Being In The House

Job 1: 20-22

20. Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head,

and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,

21. And said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and

naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the

Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

22. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

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This morning I was to talk to you about, “Being in the house. Being in the house.”

The book of Job was written before the books of law, therefore earning itself the title of the oldest book of scripture. Many have found peace and comfort within the book of Job. The book of Job asks the age-old question, “Why do Christians suffer?

What we need to know is that we go through what we do, because God knows where we are going, but we can only see where we are. We ask questions wanting to know, how if God loves us, could He have caused my mother to fall sick. Lord why is it; if you love me, can’t I pay my bill? God I try to live by the word, but Lord, if you love me why have I lost my job, my health is failing, my home is in a mess, everyone around me seems to be getting blessed except me? But God your word says that you would give me the desire of my heart, but God this is not what I asked for. God why me?

God’s answer, you wanted to be in the house, and being in the house comes with a price. We need to know and understand that being in the house does not exclude us from going through trials and tribulations and frustrations. Being in the house allows us to have first hand, up close, and personal experience with the Father. Being in the house give us an advantage over those that are in the world, because God always comes to the aid of his children. Being in the house keeps us covered under the bloodstained cross of Jesus. It lets us experience unreachable heights. It allows us to stumble and fall and get up all under the watchful eye of God.

Job was a man without sin; faultless and pure had a problem in the house. We expect problems in the house when we stray away from God, but Job was at prayer when the news began to come. Four times a servant came to Job, carrying news, and each time it got worse, and worse, and worse.

** You know those times when you hear bad news, and while you are on the phone listening to the bad news, and the phone beeps. You click over to take the call only to find more devasting news on that line too. And we have all asked the same question, “Lord have mercy, what else could go wrong? It just can’t get any worse than this.” We began to point fingers at everything trying to guess what it could be or making a hypothetical guess as to what it might be, without asking God, “Lord what is this, and how can you help me fix it?”

God wants to let us know, in order to be a servant in the army of the Lord; we are going to have some battle scares. We are going to loose a few friends, or family won’t understand and some may even turn their backs on us. But we must say like Jeremiah, “As for me and my house…, we will serve the Lord.” Anybody can Praise the Lord when the money is good, or when the bills are paid. Everybody can Praise the Lord when their health is good and all the children are at home and they are safe.

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1. What about when SCE&G is parked outside waiting to disconnect the lights? 2. You can’t call to make payment arrangements, because the phone is already off. 3. You want to drive to the place, to tell them, but you need to save your gas to visit your child in prison on Sunday, and for work next week. 4. Only to find that when you get to work, you no longer have a job.

What then? How do we react then? Has God forsaken us then? What have we done for God to stop loving us then? Are people in the street going to talk about us then? Will the members still visit then? Does the pastor still care then? Where can God be found in all of the mess then?

We ask the question…, Lord, why me?

The answer ========= why not you?

We are joint heirs with Christ and if, He who was sinless had to suffer many afflictions, what kind of things must we suffer? Paul let us know in