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Speaker 1: I'm John Stangey, and today we're in Job chapter three,
Speaker 1: and we'll be reading from the message. Then Job broke
Speaker 1: the silence. He spoke up and cursed his fate. Obliterate
Speaker 1: the day I was born, blank out the night I
Speaker 1: was conceived. Let it be a black hole in space.
Speaker 1: May God above forget it ever happened, Erase it from
Speaker 1: the books. May the day of my birth be buried
Speaker 1: in deep darkness, shrouded by the fog, swallowed by the night.
Speaker 1: And the night of my conception the devil take it.
Speaker 1: Rip the date off the calendar, delete it from the almanac. Oh,
Speaker 1: turn that night into pure nutby thingness. No sounds of
Speaker 1: pleasure from that night ever. May those who are good
Speaker 1: at cursing curse that day. Unleash the sea beast Leviathan
Speaker 1: on it. May its morning stars turn to black cinders,
Speaker 1: waiting for a daylight that never comes, never once seeing
Speaker 1: the first light of dawn. And why because it released
Speaker 1: me from my mother's womb into a life with so
Speaker 1: much trouble. Why didn't I die at birth, my first breath,
Speaker 1: out of my mother's womb, my last? Why were their
Speaker 1: arms to rock me and breasts for me to drink from.
Speaker 1: I could be resting in peace right now, asleep, forever
Speaker 1: feeling no pain, in the company of kings and statesmen
Speaker 1: in their royal ruins, or with princes resplendent in their
Speaker 1: gold and silver tombs. Why wasn't I stillborn and buried
Speaker 1: with all the babies who never saw light? Where the
Speaker 1: wicked no longer trouble anyone, and bone weary people get
Speaker 1: a long deserved rest. Prisoners sleep undisturbed, never again to
Speaker 1: wake up to the bark of their guards. The small
Speaker 1: and the great are equals in that place, and slaves
Speaker 1: are free from their masters. Why does God bother giving
Speaker 1: light to the miserable? Why bother keeping bitter people alive?
Speaker 1: Those who want in the worst way to die and can't,
Speaker 1: who can't imagine anything better than death, who count the
Speaker 1: day of their death and burial the happiest day of
Speaker 1: their life. What's the point of life when it doesn't
Speaker 1: make sense? When God blocks all the roads to meaning.
Speaker 1: Instead of bread, I get groans, for my supper. Then
Speaker 1: leave the table and vomit my anguish. The worst of
Speaker 1: my fears has come true. What I've dreaded most has happened.
Speaker 1: My repose is shattered, my peace destroyed. No rest for
Speaker 1: me ever, Death has invaded life. Let's pray. Lord, We
Speaker 1: thank you for your word, and we thank you for
Speaker 1: the privilege of being able to look at such a
Speaker 1: heavy portion of scripture today as Job pours out his
Speaker 1: heart in grief and Lord, there are many of us
Speaker 1: who can look at this passage of scripture and identify
Speaker 1: with all the things that Job is saying here. There's
Speaker 1: probably hardly an adult on this earth who hasn't thought
Speaker 1: about the weight of their burdens and how they feel
Speaker 1: crushed by them, and have maybe been so filled with
Speaker 1: sorrow that they've wished to die. Lord, I can testify,
Speaker 1: and you already know that that's a spot that I
Speaker 1: have experienced, and I'm sure that there are many people
Speaker 1: praying along with me today that have wrestled with that
Speaker 1: as well, at different seasons of life, thinking how much
Speaker 1: better it would be to just be in your presence
Speaker 1: and to have our time on this earth cut short.
Speaker 1: But Lord, tell us in your word, that all the
Speaker 1: days ordained for us were written in your book before
Speaker 1: one of them came to be, and there's not a
Speaker 1: single day that you choose to bless us with that
Speaker 1: you don't have a purpose for us in the midst
Speaker 1: of Lord, the reason we're here today is to glorify
Speaker 1: you and to serve as a living testimony of your
Speaker 1: goodness toward us, to help others come to know your son,
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, our rescuer, our redeemer, our Savior, our Messiah
Speaker 1: who gives us hope beyond the struggles of this world. Lord,
Speaker 1: in the midst of our seasons of discouragement or despair,
Speaker 1: help us to remember these things, help us to feel
Speaker 1: comfortable to bear our souls to you, to lift our
Speaker 1: burdens up to you, and to recognize that you're the
Speaker 1: source of our peace and solace and you're the one
Speaker 1: that gives rest to our souls. Lord, Thank you for
Speaker 1: your love, thank you for your patience toward us. And
Speaker 1: we pray that in the midst of everything we're currently
Speaker 1: dealing with and everything that may come, that we would
Speaker 1: be reminded of the fact that you are with us
Speaker 1: in it all, and you have a purpose for our struggles,
Speaker 1: and it's to draw us close to you, to build
Speaker 1: us up in our faith, and to help us serve
Speaker 1: as a testimony to others that they would come to
Speaker 1: know you and that you would be glorified. We love you, Lord,
Speaker 1: We thank you for all of these things, and we
Speaker 1: pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.