God assumes full responsibility for our needs when we obey Him

Have you ever been through a season in your life where you wondered if God really cared about you?  I suspect it’s something that almost everyone experiences, to a greater or lesser degree.  Romans 8:18 – 23 talks about our present suffering, sin, curse, groaning, death, and decay:

“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.”

There are wonderful promises in these verses, too, but in the middle of the groanings that seem to accompany life on earth, we may find ourselves asking these kinds of questions:

Why isn’t God delivering me from all of this?

Why has He allowed these bad things to happen to me?

Haven’t I been faithful?

Does He really want to help me?

Notice that the focus of all of those questions is me, myself, and I.  Whenever we do that, it gets us down in the dumps. Better questions to ask are those which the Lord asks of us.  He is the only One who can reach the deepest recesses of our souls, the One who not only knows what we really need, but who joyfully assumes full responsibility for our needs . . . when we obey Him:

God asks: Are you submitted fully to me?

God asks: Are you trusting me in spite of your circumstances?

Today we’re going to look at a familiar Bible guy . . . the story is so well-known I’m going to read it in The Message so we can hear it with fresh ears:

Job 1

“Job was a man who lived in Uz. He was honest inside and out, a man of his word, who was totally devoted to God and hated evil with a passion. He had seven sons and three daughters. He was also very wealthy—seven thousand head of sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred teams of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and a huge staff of servants—the most influential man in all the East!

His sons used to take turns hosting parties in their homes, always inviting their three sisters to join them in their merrymaking. When the parties were over, Job would get up early in the morning and sacrifice a burnt offering for each of his children, thinking, ‘Maybe one of them sinned by defying God inwardly.’ Job made a habit of this sacrificial atonement, just in case they’d sinned.

One day when the angels came to report to God, Satan, who was the Designated Accuser, came along with them. God singled out Satan and said, ‘What have you been up to?’

Satan answered God, ‘Going here and there, checking things out on earth.’

God said to Satan, ‘Have you noticed my friend Job? There’s no one quite like him—honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil.’

Satan retorted, ‘So do you think Job does all that out of the sheer goodness of his heart? Why, no one ever had it so good! You pamper him like a pet, make sure nothing bad ever happens to him or his family or his possessions, bless everything he does—he can’t lose! But what do you think would happen if you reached down and took away everything that is his? He’d curse you right to your face, that’s what.’

God replied, ‘We’ll see. Go ahead—do what you want with all that is his. Just don’t hurt him.’ Then Satan left the presence of God.

Sometime later, while Job’s children were having one of their parties at the home of the oldest son, a messenger came to Job and said, ‘The oxen were plowing and the donkeys grazing in the field next to us when Sabeans attacked. They stole the animals and killed the field hands. I’m the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened.’

While he was still talking, another messenger arrived and said, ‘Bolts of lightning struck the sheep and the shepherds and fried them—burned them to a crisp. I’m the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened.’

While he was still talking, another messenger arrived and said, ‘Chaldeans coming from three directions raided the camels and massacred the camel drivers. I’m the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened.’

While he was still talking, another messenger arrived and said, ‘Your children were having a party at the home of the oldest brother when a tornado swept in off the desert and struck the house. It collapsed on the young people and they died. I’m the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened.’

Job got to his feet, ripped his robe, shaved his head, then fell to the ground and worshiped:

Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
naked I’ll return to the womb of the earth.
God gives, God takes.
God’s name be ever blessed.

Not once through all this did Job sin; not once did he blame God.

Job 2:1 – 10

One day when the angels came to report to God, Satan also showed up. God singled out Satan, saying, ‘And what have you been up to?’ Satan answered God, ‘Oh, going here and there, checking things out.’ Then God said to Satan, ‘Have you noticed my friend Job? There’s no one quite like him, is there—honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil? He still has a firm grip on his integrity! You tried to trick me into destroying him, but it didn’t work.’

Satan answered, ‘A human would do anything to save his life. But what do you think would happen if you reached down and took away his health? He’d curse you to your face, that’s what.’

God said, ‘All right. Go ahead—you can do what you like with him. But mind you, don’t kill him.’

Satan left God and struck Job with terrible sores. Job was ulcers and scabs from head to foot. They itched and oozed so badly that he took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself, then went and sat on a trash heap, among the ashes.

His wife said, ‘Still holding on to your precious integrity, are you? Curse God and be done with it!’

He told her, ‘You’re talking like an empty-headed fool. We take the good days from God—why not also the bad days?’

Not once through all this did Job sin. He said nothing against God.”

Job obeyed God, but bad things still happened to him – overnight he found himself in deep pain and terrible need.  Why?  Was it merely to prove something to Satan, or was there a deeper reason?  God was meeting more important needs in Job than we may initially realize.  God took full responsibility for bringing Job into the deepest intimacy possible with Himself.

Job 23:10 – 11 (NLT):

“But he knows where I am going. And when he tests me, I will come out as pure as gold. For I have stayed on God’s paths; I have followed his ways and not turned aside.”

Because of Job’s obedience, you and I and countless people throughout the ages have been encouraged by his faithful example.

Let’s read the conclusion of the story of Job in chapter 42 –

Job answered God:

‘“I’m convinced: You can do anything and everything.
Nothing and no one can upset your plans.
You asked, ‘Who is this muddying the water,
ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?’
I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me,
made small talk about wonders way over my head.
(v. 4) You told me, ‘Listen, and let me do the talking.
Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.’
I admit I once lived by rumors of you;
now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears!
I’m sorry—forgive me. I’ll never do that again, I promise!
I’ll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor.”

After God had finished addressing Job, he turned to Eliphaz the Temanite and said, “I’ve had it with you and your two friends. I’m fed up! You haven’t been honest either with me or about me—not the way my friend Job has. So here’s what you must do. Take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my friend Job. Sacrifice a burnt offering on your own behalf. My friend Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer. He will ask me not to treat you as you deserve for talking nonsense about me, and for not being honest with me, as he has.”

They did it. Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did what God commanded. And God accepted Job’s prayer.

After Job had interceded for his friends, God restored his fortune—and then doubled it! All his brothers and sisters and friends came to his house and celebrated. They told him how sorry they were, and consoled him for all the trouble God had brought him. Each of them brought generous housewarming gifts.

God blessed Job’s later life even more than his earlier life. He ended up with fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand teams of oxen, and one thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first daughter Dove, the second, Cinnamon, and the third, Darkeyes. There was not a woman in that country as beautiful as Job’s daughters. Their father treated them as equals with their brothers, providing the same inheritance.

Job lived on another 140 years, living to see his children and grandchildren—four generations of them! Then he died—an old man, a full life.”

When we get to the heart of this principle, we find the same small word that we’ve looked at many times – trust.  “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey!” It’s a word that’s much more simply spoken of or defined than to actually do!

Definitions of Trust:

• Assured resting of the mind on the integrity, veracity, justice, friendship, or other sound principle, of another person
• Assured anticipation; dependence upon something future or contingent, as if present or actual
• To place confidence in; to rely on, to confide, or repose faith, in; as, we cannot trust those who have deceived us
• To hope confidently; to believe
• To commit, as to one’s care; to entrust
• To risk; to venture confidently

www.biblos.com says there are 201 occurrences of the word “trust” in the Bible.

I looked them all up and found that there are verses on trust all through both the Old and New Testaments.  Referring back to what Nancy said last week, that we need more than just a verse here and there, which is like trying to satisfy our thirst with a few drops or trying to wash with just a trickle . . . so here’s a waterfall of the Word, a cascade of cleansing, a shower of soaking, a fountain of filling, a river of refreshing – may this build up your faith as it did mine in preparing:

Exodus 14:31 (NIV) – “And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.”

Numbers 20:12 (NLT) – “But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not trust me enough to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land I am giving them!’”

Deuteronomy 1:32 (NLT) – “But even after all he did, you refused to trust the LORD your God”

Ruth 2:12 (WBS) – “The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou hast come to trust.”

2 Samuel 22:3 (KJV) – “The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.”

2 Kings 17:14 (NIV) – “But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the LORD their God.”

1 Chronicles 5:20 (NLT) – “They cried out to God during the battle, and he answered their prayer because they trusted in him.”

2 Chronicles 14:11 (NAS) – “Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, ‘LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude.’”

Job 13:15 (KJV) – “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him”

Psalm 62:8 (NIV) – “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”

Proverbs 30:5 (KJV) – “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.”

Isaiah 12:2 (NIV) – “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.”

Jeremiah 17:7 (NLT) – “Blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence.”

Daniel 3:28 (NAS) – “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God.”

Nahum 1:7 (NLT) – “The LORD is good, a strong refuge when trouble comes. He is close to those who trust in him.”

Zephaniah 3:1 –2 (KJV) – “Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.”

Matthew 12:18 – 21 (KJV) – “Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.”

Mark 10:24 (ISV) – “The disciples were startled by these words, but Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how hard it is for those who trust in their wealth to get into the kingdom of God!’”

Luke 16:11 (NLT) – “If you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?”

John 1:12 (WEY) – “But all who have received Him, to them–that is, to those who trust in His name–He has given the privilege of becoming children of God”

Acts 14:23 (NLT) – “Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.”

Romans 15:13 (NIV) – “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

1 Corinthians 2:4 – 5 (WEY) – “My language and the Message that I proclaimed were not adorned with persuasive words of earthly wisdom, but depended upon truths which the Spirit taught and mightily carried home; so that your trust might rest not on the wisdom of man but on the power of God.”

2 Corinthians 3:3 – 4 (NLT) – “Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This ‘letter’ is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts. We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ.”

Philippians 3:2 – 3 (ABE) – “Beware of dogs; beware of evildoers; beware of the circumcisers. For we are the circumcision, those who serve God in The Spirit, and we glory in Yeshua The Messiah, and we do not trust upon the flesh”

1 Thessalonians 2:4 (KJV) – “But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.”

2 Thessalonians 3:4 (DBY) – “But we trust in the Lord as to you, that the things which we enjoin, ye both do and will do.”

1 Timothy 4:10 (WBS) – “We both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe”

2 Timothy 1:12 (NLT) – “I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return”

Philemon 1:22 (KJV) – “Prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you”

Hebrews 2:11 – 13 (NLT) – “Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters. For he said to God, ‘I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among your assembled people.’ He also said, ‘I will put my trust in him,’ that is, ‘I and the children God has given me.’”

1 Peter 1:8 (NLT) – “You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.”

2 John 1:12 (KJV) – “Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.”

3 John 1:14 (KJV) – “I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee.”

God has given us many, many promises in Scripture.  It’s good to know what those are, to seek them out, to think about them, to ask big and to expect great things of God.  But there are two foundational questions on which believing all the promises of God depend.  We need to settle those two questions in our hearts in order to be able to trust Him at His Word:

God, can You help us / me?

Do we believe that God is completely able to intervene in our situation?

Do we confidently hope in the One who laid the foundations of the earth?

Genesis 1:1 (NLT) – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”

Does our faith repose on the One who delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt and parted the Red Sea?

Exodus 14:29 – 30 (NLT) – “the people of Israel had walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, as the water stood up like a wall on both sides. That is how the Lord rescued Israel from the hand of the Egyptians that day”

Are our minds resting assuredly on the One who defeated death to save us from our sins and provide a home for us in heaven?

1 Corinthians 15:45 – 57 (NLT) – “The Scriptures tell us, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living person.’ But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man. What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever. But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

God, will You help us / me?

A man with leprosy asked Jesus that same question in Mark 1:40 – 41 (NIV) – “Lord, if you are willing . . .”  Jesus reached out his hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing . . .”  Where are the places in our lives that we ask God, “Are you willing to help me?”  Romans 8:32 answers that question for us (NLT) – “Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?”

God is both able and willing to supply everything that we need.  Therefore, if there are still areas in our lives where we are lacking, spend time in prayer asking God to reveal what He is trying to teach us.  Maybe there is something in our lives that shouldn’t be there, or perhaps He is filling a deeper need in us as He did with Job.

Philippians 4:19 (NLT) – “This same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”

Psalm 65:5 (NLT) – “You faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds, O God our savior. You are the hope of everyone on earth, even those who sail on distant seas.”

Psalm 37:28 (NLT) – “For the Lord loves justice, and he will never abandon the godly.”

God assumes full responsibility for our needs when we obey Him – Hallelujah!