One of the most mesmerizing, puzzling, and unpopular passages in the Bible is, no doubt, the story of Job. Job was a moral, wealthy, and godly man. As the story unfolds, his life was a bad movie script….
Job2: 1 On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the Lord, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it." 3 Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason."
The story is almost a repeat of what happened in Chapter #1. God holds a counsel and Satan is there. God asks Satan if he has considered his servant Job. Satan at this time has considered Job. In chapter one Satan has taken away Job’s possessions – “Stuff” – but this also included his children. I have heard the statement – “no parent should die before their children” – but it still happens. Wars, disease, accidents, suicide, are all facts of life and in them all people die regardless of their age. We live in a world where there is pain and suffering – and we ask the big question – Why? What we find later on in the book of Job is that God tells us that He is God – and in some ways that may be all we need to know. God knows the big picture and we must have faith that: We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 (HCSB)
God gives the same testimony of Job that He did in the first chapter.
1. He was blameless.
2. He was upright.
3. He feared God.
4. He shunned evil.
Job did not serve God because God had put a hedge around him at all times, sheltered him from harm, or kept watch over him, his household and his business, property, and livestock. Job had feared and served and loved God unselfishly and unflinchingly, not for fame or reward, but for better and for worse.
Satan was wrong. Job was steadfast, stable, and single-minded.It is easy to cry for Job, sympathize and identify with him, because you may have gone through unspeakable pain or know of someone who has gone through or is going through extreme suffering.
The first thing Job did when life seemed unfair was to stay true to his character. Job is a profile of courage in the face of adversity, because Job did not give up on his character, give in to his pain, and give way to Satan.
The Chinese have a saying: “True gold is not afraid of fire.”
Do you know why gold is so expensive? I did a little research on gold and discovered some interesting facts on gold. Gold is a hedge against inflation, a popular form of savings, and a reliable asset during times of economic uncertainty or political upheaval. Gold has a fairly high melting point of 1945 degrees Fahrenheit. It is valuable because it is almost indestructible and has been used and then reused for centuries to the extent that all gold that is in existence today is almost equal to all the gold that has ever been mined. Gold is also a great medium metal for jewelry, as it never rusts or tarnishes. Gold appreciates in value when more of it is present in the material. For example 10K gold is the least expensive, and there is more gold and value in every additional 2K gold, up to 24K gold, which is 100 percent gold. http://www.beejeweled.com/metals.htm
Job was as good as 24K solid gold. He did not bend in his character, deviate from his character or part with his character. In a sense, Job was as headstrong and as thick-skinned as an ox. He was stubborn, uncompromising, and indomitable. He was did not move, budge or retreat from his position, or stand. That was what drove Job’s wife nuts in chapter 2 verse 9. The same word for Job’s determination to “maintain” his integrity is translated as “holding on” (2:9). His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to( or maintain) your integrity?” When his three friends accused him of harboring known and deliberate sins in his life, Job had the same fighting words for them: “I will never admit you are in the right; till I die, I will not deny my integrity. I will “MAINTAIN” my righteousness and never let go of it; my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live. (Job 27:5-6) God used an unusual word “integrity,” or the Hebrew word for “innocence,” to describe Job’s character (2:3). This word is found only in Job and Proverbs – four times in Job and once in Proverbs (11:3). Job upheld, pleaded and maintained his innocence to the intimidating end: “Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.” (Job 31:6) The root word for “integrity” is derived from the Hebrew word “blameless” in the same verse (2:3). No matter what others said, Job claimed innocence – he had a strong grip on his own innocence.
4 "Skin for skin!" Satan replied. "A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face." 6 The Lord said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life." 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
Then the Bible tells us that Job’s health broke. Chuck Swindoll gives a summary of Job’s physical pain. He suffered:
• Inflamed ulcerous sores (Job 2:7)
• Persistent itching (Job 2:8)
• Facial disfiguration (Job 2:12)
• Loss of appetite (Job 3:24)
• Fears and depression (Job 3:25)
• Sores that burst open, scab over, crack and
ooze with pus (Job 7:5)
• Worms that form in the sores themselves
(Job 7:5)
• Difficulty in breathing (Job 9:18)
• A darkening of the eyelid (Job 16:16)
• Loss of weight (Job 19:20)
• Continual pain (Job 30:27)
• High fever with chills and diarrhea
(Job 30:30)
On top of that Job says, ““my breath is offensive to my wife” (19:17).
8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. 9 His wife said to him, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!" 10 He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
At this point his wife gives him some advice. His wife said to him, “Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!” Job 2:9 (HCSB) I believe this is the only time we hear her speak. She is not the greatest counsel to him. Remember he is a man who is – of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil. What this tells us is that we must discern the wisdom and counsel that comes to us. Just because people are close to us does not mean that they will always give us the best advice. We all need wise counsel – Job is no exception – but through out the book of Job there is only one who gives him wise counsel and that is God alone. Job does give his wife wise counsel though when he says to her: “You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” Job 2:10 (HCSB)
We can learn lessons from foolishness –
One speaks foolish when:
1. He rejects the existence of God.
2. He is willing to give away the eternal for the temporal.
3. He thinks there is no life beyond this one.
Here are three lessons of wisdom:
One speaks wise when;
1. He acknowledges the Lordship of God.
2. He knows the future is in God’s hands.
3. He lives for God’s kingdom rather then his own.
11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
Did you ever enter a hospital room or the sick bed of someone who was so sick he/she might have died? Did you notice how unkempt their hair was (a guy may be unshaven)? A cancer patient may be bald from a reaction to chemotherapy. Their color has waned. They look small, shriveled up, and they have no strength. In a word, while you would never say this to them, they look terrible. They look so bad that you almost do not recognize them. It’s hard to know what to say. Everything you thought about on the way to the hospital seems trivial now. You have no words of cheer, no brilliant words of theological insight. In fact, you are speechless. That’s what Job’s friends found when they went to him.
I want to talk today, about an aspect of the book of Job that often gets overlooked. I want to talk about what Job’s friends did that was right. They blew it later, but when they first came to Job, they were wonderful. I’ll give them a hard time next week, but this week I want to lift up all the things they did for Job that really ministered to him.
Listen to what they did for that first week.
1. The first thing you must notice is that they came to him. They did not simply stay home and say to themselves, “Wow, isn’t it awful what has happened to poor Job.” No, they got together and came to him.
I must tell you, that it’s a temptation to stay home. It’s a temptation for me – and I should be used to this. I’m not. I don’t ever want to get used to people’s sufferings. I never really know what to do. You can reason that I’m the professional and I am supposed to know what to do. I’ve taken some courses on how to help people, and I have tried to help people in grief for years; but I never have the right words to say. I am never bubbling over with brilliant insight. - I reasoned that whatever I said wouldn’t be very helpful.
- They would probably think of me as an idiot.
- Maybe I would just make things worse.
- Maybe they wouldn’t really want to see me.
- Somebody else could probably help more.
Because I never quite know what to say, I often face the temptation of staying home. It is the testimony of everyone I know that the worst thing you can do is to stay away. People need to know others care.
Now, you probably won’t do exactly what Job friends did. They were following certain customs of the day. Our customs are different, but there are some principles of caring that come from this book that is very helpful. The first thing they did was to come to Job. Let me encourage you. When a person is suffering grief – go to them. Be with them.
12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. They could hardly recognize him. That’s not unusual. Sometimes people suffer so much that they look disheveled. Their hair may be unkempt, they may not have shaved, their clothes may be baggy, they may be in their sleeping clothes, their eyes may be heavy, they may have lost sleep, and they may not have eaten for a while. They may have lost weight and may have lost the color in their skin. In other words, a person in deep grief may look terrible. Expect it. Don’t let it shock you. Don’t be surprised.
2. They wept with him. “They began to weep aloud.” Americans don’t know how to weep. We tend to keep a “stiff upper lip.” We don’t let on what we are feeling. It’s associated with strength. Maybe there is something strong about it, but it is also a weakness. Other cultures don’t have that problem. In some cultures, people wail loudly. To fail to wail, to cry, to carry on, is to communicate your lack of caring. It’s simply the way it’s seen.
Let me tell you what the Bible says about this.
“Weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice.” (Romans 12:15).
There are times when the only appropriate thing to do is to weep. Weeping with those who are suffering grief and loss communicates that we do, in fact, deeply care. Go ahead and cry. Job’s friends began to weep aloud.
3. They expressed their deep feelings in a tangible way. The next thing they did was to tear their robes. It was their custom. We don’t do that, but how else do you communicate to someone that you so feel for them that you are feeling their pain. Tearing one’s shirt says, “I feel torn inside”. “I feel so badly for you, that it’s tearing me up.” The other thing they did was to sprinkle dust on their head. It was their custom. Putting dust on one’s head is the ultimate sign of humility. It was a way of saying, “I know you feel so humbled by these tragedies. I know you feel so low that you feel like dirt!” I am feeling that with you.
Do you know what we tend to do? We want to cheer them up, so we say, “Oh don’t feel so bad. It will get better. You have your whole life ahead of you. It’s too bad your mother died, but she was 70, and the Bible says, 70 to 80 years and that’s it. We have to expect it. Pick yourself up and get on with it. That’s what she’d want you to do you know. No sense in sitting around having a “pity party” for yourself.
Another approach is to say, “Well, I went through that once, and let me tell you what I did. Listen to me; I’ve got some good advice for you. You better take it. It will help you. I just got up, brushed myself off and said, I’ve got to move on with life. And I did.”
Inside, the suffering person is feeling, “Yeah, right! Good for you! How soon will you be leaving?” The truth is we have never been where the other person is in their suffering. We’ve gone through our own share of suffering, and sometimes the other person will ask us how we got through it. In that case, tell them, but unless they ask, just be there. Express how badly you feel for them, recognize how terrible this is, how torn they must feel, and how terribly humbled before God they must feel!
4. They sat silently with him.And do you know what they did then? 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him because they saw how great his suffering was. They sat with him. They didn’t leave him alone. They gave him space, but they didn’t leave him alone. They lost sleep, they probably went hungry, and they suffered with him. They didn’t leave him alone, even though they didn’t say a word to him. I wonder if they brought him water and food and ate with him. I wonder if they provided a blanket for him. The text doesn’t say, but it would make sense to me.
You and I feel the need to talk. We have to say something, but I admire those who can just sit. I often see this when a husband or a wife is very ill and is in the hospital. Sometimes the loving spouse will come with their knitting or with nothing at all, and they will come into the room and just sit, sometimes all day long. When their suffering-husband or wife needs a drink, they are they to help them. If the nurse needs to be called, they will call them. When meals come, they will help open things and place things where it’s easy to get them. Sometimes the patient is so sick they need to be fed, so they feed them. Most of all, they are simply there. Quietly but patiently and lovingly there!
Job’s friends were simply there. They sat silently with him. Perhaps they were ready to bring him a drink of water, a loaf of fresh bread to encourage him to eat, or a soft pillow for when Job needed to rest. You are a very privileged person if you are the one who has the quiet task of simply, silently being there. Some folks are there to run errands, do shopping, take care of kids, make phone calls, provide meals, and fix their car or their plumbing. It’s a way of being with them and that’s the most important thing. Job’s friends sat silently with him.
In this Scripture we know so much more than Job knew about what was going on. Job was lost as to what was happening. Job just kept saying “I’m not guilty of any sin!” I guess my question is: What makes you or me so special that nothing bad should ever happen to us. Who among us are sinless? Who among us know what God is doing?
You see it is easy to be faithful and thankful to God when all is well and all is right. However, Job lost his empire, his offspring, and his well being. His life was torrent filled yet he knew where his strength lied. His helpmate told him to curse God and die; his comrades offered console that was incorrect and inept. Job simply goes to God and pleads his case; and Satan was unsuccessful in his attempt to cause this great servant to curse God. In the end, Job’s wealth was multiplied many times over; and what Satan meant for his demise God allowed it to be his deliverance.
