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There are times of great euphoria, times of special peace, special sense of God's presence. And then there are times when God seems far away and they descend into a very dark place and wish they'd never been born.
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It's troubling, isn't it? When people don't listen to us, it makes it seem like they don't care or aren't interested in us. But what do we do when it seems like Almighty God isn't listening to us? When it feels like he's distant? Hello, and welcome to another edition of Renewing youg Mind. I'm glad you're here. This week we've been exploring the Book of job, guided by Dr. Derek Thomas. Today, Dr. Thomas will lead us into the bleakest moment of Job's life, what has been called by theologians the dark night of the soul. At the end of this episode, you can learn about how to receive a lifetime of Digital access to Dr. Thomas entire series on the Book of Job. But now, how will Job get through this darkness? And how can we get through similar trials? Here's Dr. Thomas.
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Well, we come to job, chapter three. This is a dark night of the soul passage. It probably doesn't get much darker than this chapter in the whole of the Bible, except maybe our Lord Jesus in Gethsemane. Let's read a few verses from chapter three. After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. How much time has gone since chapters one and two, since the loss of his children, the loss of his health? You know, perhaps we are thinking here of weeks, possibly months have passed by. Let the day perish on which I was born. And the night that said a man is conceived. Let that day be darkness. May God above not seek it, nor light it shine upon it. Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it. Let the blackness of the day terrify it that night. Let thick darkness seize it. Let it not rejoice among the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of the months. Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful cry enter it. Let those curse it, who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan. Let the stars of its dawn be dark. Let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning. Because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. And it goes on through the third chapter, perhaps the closing verse of Psalm 88, a Psalm by Haman the Ezrahite. My companions have become darkness. Or as another Possible translation. Darkness has become my only companion. Bear in mind before you make a judgment on this passage. Jeremiah cites this passage in Jeremiah 19:20. After Jeremiah has spent a night in the stocks, he is released the next morning. I think he goes home. The text doesn't say that, but I think he goes home. And then he utters these words as though Job chapter three was a passage of Scripture that Jeremiah had memorized. What's your favorite passage of scripture? The one that you memorize? It says something, doesn't it? Jeremiah employed the very words of Job, chapter three. It might embarrass us. Why is this chapter here? If you were. Well, if you were putting the Scriptures together? I know that a dangerous question to consider, and I don't mean to be irreverent or anything, but if you are trying to decide what should go in a Bible in the inerrant word of God, would you have a place for this third chapter of Job where Job curses the day that he was born, wishes he'd never been born, says that he wishes that that night on which a midwife says it's a boy be obliterated completely from the calendar. There are probably conversations in dimly lit counseling rooms that have uttered similar words to this. It's a lament. It's a curse lament. It's not addressed to anyone in particular. It's not particularly. Especially addressed to God. Perhaps we should view it as the swings that we sometimes experience from euphoria to depression. This is certainly indicative of what happens to a great many people when they experience great loss and suffering and ill health. That there are times of great euphoria, times of special peace, special sense of God's presence. And then there are times when God seems far away and they descend into a very dark place and wish they'd never been born. Before rushing in to criticize this passage, we need, I think, to listen to Job. First thing I want us to think about is the background. And there are four things in particular. One is time has gone by. Time can change your mood, your perspective, the way you view things. A week can be an eternity in politics. It can change everything. But it can change everything in the Christian life, too. Six weeks after a bereavement. I was told a long time ago, when somebody experiences bereavement, you should check up on them six weeks later, call them, send them a note. Because very often the mood is very different. Time has gone by. Friends. Well, the friends have arrived. They arrived at the end of chapter two. They haven't actually said anything. They've acted in a way that seems to indicate they are already expecting Job to die. Their demeanor, their silence, what they do in putting ashes on their heads and so on. All of this would be symbolic of the fact that as far as they're concerned, they've got nothing to say and Job is as good as dead. Job's wife had urged him to curse God and die. Maybe now he had been pondering that suggestion. Maybe that's what he should do. Get this over with, exit this life. And then there's been the silence of God. And this is going to be an increasing issue, of course, as the book goes on. God. God hasn't said anything. There's been no vision, there's been no word. There's been no prophet to cancel him. Nothing. Certain feelings and thoughts that Job expresses here are shocking, and they are. He curses the day of his birth. When a midwife says it's a boy, let that day be removed from the calendar. He says, when there was joy in verse seven, let no joyful cry enter it. You know, when I remember the birth of my daughter, I remember the birth of my. It was at that time in British sort of social awareness that husbands were present at birth. It was only just before that that did not take place. It was somewhere in the 60s or 70s or so, at least in Britain. And I was there. I remember the sense of joy, the sense of. Of euphoria. He wants Leviathan, chapter three and verse eight. This great monster, this chaos monster, and we'll come back to it. He's mentioned again in chapters 38, 39, 40 of the book of Job, whatever it is.
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Exactly.
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This creature of destruction, this creature that is associated with all that's evil. Let this creature rise up and curse and remove this day that I was born from ever having taken place. The second half of Job chapter three is a full blown lament. He wishes he'd never been born. Pours out a series of questions. A battle of. Well, a battle of faith is erupting. His belief in God, his belief in what God is like. He says in verse 11, why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire? Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts that I should nurse? For then I would have lain down and been quiet. I would have slept. Then I would have been at rest with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves, or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver, and so on. A stillborn child. This isn't suicide. There's a place to talk about suicide. And I've known believers, true Christians, who have taken their lives. They've lost all sense of purpose in this world for whatever reason that is. And I do believe that Christians born again, children of God who commit suicide can be saved. And they're in God's presence and have. I've had the experience of being at probably a couple of dozen funerals of such instances. But that's not what's here. This is Job saying, I think, let God do this. Remove this day as though I had never been born. He talks about life here as being, well, misery. Look at verse 20, the bitter in soul. In verse 24, he talks about sighing and groaning. He talks in verse 25 of Nightmares that have come true. The thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me, and it ends. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet. I have no rest. But trouble comes. I can't imagine that we would want to make this chapter our favorite chapter of Scripture. There is a great deal of cynicism here. There is nihilism here, a darkness. Well, CS Lewis, when he lost his wife, he writes about it, the experience of bereavement. And he says, and he felt. A month after the loss of his wife, he felt that cynicism kind of engulfed him. What's the point of it all? What's the purpose of it all? Life is a. Well, it's a mirage. And this kind of. There is no point to life. That kind of mood engulfed him. We were promised sufferings. They were part of the program. We were even told. Blessed are they that mourn. And I accept it. I've got nothing that I hadn't bargained for. Of course, it is different when the thing happens to oneself, not to others. And in reality, not imagination, not that I am, I think, in much danger of ceasing to believe in God. The real danger is of coming to believe such dreadful things about him. The conclusion I dread is not so there's no God after all, but so is this what God is really like? Deceive yourself no longer. What do people mean when they say, I'm not afraid of God because I know he is good. Have they never even been to a dentist? It doesn't really matter what. Whether you grip the arms of the dentist's chair or let your hands lie in your lap. The drill drills on. Lewis says, well, of course, Lewis had experienced British dentistry. Yes, this is a very, very sad chapter. Full of grief, full of woe, full of darkness. Like Psalm 88, the concluding verse. Darkness is my only friend. That's pretty dark if the only friend you have is darkness. Now, I want to ask a question or two of this chapter. What are we to make of this chapter? How should we approach it as believers, as Christians? And I want to say four things. First of all, it is part of the inerrant word of God. It's in the Bible holy men wrote as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit, driven along by the Holy Spirit, all scripture. And Paul is writing this to Timothy, but he's writing about the Old Testament. All scripture is given as a product of the out breathing of God. He uses a particular word, theopneustos. All scripture is the result of God breathing out. Like on a cold morning. Well, we're in Florida so we have to use our imagination there. But on a cold morning and, and you breathe and you can see your breath. You can see that breath before you. God breathed out. And the result, Scripture and the result. Well, Job, chapter three. This is part of God's inerrant word and is therefore profitable for doctrine and reproof and correction and instruction in the way of righteousness that the man of God might be thoroughly furnished unto every good work. There's something in this chapter for you and for me. I sometimes think of it like this. I do a lot of travelling, way too much traveling. I fly a lot. It used to be fun. It's not fun anymore. It's almost the opposite of fun. And you're put in this metal coffin and people are in your personal space and some people in particular are in your personal space. And sometimes when you get on these very small planes, if you live in like I do in Columbia, South Carolina or as I used to live in Jackson, Mississippi and often the connecting plane to Delta was a small plane, one of those Canadian CRJs and they were built for very small people of under 5ft and about 90 pounds. And we're trying to get all of these people and their luggage off the ground. And there's a flight attendant and he or she points to the fact that under my seat there's a life vest and a whistle and a little light that in contact with water, in contact with water will come on. I have a member of First Presbyterian Church in Columbia who experienced a terrible flight tragedy. Many, many people were killed. Plane came crashing to the ground. He survived it. When he gives his testimony, it's breathtaking what he went through and the fact that he survived it. My hope is that I have a life jacket, a whistle and a light you know, I've never actually looked to see if it's there. It's supposed to be under your chair, or if you're in business class, it's somewhere else in a little pouch to the side or somewhere, but it's supposed to be there. I've never actually checked. I've never said, you know, wait, stop everything, and get down on my hands and knees and search and make sure that. Look at the date on it as it expired. But I sometimes think to myself, well, I'm glad it's there, you know, I may need it someday. I hope I never need it. I hope I never need it, but maybe one day I'll need it. Like that landing on the river in New York. You can all see it, and everybody survived. Wonderful experience that everybody managed to make it up. They were all wearing their life vests. Can you imagine the euphoria when you're landing on the Hudson and you're searching and you pull it out and there it is, the life vest, and you put it on, and the sense of. Well, the sense of safety. This chapter is like. Well, it's like a life vest. I've never been in Job Chapter three. I don't think I've ever come close to it. I've had my bad days. I'm a Celt. The cup is always half empty. My daughter gave me when she was just 11 years old, 12 years old, she gave me. She gave me a picture of Eeyore. It was for my birthday. And Eeyore was saying, have a nice day if it is a nice day, which I doubt. And my daughter recognized this was her father. He was Eeyore. And I still have it on the wall at home. Always brings a little chuckle because it hit a raw nerve. But I've never been here, never been in Job, Chapter three. I hope I'll never be in Job Chapter three. I don't wish to experience what Job is experiencing here, but some of God's children have been here. One of the godliest men the world has ever known has been there. Job himself. Jeremiah the prophet in Jeremiah chapter 20, cites this chapter, Jeremiah 19:20, after he has spent a night in the stocks, cited this very chapter. So this is the inerrant word of God, and it's going to teach me something. Secondly, we need to be sensitive to what believers can and do experience, and we need to be sensitive to that. This may not be my experience, but before you raise judgmental comments and remarks about others, we need to be sensitive to the fact that other believers, other Christians have been in these very dark places. The third thing I want to say, and it's important to note that God doesn't rush in to reprimand him. You might have expected that God to come in and say to Job, job, you shouldn't be saying that. You shouldn't have said those words. There is no reprimand here. Now, do I think that Job crossed a line? Absolutely. Job crossed a line. Of course he crossed the line. There's no debate about that. But we understand it. And there's sympathy for him and our God. Yes, this sovereign God. And we're going to ask very difficult questions of God's character in relationship to suffering and pain. But our God is compassionate, too. His son has been in a dark place like this. He didn't utter these words, but he knew what it was to be in a place that he wished he wasn't. In the Garden of Gethsemane. Is there not some other way? As though the Lord Jesus himself is saying, I don't wish to walk down this road. I don't wish Providence to open up as I see it opening up before me. It's important to note that God doesn't rush in and reprimand him. And then the fourth thing I want us to see is a principle. It's Hebrews 4:15. We do not have an high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but. But yours be done. The Lord Jesus knew what it was to be forsaken by God. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The sense of the Lord's presence, the sense of the Lord's love, the sense of the Lord's goodness in Providence seemed to have eviscerated from him. He cried, not my Father, my Father, but my God, my God. As though all that he was conscious of at that moment was that God had abandoned him and forsaken him, as Job does. Here we do not have an high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
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How comforting it is to know that someone else has gone through what we've gone through, and how much more comforting to know that person is our Lord Jesus Christ. If you enjoyed today's message, we'd like to offer you Lifetime digital access to the entire series, as well as the complete series on DVD and a Digital study guide. Simply call us at 800-435-4343 with a gift or give your donation at renewingyourmind.org Tomorrow we'll meet a new figure in the book of Job 1 who presents an intriguing perspective on Job's plight. I hope you'll join us as Dr. Derek Thomas continues his series here on Renewing youg Mind.
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Sam.