02 Nov Faith when life is painful 2

We all go through situations that are unfair, things we don’t understand, but God is sovereign. It’s interesting that the word “sovereign” has the word “reign” in it. God is showing us that even when things happen that don’t make sense we have to know for sure that God still on the throne. He’s still in control. He’s still directing our steps. When the medical report is not good, when somebody did us wrong, when we lost our biggest client, we may not understand it, but God is sovereign. He is the Most High God. He reigns over those circumstances.

Let we learn the sovereignty of God through the life of Job. 

I. JOB ACCUSED BY SATAN 

JOB 1:8-12:

[8] And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 

[9] 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.” 

[12] And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

God is having a dialogue with Satan. “Ah, have you seen my servant Job?” says God. “There is none like him in all the earth.” Satan looks at Job and says, “Does Job serve God for nothing?” Satan is saying, “Job is a phony. Job looks like he’s serving you, and he looks like he’s serving the poor and he’s serving other people, but he’s really serving himself. He’s doing good things for you and he’s doing good things for others, but only for his benefit. So bring suffering into his life, and this will expose him to be a fraud.”

Satan Take Job’s wealth and children as God had given him limitation to do 

JOB 1:18-19:

[18] While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 

[19] and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

Satan Attacks Job’s Health as God had given him permission 

JOB 2:4-6:

[4] Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 

[5] But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” [6] And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”

Satan wants suffering to come into Job’s life in order to discredit him and expose him as a fraud. What does God do? God allows only so much suffering as to completely refute everything Satan wants to do. God only gives Satan enough rope to hang himself. God only allows enough suffering into Job’s life as to actually accomplish the opposite of what Satan wanted.

And what is that? Satan wanted to discredit him, Satan wanted to expose him as a fraud, but God only allows enough suffering into Job’s life so that today, as we all know, Job has literally a name that will never die. Job is one of the most famous figures in the history of the human race. Millions of people have been helped and inspired by his example of bravery and patience and pathos.

A. SATAN’S PERSUASION AND PERSISTENCE 

Satan first attempted failed. 

Satan second attempted failed .

The story above are told us about the persistent of Satan to destroy relationships Job with God and makes Job to curse’s God. 

B.  SATAN’S LIMITED PERMISSION 

JOB 1:12:

And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

JOB 2:6:

And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”

Pay attention to the conversation between God and Satan. 

Who comes up with the idea to hurt Job? Satan. Who is the one who did the bidding in hurting Job? Satan. This tells us that God is not the author of pain and suffering. 

We know from the book of Genesis that when God created the world, he created a perfect world with no pain and suffering. But when we rebelled against God, we unleashed the force of death in this universe. This is where all the pain and sufferings came from. 

So we know from this dialogue that God does not intentionally and deliberately inflict suffering on Job’s life. Satan is the one responsible for it.

God is in absolute control. We don’t have two opposite force of good and evil fighting for supremacy. This is not the reality of our lives. Yes there is a force of evil that try to destroy us but that destructive force is not outside of God’s control. 

Again we see this in God’s conversation with Satan. 

Satan has to ask God’s permission to hurt Job. Satan is powerless before God.

1 CORINTHIANS 10:13

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

C.  SATAN’S PERSECUTION 

JOB 2:7-8

[7] So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

[8] And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.

The God that we serve and worship is not only the God who is sovereign over your suffering, but he is also a God who has purposes in your suffering. 

What is Satan trying to accomplish? 

Satan wants to make Job curse God. That is his goal. It is his ultimate goal in all he does. Satan wants to rob you of God and makes you curse God. So he inflicts sufferings on Job. 

Satan has a purpose in your suffering, but God also has a purpose in your suffering. And God’s purpose overrule Satan’s purposes.

JOB 42:2:

“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

So in the dialogue between God and Satan, Satan accuses Job of fearing God because of all the stuff that God blessed Job with. Satan fully convinces that if God allows Satan to take those things away, then Job would cease to love God. Job is a fraud. He doesn’t really love God but he loves the gifts of God. So God let Satan takes those gifts away. 

While Satan tries to makes Job curse God, God is going to use this suffering in order for Job to know that Job does not love God for what He gives but for who He is. 

JOHN 10:10:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

II. JOB ABANDONED BY HIS WIFE

A. HER ADVICE

JOB 2:9:

Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”

When things go wrong and don’t make sense, it’s easy to get bitter and go around discouraged, but if you put God on the throne, He is still sovereign in His throne. He’ll make a way where you don’t see a way. He’ll promote you when people try to hold you down. He’ll give you beauty for those ashes. He’ll restore you and bring you through the disappointment better than you were before.

B. HIS ANSWER 

JOB 2:10:

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 understands the grace of God. He understands that he deserves nothing but death but God out of the richness of his grace rescued Job and blessed Job. He is not entitled to any of it. It is all by God’s grace. If you are not familiar with the word grace, it means something that you received out of the goodness of God. You can’t earn it or entitled to it. God has the right to give and he has the right to take away. Not only Job understands grace but he understand the gospel. 

Job understands that the Gospel is not if you trust God you will get everything you want but if you trust God you get the whole God and that’s enough.

Satan has a purpose for Job’s life. And God permits it in such a way that Satan’s purpose will ultimately backfired and accomplished God’s purposes. 

That’s the reason why today we talk about Job. That’s why thousands of years later people still read about Job’s life and his courage, faith, bravery in the midst of suffering. If there is any common denominator in the life of every human kind it is suffering. And there is no book that deal with the complexity of suffering the way the book of Job does. Every other worldview on suffering will leave you hopeless. 

The book of Job tells us that there is hope in suffering. There is a purpose behind every pain. Pain and suffering is not meaningless.God accomplishes His grand purpose using Satan’s purpose for Job to curse God.

 If you understand that God is in control over your suffering and if you know that God has a purpose in your suffering, then you are able to begin to see the goodness of God in your suffering. 

But the goodness of God in our suffering does not come in a package that we want, as we will see in the life of Job. 

III. JOB ASSAULTED BY HIS FRIENDS 

JOB’S THREE FRIENDS

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.

Some of your friends have let you down. Some of your friends have actually been trouble for you when you went through your hard times. What are you going to do? Drop them? That’s just making you harder. The suffering is making you worse, not better. Forgive them. Job forgives the friends who let him down. If you’ve gone through suffering and people have

Pray for them. Do what Job did.

Why God gives Job back all kinds of blessings and good things? Because they’re not safe to have until you’re willing to serve God without them. 

Blessings are not safe for you to have until you are willing to serve God without them. Otherwise, they’ll become pseudo-gods, ways of salvation, things you put your hope in instead of God. 

III. LEARNING FROM OUR TRIALS 

1. TRIALS TEACH US PATIENCE 

JOB 2:10:

[10] 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.

JAMES 5:11:

Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

1. TRIALS TEACH US PERSPECTIVE 

JOB 2:10:

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.

The default mode of our hearts is to say, “Well, if I do this for God, he owes me here.” We may say we believe we’re sinners saved by grace, but deep in our hearts we still want to say, “But if I live a good life …” That’s what will destroy you in suffering.

If God shows up and says to Job, “Now Job, you’re going to suffer terribly, but you know, two thousand, three thousand years from now, they’re going to be talking about you in their churches. You will have a name that lives forever,” then Job will say, “Oh, okay. Well then I’ll put up with this suffering”. 

Don’t you want to be loved for yourself? Do you want somebody to love you for your money or for your looks? You say, “Well, that won’t be a problem. That’s not a problem with me.” Nevertheless, every single one of us wants to be loved for who we are. That’s right. It’s wrong not to love somebody for who they are. It’s wrong not to love God for who He is.

The only way you will ever learn to love God for who He is in Himself, for Himself alone, not for the benefits you get, is when suffering comes, you take it, and you rely on the grace of God instead of saying, “Oh no, you owe me, you owe me.” You rely on the size of God, and you say, “You know and I don’t.” That will turn you into a great heart. That will turn you into somebody who can help others. That will turn you into someone wonderful.

JAMES 1:2-4:

[2] Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 

[3] for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 

[4] And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

1. TRIALS TEACH US PERSISTENCE 

JOB 2:10:

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. 

The LORD Answers Job

JOB 38:1:

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

In this particular verse God is referred to not as Elohim, God (ELOHIM) which is the generic Hebrew word for divine being, but in this passage said as Yahweh.

It says in 38:1 : “Yahweh spoke out of the storm.” Yahweh is the personal name God gives to Moses in the burning bush. It’s his personal name He only gives to people He already accepts. Not only that, but this phrase answered Job is a very important Hebrew word.

When God talks to Satan, there’s a word that says God spoke to Satan, and it’s a Hebrew word that means one-way communication from a superior to an inferior, but when God speaks to Job, he uses a word that means reply or answer. It literally means to dialogue between friends. This is a deliberate juxtaposition. It’s supposed to deliberately startle the reader.

On the one hand, God is saying, “I am infinite. I am majestic. I am powerful. Of course you should be crushed by my power and my holiness and my justice,” yet out of that storm comes a voice of love. God is counseling Job. Yeah, it’s strong counsel. You know, “Where were you? Do the lightning bolts report to you?” Of course it’s strong counsel, but it’s tough love. It’s counsel.

He shows up in all of his infinite holiness and power, and Job is not destroyed. Job actually was afraid it might happen. Why doesn’t it happen? I’ll tell you why. 

Look at verse 8. 

Job 40:8: 

Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?

Do you see the place where God asks this question? Literally he says, “Must I be condemned that you be justified?” See that? That’s a question where he’s coming after Job, is he not? He’s saying, “How dare you vilify me and say, ‘Well, I’m living a good life, so I don’t know what the heck God is doing here’?”

God says, “In order to justify yourself, you’re condemning me.” He says, “Must I be condemned for you to be justified?” In the micro at that moment, the answer, of course, is “No.” Job needs to be quiet. Job needs to rest in the will of God. But in the macro, in the long run, the most amazing answer possible … The Bible says, the gospel says, Jesus Christ says, the answer to this question, “Must God be condemned for you to be justified?” is “Yes.”

Unless Jesus Christ came to the cross and was condemned, you can’t be justified. 

Do you see what happens? Jesus Christ, when he went to the cross and died for our sins … This means the infinite stormy justice of God is satisfied, but also the incredible love of God is satisfied at the same time. You now have a terrible but wonderful God, a God who’s so holy and yet so loving, so holy Jesus had to die, and so loving Jesus was willing and glad to die.

The cross makes God able, you might say, to be both holy and loving toward us … infinitely holy and infinitely loving at the same time. It’s because Jesus Christ bowed his head into the ultimate storm of divine justice and let it crush him. He was condemned in your place. Now, out of the storm of God’s holiness, all that comes for you, like Job, is a voice of love. That is your vindication. Who cares what the world thinks? God loves you. God knows you. That’s all Job needed.

What’s amazing here is Job actually says. 

JOB 42:5-6:

[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.”

He says, first:

“I heard of you with my ear, but now I see you with my eye.” 

Do you know what he’s saying? He is saying, “I had an abstract idea of the greatness of God, but now I’m having the experience of the might and wonder and size of God, so I don’t need an explanation.

Secondly, I kind of understood the grace of God in general, but now I actually see the infinite power of God, and somehow …” See, Job didn’t understand how. “Somehow, in spite of this infinite power and infinite holiness, you still love me. Therefore, I don’t need any other vindication.” When he says, “I repent,” literally the word means “I take back. I retract what I said. I take back my demand for an explanation. I take back my demand for vindication.”

He says, “As I see the size of God, I don’t need an explanation, and as I see the grace of God now, I don’t need a vindication. It’s enough that he loves me, and I know he knows what he’s doing, and I don’t have to.” He’s healed and is content, and it’ll heal you too. You see, what you have to do the next time this happens (and it will happen) … The next time you say, “I am suffering and I don’t deserve it,” there’s a little Salieri in you that wants to go evil, and here’s how you can avoid it.

You have to say, “Well, guess what? I was saved by a man who suffered and didn’t deserve it. He did it for me. That innocent suffering redeemed me, and now what I’m going to do is suffer innocently for him. I’m going to be faithful and trust him in it, and I know that’s going to work his redemption more and more into my bones and into my heart and make me something more like him.” After all, Jesus Christ suffered not that you would not suffer, but that when you suffer, you’d be like him.

 

 

Discussion questions:

1. What struck you the most from the sermon?
2. Read 1 Corinthians 10:13. What does this verse teach you about the trial Job experienced? How does it encourage you in your trial?
3. Imagine if you were Job. Your spouse told you to abandon God, and your closest friends said to you that God was punishing you for your sins. What would you do? What can you learn from Job’s responses?
4. Trials teach you patience, perspective, and persistence. Which one do you think you lack the most in your trials, and why?
5. Remember the trial you went through. Can you see how that trial made you experience more of the gospel? Share with others.