Pastor Roger Feenstra
Take your Bible and turn with me to the book of Job. If you are here for the first time, or perhaps haven't been here for a while, we are making our way through the entire Bible. It will take us just a little over a year and it is our hope that by the time we get to the very last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, you will have a better understanding and a foundation that will give you a love for God's Word.
We've already gone through the books of the Law, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. And last week we completed the last book of the historical books from Joshua through the book of Esther.
Today,we begin a new section in the Old Testament which contains a group of books called, the books of poetry. These books consist of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs.
The eighteenth book in the Bible, Job, is a large book, so let's start walking through it.
But just before we do, let's ask God's blessing on His Word this morning.
The book of Job is about Trusting God even through your suffering. Or put another way,
I. You Can Trust God When You Suffer.
Job was a real man who lived 500 to 1500 years before Jesus Christ. Here's what the book is about; Job was afflicted with terrible tragedy in his family and on himself, physically. Because his family members were all killed, because he lost all of his wealth, because he was covered with blistering and painful sores and was a physical mess, Job was in the pit of despair--He was so bad off that it appears he moved outside the city gates (Job 19:13-20) to the ash heap, or the public dump and it was there that he sat in his misery. While he suffered, people came to him to give him advice. First, his wife, then from three of his friends. Then, by a fourth young man who offered him advice. And all the while, as advice was being offered, Job listened and then responded, each time. Finally, God spoke and when He did, He set the record straight.
So this book is about suffering. It's about being in the pit of despair. And God placed this book in Scripture to show His power and sovereignty, even through your suffering.
You may in the pit of despair today. You may be going through suffering right now. It's probably not a stretch for me to say to you that there is some pain, or grief, or sorrow in the depths of your soul today. Then you need to know that you can trust God through your suffering.
As I've read and meditated over this passage for several weeks, I believe God wants you to understand four things this afternoon.
First, your suffering is allowed by God.
Second, When you suffer, it is okay to question God
Third, your suffering may cause others to judge your faith in God
Fourth, your suffering has an explanation.
A. The Man Job
But we first need to take a closer look at this man Job. What could he have possibly done to warrant this tragedy in his life? The book takes no time in describing what type of man Job was. Look with me at verse 1.
"There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil."
We have pictured before us a man who was doing everything right in his life. The word blameless means that he didn't have any observable sins. When people looked at him they saw a man who was godly. He was honest in all of his dealings, he had integrity, his word meant something. He feared or honored God and whenever he was tempted to sin, he turned away from it.
Could this be said of you? Is that how you would like your life to be? That's why you're here isn't it? You struggle with the temptations and trials of life, but you want your life to be blameless before God, you want to honor God and turn from evil.
Job was not sinless (we know this because he repented in Chapter 42), but he honored God, and God allowed him to be blessed materially in his life. Look with me at verses 2 and 3:
There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.
Job was a very wealthy man and was blessed by God. He was blameless, he was wealthy, and he was fulfilled.
God will not always bless you with material wealth. There are many people in the Bible who served God and were blessed by God, but were poor. In fact, Jesus' disciples were men who had no material wealth. Jesus told them, all you need to worry about is food. In Matthew 10 Jesus said to his disciples:
"Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Aquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor staff, for the laborer deserves his food.."
Even Jesus himself had no material wealth. Jesus said in Matthew 8:20:
"...Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."
So when you hear preachers on television say to you, "God wants you rich." It is simply a lie. In fact, Jesus warns that having wealth makes it very difficult for you to follow Him. In Mark 10:23 He told His disciples:
"How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!"
But let me add this: The church of Jesus Christ needs wealthy people. God uses Christians who are wealthy and who love Him to help financially support His work. So we are not to look down on wealthy people, rather we should thank God for them. The problem is that when you acquire wealth, the temptation is to begin to love it more that God. And the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. So if someday, you strike it rich you want to be sure to use your money to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Job was one of those men who did just that. But he was more than wealthy. He was a Godly man who loved his family and cared for their spiritual well-being. Look at Job 1:4,5:
His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.
So Job prayed for his children, the passage says, "early in the morning" and he would ask God to keep his family pure and blameless.
Dads, are you praying for your children? Do you spend time with God, asking Him to keep your child from sin? Do you ask Him to protect your children? To keep them from cursing God? Job did. And moms and dads, you need to go before the throne of God daily and ask God's blessing on your family. Nearly everyday, as my two girls were growing up, I prayed for them and asked God to protect them and prayed that they would love Him and someday marry godly men. Carol did the same. And today, I still pray for their families and their husbands and for my grandchildren. God honors those prayers.
Job was a godly man and his life was a model life. He was the kind of guy that would want to sit next to on an airplane "Because surely God won't let anything happen to this plane with him on board!" Job's was a life that would cause you to say, God is really going to take care of him. And while that was true, Job's life was about to take a tragic and deadly course.
The scene of the story now changes and God allowed Satan to test Job. In fact, it is God who brings up the subject of Job. Look at Job 1:8:
"And the LORD said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on earth..."
God invited Satan to take a crack at Job's spiritual life. Job has no idea what is going on in heaven. He is just living his life on earth, blameless, upright, praying for his children, being a Godly man, and God is about to allow him to be smacked down hard. Why would God allow that? Well, will find out a little later, but the first point to understand is this,
Your suffering is allowed by God.
1. Your Suffering is Allowed By God
Satan, the great accuser was somehow able to go before God and accuse Job. Look at verses 9-11:
Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason?
10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face."
With God’s permission (1 Cor. 10:13), Satan afflicted Job with a disease we cannot identify. Whatever it was, the symptoms were terrible: severe itching (Job 2:8), insomnia (7:4), running sores and scabs (7:5), nightmares (7:13–14), bad breath (19:17), weight loss (v. 20), chills and fever (21:6), diarrhea (30:27), and discolored skin (v. 30).
In fact, he was so bad off that his friends didn't even recognize him! (2:12). Look at Job 2:12
"And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. "
Job was a mess. The rest of chapter one tells the disturbing details of how he lost everything. And I mean everything. All of his wealth was stolen, all of his livestock wiped out, and all of his sons and daughters were killed. A parent's worse nightmare.
And Job did what was the customary way to grieve in ancient times. He tore his robe and he shaved his head and he fell on the ground.
The pain he must have felt. Most of us in this room don't know that kind of suffering. Some here have felt it. But Job didn't just grieve, look at verse 20:
"Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “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.”
22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong."
Satan had been proven wrong. Job didn't curse God to His face. He did just the opposite. The very thing that Satan said Job would do, Job didn't do! Instead, he worshipped.
You see, Satan doesn't know what your life is like. He is not all knowing, but he will try everything in the book drag you down. Most likely you will never have a direct encounter with Satan. He is not like God. He is not Omnipresent--He can't be everywhere at once as God is. But you will be attacked by the power of Satan and his demonic forces. And when you are you can do what Job did, you can worship God.
I think it is important to know that not all physical affliction comes from Satan. I believe we give Satan too much credit. Satan is not the opposite of God. There is no cosmic struggle between God and Satan. God is never worried about Satan winning. Any power that Satan has, is allowed by God. It is true that Satan's demons can cause (among other things) blindness (Matthew 12:22), the ability not to speak (9:32-33), physical deformities (Luke 13:11-17), constant pain (2 Corinthians 12:7), and even insanity (Matthew 8: 28-34). But sometimes physical affliction comes as the natural result of carelessness on your part, and you have nobody to blame but yourself.
But however your suffering comes. It never takes God by surprise. He is aware of your suffering and He allows it to happen. So the first thing we can learn is that God allows suffering to come in to your life. And because God allows it, that's why you can trust Him as you go through it.
But there's a second thing we learn from the book of Job.
2. When You Suffer, It is Okay To Question God
There is nothing wrong in asking God "Why?" as long as you don't get the idea that God owes you the answer. Besides, when you are suffering, knowing why doesn't necessarily ease the pain. If you are suffering from the pain of cancer and the doctor shows you a CatScan of your cancer and tells you that it was caused by too much smoking, your pain won't go away just because you know where it came from. You are to live on the promises of God, not the explanation.
When the Apostle Paul, in the New Testament, faced suffering, God didn't take it away from him. God told Paul, "My Grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9.).
Even Jesus, in his humanness cried out to God and asked a "why" question,
"At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice,
“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).
Job was blameless, and Godly, but he was still human. He struggled with the same questions you have when you go through suffering. Job cursed the night of his conception and the night of his birth. And he asked four "why" questions (Job 3:11, 12):
11 “Why did I not die at birth,
[Why did I not] come out from the womb and expire?
12 Why did nthe knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
Because you are human and an emotional creature, you will find yourself asking, "why?" God understands this, He created you with emotion. Even the emotion of anger is a God given attribute. So that when you suffer, you may become angry, but you must always remember that there is a fine line between being angry and sinning. Psalm 4:4 says,
"Be angry, but do not sin."
In other words, when you suffer, like Job did, you are not to let your anger control you.
You see, this is where you might struggle. You begin to be hit on all fronts by sin and suffering and your emotion of anger kicks into gear. But rather than trust God, you let your anger burn and burn and burn until you explode--and then you fall--and you even turn from God.
But while Job experienced the emotion of anger, in all of Job's questioning, he never turned against God.
So, God allows your suffering and he allows you to question your suffering. But as you trust Him during your suffering there is a third thing you need to contend with:
3. Your Suffering May Cause Others To Judge Your Faith in God
It may be difficult enough to trust God as you go through suffering alone, but it becomes exceedingly more difficult to go through suffering when friends, maybe even family members, judge you for it.
That was Job's circumstance. As he sat on the ash heap, the few friends he had left, and even his wife turned against him.
Looking at Job being judged for his suffering, we can clearly see that Job is a picture of Jesus Christ. When Christ suffered, everyone turned against him, even his closest disciples.
The judging began with Job's wife when she said, in Job 2:9:
"His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.”
But Job immediately rebuked her in verse 10:
"But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong."
The comment made by Job's wife was exactly what Satan wanted Job to make. Satan thought for sure that Job would curse God. Job's wife prodded Job to curse God--He was such a mess that her solution was, "Just end it! Quit trying to hang on to your faith!" You see, even people who are close to you may try to bring you down. They can be tools of Satan. They may not be fully conscious of what they are doing, but they may try to pull you away from your faith in Christ.
You know exactly what I'm talking about. Maybe you have people like that in your life. They try to sabotage your faith. Because they aren't walking close to the Lord, they want to bring you down to their level. You're living a life of faith and they're not, and they don't like it. And in their guilt, because of the lifestyle they're living, they don't care if you lose your job, or get addicted to drugs, or quit going to church. You need to be cautious around those people.
One of Jesus' closest disciples, Peter, tried to manipulate Jesus into doing something that would have made Satan very happy. Jesus had just praised Peter for his belief that Jesus was the Son of God. Then, Jesus told Peter and the other disciples what was going to happen to him. Jesus said, in Matthew 16:21:
"From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised."
And Peter turned to Jesus and said in a rebuking manner:
“Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”
Then Jesus turned to Peter and said,
“Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
I don't think Jesus was saying that Peter was demon possessed, but rather He was making a point that Satan would want the same thing. In this sense Satan wanted to stop Christ from suffering. He wanted to prevent His death. Because had not Jesus gone to the cross to be crucified and die for your sin and mine, we would never have any hope of salvation and eternal life, and Satan would have won.
For your life, Satan would just prefer that you die in your misery.
That's what Job's wife thought would be best for Job too.
And Job's friends turned against him also. When they came to visit Job as he sat on the ash heap, you get the idea from reading the passage that they truly are sympathetic to his situation, because for the first seven days, they just sat there with him and didn't say a thing. Look at Job 2: 11-13:
11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
Those seem like pretty good friends to me. Sometimes when people are suffering or going through some sort of pain, the best thing you can do is just sit with them for a while and not say a thing. I've had people ask me what they should say to someone who is suffering--Sometimes just a hand on their shoulder or a hug is the most important thing you could ever say.
When I was about 20 years old, I went with my pastor to my grandparents house to give them some bad news. One of their other grandsons, just a few years younger than me, who lived in Alaska, had just been killed in a car accident. I knew, as any of you would, that this was going to be devastating news for them. As our pastor quickly, yet gently broke the news to my grandparents, they began to weep--and time seemed to stand still as we all just sat there, no one saying a word--just the weeping and the tears.
I mean, what can you say to someone who has lost a child? What words of encouragement can you give to someone whose loved one has just died, or has been involved in a serious accident. There are no words that will help at the moment.
When Jesus was confronted with the death of his very good friend Lazarus, the Bible tells us in two words what Jesus did .
"Jesus wept."
And Jesus was God! Do you think you can do anything better than that?
Job's friends appeared to be on the right track in comforting Job. They just sat there as silent comforters. But after seven days, they started thinking a little too much and they began to get irritated with Job. They accused Job of having some sort of hidden sin that caused all of his suffering--Let me summarize briefly what these men said to Job:
a. Eliphaz
The first friend to speak was probably the oldest. His name was Eliphaz. Look at what he said to Job in 4:7-8:
“Remember: who that was innocent ever perished?
Or where were the upright cut off?
8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity
and sow trouble reap the same.
In other words, if you are innocent Job, you would never be going through this tragedy in your life. Because you have sinned, you are going to reap sin.
b. Bildad
Bildad was the second friend who spoke. We can summarize what he said by looking a Job 8:20:
“Behold, God will not reject a blameless man,
nor take the hand of evildoers.
Bildad's point was, "Job God has rejected you because you are suffering and the reason is because you must not be blameless. There must be some evil in your life that is causing your suffering."
c. Zophar
The third friend to speak was Zophar. And he is ruthless in his comments to Job. Turn to Job 11:6(b):
"Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves."
Here's what Zophar means. "Job, you deserve a lot more than you got!"
In fact, the point that all three of Job's friends were making was this Do what is right, and things will go well for you; do what is wrong, and God will send judgment. The problem is, this is not a completely true statement. If you believe this statement 100% then you are believing Eastern Mysticism. This is a Buddhist or Hindu belief. It is not a Christian belief. Here is what Jesus taught in Matthew 5:43-45:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you this: Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. 45 In this way you show that you are children of your Father in heaven. He makes his sun rise on people whether they are good or evil. He lets rain fall on them whether they are just or unjust.
The truth is, oftentimes good people suffer and wicked people prosper--we've all seen it. Sometimes, wicked people even live a life of prosperity and die in relative peace. You've heard the phrase, "Bad people go to Hell?" The fact is, in reality, bad people go to heaven, because there is none who is righteous, no not one. The Bible says, no one can do good. And, there will be many good people in Hell. What you do or don't do on this earth does not determine your salvation. There is only one way to become righteous and that is by accepting the free gift of eternal life that only our Savior Jesus Christ gives. What you do or don't do will never save you, only Christ. So when you say that someone is suffering because of their wrong-doing, it may or may not be correct. Sometimes it's true, but just as often, it isn't true. In Job's case, it wasn't. And his friends were wrong.
Job made attempts, as his friends spoke, to convince them that they were wrong. That he didn't have any hidden sin and that he trusted God. Any sin that he may have had had already been confessed and forgiven.
In Old Testament times, believers looked forward to the Cross and were saved by faith in a Savior yet to come (John 8:56; Rom. 3:25; Heb. 11). Job was a believer; therefore, his sins had been dealt with by God. Even if Job had sinned against God in some great way, God would deal with His child on the basis of grace and mercy and not justice. When you confess your sins, God forgives you because He is faithful to His promise and just toward His Son who died for your sins (1 John 1:9).
So Job's ultimate defense against his friends attacks against him is found in Job 19:25:
“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
and he will stand upon the earth at last."
And that's how you can trust God when you suffer. Look to our Lord Jesus Christ--that He lives and that one day he will stand upon the earth and all suffering will end. Look at Job's next statement in vs. 26:
"And after my skin has been thus destroyed
yet in my flesh I shall see God."
Job believed in the resurrection. That was his hope. And that is your hope too. That this world, and this suffering that you're experiencing is not the end. The Bible promises that one day there will be a resurrection. Because Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, He promises to do the same for you. And for those who believe in Jesus Christ, you will be raised to everlasting life.
And Job knew that promise and believed it.
Well, we're trying to learn from the book of Job in this short time today that You Can Trust God When you Suffer. And we've seen that,
- Your suffering is allowed by God.
- Your suffering may cause you to question God.
- Your suffering may cause others to judge your faith.
But the final point is one that you really want to know. Why? Why do you suffer?
4. Your Suffering Has An Explanation
There is one more friend of Job who comes on the scene. His name is Elihu. The first three friends were older men, but this friend is a young man. And I think that God used him to give us a brief glimpse as to why we suffer.
While Elihu said some of the same things as the other speakers, his purpose was different from theirs. He was not trying to prove that Job was a sinner. Elihu introduced two new truths into the debate:
First, that God sends suffering, not necessarily to punish us for our sins, but to keep us from sinning (33:18, 24)
18
he keeps back his soul from the pit,
his life from perishing by the sword.
24
and he is merciful to him, and says,
‘Deliver him from going down into the pit;
The word pit means death caused by sin. It literally means "perishing by the sword." So Elihu is making a point that our suffering perhaps keeps us from sinning. Or put another way, your suffering bends you towards God's will. One writer said this:
"Pain is a firm teacher when other gentler means of discipline fail to bring the pupil around to acceptable behavior."
Therefore your suffering may be used to keep you from becoming an even greater sinner.
One way that you can know that a truth in the Old Testament is a truth we should pay attention to and obey is to ask the question, "Is that truth found in the New Testament." The Apostle Paul, in the book of 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, seems to agree with Elihu. Paul wrote:
7So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
So the New Testament seems to confirm that our suffering is sometimes caused to keep us from further sin. But Elihu made a second point.
And his second point was that our suffering is given to us to renew us or to make us better persons (36:1–15). The Apostle Paul seems to agree with this point also. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
When your spirit is renewed, you become a better person because you are putting all of your trust in Jesus Christ.
And so, it appears that suffering does two things. It keeps us from sinning and it causes us to become renewed persons.But there is a final speaker in the book of Job. It is God Almighty Himself. And God presents Himself to Job in Chapters 38 through 42. And these chapters deserve a lot of attention, so I would encourage you to at least read those chapters when you get home today. In them, God speaks of his great Majesty and Creation Power. And if I could summarize them in a sentence or two it would be God saying to Job:
"Stop trying to defend me Job. I am the Great and Powerful and Awesome God, and you have no idea how to even defend me. I am so far beyond your defense. Stop arguing with me and for me Job."
Upon hearing God speak, Job spoke his final words to the Lord in Job 42:1-6
Then Job answered the Lord and said:
2 “I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 ‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
Job realized that he couldn't defend God, He simply needed to trust God through his suffering. And that is what God is calling you to do today.
Finally, in chapter 42, God did two things:
1. He rebuked Jobs three older friends and told them that they were wrong. And he instructed Job to pray for each of them.
2. God restored all of Job's wealth, and the final verse concludes the book,
"And Job died, an old man, full of days."
Well, we have to stop here. I know that I haven't done this book justice and I ask God to forgive me for that, but it's my prayer that God's Spirit has touched your heart today and has encouraged you to be strengthened in your suffering. And so I'll close today with this final question. It's a question that only you can answer:
Are you trusting God through your suffering?
