FHBC Sermon Notes

Have you ever despaired so greatly that you wanted to die?  Have the words of Job wrung loudly in your ears. "… I have no rest, but trouble comes." The trouble seems unceasing, you dreams seemed dashed.  Loved ones died, jobs lost, relationships broken… Are you alone?

But, there is one that knows suffering.  Job is one of these. He had everything a man could dream of. He had a wife, children, land and wealth, and then all those things were taken away.  And Job wanted to die… He cursed the day of his birth.  Job is a man of suffering, and is the key theme of this book. How do we, man, deal with suffering? How do we contend with God, should we?  Next week, we hear God's response, but for now let us consider the nature of suffering.

As we look at Job, we first should understand that Job is poetry, and translated as well.  It is difficult to read for sure, but as one of the books of wisdom literature in the Bible, we should realize its great worth.

Suffering is real, not just a state of mind.  It is reality, painful in mind, body and spirit.  Our lives are tossed about and our souls shaken. 

Job is living in the time of the patriarch's, the time of Abraham.  He is described as blameless. In this time, God in Abraham has given a promise.  At this same time, Job has put his trust in God, and as such he shares in the blessings of God.  He is vastly rich in material and the wealth of family.  But the accuser, Satan, claims that Job only does this because God blesses him.  Satan wants a test, he says that this faithfulness is fake.  So…

Job loses everything, his children, his wealth, and lastly his health.  So what happens… Can Job possibly pass this test.  Job says…

>But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job 2:10

What is interesting though, is that is does not expect it back.  In chapter 3, we do not see him curse God, but we do see him pray for the end.  And so, he curses the day of his birth.

As christians reading this, we might think, this doesn't apply to us. But it isn't so, for Job was described as blameless by God himself.  If it was so that the sinless never suffer, then how can it be that Jesus suffered and died a death more horrific than any man.  This is the Son of God.  How then, can we accuse God we suffer.  If Jesus was not immune, do we think that we could be.

When Jobs friends come to him, they give a reason.  They believe that Job is wicked in some way, and his suffering is obviously of his own hand, for he has rebelled against God in some way, and he must repent.  Is this true?

We do see this throughout much of the rest of scripture.  So they follow this to the next logical point.  They conclude that if there is suffering, then there must be repentance. For God would not punish the righteous.  This is a conclusion front he reverse.  If God punishes the wicked, and blesses the righteous, then conversely, he would never punish the righteous?  Correct?

But this is shortsighted.  Suffering comes into our lives often for His purposes.  And when we look at the end of Job, we do not see God answering the "why" question.  We see God demonstrating that his purposes and will are beyond mans understanding.  But it doesn't mean God is not in control. God is sovereign.  This is the story of Jesus and at the foot of the cross, like Job's friends, the men made the same accusation, that Jesus was suffering for something he did wrong.  They could not have been more wrong.  And God proved this by raising Jesus from the dead.

*Suffering provokes a response of worship.*  See in v. 21 Jobs response. He worships God.  Satan, and Job's wife, both expect him to curse God and die. But in our suffering God has not changed, and he is no less worthy of our worship.  Job knows this and gives God the praise.

*Suffering provokes a response of hope.* Ch. 19. Job knows that his redeemer lives.  He has confidence that even in the midst of his suffering there is a redeemer coming.  He applies this not because of his own righteousness, but because of who God is.  So confident is he in this, that he want it written in stone, and states that even if his flesh dries up from him bones, that ultimately he would be raised again.  Jesus is Job's redeemer and is our redeemer as well.

*Suffering provokes a response of faith.* Ch. 2 Job acknowledges that God is the same now and forever, and has faith in him throughout.  Despite not knowing the reason, he takes his suffering by the horns, and worships God, has hope in God, sees his face in his suffering, and obeys and serves him faithful forever.

The Lord give and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord.