I Will Bless The Lord At All Times Part 3

“I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” If you recall in our last study together, we learned how Job and King David blessed the Lord while they were prosperous and blessed the Lord also when they were going through persecution and suffering.  It is our duty to give glory to the God of Heaven and Earth, it is also a high privilege to bless His wonderful name at all times in our lives.  God is always good and always doing good.  Let’s learn how we can draw closer to God tonight by following the examples of those who have gone before us victorious in Christ Jesus.  Join us now for Part 3 of the message “I will bless the Lord at all times.” 

And I’m sure it was not just the morning, it was throughout the day, he had that in him throughout the day, he was a worshipper just like David, it was constant, it was a life, it was a lifestyle, it was a learned, practiced relationship with the Lord.  Like anything comes by practice, whether it’s a good habit or bad habit, they come by practice.  Without practice we cannot have anything.  So that’s why it says also in the New Testament it says, that just as you have yielded your members to uncleanness, yield your members of your bodies to righteousness, to holiness.  So, to whom we serve, that’s going to become our master.  So, he has been practicing worshipping the Lord, worshipping the true God at all times.  So when Satan came and told the Lord, God knew that Job will not deny him.  Just like how Jesus knew peter would deny him, the Lord knew that Job will not deny him.  So the Lord knew about Job.  So we have to say, Lord I want to become like that. That’s our whole point.  Tonight's meeting is not to look at Job and say, Lord I cannot be like Job, I’m feeling depressed.  That’s not the point of the message.  The message is to drive us toward the Lord.  Look at Job, if he can be like that, we can be like that.  So, for us to push upward more toward the Lord and if we continue the reading, we are going to see what happened in verse 12.

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.
13 And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:
14 And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:
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.
16 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
17 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
18 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:
19 And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
21 And said, 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.
22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

So we see, what happened to Job was, he lost his oxen, he lost his donkeys, he lost his sheep, he lost his camels, he lost his servants, and he lost his children.   He basically he lost everything, it is like this day we can say, he lost his car, he lost his house, he lost all his income, his bank account was zero, and then he lost his children too.  He has lost everything.  Just one thing that can happen to us can just make us like sit down.   But, in spite of that, what he does is, his routine thing.  His heart was after the Lord.  He got up, and it says that he says "blessed be the name of the Lord!", he is worshipping the Lord, he is blessing the Lord during his most difficult time. I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth.  And here we see, Job how he has blessed Him and he is an example of a human being going through such extreme circumstances.  He was not like a super human, he didn’t have like the gift of this, gift of that to say like “oh, he had the gift to praise God,” no! he was an ordinary person just like us but he made a choice.  He made a very clear choice to praise the Lord that was his lifestyle. It will not come without practicing.  Practicing is not like a mantra or something like that.  It comes from our heart because of our love for the Lord.  So, he said it, out of his love for the Lord from his heart, and he was trusting the Lord, Lord, I will bless you Lord all times, even during this time I will bless you.  And he blessed the Lord from his heart.  So, you see that it wasn’t just from his lips.  He went and he just fell before the Lord and he worshipped the Lord. 

So, the next thing we are going to see is Chapter 2 verses 1 through 10:
1Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord.
2 And the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
3 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? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.
4 And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
6 And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.
9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Job, over here, if you look at it, it’s like a movie,  Satan coming and talking to the Lord, this is the reality that happens to all of us like what really happens in the world that we cannot see.  Satan is trying to do everything he can to show God that Job is going to fall.  God knows Job and He is saying I’m going to show you – now Job is in the midst of everything.  But God knew that "Ok, even if take everything and I am going to give him back." Now, satan comes there to attack to his body, give him pain.  Already, he is in pain.  He has lost everything and he has lost his children, that itself,… when you lose children... a lot of people they don’t even come  out of it until the day they die.  He has lost all his children.  With that, like he does not even have time to mourn.  There is no mourning because he is now with covered with boils all over, and he is scratching himself and he is in lot of pain.  And, on top of that, the wife who is supposed to be next to him and comfort him, basically, what she is saying is “you die.” Curse God and die, I don’t want you living like this.   So, that’s no comfort... so now it’s is adding to physical pain with emotional pain.  The one that he trusts, the one that he loves, she is coming against him, and she is saying, “curse God” the very person that he loves, and she is telling him to die.  And so that’s so very painful thing that Job was going through. With all that was happening with Job he didn’t not curse God during all this time because he is a worshipper of the Lord. Job’s wife is telling, how long you’re going to hold on to your integrity, that means telling how long, you’re going to keep worshipping this God.  How long you’re going to keep thanking God.  When you are receiving so many bad things, that’s when he is saying, I thank God, I bless Him when I have good times, shouldn’t I not bless Him when I have bad times.  That’s what he was telling her.  So, you see Job’s integrity even when his body was affected. Now we are going to see how much more he was going through.  It didn’t not stop over here.  We turn to Job Chapter 19 verses 1 and 2; and 13 through 21; how worse can it get for somebody, how much they can hold on till, and how long they can hold on till.
Job Chapter 19 verses 1 & 2:
1 Then Job answered and said,
2 How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?
Now we have Job’s friends come.  They didn’t just stayed at home They are coming there to hurt him, to break him into pieces.  Already, his body is broken, he has lost everything and now they are coming in to accuse him.  He is like vexed because they are constant, it’s not like a onetime thing they come, but they are constantly coming and they are vexing  him.  Now we’re going to read verses 13 through 21 of the same chapter. 
Job 19: 13 through 21
13 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.
14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.
16 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.
17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body.
18 Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.
19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.
20 My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

Here we see, how much he is going through.  His wife, his friends, his close friends, his relatives, people in his neighborhood, even the little children, they all despise him and  his servants.  Even when he is so sick and he is in pain, when he is calling his servant for something, even they are not coming. So, imagine the pain that he is going through.  Like in addition to everything, he does not even have a chance to even think about what he was actually going through.  So, he is so much in torment physically, mentally, emotionally, and so much pain he is going through and he is being persecuted from every side, from his wife, from his friends. We have to put ourselves in his shoes and see what he actually went through.  So even one (thing like) - lot of times if our friends don’t talk to us properly that is enough to sink us down for a couple of days. Like, "they said this, he said this, she said this, how can they say that, I didn’t really mean that!" you know. But, look what he is going through.  The closest friend, and his own spouse, and his servant, Job was a man who was esteemed by all.  Now, even his servants, they are speaking  they are not even doing anything for him, they are despising him. And Imagine the little children they come and make fun of him when he is suffering.  So the extent which Job really suffered like horrible.  We have not really seen anybody like going through all of this like this in the same time.  Job went through so much, but Job was man of character.  He was not some extraordinary super man like we said, he was an ordinary person; he felt physical, emotional, mental pain just like all of us.  He was not above physical pain.  He was not above emotional pain.  He was not somebody like who didn’t feel anything. When you read the book of Job you will see all his talk.  How much pain he went through! Even in verse we saw, he is basically saying, “stop tormenting me.” That’s what he is telling his friends, so much he was being tormented.  But he made a choice, made a very specific choice to worship God, to be a worshipper of God at all times, I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.  So even going through the extreme circumstance, Job made a choice to praise God.

May the Lord raise you to be a true worshiper of Him even in your extreme circumstances, is our prayer for you.

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Join us next time for the conclusion of part 4 of the Message - I will bless the Lord at all times.