JOB: A MAN OF FAITH AMIDST SUFFERING JOB 3: WHAT DID JOB GET RIGHT AND WHERE MAYBE DID HE GO SLIGHTLY WRONG? Read Job 28 So Job has lost all of his possessions, all of his children, and has been covered in sores from head to toe. Job had voiced his complaint to God, had not cursed God, but instead cursed the day of his birth. If that wasn’t enough he had received counsel from his “friends”, which had been less than helpful. Job had debated with them over 3 speech cycles, and now today we reflect on what did Job get right, and where maybe did he overstep the mark? Real wisdom is characterised by Job’s questioning faith – ultimately his belief in God remains unshaken, yet there are questions which have to be voiced. The friends suggest that Job should repent of his sin, and remain silent in the face of his suffering. Job, like the Psalmist, sees that his complaint must be voiced if his dilemma is ever to be resolved. Clearly Job has an expectation, based on the concept of covenant, of a particular type of relationship with God, and his present reality doesn’t match up to his expectation! This is one of the keys to the whole central issue of the book. Covenant relationship means that the tension can and should be resolved in complete honesty – This is Job’s aim. Although on occasion reluctant to do so, Job acknowledges God’s sovereignty. It is interesting to note at this point that Job’s attitude stands in contrast with the friend’s ultimate denial of complete sovereignty. Job openly lays his complaint before God because he expects a different reality, yet he is willing to accept that God is absolutely sovereign. “But he stands alone, and who can oppose him. He does whatever he pleases, He carries out his decrees against me, and many such plans he still has in store.” Job 28: 13 – 14 However, the friend’s desire to defend God’s character inevitably LIMITS God’s ability to work in ways beyond their narrow theology of retributive justice! The complainer Job accepts
sovereignty, where the others, Job’s friends cannot!! Can you see the irony of this? It is Job who is being told that he is sinful and being told to repent of his sin!! This is why in the epilogue we will see that it is Job who spoke “rightly” about God. Job has the distinction of giving the longest speech in the book, 6 chapters long, and in this amazing part of the book Job weaves together pictures of God’s mystery and power in a beautiful poem of trust. He also though brushes aside Bildad’s latest reply. Job told Bildad and his friends that they could not possibly know everything about God. (Job 26: 14). Read Job 27: 1 – 6 In the midst of all the accusations Job was able to declare that his conscience was clear, only God’s forgiveness and the determination to live right before God, and in His grace can bring a clear conscience. Job refuses to accept the easy way out. He could have just said “I repent” but this for him would have been a lie, and he would not consider that. How important Job’s record (Job 1: 1) became when he was being accused. Like Job we can’t claim sinless lives, far from it, but we can because of what Jesus did at Calvary – claim forgiven lives – in Jesus. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” 1 John 1: 9 Then Job moves onto a beautiful critique of wisdom, the search for it and where only, it can be found. Read Job 28: 3 Hiddeness of that which is precious and man’s quest for it. The great lengths to which human beings go to acquire precious stones and metals. Then in Chapter 28: v 11 – 22, Job goes onto reflect on the hiddeness and great worth of wisdom. v. 12 – But where can wisdom be found Where does understanding dwell v.15 – Man does not comprehend its worth.
It cannot be found in the land of the living. It cannot be bought with gold In other words, why search for treasures in the earth when all the gold and diamonds you can find, cannot buy WISDOM. I am reminded at this time of the very words of Jesus: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet forfeits his soul.” Matthew: 16: 26, also Matthew 6: 19 – 21. However, what Job is saying is that for all the grand achievements of humans, wisdom still eludes them. •
Electricity
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TV
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Computers
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Technology
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Space exploration
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Space tourists – Richard Branson – The Virgin Galactic – only £125,000 for 5 hours!!!
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Medicines – the advancements are incredible.
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Science – the Higgs Boson, and what have they called it The “GOD” particle!!
Imagine, God: they are celebrating with champagne and the finest food, in finding this Higgs Boson God particle – they have spent hundreds of years, millions of pounds, and yes, these achievements are wonderful and should be celebrated – to a point. BUT GOD SAYS: “OK, SO YOU FOUND ONE OF MY PARTICLES!” But what about the starving children, what about the babies you are killing every year in their mother’s womb, what about injustice, what about poverty!!! As I wrote I can hear the prophet Jeremiah crying over Israel, Jeremiah 2: 13 “They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, And have dug their own cisterns that cannot hold water.”
God cries out to his people “Return to me, return to me...” “For I am the spring of living water.” Is that you today, do you need to come to that spring for the first time, have you wandered off, away from that spring? We have forsaken the Lord our God, as a people, as a church – He is calling us to return to the “living water”, that Jesus talks of in John 4. Despite all the might of human ingenuity, wisdom cannot be mined, and it is of far greater worth than any metal or stone. It is natural for people who do not understand the importance of God’s word to seek wisdom here on earth. People look to philosophers, scientists, other leaders, celebrities, Simon Cowell, even the stars in the sky to give them wisdom and direction for living; YET JOB says that wisdom is not to be found there. No leader or group of leaders can produce enough knowledge or insight to explain the human life. The ultimate interpretation of life, of what we are, why we are here, how to find purpose in life, where we are going – must come from outside and above our mortal lives. JOB KNEW THIS. Having exhausted all human resources – Job has only one source to fall back on – GOD. When everything else disappeared for Job, when there was nothing left for Job – God was enough! The source of wisdom lies in the one who is: •
ALL KNOWING, JOB 28: 23, “God understands the way to it, and he alone KNOWS where it dwells.”
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ALL SEEING, Job 28: 24, “For he VIEWS the ends of the earth, and sees everything under the heavens”
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ALL POWERFUL, Job 28: 25, “When he established the force of the wind”
What amazing verses!!! WISDOM – comes from knowing God and being in right relationship to Him; “The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, to shun evil is understanding.” Job 28: 28
This is the real quality that has marked out Job from the very beginning. (Job 1: 1) Not until we become humble and teachable, standing in awe of God’s essential holiness and majesty – willing to have our own ways and will turned upside down, can we become truly wise. In the age of information and technology, knowledge is plentiful – but wisdom is scarce!!! Wisdom means far more than simply knowing alot, if we look at the state of the world – this proves that! The foundation of knowledge is to fear the Lord, to honour and respect God, to live in the awe of his power and to obey His word. You see Job 28 refocuses on the essence of the debate – the value and true nature of WISDOM – and heightens the tension that we have as readers of the book. Job and his “friends” have each laid out their side of the debate and the reader’s natural desire is to know – who is right and who will come out on top? Who won? Who was right? Job 28 makes us stop and think about the value, the source and the nature of wisdom. It provides a pause in the narrative before Job’s final complaint in Chapter 29 – 31. The tone had been heated, strong, opinionated debate and while we are aware that the friends are in the wrong in much of what they have to say, at the same time we are slightly worried that Job is going too far in his complaint, “Can he really get away with saying THAT about God?” Let’s see.... In Chapter 29 – 31, Job reflects on his past and on his present, a formal testimony is made, addressed to a public assembly, a formal challenge is made to God. This is not the whining of a downtrodden individual – This is a prosecution bringing charges against one who has wronged him. (If you have the opportunity, please read Chapters 29 – 31 to follow the next part of the story) So Chapter 29 deals with the reality of Job’s life prior to his cataclysmic demise. Chapter 30 gives a graphic account of the full extent of Job’s downfall, Job is despised by lesser men, the marked contrast to his former estate, this passage is written so the reader can feel Job’s despair. Chapter 31 presents the moral care that Job exercised in his life, and then expresses the legal accusation against God.
So where did Job possibly overstep in his remarks? Read Chapter 29: v 4 – 6 1. What we see here is the reality of the relationship that
existed between Job and God. God dwelt with Job and his family, as part of their daily reality. 2. The image speaks to the fact that Job clearly believes that
God has now turned his back on him. The friendship in Job’s eyes has been removed. The first thing that Job laments is the loss of friendship, not however human friendship, but rather he feels that he has lost the most precious thing to him – the friendship of the living God – we know that this is not true, but it is how Job now feels. 3. Yahweh has not removed his friendship from Job; we do not
know why God allowed these things to happen to Job. The hiddeness of God and his wisdom, the lack of meaning, has led Job to some wrong conclusions, as it says in Proverbs 3: 5 – 6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make straight your paths.” Then in Job 30: 16 – 23 (Read) Job goes even further. As he reflects on the turmoil, “God has cast me into the mire; you have turned cruel to me” “Storm” in verse 22 gives an image of chaos, all order has gone, and “God have you lost your way? Job genuinely believes that God has become cruel and left him open, to all the storms of life. He has been influenced by his friends so much, that he even begins to question his own statement, “shall we receive good from God and not trouble?” (Job 2: 10). Job begins to question whether God has a design at all. Job is innocent of various types of sin, so why the suffering? Where is my crime? The pain Job has felt is summarised in Job 30: 16 – 23, God has afflicted me: •
Job is in continuous pain, v 16 – 17,
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Humiliation, v 18 – 19,
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Merciless, v 20 – 21,
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Violent, v 22.
Is this God who has done this to me? If we refer to the first part of the book, we realise it was actually Satan who inflicts the suffering, but God allows it. “You, You” Job shouts, it is though God is watching stony faced, aloof, distant, unmoved, unsympathetic and cruel. BUT A CHARACTER IS EMERGING, FROM JOB; HE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN. HE IS LEARNING MORE AND MORE ABOUT THE LORD AND HIS WAYS. JOB IS LEARNING TO TRUST GOD IN THE CRUCIBLE OF SUFFERING, TO LEAN ON HIM, TO CRY OUT TO HIM. GOD HAS SET JOB AS HIS CHAMPION AGAINST SATANAND ALTHOUGH THE CHAMPION IS BLEEDING AND SCARRED FROM BATTLE – HE IS WINNING!!! Then in 31: 35 – 37 such is Job’s confidence in his innocence, that he turns the tables on the normal divine human scenario. In the books of the prophets we normally see God bringing his charge against the people, but Job brings his charge against God. Yancey, in one of the most profound books I have read on the issue of suffering “Where is God when it hurts?”, also reflects on the story of Job, and the chapter is entitled “ARMS TO SHORT TO BOX WITH GOD” and this is exactly what Job will find out! Job believes that God has been unfaithful to his responsibilities under the covenant, “Let the almighty answer me” (Job 31: 35) Job now calls upon God to give him a fair hearing, “I sign now my defence” So from this scripture today, how can we apply this to our own lives, our own situations? 1. Where do we seek wisdom from? As my tutor at theological
college put so well, “A definition for wisdom is the art of living life successfully!” Is acquiring knowledge or diamonds our goal, or do we indeed “Fear the Lord” which is what we are learning, is the source of all wisdom? Do we need to seek wisdom, do we therefore need to “fear the Lord” more, and I would think so. 2. Do we realise that it is OK to be honest with God about how
we are feeling, and remember that if we feel distant from
God, it will be us that have moved. One of the many, many learning points from studying the book of Job, this inspired story, is that Job keeps communicating with God, he desires relationship. Have we stopped talking with God, how is our, mine, your prayer life? Do we make it a priority to attend our monthly Church Prayer meetings? 3. Can we really trust our lives to God? Job shows us by
example that faith, albeit his questioning faith, in the midst of suffering is possible. Job in the story alludes to a knowledge of a Saviour (Job 19: 25) “I know that my Redeemer lives” Job has discovered the secret of life, knowing Jesus Christ, in Job’s case only in type and distant shadow. It is in Christ that God’s wisdom is essentially displayed, 1 Corinthians 1: 30, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God” But what Job know from a distance WE KNOW FROM HISTORY, WE KNOW FROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, WE KNOW AND CAN TESTIFY FROM OUR OWN EXPERIENCE – THAT GOD HAS SENT JESUS TO LIVE, SENT JESUS TO DIE, TO RISE AGAIN, TO OVERCOME OUR SIN, TO OVERCOME OUR DEATH AND ASSURE US OF ETERNAL LIFE WITH HIM FOR EVER. HALLELUJAH!!!! Let us afresh today to put our trust in God, the same true living God whom Job trusted – that we can, trust an unknown future – TO A KNOWN GOD! Amen.
Gary Torbet Sunday 30 September 2012.