Reassuring Hope for the Assaulted and Abused, Part 2

Bill Meyer: When everything is stripped away—the relationships, the reputation, the resources—what do you hold onto? Job had lost it all, and the people closest to him only made it worse. But somewhere beneath the rubble of his suffering, Job found something: a conviction so fierce, so unshakable, that he wanted it carved in stone for every generation to read. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll shows us what it looks like when hope refuses to die. Chuck titled his message, "Reassuring Hope for the Assaulted and Abused."
Chuck Swindoll: 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. Have you been kissed by a deceitful enemy lately? It isn't pleasant when you find out that it was deceitful, and the kisses didn't mean anything. How much better to have a faithful reprover who loves us too much than to let us get away with wrong. Don't resist reproof, men and women. If the reproof comes from the right person in the right way for the right motive, take it. Be grateful for it. It's trustworthy. That is why growing up in the right kind of home is so wonderful. Your moms and dads reprove. The best and most consistent reproofs many of us ever got came from faithful moms and dads who corrected us when they saw us doing wrong and sometimes spanked us and didn't let us get away with being ugly or impudent or deceitful or brutal in our behavior. Let me show you how the tongue can, on the other hand, become a deadly thing. Look at the next book to the right: Psalm number 57. David is writing this as he is fleeing from Saul, which went on for 12 years or so. Imagine that. Stay with me. I have a point I want to make here. Like all good preachers, it takes me a while to make the point. Look at 57:4: "My soul is among lions; I must lie among those who breathe forth fire, even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword." Sword thrusts, shoved in, twist. Shoved in, twisted. That's abusive. That's assaulting people with our tongues. David had been the target of that. Look at 64. Psalm 64: "Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from dread of the enemy. Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers, from the tumult of those who do iniquity." Look at their description: "who have sharpened their tongue like a sword and they aimed bitter speech as their arrow to shoot from concealment at the blameless." This hurts maybe most of all: to be attacked in secret. Behind the scenes, things are said against us and we not only do we not know, we don't even realize the impact that it's having on people who once believed in us. But the sword thrusts are going on. That's a wrong kind of use of the tongue. Look at Proverbs 12, one more book to the right. Proverbs 12, verse 18: "There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." There's the difference. Good reproof brings healing. Initially, it hurts; ultimately, it heals. How good it is when we have friends close enough to us to put their arms around us and warn or or correct or point out an area that is getting out of control or out of line. I can't let you leave Proverbs without another quick glance: 15:4. "A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but perversion in it crushes the spirit." Crushes the spirit. There's another proverb: "Like apples of gold in settings of silver, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear." Proverbs 25:11 and 12. Back to Job. My point: Bildad blamed Job because he saw Job as sinful, and what he was going through was a consequence of wrong. Job realized there was no sin he hadn't confessed, so he saw what he was going through as a mystery. When you add the silence of God and the distance from God that he felt, it became unbearable, which explains his at times losing control and those men would not cut him any slack. In my preparation, I came across a fine little piece called "Are You a Builder?" "I saw them tearing a building down, A group of men in a busy town. With a hefty blow and a lusty yell, They swung with zest and a sidewall fell. Ask of the foreman, 'Are these men skilled? The kind you would hire if you had to build?' He looked at me and laughed: 'No, indeed, Unskilled labor is all I need. Why, they can wreck in a day or two What it has taken builders years to do.' I asked myself as I went my way, 'Which of these roles have I tried to play? Am I a builder with rule and square, Measuring and constructing with skill and care? Or am I a wrecker who walks the town, Content with the business of tearing down?'" By the way, which are you? Are you a builder? None of the friends of Job qualified as a builder. They were all wreckers. It's all a matter of perspective. If they had only realized that much of the will of God is mysterious. If only they could have imagined there's got to be something that we don't grasp. Job's life lines up. This is not logical. There's something unusual happening here. God's up to something great, and we must comfort our friend as he goes through this great trial for whatever reason God has and just admit they didn't know why. Just to be there, just to understand, just to show grace. Cynthia and I arrived at a wedding yesterday here at the church. We were almost late and had a minute or two to get inside. On our way over, my coat had fallen from the back seat to the floorboard and we parked back here in the back parking lot. I got a little close to the curb. So I'm standing on the curb, getting in the back of the car to get my coat and I'm in a hurry because I don't want to be late. I grab the coat and, boom, I stand up and I hit my head right there. There's a knot about that big right there on my head. I tend to be a little dramatic at times and there's nobody around. My dear wife is standing there and I really did, I thought this brought blood, I'm convinced. I close the door and she walks over and she was so gracious. Time was forgotten by her and it was like, "I don't know why this happened, but what a time for it to happen. I care about what happened, and I want to be here." I have to tell you, that just spoke volumes to me. We went into the wedding, and as I watched the wedding and listened to the vows and saw this sweet couple standing here—they've never been married before, so they don't know what's coming. That's good. They'll never be thinner or more ignorant of life than right then. It's innocence, it's beautiful, it's as it ought to be. I'm sitting there, as my head is pounding, thinking, I hope they really will have this kind of grace. I knew what was coming today and what Bildad and Zophar and Eliphaz missed by a mile. It's just so valuable in a marriage. Some of you are no longer married because you were abused by a partner. You were mistreated. You longed to have an understanding hug, and you couldn't continue as it was. Some of you are abusing in your marriage. I don't know who you are, but I know in a group this large it's going on. You say, "I've never laid a hand"—no, it's not that. It's a verbal abuse. It's ugly comments, it's insults and slams to the mat and sarcasm, put-downs. I don't think Bildad sat on the edge of his bed that morning thinking, "Let's see. How can I possibly insult him more now than I did before?" I don't think it worked like that. I think it just got worse and worse as they talked, like an abuser. That's why this is preserved for us. Whatever is written in earlier times, Romans 15:4 says, was written for our learning that we through patience and comfort from the scriptures might have hope. Listen to this. Bildad lives and Job lives, and they both may live under the same roof. Job calls it tormenting and crushing and insulting and wronging. He talks about the distance there is from God. Verse 7: "I cry, 'Violence!' and I get no answer. I shout, 'Help!' and there's no justice." Heavens are brass. That great God that once talked with me has walled up my way that I cannot pass; the path is dark that once was lit. Your heart goes out to this man. "He has stripped my honor from me." I was once listened to in the gate; now I'm sitting at the trash heap as the dogs root around me for food and the excrement of this land is all about me. This is awful. Not only is God silent, others who were once close are now absent. They resist me. Look at the list, verse 13: "My brothers are far from me. My acquaintances are completely estranged. My relatives have failed. My intimate friends have forgotten me." Look at the list: maid, servant, verse 17, "Even my breath is offensive to my wife. I'm loathesome to my own brothers. Even young children despise me, and my associates abhor me. Those I love have turned against me." You, Bildad! You, Zophar! You, Eliphaz! And before you even speak, you, Elihu! I've loved you men and you've turned against me. It's tragic. And then he pauses and says, "Oh, I have hope beyond all of this." In fact, so significant is my hope, look at verse 23. I love it: "Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!" Better than that, "that with an iron stylus and lead they were engraved in the rock forever." Drilled, etched into granite so that people through time could read. He thought his words would be forgotten. When I read that, I thought of our 16th president. On the 19th of November, 1863, he stood at Gettysburg. Bloated bodies popping in the heat of the sun had died by the scores at Gettysburg. He stood with this simple little speech written on a piece of paper he had brought with him, written by hand: "The world will little note nor long remember what I say here, but it can never forget what they did here." I thought when I read that yesterday, "Oh, Mr. Lincoln, we'll never forget what you said. Most of us can't remember what you did there, soldiers, but we'll never forget your speech." Job, it's going in the book. Job, it's in the book! It's along with Psalm 23 and Romans 8 and Revelation 22 and Genesis 3. Job 19:25: "I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He shall stand upon this earth; even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God. I shall see Him myself, my own eyes shall see Him and not another." There will be a resurrection. There will be a changed world. I will come back. "Oh that my words would be remembered!" And you know, when Handel writes his magnum opus, he gives this to the soprano and has her sing it. And every Christmas we hear it over and again: "Oh, my Redeemer lives! I know He lives!" And I think, thank You, Lord, for preserving Job's hope for every generation through time. Let me tell you who are on the side of Job and your God is quiet and distant and silent and your friends may have begun to turn against you: Let me tell you, the end of the book has a great chapter. In the end, God wins. Right rules. And the Zophars and the Bildads and the Eliphazes and the Elihus will be forgotten. His conclusion is eloquent: "Be afraid of the sword for yourselves, friends. Wrath brings the punishment of the sword so that you may know there is judgment." After this burst of hope, 23 through 27, he turns to Bildad with renewed strength and he says, "You need to know something. Judgment's not coming my way; it's coming yours." Two lasting lessons live on as I complete these two chapters today. The first one is about hope and the second one is about assurance. There is nothing like hope. There is nothing like hope in the truth to clarify perspective and to keep us going. Some of you are having trouble going on and continuing in your lot. I assure you, embracing the truth will give you the hope you need, even hope that you're not getting from those closest to you. The second lesson is that there is nothing like lack of assurance to haunt our steps and make us afraid. If you are without the Lord Jesus Christ, let me tell you, your steps are being haunted. When the lights are out and your head has sunk into the pillow for another night, you hope you make it through alive, not knowing where you would be if you died. Let me tell you, that is treacherous. And the worst part: if you die without Christ, judgment is there. It is appointed unto us once to die, and after death the judgment. To have peace, you need to know where you're going. I have a thing about giving our money while we're alive: "Do your givin' while you're livin', then you're knowin' where it's goin'," I often say. Be sure you're believing right when you're living, because when you die, there's no second chance to decide. It's haunting not to be sure where you're going. Billy Graham was invited several years ago to speak at the elegant Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. A friend who was there heard him and told me later that Graham had apparently had a little trouble getting there transportation-wise. He did finally make it, a little bit late for the meeting, and when he stood up to speak, he told a true story of Albert Einstein who was taking a train to the big city. The ticket taker came by to gather the tickets, and when he got to the great thinker, he waited for his ticket. Einstein began to search for his ticket and he could not find it. The ticket taker noticed who he was, this brilliant physicist, and he said, "Oh, Dr. Einstein, don't worry. We trust you. You don't have to have a ticket. That's fine." And he left and went on. About 20 minutes later, he was coming back through the car again and he noticed that Einstein was on his hands and knees still looking around for his ticket. And he said, "No, please get up. We trust you." And Einstein turned around and looked up and said, "Young man, this isn't a matter of trust but direction. I'm searching for a ticket because I don't know where I'm going." Do you really know where you're going? Do you really know that? Is destination guaranteed? Amazing. Bildad talked to the wrong man with the wrong motive, but he had a message for some other person, maybe you. And in that case, the motive fits. There's reason to be concerned. I'd like us to bow our heads just for a few moments. Just sit quietly there in this comfortable place. No one will disturb you. You're alone with your thoughts. Job lives. People in tragic circumstances once stood at their kitchen window and thought, "You know, it may not always be great as it is right now," and they lived to see the truth of their words just as Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld became actually transformed into a Secretary of War, though his words seemed only a theoretical prediction at first. There's nothing theoretical about life may not continue as you've known it. It just may be that hard times are right ahead, especially for you. I don't know. If I knew for sure, I'd pull you aside and warn you. If I had known in Job's place, I would have told him about chapters 1 and 2, but the mystery unfolded and you know the rest of the story. I invite you to the Lord Jesus Christ, to the cross where the payment was made in full for the sins of your life. I must tell you that is the only ticket that will guarantee your destination. That's the only way you'll know that you're on your way to heaven, not by what you have done but by believing in what Christ has done. Your destination is assured. We often say by faith alone in Christ alone. This is the assurance that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son—S-O-N, the Son of God—has the life; he who does not have the Son does not have the life. We're grateful, our Father, for words such as we have heard. In many ways, they are warnings for us all. They are preparatory words that seem today like a distant prediction but could very well in a matter of hours or days become a reality. Certainly for those without Christ, we pray today that You will bring to them the all-important question of what will I do with Jesus Christ and turn them, our Father, in their hearts deep within to Your Son. Bring with them at that moment a peace they've never known before. Until then, I pray that You will continue the restlessness and the uneasiness and the sleepless nights and the haunting reminders that death is sure and judgment is real. Now unto Him who is able to guard us from stumbling and present us who know Him as faultless in His own presence with exceeding great glory to the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power this day and forevermore. In the name of Christ, all God's people said, amen.
Bill Meyer: Hope that refuses to die, even when everything around you has collapsed. That's the legacy of Job, and that's the message Chuck Swindoll has shared with us today on Insight for Living. If you're personally walking through a season of loss or living under the weight of words that wound, we hope this study has brought you genuine comfort and renewed confidence in the one who never forgets your name. Chuck titled his message "Reassuring Hope for the Assaulted and Abused." You've just heard Chuck walk us through one of the darkest seasons in the Bible: Job assaulted, abused, abandoned. His friends came to comfort him and crushed him instead. God seemed silent; the heavens felt like brass. And yet, from the ash heap came these words: "I know that my Redeemer lives." That's a man who found God when his world was on fire. Friend, you may be sitting there today in your own ash heap. Words have wounded you, circumstances have overwhelmed you, and God feels very, very far away. Chuck's book, *Finding God When the World’s on Fire*, was written exactly for that moment. We'd love to send you a copy today. It's yours when your request includes a contribution toward the ministry of Insight for Living. We're grateful for you, and we believe this book will be a gift to your soul. Again, it's called *Finding God When the World’s on Fire*. Call us at 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org/donate. Thanks so much for your voluntary gift; no matter the size, it'll be used to provide hope to those who feel hopeless. Plus, your generosity allows us to provide Chuck's teaching on your station and on the Insight mobile app and all the other platforms where Insight for Living is freely heard. To send a contribution in the mail, address your envelope to: Insight for Living, Post Office Box 5000, Frisco, Texas, 75034. Or call 800-772-8888. Online, just go to insight.org/donate. Have you ever been blamed for something you didn't do? I'm Bill Meyer. Chuck Swindoll explains how to respond wisely when you're falsely accused, Thursday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, "Reassuring Hope for the Assaulted and Abused," was copyrighted in 2002, 2004, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindoll, Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.