“GOD RESTORES” Job 28:1-17
INTRO – “This Old House” – TV show that features the renovation and restoration. Bob Vila was host for many of the 25 years that it has been on TV. They’ve worked on every type of house imaginable – modern style, 1849 Greek revival farmhouse, 1928 brick Tudor, 1865 2nd-Empire style brick townhouse, 1907 Craftmans-style bungalow, 1835 barn, Victorian cottage, even a church. All over the country, coast to coast – Santa Barbara, CA, Boston, MA, Tampa, FL, Tucson, AZ, Honolulu, HI.
Christian life is like “This Old House.” Go through life. The storms beat against us, the sun beats down on us, and the enemy beats us up. Begin to show signs of the stress. Life has broken us down into a state of despair and disrepair. Find ourselves in need of renovation and restoration. Need for the Master Carpenter from Nazareth to step in and go to work. On “This Old House, “they worked on all sorts of houses of all sizes in all sorts of locations. In the Christian life, doesn’t matter who we are, where we live, what we’ve gone through. God is ready, willing, and able to step in and begin His restoration and renovation process. He’ll take all the ugly messes that we’ve made and turn our lives back into something beautiful and useful.
Isaiah talks about God being the potter and we are the clay – “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” The clay starts out as just a ugly lump of clay. But the potter begins to work, patiently, expertly working w/ the clay. He turns it, molds it, squeezes it, sometimes using a firm hand, sometimes a gentle hand. He might use his whole hand or maybe just a fingertip. But He knows the potential of that lump of clay. He sees what it can become as long as it stays on His potter’s wheel and in His hand. Sometimes, the clay gets broken and misshapen. The potter patiently and lovingly works the clay back into a useful utensil – maybe a beautiful pitcher that can be used to help quench the thirst of a thirsty person.
God wants to do this w/ our lives. He sees and knows what we can be. He knows the plans He has for us, the incredible potential that exists w/in us when we are in His hand. He works in our lives, molding us, shaping us, refining us, turning us and forming us. Sometimes He has to use a firm hand, pressing hard against an obstinate area of our lives, a stronghold that we won’t let go of, an area we just don’t want to give up. But He always does it patiently, out of love for us, w/ His plan and purpose in mind for us.
Job has come to the end of his ordeal. He is broken, hurting, dazed, confused, but still holding on to his faith – “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him (13:25).” “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. I myself will see Him w/ my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns w/in me!” (19:25-27) After all he had gone through, God spoke to him, picked him up, and restored him. His friends couldn’t do this; his former status in the community couldn’t do this; his former fortunes couldn’t do this – only His God could do this for him. Only God could restore Him. And only God can restore you.
Movie, “The 2 Towers.” Eowyn, niece of the king of Rohan, brandishes her sword in anticipation of coming battles. Practicing w/ it in private. Aragorn, warrior-king who has come to help Rohan, stumbles upon her private swordplay. Eowyn is embarrassed and belittles her own ambitions. She tells of her disappointments & how she has repeatedly been denied the chance to fight for her king and for her people. She’s afraid her life will end up being meaningless. Aragorn listens w/ compassion then speaks words of great power when he says, “You are a daughter of kings, a shieldmaster of Rohan. I do not think that will be your fate.”
Imagine the power and encouragement of that statement: “You are a daughter of kings!” A reminder to her of all that is hers b/c of who she is.
You and I need to hear again the words, “You are a child of THE King – a daughter of the King, a son of the King!” Be encouraged w/ those words! Remember all the potential that exists b/c that is true of you. Doesn’t matter what the condition of your life is right now. If you are a son or daughter of the King, He can and will restore you. Might feel right now like your life is meaningless, that you have nothing to offer b/c of the circumstances of your life at the present time. But you don’t have to stay there. God can restore you, giving you a new start, a new lease on life, a new direction w/ a renewed sense of purpose. God can restore you. I like what Joyce Meyer said: “You can be pitiful, or you can be powerful, but you can’t be both.” You can stay in your broken down, pitiful condition, wallowing in self-pity and self-condemnation. Or you can remember that you are a son or daughter of the King, clay in the hands of the Potter, and let Him rejuvenate your intimate walk w/ Him, renovate your deteriorated life, and restore you to a position of usefulness in His K’dom work.
Remember these factors in God’s restoration process:
I. HAVE FAITH – v. 2
No matter how bad things get, remember who God is and what He can do. Hold on to your faith. It might get shaken, but don’t let go of it. “Faith is not believing that God can; it is knowing that God will.” (Ben Stein)
Job held on to his faith. He didn’t let go of it in the middle of his time of suffering. He didn’t forsake his God and turn to other people or to other things to try and solve his problems and ease his pain. He held on to his faith, knowing that some day, somehow his God was going to come through and restore him. He knew that his God was sovereign and was able to do all things. He had settled that long ago, long before he found himself in the middle of the worst possible nightmare that life could throw at him. And when he needed it the most, his faith served him well.
When life is caving in around you, you need to be able to say, “I KNOW.” When Katrina hit, there were times that we didn’t know how we were going to keep going. Worry and anxiety were high. Questions mounted and answers were elusive. Pain and sorrow were growing. But those were the times that we had to say, “I KNOW…” Might now know when the power is going to come back on, but “I KNOW…” Might not know when we’re going to get gas, but “I KNOW…” Might not know where the food is going to come from, but “I KNOW…” Might not know if FEMA, MEMA, the National Guard, or the Red Cross is going to show up, but “I KNOW…”
Only way your faith will serve you when times are tough is if you are cultivating it when times are not so tough.
II. HUMBLE YOURSELF – v. 3-4
Do you hear the humility in Job’s statements here? He realized that he had popped off when he shouldn’t have, made statements that were inappropriate and prideful. And for us to experience God’s restoration in our lives, we need to humble ourselves before Him, recognizing that He’s God and we’re not. We need to realize that there will be some things that we will not understand, some things we will not know, simply b/c He is God and He does not have to tell us everything. He tells us in Isa. 55:8-9 – “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Humility, the act of lowering oneself and putting others ahead of oneself, is a permanent component of the Xn life. “I despise myself” – v. 6a. The realization that God is a mighty, powerful, transcendent God is an integral part of the act of humbling ourselves before Him. James said in 4:10, “Humble yourself before the Lord & He will lift you up” – He will RESTORE you! The humbling of oneself comes before the lifting up. “Those [who are] conscious of being in the presence of the majestic, infinitely holy God are humble” (MacArthur). Isaiah had his life-altering moment of humility when He saw the Lord in His temple. His response to God’s holiness was to exclaim, “Woe is me, for I am undone! (I am ruined! NIV). For I am a man of unclean lips, & I live among a people of unclean lips, & my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!” (Isa. 6:5) After this moment of humility in Isaiah’s life, God took away his guilt & sin, and gave him a mission to go & tell the people about Him. Again, the humility preceded the restoration.
III. LOOK & LISTEN – v. 5-6
“Operation Lifesaver” is an education & safety program designed to increase awareness of the dangers associated w/ railroad crossings. The basic safety message – “Look, Listen, & Live.”
If we are going to experience God’s restoration in our lives, we need to look & listen. Look for Him (“now my eyes have seen you”). Look for His hand at work in our lives & in the lives of those around us. “God is always at work around us.” (Blackaby)
Listen for Him to speak (“My ears had heard of you”). He speaks through His Word, through prayer, through others, through circumstances, through worship. “As worship begins in holy expectation, it ends in holy obedience” (Richard Foster). Did you come into this place today w/ an expectation that He was going to speak to YOU? If you want God to restore you, you need to be listening for Him to speak to you.
Look, listen, & LIVE! When we look for God & when we listen to Him, we will respond in repentance and we will LIVE! Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of life. He will restore us & we will live for Him!
CONCLUSION – The end of the story is this – God’s restoration is always good. And His restoration is always complete. Verses 12-17 give the account of how God completely and graciously restored Job’s life. Didn’t replace the loved ones he had lost. Didn’t cause his pain to go away. I’m sure he still always missed his children and grieved their deaths. But God, in His grace and goodness, restored Job’s life in a wonderfully complete way.
When God works a work in your life, it is ALWAYS good – Rom. 8:28. And it’s ALWAYS complete – Phil. 1:6 – “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of X Jesus.”
“Experience Restoration” was a renovation project at FBC, Brookhaven. The building had seen great days of usefulness to the glory of the Lord. But it was old, outdated, & out of service. In the project, the building was totally gutted it, leaving the external in place, but completely restoring the internal.
That’s what God wants to do in your life today. Not so concerned about the external as He is about what’s going on inside. Maybe you need to experience restoration today. I can tell you that if you will trust God, humble yourself before Him, and respond to what you see Him doing & hear Him saying, He WILL restore you today.
