Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Word of the Lord which engages us this morning comes from our Old Testament lesson (Job 7: 1-7).

You probably all remember the story of Job. Some 3000+ years ago, Job was one of the wealthiest men around, but he was also very faithful (1:1) "and upright; he feared God and shunned evil." He had such a faith and reverence for God that the Lord boasted of him to Satan, and Satan decided to do his best to tempt and torment Job, to separate him from his relationship with God and his righteousness through his faith. You remember. God gives permission for Job to be tempted, up to a point. Raiders come and kill or steal all his 1000's of head of livestock, kill or run-off all his servants, and then a storm comes and collapses the house Job's 10 children are in, and they all die and go to be with God. Job, saddened and mourning, still clings to his God. Job 1: 21 -- "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."

But Satan isn't finished. The great accuser asks permission to inflict Job with disease and great physical pain. Job has some horrible skin disease, without modern treatments, from his head to his toes. His wife said to him (2: 9) "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!" But Job replies "(Foolishness!) Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said."

But then 4 of his friends come to console and counsel Job. They are truly sympathetic for a while. For a whole week they sit on the ground with him, weeping and sprinkling dust on their heads, traditional signs of mourning in that culture. Then Job speaks and bemoans his situation, never blaming God wrongly, but wishing he had never been born. He asserts his innocence and continued faithfulness before God. His friends, to overly summarize 35 chapters of Scripture, go back and forth in argument. Job asserts his continued godliness, his innocence of any gross wrongdoing. His friends continue to assert that he must have done something that God was punishing him for. At times Job is patient. At other times he is tired, complaining, frustrated. He wishes he had never been born (Job 3). He longs to escape God's attention and examinations (Job 7: 17-18). When have you had the Job moments in your life? When has disease or misery left you with sleepless nights "dragging on and on till dawn?" When has the loss of friends and relatives left you with a sense of mourning? All sorts of temptations and torments are constantly around us in this world, seeking to distract us from God, to pull us away from Him. Cancer, strokes, infections, alcohol abuse, heart disease, lung problems � all can pull at us or our loved ones. Worries about war and crime can oppress us. Our days, according to Job, can feel "swifter than a weaver's shuttle", the part of a loom that scurries back and forth adding thread after thread to a cloth or rug. We wonder "What's it all about?" Does God really care? Why isn't He doing something about this misery? We become very good at talking about God, wondering about his nature.

But did you notice what Job does at the end of our text. Job expends much time and energy bemoaning his situation to his friends, talking ABOUT God. But at the end of our text he stops talking ABOUT God and begins speaking directly TO Him. Job prays, faithfully, sincerely "Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath." Job knows that He has no hope in this life apart from his God, and instead of talking about Him, Job goes TO Him in prayer.

How easy is it for us, especially during times of trials, to talk about God rather than TO Him. How easy is it to think about life and His "part" in it, rather than go TO His Word and hear from Him. � Job is feeling so oppressed by his situation, he eventually requests for someone to be a mediator between himself and God (9: 33-34): "If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God's rod from me�." Eventually Job pronounces one of the greatest statements of faith in the Old Testament, one we frequently hear at funerals and gravesides (Job 19: 25-27) "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes-- I, and not another"

Hundreds of years later, people like Job were coming to Jesus. They had diseases, often incurable, long-term sicknesses. "The whole town gathered at the door." The Kingdom of God had come in Jesus, True God and True Man wondrously together. Jesus never stopped removing the torment that He could touch at the time. Like Job, Jesus had been tempted by Satan, tempted and tormented to consider undermining his relationship with His Father in heaven. But Jesus doesn't succumb.

He in fact continues to expel Satan's legions of demons from his presence, not even letting them speak any more. Like Job, Jesus prays TO His Father. "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."

The Gospel writers note numerous times that Jesus went to pray, but in only a few cases do we get to hear the blessed content of His prayers. The night of his arrest, John records what is called Jesus' high priestly prayer (Chapter 17). "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you." The glory of God's love was about to be revealed at the cross, where Jesus took on more torment, more sin and disease and death than Job or you or I could ever imagine. Job had confessed: "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth." That Redeemer of Job's did come, and did breathe the same air that Job breathed here on earth. There at the cross, Job's Redeemer sucked in all the stagnant, sinful, toxic air of this world. He gave his life's breath so that those who trust in Him can stand before the Spirit of God, not worried by the permanent effects of sin. Job bemoaned the fact that he was suffering, and wondering why he had to. Jesus knew the reason for his suffering, and embraced God the Father's will. He took on Job's suffering, and yours and mine to Gethsemane and to Calvary, to the cross for us. Satan tried to separate Job in his relationship with God, but could not. Satan tried to separate Jesus in his relationship with his father, but could not. But as Jesus took on the full weight of the sin of the world on himself, yours and mine, His father separated himself from Jesus (Mark 15: 34) ""My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" After that he breathed his last. Three days later He showed that He had ultimate power over sin and death by being raised from the tomb for us, and is now seated at the right hand of the power of God.

We still live in this world, still tainted with its torments and afflictions. God has not removed all the temporary effects of earthly heart and lung problems. In Jesus high priestly prayer in John 17 (vv 15-16): "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it." Just as we see the faith of Job by his perseverance through trial, the world looks at us, watches how we persevere through our trials here, and sees our faith. The Apostle Paul, who healed hundreds of people in his ministry, had his "own thorn in his flesh" (2 Corinthians 12: 7-10), probably a physical illness that sapped him of strength. But when he pleaded with the Lord Jesus to take it away he was told "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." We're not comfortable with that answer. It is not the easy way. We would rather have our weakness made perfect through his power in this life. We stumble along in this life, but that's OK. In his book The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis writes a fictionalized account of two demons trying to tempt and torment a Christian. One demon, Screwtape, notes his frustration with this God and his constant relationship with His children. Screwtape says: "God wants them to learn to walk and if only the will to walk is really there, God is pleased even with the stumbles." We stumble faithfully along in this life, listening to his Word, trusting in His grace, knowing that we are ultimately protected by the power of His name (John 17: 11) and the glory of his cross and resurrection. We share our struggles and stumbles with others. We learn ABOUT Him, but even more so we keep on going TO him in faith and prayer, even through our stumbles.

� Let us pray:
Lord, we come to you, knowing that we are but a breath, but trusting you for our eternal lives. We praise you for sending your only begotten Son to take on our human life, our earthly breath to sanctify us and make us one with you. Strengthen us in true faith, so that like Job we can trust in our Redeemer here on earth�. Amen.

And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4: 7)