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THE SMART MONEY IS ON JOB Job 1:7-12, 22 TONY LLOYD LEWIS 7 And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 8 And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? 9 Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? 10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. 11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. 12 And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. 22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Somewhere in the annals of American culture there was initiated a phrase, called "The Smart Money . . . " It even preceded the 1931 classic movie staring James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson. � I want to borrow that title, either from the movie of the same name or the phrase from the annals of American culture and attach it to this text and preach from the subject, THE SMART MONEY IS ON JOB. This Job, who is the protagonist of our text said, man born of woman is but a few days and full of trouble. We're sojourners only for a short while, and during that time none is exempt from trouble It does not matter how good you try to be, or how well you try to live; you are going to have trouble YOU CAN BE A.. A good man, A religious man, A citizen of the land of Uz. A master among the ancients. A leader of the town council, A holy man of the Bible. A noble man by birth. An honored patrician, An admired aristocrat. A theologian of great renown and a graduate of the rabbinical school of Mosaic Thought Every son of Adam and every daughter of Eve are candidates for the troubles of this world. ? Some electronic evangelists and the prophets for profit are proclaiming that all you have to do is just live right and have enough faith. But, the fact is that rouble is no respecter of person. The rich The poor The up The down The young The old and everybody in between. In the Bible in Contemporary English (1 Corinthians 10:13) the apostle Paul puts it this way . . . 13 No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it. ? ILLUSTRATION When I was pastoring in Portland, Oregon there were a couple of Portland Trailblazers that were members of my congregation. One of them had signed a lucrative multi million dollar contract. Now you would think that his troubles would be over, but not so. He suffered from insomnia because he would lay awake all night wondering whether or not his accountants would mismanage his money and he would once again be thrust back into the poverty he knew as a child. Some people think that they will get rid of trouble . . . if and when. But, even when the "if" and the "when" happens, they find out that they only got rid of one trouble, only to inherit another trouble or trouble of a different sort. Life is full of trouble, so much so that trouble is just a part of life. Rich, poor or in between. TROUBLE IS PART AND PARCEL OF THE HUMAN DRAMA. So, since it is inevitable that trouble will invade and many time predominate our lives, it would do us well to learn how to successfully deal with trouble. ? THE FIRST THING WE NEED TO DO IS TO CHANGE OUR PERCEPTION OF TROUBLE. We need to understand that when you really look at it; trouble is no trouble is uncommon to the human family. Then we must also remember to be good stewards of the trouble that God allows to come Into our lives. Can God count on you in the midst of crisis? Can he trust you with adversity? ? You see, the troubles that Job went through in our text were the direct consequence of the Lord's trust and confidence in Job. The scripture says that the Sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and satan came also among them. Don't you even think that you are going to get the church of God so holy that the devil can't get in? �Every time and every where that the children of God are; you can rest assured that the devil is somewhere close around The apostle Paul, put it this way. Every time I would do good evil is forever present. Can you trust God in the midst evil and trouble? God knew that Job would trust Him in the midst of his suffering. The reason why I know is that the Lord confronted Satan as to his earthly activities, he proposed to him to consider Job You see, the Lord was bragging on Job because of the trust that he had in Job My question to you is . . . Can the Lord brag on you? Can God trust you with trouble? Can the Lord put His name on the line for you? We always talk about having faith in God, but have you ever stopped to consider the fact that God must also have faith in us? Yes Because of the Lord's confidence in Job, he bragged on Job Now, according to Satan, the only reason that Job was serving God was because the Lord had placed a hedge about him and the Lord had blessed him. In other words, according to Satan, Job's dedication to God was tainted with the bribes of blessings and security. And so, he proposed that if the Lord took everything away from Job, then Job would curse the Lord to his face. However, God knew that he could trust Job, even in the midst of trouble And so he allowed Satan to have his way. Well, you know the story of how Job lost everything that he had. ILLUSTRATION When I was a boy growing up in the south the old preachers would say, you know the story. But sometimes I did not know the story. Somebody came to Job and told him that the Sabeans had come, taken away all of his cattle and slew all of his servants, and he alone escaped to bring Job the bad news Job 1:15 15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While the first one was yet speaking, another came and told Job of how fire from heaven had fallen and burnt up all of his sheep and servants, and he alone escaped to bring Job the bad news. And even while he was yet speaking, another came with the most devastating news of all. While all of Job's children were eating and drinking at the home of Job's eldest son, a whirlwind had come up from the wilderness and smote the four corners of house and all of Job's children were dead. This servant was the only one at the house who escaped alive, to bring Job the bad news. How many of you know that when it rains; it pours? But, in spite of all this, the Bible says that Job rent his mantle, shaved his head, felled upon the ground and worshiped, saying: "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job did not sin by charging God with wrong-doing. CAN GOD TRUST YOU IN THE MIDST OF A CRISIS? We should also realize that trouble can be a treasure Oh yes There is an intricate value in trouble First of all, trouble provides an avenue for the testing and purification of your faith Just like pure gold, true faith is faith that has been tried in the fire Pure faith is faith that has been through the storms. Pure faith is faith that prevailed in the midst of adversity. A lot of folks like to brag on their faith. But, you don't need much faith when there is money in the bank, the family is well and everything is going along fine It's easy to shout on Sunday morning when all of the bills are paid and you are healthy and wealthy. But everyone will find out if your faith is for real when you can shout and praise in the midst of adversity. Can you still praise the Lord, even though the bills are not being paid? Can you still talk about how good he's been to you while you are in the midst of your troubles? Can you praise him from your sick bed, from your prison cell, from your valley of sorrow? That's how you can tell if your faith is real or not. How do you respond when trouble comes? Do you praise or pout? Can God trust you with �trouble? Yes Trouble is a treasure not only because it shows the value of your faith, it also is a treasure because it provides the evidence of God's faithfulness Somebody said the other day; "If I never had problems, I wouldn't know that God could solve them I wouldn't know how to trust in God" When you are tempted to fret or complain about the trouble that you are in, just think about the trouble that the Lord has already brought you out of. Remember the times when you were down and he picked you up. Yes Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come Twas grace that brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me on Yes When you think about what he has already done for you, then you will realize that even if he doesn't do another thing for you, he has already done more than enough. Trouble ought to remind you of the faithfulness of God. He didn't teach you how to swim just to let you drown. He didn't pick you yesterday just to let you utterly fall today. He didn't bring you this far just to leave you now. ? Oh Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassion, they fail not, As thou hast been Thou forever wilt be Because the Lord has been good to you, because he has been faithful to you in the past, he ought to be able to count on you in a crisis. But, the fact of the matter is that everybody cannot be trusted with trouble. Everybody DOESN'T TRUST GOD IN THE MIDST OF TROUBLE. When trouble comes to many people, the first thing they do is fret, grumble and complain. You need to understand that no matter what happens to you, all things are working together for the good to them that love the Lord, the called according to his purpose. There is a purpose in your pain, a plan in your problem and a seed of hope in your hopeless situation. Many times our situations don't get any better because we grumble and complain too much. You need to understand that the same God who brought you to it can bring you through it. Your stumbling blocks are just stepping stones waiting on you to place them in order. We need to quit complaining about what we have lost and start praising him for what you have left. I don't care what happens, there is always something to praise God for. �If you are always grumbling and complaining; God can't count on you in a time of crisis. God CAN'T BE BET ON YOU LIKE HE BET ON JOB. And then, God can't trust you with trouble if you give up easily. Some folks are ready to throw in the towel at the least sign of trouble Oh When trouble press you down, don't give up. Sometimes the darkest hour is just before the dawn. The Bible says that weeping may endure for a night (and I know that sometimes the night is long) but joy comes in the morning. Oh If you can just hold on and hold out until the morning comes, everything will be all right Jesus said that men ought to always pray and not give up. When you think about giving up, that's the time to pray And then, some can't be trusted with trouble because when trouble comes they curse God �They blame God and everybody else for their trouble. People are like that today. No matter what happens, they never will accept personal responsibility. It is always somebody else's fault, even if the somebody else is God. If you and I would be honest, we would have to admit that most of our trouble comes not because of what somebody else is doing; most of our troubles, we bring upon ourselves But, even when trouble is self-inflicted, God can still get the glory. But we have to acknowledge the true source of the trouble. Then we must go to the Lord saying, "It's not my brother, it's not my sister, but it's me O Lord; standing in the need of prayer" Well, there's a whole lot more I could say about trouble, but let me close by saying: I'm learning to praise God in the midst of a crisis. When I'm in trouble, he has a tendency of showing up and showing out When I can't find a way; he makes ways out of no way After my enemies bury me on Friday evenings, pronouncing the malediction, he has a tendency to show up on Sunday morning with a blessed benediction to raise me back up. Sure I've got trouble in my way and I have to cry sometimes But that's all right; Jesus will fix it, after while. Just hold on children, walk steady and don't let go. Long as I live, while trouble rise, I'll hasten to his throne And since we know that trouble is bound to rise, the question remains: Can God count on you in the time of crisis? GOD CAN BET YOU JUST THE WAY HE BET ON JOB. And the Lord said, MY MONEY IS ON JOB. THE SMART MONEY IS ON JOB!