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Job Trusted in God.
Introduction:
But to preach that way, would be committing a great evil against God.
As much as God is love, grace and mercy, He is also a God of justice and sovereignty.
His divine attributes cannot be divided up like a piece of pie.
God is not bipolar in that one day He is loving and the next day he is angry and wrathful.
A preacher that cherry picks God’s attribute of patience or his love without also proclaiming his holiness is out of balance.
He is giving an incomplete picture of our God.
This is evident as we look at this great book of wisdom in Job.
If our mind is set that God is just love and all he does for me is give me health and wealth as long as I have enough faith, this book is going to rattle our cage.
Thus, my great concern in preparing for preaching in Job is that I would give as complete a picture as I can of our heavenly Father.
I want to be faithful to Scripture and I want to be faithful in helping each of us to grow in our knowledge and love of God.
Have you ever gone through a trial and someone lovingly encourages you to read the story of Job’s life to see how he handled dealing with suffering?
If you have had that experience, did you feel that that was exactly what you needed, or did it leave you with more questions than answers?
Job is a wonderful book and it is inspired by God for our good and for our understanding of the problem of suffering.
But I think it is best understood as a way to prepare for suffering than as an answer to our suffering when we are in the midst of it.
What do I mean by that?
Truth be told, if you have never endured real pain and hardship that makes you question why this is happening to you, get ready, for it will happen to you.
None of us who live for an extended period of time can go on without suffering loss, pain, sickness, heartbreak, betrayal, financial hardship, persecution or a host of other problems.
Why?
Because this world we live in is under the curse of sin.
Death and evil reign in the world because of the fall in the garden of Eden.
Therefore, since sin is so prevalent, we will endure suffering to some extent.
On the flip side, due to our prideful, arrogant and selfish sinful nature, we will also cause suffering in other peoples lives.
I hope and pray that none of us ever have to endure great pain that Job endured.
But thanks be to God for this treasure, for in it, we will be able to excavate truths that are more precious than diamonds.
Blessed words that can help us to understand suffering in light of God’s glory.
If you have read or studied this book, there is more than likely some questions that are raised especially when we read that Job was a righteous man.
God himself says in (1:8) that Job was a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.
So questions are raised like “why do bad things happen to good people?”
Or “Why does God allow suffering and tragedy to come to his children?
Why did God volunteer Job to suffer under the hand of Satan?”
I know there is many other questions that could be listed, but these are obvious questions that even the most mature Christians have wrestled with.
So don’t think you are alone in processing these deep difficulties that we need to face.
Will we be able to answer these questions?
Not fully that is for sure.
There is mystery as Job himself was wondering why he was suffering this way.
He never got answers to the “why” questions from God.
But that is not the point of the book.
The main purpose that we are given in this book is that we can trust God even when we go through the darkest of days, weeks, months or even years.
For today, we won’t delve too deeply into the waters of this book but rather I want to just dip our toes into the creek.
To test the waters you could say.
I want to first of all give some background, as well as introduce the themes and characters of this book.
Point #1 - Background
I have been greatly blessed by Steve Lawson’s commentary in helping bring out many of these points today.
So I will follow his lead in giving us helpful and important information.
So first of all, what makes the book of Job unique?
It contains the longest place in the bible where God speaks in four lengthy chapters (38-41).
As well it includes the longest place in the bible where Satan speaks with God (1,2).
This conversation gives the reader a very unique behind the scenes look into what happens in the courts of heaven.
This book is one of the 5 wisdom literature books (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon).
The literary structure of this book is unlike any other.
It has a mixture of prose (which is not like poetry but uses typical grammar, logic and vocabulary) as well as poetry which makes up the body.
There is a mixture of monologue and dialogue.
Therefore, it has its own unique type of literature.
It contains more Hebrew words not found anywhere else in Scripture so it contains a rich diversity of language.
We are given special insight into heaven where we are privy to the conversation between God and Satan.
As well as the literary structure of this book is unlike any other.
It has a mixture of prose (which is not like poetry but uses typical patterns and vocabulary) and poetry.
A mixture of monologue and dialogue.
Therefore, it has its own unique type of literature.
It contains more Hebrew words not found anywhere else in Scripture so it contains a rich diversity of language.
This book as I alluded to in my introduction wrestles specifically with two heart wrenching questions: “If God is all-loving and merciful, why do the righteous suffer?”
Secondly, “Where is God in life’s trials?”These are the kinds of questions that we will explore as we go along in this series.
There has been some debate about whether Job was a real person or just a figment of some author’s imagination.
I believe that the bible clearly states that Job was a real historical person who was married, had 10 children, and was a very successful businessman.
That he really endured one of the most awful and devastating trials that anyone has ever faced.
We see evidence of this in ,) as well as James refers to him as one who was severely tested by God (5:11).
Paul also referred to him in and .
I think it is sufficient enough evidence that if biblical authors say he was real, that is good enough for me.
He lived in the land of Uz which is in the region of Edom.
This would be modern day Arabia south east of the Dead Sea.
When he lived is widely accepted as during the patriarchal age which is the time of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
So this would have been about 2,000 B.C.
This is evident by Job living to about 200 years old which was comparable to the time period as Abraham lived to 205 years, Isaac 180 and Jacob 147.
Also, we read that Job’s wealth was counted in livestock which was common in those days.
By him sacrificing to God on behalf of his children reveals him as priest of the home which places him before old covenant priesthood in Aaron as the first.
The heirs of his estate was distributed including his daughters which was a practise not permitted under the Mosaic Law.
So this again points to Job living prior to the law given at Mt. Sinai in 1445 BC.
Who wrote the book of Job? Again, this is pretty difficult to prove 100% but it may have been Job himself as there is many details given that would be intimately known to Job.
Some have thought that Elihu wrote it as in order to know these details it would have required an eye witness of sorts.
Moses has been suggested as well since the land of Uz is near Midian where Moses fled to after leaving Egypt.
Some have thought Solomon or Ezra wrote it.
I tend to think it was Job or Moses and that is where I am content but I am not going to worry about authorship.
It is inspired by God for us and that is all I need.
Transition:
Now in having a bit of the foundation of this book laid out, let us turn to the main themes that are brought out.
Point #2 - Themes
Although this book contains many themes that will come about as we go through it there are four that must be highlighted.
Sovereignty.
This is the most obvious theme that we see in the message of this book.
Like the undercurrent in a river that always is there even if we can’t see it.
As much as we think this book is about Job, it is actually a book about God.
In the opening scenes of this great drama, we are able to see behind the veil into heaven’s throne room where divine decisions are made that affect both heaven and earth.
God controls Satan and restrains him from going any further than God allows.
He also controls man’s circumstances in that Satan is allowed to launch an evil assault on Job and his wife.
The book ends with God asking rhetorical questions to Job if he understands and can rule nature and the cosmos.
Our understanding of God’s sovereignty is fundamental to Job and to the readers.
God is God, there is no other who reigns supreme over all creation.
He does as he pleases, with whom he pleases for his own glory and for the ultimate good of his people.
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