Sunday: Let the Day Perish
Imagine that you are Job. Inexplicably your life, all that you have worked for, all that you have accomplished, all that God has blessed you with, comes tumbling down. It just doesn’t make sense. There doesn’t seem to be any reason, good or bad, for it.
Image © Erik Stenbakken from GoodSalt.com
Years ago, a school bus went off the road, killing many of the children. In that context, one atheist said that this is the kind of thing you can expect in a world that has no meaning, no purpose, no direction. A tragedy like that has no meaning, because the world itself has no meaning.
As we have seen, though, this answer doesn’t work for the believer in God. And for Job, a faithful follower of the Lord, this answer didn’t work either. But what was the answer, what was the explanation? Job didn’t have one. All he had was his extreme grief and all the questions that inevitably accompanied it.
Read Job 3:1–10. How does Job first express his grief here? In what ways might any of us relate to what he is saying?
Life, of course, is a gift from God. We exist only because God has created us (Acts 17:28, Rev. 4:11). Our very existence is a miracle, one that has stumped modern science. Indeed, scientists aren’t even in total agreement on what the definition of “life” is, much less how it came about, or even more important, why it did.
Who, though, in moments of despair, hasn’t wondered if life was worth it? We’re not talking about the unfortunate cases of suicide. Rather, what about the times when we might have, like Job, wished that we hadn’t been born to begin with?
An ancient Greek once said that the best thing that could happen to a person, outside of dying, is never to have been born at all. That is, life can be so miserable that we would have been better off not even existing, and thus be spared the inevitable anguish that comes with human life in this fallen world.
Have you ever felt the way Job felt here; that is, wishing you had never been born? Eventually, though, what happened? Of course, you felt better. How important it is for us to remember, then, even in our worst moments, that we have the hope, the prospect, of things improving.
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We have many questions without answers. Many that have been debated for many years, such as the big bang theory. As the story of the atheist and the school bus reasons that,there is no meaning to life. One would have to determine why they were atheist. We asked the question last week why do bad things happen to good people? This is an age old problem especially for the Christian that has Faith in God as recorded in the Bible. A number of Biblical texts are normally used in an attempt to answer the question. When confronted like Job the answer doesn't become any clearer unless we qualify to be like Job. As we see Job has questions. Our finite minds struggle for believable answers.
Hi Paul, in a video presentation of the last week's lesson study ... the speaker spoke about the difference between "imposed law" and "design law" and my eyes were opened to the real reason of suffering in the world. We (humans) broke the original law of God and the whole earth is suffering the consequences.These design laws are testable and the same result happens all the time. For example the law of love -says if we are forced to love,then we rebel; the law of exertion - if we don't exercise/practice we will lose the ability to grow/excel and we die. The bottom-line is suffering comes as a result of breaking the natural laws of design which God made and comes not as punishment from God, but rather as a consequence of our actions (or that of our fore-parents). I hope this helps.
We are all "Jobs"; those of us who are his children.
His "creation groans in travail" is "Job" afflicted by Satan.
We are his "creation"; and like his "creation", we carry the beauty of the rose during most of the day; and must also endure the pain of "wilting" in the evening.
And like Job, we are his workmanship in his good works;that despite the beauty of the morning and the pain in the evening, we can say as Job said..."doesn't the creator do a lot of good; then what is a little adversity".
Good and evil coexisted in the very heaven of God; and like as God allowed this coexistence till he threw out evil from his godly heaven; so good and evil will coexist on earth till he also chooses to destroy evil for ever.
Evil originated in heaven in the heart of Satan. Satan transferred evil from his heart to the heart of any willing to join in his rebellion.
Evil is destruction;as good is restoration. Wherever there is evil expect destruction whether directly involving us or directly involving the environment next to us.
And similarly is good; with "both growing till the day of harvest".
"And to make all men see what is the 'fellowship' of the 'mystery', which from the 'beginning'of the 'work', 'hath been hid in God', who created all things by his son.. to the '''intent'''that now unto the principalities and the powers in heavenly places; will be known the manifold wisdom of God;as his church on earth worships him despite Satan's charge that no one can. Ephesians 3:9-21
Job proved Satan was wrong; vindicating God...Jesus proved Satan wrong..."thou shalt worship the Lord thy God only..."!
And every true child of God proves Satan wrong when he has the mind of Jesus "be in him". He then walks and talks like his master.
We are all in tragedy on this world, no one could never across the calamity of this world.
Some people they defying creation of the world, and they says there is no God, but to me, those who think like that, they delude themselves for wrong idea.
Some time, if you get problem, you should have to cry and you seek God
and you said God help me,after that if your problem is over, you should have run faraway from God.
And you are calling God during your problems.
And why we denying his great role?
Remember that, if you tumble in calamity, be patient until God remove you safely into your problems.
As human beings we tend to panic and become confused when subjected to suffering. Even today we usually magnify our problems through complaints as if God does not care.
What I like about Job is that desire the severity of his case and his lack of knowledge as to the source of evil, Job 2: 10, He still refused to curse God. In cursing the day he was born I think he was saying that the only way to avoid suffering was to avoid being born. This he does despite thinking that God was responsible for his suffering. As for us we don't have to curse our birthdays since we know who is attacking us. The hope of a better life and knowing that everything in this world is temporary should help us through our trials.
Satan said to Eve; " if you eat of this fruit you will be like God knowing good and evil." God had no intention we should experience evil. We chose to experience it on our own. Sin is senseless if you or Job tries to explain it's reason, then you can justify it's exsistance.
Robert, Please note also that what Satan told Eve was the truth. "you will know good and evil". It was the choice she made, (the breaking of God's command 'not to eat of the fruit') that brought about our suffering. The wages /consequences of our sin is suffering, and ultimately death. Great post
Visa Ngwenya I total agree with you. Praise the Lord. Could not have said it better.
I need an explanation to this. Was Job totally unaware of the battle between good and evil during his day? Job did not born a righteous man, he chose to live a righteous life. Therefore he committed to stay away from evil and to do what was right in the sight of God. Please explain. I am trying to wrap my mind around the idea that Job had to have known about the battle for the soul.
I am sure that Job, like us was aware of good and evil. He certainly understood moral behaviour, but like us the extent of non-causal evil is both puzzling and challenging. We understand and expect causal evil and pain. Eg if you smoke then you are more likely to get lung cancer. But why do the innocent suffer? Our hearts cry out when we see an innocent child struck down with a debilitating disease. Anybody who thinks about nature asked why does nature have to be so cruel. The issue is that so much evil is not the result of bad decisions.
This is the essential root of the discussion in the book of Job. A lot of the arguments of Job's friends are centred around the notion that Job had done something bad in the past and that the evil was the result of cause. The essential lesson of Job was that the real evil of evil is that it does not have to have a cause,other than that of an evil power behind the scenes. It is interesting to note that the book of Job does not ever record that he found that out. God offers assurance that he will always be with Job but there is no revelation to Job that an evil power was at work behind the scene. There is no explanation; no formula of "if you do this, then that won't happen to you."
And in spite of all our "knowledge" about an evil power now, maybe we are not in all that different position to Job. When faced with in-caused evil, and the suffering of the innocent, we still ask why. And the promise of God is still the same - I will be with you.
Evil is never going to play on a level playing field. We are always going to be faced with "unexplained" evil - that is why it is called evil.
There is a corollary to all of this for those of us who claim to be Christian. If we are part of God's mob, then we have to practice the presence of God to those who are suffering the effects of evil. Much of the condemnation in the prophetic writing of the OT is directed to God's special people who forgot to practice the presence of God to the needy, the suffering innocent, the widows and so on. Maybe we need to learn from their history and share the presence of God with the suffering innocent who are in our area of influence.
Though Job was living up to his convictions faithfully, he was still on the same planet as we. By offering sacrifices for his children shows that he understood that there was a great controversy. He knew that sin exicited. He knew that evil was to be resisted. Like Jesus he learned obedience by the things that he suffered. The last few chapters of the book will show you how righteous he real learned he was in the sight of God. Like Paul Harvey would say; "you will have to stand by for the rest of the story. Good day."
Whenever you are going through something... a death of a child or close relative, a terminal illness, a loss of a job, or any kind of loss; there's always someone around that will say "It'll all get better with time". You have probably told someone else that same thing as well. The hurt and the pain does improve with time, but it never goes away entirely; sometimes, I wished it did. These hurtful experience, as bad as they are, do have a purpose; some of them, we will never know the reason why. However, some of these experiences are to draw us closer to God; such as, to depend on him when we lose our job and our home. He will give you a better job and a home that meets your needs(some of us are living above our means). But other painful experiences, we will have to just moan and groan to God as Job did, and pray that we remain faithful to God. Be blessed!!
Job was aware of the battle between good and evil. He was also born a sinful person as we are today but he did not have the finer details that we have today. For instance, he knew nothing about the conversation between God and Satan in chapters 1 & 2. Because of this he believed that God was the one who was attacking him, Job 2:10; 6:4. This would have been the same conversation that would have revealed to him the one who was attacking him . As the battle continues God reveals to us more and more light as the devil intensifies his attacks.
Although Job might have learnt a lot from those who had lived before him about the great controversy, far much more has been revealed through his story, the history of the Israelites, the new testament as well as the writings of sister White. God gave him what was enough for him to survive the attacks of the devil during his time and nothing more.
Lets remember unlike us today Job had never witnessed God deliver somebody from suffering, no bible to read God's promises and not enough theological information.He could exercise his faith in God
Whenever you are going through something... a death of a child or close relative, a terminal illness, a loss of a job, or any kind of loss; there\'s always someone around that will say \"It\'ll all get better with time\". You have probably told someone else that same thing as well. The hurt and the pain does improve with time, but it never goes away entirely; sometimes, I wished it did.
These hurtful experience, as bad as they are, do have a purpose; some of them, we will never know the reason why. However, some of these experiences are to draw us closer to God; such as, to depend on him when we lose our job and our home. He will give you a better job and a home that meets your needs(some of us are living above our means). But other painful experiences, we will have to just moan and groan to God as Job did; and pray that we remain faithful to God. Be blessed!!
This lesson reminds me so much of my dad. I was blessed with wonderful Godly parents who faithfully served the Lord. However, at the age of 13 my sister died of Luekimea and my dad was devastated, spiritually and personally. I was 12 but I remember it vividly. My mother's faith never wavered. My dad had been so sure my sister would get well because of the promise "ask and you will receive" - so when she did die he rebelled in his grief, saying there was obviously no God. Our home was no longer a place of prayer. Yet God never gave up! I now imagine Him weeping along with my dad over the injustices of life, for it wasn't His plan. He gently but surely wooed my dad back over the next couple of years until my dad again became a faithful stalwart. None of us have the insight as to why things happen in our lives but Job's story teaches us that we must trust in God for when things seem out of control, God is still in control. As we emerge through the trials in our lives they simply teach us to trust Him more. I am so grateful for His love for and patience with me.
It is upsetting when anything you come close to goes wrong. You can search your heart only so much. And if there isn't an answer, it is like being under water not knowing which way is up.