Ray Comfort - God Speaks: Finding Hope in the Midst of Hopelessness

PRAISE FOR

GOD SPEAKS

As life inevitably takes each of us through sufferings similar to that of Job, we will no doubt have questions similar to those Job askedWhere is God in all this? Why doesnt He deliver me? God Speaks gives answers, and with those answers comes much-needed comfort.

KIRK CAMERON

Actor and Co-author of Still Growing and Conquer Your Fear, Share Your Faith

The storms of this life are inevitable, and we know from Scripture that only those who build their house on rock will survive. God Speaks lays out Gods building plans through the gospel simply and succinctly. It is the perfect gift for those who dont know the Lord as well as for those who need comfort in tribulation.

TODD FRIEL

Host of Wretched Radio/TV

2013 Ray Comfort

Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com

Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com

Bethany House Publishers edition published 2014

ISBN 978-1-4412-6605-7

Previously published by Regal Books

Ebook edition originally created 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Other versions used are:

AMP Scripture taken from the Amplified Bible , Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

HCSB Scripture taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible , Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible, Holman CSB, and HCSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

KJVKing James Version. Authorized King James Version.

NLT Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation , copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

WEBWorld English Bible .

This book is dedicated to Lori Nason. She was a passenger in a car that was hit by a drunk driver in 2007. The accident put her into a coma for three weeks and also caused her to have a stroke. Her injuries included a broken hip, pelvis, leg, collarbone and sternum, broken ribs and a collapsed lung. Lori also lost one of her breasts. Lori had been a freelance writer, but even after five years of rehabilitation, her ability to write remained stolen by the stroke. Her world came crashing down in an instant of time, and she found herself in the despair of a Job experience. May this book give her and others in troubling situations comfort beyond words.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Although we try to fortify ourselves against the storms of life, trials and difficulties are virtually unavoidable. However, the book of Job contains comfort beyond wordsit offers remarkable knowledge and wisdom of which this pain-wracked and suffering world knows nothing.

When we suffer, we usually want to know why bad things are happening to us. But the comfort we find in the book of Job does not come from finding out why we suffer but rather in coming face to face, as did Job, with a holy and just God.

Jobs servants were murdered, his possessions stolen, his children killed and his health taken away. Job lost everything but his faith in God and a stubborn desire to have a personal audience with the Almighty. He wanted to ask the Lord why such terrible suffering had come his wayto talk face to face with his Creator.

When he finally got that personal audience, God didnt answer even one of Jobs questions. Instead, He had 70 of His own to ask Job. But Job wasnt disappointed. Neither will we be disappointed if we take the time to study Jobs story of grief and loss and Gods responses to this suffering man. God Speaks draws from the book of Job, a book in which are hidden amazing truthsincluding scientific truths that were not discovered in this world until more than 3,000 years laterthat prove the trustworthiness of Scripture.

As we look into the Word of God through the story of Job, may it enable us to look past our problems and to rest in the faithful God who is revealed in its words.

GOD

SPEAKS

JOB AND TRAGEDY

Job 1:1-22

Who was the greatest man who ever lived? Was it Socrates, Lincoln, Gandhi, Beethoven, Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci? All these men were great, but Jesus said that the number one was John the Baptist. He said there was none born of women who was greater than John. John didnt invent anything, or paint masterpieces, or write astute plays. He did, however, stand against evil, and like Lincoln and Gandhi, he was murdered for what he believed.

It seems that if John were the greatest, then God would not have allowed him to be cut off in his prime. The Lord could easily have stayed the hand of the executioner, but He didnt. He could have opened the prison doors for John as He later did for Peter, but He didnt. Why didnt God do a miracle for His number one? One thing we do know is that we dont know. From a human perspective, intervention on Johns behalf was certainly warranted, but for some reason there wasnt a peep from Heaven in his defense.

Perhaps coming in a close second on the list of great men is a man about whom most of the world has never heard. His name was Job, and he had a best-selling biography written about him, despite the fact that his story is about pain and suffering.

We all try to fortify ourselves against suffering, but each of us eventually proves to be like an aged house in a heavy rainstorm of trials. Suffering at one time or another rains down on us, and the constant drips keep coming through our ceiling, no matter how much we try to patch the roof.

Jobs whole ceiling caved in. Few of us will suffer to the degree to which Job suffered, but his biography sets an example for us of how we can best handle our pain when lifes sorrows and troubles overwhelm us. Jobs story gives us a perspective on Gods thinking.

The book begins with the ultimate forewordan incredible character reference:

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil (Job 1:1).

Job was a sinner, like the rest of us, and he battled against his sinful nature. However, he was blameless (no doubt through the sacrificial system), and he was unique in that he feared God and rejected evil. He wasnt born again with a new nature, regenerated and helped by the Holy Spirit in his weakness as is the believer in Christ. Yet in his unregenerate state, Job shunned evil. Thats amazing for a human being, as Jesus testified that we love the darkness and hate the light. We run toward sin as a moth flies to a flame.

The cynic may look at Job and say that there was a reason he shunned evil. Job had no reason to steal, as a poor person does, because he was rich.