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Job 1:6-22

God's Protection Shields Us

  • Shawn Dean
  • Sunday Night Messages
  • March 27, 2022

He Himself, our risen Savior, said I will never leave you nor will I forsake you.

You may ask, even in times of trouble? The answer; especially in times of trouble.

Knowing that is what He said, I say to all of you, prepare your strong shelter so that you can say, “the Lord is my helper, I will not fear, what can man do to me!”

  • Sermon Notes
  • Scripture

God’s Protection Shields Us
Job 1:6-22
March 27, 2022

He Himself, our risen Savior, said I will never leave you nor will I forsake you.

You may ask, even in times of trouble? The answer;especially in times of trouble.

Knowing that is what He said, I say to all of you, prepare your strong shelter so that you can say, “the Lord is my helper, I will not fear, what can man do to me!”

Isn’t there a great amount of hope in that attitude?

Many of you have heard the words from the old spiritual hymn – “nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, nobody knows but Jesus…”

I can relate to that. You can to. Seems like the older I get, my eyes and spirit are much more aware of the trouble that awaits! Why is that? Job says,

Job 14:1, “Man, who is born of woman, Is short-lived and full of turmoil.

In Psalm 42, we see David has trouble.

Psalm 42:3, My tears have been my food day and night, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
Psalm 42:6, My soul is in despair within me;…

Psalm 42:10, As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries taunt me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

Yet read on in Psalms,

Psalm 42:11, Why are you in despair, my soul? And why are you restless within me? Wait for God, for I will again praise Him. For the help of His presence, my God.

When we are in trouble we need a lasting hope, something we won’t find in yoga or money or politics or popularity or fame. We can only find that hope in the Bible, in the living God of the universe. His promise is we will find that hope if we believe in Him, not in our head, but in our heart.

But first, if you do not know Jesus in a personal way, these promises are not yours. They only belong to people who are children of God by their faith in Jesus Christ.

Focus on the Savior, not the promises, because when you have the Savior in your life, you get the promises of the Savior.

Your issue is whether you have the Savior? If you do, these promises are for you.

We are going to look at four promises in the Bible that God makes to us about our troubles. And our anchor text is in Job.

Job 1:6-22

I. Our Troubles Are All Inspected

God peels back the cloud and allows us to see the inner workings of heaven. Then Satan shows up.

v10, fence in Hebrew is a “hedge/wall” so picture the conversation. Satan told God He put one of those around Job. Fur-ther, he tells God, let me have him, let me go inside those walls and he will curse you.

God says, “All that Job has is in your power, ‘but’….you can not lay hands upon him personally.

Satan went and destroyed houses, property, animals but failed to get Job to curse the Lord.

Then in Chapter 2, he’s back and wants more of Job. Let me have him God. God says Job is in your power, but you must spare his life.

In Job Chapters 1 & 2, we see that –

a) God has a hedge of protection around each one of us. This lesson is not simply for knowledge about Job’s life.
b) Satan must get permission from God to bring any harm.
c) Even with permission, He puts definitive limits on what satan can and cannot do to us.

Jesus said the same thing in the New Testament.

Luke 22:31-32, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

A. There is great hope in God’s promises

I Corinthians 10:13, No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can endure. Because, like Peter, He inspects every trial to be sure we can endure it.

So whatever you are facing with troubles as a follower of Je-sus Christ, whatever you are facing, God inspects it before He allows it to hit our life to be sure you can handle it.

That brings great hope doesn’t it? If I know I can make it because God says so, it brings great hope to me.

B. Accept that troubles have divine purpose

In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul speaks of a “thorn in the flesh” being sent his way to torment him or to buffet him, to keep him from exulting himself. He’s speaking of Satan. In the Greek, to “buffet” is to beat somebody up, to hit them with your fist. Similar to giving someone a cauliflower ear.

Illustration – Rugby

Paul said Satan is like that to him because God is allowing it. Bashing on him, a thorn in the flesh. It certainly didn’t sound good, but Paul understood this trouble had a divine purpose – to keep him from becoming too proud.

Have you ever read about Paul ever blaming God or questioning His sovereignty during tough times?

But we all know people who do that. If it’s not going well, God is often questioned or blamed. Sometimes the pain we feel going through something very difficult takes our eyes off of God’s divine purpose in allowing us to go through it.

Job’s life illustrates for us that the troubles we face have been calculated by God, so every one of our troubles are planned to produce divine results in our lives.

1 Thessalonians 5:19, Do not quench the Spirit,

In other words, have hope and thankfulness in everything.

Why? – This or that problem or circumstance, is not by chance, it is not random, but it is God’s will and part of His purpose just for you to produce growth and wisdom and to enable you to give Him the glory for what He does with it and through you. Recognize that His protection ultimately shields you.

II. We Are Never Alone In Our Troubles

In 2 Chronicles 32, King Hezekiah of Judah had some big troubles – the Assyrian King & Army in 701BC captured the entire ancient near east with exception of Jerusalem. And they are now coming for Jerusalem.

King Hezekiah gathers his people together to give a message of hope, even in midst of the world’s most powerful army on the move towards them.

What could you possibly say that would be encouraging to your people when the mightiest army in world history, be-fore whom no nation has survived, is coming to destroy you?

Deuteronomy 31:6, Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or in dread of them, for the Lord your God is the One who is going with you. He will not desert you or abandon you.”

The one with us is greater than the one with him and the people took courage in their King’s words.

How did King Hezekiah bring hope? He simply reminded them they were not alone in facing their problems. They have a mighty God.

We should do the same thing. Turn to the scriptures or Godly counsel for hope and encouragement when faced with challenges we believe are beyond us.

Many turn to many other things that offer nothing to you other than masking your pain or give you a false hope.

To complete the story, the angel of God killed 185K Assyri-an soldiers and the King never did conquer Jerusalem. He went back to Nineveh humiliated.

A. Our Lord will never leave nor forsake us

As followers of Christ, the same thing said to these Israelites is true for you and me. He will never forsake you even in the worst of times.

Hebrews 13:5-6, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever abandon you,” so that we confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.
What will man do to me?”

You say, even in times of bad trouble? Yes, especially in times of trouble.

Therefore, because Christ Himself says, I will never leave you or forsake you, we may boldly say, the Lord is my help-er, I will not fear, what can man do to me? That’s hope!

Know for certain, you are never by yourself. If He has to pick you up, He will. Even in times of great trouble.
Summary so far about our troubles
• They have all been inspected
• They all have a divine purpose
• In our troubles, we are never alone

B. God promises all things for our good

Sometimes we don’t believe this, this is hard for us, some-times we say it’s impossible. But that attitude would make God a liar. Because God promised it will happen, every time.

Romans 8:28, And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

We ‘know’ it to be true. Do we hope or think so? Are the odds in favor? No, we know, because God promises all things together for good to those who love God.

Yours and my trouble may at times not seem to us like it’s for good, but He says otherwise.

But I need hope. Real hope. To sink my teeth into it that won’t let me down even in the toughest seas of life.

Where do we get that kind of hope? From knowing and believing the promises of God.

Now there was a day when the [a]sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and [b]Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” The Lord said to Satan, “Have you [c]considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, [d]fearing God and turning away from evil.” Then Satan answered the [e]Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But reach out with Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will certainly curse You to Your face.” 12 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your [f]power; only do not reach out and put your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.

13 Now on the day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the female donkeys feeding beside them, 15 and [g]the Sabeans [h]attacked and took them. They also [i]killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and [j]I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three units and made a raid on the camels and took them, and [k]killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

20 Then Job got up, tore his robe, and shaved his head; then he fell to the ground and worshiped. 21 He said,

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked I shall return there.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

22 Despite all this, Job did not sin, nor did he [l]blame God.

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