have your Bible or the Bible we're looking at Job chapter 3. I want to mention that it's good to have a scripture in mind that Anthony quoted Psalm 56 verse 3 that I mentioned this morning. It's a very special psalm. I loved when I was preaching through Psalm 56 and it's just one that has always stuck out with me, particularly verse The sixth, when it says that he tells our wonderings, he says, Lord, you tell my wonderings, put my tears in your bottle, are they not in your book? That's a very special thing, I think, when we realize that God takes our tears very seriously. that the one that is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, it's just like the picture of, I think I mentioned when I would preach through that, the picture in Psalm 56 is like the bride whose husband is off to war and she catches her tears to let Noah come up before him as a memorial when he comes back home to say, see, I was missing you. And so the psalmist uses that to say that God takes notice of the very tears that we shed. They never drop in vain. So verse three says that when I'm afraid, I will trust in you. It was very special. We were called to go over to the Bangura's house this afternoon because they're concerned about their daughters not home. And Mary and Bruce are over there and asked us to come. And so Anthony went over with me. And as I went there, I had that in mind. Because they're afraid. And we get real touched when things go wrong in our lives. And isn't it wonderful that God provides those words in the book of Psalms? One of the things about reading the book of Psalms, you can always find your life there. And what's going on in your life, you can find it in the book of Psalms. Psalm 56 is a wonderful psalm, verse three, something you can memorize right now, that when I'm afraid, I will trust in you. Amen. That's kind of what we were looking at tonight, and it goes along hand-in-hand because we're looking at Job chapter three. And it's the first of three messages that I want to do in Job's complaint. I thought about doing this all, get rid of it right away. And I thought, that's really not a good thing to do, okay? There's three parts to it. I'm calling it various sections of a lament, although I think the whole book of Job as a whole is a lament, because you start out with Job in his walk with God, and then things happen. And I believe from chapter 3 through chapter 37 is basically the complaint. Not only Job, but his friends give all kinds of a complaint about Job, and so he responds every time. And finally, in chapter 38, then God speaks. And from there on, it's all about God and about his sovereignty. And I believe that's what, it kind of is a picture of a living lament. Nevertheless, we understand that Job has gone through a lot, and we understand that this is not paradise in this time of the world, but it's not paradise, but we look forward to it. Let me just read to you from Romans chapter eight before we get into Job. In Romans chapter eight it says, we know that the whole creation has been groaning in the pains of childbirth until now, not only the creation, but we ourselves, we have the first fruit of the Spirit, we groan. So our groaning, our desire for a better life, and understand this is not paradise, but we long for it, it's the first fruit of the Spirit of God that He's changed our lives. So, sometimes we do go through times of affliction, and the reality is that His people are not always happy-happy. Sometimes they're like the psalmist who said in Psalm 39, I was mute and silent, I held my peace to no avail, and my distress grew worse. When Job came through the first of losing everything, including his children. He was in the midst of fire from now from the boils that he had from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. He came through the fire of his wife, encouraged him to just give up and die, curse God and die. And then he was in the midst of friends who were silent. It seemed like a good way to comfort him during that time of grief. And I think that right there in the sense of silence, have you ever been in a room where Nobody is saying anything. You know, they used to say that if you're in a conversation, either at 20 minutes past or 20 minutes till, that the conversation goes dead. I don't, that's a superstition, but I've found it to be true. Just next time you're in a crowd, just notice that all of a sudden, things go dead. And it's like the next person that talks is guilty. Anyway, so you wonder seven days that his friend sat there and didn't say anything. It was kind of, as we pointed out last time, it was kind of therapeutic. It was to comfort him. And then I guess he felt obligated to say something, and because then he unloads, and that's what we'll look at tonight. Well, let's pray. Father, thank you for your word, and I thank you for this passage in Job chapter 3. And it's really a hard one, so we want to deal with it rightly, Lord. And so we pray for your grace, and pray for your guidance through this. And as we look at it, we pray that you would speak to us by your spirit, not only in understanding, but also in giving us empathy towards others. We give you thanks for this time. In Jesus name, amen. So Job, the book, as I mentioned, is really a lament, and Job has had his share of doing. We have to realize that Job has been declared by God twice. We also have actually three times from Job chapter one that he was a man who was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. So we have to understand that God has declared him a righteous person. And if God declares us a righteous person, he doesn't pull it off of us, right? I mean, he's declared righteous. As when God declares us righteous, because we have the righteousness of Jesus Christ, he doesn't undo what he has already done. He's declared us righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ, that he made him to be sin for us, the one who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So now we begin a complaint by Job, and sometimes, I've read commentaries on this, and I really feel sorry. The people act like you can't be like Job and be a Christian. I just have a problem with that, because we have to identify with what Job has gone through. Sometimes you notice people pick on somebody that is grieving and say, why don't you snap out of it? It just doesn't happen, does it? You just can't snap your fingers. Just get out of that. My dad used to tell me that when I was crying. Don't ever do that again. Quit crying right now. and say, you can't do that. My dad didn't know much about things, but nevertheless, he was a good dad, but keep in mind, a person who's grieving, okay, we're looking at Job, and he's grieving. He's lost seven children at once. He's lost his business, okay? His bottom line is zero, all right? He probably has some servants around, probably has some things around, but next thing you know, he's sick. And he's got boils from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. His wife seems to turn on him and say, why don't you just curse God and die? So when the person is grieving, sometimes there's things that come out like anger or depression. And we'll see him work through this. And so the comprehensive This is what I call Job's comprehensive curse on his very existence, but keep in mind he's not cursing God. He's, as Satan said he would, and his wife admonished him to do, so he's cursing in his existence, particularly the day he was born. So we're looking at verses 1 through 10 in Job chapter 3. After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job said, let the day perish on which I was born and the night that said a man is conceived. Let that day be darkness. May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it. Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it and let the blackness of the day terrify it. That night, let thick darkness seize it. Let it not rejoice among the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of the months. Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful cry enter it. Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up the Leviathan. Let the stars of its dawn be dark, let it hope for light but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb and hide trouble from my eyes. I'd say that Job's kind of discouraged. What do you think? All right, let's break it down. Let's look at his opening curse. He opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born. Notice it begins with after this. After what? I don't think we have to know it, but let me just review it. He sat on the ground seven days with his friends and nobody spoke a word. And now it's interesting, in the book of Ecclesiastes, it says that there's a time to tear, a time to sow, a time to keep silent, and then there's a time to speak. Whether this was the time to speak or not, it is for Job, okay? That's how he feels. In Proverbs 12, it says, anxiety in man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad. Right now he needs a good word, but right now everything is weighing him down. Isn't that how you feel? I mean, if you've ever felt deep grief, it feels like there's a weight upon you. Okay, that's why Psalm 69 is so precious when he says, reproaches have broken my heart so that I am in despair. In Psalm 119 he says, my soul melts from sorrow, so strengthen me according to your word. So Job opens his mouth and his mouth is open and he curses the day of his birth. Now, I was thinking about cursing the day of your birth. It's not like God cursed the ground for Adam after he sinned, or the God who cursed the serpents that he would crawl along all the days of his life on the ground. So it's more like that when he makes the curse, he's saying, this was better that I had not been born. That's what he's saying. I wish I had never been born. So he's cursing the day and says, I wish that day had never existed. So he curses his birth. He forgot, of course. As I look at this, I want to keep bringing back some things that would overcome this. But nevertheless, what we're looking at, Job, we want to empathize. Because there are times when you talk to people and they feel like that. I wish that I'd never been born. This is terrible. This is terrible news that I'm going through. And sometimes we feel like that. What's applicable to us? Well, you remember what Job said when his wife told him to just curse God and die? He said, you speak as a foolish woman. Shall we receive good from God and not receive evil? And all this Job did not sin with his mouth. So wouldn't it be better if when we start going that direction that we start to realize we're to bless the Lord, as he says in Psalm 103, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Now again, you can't just flip the switch. Maybe as we have some things in our mind to prepare us for times we go through discouragement, okay, that we would have some things in our mind. particularly, like we mentioned before, Psalm 56 and verse 3, when I'm afraid. I trust in the Lord, I trust in you. So, in Psalm 42, I think it's on your outline there that Psalm 42 is a precious psalm because the psalmist is dealing with the discouragements of the day. And he says, as a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When I come and appear before God, my tears have been my food by day and night, and they say to me all the day long, where is your God? Okay, so let's just look at, let's break that down a little bit, because that's sometimes how we feel, because later on, Job is going to be saying, if I could just know where to find him, okay, as his friends are picking on him, and say, you know why you've got this problem, and every one of his friends, and then the fourth guy, where he comes from, I don't know. You know, he had three friends come from a distance, and this fourth guy appears, what is his name, Eliphaz, I think he's around about chapter 30 or something like that, and he's like this fourth guy and says, I'm sick and tired of hearing you guys, and he's the youngest guy, and so he says, I shouldn't even be talking, but I am, and then he just, and so four guys, they kept picking on Job and says, you know why you have this problem? You have messed up before God. There's sin in your life. Well, that is the default mode that we all go to. How many times have you said, what did I do to deserve this? That's creeping in. That's that default mode of works righteousness that sneaks into our lives and feel like, you know, if I just lived a righteous life and a perfect life, I wouldn't have this problem. Well, what we see from Job, twice God admonishes his life and says, have you seen my servant Job? Have you considered my servant Job? Look at his life. Okay, so when we look at that, we understand it wasn't Job's sin that brought this on. But God had a particular thing for Job to learn, as he does us, as he conforms us to the image of Jesus Christ. But again, Psalm 42, as the deer pants for a flowing stream, so pants my soul for you, O God. When we start to go down this road of discouragement, depression, or or doubt or just grief on us, that's what it is. Our soul is like a deer that pants for living waters or for flowing waters. And he says, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God. And that's what our desire is. But that's a blessing. And I'm gonna close this evening from Isaiah 42, which is also quoted in the book of Matthew chapter 12, when it talks about the Lord Jesus Christ, that he would not break the bent-over reed, the bruised reed. And sometimes that's what we are. Job is a bruised reed here, okay? A bruised reed is like a grass, a piece of grass. When the winds and the rain come down on it, goes limp, and just bends over. Now, I've used that analogy several times. When I was in Arkansas, everybody has a garden in Arkansas, so I tried to have a garden. And we grew some really good corn, sweet G90, I think it was. And when it was producing, we used to go out in the garden and just eat them right there. I mean, just pick it and eat it, you know? It's really good, sweet corn. But then one day, we had a good storm come through, and they're all bent over. And so Bob, like an idiot, goes out and raises them up. And I broke every one of them. And I said something to the farmers in the church, because we had a host of farmers there in Arkansas. And I said, Bob, the sun will bring it up. You don't have to bend them up. And when I did, I broke them. OK, that's what sometimes we're like a bruised reed. And some well-meaning Christians say, straighten up and fly right. OK, and they break us. they don't show any consideration and point us to the sunlight of God's love and the Son, His Son, Jesus Christ. So look at verse 4. I put on this that Job expands on the day of his birth. Notice it says there's a call for darkness. Light is all about God, and he says, let that day be darkness. May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it. Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it. Let blackness of the day terrify it. Okay, so what's going on is Job is saying, I wish I had never been born. He doesn't say the word wish, though. He curses it. Oh, cursed be the day that I was born. He said, let that day be darkness. Of course, God is all about light. Whoever darkness is, is about death. And so that's what he's talking about. May it be darkness and not light. And so we understand that as he's talking there that may God not seek it. He's talking about God forsaking that day. Put it away. Put it out of my mind. And that's when he goes on to say that when we think about God not forsaking us, I think of those words in Isaiah 62 when it says, they should be called the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and you shall be called the city sought out and not forsaken. God doesn't forsake us. As he says, I will never leave you nor forsake you that we may boldly say the Lord is our helper. Nevertheless, he's on to this gloom and darkness. He said, gloom and darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it. Let blackness of the day terrify it. Well, Job turns on the day of his conception, then, in verses 6 through 10, and let me just point out a couple of things. First of all, the call for darkness there is, that night let thick darkness seize it. Again, he's saying it shouldn't have never been, even when it was on the day of his conception. The days of year let it not come into the number of months. And he points out the exclusion of joy. Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joy cry enter it. Okay, so he's looking at, normally people get real excited about a birth, and he says, no, it shouldn't have been even having any joy. And he brings down multiple curses, let those who curse it curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan, let the stars of its dawn be dark, let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning. By the way, some people get all hung up about Leviathan. I remember I had a friend that was a, professional fisherman, I guess you would call him a professional fisherman, he made his living by fishing. He's pretty much of a nutcase because he sank three boats because of his greed. He's coming back in, he had, you know, because he'd just take them on, I guess they have some kind of cooling system and he just, he had so many fish as he'd just come, this happened three times. His wife said, what an idiot, okay, so he's bringing his boat in and he had so many fish that the boat just sank. I guess he was glad he was at least in the harbor, he could get home somehow. But anyway, he was telling me, he says, Bob, you know, when you're out there fishing and, you know, miles off the shore, he says, you see things that most fishermen won't even talk about because they're so phenomenal. And he says, I know I've seen parts of a leviathan. Really? Okay, and a lot of people think a leviathan is a crocodile. And some people call it a dragon. I think that it's a creature that's mentioned in the Bible maybe four times. And it seems to have real thick skin, and so that's what he was going on. Anyway, he was an interesting person. His name was Paul Law from Vero Beach. Anyway, some people think it's just a great sea monster, and some people associate it with the dragon described in Revelation chapter 12. Nevertheless, what Job is saying here is that he wants the day of his conception to be treated like the same way of darkness as the day of his birth. And then verse 10 says, because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb nor hide trouble from my eyes. I was thinking about that. How would we answer that? It's interesting, Psalm 130, verses 5 and 6 says, I will wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning, more than the watchman for the morning. If you've ever been in that dark time, that's what you're doing. You're waiting, and it's sometimes very, very hard to do. You're waiting. Won't the Lord do something? Just give us a word. And I think as you read the book of Job and you read his discourses from chapter three through chapter 36, maybe, that you find him basically saying that he's looking for a word from God. So let's just go to his predicament here. Let's minister to Job for a moment. I was thinking, because he says, it'd be better if I had not been born. There are many times Satan whispers that in our ear, it's better if you were not even here. You wouldn't experience this, and we go on next time, that's basically what he's saying, that a lot of people that have experienced that they're dead, they don't feel what I'm feeling right now. And so sometimes we get into this thing, it'd be better if I had never been born. We go to the doctrinal statement of, it's a wonderful life. Remember Clarence, the angel that spoke to... Okay, I know. So he showed him what his life would be like. So if we went to Job and said, OK, here's your life without you, look at the people around you, because Job was very influential. He had many servants, probably rescued many of them from a life they would never have had the life that they enjoyed by being his servant. But even better, I want to talk about a guy named William Cooper. probably recognize the name if you have read your hymnal. William Cooper, it's spelled C-O-W-P-E-R, pronounced Cooper like C-O-O-P-E-R. William Cooper offered many hymns including, God Moves in a Mysterious Way, His Wonders to Perform. He also wrote, There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And I thought Bruce and Mary would be here today because I was hoping it would be because he loves that song. I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. Well, William Cooper wrote that one too. Okay. Here's his story. He was fraught with depression, sometimes called melancholy, all his life. Matter of fact, going back, his father sent him to boarding school where he was bullied. I can't imagine being in a situation like that. In a boarding school, because you can't go home at night and tell your dad. You know, you just have to suffer all the time while you're there, while they're just making fun of you and bullying you. So he was bullied as a kid. After he got out and had a life, he got engaged to a young lady, and her father-in-law, after two years, ended the engagement. Okay? So after a number of bouts with depression, he was committed to an asylum, which they did in that day, but it happened to be run by a Christian who led him to Christ six months later. Describing his conversion, now listen to this. This is how he described his conversion, that he said, unless the almighty arm had been under me, I think I should have died with gratitude and joy, my eyes filled with tears and my voice choked with transport. I could only look up to heaven in a silent fear, overwhelmed with wonder and love. Now, that is a person who has really had an experience with Jesus Christ. That's what I want to get at. That he had really had an experience with Jesus Christ. So later on, he still is fighting these bouts of depression and discouragement. And during one time of that, he wrote another hymn that's in our hymnal. It's called, Oh, For a Closer Walk with God. Listen to these words, O for a closer walk with God, a calm and heavenly frame, a light to shine upon the road that leads me to the Lamb. Return, O heavenly dove, return, sweet messenger of rest. I hate the sins that made thee mourn and drove thee from my breast. The dearest idols I have known, whatever that idol be, help me to tear it from thy throne and worship only thee. So shall my walk be close with God, calm and serene my frame, so pure light shall mark the road that leads me to the Lamb. Now, Job's despair, like that of William Cooper, was not over particular sins or backsliding. In Job's case, it was over grief. He is bruised reed and a faintly burning wick. The Lord Jesus Christ as described in Isaiah 42 is this. Behold my servant whom I have uphold, my chosen whom my soul delights. I put my spirit upon him and he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. And a bruised reed he will not break. In a faintly burning wick he will not quench. I love that. A bruised reed he will not break. Psalm 102 in verse 17, it says that he hears the prayer of the destitute and his ear is open to their cry. When I'm afraid, I will trust in you. we have a high priest who is touched with a feeling of our infirmity. Our laments may be as Job's is right here in this section of his lament. I believe his complaint is out of discouragement and grief. Sometimes our laments may be full of something that is down, discouraged, or even in despair. But the Lord Jesus Christ does not burden us. He's there to help us. I don't believe that I had everything in mind about this sermon when we were picking tunes for tonight, but what a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins, and what's the next word? Griefs to bear. How often we forsake the one place where we can go in times of need and just empty the cup before Him and tell Him all of our sorrows, the Lord Jesus Christ is there for us. He doesn't beat us up. Aren't you glad He doesn't beat us up? He doesn't say, you know better than that. He's touched with a feeling of our infirmities. More on Job in two weeks. When we come back to this, Heath will be preaching next Sunday. But I just want you to get the feeling that when we look at Job, he's a real person. And we see honest Job here. He really feels like, maybe it would have been better if I was never born. But he's full of grief. And the way that we look at them and look at others who've gone through times of grief, they're bruised reed. They're a faintly burning wick. They need our love, our encouragement, and they need Jesus. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for the truthfulness of your word. Someone as outstanding as Job, admired in New Testament writers, And yet we see the reality of the grief in his heart. How we thank you, Lord Jesus, that these real people with real situations are in your word to give us grace to understand how you help them and encourage them. We understand that as we go through this book of Job, Job has a long ways to go, and yet you didn't cast him off. You didn't kill him, so you have a purpose for his life as you do ours. Help us, oh God, to admire what you're doing in Job's life and admire the fact that a bruised reed you will not break, nor will you put out a faintly burning wick that we sometimes get. Thank you, Father, for this time, in Jesus' name, amen. We're gonna sing.