Sunday: Job’s Protest
Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar had a point: God does punish evil. Unfortunately, that point didn’t apply in Job’s situation. Job’s suffering was not a case of retributive punishment. God was not punishing him for his sins, as He would do with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
Image © Erik Stenbakken from GoodSalt.com
Nor was Job reaping what he had sown, as can so often be the case. No, Job was a righteous man; God Himself says so (see Job 1:8), and so Job not only didn’t deserve what had happened to him, he knew that he didn’t deserve it. That’s what made his complaints so hard and bitter.
Read Job 10. What is he saying here to God, and why does it make so much sense, considering his circumstances?
At times of great tragedy, have not those who believe in God asked similar questions? Why, Lord, did You bother to create me at all? Or, Why are You doing this to me? Or, Would it not have been better that I had never been born than to have been created and face this?
Again, what makes it all harder for Job to comprehend is that he knows that he has been faithful to God. He cries out to Him: “‘Although You know that I am not wicked, and there is no one who can deliver from Your hand’” (Job 10:7, NKJV).
There’s a difficult irony here: in contrast to what his friends said, Job was not suffering because of his sin. The book itself teaches the opposite: Job was suffering here precisely because he was so faithful. The first two chapters of the book make that point. Job had no way of knowing that this was the cause, and even if he did, it probably would have made his bitterness and frustration worse.
However unique Job’s situation, it’s also universal in that it is dealing with the universal question of suffering, especially when the suffering seems so greatly out of proportion to whatever evil someone might have done. It’s one thing to go over the speed limit and get a speeding ticket; it’s another to do the same thing to kill someone in the process.
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We must trust Him who is faithful no matter the situation.God is just,we are precious metals and may be put in the fire to remove the dross.God's ways are higher than our own.We may suffer for a night,but joy WILL come in the morning.Yes suffering at any measure is hard,but remember the cross!We are victors in Him who gave his all and bore our griefs.Fight the good fight,for our families fighting cancer HIV and all the ugly things we face in this life,don't give up don't give in. lean on the everlasting arm Who never fails. love you all.
I don't think that God wants us to suffer. We suffer because there is an evil power out to smear and discredit the character of God. However, if we let him, God can use our suffering to strengthen us and develop our character.
This is very powerful i am also touched by your soft and yet powerful exhortation. I wish all that you have summed can make a tremendous difference in all of us .
thank you so much you inspired me and have made my day. May God increase your wisdom.
Readibg Job s words in many of the book s chapters, i realised dat although God declared him 'upright and blameless', he still had a lot to learn. One more testimony of God s patient loving kindness for us He doesnt need us to be perfec5 before we come to Him. We come aa ww are- and He performs the cleansing work; until we understand Him fully and appreciate His wonderful love.
Some of da wrong things brother Job said in chapter 10;
“I loathe my very life;
therefore I will give free rein to my complaint
and speak out in the bitterness of my soul
3 Does it please you to oppress me,. . .while you smile on the plans of the wicked?
6 that you must search out my faults and probe after my sin—
7 though you know that I am not guilty
8 ... Will you now turn and destroy me?
9 ... Will you now turn me to dust again?
14 If I sinned, you would be watching me
and would not let my offense go unpunished.
15 ,,. Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head,
16 If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion
and again display your awesome power against me.
17 You bring new witnesses against me
and increase your anger toward me;
your forces come against me wave upon wave.
18 “Why then did you bring me out of the womb?
I wish I had died before any eye saw me.
19 If only I had never come into being,
or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!
20 Are not my few days almost over?
Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy
21 before I go to the place of no return,
to the land of gloom and utter darkness,
22 to the land of deepest night,
of utter darkness and disorder,
where even the light is like darkness.”
Were i a friend to such a bitter soul, i woukd also be tenpted to respobd harshly like Job. Inasmuch as his friends sinned, Job equally sinned by refusing to be comforted. These men spebt 7 days with him in an effort to empathise with his plight- is he showing any sign of gratitude?
Instead, he lashed out at God and his good friends. So much fo a blameless man...
We must suffer because we are God's children. We become 'speckled birds' just because of that. The jealous nature of the enemy we cannot undo.knowing however, that we have a peculiar standard to set regardless, and that God has set an hedge around us- what he allows he allows and what he doesn't allow is still what he allows; is a proof that we can over come. Jesus has given a sealed contract for our salvation.
Hi Francine, I need to understand your statement; "God has set a hedge around us, what He allows He allows, and what He doesn't allow is still what He allows" - my understanding of praying and asking God to protect you and your family by putting a hedge around is asking Him to keep the devil and his evil intent away. Job's situation was different, his hedge of protection was removed for a time because God gave the Satan permission to try and prove his point.
As humans, we always ask why? This is because we are always searching. In all experiences God allows some things and he doesn't allow some things as he sees it fit to relate to each one through his or her level of faith. In all our experiences God allows us to go through it.(1 Cor 10:13) for a witness. This is the road to salvation.
There is a theology that subscribes to God's permissive will and God's active will. I am still trying to totally accept that. Until then, I prefer to believe that it's either God's will or not. So, I reason, in Job's case it was God's will period.
As we were able to see from the previous week's lesson, even the just and faithful in the society do suffer and the question of why God? is still asked all over, the last week lesson quite made it clear that we suffer due to the great controversy that is unending but under this suffering we are assured that God is and never will be a sleep to our suffering Ever. So hope lies at the end of the Tunnel for the faithful in Christ.
I don't believe that anyone is all just or all faithful-just a bunch of faulty humans with different circumstances, different temptations, temperaments and trials who one day might be tempted to make a choice that they wouldn't on a different day. We can have joy at least in that God knows all and loves us.
Job was just caught up in a battle between God and satan. Similary our suffering today is not in our battle field. The battle is not ours, it is the Lord's. Ours is to hold on to our faith and look up to Him the author and finisher of our faith. His victory is ours in Christ Jesus.
Thank youth Jesus. Mighty God of Daniel condescend upon us now. Indeed it is a battle. We cannot fight on our own (Eph 6:10-18). Re teach us through the life experience of Job that exists in your word. Amen
God didn't cause Job's suffering- but He allowed it. In a pragmatic sense, isn't that the same thing? And He allowed Job to suffer to prove a point. How was that fair or right for Job? I get "tried in the fire to perfect us". But Job was a righteous man. I am struggling here...
I think it helps to realize that life isn't "fair." We should teach our children that from infancy. If we remember that if life were fair - if we got what we truly deserve - we would have died from the "wages of sin" long ago, the lack of fairness shouldn't disturb us too much. Jesus also taught that "life isn't fair" when He told the parable of the servants in the vineyard. (See Matt 20:1-16)
Christ did not promise us "fairness" in this world. In fact He said, "You shall be hated by everyone." (Matt 10:22, Matt 24:9) Suffering is the result of living in a world of sin governed by the enemy of God. In fact, if Satan had his way, none of us would have a moment of happiness.
But, through Christ, suffering can be turned into something positive. We can learn to trust Him more and the world less. In that process, our characters are refined.
And it is even possible to experience joy in suffering (2 Cor 8:2). It is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22) experienced by those who focus on Christ, not themselves.
As a side note: I have found that my greatest spiritual growth occurred in times of suffering and uncertainty. It forced me to cling closely to Christ, and you cannot get close to Christ without eventually being filled with His peace and joy. (See John 14:27, John 15:11)
Every time I get deeper into God's word I see my inadequacy. Your expression reminds me of the question, why didn't God kill Lucifer the moment he sinned? If that was so,(God could have done that) we wayward humans would blame God for 'spiritual robotism'. Having the better side of things, freedom of worship by choice we can utter 'my God is awesome! Please note, Job was perfect in God's eye and not man's. Also, he was living in a sinful world.
we are nothing but a piece of clay on the potter's wheel to mold us and make us into a usable vessel, but first we must all be empty of self and sometimes it is a bitter experience, but if we will just wait and watch what the Lord does in and through us, how can we do anything but praise Him as He develops us to better His cause. We only have worldly vision. If only we could have the eye salve of heaven to see that God wants only to prosper us and never to harm us. Oh to look at myself and see my life as never going against God's will for my life. Job had it right.
Amen
Sometimes we experience or people we know have experienced suffering that you reach a point where you say
What did I ever do to deserve this?
Lord please let me rest,
Lord come now am weary because if you delay any longer I won't last.
We get confused like Job did and start saying: "am I really serving the real God/ the true God? Because what am experiencing is totally different from the promises He made to me?"
Let's remember we are not privy to what goes on in the spiritual world (but we have an idea from Jobs story).
We are to remain faithful and trust God, after all, we all have had instances where we say ' that was God' because you have no explanation for the miracle that has happened i.e. we have experienced God's goodness. We are also advantaged because we have Jobs story to learn from, to know that it is not always evil that is punished but that God is trusting us to come out as winners because He believes in us
This quarter's lesson is meant to strengthen us. To encourage us. To teach us .To inspire us and those around us now that we see more suffering and agony in this time and period.
Let's learn from Job.
Sabbath school page designer-the picture of the man crying on the beach is very sad and I think effective.
Going through the lesson that we find in the book of Job, I so understand now not everyone going through sufferings deserves all that happens to them. At times, like in the case of Job, God sees our capabilities, and allows us to go through sufferings to give a lesson to others. At the same time we can be reminded of Christ himself for suffered for our sins, yet without sin himself. Sometimes what we go through may be a referral from God just like He did with job, that many maybe saved through our difficulties. Let those who have eyes to see the good things in someone's misery life, not only the bad part of it. In fact, through everyone's sufferings, Jesus Christ's image is portrayed.
I am struggling with the sweeping statements made towards Jobs character and innocence. In several bible verses such as in 2 Tim 1:7 we are told that the spirit of fear comes from the devil and not God, and in Proverbs 10:24 it suggests our fear will attract bad events to our lives. In Job 3:25 Job confesses that he harboured a certain fear and things have happened just as he had feared. So Job was not completely innocent here. He had within his human nature portals that provided entry points for the devil once the hedge of protection was removed. Despite his sense of good conscious towards God his sacrifices for his children were not driven by a desire to draw them to God, but rather by fear to protect them from God's wrath. Job was only innocent by the mercies of God but guilty when left to stand alone.
We have to be careful about the translations. How much indepth study do we engage in? What word has here been translated as 'fear'? Might it be that Job saw these things as a possibility? If he did, it would cause him as a righteous man to walk circumspectly, which he did. It would prompt him to follow the counsels of God , in case it would preserve them. Why does God ask us to intercede for others?
Did Jesus fear separation from His Father? Did he pray only as an example to us, or did he pray as a real preparation for the battle he himself must face? Job acknowledged that the dangers we face are real and the care we take should be just as real.God honoured Job's obedience and even boasted of it as he wants to be able to do concerning each of us. It is this stance (exemplified by Job) that shuts the mouth of the avenger.It highlights Satan's lies especially when he claims, God's laws cannot be kept.
Who of us can stand 'righteus' by our own merits? Its no surprise that Job's words and attitude are wanting. It is the righteousness of Christ that puts us right with God- not out actions. For it is by grace that we are saved through faith. Our own righteousness is just but filthy rags in the eyes of God.
The story of blameless Job with an attitude problem, proved to me that indeed, God s grace is real and huge. We thank God for his unconditional acceptance.
The suffering that Job faced in the presence of his friends was painful & humiliating. He felt their mockery, the shame & scorn that they poured
on him. He did nothing wrong, neither did Christ. May God help us to bear the same sufferings & pain & weaknesses that we also experience. Let us not worry about the things people say about us , even in the church, It is none of our business. Keep the focus on Jesus. Why do people crave for acceptance by everyone
and when it is not forthcoming we get downhearted and wrongly accuse others of not being merciful & forgiving of our sins.I repeat,
it is not our busines to worry about what others think about us. Let God be our Judge.
"Job was suffering here precisely because he was so faithful."
When you turn up at a dinner and realise that you cannot partake in the meals prepared,and When you prefer to fast until you can eat, to please the one who deserve our love. Most likely your faithfulness is the cause of your suffering.
It’s easier to understand suffering, in the case of retributive punishment or reaping what we sow. We read about it but we never truly consider suffering as a result of holding steadfast to the cause of Christ. We forget that the more faithful we are, the more of a target we are to the devil. Whether it’s steadfast faithfulness or an un-relentless desire to be faithful which is translating into action. For God to have called JOB faithful and upright, however we wish to interpret it, signals God's confidence in a man who he knew amidst evil would fear him. The devil is attracted to those possessing spiritual greatness because in his book, that is an even greater win and God was willing to risk that because he knew JOB. God will never allow the devil to inflict us with more than we can bear and knowing this and understanding the backdrop to the story of JOB, we should be able to overcome whatever perils, knowing that even through it all, like with JOB, he will be right there and our faithfulness will be rewarded.
We are to be faithful to our creator also we have to understand what is suffering in the retributive punishment, we should understand that Job is suffering not because of his sin or that of his children but precisely because of his faithfulness to God, he did nothing wrong neither did christ , also we have experience God's goodness, pls note this, Job is upright in God's presence and not mans. Also he was living in a sinful world.
Bible passages such as Job, Hebrews 11, Romans 8:28, etc, are very comforting to know while living in this world of sin. God created a world that was "very good", and no one argued the point when He declared it. Rather, the "morning stars sang together and ALL the sons of God shouted for joy".
God's Word, the precious lamp for our feet and light for our path.
After my son's head injury he suffer terrible pain so he could straighten his limbs again. I would lean in to his ear and say this sucks rocks and you don't have to like it. I believe God has a similar attitude with us. He stays ever so close and whispers hang in there it's only temporary and he will carry us through it.