Pull Yourself Together
Tony Schachle
Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 47:23
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· 177 viewsProbably none of us have experienced anything remotely close to the tragedy that Job experienced. But we still go through our own struggles. You must remember that the struggle is a season in your life. A season that God is working on something great in you and for you. As Job found out, God may not answer all of life's questions. Sometimes God just wants us to demonstrate the faith to pull ourselves together and to keep going!
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OPENING
OPENING
SCRIPTURE
SCRIPTURE
1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: 2 “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? 3 Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.
3 Pull yourself together, Job! Up on your feet! Stand tall! I have some questions for you, and I want some straight answers.
MESSAGE
MESSAGE
Introduction
The story of Job should be familiar to us.
In Chapters 1 and 2, we read where Job had it all and lost it all.
It is a tragic story of riches to rags.
It is a story of how God allowed Satan to take Job’s family, finances, and health.
But in the end, it’s also a story of redemption and restoration as Job receives a double blessing.
And then in Chapter 3, some of Job’s friends show up.
And initially, they are there to help him mourn.
But they end up in a theological debate about God’s sovereignty and why the righteous suffer and they end up blaming Job for the condition he finds himself in.
And for 35 Chapters we read the back-and-forth conversation between Job and his friends.
But Job really just wants to hear from God.
Job is trying to understand why God is silent.
Job is thinking, “where is God when I need Him the most?”
And if we are not careful, sometimes we can find ourselves in the same place as Job.
We can confuse God’s silence with abandonment.
JUST BECAUSE GOD IS NOT SPEAKING DOESN’T MEAN HE IS NOT MOVING!
Back to Job and his friends...everyone is trying to justify themselves and their theological opinion.
Job wanted God to prove Job right and his friends wrong.
Job’s friends wanted God to prove them right and Job wrong.
MAYBE SOMETIMES WE DON’T WANT GOD’S ANSWER OR HIS PRESENCE AS MUCH AS WE JUST WANT HIM TO AGREE WITH US THAT WE ARE RIGHT!
And so finally in Chapter 38, God reveals Himself to Job.
But, God did not prove either side right.
God just simply showed up and proved Himself right.
I want you to notice that God never directly answered Job’s questions.
God just simply said, “Let me just go ahead and step up to the mic and set some things straight right here for you brother Job.”
God said, “Pull yourself together, stand up like a man, and just listen to what I have to say.” (Anybody nervous for Job right here?)
YOU’VE GOT TO UNDERSTAND THAT GOD WILL NOT ALWAYS ANSWER ALL OF YOUR QUESTIONS. SOMETIMES, HE JUST WANTS YOU TO PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!
God rebukes Job by asking him some humbling questions.
And God’s rebuke lasts from Chapter 38 all the way through Chapter 41.
And we don’t have time to go through everything God said in this section. Take some time and read it for yourself.
But let me just give you a little sample. A highlight reel of some of my faves. So here’s my Top 10. Let’s start with one we’ve already read:
[38:2]“Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (That’s a nice way of saying, “you have no idea what you’re talking about”)
[38:4]“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?”
[38:8,10-11] “Who shut in the sea with doors...” and “...said this far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop?”
[38:19] “Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place?”
[38:24] “By what way is light diffused, or the east wind scattered over the earth?”
[38:28-29] “Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb comes the ice? And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth?”
[38:31-32] “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the belt of Orion? Can you bring out the Mazzaroth (constellations) in its season? Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs?”
[39:27] “Does the eagle mount up at your command, and make its nest on high?”
[41:1] “Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, or snare his tongue with a line which you lower?”
[41:10] “Who then is able to stand against Me?”
The answer to these questions is pretty clear right?
God is right and we are wrong.
God is big and we are small.
God is strong and we are weak.
God is the Creator and we are the creation.
God is Sovereign and we have no right to question His authority.
FIVE LESSONS WE CAN LEARN FROM JOB’S EXPERIENCE
You are not the first person to go through some stuff and you won’t be the last!
Why do we tend to feel like we are so special?
Ecclesiastes says that “there is nothing new under the sun.”
You are not facing anything that someone else has not already faced.
13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Elijah sitting under a broom tree feeling like he is the only one left.
PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
Stop trying to control things that are out of your control!
Are there any control freaks in the house?
If you are a control freak you probably find yourself stressed out all the time.
It is possible to be so stressed out and worried about what’s happening tomorrow or next week that you lose focus on what’s going on right now.
You forget to live today because you are too focused on tomorrow.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Martha and Mary - Martha was a control freak, Mary was chill
PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER AND REALIZE THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE IN CONTROL OF EVERY SITUATION BECAUSE GOD ALREADY IS!
You’ve got to learn to let go and let God!
Come on and find your inner Elsa, “Let it go! Let it go!”
You’ve got to learn that there are some things that are just not worth keeping around.
Regrets
Past hurts
Negative thoughts
Lies
The longer you hold onto them, the more they are going to affect you.
There comes a time when you just have to get rid of the clutter.
6 A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away;
You’ve got too much junk taking up too much real estate in your mind.
And the devil keeps coming over to visit and rummaging through all the junk.
He keeps bringing it all back to your remembrance and stirring it all back up again.
Our attic - just move stuff around from time to time.
You are not the devil’s storage facility.
Stop letting the devil live rent free in your mind and use you to store a bunch of his junk.
PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER AND LET GO OF THE JUNK!
Remind yourself that God’s favor is on your life!
There is nothing more comforting than truly knowing that you are under God’s favor.
And if you are God’s child, you are under His favor.
12 For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield.
When you are under God’s favor, it does not mean that everything will go just the way you want it.
Favor does not guarantee a life free from problems.
But God’s favor surrounds us like a shield.
I will walk through the valley of the shadow of death without fear.
The Lord will prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
The devil wants to make you think you are surrounded and your situation is hopeless.
But God has the devil’s armies surrounded.
Elisha and his servant in Dothan.
God’s favor is your shield.
And He is coming to your rescue!
PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER AND REMIND YOURSELF THAT GOD’S FAVOR IS ON YOUR LIFE!
If you’ve fallen, you can get back up again!
Jesus is in the restoration business (restoring broken lives since A.D. 33)!
My God can fix it, He’s the Fix-it Man!
In this life we are going to go through some things.
But there is a difference in just going through some things and going through some things with God by your side.
8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—
You are going to be pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and pummeled (struck down).
We are going to get knocked down.
The question is are you going to stay down, or are you going to get back up?
Life Alert (God is standing by 24/7 ready to respond and come to your rescue)
But in order for God to send the rescue you’ve got to recognize you need help!
You’ve got to push the button.
You’ve got to reach out to God by faith in prayer and call on His name!
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them, and delivers them out of all their troubles (Psalm 34).
God will lift you up, but you’ve got reach up and take His hand!
PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER, GET BACK UP, DUST YOURSELF OFF, AND KEEP GOING!
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CLOSING
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