[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Hey, welcome to another episode of the Jonathan Project podcast where iron is sharpening iron. And our purpose is to help men navigate the complexities of the world around them. And we take the biblical example between Jonathan and David, their friendship and loyalty, as our inspiration for this show. If you want Jason and me to come on out to one of your events, it could be a men's event, business, church. Please reach out to us at the Jonathan Project podcast gmail.com. again, the Jonathan Project podcast gmail.com. good morning, Jason, from the frigid lands of Alabama. How are you doing?
[00:00:51] Speaker B: It is absolutely cold. I've got Mr. Roger sweater on.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: That's right. Welcome to the neighborhood.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: Yeah, Let me tell you, it is nothing but a sheet of ice out there this morning. Oh, man. And it's been a, it's been a glorious morning. How's yours been? And then I'll tell you some funnies.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: You know, it's, it's going well. You know, it's not cold here and as you can imagine in Florida, or at least my part of Florida, it's not too chilly.
[00:01:18] Speaker B: But you guys are participating in winter.
[00:01:20] Speaker A: This year, so we are, we did sign up. Someone signed Florida for winter. I don't know who it was, but you got your drunk winner on my front line. Please come pick it up.
It got down to about 30 degrees, 39, 38 degrees a couple times in the morning this week when, you know, rolling out, trying to get the kids to school, off to work. So for us, I mean, that's, that's, that's cold. And then I only got to maybe 50.
[00:01:50] Speaker B: Oh wow.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: A couple of days. So anyways, we signed up for something like winter, but ready for, ready for it to kind of move on.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: It's, it's definitely down in the teens. And as you know, this has brought about some chicken drama.
Yeah. So long story short, you know, I called you, I was at work. I'll tell this to everybody because this is, this is part of being a dad, right.
So I get the phone call and I get all these pictures and it is of a bloody hen. And I'm like, what's going on? And so it's, you know, my wife has grown attached to these animals as well as my daughter. And the rooster has decided to attack this one hen and he kind of picks on her from time to time.
So he decided at that point he self elected to be a star land nav candidate. So, you know, because, I mean, I can't have him killing the hens. Have a job like they produce eggs.
[00:02:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: And for all you guys that are debating about getting chickens, those eggs are great. But it is a trap. I need you to think about Admiral Ackbar going, it's a trap because your, your spouse will grow to. They'll be pets, right?
[00:03:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:08] Speaker B: Well, he goes, I put him in a box. I'm like, good luck, candidate. Candidate number two. Good luck. Figure it out.
So that night, it was a little bit of an emotional moment as people have grown attached to this. Two other people in the family have grown attached. My son is not. And so of course he's like, hey, you ain't got to worry about that thing. It's in the, it's in the belly of some coyote right now. He's agging it on. And I'm like, shut up, son. This is not the time.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:44] Speaker B: So, you know, next morning, what am I doing? Driving slow by that side of the road where I remember that you were.
[00:03:50] Speaker A: Looking for the old box on the course somewhere, or at this point, it's a frozen drumstick, or he froze or.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: He advanced to the hand to hand portion with the coyote. That's where he is. So everybody goes through it, right?
[00:04:06] Speaker A: Yes, we do. You know, it's funny, it leads us right into our first episode here. Topic on. On season four, suffering. How does everyone handle suffering? And as believer, really, how should we handle suffering? What do you think?
[00:04:21] Speaker B: No, it's. That's, you know, we're all going to go through these valleys. Right. And you know, I think about the people out there on your prayer request right now. They're going through these valleys. Everybody has prayer requests and we have more prayer requests than we have praise quite often. Right. It's. It's the way it is. And I looked at, you know, you and I have been talking a lot about Job. Yeah, I like the story of Job. Job has an ending. It doesn't. It goes on for quite a while. It's like almost 40 something chapters. 42 chapters. And that's how it feels sometimes. Like it goes on.
You know, when I was reading the book of Job and reading over it last night, you know, Job doesn't come on the scene until verse 13.
Like there's a whole prequel conversation that's going on. And I don't know how many people noticed that, but that was kind of like a big highlight to me. Like, we don't know what's really going on behind the scenes.
[00:05:21] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly. But we have to be careful. And I think a lot of times, like what I took out of you know, as we, we talked about what we were going to do for this topic for the week, you know, it's easy to make the assumption that, oh, you're suffering because of something. Right. Or, you know, this is how God deals with suffering. Well, you know, that's, that's not the central theme. The central theme is God is sovereign and we don't get the full message sometimes. Right. And I don't even know how the story of Job and it's never kind of revealed to us. Did Job even know? Like, hey man, this is how I come down the pipe.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: Yeah, well, that's it. Like Satan and God are having this conversation and he's, you know, and God calls Job up to bat and, you know, Job's a righteous man, says, have you seen Job? And Satan in front of everybody says, he's only good to you. He only loves you because you give him something. Think about that relationship. We've all been in relationships where they're one sided, they're transactional. Right. You only like me because you're, you know, doing something for me. It's, it's kind of like those chickens. I like them because they give me eggs. Now my wife likes them because she likes them. Right. Two different, two different sides here.
But that's Satan's call out as he goes. He only likes you because you're so good to him. Look at how rich he is. Look at how everything is.
[00:06:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: In front of all the angels, in front of everybody. And at that point, God tells him, says, you then take it.
But he leaves him, his life, his wife and his friends.
That's pretty interesting.
[00:07:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:06] Speaker B: You know, think about that. A man's wife has direct access to his heart. She's gonna say something and she's there all the time.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: And then his friends show up as kind of that layering piece of it, you know, go.
[00:07:21] Speaker A: You know, you bring up a good point. And I think for the audience, it's such a relatable book. It's one that, you know, is talked about. It doesn't matter the circles. Job is, in my opinion, probably the best example of dealing with suffering from a Christian perspective that we have. And it's something that all of us can relate to. We've all gone through various seasons of what we would call suffering. Right? Yeah. I think about just like, you know, this past two years and we talked about this, like the transition from being an army officer into being a civilian has been, you know, there's no other way to say it's been a Long walk through a dark valley. It's been a lot of suffering, a lot of questioning and understanding why. Where. Where. Where's all this going?
[00:08:11] Speaker B: Right.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: And that's. That's tame compared to, you know, I know some things that folks go through. You know, loss of a loved one, a child, or, you know, I think about those folks in California.
[00:08:22] Speaker B: Oh, my.
[00:08:23] Speaker A: You know, irregardless of what, you know, some folks and people be absolutely nasty on social media with comments about people that. Irregardless of how you feel. You can't lump everyone in a state in together or anything.
[00:08:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:36] Speaker A: People lost their homes, and there's been people that lost their lives. So what I'm saying is there's a lot of things, humanity, that are collective and universal, and suffering is one of them. But there is a way to approach it. And I think that over the course of those 42 chapters with Job, we get to see that. We get to see an example of how to handle the uncertainty and the chaos that life can bring and still find and strengthen your faith and trust and belief in God, which I think that's hard for a lot of people. Man. Pain is one of those things that drives people away from the faith.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: Yeah, look, people are like sponges. I said it the last time or a couple times ago. Whatever's in you comes out when the pressure comes on.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: Yeah, right.
[00:09:20] Speaker B: I mean, it really does. When emotions are high, things come out when you're under pressure and Job. So let's. For. For people who aren't familiar with the story or you are, but let's go over this. He lost all of his oxen. People descended and took it. Then the next one was a fire from heaven that destroyed all the sheep and all the people.
Then people descended again and took the camels and killed everybody. And then there was a great wind, and his sons and daughters were killed.
Right. And it was. The Bible records it. While one man was speaking and telling him the bad news, another set of bad news came on. And it went from destruction at the hand of man to, you know, the elements and so forth and so forth. And Job makes something pretty profound. He says, the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. You know, it rains on everybody's crops. It does. Some crops get flooded and some crops get the moisture that they need. It's. It's the way it is. But of all those people, Joe's wife, he left her. Right. So as wives, you know, you think about it. And what does his wife come out and say to him.
She's like, go ahead.
[00:10:41] Speaker A: No, no. Yeah. I mean, you're gonna highlight it, but yeah, she. She was not very positive. But I'll let you fill in exactly how that wasn't a positive statement.
[00:10:51] Speaker B: No, she was like, hey, what you need to do is go ahead and curse God and die.
I mean, that's some advice. Yeah, honey, we're gonna make it through this. Why don't you just curse God and die? Maybe you're the problem.
[00:11:04] Speaker A: You know, and that's probably a whole subject we don't get, like, you know, Mrs. Jobs. We don't get her name. Mrs. Job's suffering in pain, you know, and again, it's how people respond to it. I think in that moment, she had absolutely lost her faith, you know?
[00:11:18] Speaker B: Sure, sure. She. She had suffered the loss of her entire stability. Right.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:24] Speaker B: What she viewed as stable, and she also had lost her children.
[00:11:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:28] Speaker B: Those are. Those are massive things.
[00:11:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:33] Speaker B: And we don't know. And you know that. I think what's important, we always go look. We'll look at the fires that occur. Why did God let this happen? Why did God let that happen? But in reality, Satan's the prince of this world. And it shows what Satan used right here. Yeah, Right. He used the fire. He used the wind.
Don't. Don't forget that when Jesus went to cross the boat, the sea rose up against him like Satan. You know what I mean? Like, the elements rose up against him in it. I love that story. Because he gets up after the disciples are like, oh, my gosh, we're gonna drown. And he gets up, you know, and it's in the Baptist faith or, you know, in the evangelical. We always have peace, be still. And it shows his hand up like this. But in reality, he was, like, yelled at it kind of like you do your dog to get off the couch. Get off the couch.
[00:12:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:27] Speaker B: And it was like. Like glass.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:30] Speaker B: Right.
But you see here who's using what elements for destruction.
[00:12:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: But then his friends show up, and, you know, they were on the right path. Colby.
[00:12:42] Speaker A: They started out well. They started out well, I'll say that.
[00:12:46] Speaker B: Seven days of silence. They just stood there.
[00:12:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:49] Speaker B: You know what I mean?
[00:12:50] Speaker A: Which is a good thing sometimes.
[00:12:52] Speaker B: Hey, man. When your buddy's going through it, just being there.
[00:12:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:57] Speaker B: Like, I. You got an explanation for that? No. I mean, just look at the.
The worst circumstances. Literally. Your camels got. Or your ox got killed. That guy can't even catch his breath. Oh, by the way, this happened. Oh, by the way this happened, another guy comes running up. The only survivors come running up about the same time.
[00:13:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:21] Speaker B: And you know, we have friends, we all do. Right. And sometimes they show up and sometimes they're helpful, you know, like that closed in box ranch. They're there, right. And sometimes they're helpful like a set of swimming cleats, you know, stop being helpful.
[00:13:39] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
But you know, it's, it's again the humanness of the Job story and talking about that, you know, that universal utility and purpose behind suffering, you know, even the most well meaning people, and it's often the closest people, when we're going through something, they don't necessarily bring the best perspective. And really as a believer or what I would encourage non believers is they, as they go on a journey to try to find and understand who Jesus Christ is. It's the moment where you lean in and you discover who God really is in the midst of suffering. Because there's an. And I think it's important to put in frame correctly because so many people out there are hurt and are angry at God for something that's happened. Yes. He can use suffering as a tool. Right. And you get elements of that and Job where he's refining him. Because even Job has some, you know, suppositions about what God was. And you get into this questioning and Q and A with God. But I think as human beings we do the same thing. Sometimes we, you know, if I become a Christian, then it's going to be a life of bon bons and just easygoing. Well, that's not what the Bible shows us. Jesus, you know, suffered, you know, and he goes so far as you have to take up your cross, which we talked about in the last episode of season three. So, you know, understanding that storms come sometimes because this world, whether you want to believe it or not, there is an adversary out there that just comes to steal, kill and destroy. And then the really hard one is sometimes, yes, sometimes the choices that we make. Right. Lead us into, you know, some storms, they lead us into a season of suffering. And then third, sometimes it's just God trying to take some rough edges off of us so you can be used, so you can actually reach your purpose. And for some of us out there, if we were honest, Right. Some of us are just kind of stubborn, hard headed and, and it takes a little bit of some suffering and pain to get our attention. I resembled it, you know, so suffering is something that happens past, present or future. But I think without a doubt the Bible, the story of Job as you Peel back the very complex layers of it. It gives you scripture, gives you hope, and equips you to be able to deal with pain and suffering. That comes because here's. Here's the anchoring kind of verse. You know, Acts 14:22 tells us that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God. So the Bible doesn't paint a picture that it's going to be sunshine and roses. I think too much emphasis has been on the joy and praise and blessings and not realizing that, yeah, that's great. And you, you'll get those. But sometimes you're going to have to walk through the refining fire that God offered to get to the other side.
[00:16:35] Speaker B: No, I agree with you. I like what you had to say. And I looked at Job's friends, right? He has three friends that show up, and they sat there for seven days. And then Eliphaz goes. He asked this question, so one of them's Eliphaz. So he shows up and he says, hey, has a righteous person ever suffered? Because when we suffer, we go through something. Everybody wants to know why, right? We. Not only do we want to know why, but psychologically, we want to know why other people suffer. Because we feel like if we can identify it, we can stay safe.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:17:07] Speaker B: So Eliphaz introduces this thought that there's got to be something hidden, right? But the Bible records Job is getting up, making sacrifices for his kids, always being that intercessor and so forth, and he plants that seed that, hey, maybe you're right and maybe this is a mistake or maybe, or excuse me, there's something hidden. So he plants that seed for Job to begin to search this out. And I love that when he says, this righteous person ever suffered? Well, Jesus did, the apostles did, the prophets did. Let's be candid. Ezekiel, who's got a book in the Bible cooked over poop because God asked him to. Hosea married a prostitute. That's a churched up way of saying he married a hooker. Okay, let's just call it what it is.
All right? But he claimed spiritual insight, and I thought that was interesting, because in James, it talks about spiritual insight.
And when. Just like you said about the people going through the fires right now, and people get pretty vicious on social media. Yeah, Congratulations. You took a sucker punch. And I don't view that as courageous, helpful, or anything of any redeeming character.
[00:18:25] Speaker A: No.
[00:18:25] Speaker B: You know, everybody likes to be that smart aleck sitting in the back of the room that cast out that opinion. Oh, I'm gonna get some laughs when in Reality. If you were saying it in person, you might get popped in the mouth. I like that. Instant feedback. Sometimes I think more people, not, Not. You know what I mean? Like, you probably should have had that growing up when your parents probably should have put their handprint across your cheek.
But the, you know, it talks about that and it says that wisdom from above should be pure, peaceable, gentle, and full of mercy.
Right?
[00:19:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:01] Speaker B: Like Eliphaz, he goes into this and then, you know, he's got his other buddy, Bildad, and he goes, ah, you know, the righteous don't perish look at times of past. You know, he's trying to cast his wisdom in there. If, if those are their comments, they probably should have got up and left.
[00:19:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:21] Speaker B: And then. And Zofar begins to speak and they get into it. And all this time and I thought about, why is. Why did Satan leave them? Because they were a target too. They were friends. They showed up. They had to be good enough friends to sit there in silence for seven days, sleeping on the ground.
[00:19:36] Speaker A: Right.
You know, another thing behind that is we think about you. You know, you talked about. And it's a good point to understand from, from a suffering kind of perspective, why were the friends left? Well, again, what is the strategy that we've talked about so many times on the show is Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy and to completely. He was kind of completely dismantled Job's life. And one of the biggest things for us as people and the whole thing with the Jonathan Project, that iron, sharpening iron, you had men coming, like we said up front, being that iron, I'm sitting there with you. Like, I can't imagine in that scenario, as a friend, how. What. What can I say at this point, you know, there's nothing I can say. You've lost your livelihood, you've lost your health, you lost your children. So let me sit here and be here with you. But then, like you said, you turn it and you twist it and Satan gets in and starts like, okay, well, let me destroy this friendship. Let me destroy this bastion of. Of hope that you have with your friends by them saying some stuff that. I don't know if it was malicious or not, but they're trying to, like you say, figure it out. And so I think it's one of these things when you're going through something is pointing your heart towards a source that can actually give you the answers that you need. And yeah, that's. That's the Bible, to be quite honest. Like, there's no better place to turn to when the world gets upside down and chaotic than that small, gentle, quiet voice that says, hey, I'm still here with you and I'm going to get you through.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: Yeah. No, because the debate between him and his friends goes back to the righteous don't suffer.
[00:21:22] Speaker A: Yeah. Which is wrong.
[00:21:23] Speaker B: Which is wrong. Right. Like they do. And then it comes into Job taking the stance of man, I haven't done anything. So he's defending himself to them.
[00:21:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:35] Speaker B: And in his defense of it, if you kind of tear it apart and look at it, he's saying, if I could debate, if I could just tell God, if I could present my case to God, I haven't done anything wrong.
Okay? So God made a mistake. That's not true. He didn't make a mistake.
You're there and you're going through it, and God didn't make a mistake. And it's tough, and you may not get answers. Job has a lot of questions throughout this whole thing, and it's interesting. So this fourth friend shows up. Elihu. Right, Elihu. Elihu. I don't know how you pronounce it, but he slides in there. And it's interesting because it's always about three friends. But then there's this other guy that.
And he's all the way in there, and it says he gets angry. He gets angry because Job keeps telling about his righteousness and he keeps going, you know, because everybody's quit talking to him. They've said, well, you know, Job, you're righteous in your own eyes. We're just not going to say anything anymore. We don't off. We're not offering anything. Well, they probably should have stopped talking a long time ago. Yeah, but.
But they were trying in the same token. But it's, you know, I can kind of look at it, but there's a Lahore. Elihu, whatever. And he goes, you know, it's. God is righteous.
Well, and even right before that, or somewhere around in there, Job tells him. He says, I believe in my Redeemer. My Redeemer is what he's. What he's leaning it all on. I've got to flip through here to find it. But he talks about his Redeemer. His Redeemer lives in 1923. It's way before it talks about his Redeemer. And he keeps putting his faith in his Redeemer. And there is some talk in there. But what I really do love is when God shows up.
God shows up to Joe. How would you like to have a personal conversation with God where God speaks back A lot of people. I'd love to have that. Let's lead off with God's opening statement. Gird yourself up like a man. Let's see it.
[00:23:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:52] Speaker B: And which, which Job is like, maybe I should have shut up. Right.
[00:23:57] Speaker A: I didn't. Bit off a little bit more than I can chew here.
[00:24:00] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everybody seems like they got questions for God, but everywhere I read in the Bible, when God shows up, people just lay flat on their face.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. It's not a two way conversation.
[00:24:13] Speaker B: Yeah, usually. No, no, no, no. Moses had that. That's not me.
And it literally says, gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand of thee and answer thou. Me. In other words, you got questions. Oh, I got questions. Mine are going to be answered first.
And God goes through a series of 60 something questions, you know, for Job.
And those questions, you know, Colby, when you look at it, you can bucket them into two things. There is a God, right?
That's number one. There is a God. He says, hey, look, did you do any of this?
And then the second part of those questions, or really the statement is, I'm not him. I'm not him. Job, you're not God. I'm not God.
You're listening to this. You're not God, Colby. I know you're not God. You and I talk all the time. You know I'm not, right?
[00:25:11] Speaker A: No, far from.
[00:25:13] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, but that's, you know, God comes on the scene and he tells him that Job didn't even get the book to read.
[00:25:19] Speaker A: Right.
[00:25:20] Speaker B: He didn't get the book of Job. He was going through it.
[00:25:22] Speaker A: Yeah, he's living through.
[00:25:24] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. The days of TiVo or whatever that is, where you can record it and fast forward it, or Netflix, you know, you can just kind of go straight through the series. Yeah, that's kind of ruined us.
[00:25:34] Speaker A: No, you know, you bring up a lot of good points. You know, as. As I've been sitting here thinking about it is, you know, there's. There's a couple good points to kind of just take away because I feel like, you know, it's such a big thing in my heart, like, and most of the people that I've encountered where I've had discussions on, well, how can you be a Christian when there's children at St. Jude's or how can you be a Christian when that woman was just crossing the street and she was nine months pregnant and got hit by a car? Or how can you be a Christian when there's famine? Right. There is A longing in the human heart to reconcile when we see absolute violence and terrible things happen to quote, unquote, good people. Right?
Here's the honest answer, folks. Even after reading the Book of Job, we don't get all of the insight into why God had that conversation with Satan, why he allowed the bounds of things to happen.
But what we get is that he's in control. Like Jason said, he shows up, you know, and what you can take away and pull out of that is, you know, suffering is a form of battle. It's really a form of will. Are you going to cave and give into the will of your flesh or the world around you and say, you know what God was all these bad things, you know, and we dismiss all of the good things that are happening. You know, you look at where we're called as friends and the example of what we should be as friends when someone's going through it, you know, because suffering happens in a community, or at least it should. You know, the Bible says in Galatians six, two, we're to bear one another's burdens. So there's a point there. You know, suffering is parent preparing us to go through this life for the future glory. It should create a longing of anything that there's something better to come. You know, it's. It's like why your guest room is not always the most comfortable room in your house. Like, yeah, I want you to come and visit, but I don't want you to live here. God is also taking suffering and saying, you know what? I get it. You like going to get ice cream, because that's one of my favorite things to do. But I don't want you to get so comfortable with this that this is all you want to do. There's more to it, and that's hard. I get that. I completely can sympathize with. That's not sufficient. You can't sit here and tell me when I lost my child that, oh, this is gonna work out for the good, but I can.
There's no person, there's no counselor, there's no friend. And we see this from Job, and this is. This is my friend. All those people, even his spouse, they all failed him. And it created an ultimate dependence on God. That suffering drove Job to God. And that's important to understand. You know, suffering is complex. Just be honest.
[00:28:31] Speaker B: It is.
You said something, and I think it's extremely fair. When. When I read this, I didn't come out with, why does God let bad things happen to good people? What I came out with was we're all bad, right? Like we all are, except for the grace of God. And that's been a maturing part of my life over this past year is that when I really look at myself and apart, it's. Why does God let any good thing happen to me, right? Period. I've lived long enough and I'm not a fool to go that I've known me at all of my life, right. I'm not going to get into heaven. I'm not going to be righteous of my own works. And it doesn't matter right now how good I am. I still carry with me my history. Yeah, right. Like it's the totality of, of what I've done with this life. So.
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you, but.
[00:29:25] Speaker A: No, no, I, I, no, you, you, you summed up everything. Well, I just think that, you know, like I said, my heart is always sensitive to that. You know, for the non believer out there, you know, and you deal with this topic of suffering, which is, again, it is a truth of humanity. All of us, past, present and future, have suffered, will suffer, are suffering, right? But I walk away from the story of Job and I would encourage everybody to read it, is that, you know, Job discovered at the end of the chapter, right? Or the end of the book, Job 42, 2, 6, that God is omnipotent, meaning he's all knowing, you know, he's all powerful, he's sovereign, and he reveals his holiness to him. And his ways, as hard and complex as that is to understand, and I can't sit here and grasp it, are not ours. But that doesn't mean that your suffering goes to waste. And I think about something that you say often, like, humans are static, you know what. And suffering forces us to move in one direction or another. You know, you can't go through a suffering period and not be unchanged, right? And ultimately we're not robots.
If you want to subscribe to and live a life that's governed by Christianity and that worldview, then you're going to go through some storms in life. But God always gives you a choice. And if you stay with him and keep walking, even though it's raining on you and you're getting drugged down and things are not going right, he will make it right, you know, in his own way, shape and form.
[00:31:03] Speaker B: You know, you highlighted a couple things. There's actually two points.
Let me do this one first. So in 42, chapter 42, verse 7, I think that's relevant. And if you, if you read if you decide, hey, I'm gonna read the book of Job. I almost wish this was up front, but you need to know this up front.
God comes on and he calls out, Eliphaz the Temanite. He calls him out. He says, you know what? I'm angry at you. He says, my anger is kindled against you or my wrath is and against your two friends. For you've not spoken the things. That is right, as my servant Job said. So when those guys come on, understand, they're all three of those. They're not doing right. Yeah, we are as friends, and we have friends that go through it. It's.
It is. You got to be careful how you do it. How are you representing God? And that. That's important one. I would never want God to go, yeah, my. My, My wrath kindled against you.
I don't. I don't think that's something I need assigned to me. And it'd be a kind of a scary time. But you put this like, hey, we're going through this storm now. If we were all out walking. And I think back to the times in my life where I've been walking with a rucksack on, and you know, when it starts raining, it gets heavier, right? It just does.
And it gets miserable.
Things start bonding, and next thing you know, you know you've got. Or the straps are making your shoulders raw or whatever. Right?
But here's the deal. A good friend, a good friend who comes along beside you in those moments has to remind you that there is a dry spot waiting.
I have no idea. Oh, there you are. It just cut out here, went totally white, but okay. So when. When you're walking, a guy comes beside you, you have to focus on. There's a dry spot waiting, right? Like it. The end is there. You can't just stop when it's cold and wet. Like a real friend doesn't get you to go, well, let's sit here and debate about the clouds, man. If this high pressure system or whatever, or if you'd have packed it better or whatever, now, they may help you repack it, but that ain't. That's. That's not it. Let's focus on what's coming. And you hit something. So. So Job, he lost his kids, and I can't imagine that, right? Like. And there's. There's people that go through that, and I don't know if they ever get over those moments.
[00:33:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:35] Speaker B: The only comfort that I could ever hope is that when David and Bathsheba had the Child. And you said it, we talked about it last time, and I think it's absolutely worth remembering, is that David wept to the point he laid on his face and he cried and cried and cried and cried. And then when the baby was lost, right? When. When the baby died, they went. They were afraid to go tell him. Now, this is a man who's killed a lot of folks. Better fact, he's known for slaying giants. None of us are known for that. And he did it with a rock. So let's just lay that out there. And then he cut that dude's head off.
So they're afraid to go tell him. And then David stands up and he goes, okay.
And they're like, oh, my gosh, what's going on? Is he. Has he developed, you know, the Sibyl syndrome? Has he got a split personality? No. David says it very plainly, and it's recorded in Scripture.
He goes, where that child is, I cannot go right now. Or, you know, that child can't come to me, but where he is, I'll go one day, and I'm going to be with him. And if you suffer loss that is at that degree right now, just know that God has a plan in your life and he's provided a path. So that that dry spot at the end of this storm is that reunion with those that you love. And they're. They're there, right? And be there, go there with them. Don't you know, as you. I got it. We all got emotions, but let's control those things and let's. Let's wrestle with them and get that under submission.
But that dry spot at the end is that reunion. And that may be it, right? Like heaven may be the ultimate dry. It is the ultimate dry spot.
[00:35:14] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. No, that's. That's a good way to put a bow on it is because, yeah, you know, we see that with Job. He was restored in all facets of his life, but he had to walk through the storm. And so I just encourage people to remember that as whatever you're going through, lean into God and he'll get you to that dry spot. So that is yet another episode of the Jonathan Project podcast. You can find this episode and every episode coming out every Tuesday morning on your favorite platforms. That could be a Apple, that could be Spotify, that could be iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, you name it, we're probably there. So please subscribe. Follow Us we put the website where you can find all these platforms in our comments if you would like me and Jason to come on out to one of your men's events. Speak to young men, young moms, single moms, older moms, dads. Everyone, please reach out to us at the Jonathan Project podcast, gmail.com. again, the Jonathan Project
[email protected]. you know, Jason, thanks for your time this morning. I hope you guys stay warm.
[00:36:23] Speaker B: I appreciate it. Oh, I did mean to say hi to Tucker and Lauren, both friends of my children who listen to the podcast.
I wasn't tracking that, so.
[00:36:32] Speaker A: Hello, Tucker and Lauren. Thank you for being avid listeners.
[00:36:37] Speaker B: Yeah. All right. Thanks, buddy. I'll talk to you here in a bit. See you.
[00:36:40] Speaker A: Bye.
