Job’s Job
(Job 38:1-7, 34 - 41)
Good morning. My name is Job and I was asked me to come and speak to you this morning. My job
today is to share my experiences with you so that you can benefit from what I learned from God dealing with me.
But first, I need to tell you a little bit about my background. I lived over 4000 years ago
in the land of Uz, which was in what is referred to as the Middle East today.
I loved God and served Him faithfully. I offered sacrifices everyday. I even offered sacrifices
for my children just in case they had sinned. No one questioned my righteousness.
God had really blessed me. I had seven sons and three daughters. I had servants to wait on
me and my wife. You guys just thought the stock market was high when the Dow Jones went over 10,000 but let me tell you about
my stock market. God had blessed me with thousands of sheep and thousands of camels as well as hundreds of oxen and donkeys.
In fact, some said I was the wealthiest and the most influential person in my day.
Then one day my world was turned upside down. You may think that you have had a bad day, but
one day my stock market totally collapsed. Report after report reached me that some my livestock had been stolen or destroyed
until all was gone. All of my servants were killed and then all of my children were killed. I was totally devastated. I tore
my clothes, sheaved my head and fell on the ground and cried out. Yes, I was devastated. I had lost everything but …
my faith in God sustained me. I was able to say, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away… blessed
be the name of the Lord.”
But my troubles were not over. Next I came down with a dreadful disease, painful boils covered
my whole body and the doctors could not prescribe any medication to relieve my pain. The only relief, if you could call it
that, was to scrape my boils with a piece of broken pottery. My condition was so bad, my wife told me to “curse
God and die” (2:9), but I told her she was very foolish. I told her that that “if we are willing
to receive good from God, we should also be willing to receive the bad” (2:10).
Then my three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar came to see me and comfort me. But, when
they saw my condition and how much I was suffering they did not recognize me … they were speechless for seven days.
They just sat there quietly with me for seven days.
After 7 days my three friends began to speak and tell me that God always acts justly and they
came to the conclusion that I must have really sinned since I was suffering so much. I must have done something really bad
to tick God off. God must be punishing me because of my sin.
At this point we got into a real debate. They insisted that I must have sinned or God won’t
be punishing me. I told them they were wrong. I told them I was a very religious man, I offered daily sacrifices, and I was
a righteous person. Throughout the debate I maintained my innocence and that I had not sinned.
You may have heard of the patience of Job, but I will let you in on a secret. At this point
in my life I became impatient. In fact I wished I had never been born. In fact I said that it would have been better if I
had died at my birth.
My three friend’s theology really angered me because I could not think of any sin I
had committed. I defended myself before them. I felt good about myself. I wanted to know why all of this was happening to
me. I wanted someone to intervene for me.
I said that I wanted the opportunity to question God and I wanted to ask Him why He had allowed
these tragedies to come in and disrupt my comfortable life. I wanted a chance to stand in front of God and declare my innocence.
I wanted the chance to plead my case.
Looking back it was at this point that I crossed the line. I went beyond simply asking
why; … I was really challenging what God was doing in my life.
It was at this point that a young man named Elihu spoke up. He had been listening to the debate
my friends and I were having and Elihu was really mad with me. Elihu said I was wrong in trying to justify myself and challenging
God’s actions. He said “God does not owe you an answer and you are arrogant in saying that God has made a mistake
in dealing with you.”
Now, I would bet that most of you have questioned what God is doing in your life at one time
or another OR…. You have questioned why God allowed something to happen. So I am sure you can identify with me.
Remember just after 9/11 and Hurricane Isabel many people were asking “why did God allow so many innocent people to
suffer”; again with the Tsumini lots of people asked “how can a loving God allow this to happen”. So you
see .. you and I really do have a lot in common.
It was at this point that God gave me exactly what I had asked for. God spoke to me out of
a whirlwind. In fact, God really put me in my place. God asked who was I to question Him and challenge the way He was running
His universe. He told me I was a Johnny come-lately who was arrogant, ignorant, and lacked power.
Wow, this really set me back. I was speechless. Remember, I was one of the elders of the city.
I was well respected, and I was a powerful person. I was very wealthy and I was very religious. God then proceeded to prove
His points by questioning me about creation. You know I could not begin to answer any of God’s questions.
It was then that I realized that I was the created, not the Creator.
It was then that I realized that God is eternal and we humans have very limited life span
on earth.
It was then that I realized that God knows everything and we humans have a very limited amount
of knowledge.
It was then that I realized that God is all-powerful and we humans have a very limited amount
of power.
It was then that I realized that God is concerned about us and it
is God that provides for the needs of all of His creatures, even the ravens.
It was then that I realized that I was in no position to challenge anything that God was doing
in my life.
It was then that I realized that God did not
owe me an explanation.
It was then … It was then that I realized I was accountable to God.
You see I had a personal encounter with God … and … when I did that
I realized how arrogant I had been and how disrespectful I had been to God by questioning Him and His love for me and questioning
why He had allowed these tragedies to occur in my life..
The amazing part is that God never did answer my question of why these tragedies were
occurring in my life. But when I had this personal encounter with Him, after witnessing the unlimited knowledge and power
of God and knowing that He cared for me. … I no longer needed any answers. I am perfectly content to just trust
in God!
You see God taught me a great lesson that day. We are in no position to question the
way God is running His universe the way He is. After all the only knowledge
and power that we have is a gift from God. When I learned this lesson I humbled myself before Him, I confessed my sin of self-righteousness.
I confessed my sin of doubting, and I began to trust in Him. Now the amazing thing was that when I did this God restored all
of my possessions, my position, and my family.
What about you, friend? Are you questioning what God is doing in your life? Do you
really think you can do a better job of running this world that He can? If so, I beg you to confess your sin of doubting God’s
love for you and trusting in your own self righteousness. Repent before you have to stand before God and give an account of
your arrogance and disbelief.
You see, friend, God does not expect us to understand Him but just to trust Him.
God does not expect us to know why things happen in our lives but rather to believe
that everything that happens in our life is for our ultimate good. This is a very hard lesson and this is contrary to human
nature. And …We can only do this when we maintain a close personal relationship with the Lord.
Trusting God will become much easier when we realize that God is not limited by time.
God is eternal He sees the past, present, and future at the same time. God knows the outcome before hand and God has the power
to turn any circumstance into accomplishing His purpose.
Please learn from my experience and do not make the mistakes that I made.
This morning I want to leave you with 3 powerful scripture verses:
Romans 8:28 - And we know that God causes all things work together for good
for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.
James 1: 2-4 - Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of
many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance and perseverance must finish it’s
work so that you may be mature and lack nothing. ()
Think about this. ... If we could figure out God and why He does what He does then
He really would not be God would He?
My job today as Job was to share my experience so that you will not make the same mistake
that I did.
Our job is Christians is to trust in the Lord and to proclaim God’s love and
God’s goodness at all times … even in times of adversity so that our faith as well as the
faith of all those around us with be strengthened.
Don’t challenge God by questioning why things happen in your life, just know
that God loves you and trust that everything that God allows in your life is for your good.
AMEN
