Trusting God Even When We Don't Understand Him Series

Job is one of the most unique stories you’ll hear – not just inside the Bible but anywhere. Today is third installment in our series and we arrive at highpoint of the story – the place where God breaks His silence and speaks from Heaven. Job is the story of man named Job, a man whose character was tremendously strong but he suffered greatly. Job is a book about the pain we experience in life. It’s a book about the loss of people closest to us, the family with autistic children, and the wife and mother who is diagnosed with a terminal disease. The book of Job causes us to reflect on the unjust suffering in our lives and it’s frustrating pointlessness of it all. We find Job’s life interesting because he asks God the question we all want to ask – “Why?” But the “why” question is always closely related to another question for people who are hurting and that’s the “How” question. How will get through this?

Again, at the center of our story is a man named Job – a very good man. He was as pure as the driven snow. There were no skeletons in his closet. The IRS could not find one thing wrong with his tax returns. They asked Job’s pastor and his high school teacher and everyone agreed Job was an exceedingly good man. The story goes like this: one day Satan says to God, “The reason Job follows you is you’re so good to him. Stop blessing him and he’ll turn away from you in a heartbeat.” Soon, this very good man experiences tremendous suffering in his life – his children die, he loses his wealth, and he’s near the point of death. Again, Job is here to help us understand that human suffering is not neat and tidy. Suffering isn’t doled out in perfect proportion to someone goodness or another person’s evil character. Every year, 1 billion children between the ages of 2-17 experience physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. One fourth of all adults report some form of abuse as children.

This morning, I want to speak to you about “Trusting God Even When We Don’t Understand Him.”

Satan

Satan loses his challenge for Job doesn’t curse God but instead he continues to worship God despite the waves of pain and anguish that wash over him: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21b).

You’ll notice that Satan exits at the end of chapter two, but he hasn’t disappeared. Instead, he shows up through these three men, constantly accusing Job. So he changes his tactics and works these three men who act like a gathering of vultures. Satan no sooner left God’s presence where he received permission to hurt Job than he now shows up in Job’s ear. Satan’s words are often spoken in secret; he needs the cover of darkness. Job’s good life changed in one day. He hears the news about four disasters in a matter of minutes. Again, Satan is behind all of this for think of the accuser’s strategy. The four disasters would have happened weeks or days before Job heard about the news. The four plagues made Job think all the forces of heaven and earth had turned against him. The causes of destruction alternate between earthly and heavenly forces coming from all four points of the compass: the Sabeans from the south, lightning from a storm out of the west, the Chaldeans from the north and the treacherous sirocco blowing off the desert to the east. So the strategy of Satan was to bring the cumulative impact of all four disasters down on Job in a matter of minutes. Like a boxer, Job would have not recovered from the news of one tragedy before the next one and the next one and then the next one washed over him. He’s had no opportunity to gather his wits about him.

One November 1, 1755 at around 9:30 in the morning, Lisbon suffered a great earthquake, nearly destroying Portugal’s largest city. The massive disaster killed tens of thousands of people. Many feel the famous philosopher, Voltaire, saw this earthquake as evidence the loving God of the Bible did not exist.

Job

Now, Job is really low; he is severely depressed. Way back in chapter three, we read something of a personal diary of Job. He’s so low that he wishes he wasn’t born (Job 3:1-2). Job asks, “Why didn’t I die at birth?” What happens next is surprising to American readers. Job doesn’t ask for his wealth to be restored or even that his health would be restored. Instead, he constantly and consistently asked to deal with the Lord Himself: “But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God” (Job 13:3). I’m just picking the high points of Job’s argument: “Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face” (Job 13:15). And again: “Behold, I have prepared my case; I know that I shall be in the right. Who is there who will contend with me? For then I would be silent and die. Only grant me two things, then I will not hide myself from your face: withdraw your hand far from me, and let not dread of you terrify me. Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and you reply to me” (Job 13:18–22). Though Job wants to speak directly to the face of God, he’s confident that when the moment comes, he will be “tongue-tied” – “Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be in the right before God? If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times” (Job 9:2–3). A little further reflection helps us understand Job’s frame of mind: “How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him? Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice” (Job 9:14–16). And one more helps “get” Job here: “But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does. For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind. Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me; yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face” (Job 23:13–17). Lastly, Job says God and me need a mediator: “For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both. Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me. Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself” (Job 9:32–35).