Title: Can I Prevent Suffering?
Text: Job 1.20-2.13
Series: Job: The Mystery of Suffering
Raymond Maurer, New Life Christian Church, Wixom, MI
www.NewLifeWithGod.com. E-mail me if you would like the Power Point Slides (Ray@NewLifeWithGod.com).
A little girl was walking through her neighbor’s garden when she noticed a particularly beautiful flower. She admired its loveliness and enjoyed its fragrance. As she gazed on it, her eyes followed the stem down to the soil in which it grew. She said to herself, “this flower is too pretty to be planted in such dirt!” So she pulled it up by its roots and ran to the sink to wash away the soil.
It didn’t take long for the flower to wilt and die. The girl was so upset she brought the dead flower to the gardener next door. As he saw her coming he said, “What have you done with my finest plant?” She said, “I’m sorry, but I didn’t like it in that dirt.” The gardener replied, “I chose that spot and mixed the soil because I knew that only there could it grow to be a beautiful flower.”
God gives us the same message through the book of Job…and through our own Job-like experiences.
Last week we began a series on the book of Job. We’re learning about the Mystery of Suffering and the sovereignty of God. We’re going to see how God uses our pressures, trials, and difficulties to bring us to a new degree of spiritual beauty.
As we read the book of Job, we are given behind-the-scenes information that Job never knew. Job had no idea his suffering was part of a heavenly battle between God and Satan. God will win the battle. We know this if we read the end of the Bible…Revelation tells us God wins. And we win if we’re on God’s team.
Last week, we also saw that God is all-powerful. Satan can only cause suffering that God allows.
We tacked a few questions:
• Can I prevent suffering? No, even the righteous suffer.
• How should I respond to suffering? Expect it. Be honest about the pain and live by faith and God’s power.
Throughout this series we’re going to see something that most of us are uncomfortable with: There is always a Mystery to Suffering. We want answers. God makes it clear that Job wasn’t meant to understand all of the mysteries of suffering.
The book of Job isn’t about answering all of our questions. His friends tried to do this, and we’ll try to answer a few questions in this series, but part of suffering will always be a mystery.
There is one question that we’re going to tackle today. Something that we learn from Job. How do I worship while suffering?
1. WORSHIP WHILE YOU MOURN
Job received the devastating news that he had lost all of his wealth, and all of his employees. But it isn’t until he heard that all ten of his children were dead that Job began to mourn.
“20 Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing” (Job 1.20-22, NIV).
When the sun came up this day, Job was the wealthiest man in the east. When the sun set Job mourned in poverty. Satan said he would curse God when his riches were taken away. Satan said his religion was an inch deep. It was a mere contract: as long as God blessed him he would worship the Lord. Job shows us how to worship while you mourn. The blessings have disappeared, Job’s children are gone, and Job is still worshipping!
He’s also mourning. Following the customs of his day, he tore his clothes “symbolizing inner turmoil and shock.” He shaved his head “depicting the loss of his personal glory” (Walvoord, John; Zuck, Roy, etal. The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-c1985).
He expressed his feelings. You need to do this when you’re suffering. You need to honestly express what you’re feeling. If you hold it inside it will only destroy you more. You need to share it with others, and share it with God. Job didn’t fall to the ground “in despair, but in obedience to God, Job worshiped” the Lord in this painful moment (ibid).
This is amazing. Have you ever instinctively worshipped the Lord in the midst of suffering? Instead of worshipping the One who can make a difference, we try to fix things ourselves. Or we try to figure out what we could have done differently… or what someone else could have done differently.
“Job is coping with a multiple bereavement. He has been afflicted with loss after loss. How difficult it is to worship at such a time…there is a humble acceptance…even from the hand that has struck him” (Atkinson, David. The Message of Job. Downers Grove, IL: IVP. 25).
Mourning and worshipping together is a great recipe to prevent resentment and get the help we need from the Lord. Several days later, towards the end of the book, we see this was working for Job. His only friend that God didn’t want to destroy in the end was Elihu. Elihu said: “For the godless are full of resentment. Even when he punishes them, they refuse to cry out to him for help” (Job 36.13, NLT).
Jesus also mourned the loss of his friend Lazarus. “Jesus wept” (John 11.35, NIV). It’s one of the shortest verses in the Bible. Jesus knew that he would raise Lazarus from the dead, yet He still wept. This shows us his humanity.
So how do you worship and mourn?
2. THANK GOD FOR WHAT HE’S GIVEN
Rather than blame God for taking everything, Job choose to thank God for what He had given him. He said, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised” (Job 1.21, NIV).
Helen Keller once said, “I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life. It would make him more appreciative of sight and the joys of sound” (Sermon Central)
“In the language of the OT (Hebrew) the word for gratitude (hoda’ah) is the same as the word for confession. To offer thanks is to confess dependence on God and others… This frame of mind is indispensable to civilized society” (Sermon Central. "The Power of Giving Thanks” Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe Staff, 11/23/2000).
Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others” (Sermon Central).
Here’s another short but powerful verse. It’s actually the shortest vs. in the Greek NT: “16 Rejoice always” Paul continues by giving us some advice on how to accomplish this “17 pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5.16-19, NASB).
Our joy does not come from easy circumstances, but from blessings through Christ. It’s God’s will for us to be thankful with all situations. This will keep us filled with His Spirit, which will give us more power to prevail with God’s help. According to this passage, “if we remain in sadness and depression, we break a commandment. We fail to trust God’s power, providence, forgiveness” (A.J. Mason, “The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians,” in Ellicott’s Commentary on the Whole Bible.)
I don’t know about you, but I’ve done this before. I’ve let the enemy win. We let the enemy win when we get distracted by trails just like he hoped. We let the enemy win when we stop trusting just like he hoped.
How do we worship while suffering? Thank God for what He’s given. Paul urges us to continually thank God. This doesn’t mean you quit your job or vocation to become a full-time thanker. You thank God whenever possible and in all circumstances. If we believe Romans 8.28: “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8.28, NIV), why wouldn’t we thank God in every circumstance.
Paul says this kind of thankful lifestyle is God’s will for every Christian. How do you do this? It’s all a matter of your perspective. Job could thank God because he realized that he was merely a steward of everything he possessed. God owns everything. He had the privilege of managing it.
When Paul talks about this in the NT, he isn’t just talking about possessions. He’s also talking about the message of the Gospel: “Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy” (1 Corinthians 4.1-2, NRSV). When we respond in a thankful manner we make the message of the gospel attractive to others. “Make the teaching about God our Savior attractive” (Titus 2.10, NIV).
Job’s thankful attitude illustrates the economy of God’s Kingdom. If you’re faithful with something, God gives you more. As we saw last week, at the end of Job we read: “10 the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before…12 The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first” (Job 42.10, 12, NIV).
Job didn’t know what God was going to do. He didn’t know he was part of a heavenly battle. He didn’t know that Satan was betting against him. He didn’t know what God knew. Yet he still maintained his integrity.
3. MAINTAIN YOUR INTEGRITY
God knew he would maintain his integrity. As awful as this was for Job, the Bible assures us that “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10.13, NRSV).
Let’s see how the drama continues to unfold: “On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him…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.” 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. 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” (Job 2.1-10, NIV).
It’s so easy to read this and begin to feel like this is all a contest between God and Satan. And Job is just a pawn being battered about. There is some truth to this. It’s one of the Mysteries of Suffering. It’s part of the fallen nature of our lives.
God’s perfect plan was the Garden of Eden. But when Adam and Eve followed Satan’s plan rather than God’s plan they put this same desire to sin in our DNA.
God’s perfect plan is now in Heaven. This is why we pray as Jesus taught us to: “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6.10, NIV). God’s perfect plan is in heaven where there is no sin, there is no sickness, no tests from Satan, and no tears. This fallen world is not God’s perfect plan.
Jesus came to redeem this fallen world. He experienced all the pain of this world. He overcame the enemy and death.
Back to Job, God won the first round. Job did not curse God after loosing so much. But will he continue to worship God if he’s experiencing physical pain? We again see that Satan is on a leash held by God. He has to seek permission to inflict this additional pain on Job. And he wastes no time. The painful sores soon covered his entire body.
It seemed to be a type of leprosy, because Job is found outside the city gates at the trash dump where the other lepers went. He’s on or near the pile of dung ashes. “How humiliating for Job! He who had sat at the city gate as a local judge (29:7) was now outside the city with beggars, scraping his itching, running sores with a piece of broken pottery” (Walvoord, John; Zuck, Roy, etal. The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-c1985).
Little did job know that his faith and integrity did “not relieve his suffering, it makes it worse. To some extent it causes it” (Atkinson, Message of Job, 26).
CS Lewis said this Problem of Pain is the most difficult apologetic issue for skeptics. He put together a book called A Grief Observed from his journals after the death of his wife. It’s a short but powerful work. What I find interesting is that he originally published it under another pen name. It seems that he didn’t want the Christian world to know of all his personal struggles and questions for God. In the end he helps us see that heaven will answer all of our questions.
I was reading another author this week that really peaked my interest. He says, “suffering…is only a problem to the person with faith in a good God. The atheist…has to come to terms with suffering, but for him it is merely a fact…of the world.
But the fact that many people perceive suffering to be a problem is itself a witness to the fact that there exists a good God, in whose light the existence of suffering poses us questions” (Atkinson, Message of Job. 26).
If we had a god like some of the pagan Greek gods we’d have no problems. They never pretended to be loving gods.
“Gary Ingrid tells of some parents on the East Coast who got a telephone call from their son during the Korean War. They were thrilled, because they hadn’t heard from him for many months. He said he was in San Francisco on his way home. "Mom, I just wanted to let you know that I’m bringing a buddy home with me," he said. "He got hurt pretty bad, and he only has one eye, one arm, and one leg. I’d sure like him to live with us."
Sure, son," his mother replied. "He sounds like a brave man. We can find room for him for a while." "Mom, you don’t understand. I want him to come live with us." "Well, OK," she finally said. "We could try for six months or so." "No, Mom, I want him to stay always. He needs us. He’s only got one eye, one arm, and one leg. He’s in really bad shape." By now the mother had lost her patience. "Son, you’re being unrealistic about this. You’re emotional because you’ve been in a war. That boy will be a drag on you and a constant problem for all of us. Be reasonable."
The phone clicked dead. The next day, the parents got a telegram: their son had committed suicide. A week later the parents received the body. They looked down with unspeakable sorrow on the corpse of their son… who had one eye, one arm, and one leg” (Lee Strobel, God’s Outrageous Claims, 125).
4. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH SUPPORTIVE FRIENDS
I think Mrs. Job has gotten a bad wrap over the years. She’s remembered for her famous words of support, “Curse God and die.” In fairness, until he was struck with the awful disease, she suffered just as much as he did. She lost her children, she lost all her possessions…
Everyone has a different level of faith. She wanted him to take the easy way out. “In times of severe testing, our first question must not be, ‘How can I get out of this?’ but ‘What can I get out of this?’” (Warren Wiersbe, Be Patient, 20). When she said, “Curse God and die”, she just wanted him out of his misery.
Job’s friends traveled quite a distance to come and comfort him. When they showed up together, he was in such bad shape they didn’t recognize him. “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” (Job 2.11-13, NIV).
Sometimes “the best way to help people who are hurting is just to be with them, saying little or nothing, and letting them know you care. Don’t try to explain everything” (Warren Wiersbe, Be Patient, 21). To sit with a man for seven days shows real friendship and commitment. Job had surrounded himself with supportive friends…until they later said too much.
CS Lewis recorded these thoughts in his journal: “No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid…There is a sort of invisible blanket between the world and me. I find it hard to take in what anyone says… I want the others to be about me. I dread the moments when the house is empty. If only they would talk to one another and not to me” (CS Lewis, A Grief Observed, 7).
Next week we’ll continue with Job and learn about overcoming bitterness.
