Job: Victim or Victor?
When I was 12 years old I tried out for my first basketball team. It was my sixth grade year, and I was struggling to make new friends. Two elementary schools fed into the middle school, and my sixth grade class had over 250 students. Of those 250 students, only 20 came from my school. It was a tough adjustment for me, and making the basketball team was at the time the answer to all my problems. I came to all of the after school team meetings, I attended all of the tryouts, I worked as hard as my 12 year old frame would allow, and after the first cut was made, my name was still on the list. I was ecstatic, I still had a chance. There were 17 of us left, and coach was only planning on having 15 on the team. It was the last tryout and I was willing to do anything to make the team. I laced up my shoes, and hit the court. After tryouts, I was exhausted. I left everything I had on the court. But, as the team was announced by the coach, my name was not on the list. I had been cut. I fought back all of my tears and frustration until my dad that night asked me if I made the team. I fell into his chest as I cried saying no, I got cut. This was the end of my world as a sixth grade boy who saw making the team as the end of my struggles—the solution to my need to fit in. I did not know what to do or how to act—I was devastated. My dad, who more oft then not knew the right thing to say, simply said, “There is always next year.”
When your 12 years old, every problem seems like the end of the world, but then you grow older and deal with adult issues like marriage and parenting, money, divorce, faith, and the list goes on. You are also exposed to stories like that of Job:
Job 1:13-20a
One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"
JOB 1:16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"
JOB 1:17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"
JOB 1:18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"
JOB 1:20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head.
PRAY
Hearing a story like Job’s puts suffering into perspective. Here is a man the Bible says lost everything. He had unparalleled wealth, a strong faith in God, a large family, friends, and was described by God himself as “blameless and upright. A man who fears God and shuns evil.” However, God decided to let Satan put Job’s faith to the test. So the evil one stripped him of everything less his life, and left Job with a choice: curse God and die or praise God and acknowledge that in all things God is in control. In short Job could choose victimhood or victory.
But, for us to understand Job’s plight, and how this decision is relative to us today, we must look at the current social definition of victimhood and how it affects people today. Any Monty Python fans in the church this morning? In their 1979 movie the Life of Brian—a spoof on Christian movies in general—there is a scene that is amazingly relevant to our discussion this morning. A group of Lepers are seated at the city gates begging for change. One of the gentlemen stands out quite a bit as a different sort of Leper, for it looks as though he is not suffering at all. “Alms for an ex-leper,” he says to a passerby. “Did you say ex-leper?” “Why yes sir, I did.” “What happened to you.” “I was cured.” “Cured, by who.” “Jesus, sir.” The man goes on to explain to the gentleman how one day he was hobblin’ along minding his own business, when poof Jesus says you’re cured. 16 years a leper and then your cured with no warning or nothing. Before I know it I am cured with no livelihood. The man’s response is why don’t you ask Jesus to turn you back. He says he thought of asking Jesus for a limp or a lame leg in the middle of the week just so he can have something to work with. The illustration is priceless. The ex-leper suffers from vicitimhood—it becomes not only his livelihood but also his identity.
Now don’t take this discussion of victimhood the wrong way. There are plenty of people who truly are victims. There are victims of abuse, of crime, of war, and of certain social and economic circumstances. And, my heart goes out to those who truly are victims. But I agree with a quote I read while researching vicitmhood: “You can be a victim once, but you don’t have to be a victim for the rest of your life.”
There are two truths about victimhood. The first one is that victimhood is a choice. The traditional bases for victimhood are race, gender, class, and physical disability. Certainly, the people that fall into these categories have suffered at the hand of ignorant slanderous comments, unjust treatment, or unequal opportunity at some point in their lives. But, the move from victim to victimhood is clearly a choice. Take this July 12th story out of California by newsmax.com reporter Al Rantel for example:
A fascinating story has unfolded in California that has by sheer accident revealed an interesting fact about black leaders who are so busy being victims they sometimes cannot even keep up with themselves.
Several days ago, the California Secretary of Education and former Mayor of Los Angeles, Richard Riordan, was at a public school event in Santa Barbara where he was in a classroom full of six-year-olds. One of the little girls in the classroom says to Riordan, “My name is Isis, and it means an Egyptian goddess.” Riordan, smiling and laughing, inexplicably replies, “It means stupid dirty girl.”
This is likely the worst example yet of a politician trying to be funny and inserting his whole leg into his mouth, not just his foot.
Riordan is a man in his 70’s, and probably just lost it for a few moments in an ill-advised attempt at humor and meant no malice.
He has since apologized twice over the affair.
But the best part of the story is yet to come. Upon hearing the news reported out of the Santa Barbara classroom, State Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally, who happens to be black, tells the San Jose Mercury news that Riordan would never have said that to a white little girl. He demands that Riordan be fired by Governor Schwarzenegger. Then, the California NAACP gets into the act. State NAACP President Alice Huffman demands that Riordan be fired as well. Dymally plans a protest rally. There is only one problem: little Isis, the girl named for the Egyptian goddess, is white with blonde hair.
We are so quick to cry foul in today’s society that victimhood is becoming big business. According to a 1998 article by Ron Brunton, A group of psychiatrists in Wales discovered what may become a foundation stone of victimhood, a ’bad luck gene’ which makes born losers out of those who inherit it. And a London psychiatrist identified a group of victims who are addicted to assisting other people. He is assisting them with expensive government-funded counseling, and he gleefully suggested that up to 10 per cent of the population could suffer from this ’compulsive helping disorder’. One unfortunate case involved a housewife who was hospitalized with exhaustion after she pushed a 115 kg woman in a wheelchair up hill and down dale for a week during a pilgrimage to Lourdes in France, even though the wheelchair-bound woman begged to be left alone. Whatever the expensive government researches across the globe turn up, you don’t have to be a victim the rest of your life. The second truth of vicitmhood is that it is the easy choice. Mr. Brunton continues to say: The second big difference between the past and today is that traditional victimhood was a disagreeable status. It offered no particular benefits or pleasures, and people tried hard to escape from it. But now, quite apart from the financial rewards that flow from victimhood, it can also be lots of fun. Victim lobby groups provide great opportunities for meeting exciting people with similar grievances to whom you can pour out all your misfortunes. And victims have no problems with their self-esteem. Anything bad or unpleasant about them is the direct result of the affliction that has made them a victim. Indeed, only an insensitive and judgmental person would suggest that there might be something bad about a victim in the first place.
You see, making the choice to continue to be a victim is the easy choice. Job was face with a similar decision, and was told by his
friends to curse God and die. Even his wife said the same: "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!"
With everyone telling him that he was a victim and should identify himself through his suffering, Job could very well have made the easy choice. Instead Job chose victory.
Job 1:20b-22
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."
JOB 1:22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
There are two truths about victory. The first is that victory is the tough choice. The second is that victory is the right choice. Job was angry, and he had every right to be angry. He had everything taken from him in a flash with no explanation. Can you imagine… He was unaware that God had allowed Satan to put him to the test. He was a victim of circumstances which he could not control, and through all of this, he made the tough choice and the right choice. He did not identify himself through his suffering, but identified himself as a child of God.
We do not understand all that God has willed for our lives, and we are not meant to. We are called to have faith and to persevere in times of hardship. Now, faith is a whole other sermon topic that I am more than happy to leave to Pastor Jeff, but I will share a real quick illustration with you. My son, Jack, is two years old and loves to climb on the playground equipment that is to big for him in the first place. I try to let him go—you know the whole he’s a boy and he needs to try things—but I am always leery about the fall that may occur. Anyway, there are those times when Jack gets stuck and calls for his daddy. I hold out my hands and tell Jack to jump. He believes that his daddy will catch him, but when his feet leave their hold, his belief becomes faith.
Perhaps your feet have a hold. Perhaps you have been hurt, and have been a victim of a crime, or a physical disability, or a social or economical hardship, or abuse. Perhaps you are ready to make the hard choice and the right choice. Perhaps you are ready to choose victory. The Bible says in Hebrews 10:36: You need to persevere… In 1995, I had the opportunity to play in the Special Olympic world games (ELABORATE) I had my basketball heroes growing up—Larry, Magic, Dominique—but when I think of the word perserverance, I think of the most awesome basketball player I have ever seen play the game. Check out Thomas. ROLL THE CLIP
Again, the Bible says in Hebrews 10:36: You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. God has promised you hope, love, and as the word says in 2Cor 5:17, he wants to make you a new creation. When we receive Christ the old has gone, and the new has come. If you are ready to make the jump today, if you are ready to persevere, if you are ready to make the right choice, if you are ready to choose victory today, then please feel free to come forward as we sing, and I would love to pray with you.
