One Voice with Dr Pastor Larry Montgomery 16 Providence of God Providence in the Book of Job: The Blow, the Blessing, and the God Who Never Sleeps Dr. Pastor Larry Montgomery continues his providence series by preaching through the Book of Job, tracing Satan's challenge in heaven, the sudden loss of Job's family and fortune, and the restoration that follows when Job prays for the friends who accused him. Introducing Job, the Greatest Man in the East Dr. Pastor Larry Montgomery opens the message by turning the congregation to the Book of Job, calling it one of his favorite books in the Bible and promising to trace God's providence through it. He reads from chapter one, describing Job as a man who is "perfect," upright, and one who fears God and turns from evil. He walks through Job's family and possessions, seven sons, three daughters, seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, noting that scripture calls Job the greatest man of the east. Montgomery emphasizes that Job's children are godly, fasting and praying, and that Job regularly offers sacrifices on their behalf in case they have sinned. He holds Job up as a model of a man who honors God with what he has been given, setting the stage for a message he says will cover both "the blow" and "the blessing" of God's providence in Job's life. Satan Challenges God Over Job Montgomery moves to the heavenly scene in chapter one, where Satan comes among the sons of God to present himself before the Lord. God asks Satan where he has come from, and Satan answers that he has been going to and fro in the earth, a detail Montgomery uses to remind the congregation that the devil is never idle, comparing him to the New Testament's roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. When God asks Satan whether he has considered Job, Satan accuses God of protecting Job with a hedge, arguing that Job's faithfulness would collapse without it. God allows Satan to test Job, and Montgomery pauses to make a larger point: that Job's story matters so much to heaven that a conversation about him takes place there before anything happens to him, and that nothing can touch a believer's life except what God permits. A Nation That Has Forgotten God Before returning to Job's story, Montgomery turns his attention to the present day, arguing that Americans, like Job, have been richly blessed but increasingly fail to honor God for it. He says the country removed God from its schools and now suffers for it, declaring that anyone who holds many secular degrees but does not know Jesus Christ is, in his words, "a spiritual idiot." He warns that the pulpits themselves have become mouthpieces for another gospel and another spirit, and that the nation is already living under God's judgment. He points to politicians using climate change to strip away personal freedoms, control over food and farming, and rising taxes he believes are designed to make it impossible for ordinary people to keep their homes and land. Montgomery contrasts this drift with Job's family, who recognized "the God of glory" their parents and grandparents knew, framing America's spiritual decline as a warning before he returns to Job's unfolding trial. The Blow Falls on Job's House Montgomery returns to Job chapter one, describing the messengers who arrive in quick succession to report that Job's oxen and camels have been stolen or destroyed, and finally that all ten of his children have died together when a great wind collapsed the house they were feasting in. He marvels that Job, stripped of everything in a single breath, does not curse God but instead declares, "Naked came I out of the womb, and naked shall I return... the Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." Montgomery calls this response almost unimaginable, admitting he doubts he could say the same words in Job's place. He reminds the congregation that providence, as he preached the week before, includes both light and darkness, and that Job's blessed life has now given way to devastating loss, even as heaven's earlier conversation about him continues to govern everything that happens. No Accidents in a Believer's Life Montgomery builds a theology of providence from Job's suffering, insisting that nothing happens to a believer by accident because God is of one mind and already knows and has planned the end from the beginning. He recalls telling a class of seminary students that there has never been an accident in a believer's life, watching the room go silent at the claim, and argues listeners should call their own crashes "mishaps" rather than accidents, since God's plan runs through them regardless. He shares his father's words after Montgomery survived having a car "beat out from under him": "Son, we can replace the car, but we can't replace you." He then turns to Job's three friends, who arrive claiming to comfort Job but instead accuse him of hidden sin and hypocrisy, wounding him further. Montgomery holds up Job's refusal to blame God, even under those accusations, as the standard he wants the congregation to imitate in their own hard providences. Restoration, Job's Daughters, and a Storm Over Vietnam The sermon closes in Job chapter forty-two, where God tells Job's accusing friends he will not forgive them until Job prays for them, and Job does. Montgomery describes God then doubling Job's flocks and camels, restoring his ten children, and giving his three new daughters, Jemima, Keziah, and Keren-happuch, striking names Montgomery jokes the congregation should consider for their own children. He revisits and partly revises an earlier, harsher sermon about Job's wife telling Job to "curse God and die," conceding that commentators see her words as born of grief rather than malice. He ends with a personal story from flying patrols over the Tonkin Gulf, when a young airman who had stopped believing in God cried out to him during a violent storm, only to admit afterward that "in a case like that, everybody believes in God." Montgomery closes by inviting the congregation to stand together, trusting that God's providence, however painful, is always working toward their good.