THE STORY OF JOB
Job 1: 1-22 (p359) Sept 26, 2010
INTRODUCTION
Right before I left for New Orleans the History channel was running a series of shows remembering the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on American…Kari and I watched many of them "Hotel Ground Zero" "102 minutes that changed American" and "The Sotry of flight 93"
All of them bring me back to that time--the feelings of disbelief, grief, and anger.
While I was watching the flight 93 story there's a telephone call from one of the passengers on the plane to his wife and he tells her…"Our planes been hijacked. There are three guys on our plane that say they have a bomb. They've already killed one person please call the authorities. And all the while he's talking his wife keeps telling him "No!!! This can't be happening
"We have a perfect life! Good Jobs. Great Kids. Nothing bad ever happens to us.
And that’s the first reaction of many of us when tragedy strikes. "Lord, there must be some kind of mistake…these things are not suppose to happen to me.
But God's word clearly teaches: Sometimes they do. John 16:33 says "In this world you WILL have trouble".
And that trouble sometimes has nothing to do with how good you are, or how good your life is, or how bad you are, or how bad you've been. Jesus said, "He causes his sun to rise on the eveil and the good and send rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." (Matt 5:45)
That scripture doesn't help the wife whose saying "No, were good people, we have a good life, everything perfect…this can't be happening."
What's she really confessing is how all of us think: God rewards you when your good…He punishes you when you're bad. Tragedies shouldn't happen to "good" people.
It’s the same reason the disciples came to Jesus in John chapter 9 when there was a young man who was blind from birth and asked "who sinned and caused this young man to be blind, him or his parents?"
Jesus said, Whether, he was born blind so the power of God might be displayed in his life."
The book of Job really messes with his way of thinking…"In the land of UZ lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil." 1.
Verse 5 even tells us, "He was the greatest man among all the people of the east"
Job's not just good…he's great! He's righteous, has a beautiful family, 7 sons and 3 daughters who ever love to spend time with each other---They'd have feats in their homes to spend time together" Jobs rich, he's healthy, and he's happy."
Those first 5 verse fit right into our thoughts that God rewards good people and punishes evil people…but then the phone rings….the plane is hijacked, the buildings come down…the heartbreaking news of cancer, the folks devolves into a bunch of zeros… TRAGEDY STRIKES HARD.
In one day this blameless and upright man loses his family, his house, his livelihood and for the rest of the book Job is saying "God, what's going on?' I thought I was what you wanted me to be? I thought I was doing what you wanted me to? Why is this happening to me?"
And this isn't a sin…"In all this Job did not sin on what he said." (Chapter 2:10)
Job is 42 chapters long, and for 37 of those chapters Job's wife and Job's three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar tell him he must have done something to displease God…that God is punishing him…."Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!" WOW!!!... that's some encouraging stuff, huh?
Job's response…"Your talking foolish…shall we accept good from God and not trouble?"
Good is easy to accept…trouble, not so easy. Here's one of the first challenges I see in the book of Job.
II FRIENDS THAT THINK THEY'VE GOT GOD ALL FIGURED OUT.
Job's three closest friends start out great. Almost perfect in how you'd want friends to love you when your hurting..
Job 2: 11-13 (p. 360)
They get together, decide to share in Job's pain with sympathy and comfort him. Job's hurting so bad he's unrecognizable--they put on the garb of mourning "ripped clothes + ashes" and then because he hurting so bad they just sit with him for a week.
[I'm not sure any of us have been exactly where Job is…but we've hurt, and there are no words and your true friends are running in when everyone else has left. Job hurts so bad he wishes he'd never been born…curses the day of his birth.
But then his friends hear his grief and speak like they know the answers…they have his trouble figured out…and they try to give him the same answers for 37 chapters…
2.
Here's a reading from a woman diagnosed with cancer: Her name is Linda Mae Richardson:
When I was diagnosed with Cancer:
My first friend came and expressed his shock by saying, "I can't believe that you have cancer, I always thought you were so active and healthy."
He left and I felt alienated and somehow very "different."
My second friend came and brought me information about different treatments being used for cancer. She said "whatever you do, don't take chemotherapy. It's a poison!"
So she left and I felt scared and confused.
My third friend came and tried to answer my "whys?" with the statement "Perhaps God is disciplining you for some sin in your Life?"
He left and I felt guilty.
My fourth friend came and told me, "If your faith is just great enough God will heal you."
He left and I felt angry.
My sixth friend never came at all.
I felt sad and alone.
My seventh friend came and held my hand and said, "I care, I’m here, I want to help you through this."
She left and I felt loved!
-Linda Mae Richardson
One of Job's friends looks at him going through incredible suffering sores all over his body, broken from the grief of death and lost and says, "Blessed is the man whom God corrects, so do not despise the disciple of the Almighty (5:17)…We have examined this, and it is true…So hear it and apply it to yourself"
I wonder how Eliphaz would have felt if Job had said those words to him if the sore had been on the other foot?
Yes there are consequences for sin, and yes "The Lord disciplines those whom He loves," but in the midst of suffering telling the sufferer that is he's been a better Dad, or prayed more, or disciplined more, or told his daughters to wear different clothes doesn't help much…
Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zoiphar did that to Job for 37 chapters. They look through eyes that see punishment for evil and good gifts for righteousness…the problem with this wisdom is its not from God…"There is no one righteous…not even one" "Our righteousness is like filthy rags" before the spotless holiness of God"
Job does not need discipline…He needs compassion. the biblical word for compassion means "to put yourself in another's skin"
May God help us help others in their suffering like that. He put himself into our
3.
skin…why
Heb 4:14-16 (p84) tells us
that those of Grace is approachable…not because we are righteous, or confident in our own blamelessness. Its approachable because " The Righteous One" became our truest friend…a friend who extend mercy and grace in our time of need.
That's; the heart of Jesus…It needs to be our heart also.
There's a part to Job you might not know about. Its what God says to Jobs so called friends at the end of the book.
Job 42: 7-9 (P383)
Its one of my favorite interactions in the Bible, God--I'm mad at you 3…what you spoke was a lie…It wasn't right and you'd better make it right with my servant Job if you want it to be O.K. with me… They do and…Job prays for them (WOW) and God accepts it.
Here's one of the biggest truth I find in the book Job.
III GOD IS BIG ENOUGH TO DEAL WITH OUR HONESTY IN THE STRUGGLE
Listen I know there are people in this world your hate to ask, "How ya doin?" because they'll tell you…there gouts action up, the a?c broken, the dog's sick, the fool was horrible at the restaurant.
I'm not talking about gloom and despair…"Everybody hates me, think I'll eat some worms" E yore people.
I'm talking about honestly being able to share your doubts, hurts and struggles in the midst of the Ash heap…and know that…that's not a sin that’s not a lack of faith, that’s not blasphemy.
Job has cursed his birthday…said if my anguish could be weighed it would outweigh the4 sand of the seas…said he gropes in the darkness and staggers like a drunk, confessed that his spirit was broken and that his hope had been uprooted like a tree. He cries out to God, not man…"My complaint is better and you hand is heavy on me in spite of my groaning…God has made my soul taste bitterness.
Job repeatedly asks "Why, Why, Why?'
But even though he never gets the answer he says, "I know my redeemer lives, and in the end he will stand upon the earth…and after my skin has been destroyed yet in my flesh I will see God. I myself will see him with my own eyes -- I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" (Job 19: 25-27)
He says "As long as I have breath in me I will praise God"
4.
That honesty in the struggle didn't take away his worship and hope…it made him yearn for His redeemer with all his heart.
You see real gold is never afraid of the fire. It might not like the fire, but that’s where its purified. All the extras, unimportant thing are burned off --which would your rather have 10K, 14K, 24K? Which do you think God desires.
If God never allowed something bad to interrupt your perfect life why would you yearn for a redeemer or someplace better.
The last few chapter's in the book of Job finds God answering Job's hones, heartfelt questions, but it's not the answer most of us want…The why isn't so much as God says, "Listen, brace yourself…I scooped out the oceans…I piled up the Mts…I bring the stars in place and set the earth on its course…I can bring rich, proud men to their knees and I can crush the wicked where they stand…are you able to think like me, reason like me, plan the course of time like me…and Job's response …."Surely I spoke of things I don't understand!"
We might not like it, but Job is a story of faith…God says trust me when things are awesome and wonderful, trust me when your sitting the dirt. You cannot know my ways…or understand all my plans…but a sparrow won't drop from the sky without my knowledge. I know the numbers of hairs on your head…and what Satan intends for evil I will use for good for those who love me and are called according to my purpose.
The end of Job's life finds him more prosperous than before (twice as much). The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. After all this Job lived another 14 years he saw his children and grandchildren grow up and so be dies, old and full of years. (Job 42: 10-16)
[Here's the invitation….life is a journey. The Bible compares it to a rare, but its not a 100 yard dash--it’s a 26.3 mile marathon. There will be easy stretches and heartbreak hills. People who encourage you when your hurting some who want to see you trip and fall…but keep running…there's a great cloud of witnesses who have run before us in faith cheering for us to finish…and the end is better than the beginning. And, we can say like Paul to Timothy at the end of his life. "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge will award to me on that day and not only to me, but also to all who longed for his appearing. (2 Tim. 4: 7-8]
