Introduction:

A Methodist preacher by the name of Luther Bridges was born in 1884. He married and had 3 sons. Pastor Bridges accepted an invitation to minister at a conference in Kentucky. It was the year 1910. Luther left his family in the care of his father-in-law and made the trip to Kentucky. God used him in a mighty way and there was two weeks of ministry that resulted in many decisions and changed hearts. The last service closed with great joy and anticipation of God’s blessing. What happened next would not seem to be a just reward for this servant of God. Luther was summoned to a call on the telephone. He expected it be his wife and he couldn’t wait to tell her about the blessings and the moving of the Holy Spirit.

But it wasn’t her voice on the other end of that long distance call. He listened in silence to the tragic news that a fire had burned down the house of his father-in-law. He learned that his wife and all three of his sons had died in the blaze. Tragedy, heartache, and difficult times escape no one. We know that even those of us who follow God faithfully are not immune to life’s “troubles.” We must realize that the real test of our faith is found in how we deal with the hard times in our lives. Your faith will always sustain you if you are founded upon the rock of Jesus Christ.

Luther a distraught man reached out to the Lord and found a peace that caused him to pen the words: “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Sweetest name I know. Fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go.” That is the song we sing “He keeps me Singing”. Job was such a man; in review:

Job was a man who actually lived on this earth (he was not a mythical character), he was a man of great devotion to God; he was also a very rich man. He was a man who tried his best to avoid evil, Job was a family man he had seven sons and three daughters. He had land, and cattle, and servants. Job had everything a man could ever want, he was successful, but he didn’t let his success distance him from God. He knew that whatever he had and whatever he achieved was only because of the grace of God. Let’s pick this up where we left off, verse 12.

II. Job Problems: 1:12-19

1. Note in verse 12 it was only after obtaining God’s permission that Satan is allowed to test Job’s faith in God. The devil did not believe Job would remain faithful to God once he lost all his earthy possessions and family. God did not in this case allow Satan to touch or harm Job’s flesh in any way. Satan could not do that even if he tried. We know that our God is greater.
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. I John 4:4

2. Job is about to experience the most horrific day any man could imagine. It’s all been set up ahead of time, but he doesn’t know what has transpired behind God’s curtain. Look at this tapestry I brought with me, it does not look like much from this side but turn it over…

3. The first message comes to Job from the first of four messengers to tell him that all of his oxen and donkeys have been stolen and all the servants who were watching them have been killed. That had to be one big herd snacking folks, you are talking 1000 ox and 500 donkeys. Only one man was left alive to bring Job the news of the theft.

4. In verse 16 another messenger enters and speaks, let’s read it. Whether it was a lightning storm or a volcano or another natural disaster, the effect was total destruction of 1000 sheep. Once again, only one servant was left to function as the messenger to Job. It is interesting to note that the servant blamed God for the fire. We do the same don’t we and we aren’t sure what God is doing or what going on in the heavens.

5. Now in verse 17 Job’s servants are killed and his camels are taken away; not killed you ask.
Camels were the most prized possession in the Arab world. They represented wealth and status, and were of great benefit in transporting goods and people especially in the desert. However, all of Job’s camels are stolen, when the Chaldeans came to get the camels, they didn’t kill them; they took them away. They were too valuable to kill. They came in three bands “rōshe” that is three separate parties. The word in Hebrew means divisions or chiefs.

What I find interesting is that Satan can always find evil people to do his bidding like the Sabeans and the Chaldeans.

6. So we learn it goes from bad to worst in Job’s life in a short period of time. All of Job’s wealth was lost, either through natural disaster or thieves. While Job was being told of all his material losses one after another, a final messenger arrives with most tragic news in verses 19. Satan was able to use nature to strike the final blow and killed all his children. Job has nothing left but his wife and health. The timing of it all was even a deeper mystery to Job.

Lord Byron once said, “Truth is always strange; stranger than fiction.” Even fiction could not top the strangeness of what happened to Job. Think of this man and his wife who have loved
and led their children in a godly manner, and their thoughts as the received this devastating message. Job had regularly prayed for them each by name and now they are gone in a moment in time. And worst of all, there is no explanation from God to help them understand what is going on. There is absolutely no way to understand what has happen and why.

III. Job’s Prayer (1:20-21)

1. One day Job is blessed beyond measure with family and fortune; the next he finds himself as desolate as any human can be. How does Job react? First, we read in verse 20 that Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell on the ground. Tearing one’s clothes and shaving one’s hair were common gestures of profound grief in biblical times. Showing his grief and sorrow was not a sign of weakness or spiritual immaturity. It was the natural and beneficial thing for Job to do.
A tragedy of our modem western world is the suppression of grief, which is a God-given emotional relief valve. What effect would all this adversity have on Job’s spiritual life? It is clear in his prayer found in verse 21.

2. We can learn many things about Job from his prayer. First, he realized that everything he had was from God. When he came into the world, he had no fortune or family.

Second, he knew the Lord who had given it all to him had every right to take it away, and if He did take it away Job would still believe in His goodness.

Third, Job’s great faith is revealed because in the midst of sorrow and suffering he could say, Blessed be the name of the Lord. Though deprived of family and fortune, Job was praising God instead of cursing Him, as Satan had predicted. Folks God knows what you are made of and he knows your breaking point. He knows the load you can bear. He was not praising God for what he had lost, but for God’s allowing him to have it all in the first place.

Application:
Are you struggling with losses that you have never really grieved for? Are there things in your past that you continue to struggle with to this very day? I’ve lost a mother and father but I also have lost some other things in life that I can never bring back. What about you?

Are you buying into the big lie that, “Time heals all wounds.” Refuse to believe or live in the lie that time is going to heal you. Time will fade the pain and soften the blow but like a scar it will not just go away. If you want time to be healing, you must seek the places where healing occurs and spend your time there doing the work required. The Psalmist said, ” My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word. (Psalm 119:28).

Conclusion:

As you face the pains and heartaches and mis¬treatments of life, it is only by complete confi¬dence in the goodness and plan of God that you can overcome. The things that could destroy you can become building blocks on the journey of faith as you look for the hand of God in all the cir¬cumstances of life. “This is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith”
(1 Jn. 5:4). Job! He decided to hold on the God’s un-changing Hand. What an example of faith! No matter what happens to us, no matter what the devil has in store, we need to have the faith of Job today. Those pains and hurts need to be accepted for what they really are. –gospel…