Job - One Detail

Sometimes it looks like bread and wine pressed into shaking hands, taken in a shaking mouth. One detail's enough. One detail's enough. So when the voice of Job four whispers, you must have done something to deserve this, look to the cross. When your whole own heart accuses you, look to the font. When your sorrow feels like the final word come to the table, one detail is enough. I know that my redeemer lives. You don't need to see the whole mountain range. [00:18:42] (44 seconds)  #OneDetailIsEnough

Is that the first thing is this, is that God gives you permission to lament. Job three is in the bible. His raw, unfiltered grief of third of chapter three and a couple other chapters as well are preserved by the spirit. It tells us something, that God would rather have your honest cry than your fake composure. The Psalms are full of it. Nearly a third of the Psalms, over a third of the Psalms are actually laments, are cries to god. One of my favorite one is Psalm 13 that simply says, how long, oh lord? [00:10:49] (35 seconds)  #PermissionToLament

In the midst of your anxiety, in the midst of your failures, in the midst of your secret sin, Christ puts himself into your hands and into your mouth, not with advice, not with inspiration, but with his very self for the forgiveness of your sins. And if a tree can sprout at the scent of water, what can happen at the taste of grace? Psalm 30 says it this way, weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Now hear me clearly. That does not mean that the night is short. [00:17:09] (47 seconds)  #TasteOfGrace

You don't need to see the whole mountain range. You don't need to understand every reason. You don't need a five year plan from god. Your redeemer lives in that one detail. That one beautiful life giving detail is more, more, more than enough. Stronger than every stone, every accusation, and every long night. Your redeemer lives. [00:19:23] (31 seconds)  #RedeemerLives

The second thing when it comes to lamenting, it comes to how we respond to it, is that we gotta be careful of becoming Eliphaz. When someone else is suffering, your job is not to explain God. Your job is to embody Christ. Sometimes the most faithful thing you can do in suffering is to sit in silence besides those who do, like Job's friends did at first. Before they opened their mouths for seven days, they sat with him. [00:12:09] (33 seconds)  #SitWithTheSuffering

Friends, don't miss how small that is. There's a lot of woes, a lot of complaints, a lot of hurts that Job mentions in that chapter. But he also sees not a forest, not a tree, but a stump. And from that stump, one small shoot. And that one detail is enough. And this is this is why I really love Job. I love how real Job is. He doesn't deny the stump. [00:03:41] (35 seconds)  #HopeInTheStump

And that means if you may feel spiritually die, you may feel like there is nothing left but brittle wood, but God says, at the scent of water, it will bud. You have been baptized. That is not no small detail. That, friends, is everything. And then there's that table too. Simple bread and and wine. It doesn't look like much. If someone wandered off the street, they might shrug and say, is that really it? Yeah. That's it. [00:16:18] (37 seconds)  #BaptizedAndAlive

How long, oh lord? Will you forget me forever? When's the last time you prayed that? Do you have the courage to pray that? That God can actually handle that question from your lips? David prayed it this way, Psalm 22. My god, my god, why have you forsaken me? David prayed it first before David's greatest grandson, Jesus, prays it on the cross. You can lament. God gives you the permission to do so. He is a big god who can handle your laments. Bring it to him. [00:11:24] (44 seconds)  #YouCanLament

Sometimes it looks like a trembling sinner hearing, as you heard this morning, in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, I forgive you all your sins. Sometimes it looks like bread and wine pressed into shaking hands, taken in a shaking mouth. One detail's enough. One detail's enough. So when the voice of Job four whispers, you must have done something to deserve this, look to the cross. When your whole own heart accuses you, look to the font. When your sorrow feels like the final word come to the table, one detail is enough. I know that my redeemer lives. [00:18:27] (54 seconds)

Just don't forget one small detail. The word of Christ himself who declares, this is my body. This is given for you. This is the cup of the new covenant poured out for you for the forgiveness of your sins. In the midst of your anxiety, in the midst of your failures, in the midst of your secret sin, Christ puts himself into your hands and into your mouth, not with advice, not with inspiration, but with his very self for the forgiveness of your sins. And if a tree can sprout at the scent of water, what can happen at the taste of grace? [00:16:55] (43 seconds)

When someone else is suffering, your job is not to explain God. Your job is to embody Christ. Sometimes the most faithful thing you can do in suffering is to sit in silence besides those who do, like Job's friends did at first. Before they opened their mouths for seven days, they sat with him. Romans 12 reminds us that we can do this because we're called to weep with those who weep, mourn with those who mourn, not correct those who weep, not analyze those who weep, but actually, physically, really weep with them. But we do so not as one who weeps without free hope, because we have that Christ who says to us, one day, I'm gonna wipe every tear from your eyes, so get your weeping at it now because those tears are going away. [00:12:18] (55 seconds)