“God In Our Suffering”(Job 42:1-7)

 

We are told that Job has a happy ending, but many of us question this. Job loses his children and endures the suffering, but later God gives him new children. It doesn't seem like anything anyone would want to go through and it does not seem like a happy ending.  

 

Actually, we see that Job complains much and even asks God why this is happening to him. God tells him or rather shows Job that He is his creator. 

 

As our creator, God is greater than us and has plans that we cannot understand. God is a leader and will lead us. God will listen to us, but we need to be silent and listen to God. 

 

We see in the Bible when God answers prayers in ways sometimes that is not the same as what we want. Paul is rescued from prison whereas John the Baptist lost his head. David is crowned king whereas Jonathan was killed in battle. God's sovereign will is not always understandable to us. God answers prayers, but not always like how we want to hear the answer. 

 

God has plans for all of us. 

I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 

Job 42:5 ESV 

 

In this verse, we read that Job has encountered God and now knows who God is. Job was a righteous man, but before all of these tragedies, he did not know God. For today's church, many may only know God from the sermons or reading the word. To encounter or experience God is more profound than just hearing sermons or going to church. 

 

After Job had encountered God, he no longer had to worry about the future because Job understood God is the creator and his father. We may worry about our future, but if we understand who God is, we would not worry. 

 

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 

Matthew 6:26-27 ESV 

2023-04-30 Worship Songs

• Lord I Need You

• Make A Way
• Shout to the Lord 

"God And Us" (Job 42:1-7)

Worship Songs

Mighty To Save

Your Grace Is Enough

Living Hope

What A Beautiful Name

 

"Is Life Unfair?"(Job 38:1-11)

Job 38:1-11

Life does not seem fair. We can always find some situation when life is not fair for us or for someone else. Innocent people die horribly all the time. People that we look up to and view as righteous still go through hard times. Those hard times look to be unfair.

Job is one of these people who was the most just person and yet suffered greatly. Job asks God about his unfair situation and God responds with reminding Job that he is not equal to God.

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.

Job 38:1‭-‬3 ESV

These days science is growing rapidly, but the more we learn, the more we realize that we know so little. We have learned so much, but the conclusion is that we cannot know everything about God. The gap between God's greatness and man's smallness is vast and this vastness grows as we learn more.

when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Job 38:7 ESV

Everything God made was good and although it may not seem best for you, it is best for all of God's creation.  There is a vast world with many other people. All of God's creation have their place and time, and you and I are just a small part of His wonderful creation. 

“Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

Job 38:8‭-‬11 ESV

God loves us more than all of his other creations. We are made in His image on the sixth day.  He cares for us more than  His other creations.

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Matthew 6:26‭-‬27 ESV

We understand from this passage that there is a gap between us and God, God made things perfectly, and God takes care of us. However, we are too limited to understand to God's plans. The remedy for when we life is unfair is to admit that we are small and trust that God loves us and takes cares of us even when things seem dark.

      Donation to Philipines

"The God of Justice"(Job 31:1-28)

 Job 31:1-28

 The fact that God is with us all the time is comforting, but it can also be a little stressful. Although God has forgiven us of all our sins because of Jesus' sacrifice, we are still in a battle. We should always be ready to fight against sin.

 God watches us to protect us from evil desire and sinful ways. God draws a clear line between good and evil, and God wants us to be on the good path.

 Does not he see my ways and number all my steps? “If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit; (Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!)

Job 31:4-6 ESV

There are three things that God wants us to avoid.

 

1. Sinful desire

 We have to be honest that we are weak and sinful instincts are still in us. We also must remember that we have the Holy Spirit to help us overcome our sinful desires. With the Holy Spirit. We can fight our sinful instincts and not put our sins into action.

 

“If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit; (Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!) if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands, then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out. “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her.

Job 31:5-10 ESV

  

2. Lack of love

 Job confesses that he would be guilty if he did not show love to others. This love is directed towards everyone. The servants, widows, and fatherless were those who would be in need or could not protect themselves, and Job made efforts to care for them. It easy to become caught up in our own lives and ignore our neighbors, yet God wants us to love our neighbors. In fact, Christians are to participate in the ministry of God by loving others. We need to love those people who have been brought into our lives.

 “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me, what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him? Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?

Job 31:13-15 ESV

 or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow), if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering,

Job 31:17-19 ESV

 

3. Idols

 Idols distract us from God and truly serving God. We need to be faithful to God in any circumstance. If we love God because things are good, what happens when things go wrong.  Idols can become our focus, and God is forgotten in good times when our idols seem to save us. Of course, Idols cannot truly save us and eventually disappoint us or destroy us whereas God can truly save.

 “If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence, if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much, if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor, and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand, this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above.

Job 31:24-28 ESV

 God is loving, but He is also just. On our sanctification journey, God is watching us to protect us since He loves us dearly, but we must make efforts to fight sin and be ready to serve God.

"Facing Suffering as Christians"(Job 42:1-7)

 Job 42:1-7

 

The story Job has a questionable happy ending. The loss of his sons and daughters seems too much to be ever compensated. Yet, Job still praises God, and he gains some new insights into suffering and the nature of God. The first insight is that God is far more powerful than we can imagine.

 

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

Job 38:1-11 ESV

 

God takes care of all these things and suffering is inevitable. One decision cannot change everything. Our suffering might bring relief to someone else, but the reality is that God is beyond our understanding. His greatness is much more than we can comprehend. When our prayers are unanswered, we should be open minded and not limit God in our plans. Rather we should try to find out what God’s plans are for us in His kingdom.

 

‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’

Job 42:4 ESV

 

The second insight is that we need to listen to God and not the other way around. God does not always answer our prayer the way we always think. God's plan for us is not always what we think it should be. God wants us to know him. It is our unanswered prayers which are affirmations to God's plan. We should trust and leave up our destination to Him.

 

The third insight of Job is we need to experience God.

 

I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

Job 42:5-6 ESV

 

Job may have heard if God and even understood the theology of God, but Job had not experienced God. We need to experience God through direct experience in order to know him. God is a divine being, but we still have the responsibility to know God and to experience God. Jesus taught us to pray to God to know him through the experience of depending of God daily.

 

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread,

Matthew 6:9-11 ESV

 

Job knows God and has a relationship with God.

“Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.

Job 4:7-8 ESV

 

Job is honest with God and tells him what he really thinks. It is this genuine relationship with God which makes his complaint not a sin. The same cannot be said about his friends who do not know God.

 

“Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers.

Job 8:20 ESV

 

Job's friends may know Levitical and Deuteronomic laws, but they do not know God.

 

God demands our absolute devotion and obedience, but he is also merciful and loving towards us. The duality of God can he confounding to us because of our black and white thinking towards God. Yet, in God’s profound wisdom which transcends our collective wisdom over the ages, we are at best left speechless when trying to explain why God lets events happen the way they do. Sometimes, all we can say is, “I don’t know.”

 

Worship Songs

What A Beautiful Name

Blessed Be Your Name

One Way
 

Life without regrets - Sermon on the last Sunday of 2012