Sunday, May 29, 2011
GUARD YOUR HEART AGAINST DISCOURAGEMENT
Job 6
One day the devil decided to have a garage sale. Taking his finest tools of destruction--hatred, envy, jealousy, deceit, lust, lying, pride--he priced each one according to its value and placed them in the driveway. But the most worn tool was set apart from the other instruments. A curious customer picked up this worn tool, looked it over, and noted that it carried the highest price. He asked, “Why is this tool higher than the others?”
The devil laughed, “That’s the tool called ‘discouragement.’ It is more powerful than any other tool I have. When I use this tool on a person’s heart, I can pry it open and then use all of my other tools. It is my most strategic tool and, therefore, comes at a higher price.
Now that is just a story. I borrowed it from Steven Lawson’s commentary on Job (p. 59). Though the story is fiction, it carries a powerful truth. When a person becomes very discouraged, he is vulnerable to all kinds of attacks from the enemy. A woman who is discouraged is more likely not to care what she says about other people. Discouragement will open a man more readily to lust and greed. It can lead to a kind of despair which says, “What’s the use?”
In the sixth chapter of Job, we are going to see that discouragement is getting the best of Job. At first, he held up well against Satan’s attacks, but as the months have passed and his friends have begun to give their counsel, Job demonstrates the clear signs of discouragement.
Let me remind you of where we are. After Satan’s attacks in chapters 1 and 2, Job erupts with an emotional outburst in chapter 3. Then Eliphaz speaks in chapters 4 and 5, assuring Job that his calamities are due to his hidden sin, and urging him to turn from that sin in order to have the blessing of the Lord restored in his life. Now in chapters 6 and 7 we are going to look at Job’s response. Here in chapter 6 we will examine what he said to Eliphaz and his other two friends. Then in chapter 7 Job looks upward and speaks to the Lord Himself.
Let’s walk through chapter 6. As we look at Job, let’s realize that we are all vulnerable to discouragement, especially when life is not proceeding the way we think it ought to unfold. The primary words of this outline are borrowed from Steve Lawson (the “D” words).
I. Job’s Defense -- But You Don’t Know How Bad It Is (1-7)
Remember the strong rebuke from Eliphaz in chapters 4 and 5. He began like this: (4:3-5)
3 Surely you have instructed many,
And you have strengthened weak hands.
4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,
And you have strengthened the feeble knees;
5 But now it comes upon you, and you are weary;
It touches you, and you are troubled.
Then in chapter 5, though he speaks great truth, Eliphaz applies it unfairly to Job. A good example is the principle stated in 5:17, “Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.” That is a wonderful truth, but Eliphaz is applying it specifically to Job and means to say that Job’s great losses and immense physical misery have come as a result of his hidden sin against God. He goes on to tell Job that if he will repent, God will bless him once again.
With that in mind, now let’s read 6:1-7…
1 Then Job answered and said:
2 “Oh, that my grief were fully weighed,
And my calamity laid with it on the scales!
3 For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea—
Therefore my words have been rash.
4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me;
My spirit drinks in their poison;
The terrors of God are arrayed against me.
5 Does the wild donkey bray when it has grass,
Or does the ox low over its fodder?
6 Can flavorless food be eaten without salt?
Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
7 My soul refuses to touch them;
They are as loathsome food to me.
Look at verse 2. That word translated “grief” by the NKJV is the exact same word translated “wrath” in 5:2 (variously rendered as “vexation,” “resentment,” “anger,” and “provocation” in other versions). In 5:2 this word is used to refer to the attitude of Job’s outburst in chapter 3. Job was full of anger and resentment. Eliphaz informs him that such an attitude kills the fool (5:2), and goes on to accuse Job of being that fool. So when the word is used here, Job is referring back to what Eliphaz had said. “Eliphaz, take my grief, my anger, my complaint, and weigh it carefully.”
In the second line of 6:2 notice the word “calamity.” Your translation might translate it “misery” or “troubles.” The word means “misfortune.” It refers to what actually happened to Job. He longs to see his actual calamity laid in the balance opposite his complaint concerning what has happened. Some translations use the word “balance” rather than “scales.” This type of balance (show a model) was the most common method of weighing something. Now get the picture, as Job lays it out. “Yes, Eliphaz, my complaint has been great, but when you lay it on the balance opposite the things that have happened to me, you will see that there is good reason for such a complaint.”
Now go to verse 3, “For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea.” The only thing that would compare with the weight of my troubles is the sand of the sea, and even that would not balance them out. As the NIV puts the end of verse 3, “No wonder my words have been impetuous.” No wonder my words have been so forceful and violent; that is what the situation called for. Basically, Job is saying, “Eliphaz, you don’t know how bad it is. If you truly understood, you would not be so hard on me for expressing my complaint so forcefully.
So what was it that made things so bad for Job? Was it the loss of his children? Was it the constant physical misery he was experiencing because of the head-to-toe boils that covered his body? None of us would want to be in Job’s place with regard to those experiences, but there was something even worse for Job. He identifies it in verse 4, “For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; My spirit drinks in their poison; The terrors of God are arrayed against me.” Notice the strong terms he uses as symbols for God’s judgment -- arrows, poison, terrors. Worse than the pain itself was his deep conviction that it was the Lord who was pouring out all this misery upon him. Was he right? While it is true that everything ultimately finds its source in God in the sense that God is over all, we know that it was Satan himself who was directly attacking Job. However, Job did not have the knowledge we have. He couldn’t turn to the heavenly conversations in the first two chapters; he could only live out the tribulations of those chapters.
In his own defense, Job asks some simple questions in verses 5-6. “Does the wild donkey bray when it has grass? Or does the ox low over its fodder?” The answer is a clear “No.” The wild donkey does not complain, when it has plenty of food, nor does the ox. Job is simply saying, “If God were still supplying my needs, I wouldn’t be complaining this way.” “Can flavorless food be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg.” Job is saying that the words Eliphaz fed him are tasteless and unpalatable. Just as a man gets sick of unseasoned food, so Job hates the counsel of Eliphaz and refuses to receive it.
So Job’s defense of his complaint is quite simple. “If you only knew the depth of my pain and suffering, you would recognize that my complaint is not inappropriate. If you knew how bad it is, you wouldn’t be so harsh with me.”
II. Job’s Despair -- O that God Would Kill Me (8-13)
So let’s ask the question again, “Just how bad was it for Job?” He has already said that the hardest thing to deal with is the fact that it is the Almighty who is pouring out all this misery on him. But now in this next section, Job is going to describe the depth of his pain. Let’s read it in verses 8-13…
8 “Oh, that I might have my request,
That God would grant me the thing that I long for!
9 That it would please God to crush me,
That He would loose His hand and cut me off!
10 Then I would still have comfort;
Though in anguish I would exult,
He will not spare;
For I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.
11 “What strength do I have, that I should hope?
And what is my end, that I should prolong my life?
12 Is my strength the strength of stones?
Or is my flesh bronze?
13 Is my help not within me?
And is success driven from me?
Back to verse 8, “Oh that I might have my request, That God would grant me the thing that I long for!” It reminds me of the cry of David, when he was pursued by his enemies. Ps. 27:4, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.” That was not the one thing that Job desired. Job expresses his one desire in verse 9, “That it would please God to crush me, That He would loose His hand and cut me off.” Job saw death as the only solution to his dilemma. There is no evidence that he ever considered killing himself, but he wanted God to do it.
The metaphor of loosing the hand and cutting off has been viewed in various ways. The loosing of the hand might be pictured by the archer who draws back the arrow with his hand and then lets it go, that it might find its mark. Another understands the cutting off as a metaphor of the weaver, who when his web is finished, cuts it loose from the loom. Job seems to conceive of the Lord as constraining the hand of His power. He has already let it loose to some degree in depriving Job of possessions and family and bodily health. But now Job longs for God to loose the hand of His power completely so as to finish what He has started, to cut him off completely from this life.
Let’s read again verse 10, “Then I would still have comfort; Though in anguish I would exult, He will not spare; For I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.” This verse is difficult, as demonstrated by the variety in the various translations. KJV, “Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.” ESV, “This would be my comfort; I would even exult in pain unsparing, for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.” NASV, “But it is still my consolation, And I rejoice in unsparing pain, That I have not denied the words of the Holy One” (NIV very similar). The primary idea seems to be that even in the midst of pain and grief, knowing that death was near, Job would be able to cling to the knowledge that he had not concealed or denied the words of his God. Satan’s design was to lead Job to curse God. His own wife had advised him to curse God. But Job would not do that. Though weak and frail, he maintains that he had not concealed the truth of the Lord, but had proclaimed it. We don’t know all that Job anticipated in death, but he certainly saw it as the only way out of his misery.
In verses 11-13, Job is basically saying, “Why shouldn’t I desire death? I don’t have the strength to hope any more. There are no bright prospects on the horizon that would give me the strength to endure any longer. Am I as strong as a rock? Obviously not. Is my flesh as strong as bronze? Of course not.”
Verse 13 is also difficult. It is not clear whether Job is continuing with the rhetorical questions, or making a definite statement. Some feel he is simply saying, “There is no help in me, since success (everything real and of substance) is driven from me.” Retaining the question, the NAS renders it, “Is it that my help is not within me, And that deliverance is driven from me?” Job is making it clear that he sees absolutely no hope in continuing to fight in this world. He feels absolutely justified in wanting God to take his life.
What about Job’s desire to die? Was in justified in wanting to die? First of all, we need to be careful, as we think about Job. We cannot conclude that he was totally forsaking the Lord and the hope he had in Him. Later, he will say, “I know that my Redeemer liveth” (Job 19:25), and testify of his conviction that he will see God. What Job has given up on is the hope that things will ever get any better in this life. That’s why he wants to die. He sees death as the only solution. I remind you that Job wasn’t the only man who asked God to end his life. That great prophet Elijah once became s discouraged that he asked God to let him die (I Kings 19:4). Listen to these words of Moses from Num. 11:15, "And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness." These were godly men. Were they right in making such requests? Though we sympathize with them, neither they nor Job were right in asking God to take their lives.
On the other hand, there was One who would voluntarily give up His life. Jesus said that no man could take His life, but that He laid it down of His own accord (John 10:18). Job’s use of the word “crush” in verse 9 (“destroy” in KJV) is very interesting. “That it would please God to crush me.” “Crush” is translated from a Hebrew word that is used less than 20 times in the Old Testament, but it is the same word that we find in Is. 53:10, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise [crush] him…” Whether you translate it “bruise” or more literally as “crush,” it is the same word that Job uses here. Notice that the language in these two passages is identical, speaking of the Lord being pleased to crush someone. While He did not grant Job’s request to crush him, He did indeed crush His own Son. Job could see no reason to live; Jesus would not refuse to die. As He was crushed by His Father at the cross, He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of Christ in Him (II Cor. 5:21).
III. Job’s Disappointment -- You Are of No Help (14-23)
Please allow me to divide this section into three parts. I think it will help us grasp what Job is saying.
A. The Charge (14-15)
Job lays out his basic charge against his friends in verses 14-15a, “To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend, Even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. My brothers have dealt deceitfully…” Again, translations of verse 14 will differ. The other prominent idea is captured by the ESV, “He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.” If we follow the NKJV (and KJV), the idea is this: “A friend should be kind to his friend in misery, even if that friend has forsaken the fear of the Almighty.” Job was not conceding for a minute that he had indeed forsaken the Lord, but he is saying that even if he had, he deserved the pity of his friends. If we follow the ESV and others, the flow runs like this: “The one who does not show kindness to an afflicted friend demonstrates that he himself has forsaken the fear of the Almighty.” Either way we take it, there is truth.
Job is very blunt in verse 15, “My brothers have dealt deceitfully.” Notice that term “brothers.” Job had been close to these three -- Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar -- as if they had been his brothers. Notice that it is plural, clearly indicating that Job is addressing all three. Remember that at the end of chapter 5, Eliphaz said, “Behold, this we have searched out…” (5:27). Though he had regarded them as brothers, now he accuses them of dealing deceitfully. It is not a light thing to accuse a brother of deceiving you.
B. The Comparison (15-20)
Now we come to the comparison, which begins in verse 15, “My brothers have dealt deceitfully like a brook, Like the streams of the brooks that pass away.” Job compares his three friends with a deceitful brook. He continues this comparison down through verse 18. Let’s just go ahead and read verses 15-18…
15 My brothers have dealt deceitfully like a brook,
Like the streams of the brooks that pass away,
16 Which are dark because of the ice,
And into which the snow vanishes.
17 When it is warm, they cease to flow;
When it is hot, they vanish from their place.
18 The paths of their way turn aside,
They go nowhere and perish.
It is a simple picture. A brook or stream swells to overflowing during the early spring, being fed by the melting ice and snow. But then when the hot summer comes and the water is really needed, they dry up. They promise great blessing, but then they don’t deliver. That is the sense in which the brook is deceitful. Job accuses his three friends of being the same way. In all his misery, these three friends arrive and sit silently with him for a week, sharing his grief. Surely when it is time to speak, they will be able to offer words of deep comfort and encouragement. But that was not the case. They came with great promise, but they failed to deliver. No doubt, they were very comforting when they kept their mouths shut, but as soon as Eliphaz began to speak, all comfort ceased. This only added to the disappointment of Job.
Job continues this illustration in verses 19-20…
19 The caravans of Tema look,
The travelers of Sheba hope for them.
20 They are disappointed because they were confident;
They come there and are confused.
Tema and Sheba were cities in the dry, arid country of Arabia. These travelers could see the snow and ice on the mountains in the winter. So when they came through in the summer, parched from the hot sun and miles of travel, they were hopeful that they would find plentiful water to drink, water their animals, and fill the skins they used to store water. But when they came, they were disappointed, because the streams had already dried up. Job likens himself to one of those thirsty travelers. As they were disappointed when they found no water, so Job was disappointed in the counsel of his friends.
C. The Conclusion (21-23)
So Job draws this conclusion in verse 21, “For now you are nothing, You see terror and are afraid.” Job concludes that his friends are indeed just like those deceitful brooks. As a result, they are of no help to him whatsoever. They have seen terror. Literally, as the KJV has it, they have seen his casting down. As they have viewed his sick and weakened body and contemplated his catastrophic losses, they have become afraid. Job is most likely suggesting that they are afraid to associate with him, to give him any sympathy, lest God should afflict them as well.
In verses 22-23 Job wants to make something very clear. Let’s read 22-23…
22 Did I ever say, ‘Bring something to me’?
Or, ‘Offer a bribe for me from your wealth’?
23 Or, ‘Deliver me from the enemy’s hand’?
Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of oppressors’?
Job didn’t ask anything from his friends. Though he had lost everything, he never asked them for money or any physical sustenance. He had not called on them to chase down the Sabeans, who had stolen his oxen and donkeys or to buy back what he had lost. If Job had asked such help from them, surely they would have been expected to give aid under these extreme circumstances. But Job had asked nothing. He had expected nothing, except their gracious friendship, but they haven’t even given him any kind words. Job believed he had every reason to be disappointed in his friends.
IV. Job’s Demand -- Prove that I Am Wrong (24-30)
In this last section, we might say that Job goes on the offensive. He demands that they prove him wrong. Let’s read it in verse 24-25…
24 “Teach me, and I will hold my tongue;
Cause me to understand wherein I have erred.
25 How forceful are right words!
But what does your arguing prove?
This is a bold challenge. Job acknowledges that Eliphaz has spoken “right words” and that those words have great force. In chapters 4-5 (especially chapter 5) we heard Eliphaz speak many wonderful truths. Remember that Paul even quotes from him, as he writes to the Corinthians (I Cor. 3:19). But Job maintains that such right and forceful words do not prove anything. Though what Eliphaz said was true, he was not able to charge Job with any specific wrongdoing. For example, go back to 5:17, “Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.” Eliphaz concludes that Job’s troubles are the result of God disciplining him for his sin, but he does not give a single example of Job’s error. Job demands to know where he has erred.
Now look at verse 26, “Do you intend to rebuke my words, And the speeches of a desperate one, which are as wind.” The NIV gives a different sense and reads: “Do you mean to correct what I say, and treat the words of a despairing man as wind.” If we follow this line of thought, then Eliphaz and his friends were regarding Job’s words as mere wind. However, it seems best to understand this as Job’s estimate of his own words. Albert Barnes gives the sense of what Job is saying as follows…
"Do you think it reasonable to carp at mere words? Will you pass over weighty and important arguments and facts, and dwell upon the words merely that are extorted from a man in misery? Do you not know that one in a state of despair utters many expressions which ought not to be regarded as the result of his deliberate judgment? And will you spend your time in dwelling on those words rather than on the main argument involved?"
Job acknowledges that some of his words were in haste, but he maintains that this is pretty normal for a person is such desperate straits.
Verse 27, “Yes, you overwhelm the fatherless, And you undermine your friend.” Again, there is great variety in the translations, and that is because there are various interpretations of a couple of the Hebrew words. NIV, “You would even cast lots for the fatherless and barter away your friend.” ESV, “You would even cast lots over the fatherless, and bargain over your friend.” KJV, “Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig [a pit] for your friend.” If the word in the second part does mean “to dig,” then the allusion is to digging a pit and covering it with brush in order to entrap an unsuspecting wild animal. On the other hand, if the language of casting lots and bartering is intended, it is just as deceitful and deadly. Either way, Job emphasizes that they are mistreating a man who is like an orphan in that he is lonely and bereaved. They call him a friend, but is this any way to deal with a friend.
Job changes his tone in verse 28, “Now therefore, be pleased to look at me; For I would never lie to your face.” It’s as if Job’s rebuke softens and he appeals to Eliphaz and the other two. “Won’t you just take a good look at me?” This is what they were reluctant to do, as we saw in verse 21. He may be asking them to look at his emaciated and weakened body and consider the possibility that his outcries are appropriate for one in his situation. Perhaps more likely, he is asking them to look him in the eye, to behold his countenance. As they do, surely they will be able to tell that he is not dispensing a pack of lies. He believes that they will be able to see that he is sincere and honest in everything he is saying.
Finally, come to verses 29-30…
29 Yield now, let there be no injustice!
Yes, concede, my righteousness still stands!
30 Is there injustice on my tongue?
Cannot my taste discern the unsavory?
Literally, Job asks them to turn, or to return. It may well be that they were rising to leave, and he urges them to stay and hear the rest of his argument. When he says, “Let there be no injustice“ (or “Let there be no iniquity,” as the KJV renders it), Job is either suggesting that they will find no iniquity in him, or urging them not to be unjust in their appraisal of him. In verse 30 he assures them that he is fully capable of discerning right and wrong. As his tongue can distinguish what is edible and what is not, so he is more than able to refrain his tongue from injustice.
So Job demands that they tell him exactly what he has done wrong, finally appealing to them more gently for understanding and consideration.
Conclusion
Without question, Job was discouraged. Humanly speaking, we would have to conclude that he had good reason to be discouraged. Who wouldn’t be discouraged in his position? The Lord Jesus. Even when He was going to the cross, Jesus experienced joy.
That brings us to the question: Is it possible for a person to live above discouragement? I am not asking if it is possible to live in such a way that you are never tempted to be discouraged. Rather, can we live a life that is consistently free of discouragement?
Please allow me to share another illustration that Steven Lawson passes along…
Legend has it that a man found the barn where Satan kept his seed that were ready to be sown in human hearts. He discovered that the seeds marked “discouragement” were more numerous than all the others. When he questioned Satan, he learned that those seed could be made to grow almost anywhere. But in spite of their abundance, the devil admitted there was one place where he could never bet them to grow--in the heart of a grateful person.
Gratitude chokes out discouragement. While that is a general principle of life, it is even more true for the believer. Why is that? Hasn’t God been good to all? Yes, but the Christian does not focus on the blessings that he shares with the rest of the world. While he is genuinely thankful for food and shelter and health and family, he glories in the cross of Jesus Christ, which is the source of every spiritual blessing. Because Jesus died for our sins and rose from grave, He is able to put within us the Holy Spirit. And who is the Holy Spirit? He is the Encourager, the one called alongside us in every situation. He is the one who leads us and enables us to obey that blessed command, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice” (Phil. 4:4). Gal. 5:16, “Walk in the Spirit (the Encourager), and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Though discouragement is not listed among the works of the flesh that follow that verse, it would fit there very well. Discouragement focuses on self; the Spirit leads us to focus on Christ.
We can’t defeat discouragement by determination. “Today I am determined not to be discouraged.” You will become discouraged that your determination not to be discouraged failed! But where do we find room for discouragement in the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of the Encourager? “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness, kindness, faith, meekness, temperance (self-control)…” (Gal. 5:22-23).
A life of gratitude lived in the power of the Holy Spirit is the antidote and the cure for discouragement. Don’t think about how not to be discouraged, but be encouraged in the Lord. Not only is this great medicine for you personally, but you have the privilege of encouraging your brothers and sisters in the Lord. Let’s read again from Heb. 3:12-13, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God [unbelief and discouragement are close relatives]. But exhort [that includes encouragement] one another daily, while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through deceitfulness of sin.” Job was not blessed with friends who encouraged. We have the Encourager within, and by His power we can both be encouraged and we can encourage one another.
