Reassuring Hope for the Assaulted and Abused, Part 1

Bill Meyer: Maybe it isn't a fist, but the words land just as hard, and they leave marks that take far longer to heal. You know the feeling: dismissed before you finish a sentence, corrected in front of others, and told that your pain doesn't matter. Well, Job knew that feeling too. His world had already collapsed, and then came the friends—the ones who were supposed to help. Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll opens his Bible to the book of Job and offers what he calls reassuring hope for the assaulted and abused.
Chuck Swindoll: What did you talk about at breakfast early in the morning of September the 11th, 2001? Don't remember, do you? There was a small group of people who will never forget what they talked about at breakfast. They had gathered at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, with the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. And they listened to him as he, at that time, seemed simply to offer a theoretical concern. Some might have even gone so far as to say a studied prediction. He said, "Sometime in the next two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve months, there will be an event in the world that will remind people how important it is to have a strong, healthy defense department." Little did Rumsfeld and any of those who sat at the breakfast at 8:00 that morning in the Pentagon have any idea that Flight 77 was on its way from Dulles International to the Pentagon building. How could they have known? Jeffrey Krames, author of *The Rumsfeld Way*, describes the man's immediate reaction when, within minutes after the words had fallen from his lips, that plane crashed into the other side of the Pentagon, taking 180 of Rumsfeld's colleagues and high-ranking officers in the military. Krames writes, "Instinctively, Rumsfeld dashed out of the room, asked if anyone knew what had happened, then ran toward the smoke. Surrounded by chaos and rubble and rescue workers, he helped get some of the wounded onto stretchers." Another publication released shortly after that tragic event, *The Economist*, reported, "Rumsfeld had done what soldiers have to do: stand fast when the world explodes around you. He led by example." During that time and in the hours that followed, what some were calling an out-of-touch Secretary of Defense was transformed into a courageous Secretary of War with a vital mandate that to this day he has not forgotten. At 8:00 in the morning of September 11th, the same man who had spoken theoretically of the possibility of a tragic event found himself engaged in the same in less than an hour. Reminds me of Job. Remember chapter 1, verse 6? Remember how it began? "Now there was a day." Seems so innocuous, like the dawning of the 11th of September, just another early autumn dawn. The smell of autumns in the air, children have been hustled off to school or driven there, and moms and dads are busy about their work, and the whirl of commerce has just begun. With Job, I can't help but imagine his standing at the kitchen window as his wife is finishing the breakfast, and he says to her, "You know, sweetheart, look at this. Crops are full. Caravan is on its way, right there, another coming in. Servants busy. Look over there at our son's home. Look at that." And she walks over and looks with him, puts her arms around his waist. He says, "You know, honey, it may not always be like this. It may not always be like this. You know, it could all change." While Satan is meeting with the Lord God, offering a sinister strategy, Job and his sweet wife finish the conversation with a soft kiss and sit at the table to talk of home and family and life and the future, until all hell breaks loose. Who would have ever imagined? And Job, too, ran toward the smoke. And there are buildings that were scattered like pieces of firewood thrown in the air, and one servant after another bringing horrible news, and then worse news, and then the ultimate: "All ten children are dead." And he loses it all—possessions, staff, the ability to make a living, his children. And while still soiled from the burial, chapter 2 begins the same innocuous way again: "There was a day." Another one of those sunrises. Satan is back for round two with the eternal God, saying with something of a sneer, "Yeah, you protect him. But you let this pain touch him, and he will curse you to your face. I mean, who wouldn't serve you in good health?" He realized that Job did not blame God, nor did he in any way sin. The last verse of chapter 1 reads, and Job thinks he's gone through it all. He's washing up and drops in bed that dreadful night, only to awaken sore to the touch. And before that sun goes down, he's covered with boils. And by the end of that week, they're bursting and they're itching and the fever is rising, and he's swelling, and he shaves his head and he stumbles away from what was once his lovely plantation and finds his way to where dogs root for food: the city dump. And he cries. But in all this, Job does not sin with his lips. He must have thought when sitting there and his wife comes close to suggest that he simply curse God and die, "I remember, honey, when I was standing at the kitchen window. Remember that?" Secretary of War, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld must have replayed his speech a hundred times in his mind over these last many months. "Remember when I said two, three, four, twelve months?" Job, many, many centuries earlier, led by example. And he has become for all of us not a perfect man, not a flawless man, not an ideal model—that's Christ—but a remarkable, patient, enduring soul who to this day has given us a cliché: "the patience of Job." Who knows how many laid aside by sickness have reminded themselves of the story of Job? I can tell you my wife and I, having gone through a few things recently that have just been completely out of the blue, have reminded ourselves several times, just spontaneously, "It just takes the endurance of Job to stay at it." And if the pain and the suffering and the loss and all of this destruction were not bad enough, there comes from a distance a handful of friends. Chapter 2, verse 11, tells us at the end of the verse, they came by appointment to sympathize with him and to comfort him. That was their goal; that was their objective. They corresponded; they communicated with one another, each living in a different place, and they agreed on the same objective: they would go and they would put their arms around their hurting friend, and they would thank him for his life, and they would bring him encouragement. But something got lost between the planning of that objective and the implementation of it. Somehow the agenda got blurred. They sat for a week and stared at him, not able to speak because they saw his pain was great—verse 13 of chapter 2. And as someone said, no problem there. The problem came when they decided to speak. And at that point, I think a worse pain than Job had ever known struck and stayed with him for an undetermined period of time. You and I have known people who have lost things. You and I have known people who have gone belly up in business. You and I know people who have buried not one but several children. I know of one family who buried four in one day. But I doubt that we know someone who was landed on after all of that by a handful of people who came for the distinct purpose of criticizing and judging and ultimately condemning this victim. That's exactly what they did. Satan danced with glee. It was wonderful. Without knowing it, they were his spokesmen. "This is going to work. God will see the man curse him to his face. No one can hold up under that kind of barrage." And the full first cycle runs its course from chapter 3 through chapter 14 as Eliphaz and then Bildad and then Zophar take their turns as they vent their spleen on him. And then round two kicks in in chapter 15. And again taking turns, probably because Eliphaz is the oldest, he kicks in and dumps his goods, and then steps up Bildad for the second round. It's like a tag-team match in an unfair wrestling event where they're going to slam him to the mat over and over and over and over again. It's getting a little boring, I know. I've looked into your faces now for weeks, and I understand. My family is starting to ask, "Now how many more weeks are we going to be on Job?" My answer is now: too many. We only have 42 chapters of this, folks, so take heart. But I just can't skip along and play with these passages. God's preserved them for reasons we need to learn. Chapter 18, Bildad responds now for the second time. And if you like comparing, look at chapter 8, verse 2, and compare 18:2, and you'll see it's same song, literally second verse. They begin the same: "How long?" Bildad's getting a little put out. "How long will you hunt for words? Show understanding and then we can talk. Why are we regarded as beasts, as stupid in your eyes? Oh, you who tear yourself in your anger, for your sake is the earth to be abandoned? I mean, does time stop because you have a little pain? Or the rock to be moved from its place? Is God going to hold his breath while you get your life straightened out?" That's all the implication of these kind of sarcastic accusations, this exasperating, insulting kind of beginning. George Bernard Shaw once compared the average conversation to a phonograph with half a dozen records. You soon get tired of them all. It's like small talk at a dull social gathering. It'll drive anybody to drink. I mean, good night, no wonder they drink so much at those gatherings. You've got to stand the talk. "How long, Job, how long?" That's the way Bildad sees this whole thing. He's not interested in Job's pain. He's interested in Job shutting up and admitting that he's sinful. Here's the way Bildad thinks: God is just and fair. God punishes the wicked and he blesses the righteous. If you repent, God will bless you; if you don't repent, he'll keep judging you. Repent! And Job is not repenting. He hasn't done anything wrong. But you see, Bildad's theology doesn't have room for mystery, like many Christians today. Many! If you suffer, you're out of God's will. He wants everybody well. What horrible theology. If he wanted everybody well, we'd all be well. He's God. He's in charge. He doesn't go, "Oh, how'd you get sick?" He's not like that. He's running the show, if you will. He deliberately allows sickness. He deliberately permits, sometime for mysterious reasons never revealed, other times clearly for reasons that he does reveal. But he is in charge. And if you pray for the healing of an individual and healing doesn't come, it's not the individual's fault, because God doesn't want everyone well. Paul himself prayed three times that this thorn would be taken from him, and the Lord said three times, "No. No. No." And Paul stopped praying. "Most gladly, therefore, will I glory through this that the power of God may rest on me." It's a mystery. But Bildad hasn't any room for mystery. It's clear in Bildad's mind that there is some secret sin somewhere in Job's life that if we stay on him long enough, he'll finally, finally admit it. I think the great sin that Job wrestled with is how do I kill these guys? But that's just no extra charge for that, just a thought that I would have had had I been sitting there covered in boils. Bildad now visits Job with one reminder after another of death. How's that for a counselor? How's that for a friend? He pulls out all the stops and underscores the presence—verse 14, chapter 18—of the king of terrors. The king of terrors. Put on your margin "death." That's what he's referring to. This is poetry. He uses poetic language, he uses allegory, he uses analogy, he uses word pictures in the poetry of his presentation. And he pictures Job dying in four different word pictures. Verses 5 and 6: a light going out. "Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out; the flame of his fire gives no light. The tent is dark," verse 6. Second, a person who is trapped, heading for death. That's verses 7 through 10. "The vigorous stride is shortened, and his own scheme brings him down." There's an implication that you have a scheme, Job, and you're not admitting it, you're not confessing it. Notice the word pictures for this trapped person. He is thrown into the net by his own feet. He steps on the webbing. Verse 9: "A snare seizes him." Verse 9 concludes, "A trap snaps shut." Verse 10: "A noose for him is hidden in the ground; a trap for him on the path." And then third, when you get to verse 11, he becomes a fugitive who is being pursued. And here is where he introduces the king of terrors by name. "All around terrors frighten him." So there are terrors to frighten him, verse 11. There's exhaustion that weakens him, verse 12: "His strength is famished." There's calamity that confuses him: "Calamity is ready at his side." Sound like Job? Keep reading. "His skin is devoured by disease." Job, listen, these are all signs of you and your life. Verse 14: "You're torn from the security of your tent." You've lost it all. You've had the removal of all of your goods and all of your financial security. Ultimately, look at 15 how it ends: "Brimstone is scattered on his habitation." Hell itself, Job. Fire and brimstone, that's coming, Job. Then he describes him, after a light that's extinguished and a person that's trapped and a fugitive that's being pursued, fourth, he shows him to be a tree that's uprooted. Verse 16: "His roots are dried below, his branches cut off. Memory of him perishes from the earth," like a tree that's cut down in a passing of years you can't even remember where it was. There's no name. He's driven from light to darkness and chased from the inhabited world. No offspring, no posterity among his people, nor any survivor where he sojourned. "Surely," look at this grim conclusion, verse 21, "such are the dwellings of the wicked." Can't you hear Bildad? "Such are the dwellings of the wicked. This is the place of him who does not know God." Whoa! I mean, here is Job, itching madly, fever is growing, and he's head-shaved and he's dirty, they're sitting in that city dump, and here is this man with the audacity to dress him down and to judge him. Why would the Lord include this in His word? Well, if I may, Bildad still lives. Sometime it comes in the form of a mate who, no matter what, cannot bring a word of encouragement or affirmation. Sometime it comes in the form of a boss. Sometime it's a preacher in a pulpit that's using it as a hammer to beat the sheep. Sometime it's a careless and angry head nurse who, you know, will be glad when you're gone so she can get the bed cleaned, get somebody else in here. But Bildad still lives. You know, he made two major mistakes. First, he's talking to the wrong person. And second, he's speaking with the wrong motive. Let me tell you something. The things Bildad says about death and about being haunted by death and being driven to this frightening degree, it's true if you don't know Christ. He's got the wrong man in mind, but it's true. Bildad's right. There is a way that seems right to the man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. You and I know people who do not know the Lord Jesus, and we try every gracious way we know to present to them hope and reassurance and forgiveness and a reason to go on, and we weave into it words regarding their coming to Christ. And they blink and look at us and they say, "No, we'll make it on our own." Well, that's what you get when you try to make it on your own. And the horror is: this is the place of him who does not know God. But you see, Bildad has no right to say this to a fellow believer. Now let's notice Job's reply. Job heard his opening words, verse 2 of chapter 18. Look at Job's opening words, verse 2 of chapter 19. "How long will you torment me and crush me with words? These ten times you have insulted me; you are not ashamed to wrong me." I have the verbs underlined in my Bible: torment, crush, insult, wrong. Let me step in here before we get neck-deep in this with Job. Reproof is a good thing. We all need accountability, no question. Some don't like and don't want accountability. So any kind of reproof is resisted. Preachers love to be kept free of reproof, so they love the verse, "Touch not God's anointed." So I, you know, I'm a man of the book, you don't correct me, I'm above that, I correct you. That's garbage. We all need reproof. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Trustworthy are the bruises caused by the wounding of one who loves you, the Hebrew reads. Trustworthy are the bruises caused by the wounding of one who loves you, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.
Bill Meyer: There's a world of difference between words that wound to destroy and words that wound to heal. Bildad showed up with a hammer, but a true friend comes with a heart. You're listening to Insight for Living and a comprehensive study on the life of Job. Chuck Swindoll's been walking us through this remarkable Old Testament book. It's a shocking portrayal of human suffering, and today's study in Job chapters 18 and 19 reminds us that the people closest to us can either become our greatest source of healing or our deepest source of pain. Be sure to join us again tomorrow because Chuck will provide insightful application so you can put this biblical wisdom to work in your life. If you're ready to learn more about Job's story or if you're looking for a creative way to guide your small group Bible study in lively discussion, we invite you to request the Searching the Scriptures Bible study workbook for this series. It's called *Job: A Man of Heroic Endurance*. In fact, this Bible study is part of a bundle of resources. The collection includes 22 sermons on CD or MP3. It contains the full message you heard today called "Reassuring Hope for the Assaulted and Abused." Plus, the bundle includes Chuck Swindoll's full-length biography of Job. In his book, more than 300 pages in length, you'll read Chuck's meticulous exposé of Job's story. Along the way, Chuck infuses practical application that equips you to deal with adversity of any kind. Three powerful resources: the spiral-bound Bible study workbook, the full collection of sermons from Chuck, and his comprehensive biography of *Job: A Man of Heroic Endurance*. You can find all the details at insight.org/offer or call us at 1-800-772-8888. A reminder that Insight for Living is a nonprofit organization, and this daily program is made possible by grateful friends just like you. To give a donation today, go to insight.org/donate. I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuck Swindoll offers reassuring hope for the assaulted and abused tomorrow on Insight for Living. The preceding message, "Reassuring Hope for the Assaulted and Abused," was copyrighted in 2002, 2004, and 2026 and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2026 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.