Feb 18 2018: The Year of Growing in Wisdom - Looking to Job to Find Answers

Today is the first day of Lent – it is a time of repentance, preparation, and testing. It is based on Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness and being tempted by the devil. And Sundays don’t count in the 40 days – just a little background. People talk about Jesus’ testing in the wilderness, but I thought that Job would be a good section – as a time of testing. So many things go wrong in his life. When we talk about Job, the question that inevitably comes up – why do good people suffer? Why do bad things happen to good people? If God is a good and loving God, why are there tsunamis? Why was there the Holocaust? And for us today – why do school shootings happen, like what happened in Florida this week? Why do we suffer? People will turn to the book to answer those questions – because we have the ultimate good guy and the ultimate suffering. There is much to be learned about suffering – but to answer the question – why do good people suffer? The book actually never answers the question – but rather, it demonstrates that the pat answers that we tend to give for those circumstances and situations are wholly inadequate – and it shows that we should be careful when someone is being tested – not to give pat answers in those situations. That is what happens in Job – and God makes it clear that those do not work and are not helpful.
Job, primarily – is NOT about suffering or dealing with that question – the question of Job is – Why is Job righteous? And a bigger question – is God JUST? Is God FAIR? Fair is not a great word – it is our word to describe things – justice is probably a better word.
One of the reasons I love studying the Bible – I often think – the writers here were geniuses! And it shows God is beyond genius!
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.
This is like the opening of Star Wars – Long ago and far away…. Job lived, probably 100-200 years before Abraham. We don’t know where Uz was! It may have been in Saudi Arabia or Iraq or Iran – there are a number of places called Uz. Job himself is not an Israelite – he is not Jewish – but was a man of ancient times. We don’t know when Job was written. It could have been anytime between Moses and 700 BC – narrowed down to 1000 years!
Job is mentioned in Ezekiel and James.
Job 1
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.
There was no question – Job was righteous – feared God – turned from evil. This line will be repeated very shortly – and this book wants us to understand that Job was righteous – he did nothing wrong. That will be questioned. But the writer tells us right off the bat – this is NOT a question.
2 Seven sons and three daughters were born to him.
10 kids – 10 is like the perfect number – 10 commandments – and 7 sons – 7 is a number of completeness. In their cultures, sons were more important than daughters. Job basically had the perfect family.
3 His possessions also were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants; and that man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
Think of going past a ranch with all these animals – with all the equipment – and now think of way back then – he had everything going for him. This is an epic story of one of the greatest heroes of the ancient world.
Job is written – more than just for us to understand the facts – that is part of it – but it is written in a very unique way. The first and last two chapters are narratives – and in between – discourse and dialogue written as poetry. There is all kinds of wordplay going on in the book. Like a discourse on George Washington – or Johnny Appleseed. Like with school children – we all got the story of George Washington and the cherry tree – it may have been apocryphal – but it taught us he was honest.
4 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 When the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, "Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did continually.
As great and devout as Job was – he had some misunderstandings about God. And they come up here at the beginning of the story.
Job was not at these parties, but he was concerned that they may have done something wrong while they were partying! He was so righteous – he would make sacrifices for his children just in case one of them messed up. We do the same things, don’t we? We don’t make sacrifices – but we hedge our bets with God in our actions and thinking. Job does not fully understand God’s ways – His love, grace, and wisdom. He is, in some ways, almost afraid of God. Boy, if something goes wrong, God is going to get me or my children. But this is setting up the story. His children are going to die and Job will suffer horrible diseases. Even though Job has done everything he could to prevent it. He thinks – if I don’t do this – disaster will come. And ironically – even though he does this, disaster comes! Job is, in effect, a gospel story. We should not judge Job too harshly – what He is doing is the normal thinking of his day.
We have the advantage of living on the other side of the gospel story – we all have things we think we need to do to secure our salvation – but it is all God.
From Moses to Jesus, Israel’s thinking was like Job’s – a misunderstanding of Grace and Mercy and an over-focus on what we have to do to gain God’s approval – and many of us do the same things. But we know that we can never earn our salvation or God’s approval by being good enough. That is the simplest lesson of the gospel – yet it is a lesson we have the hardest time believing. Job’s mission as a book is to unmask the holes and flaws in our views of God – and we need to allow God to do the same thing in our lives – where we aren’t seeing God correctly. We need to see, God is not like this.
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.
Just like each of Job’s sons had a day – now the sons of God have a day – and there are all kinds of opinions about what is taking place here – and I won’t go into those… in some heavenly council… - But I think a lesson here – there is a correlation between what happens here on earth and what happens in heaven. There are evil spiritual beings that are engaged in what is going on in our world. It is not just happening.
7 The LORD said to Satan, "From where do you come?" Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it." 8 The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil."
When God asks Satan – and let me say real quick in my Bible Geek – the word Satan – in Hebrew – is Satan. SATAN – they say Sa-taan’ – but that is the word – and it means ADVERSARY. So when they translated the Bible – they used it as a name – but here it is the satan – the adversary – and we know him as Satan – and God asks him a question of which God knows the answer! God does this all the time. Like in the Garden of Eden – Adam – where are you? He knows where Adam is! We hid because we were naked! Who told you that you were naked? God knows! What have you done? God knows!
The story is written to let us think that Satan believes that he is the one setting the agenda – but it is telling us in the way that it is written that God is leading and is setting up the agenda.
Like in a courtroom: Objection! He is leading the witness! But that is what God is doing! Satan is saying exactly what God wants him to say.
Have you considered my servant Job – blameless and upright, fearing God, turning from evil?
Satan responds just the way God wants him to:
9 Then Satan answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 "Have You not made a hedge about 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 put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face." 12 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him." So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD.
We think, Oh, my, God, how can you do this? But what is going on – there is a trial going on – and God is on trial – and Job is his star witness. God really is just, fair, love, and wise.
Satan basically comes to God – and says – Job is only righteous because You take care of him – You reward him – so he is righteous and blameless.
What Satan is questioning – is not so much Job, but God’s policies and ways – and that is what is on trial in the story! Is it fair for God to provide this protection for the righteous?
In the ancient world, there is a belief – a foundational principle – The Retribution Principle – it was not just a Jewish thing – but in the entire Middle Eastern world. God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. If you please the god(s), you will prosper. If you do not please the god(s), you will suffer.
The retribution principle – is that true? We think the same today.
If you prosper – that automatically means you are righteous – but if you suffer – that automatically means you are wicked. This is Wisdom literature – generally true and always exceptions.
How to Read Job – by John H. Walton,‎ Tremper Longman III - https://www.amazon.com/How-Rea...
– The triangle of tension –
The Retribution Principle – God blesses the righteous and causes the wicked to suffer.
God’s Justice –
Job’s righteousness.
When Job prospers – all is well and in balance. But as soon as Job begins to suffer – something is going wrong. Something is desperately wrong, his friends tell him. This shouldn’t be happening this way – why would God allow this to happen.
After we get the story in chapters 1 and 2 – the friends come in to try and defend the bottom right hand corner of the triangle – Job’s Righteousness – but they must also believe God is just. And they believe the retribution principle… and they conclude that he is not righteous.
But then Job tries to defend his corner – he is righteous – but he also believes in the retribution principle – so he questions God’s Justice. But then Elihu comes along – and he focuses on God’s justice – it is non-negotiable – and he also believes in the retribution principle – but then he sees that Job has done nothing wrong – so he comes up with a creative solution – that Job, although all his actions are righteous – there must be something wrong in his heart – he is self-righteous and proud of his righteousness. So that is why God is judging him! On the surface, that would make sense. Our view would be that maybe Elihu is the closest, but God comes in and says they are all wrong.
Practical things –
First – We need to be careful with wisdom literature, of taking it as a guarantee. We need to be careful of a misreading of things like Proverbs and other command/promises of the Bible – and God does reward us for following Him – but if we go through Proverbs believing it is a guarantee – we will begin to obey God with the wrong motives. Our motives will become askew. Ulterior.
Jesus says to not practice your righteousness to be seen by others or that others think well of you – don’t do it to feel worthy or accepted – the only motivation should be the love for God.
The second practical lesson – do you see that, like Job – God has built a hedge around you? And are you thankful for it? We think – I want to do/have done it on my own – but God has placed a hedge around us.
In our men’s meeting – one of the guys said: David gives me hope – he was such a dirt-bag – (his words) and he paid for his follies, but God still said of him – He is a man after My own heart.
How do we respond when God removes the hedge? We suffer – not like Job did – but do we do this stuff? Looking for the fault? How do we respond when the heavenly council meets and it is about us?!
Finally – Job’s suffering was all involuntary – it all came upon him. He was like an innocent bystander – and all of this is going on in heaven – and he knows nothing about it – and it is all affecting him. We are just trying to press on and BOOM! It might be health, finances, job – but it was involuntary.
Jesus suffered voluntarily. He chose – He decided – for our benefit, to suffer and carry the sufferings of the whole world.
And I’ll leave you with this last word: We need to, at times, to begin to choose to suffer for the benefit of others. We need to find ways – to pick up our cross for the sake of others. Let’s pray.