Job 1:1a, In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job.
What kind of man was Job?
Job 1:1b-3, This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
- In Character: “blameless and upright”
- Spiritually: Monotheistic “he feared God and shunned evil.”
- As a worker: hard-working & wealthy! “the greatest man.. of the East”
- As a Dad: A spiritual leader
Job 1:4-5, His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.
Job’s horrible day
Job 1:6, 8, One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. … 8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
Job 1:9-11, “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
Job 1:12-13, The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house,
Job 1:20-21, At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.”
Job 1:22, In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
Chapter 2– Back to the Upper Story/Lower Story
Job 2:7-9, So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. 9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”
Job 2:10, He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman.
Another Turn…. 3 Friends Show Up!
Job 2:11-13, When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.
12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads.
13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
Literary Structure of Job
Job 3:2, “May the day of my birth perish,
and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’
Why So Much Suffering? Why Is Life Unfair?
Job’s Friends Response– Conventional Wisdom, “Job, Life isn’t Unfair”
Quick app: don’t assume that just because bad things happen to you, God is punishing you.
Job 38:1, Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm.
Job 38:2-5, “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
Job 40:1-5, The Lord said to Job:
2 “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
Let him who accuses God answer him!”
Job 42:4-6, “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
5 My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”
Why is Job Suffering?
Another Answer: Job, Life in Complex.
So, When you don’t understand suffering, trust God.
There’s more going on than you understand at the moment.
Job 40:1-2, The Lord said to Job:
“Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
Let him who accuses God answer him!”
Job 40:7-9,
“Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
8 “Would you discredit my justice?
Would you condemn me to justify yourself?
9 Do you have an arm like God’s,
and can your voice thunder like his?
Another Option: The Rolling Stones
Job 42:4-5,
“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
5 My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
Romans 8:28, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Isaiah 53:3, 4,
He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrow
John 11:36, “See how he loved him!”
For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is—limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death—He had the honesty and courage to take His own medicine… He has Himself God through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair and death… He was born in poverty and died in disgrace, and thought it was well worthwhile.” — Dorothy Sayers
