I Didn't See That Coming
📖 I Didn’t See That Coming
Pastor Jeff Smith
6/25/25
Text: Job 3:23-26
🎯 Theme: How To Handle The Unexpected Troubles That Come Our Way
🌩️ Opening Thought: Bad things often come our way when we least expect them, and perhaps, in our mind, undeserving of them. Job was a man of integrity and purity—hedged in by God—yet a bolt of trouble struck his life. Even then, Job did not curse God or charge Him foolishly (Job 2:9-10).
1. Sighing (Vs. 24)
💧“For my sighing cometh before I eat…”
Sighing is Groaning From Grief
o Psalm 31:10 – "For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing..."
o Jeremiah 45:3 – "Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow...
Sighing Often Prevents Eating
o Lamentations 1:11 – "All her people sigh, they seek bread..."
o Examples: Saul, David, and Elijah experienced distress that robbed them of the desire to eat.
Sighings Often Precede Roarings
📖 Psalm 22:1 – "Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
📖 Psalm 32:3 – "My bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long."
📌Application: Only Jesus can turn our sighing into singing.
👉 We need God’s words for strength. (Jer. 15:16 – Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart:)
2. Fear (Vs. 25)
😨 “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me…”
Job’s Fear (Job 1:5)
o Job’s likely fear: the loss of his children.
o Job feared his children going to hell.
o Every parent should have a godly concern for their children’s eternal state (Prov. 23:13-14; Eph. 6:4).
Job Feared the Lord’s Judgment (Job 31:23)
o Fear of the terror of the Lord.
o 2 Corinthians 5:11 – "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men..."
Reasons We Fear
o Fears May Overtake Us Unexpectedly
o Life’s fears change over time.
o Some fears are revealed only when we face them
Response to Fear 📖 Psalm 56:3 – “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.”
🔑Application: Fears come and go, but Jesus is always there to calm our fears through his peace.
👉 Trust in the Lord when fear arrives.
3. Trouble (Vs. 26)
⚡ “…yet trouble came.”
· Job’s Careful Analysis of His Situation: “If I were sitting down on the job, sleeping on the job, or not taking the job seriously, then I can expect trouble, but that is not my situation.”
· Job’s Cross Examination of Himself:
o Job was not living in safety, under the security of luxury, or relaxing in prosperity.
o Job was not living restfully, in the security of laziness, or slothfully resting on his laurels.
o Job was not living quietly, in the security of tranquility, nor was he settled on his lees. (Jer. 48:11; Zeph. 1:12)
· Job’s Critical Approach Toward the Wicked (Job 12:6 - The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.)
Trouble Comes to Both the Careless and the Godly
o Careless living brings trouble: The men of Laish (Judges 18:7, 27) were living securely but were unprepared.
· Godly living brings trials: Job 23:16 – God softens the heart through trouble.
📖 2 Timothy 3:12 – "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
📖 2 Timothy 2:12 – "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him..."
💡Application: Living for God can also be an opportunity for the Lord to use trouble to soften us (Job 23:16) so that he can use us for his glory.
👉 Trouble isn’t always punishment—it’s often preparation.
✅Final Thought: Each day presents its level of threats, trouble, challenges, and adversities. None of us know exactly what tomorrow will hold, but we know we can trust the ONE who holds tomorrow.