Hope for a Tree: Finding Hope in Suffering

But, there's this one detail, and it comes in verse seven. Job is sitting, and he's looking at the devastation around him overwhelmed by the pain of it, and he says, but there's hope for a tree. There's hope for a tree. Does that make sense to you? We need to dig into that detail, and we're gonna do it. [00:47:14] (28 seconds)  #HopeForTheTree

And so even in the darkest days that we suffer in this world, we can point to something. There's still hope. His name is Jesus. The whole book of Job is doing that for you. It's telling you there's one detail in this life that's so often overlooked because when we're caught up in the pain and the brokenness of this world, it's like we can't see anything else. What we need as brothers and sisters in Christ to come sit with us in the midst of that darkness, in the midst of that pain, and point us to the one hope that there is. His name is Jesus. [00:56:11] (40 seconds)  #PointToJesus

If there's hope for a tree, there's hope for me. If there's hope for a tree, there's hope for you. God has overcome pain. He's overcome brokenness. He's even overcome death for you. The end of the story is never your death. The end of the story is always Jesus and his life, and an eternity with new bodies and a new creation where none of the mess of this world will ever touch us again. [00:57:31] (29 seconds)  #HopeBeyondDeath

But between here and there, let's be better friends than Job had. If you're one of the people doing great, come to the prayer service tonight to pray over the people who aren't doing so great. Point them to hope. Point them to the cross and the empty tomb and the resurrection to come. If you're in the midst of it, come and receive. [00:58:15] (29 seconds)  #ShowUpAndPray

Now, Satan has done this. God said, you can take whatever from him you want, but don't take his life. He took his family, his kids, he took his wealth, he took his health, and he only leaves his wife. That says something. Because what is his wife's advice to him? Is his wife's advice, hey, keep trusting in God? Is his wife's advice, we'll make it through? No. His wife says this, Job, why don't you just curse God and die? Helpful? Is that what you're wanting to hear? [00:48:19] (37 seconds)  #HurtfulAdvice

Alright. One of the things, when I was being taught how to preach. Right? That's a you have homiletics classes in in seminary, and it's to teach you how to preach. And one of the things you often wanna do at the beginning of a service is tell some kind of story that connects with people that to get them into the text. Right? And so, I recognize there are different kinds of people in this room. So I'm gonna try two different ways to connect with us. But it's gonna be teaching the same thing. [00:40:00] (28 seconds)  #ConnectThroughStory

Now, we have to pay attention again to set the scene. Who is Job? Job is this man who loves God, he worships God, he serves God, and he is very prosperous. His life is going great. He has great amounts of cattle, and sheep, and donkey, all the stuff that you would have back then that makes you great. He's got a wife, he's got 10 children. His children are loving. They love each other. Everything's good. And Satan goes to God, and he says, well, of course, Job thinks everything's awesome. You've given him everything. [00:44:37] (33 seconds)  #JobBeforeTheStorm

And then in chapter two, we have this happen. His whole body gets covered in in boils and sores. And and in chapter two already, we have Job sitting in ashes, in dirt, in dust with pottery, trying to scrape off some of the pain on himself. This is bad. It's bad. Have you been there? Maybe you haven't been all the way there, but you've had bad days. And sometimes, have bad weeks, and sometimes, you have bad months, and sometimes even bad years. See, and Job wants to speak to that for you. [00:45:39] (42 seconds)  #AshesAndSuffering