Job 42 one the Bible reads then Job answered the Lord and said I know
that thou can't do everything and that no thought can be withholding from thee.
Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not. Things too wonderful for me which I knew not. Here I beseech
thee and I will speak. I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me. I have
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee wherefore I
abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. Now when we look at these
statements from Job in chapter 42 they have to be taken in the context of the
whole rest of the book. Here we see Job just falling over himself to just say to
the Lord that he's just repenting and that he loathes himself and that he's
nothing and that God can do everything but we have to understand is that Job is
just recognizing God's greatness in comparison with himself. Now some people
will take these scriptures here in the first six verses of Job 42 and try to
twist this to say that somehow Job actually was guilty before God. You know
almost like the three friends were right who kept accusing Job of being a sinful
person but we have to remember that God made it crystal clear in Job chapters 1
and 2 that Job was a perfect and an upright man that feared God and eschewed
evil and God said has thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him
in all the earth that fears God and eschews evil. So we know that he was the
greatest man living on the earth at that time. He was not being punished. The Bible
says that everything that happened to Job was done unto him without cause. It
was God just doing it to test him not as a result of any sin or anything that
Job had done. But what we learned from these last four or five chapters of the book of Job is that
even the greatest man on this earth is nothing in comparison with God. Just as
Jesus said of John the Baptist, there is not risen a greater man of them that are
born of women than John the Baptist, notwithstanding he that is least in the
kingdom of heaven is greater than he. So this is the greatest man on earth being
very humble before God. He talks about repenting and abhorring himself and he's
just saying, you know, I don't know what I'm talking about. I said things I didn't understand.
But here's the thing. We have to let God be the judge of Job's character, not
let Job be the judge of God's character. The Bible says this, if our heart condemn
us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. So even if a guy like
Job says, oh man, I'm so sorry. I don't even know what I'm talking about. I'm a
complete loser. You know, that doesn't really mean it's true. This is just Job
being humble. Job views himself in a very negative light in chapter 42 verses one
through six. And some people misinterpret that and then they'll view Job in a
negative light. No, this is Job viewing himself in a negative light because he's
very humble and he realizes God's greatness and God's superiority to
himself. But from the outside, as we look at Job knowing the whole story, knowing
what the Bible says chapters one through 42, we know that Job is a great man. We
know that he is a godly man. And in fact, when we see what God speaks, we don't see
God attacking Job or criticizing Job whatsoever. Because look at verse 7. It
says, it was so that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, the Lord
said to Eliphaz, the team and I, my wrath is kindled against thee and against
thy two friends for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right as my
servant Job hath. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams and go
to my servant Job and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering and my
servant Job shall pray for you. For him will I accept lest I deal with you after
your folly and that you have not spoken of me the thing which is right like my
servant Job. So when we look at what God has to say about Job, it's all positive.
He's my servant Job. I will accept him. He spoke what was right. So just because he
says, oh man, I spoke of things that I didn't understand, God says you spoke
what was right and you did right. You say, well what was the purpose of God going
on and on about his greatness for the last four chapters and telling Job
how much better he is than Job. The purpose is that before God could exalt
and lift up Job, he has to make sure that Job understands his place. The
Bible says before honor comes humility. So God was just trying to make sure that
Job did not get too puffed up or too prideful or too exalted. So before he
exalts him greatly in the presence of all his friends, he first has to humble
him and just tell him, even though you're a great guy, I'm way more powerful and
more righteous than you've ever thought of being. So that's the basic gist of
what's going on in those early verses. And again, this is why you have to read
the whole book of Job and take the whole context and understand the whole story
from start to finish. But let's start at the beginning here. It says in verse 2,
Job said, I know that thou canst do every thing. Now what Job means there is that
everything that's been listed over the last four chapters, he's acknowledging
that God is able to do those things. So we have to get this in context. This
isn't saying that God can do anything, period. He's saying, I know that you
can do every thing, meaning all the things that he just went over. Because if
you get the last four chapters, it was God saying, can you do this? Can you do
this? Can you do this? Did you know this? Do you know this? Are you able to do this?
And that's what Job's responding to when he says that God can do everything.
Because here's the thing, in an absolute sense, it is not accurate to say that God
can do anything. And here's why. Because the Bible says that God cannot lie. So
the idea that God can do anything is not biblical. But what the Bible does say is
that God is omnipotent. And omnipotent means all powerful. So God is all
powerful. God has all power and all ability. But God cannot lie. First of all,
the Bible says, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised
before the world began. It also says, in Hebrews chapter 6, that by two immutable
things in which it was impossible for God to lie. It also says, if we deny, the
Bible also says, if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny
himself. So there are things that God cannot do. He cannot lie. He cannot do
anything wrong. He cannot do anything unrighteous. Because he is light and in
him is no darkness at all. So God is limited to what he has said he would do
in his word. He's not going to break his promise. He's not going to tell lies. But
he can do everything that was just listed is what Job 42 verse 2 is saying.
It says that no thought can be withholding from thee. God even knows all
of our thoughts. That's very true. And then the other thing I wanted to point
out is that it says, in verse number 7, and it was so that after the Lord had
spoken these words unto Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the demonite, my wrath
is kindled against thee and against thy two friends, for you have not spoken of
me the thing that is right as my servant Job hath. And here we see that when
people speak of God and it's wrong, that makes God angry. When people preach false
doctrine about who the Lord is and about who Jesus is, that's something that gets
God mad. His wrath becomes kindled when people claim to speak the Word of God
and they actually speak things that are false. It says in verse number 8,
therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams and go to my
servant Job and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering and my servant Job
shall pray for you. For him will I accept lest I deal with you after your folly
and that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right like my servant
Job hath. So Eliphaz the demonite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the
Naamathite went and did according as the Lord commanded them. The Lord also
accepted Job. Now when the Bible there says the Lord accepted Job, it's talking
about when he prayed for his three friends. It's that you know Job standing
with God has never been in question here. But it's saying that Job is supposed to
pray for the three friends, Job prays for them, and then God accepts Job, meaning
that he answers that prayer. Look at verse 10. And the Lord turned the
captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. Also the Lord gave Job twice as
much as he had before. What's interesting about this is that God blessing Job and
restoring his wealth unto him is a result of him praying for his three friends
because it specifically says there that the Lord turned the captivity of Job
when he prayed for his friends. Now go to Second Chronicles chapter one because
this is an interesting concept in the Bible where when we pray sometimes God
will give us things that we didn't even ask for when we pray. And the Bible says
in Romans chapter eight that we don't know how to pray for ourselves as we
ought to. I mean do you ever just go to pray and you just don't really know what to
pray for? And maybe there's a certain situation and somebody said hey would
you pray for me? And you're kind of at a loss. You don't know what to pray. And the
Bible says in Romans 8 that we know not how to pray as we ought, but that the
Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. So
basically when we pray to God the Holy Spirit steps in and he'll bring the
messages to God that we don't really know how to express or that we don't
really even know to pray for. He will intercede and get the message to God
that God needs to get. So in Second Chronicles chapter one we have a great
example with Solomon. Now Solomon had just become king and he wants to start his
kingdom right. He wants to seek after the Lord and be a godly king. So it says in
verse six of Second Chronicles one, and Solomon went up thither to the brazen
altar before the Lord which was at the tabernacle of the congregation and
offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it. So he takes a thousand animals and
offers a thousand burnt offerings on this altar. Just trying to right away
show God his submission to him and and his love for God. It says in verse seven
in that night did God appear unto Solomon and said unto him, ask what I shall give thee.
So I mean this is basically God just coming to him and giving him a
carte blanche. Just what do you want? Whatever you want just ask because
you've done something for me I'm gonna do something for you. It says in verse
eight and Solomon said unto God thou hast showed great mercy unto David my
father and has made me to reign in his stead. Now O Lord God let thy promise
unto David my father be established for thou has made me king over a people like
the dust of the earth and multitude. Give me now wisdom and knowledge that I may
go out and come in before this people for who can judge this thy people that
is so great. So here he's given the opportunity to ask something for himself
and instead of asking something for himself he actually is really asking for
others. Because yes he's asking for wisdom and knowledge so that he can do
right by others so that he can judge the people because he knows that as king the
welfare of his people is his responsibility and he wants to do a good
job and make sure that he does what's right for his followers and so he prays
for wisdom and knowledge to be given unto him and look what God says in verse
11 and God said to Solomon because this was in thine heart and thou hast not asked
riches wealth or honor nor the life of thine enemies neither yet has asked long
life but has asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself that thou mayest judge my
people over whom I have made thee king wisdom and knowledge is granted unto
thee and I will give thee riches and wealth and honor such as none of the
kings have had that have been before thee neither shall there any after thee
have the life. So here God gives him what he asks for wisdom and knowledge but he
also says I'm going to give you all the things you didn't ask for I'm going to
give you wealth I'm going to give you riches I'm going to give you honor I'm
going to give you long life I'm going to give you the lives of your enemies
because you asked for wisdom. Now the Bible tells us over and over again in
Proverbs that wisdom is the principal thing wisdom is the most important thing
that we can get in our lives it's way more important than than any kind of
wealth we could have and and really wisdom gets you wealth anyway because if
you have wisdom you would have the smarts to go out and make money and make
something happen whereas if you have money but you have no wisdom you're
going to waste it all I mean think about how many people who've had great wealth
and they spend it all wasted it all and did stupid things with it so wisdom is
more valuable because wisdom can give you wealth wisdom can give you a long
life because it'll teach you not to eat garbage food and not to do stupid things
that could shorten your life and so it could teach you to take care of yourself
or to you know whatever not risk your life and in foolish ways but what the
Bible is teaching here is that when we care about other people and pray for
other people and our prayer is not just a selfish prayer God's going to give us
what we need for ourselves also and he's going to give us what we need for other
people too it reminds me of when the Bible says you have not because you ask
not when it's talking about prayer in James chapter 4 but then it also says
you ask and have not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your
lust so when we're just praying for God to give us all the things that we want
to make us feel good and and to give us prosperity and to give us our way and
this and that and the other the Bible says we're not going to receive he's not
going to answer us he said you ask and receive not because you ask amiss that
you may consume it upon your lust so if our prayer is a prayer to consume
something on our lust God's not going to answer that prayer but if our prayer is
for things that are according to God's will and if our prayer is an unselfish
prayer for our friends for our loved ones then God will answer that prayer so
if I pray for you for God to bless you you know that's a lot more likely to get
answered than praying for God to bless me if I'm praying for myself it's better
for me to pray for other people and pray for the things that they need and if I
pray for myself I should pray for wisdom for myself so that I can be a
good father so that I can be a good husband so that I can be a good pastor
or whatever the case may be so think about that when you pray because God
wants to answer our prayers he says if you ask anything you know according to
his will he heareth us and and if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask
we know that we have the petitions that we desire from so God will answer prayer
it's definitely worth it to pray and he definitely will step in and and help out
in the situations that we ask his help but we need to make sure that we're
praying right that it's not a selfish thing where we're just praying for fancy
cars and fancy houses and you know God give me this God give me that that's not
the kind of prayer that God wants to hear from us but the Bible does say if
any man lack wisdom let him ask of God they give it to all men liberally and a
braided not in it shall be given him that is one prayer that is always
guaranteed to be answered if you pray for wisdom Oh God give me wisdom God give
me wisdom give me knowledge give me understanding and that's the most
valuable thing so why wouldn't you be asking for it anyway anyone who doesn't
ask for it is being foolish because the prosperity of fools shall destroy them
if you pray for prosperity and don't have the wisdom to go with it it's gonna
ruin your life just like people win the lottery it ruins their life people make
it big in Hollywood or in the rock and roll scene and it ruins their life they
commit suicide they're miserable why because those things can't bring you
happiness and those things can't bring you success in life you know maybe in
the world's eyes you'll be a success but you'll be a failure in God's sight so if
you look at Solomon's example here you see that praying for others is the way
to pray and then God will take care of your needs anyway and the Bible says
this your father your Heavenly Father know it that you have need of all these
things and the Bible says your father know it that you have need of these
things he says he knows what you have need of before you ask because the Bible
talks about how the heathen use vain repetitions for they think that they
shall be heard for their much speaking be not be therefore like unto them for
your father knows what things you have need of before you ask him so you don't
have to sit there and just keep asking God for the same things because he
already knows what you want he already knows what you need spend time praying
for other people and if you spend time praying for other people God will give
you exactly what's best for you you might not even know what's best for you
but he does so spend time praying for other people and then God will bless you
and that's exactly what we see in job 42 he prays for his three friends and we
praise first three friends he gets what he needs he gets his life restored now
what had happened to job well first of all his ten children have died his wife
told him curse God and die he's covered in boils and sores from the top of his
head to the bottom of his feet and he was scraping himself with pieces of
pottery just to alleviate some of the burning and itching and inflammation so
he's an extreme physical pain his ten children have died all ten of his
children have died he lost all of his wealth all of his servants have just
left all of his old friends have turned on him and are blaming him not even his
wife is sticking up for him so he is pretty much going through every possible
calamity that a human being could go through his health his finances his
relationships loss of children and so forth so let's see what happens in the
end of the story after he prays for his three friends it says in verse 10 and
the Lord turned the captivity of job when he prayed for his friends also the
Lord gave job twice as much as he had before now this kind of explains how he
got his wealth back because it's kind of hard to going from just having nothing
to just being this wealthy man with all this cattle have you ever heard the
saying it takes money to make money you have to have some money to get started
with some capital to get started with you know a lot of people just borrow
money to get started but sometimes borrowing money is not that easy I
remember when I started my fire alarm business back in 2008 I had only like
$6,000 and I was starting this fire alarm business and there was just so
much work out there and there was so much money to be made and I you know at
first I was just gonna be really conservative and just start it real slow
but then I thought you know there's just so much work out there there's just so
much money to be made I need to make hay while the Sun is shining here you know
so I actually just racked up every credit card and just borrowed a time I
literally borrowed $70,000 on and I mean you know that'll kind of if you're one
who has a real strong grip on the things of this world that'll keep you up at
night you know what I mean but I just thought you know just take it one day at
time here but there was a time when I had $70,000 racked up and I'm not
recommending that I'm not saying hey that's how you start a business but
that's what I did and I had $70,000 in debt at the worst but then but people
owed me like a hundred thousand and I owed like seventy thousand but here's
the thing though you don't know if those people are gonna pay because a lot of
people don't pay I would say in the course of me running my fire alarm
business I probably only got paid for about 90 to 95 percent probably 95
percent probably 5% just didn't pay you know I mean it was just something you
had to kind of factor in like 5% of the bills just aren't gonna get paid and
you're never gonna get paid but when I worked for my other boss there there was
a company that owed us $40,000 and they went out of business never paid so
things like that happened so it was kind of a little bit a little risky there you
know but thank God you know everybody paid and I paid off all that debt and I
was able to be in the black in about a year after starting my business I paid
all that off but here's the thing though you know the only reason I was able to
borrow $70,000 is because this was before the crash really had set in this
was when credit was just easy there's just credit cards loans it was easy to
get loans back because if I would have started my business a year or two later
wouldn't have been the same because after that they ever all my credit cards
they started cutting the credit limit on them and I called them up and I said
I've never paid a bill late my credit is perfect why are you cutting my let they
just said we're cutting everybody's limits because they did you know credit
just wasn't as free after that but again in order to borrow money you even have
to show them that you have money in order to borrow money or you have to
show them that you have money coming in so if you're a guy like job who's sitting
there covered in sores scraping yourself and you don't have any cattle you have
any money it's going to take you a while to build that heard back up to full
strength you have one animal I mean what do you do I guess you go and work for
somebody else and you know 10 their animals and then make some money and
then by your first couple animals and I mean I'd be a really difficult process
but here's what God did it was actually easier for that than job God makes it
easy for him read verse 11 it says then came there unto him all his brethren and
all his sisters and all they that had been of his acquaintance before and
eat bread with him in his house and they bemoaned him and comforted him over all
the evil that the Lord had brought upon him every man also here's the key every
man also gave him a piece of money and everyone an earring of gold so the Lord
bless the latter end of job more than his beginning so how did this blessing
of the Lord come about it came through human means it came through human
instrumentality it wasn't just that God rained money down from heaven and it
wasn't just that job just took out a line of easy credit you know I don't
even know if they had easy credit like that back then see it's really easy for
people to loan you seventy thousand dollars when they print money out of
thin air and it's all electronic it's all fake money so that you know that's
why it was so easy to borrow that money back in 2008 but here we see how job got
his money back because what happened is all of his friends all of his
acquaintances all of his family now they feel sorry for at first they had all
turned on and they'd all forsaken him but now God has given them a change of
heart and they come back and they're sorry and they feel bad so everybody
gives him a piece of money and everyone gives them an earring of gold and all
that money adds up so now he's got a bunch of money and a bunch of gold
earrings and obviously he's not just gonna put on all his earrings like and
look like mr. T or something you know with a bunch of jewelry so what he does
is he obviously takes that money and starts buying cattle and he builds it up
again through hard work he builds up the herd again and so in the end after
getting all that money that's like his startup money that he needed goes out
buys the animal and gets things going and then it says in verse number 12 so
the Lord blessed the latter end of job more than his beginning for he had
14,000 sheep and you can just take my word for it that if you compare these
numbers to chapter 1 it's exactly double he has twice as much of everything
14,000 sheep 6,000 camels and a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand she asses
and then here's what's interesting in verse 13 it says he had also seven sons
and three daughters now what's interesting about that is that in the
beginning how many children did he have 10 so here God's blessing him with twice
as much but does he have twice as many children but I believe the reason why is
because when you lose sheep they're gone when you lose camels they're gone when
you lose asses they're gone but when you lose your children his children were
devout children they're in heaven so in order for him to be doubled God doesn't
have to give him 20 children by giving him 10 more he's got double in the
beginning he had 10 children now he's got 20 because the Bible teaches you
know we don't mourn like those who have no hope for if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with
him so Job's children they're still alive they still exist that's why he
only gets 10 now I'm assuming this is the same wife you know there's no
mention of him getting a different wife or his wife dying or anything so I'm
assuming it's the same wife that told him curse God and die it comes back and
says she's sorry which that doesn't really surprise me you say well good
night I mean after she told him curse God and die I mean their marriage must
be over but here's the thing about that though a lot of people they make the
mistake of thinking that if they have a big fight in their marriage that like
their marriage is just over but guess what most people who are married have
some pretty big fights in their marriage I mean this idea that and again if you
say well not me I've never had a fight right well okay fine you know you're
that person but most people most normal people if they're around each other
every single day and they're married and they're living together there's gonna be
some conflict there's gonna be some strife they're gonna be bad days and you
think oh no you know me and so-and-so my boyfriend my girlfriend my fiancee you
know we're never gonna disagree we're never gonna fight but you're not married
yet and and you say well you know we've been married but we've been married for
three months and it comes later okay now you say why would you say that pastor
Anderson and and sometimes when I've been preaching before and I've been
talking about marriage and I'll be showing stuff from the Bible and I'll
say things like you know what it's normal if there are problems in your
marriage or fighting or if there are times when you don't get along or
saying things like that marriage has ups and downs they're gonna be times
when it's really good they're gonna be other times when it's not good and you
got to hang in there through the rough patches I've had people get offended by
that kind of preaching and just oh how could you say that but that's so
unspiritual and my fight with your wife probably you know we're supposed to love
her as Christ loved the church and blah blah but here here's the thing about
that though you know but can I tell you exactly why I've gotten up and said
things like that because actually pastors who get up and just act like oh
my marriage is perfect it's always been perfect and I've never had any marital
problems and it's always been just wonderful and we just have always loved
each other so much every day and we just wake up every morning when my wife and I
wake up it's that song doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo you know
and we're just it's all just one romantic Hollywood movie from start to
finish every day every night it's perfect but here's the problem with that
because then the people in the congregation you know what they're
thinking oh man I married the wrong person oh no my marriage is horrible you
know my marriage is nothing like Pastor Anderson so what happens is Hollywood
and TV are already putting out there an unrealistic view of relationships in
marriage where everybody rides off into the sunset and everything's perfect and
it's just super-duper romance every single day of the week and the problem
is that when we when we go to church and we hear the same thing oh yeah if you
just follow Ephesians 5 everything's perfect yeah just follow Ephesians 5
there's never gonna be a problem the problem with saying that is that then
when people have problems which they're going to then they think it's just them
it's just me I must have married the wrong person we're not compatible you
know this isn't going to work but if we get a more realistic view of marriage
going into marriage then marriage can last see it's better to know it's it's
sort of like the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine you know teaches you oh you're
never gonna have to face anything you're never gonna have to face any persecution
of the Antichrist you know so then you're not ready for it when it happens
right let me you know this this pre-trib marriage philosophy this this this this
marriage that has no tribulation and then people get married right and then
tribulation comes in their marriage I'm not saying there's a beast involved or
anything but I'm saying you know you go into your marriage and then you have
problems and then what happens you know and then you're offended whereas if you
go into I like to tell people going into marriage and let them know look
marriage is great marriage is wonderful and I can honestly stand up here and say
from the bottom of my heart that my wife and I have a wonderful marriage we get
along great we love each other and honestly our relationship is much better
and deeper than it was even when we were newlyweds I mean when we were newlyweds
we were so happy we were dirt poor we didn't even have a bed to sleep in we had
a twin mattress on the floor we had two plates two forks two spoons two cups no
couch no table no chairs we were just so happy and in love you know we were
newlyweds but honestly we have we have better times now than we even did then
and so we love each other great but look I'd be lying to you if I got up here and
said hey it's always been like that it's always been great it's always been
wonderful because guess what it hasn't because life isn't like that and when
you go through marriage there are ups and downs there are bad times that you
go through together and look when you're going through bad times or your wife is
going through bad times or both of you are going through bad times and there
are going to be times when there's serious conflict and when it gets ugly
you know I mean that's just the way life life's not always going to just be a
beautiful Hollywood movie but the problem is some people have their heads
so far in a TV that they start thinking it's real and then they're like well but
I watch reality shows those aren't real either reality TV is an oxymoron it's
not real none of its real it's everything on TV is fake you say well I
watch the show and you know let me give you a perfect example there's a there's
a famous reality show called the Duggars or whatever it's called 19 kids and
counting or 18 kids and counting however many they're up to now and on
this show of the Duggars 19 kids and counting no one's ever spanked but the
kids are all good
I'll bet you any amount of money that those kids are being spanked but you
don't see it on the show but you know it's happening
why because no one is going to even have 19 kids if they don't spank them because
they'd be just swinging from the chandeliers you know what I mean they
would have murdered their parents by now you know so what I'm saying is that TV
even reality TV isn't really showing you the whole picture even if you say well I
watch this show I you name the show I'll tell you what's not real about it but
people spend so much time watching Hollywood movies and TV of all this just
romance and and look I believe in romance my wife and I have all kinds of
romance but you know what you're never going to be able to achieve the goal of
just romance 365 days a year it's not gonna have tried it doesn't work I'm
just telling you it's just not real it's just not reality and you know it's really
when you first get married and it's just you and your spouse it's pretty easy to
just have all the romance and all you know then when the kids start coming
though it gets more challenging that brings a new challenge you know and and
and and you know you go through life there are all kinds of jobs plus there's
a difference between being married for one year and five years and ten years
there are different phases you go through different challenges you go
through and I can honest I'm not just getting up here and just saying this
just for effect or something but I literally feel that my marriage is is
better now than it's ever been as far as just and I'm not saying every single
day but I'm saying in general I like my marriage now better than I did even when
I was a newlywed so marriage does get better and that's what people don't
realize when they quit because a lot of people when they get to a bad patch in
their marriage what do they do they quit they bail at the low point and there's
gonna be a low point my friend there is going to be any low point and many low
points but here's the thing when you bail at the low point you never make it
to the good times because marriage will get good again and in fact it'll get
even better than it's ever been if you can hang in there and stay through the
rough patches and obviously you know you got to follow the Lord you've got to do
things God's way you got to be unselfish you got to love your spouse all the
things that go into it but it will get better it will improve and so that's one
thing that we can learn from this story with Joe I mean here's Joe's wife
telling him you know curse God and die but here's the thing if my wife if my
wife's ten children died she'd probably tell me to curse God and die you know
and I'm not saying that to criticize her I'm saying probably any woman think
about how women are with their kids I mean at least they should be very
affectionate toward the children women obviously are very affectionate for the
children and this woman gave birth ten times to ten children and all of her
children are dead she's gonna say some mean things and there's the I don't
think she hated Joe she's just flying off at the handle because she's and
here's the thing if someone in our church had ten children and all ten
children died I don't care what that person said to me I would not hold it
against them I mean if somebody in our church if all their children died and
they walked up to me and said pastor Anderson you blankety blank blank blank
it's your fault and I hate you and you know I would I would forgive that person
in a heartbeat just because you just realize what they're going through now
I'm not saying it'd be right for them to do that but pretty much anything that
they said would be excusable in my opinion now you know between them and
God it's between them and God what God thinks about what they said but as far
as I'm concerned if anybody's going through that kind of struggle I'd be
really lenient and forgiving and you know so that's why I'm really forgiving
of job's wife I don't think she was a bad person I think that you know she was
going through a bad time and said something stupid it was what she said
was stupid what she said was blasphemous what she said was sinful I don't know
exactly how God felt about what she said God doesn't really tell us exactly what
he felt I know he I know it was wrong but I'll say this though I'm personally
not gonna stand in harsh judgment of her because of what she was going through
and all that to say this there are a lot of things in the Bible where you where
you see marital strife you see you know for example Zipporah Moses's wife
throwing a bloody foreskin at him you know that's a pretty serious fight you
know I mean when somebody's when your wife's throwing a bloody foreskin at you
you know that's a big fight and that's what hey this is exactly what happened
in the book of Exodus and she's say oh you you're a bloody husband and throwing
stuff you know look there are fights in the Bible where people are throwing
things so what I'm saying is you know don't get this at an easy why would you
preach this why would you even talk about it because here's the thing you're
gonna go through stuff in your marriage and it might not be the exact things
that I'm talking about here hopefully it's not to that degree but honestly
just because your spouse says something mean to you it's not it's over that's it
and remember the sermon from Sunday on forgiveness you know you've got to
forgive you got to move up and honestly just because you think it's over it's
not over guess when it's over when you die or when your spouse dies because the
Bible says that it that marriage you know is is something where they're
joined together and what God had joined together let not man put us under it's
till death do us part and so you just got to keep that in mind and I'm not
trying to scare you about marriage if you're a single person you know be
afraid be very afraid I'm not just kidding I'm not trying to scare you but
as my beloved sons I warn you yeah as well as the fossil Paul said you know
yeah it's I'm just telling you that if you go into marriage with an attitude of
you know what there are gonna be some rough patches they're gonna be times
when I say stuff I shouldn't say and when she says stuff that she shouldn't
say but you know what Pastor Anderson said that with that it was gonna happen
and when it happens I'm not gonna freak out I'm not gonna go over I'm not gonna
go home to my parents you know the proverbial wife goes to her parents you
know that's why I married a woman whose parents are on the other side of the
world you got nowhere to go but you know the proverbial oh she runs home to mama
don't freak out when things go but you know just I remember you know whenever I
first got married my sit you know I was like all good studio apartment my
sister's like no you need to get a one bedroom don't get a studio part I said
why not you know we're poor and she's like you got to have somewhere to go
when there's a fight you know you got to have somewhere to go and just shut the
door and cool off and and I was like why are you talking about you know but she
was right you know you got to have that bedroom but the point is you know don't
go to mama and run home to mama you just go in the other room and just cool off
and chill out and guess what it's all going to blow over and and if you're
godly if you're Christlike you're going to forgive and forget and then you can
have a wonderful marriage and a wonderful relationship but don't get
this attitude that it's all over and not just about marriage just in life just
don't get this attitude of just it's over there are so many times when I felt
like it's over with my with my fire alarm business I remember in September
2009 just it's over game over it's done I mean I felt like my life was over in
September 2009 you know there are times when you go through life and you're just
sitting there like okay I just lost everything okay goodbye everything but
you know what everything turned out fine I hung in there my business was fine the
church was fine family was fine everything was fine you just hang in
there you just ride it out and that's what Joe did through the whole book of
Job I mean that's what we learned through the book of Job the patience of
Job he hung in there he rode it out he didn't do anything stupid you know he
just didn't jerk the steering wheel he just stayed with the Lord he stayed
true he hung in there he went through the pain and suffering he didn't freak
out when his wife told him to curse God and die he just hung in there and guess
what in the end everything was great you've got to learn to go through the
trials and not run away you know and here's the thing you have a problem with
your marriage and you run away guess what's gonna happen in the second
marriage problems you know man what am I why did I leave my first spouse when it
turns out I was the problem or or or it turns out all women are like that or it
turns out all men are like that and by the way all women are like that all men
are like that oh my husband you know doesn't fix things around the house
neither do I oh my husband leaves everything so do I oh my wife nags me
you know whatever no comment anyway I'm just saying I'm just saying guess what
people are people people make mistakes I'm sure that I'm a pain in my I'm a
pain in my wife's neck sometimes she's a pain in my neck so it's just we're
people we're sinners we're human beings but the beauty of marriage is when you
can hang in there and go through hard times together and get to when it gets
good again and have a deeper more meaningful relationship that has stood
the test of time you've been through the storms together and it just gets better
and and deeper and more meaningful but you know life is like that you know you
just gotta stay with church and and when you first come to church it's like a
honeymoon sometimes people first come to faith we're back to oh this is the
greatest church I love it there have been people listen to me who've moved
here who've moved to Phoenix Arizona to come to our church and then eventually
quit and go somewhere else it's like you moved across the country to come here
and then you don't even come here because you know the honeymoons over and
then you know they don't know how to hang in there through rough times so
they just go running away and fleeing the message of job is patience
perseverance and waiting for God to eventually come through for you because
he's going to come through for you so he got double everything that he got it
says he called the name of the first he had he had seven sons and three dogs he
called the name of the first Jemima this is proof that job was black okay this is
proof positive but anyway I'm just kidding but anyway you know Jemima okay
I don't know that's not a popular name anymore for some reason but now it's
just a maple syrup pretty much but anyway I called the name of the first
Jemima and the name of the second Keziah or Keziah and the name of the third
Karen Hapok and in the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of
Job and their father gave them inheritance among their brother so God
blessed him with a beautiful family he's got seven sons and three daughters and
his daughters are the most beautiful daughters in the land and he's so proud
of them and he gives them an inheritance among their brethren because he has so
much inheritance I mean he just gives all ten of them an inheritance and then
it says in verse 16 after this lived job 140 years and saw his sons and his son's
sons even for generations so job died being old and full of days and I
guarantee you that job appreciated what he had in the end because he'd gone
through all the bad times and the Apostle Paul said I know both how to be
abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things I'm
instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need
I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me and so the Apostle Paul
he went through really hard times where he was in jail where he was beaten where
he didn't have any food to eat where he was shipwrecked out in the ocean and he
said I've learned in whatsoever state I am there with to be content and so if we
went through life and everything went well for us all the time we wouldn't
learn how to be content we would be a spoiled brat we have to go through times
of suffering and want and hunger to make us appreciate the things that we have I
remember when I went to Germany for three months when I was 18 and in
Germany there's no free refills at any restaurant that you go to I mean can you
imagine that no free refills and the drinks are tiny and the drinks are
expensive and if you go to a restaurant they actually give you and only in
Germany but they give you a little glass that is like a measuring cup that has
little lines on it so instead of just you know in America you just pour you
glass of water pour you glass or coca-cola whatever it has a little line
that they fill it up to it says 0.5 liters or 0.2 liters and usually I could
only afford the 0.2 liters okay you know sometimes I really splurged and got the
0.5 liter I mean in America 0.5 liter that's that's about what a pint that's
like okay I'm ready for my refill now but I remember the first time I went to a
restaurant in Germany it was just like all right refill it's like no that's
another five dollars whoa man the drink was like almost seriously if the food
was ten bucks the drink would be like five bucks the drink was about half what
the food would cost wherever you went and then I remember the people that I
was staying with they had bottles of carbonated water bottles of lemonade
but you could tell that they kind of felt that I was drinking a little too
much water it didn't say anything was that oh you're already done with the
water that we gave you huh oh so you already drank that lemonade so you know
you started to get the message like okay I'm not supposed to be drinking a lot of
water you know I'm used to growing up with just unlimited water and they're
like don't drink the tap water it's poison just drink this little measuring
cup so then I remember just the whole time I was there just three months of
being thirsty just three months of being thirsty and I remember I got back and
all I could think about was just drinking as much as I want and I
remember I got home and I went to the grocery store and I just bought like a
bottle of apple juice a bottle of orange juice a bottle of soda and I just went
home and I'm just drinking and drains oh so good and it made you appreciate
something that you never appreciated before you know and you didn't
appreciate it because you hadn't gone three months of never getting enough to
drink and it was just so refreshing that's how life is you go through life
just getting everything you want it turns you into a bad person it turns you
into a spoiled brat but when you go through periods of suffering and periods
that are bad it makes you enjoy the good times so we need to just trust God and
let him take us through some bad times if it's good for us and just hang in
there don't flip out and you know what I thank God that I've had financial
problems I thank God that I've had marital problems I thank God that I've
had health problems why because as a pastor I can actually understand what
people are going through and I know just you have marriage problems you must just
be an idiot you're just a little you're just a loser you know if you were a stud
like me you'd never have any marriage problems you know if you would just be a
little more manly and have a little more leadership you know you'd be doing great
loser why doesn't your wife respect you what are you doing wrong you know see
see how what a bad attitude that would be for a pastor to have it's better to
be able to say you know what I understand what you're going through I
understand the situation I understand the challenges because I've been there
or I've known people I've literally known people who've never had any
financial problems and they just think like oh anybody who's poor is an idiot
they're not working hard they're stupid but honestly I remember I went through a
period where I was working really hard early in my marriage and everything I
was going to work working hard working overtime doing well and just barely
scraping by and not having any money and so I can empathize with people when
they're struggling and and we're trying to make ends meet because I've been
there I know what it's like I know what it's like to have credit card debt I
know what it's like to go through these problems so I'm not just up on this high
horse where just well you know it's all your fault and you're just you just
don't know how to handle money and you just aren't working hard you know I can
actually have some sympathy for people so maybe that's why God's putting you
through things because maybe one day you're gonna be able to help other
people with similar problems and you're gonna be able to say you know what I
know exactly what you're talking about and it's gonna be sincere from your
heart when you say you know what I know what you're going through I'm praying
for you I love you I want to help you let me give you some advice I've been
there we got to just trust God and go through whatever he has for us and in
the end it's gonna be great I mean you're gonna have twice as much in the
end but you got to hang in there and you got to stay with the Lord if job would
have bailed on God though I don't think this would have had a happy ending at
all not everybody's life has a happy ending but Job's did because he stayed
with it and he died being old and full of days say well how old was he well it
says he lived 140 years after the story now how old was he in the beginning I
don't know this is back in the days when you know Abraham's living to be 175
years old people are living to be 180 175 you know things like that it was a
different time but you know we don't really know how old he was I know that
Job's three friends were called very old by Elihu remember he said I'm young
you're very old and we know that that Job's three friends did kind of talk
down to job at one point about his age talking about how all the old and wise
men were with them that were older than Job's father so you know making a little
bit of a reference to Job's age but how young can you be and have 10 kids so he
was a middle-aged man so we don't know exactly how old he lived to be but
obviously even 140 is super old nobody even lives that long nowadays but he
lived 140 years after this he got to see his sons and daughters the third and
fourth generation he was blessed in all areas everything went well for him and
so if you say well is the prosperity gospel true that if we serve God he's
gonna give us prosperity well here's the thing first we go through trials and
tribulations in the end we succeed but sometimes that's in the next life but
most of the time we'll succeed even in this life eventually but you got to go
through the bad times first and you got to hang in there let's bow our heads
enough word of prayer father we thank you so much for the story of Job it's a
very encouraging story Lord that just shows us that even when we think life's
over and we think that it is nothing can ever go right again and our health is
destroyed our marriage is destroyed our children are all dead and our finance
are destroyed the Bible says weeping may endure for the night but joy cometh in
the morning Lord help us to have the faith to understand that if we stay with
you and trust you and then stay faithful that our end will be blessed and in
Jesus name we pray amen