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The First Part of Jobs Speech crying unto God Part 5 By Andrew Davies

Can we turn again, please, to the book of Job. We are looking at this remarkable book from the Old Testament, and this evening we consider the first part of Job's speeches.
There are two sections to the speeches made by Job, and we look this evening at the speeches that are recorded in chapters 3 to 17. As we shall see next time, God willing, from chapter 19 on, what he has to say takes on a different tone and color. But it's important for us, I think, to look at what Job said about his situation before the great cry of confidence and of faith recorded in chapter 19. When we read the book, we are conscious of a hidden purpose behind the scenes which Job was unaware of, a hidden purpose to his sufferings. We know because the prologue tells us about it, but he didn't know about that hidden purpose, neither did his friends. So they and he together struggle to find a meaning and a purpose to his sufferings. They don't realize that behind the scenes there is a conflict taking place between God and Satan, and Job is the battleground in that conflict.
As we saw last Sunday, the explanation of his three friends for his sufferings is very simple but limited. For them, Job must have sinned seriously for him to be suffering so grievously. God must be punishing him for his sins, and they hold that view inflexibly and with dogmatism. But Job knows that is not the case. He had not sinned in the way that they thought he had, and yet he is suffering. That is his agony and his struggle. Why is he suffering as a godly man? By insisting on the doctrine of exact moral retribution, by insisting on that, his friends were putting another thought into his mind that God may have been punishing him for sins he had not committed. He was suffering. Why was he suffering?
If he had not committed great sins, was he being punished for things which he had not done? And if that were the case, then God would be punishing him like a pitiless torturer.
So how could God be good? And what was the point of continuing to trust God? It would
seem according to the narrow view about suffering and punishment that his friends had, it would
seem that because Job did not fit that particular point of view, God was dealing with him pitilessly
and with cruelty, intent on persecuting him. So the more they insisted that Job must have
sinned for him to be suffering so, the more Job began to question the goodness of God.
And the real test was a test of his faith. The question facing us when we read this book
and when we are confronted with sufferings like this is not whether people can be courageous
or self-controlled or stoical, but whether they can continue to believe in the goodness
of God. Is it possible to go on trusting God when to all appearances there seems no reason
to do so? That's the real dilemma facing Job. And if Job were to judge his sufferings
from that point of view, then they seem utterly pointless. They might indeed justify a total
rejection of divine goodness. But Job is a man of faith, and despite all the evidence
to outward appearances, he continues to trust in God. But in the middle of that, we see
him crying out in anguish, complaining to God about his condition, and even in serious
conflict as he tries to make sense of what is happening to him. And I want us to think
about those three aspects to his struggle, which are recorded for us in the chapters
that I mentioned. We've already looked in a sense at chapter three, and I want us to
just look briefly through these chapters together this evening. We've already touched on chapter
three on another occasion, and in that chapter we have the cry, the first agonized cry that
came from Job's heart and lips when we're told he cursed the day of his birth. Remember
that he'd lost everything, all his possessions, all his family, and his health. He'd been
exposed to taunts and ridicule in his mind, and he was struggling to make sense of what
was going on around him. And chapter three records his crying. He's almost at first too
numb to speak. It's as if everything is unreal. The shock of one disaster after another reduced
him to silence. And we're not told exactly how long it was for, but for some time he
simply sat in silence. He couldn't speak. But then, suddenly, this cry of anguish. If
you know anything at all about bereavement, I think you will understand something of what
Job was going through. It was as if his pent-up emotions all of a sudden found an outlet.
And in chapter three you have a frantic outburst of grief. He can't hold it in any longer.
He felt he'd lost God, that his life was pointless and useless, and there's a note of desperation
in what he has to say. May the day perish when I was born. Why did I not die at birth?
That's frantic grief. Why is light given to him who is in misery and life to the bitter
of soul? The thing I greatly fear has come upon me, and what I dread, it has happened
to me. I have no rest, for trouble comes. That's the crying out of a man in deep anguish
of soul. So faith has to live with that. Faith has to live with great perplexity, and sometimes
deep unhappiness. It doesn't mean that faith is dead. It just means that faith co-exists
with anguish. Trust co-insists with bewildered grief. The cry of a man who is deeply, deeply
sad. That's the first aspect of Job's struggle, and we looked at it before. I don't think
we need to say any more about it now, but the second aspect, which we read in chapter
6 and 7, is his complaint. He, in these chapters, utters a complaint. In fact, the heading in
my Bible for chapter 6 is, my complaint is just. It's as though the darkness is deepening
as one stage of grief follows another, and there are very often stages in grieving. There's,
first of all, the great sense of loss, the bereavement, the loss of family in his case,
of possessions, of health, of friendship, and the sense of God's presence has deserted
him, and that grieving, that stage in his grieving, expresses itself in different ways.
In chapter 6 verse 3, for example, you find this heaviness on his spirit. He actually
uses the word heavy. All that my grief were fully weighed, and my calamity laid with it
in the balances, for then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea. I'm reminded of
Milton's wonderful poem called Lycidas, where Milton's friend died as a young man. Milton,
John Milton, the great English poet, wrote a poem called Lycidas, in which he has these
lines, but oh the heavy change, now thou art gone, now thou art gone, and never must return.
The heavy change, heaviness of spirit. Job felt that everybody who's suffered bereavement
knows what that means. And you notice also in verse 7 that he loses his appetite. My
soul refuses to touch food. He's talking there about numbers of things to eat, and they are
as loathsome food to me. He's lost his appetite. It's as if food doesn't matter anymore, doesn't
want to eat. That's another stage in grieving. It happens to all of us. He mentions in the
same chapter, in verse 4 and verse 8 and verse 13, his sense of helplessness. He can't control
the situation. It's outside of his control. If only he could have stopped it all from
happening. He can't. He speaks about the arrows of the Almighty within me. Now what
could he do to fend off those arrows? My spirit drinks in their poison. The terrors of God
are arrayed against me. He's helpless. Verse 8, oh that I might have my request that God
would grant me the thing that I long for. But he doesn't seem to be answering his request.
God doesn't seem to be giving him what he longs for. He's helpless in this matter. Verse
13, is my help not within me? And is success driven from me? Helpless. He is not my help
within me. He has no help within himself. The sense of helplessness that has overcome
him, that's another stage in grief. In verse 11, he speaks about loss of energy. What strength
do I have that I should hope and what is my end that I should prolong my life? He's
not only helpless but he's lacking in reserves of energy and he's passive almost and weary
in the midst of his grieving. That's a reality. He speaks in verses 14 and 15 about loneliness
and disappointment with people. To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by
his friend even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. My brothers have dealt deceitfully
like a brook, like the streams of the brooks that pass away. My brothers, the people I
thought would help me, they don't seem to understand. He's alone and he's disappointed
with people who don't seem to have the imagination to put themselves into his shoes and to understand
what he's going through. We must know if we've grieved at all what that means and it's worse
as time passes and as for other people life resumes its normal phases but for us the bereavement
goes on and the loneliness continues and the pain and the grieving are continuous every
day. Other people can't seem to understand that and in a sense it's not to be expected
that they should but Job feels this loneliness and he feels the disappointment of other people.
And in verses 28 to 30, the end of chapter 6, there he longs for human kindness and understanding.
Now therefore be pleased to look at me for I would never lie to your face. Turn now,
let there be no injustice. Yes, turn again. My righteousness still stands. Is there injustice
on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern the unsavory? He wants help. He wants kindness.
People don't understand him. They don't seem to be able to. I don't know whether you've
ever felt like that. If only somebody could just put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
If only somebody could just tell me, well I understand. Even if they can't possibly
understand the depth of our sadness and our sorrow. He feels like that. In chapter 7 and
the opening two verses there's a suggestion here of anger towards God. Is there not a
time of hard service for man on earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired
man like a servant who earnestly desires the shade and like a hired man who eagerly looks
for his wages? So I have been allotted months of futility. I have been allotted months of
futility. Well who allotted, Job, these months of futility? There's anger here expressed
towards God and it's coming out. He actually in verse 6 describes himself like a weaver's
shuttle. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle. He's being shuttled back and forth
like a shuttle on a loom when the weaver is working at it. It seems as if life is just
shuttling him back and forth. Well who's holding the loom in his hands? What's going on here?
It's an expression I think of his anger toward God in verses 7 and 8 and 9 express it too.
Remember he says, remember that my life is abreast. My eye will never again see good.
The eye of him who sees me will see me no more. While your eyes are upon me I shall
be no longer as the clouds disappear and vanish away so he who goes down to the grave does
not come up. He's just abreast. He's just a cloud. So he speaks out in verses 11 and
12. He's going to give vent to his feelings. I will not restrain my mouth. I will speak
in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. This is the
complaint of Job. He's not going to hold it in any longer. He even in verses 17 to 19
of chapter 7 begins to question human dignity. What is man that you should magnify him that
you should set your heart on him? What is this man that you should visit him every morning
and test him every moment? How long will you? He's talking to God now. Will you not look
away from me and let me alone till I swallow my saliva? Let me alone. He's talking to God.
And in verses 20 and 21 the questions just pour out of him. Have I sinned? What have
I done to you a watcher of men? Why have you set me as your target so that I am a burden
to myself? Why then do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? Now I will lie down
in the dust and you will seek me diligently, but I will be no longer. He's speaking here
to God as an angry man. Now, is it possible for a believer to be like this? A true believer
complaining? Well, obviously it is. Clearly it is. This is Job, the upright blameless
man whom the Lord has chosen as a representative and as a man on the earth who is after his
own heart. Job is a believer. He's a godly, blameless, upright man, but he's not only
crying out, but he's complaining. There's very little hope here at this stage. There's
a lot of wild speech. But you see, his anger means something. This is not the indifferent,
apathetic, careless anger of a man who just is stoical in his view of life. He's talking
to God. He's not talking so much against God, but he's talking to God and he's pouring
all his feelings out to God. Now we may go through similar swings of mood. There's the
first shock which silences us then. There's the crying, the anguish, the expression of
our loss, and faith still goes on in the midst of the complaining. It still goes on living.
It still trusts God. It still pours out its soul to God even though it doesn't understand
what's going on. Well, here is the complaint of a man who has also cried out to God. It's
part of what grief really means and it shouldn't surprise us if we find that it's happening
to us as well. There's the cry and then there's the complaint and in chapters nine and ten
and twelve to fourteen and sixteen and seventeen we have what I would like to call the conflict
that Job is going through. He's struggling here. He's trying to make sense of what's
happening to him, but he can't and so there's a great conflict going on in his soul and
in his mind and the reason really why I asked Ken to read 2 Corinthians 4 is that in that
chapter you have, I think, this conflict in Job's experience put in a very, very helpful
way by the Apostle Paul. Do you remember those four contrasts that we read in 2 Corinthians
4 and verses 8 and 9? Paul is talking about the treasure he has in earthen vessels and
he says we are hard pressed on every side yet not crushed. That's the first. We are
perplexed but not in despair. That's the second. We are persecuted but not forsaken. That's
the third. We are struck down but not destroyed. Here's the paradox. Here's the conflict and
it seems to me that those four contrasts beautifully sum up these chapters nine, ten, twelve to
fourteen and sixteen and seventeen of the book of Job and let me just indicate what
I mean by that. Take that first contrast in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. We are hard pressed
or afflicted in every way but not crushed. Hard pressed, afflicted on every side but
not crushed. Chapters 9 and 10 of Job I think indicate that to us. It's clear isn't it from
chapter 9 verses 2 and 3 that he feels overwhelmed by God's justice and God's power. I know it
is so but how can a man be righteous before God? If one wished to contend with God he
could not answer him one time out of a thousand. What can I do to answer God he says. He removes
the mountains verse 5 and they don't know. He shakes the earth out of its place and its
pillars tremble. He commands the sun and it does not rise. He seals off the stars. He
alone spreads out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea and then he speaks about
the stars in the sky. He does great things past finding out the power of God, the justice
of God. He's overwhelmed by it of course. So what hope does he have and verse 14 and
15 to 18 express that. How then can I answer him and choose my words to reason with him
for though I were righteous I couldn't answer him. I would beg mercy of my judge if I called
and he answered me. I wouldn't believe that he was listening to my advice. He crushes
me with a tempest, multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not allow me to catch my breath
but fills me with bitterness. Where's his hope? He's crushed. He's pressed in and yet he's
not crushed. This is the paradox. He's in the grip of events. He's in turmoil of souls
is at the edge of despair and in verses 21 to 24 he expresses all that. I am blameless
yet I do not know myself. I despise my life. It's all one thing. Therefore I say he destroys
the blameless and the wicked. If the scourge slays suddenly he laughs at the plight of
the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of
its judges. If it is not he who else could it be? If it is not God who else could it
be? Who is in charge he's saying? Who is in charge of the universe? If it is not he who
is it? He's afflicted in every way. He's almost in the grip of a vice and yet you see that
that last cry is a cry of hope. If it is not he who else could it be? There's a seed of
hope there. He's talking about God who is in control and he knows that. He believes
that even though he's in trouble. In verses 33 and 34 he speaks about the mediator. Nor
is there any mediator between us he says. He's talking about God and him. He's not a
man as I am that I should answer him that we should go to court together nor is there
any mediator between us who may lay his hand on us both but he believes in mediation. There's
a sense in which there's hope here. The seeds of faith are there the seeds of hope are there
and in chapter 10 he speaks to God quite openly and quite clearly in verses 8 and 10. Your
hands have made me and fashioned me an intricate unity yet you would destroy me. Remember I
pray that you have made me like clay and will you turn me into dust again? Did you not pour
me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? But he's talking to God. He's expressing his
sense of being in God's presence and in God's hands and so on in verses 8 and following
of chapter 10. So he's afflicted in every way but he's not crushed. The germ the seed
of faith is there even though he's like a bruised reed and the dimly burning wick. And
then the second sentence that Paul used was the sentence perplexed but not in despair.
I think that's a very good description of chapters 12 and 13 of Job perplexed but not
in despair. You see the perplexity coming out in verse 6 of chapter 12. The tents of
robbers prosper and those who provoke God are secure in what God provides by his hand.
It's perplexed by that like the psalmist in Psalm 73. Why do the wicked seem to flourish
and the ungodly suffer? And in verses 7 to 10 ask the beasts they will teach you and
the birds of the air they will tell you speak to the earth it will teach you and the fish
of the sea will explain to you who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord
has done this in whose hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.
So it's God who's in charge it's God who's involved it's God who is behind all that's
happening he he's perplexed by that even terrified at God's wisdom and power verses 13 and 14
with him our wisdom and strength he has counsel understanding if he breaks a thing down it
cannot be rebuilt if he imprisons a man there can be no release and yet at the same time
whilst he's perplexed he's not in despair because he pleads with God particularly in
chapter 13 and verses 13 and following hold your peace with me and let me speak then let
come on me what may what why do I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hands
though he slay me yet will I trust him even so I will defend my own ways before him he
shall also be my salvation for a hypocrite could not come before him listen diligently
to my speech and to my declaration with your ears see now I have prepared my case I know
that I shall be vindicated who is he that will contend with me if now I hold my tongue
I perish he's perplexed but he's not in despair because he can plead with God he he wants
to go on trusting him and then the third sentence that the apostle used was the sentence persecuted
but not forsaken and really that is what job is saying in chapter 14 persecuted but not
forsaken look at the first six verses of chapter 14 man who is born of woman is a few days
and full of trouble he comes forth like a flower and fades away he flees like a shadow
and doesn't continue do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me to judgment with
yourself who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean no one since his days are determined
the number of his months is with you you have appointed his limit so he cannot pass look
away from him that he may rest till like a hired man he finishes his day God seems against
him that's what he's really saying and he is worthless and and useless in verses seven
to ten there is hope for a tree if it is cut down that it will sprout again and that its
tender shoots will not cease though its roots may grow old in the earth and its stump may
die in the ground yet at the center water it will bud and bring forth branches like
a plant but man dies and is laid away indeed he breathes his last and where is he where's
he gone he feels so helpless so useless for man dies shall he live again all the days
of my hard service I will wait till my change comes my transgression is sealed up in a bag
and you cover my iniquity it's as if God is his persecutor he's against him and yet in
the midst of this questioning this agony this sense of being persecuted there's the glimmer
of hope verse 12 of chapter 14 man lies down and does not rise till the heavens are no
more they will not awake nor be roused from their sleep till the heavens are no more they
will not awake nor be roused from their sleep until the little word until that you have
it there in verse 13 oh that you would hide me in the grave that you would conceive me
until until your wrath is passed that you would appoint me a set time and remember me
there's there's hope here it's a glimmer of hope only a glimmer but it's here if a man
dies shall he live again it's as if he's saying all is not lost it appears to be but all is
not lost persecuted but not forsaken and then the last the fourth sentence that Paul uses
is that sentence struck down but not destroyed and chapter 16 and 17 I think express that
in a very beautiful way struck down but not destroyed Job has been struck down not only
by events but he's been struck down by his miserable counselors as he calls them verses
one to five of chapter 16 I've heard many such things miserable comforters are you all
shall words of wind have an end what provokes you that you answer I could also speak as
you do if your soul were in my soul's place I could keep up words against you and shake
my head at you but I would strengthen you with my mouth and the comfort of my lips would
relieve your grief instead of helping Job these men have been abusing him and casting
him down Job says if I were in your position I would know what to say to me to help me
but you don't seem to know what to say to help me so he's struck down by these miserable
counselors and even by what he feels to be God's attack upon him verses 6 to 17 though
I speak my grief is not relieved my grief is not relieved though I am silent how am
I eased now he has worn me out he's talking about God he has worn me out you have made
desolate all my company will shrivel me up and it's a witness against me my leanness
rises up against me and bears witness to my face he tears me in his wrath he hates me
he gnashes at me with his teeth my adversary sharpens his gaze on me they gape at me with
their mouth they strike me reproachfully on the cheek they gather together against me
God has delivered me to the ungodly and turned me over to the hands of the wicked struck
down not only by the words of his friends but also it seems by God's archers God breaking
me with wound upon wound running at me like a warrior my face is flushed from weeping
although no violence is in my hands and my prayer is pure here he is then struck down
and yet at the same time whilst it seems that the situation is hopeless he's looking up
he's speaking to God he's looking out of his distress and he's looking into heaven so the
direction of his looking here is upward verse 18 to 21 of chapter 16 oh earth do not cover
my blood and let my cry have no resting place surely even now my witness is in heaven and my
evidence is on high my friends scorned me my eyes pour out tears to God oh that one might plead for
a man with God as a man pleads for his neighbor for when a few years are finished I shall go the
way of no return but but he's he's talking to his his great God in heaven he's looking upwards
and in chapter 17 verse 3 put down a pledge for me with yourself who is he who will shake hands
with me he's calling upon the name of the Lord so here's the conflict between these paradoxes
afflicted in every way but not crushed perplexed but not despairing persecuted but not forsaken
struck down but not destroyed real faith continues to exist even though the circumstances in which
it lives may be deeply depressing and very oppressive Jesus spoke about the bruised greed
that he would not break and the dimly burning wick that he would not snuff out that's Joe
that's Joe one wonders whether he might even have been thinking of Joe we're not sure about that
though he slay me yet will I trust him that's that's real faith it's it's paradoxical though
he slay me yet when I trust him here are the horns of the dilemma here's the conflict
if a man dies shall he live again
appearances say no and the secularist the materialist says well our bodies when they die
they become atoms they go back to the earth that's the end of us the brain ceases to exist
personality ceases to exist we cease to exist that's the end of us if a man dies
shall he live again the material he says no the only way you live again is through your children
that's the struggle that's the way in which job is exercising here his his faith in the midst of this
conflict and it comes out you shall call and I will answer you you shall desire the work of your
hands he's he's talking to God he's expressing something of his trust in God even though he
can't understand his ways is there a mediator between us who may lay his hand on us both
these are the the the indications of a real faith even though my witness is in heaven
surely my evidence is on high the bruised reed the dimly burning wick it's it's there real faith
is there put down a pledge for me with yourself with yourself he's talking to God he's talking to
God he's talking to his heavenly father the night is dark and long but faith lives faith will not
die he he's in conflict but he knows that God is with him now that's that's real faith that's
that's faith that really faces facts it's not the kind of supine superficial faith that so many
people seem to think faith is the faith that only has a limited number of facts and it can only face
up to them but the dark side of life it can't face the dark side of life that's not real faith
if faith cannot take in all the facts it isn't real faith
but real faith can look at all the facts all the bewildering facts all the dark shadows in
the universe and it will still live it may splutter at times it may cry out in anguish
on occasions it may struggle with doubts and fears and anger and in a turmoil from time to time
it may look as if it may be extinguished it may look as if somebody's going to suddenly crush it or
put out the dimly burning wick so that there's nothing left it may look like that but it won't
die the bruised reed will become strong again the lord knows how to take it and
remake it and rebuild it and begin to make music with it he knows how to take the the smoking flax
that's almost out and with his hands as it were and by his grace and spirit gently blow upon it
so that he begins to burn again brightly real faith won't lie down real faith will not die
in the face of the most appalling trouble it hangs on that's all he can do here that's all
he's doing really is is hanging on but he hangs on i'm clinging to you lord i'm clinging to you
your right hand is holding me so job is clinging god's right hand is holding him that's that's
faith and he continues to cling to god and slowly we see him beginning to climb up
out of the mire and finding his feet again and in a sense of course he's reached bedrock hasn't he
he's come right down in the pit to bedrock and when you're on bedrock you can't go any further
john bunyan said he that is down need fear no fall he can't get any lower
but the lowest point of job's despair is bedrock
when he reaches the bottom of the pit he finds that there's a rock there
that's the remarkable thing about real faith there's a rock there lord is my rock
the rock of my salvation when all around my soul gives way he then is all my hope and stay
that's real faith that's real faith in a real savior and job for all his agony and anguish
knows that he knows that and as we shall see next time god willing he begins to find his feet again
and as he finds his feet again he looks up out of the pit and you remember he's a wonderful cry i
know that my redeemer liveth yes he's still in the pit however he's still in the depth of despair
however he's still down there in the depth but he's looking up and as he looks up he knows that
his redeemer lives what a great help and comfort this man's faith is what a great help and comfort
this realistic book is none of the nonsense of this modern kind of christianity that cannot take
in the dark sometimes we're like little children we don't like the dark of course we don't who does
though the shadows and the curtains are moving and you imagine all sorts of things when you're
in the dark but you see darkness is not darkness to god it's darkness to us but it's not darkness
to god when darkness veils his lovely face and what the hymn writer is saying there is about
is is about his inability to see the lord's face when darkness veils his lovely face what do you do
i rest on his unchanging grace you can't see his face
but you have his grace you have his help you have his presence you have his strength we may struggle
too like joe with all sorts of questions with all sorts of doubts and fears we may become very
depressed at times and even desperate we may feel hemmed in and cut off and even angry we may know
anguish in our hearts that we can't express we may want to give it all up we may want to curse god
and die but we can't you cannot destroy saving faith because you cannot destroy the one in whom
saving faith rests and the god who has given us christ has given us faith to believe in him
and the one thing that we know for certain this evening is that christ our savior has been here
that christ our savior has suffered that god knows what it means to be involved in the suffering
universe god knows what it means to deal with sin and suffering and sickness and death and the
answer to sickness as the answer to sin and the answer to death is christ because christ came to
deal not only with our sins thank god he's already done that but he also came to deal with our
sicknesses he came to bear them and to carry them away as we're told in the new testament and in the
prophecy of isaiah so that the ultimate redemption of the body will come about through the great
atoning work of our lord jesus christ that healing of the body will not occur until the
resurrection of the body it will not occur until the body is raised from death to life
so any healing here in this life is limited and temporary and impermanent by definition
because nobody is going to escape from dying unless our lord returns so that in the end
we're going to die and therefore sickness cannot be eliminated from a fallen world until christ
returns the lord may heal us he may heal us through medical means he may heal us through
miraculous healing if it is his will but he may not
and the question that we have to ask ourselves therefore is am i willing for the lord to heal me
most of us would most certainly say yes then we have to ask am i willing for the lord not to heal
and if you're willing for the lord's will to be done we must be willing to answer that question
honestly am i willing for the lord to save my soul yes am i willing for the lord to afflict me
with illness to touch my family to expose me to the kind of privations and hardships that joe had
well we're not willing for that to happen of course and we don't want those things to happen
and when they happen as they sometimes do we don't understand them but we do understand one thing
that our blessed savior on the cross died for our sins shared his blood for our souls
we know that it is well with our souls yes we know that in heavenly love abiding
no change my heart shall fear and safe is such confiding for nothing changes here
the storm may roar without me my heart may low be laid but god is round about me and can i be
dismayed that's faith and it's a glorious thing it's a precious gift from our heavenly father
father to us so let's go on trusting him let's go on believing him let's remember that even though
we may have in terms of our circumstances fallen into the pit of despond and the slough of
depression and it seems as though nothing remains for us but to die we find our feet on the rock
bedrock and from that vantage point we look up and then we begin to climb up and god brings us
out into the fresh air and sunshine of his love again and it's part of his mercy that he does
what a wonderful thing it is to have a faith that faces all the facts and to have a god
who is able to strengthen us and help us in the midst of them all
can we sing that hymn of annal tissue wearings 729 it's a beautiful hymn and it speaks about
our walking with the lord and the lord walking with us in heavenly love abiding no change
my heart shall fear
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