaken you. He knows what you're going through. And what you're going through is for a purpose or a plan. What Job went through was for a purpose and a plan. You see, the devil came to God with the sons of men there and the Lord brought up Job. He said, Have you considered my servant Job? And the devil said this, Yeah, but you've got a hedge about him. Now a hedge, you know what a hedge is. In the Bible times it's a defense, it's an army, it's a legion, it's a city, like a fence city. Basically what the devil said is, yeah I've considered him but I can't do nothing with him because you've got a hedge about him and he's got that same hedge about you. Nothing will happen to you unless God orders it or God allows it. And that in itself ought to be an encouragement to you. But everything is done with a purpose or a plan. Now, we don't always know what that is. It might be for us, it might be so the Lord can speak to somebody else through what we're going through. It's always, God never moves without purpose or plan. As I was thinking about this, where's God? Oh, that I knew where I might find him. I got to thinking about one thing Brother Charles Shipman said years ago. It's funny how things stick with you. I haven't thought about this in years, but then all of a sudden it just popped up. Back in the 90s, We went to a Mississippi Delta camp meeting and there were preachers there. You'd preach all day and there would be these sinners that would come to the altar and they would mourn and they would cry and they would go back to their seat and nothing had happened. And Brother Charles would always try to give them comfort, would try to encourage them with this question, where's God? And one time he said, many of y'all are wondering, where's God? And of course some shook their head, yeah, yeah. And he would say this, he would say, the Lord is about a 16th of an inch past the end of yourself. A 16th of an inch past the end of yourself. I mean, He's closer than your hand. He's closer to you than your feet. When you get to the end of yourself, you'll be there. And for some, that gave encouragement, and for some, they didn't really understand, but the Lord's there. He's just waiting for you to get to the end of yourself. And it's not something that you can do, the Holy Spirit's doing His work, but when He works, when He enables you to do something, when He speaks, obey it and submit and all of that, and you'll come to the end of yourself, and when you do, He's just past that. Past the end of yourself. Many of the things that you're going through might be to bring you to the end of yourself. I don't know that, I'm just saying that it might be. I know there in Luke 15, the parable of the lost sheep, the lost silver, and the lost son. What did it say? When that son, when he had spent all that he had, when the famine came, he came to the end of himself. And when he did that, He said, I'm going to go back to my father. I'm going to go back to my father. He'd come to the end of himself. Now, it took the famine to get him to the end of himself. It took the money running out for him to get to the end of himself. If he still had a bank full of money, and if there hadn't been no famine, he'd still be over there today living it up. But it ran out. And some of the things you're going through now might be just to get you to the end of yourself, to let you realize that, hey, I can't do it. I can't do anything without him. I thought I could. I thought I could make it on my own. I thought I could do it by myself, but I can't. I've got to have help. I've got to have the Lord. And when you come to the point to where you're ready to turn it over, lock, stock and barrel, turn it over 100% to Him, He'll say, Here I am. That's what He said there in Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58, verse number 9. He said this, He said, Then, Shalphael called. And the Lord shall answer, Thou shalt cry. And he'll say, Here I am. When? Then. When's then? I don't know. When you get to the end of yourself. Then you'll cry. And he'll answer, Here I am. About a sixteenth of an inch past the end of yourself. You might say, well, I'll tell you what, I'm just going to get to the end of myself today, then. Well, I wish the Lord would, in his mercy and grace, I wish the Holy Spirit would get you there. But oftentimes it takes time. As I said, John Bunyan, months and years. A lot of people don't like to hear that. Well, they love the book Pilgrim's Progress, but when you go talking about how John Bunyan was saved, they don't like talking about that. But he had to get to the end of himself. I'll close with this, a statement that Spurgeon made, talking about, where's God? Oh, that I knew where I might find him. He said this, he said, if you can't live without the Lord, you'll die with him. You'll die with him and be in heaven one day. If you can't live without him down here, you'll die with him and live with him one day in heaven. But if you can live with him, if you can live without him down here, most likely you'll die without him and go to hell. If you cannot live without him, you'll die with him. But if you can live without him down here, you'll die without him. Job couldn't live without him. He said, oh, oh, that I knew where I might find him. I'd go get him right now. It don't matter where it's at. I'd go right now. I'd leave everything. I would leave all my clothes. I would leave my material goods. I'd go wherever it took. If I knew where I could find him. And Job found him. Or the Lord found Job. And the same is true with you. If the Holy Spirit ever gets you to the place to where you have that same attitude, oh, that I knew where I might find Him, I'd leave everything right now, the Lord will find you. He'll save you. But He just has to get you to that point. And that's hope for the seeker. There's hope this morning. To know that if you've got that desire in you, that it didn't come from yourself and it didn't come from this old wicked world, it come from God. It's God-given and God will fill it. If you follow after Him, step in what light you've got. Job's pain. You might be in pain this morning. Job's panic. You might be in a panic this morning, but Job's peace. Just like Job, the Lord knows where you are and how to get your attention and how to get you to the end of yourself. And when he gets you to the end of yourself, you'll cry out and he'll say, here I am. And that's hope for the seeker. Lord, I thank you for the day. Lord, I thank you for your blessings. Lord, I just pray that you would work and that you would speak and just draw folks to yourself. So they would get to that attitude where they would say, oh, that I know where I might find him. I'd give it all up right now. I'd go get him right now. If it was in the Sahara Desert, I'm on my way. If it's in the coldest climate, I'll go. If it's in the ocean, I'll go. I just need him. Lord, when you get to that point, Lord, you'll find him. But Lord, it's a work of the Spirit, and we know that. But Lord, when you speak, when you move, when you touch, Lord, help us to obey. Help us to respond like we should. Lord, help us to, Lord, take the steps that we need to so you can give us more light. Lord, if there be some that might have not obeyed the light, Lord, may you bring it around again. Give it to them again. And Lord, this time, may they step in that light and obey and submit like they should. But Lord, there's hope for the seeker. Those that are seeking you, that's not something that they've worked up on their own. That's something that's God-given. And just like seeking is God-given, Lord, salvation is God-given. And you've got to give that, too. And we know that, but Lord, I pray that you would do it, even today, in some precious soul. Lord, help us now. Lord, just speak to somebody this morning as she plays a verse or two just to give you an opportunity to mind the Lord this morning.