Build a Bigger Boat
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Hope in Empty Places Week 3: Build a Bigger Boat
Job
October 1st, 2023
4 Foundational Hope in Empty Places Precepts
Trust truth over feelings. (John 14:6)
Empty is an illusion. (Genesis 1:1-3).
Hope is an anchor. (Hebrews 6:19)
Forgotten is an illusion. (Exodus 3)
Pain doesn’t have to derail hope it can define and refine hope.
Life is lived and learned in the presence of pain not the absence of pain. So, we all need a better understanding (theology) of pain.
Job’s life wasn’t marked so much by patience as it was by his perseverance and faith in the midst of excruciating pain.
Job 1:1 (NIV) 1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.
Job 1:6-12 (NIV) 6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” 8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” 9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” 12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
Is your hope in God tied more to His performance for you or His purposes for you?
Job 1:20-22 (NIV) 20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
So often in hardship we look for someone to blame as if it makes the pain of suffering easier... it doesn’t especially if the person we blame is the only one capable of refilling our empty.
Job 2:2-10 (NIV) 2 On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” 3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” 4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.” 6 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. 9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
God can be trusted in all circumstances. Do you believe this? If you lived like you believed this how would that change your perspective of what you are in now or next?
Tread lightly in the blame game. Blaming God doesn’t bring you any closer to answers or to God, it can create more distance to both.
Job 40:2-5 (NIV) 2 “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!” 3 Then Job answered the Lord: 4 “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. 5 I spoke once, but I have no answer— twice, but I will say no more.” Good answer. Job concludes his responses in 42:1-6 Then Job replied to the Lord: 2 “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely, I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. 4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ 5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
To understand the scope of who God is we have to experience Him in both abundance and scarcity. Satan wants to derail your hope in your pain. God can take that same pain and shape you and cement your trust and relationship with Him.
“Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
C.S. Lewis The Problem of Pain.
7 Scriptural Truths to Brings Courage and Hope into Your Pain
1. Jesus himself experienced pain. Isaiah 53
2. Pain has an eternal purpose. John 9
We have to trust His eternal purposes more than we trust our temporary experiences in empty places.
3. Pain shapes hope.
Romans 5:1-5 (NIV) Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
4. Pain has a weight and time limit.
2 Corinthians 4:7-12, 16-18 (NIV) 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. (our suffering is producing life in you) 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
5. Pain taps Christ’s strength. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV)
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
6. We sit in pain but Christ sits in us.
Colossians 1:3-6, 24-29 (Amplified) 3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we pray always for you, 4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus [how you lean on Him with absolute confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness], and of the [unselfish] love which you have for all the saints (God’s people); 5 because of the [confident] hope [of experiencing that] which is reserved and waiting for you in heaven. You previously heard of this hope in the message of truth, the gospel [regarding salvation] 6 which has come to you. Indeed, just as in the whole world the gospel is constantly bearing fruit and spreading [by God’s power], just as it has been doing among you ever since the day you first heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth [becoming thoroughly and deeply acquainted with it].
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings (empty) on your behalf. And with my own body I supplement whatever is lacking [on our part] of Christ’s afflictions, on behalf of His body, which is the church. 25 In this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship which God entrusted to me for your sake, so that I might make the word of God fully known [among you]— 26 that is, the mystery which was hidden [from angels and mankind] for ages and generations, but has now been revealed to His saints (God’s people). 27 God [in His eternal plan] chose to make known to them how great for the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in and among you, the hope and guarantee of [realizing the] glory. 28 We proclaim Him, warning and instructing everyone in all wisdom [that is, with comprehensive insight into the word and purposes of God], so that we may present every person complete in Christ [mature, fully trained, and perfect in Him—the Anointed] (full). 29 For this I labor [often to the point of exhaustion], striving with His power and energy, which so greatly works within me.
7. Pain isn’t the end; its end is blessing.
James 5:11 (Amplified) 11 You know we call those blessed [happy, spiritually prosperous, favored by God] who were steadfast and endured [difficult circumstances]. You have heard of the patient endurance of Job and you have seen the Lord’s outcome [how He richly blessed Job]. The Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.
7 Scriptural Truths to Brings Courage and Hope into Your Pain
1. Jesus himself experienced pain. Isaiah 53
2. Pain has an eternal purpose. John 9
3. Pain shapes hope. Romans 5:1-5
4. Pain has a weight and time limit. 2 Corinthians 4:7-12, 16-18
5. Pain taps Christ’s strength. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
6. We sit in pain but Christ sits in us. Colossians 1:3-6, 24-29
7. Pain isn’t the end; its end is blessing. James 5:11
Your pain isn’t evidence that the place you are in is empty. Your pain is evidence that the consequences of sin are real. But praise be to God His Grace is greater than our pain!!