God’s Positioning System: Job’s Story (February 7th)
Job 1:1 – 22
What do you know about Job’s life? Let’s listen to chapter 1 and discover his story.
1.) Wow. A lot happens to Job in the first chapter! As we let Job’s story sink in to our hearts let’s affirm these thoughts. *Job was a blessed man. *Job blessed God with his life. *Satan tried to tempt Job to curse God. *Job loses all of his livestock/wealth and children. *Job praises God in the midst of his loss and suffering.
It was that last insight that led me to focus on Job’s heart as he 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 1:21)
Those words reveal Job’s trust in the Lord that seems amazing, almost miraculous. When you consider all that Job has lost how can he say those words? How can Job praise the name of the Lord? I ponder those questions.
If we look ahead to chapter 2 we realize that Job was also afflicted with a skin disease that caused him to personally suffer pain and great discomfort. Yet, in all of his loss he praised God. (See Job 2:7, 8, 10)
2.) As I was thinking about Job’s words a visual picture came to mind. The picture is of a person with lots of coats, or jackets on. Here is what made me think of this. We enter the world without anything. We are given provisions and blessings like a person is given clothes. The different layers of clothing can be another layer of blessing or provision. So these different layers can be experienced as blessings if they help us or they can be burdens if they hinder our lives. So, keep the image of the different layers.
3.) So we enter this world naked, vulnerable and without anything. We are given blessings to our lives. We are given people to care for us, we are given clothes, we are given food, we are given purpose and direction, we are given a personality, and gifts and skills. Then we begin to acquire material things in our lives. We might get a H S or College degree, gain skills, or certification in a trade, we might gain experience at a job, start a business. We might get married and have children. Each is like another layer.
4.) I was thinking of when I left my childhood home in 1981. All I owned (except for some college books and a stereo at a friends home) could fit in the back of a Vega Station Wagon. I headed from Pennsylvania to Indiana with my stuff and life experiences. I did not have many layers to my life. I remember it being exciting and scary at the same time.
I think about my life today. I have a wife, three children, clothes, cars, a home, enough material possessions that I can’t fit them into the back of a Vega Station wagon. (Do any of you even know what a Vega Station Wagon looks like?) I have lots of layers to my life.
5.) So, the picture I have of my life now is a person with lots of layers, like coats, on me, in a sense covering my soul. Can I praise the name of the Lord with all of these layers? Could I praise the name of the Lord without them?
Let’s say I lost all of my material possessions (take off coat), could I still praise the Lord. Let’s say I lost my children (take off coat), could I still praise the name of the Lord. Let’s say I lost my health (take off coat), could I still praise the name of the Lord?
This is what Job did. He was able to trust God amidst the loss and suffering that he experienced.
6.) We can read in chapter 3 through chapter 37 the conversations that Job and his friends had about suffering. When we suffer loss I believe it causes us to wonder, discuss, to talk, to speculate, to question. All of that is found in these chapters.
The book concludes in Chapters 38 – 42 with God speaking to Job about who He is. Job repents, acknowledges that He doesn’t understand and turns away from his selfishness to God’s perspective. God then blesses Job with more family and livestock than he had before.
7.) Job trusted God regardless of his circumstances. That is a vital truth that we need to focus on. God needed to remind Job of who He was. The words that are found in chapter 38 contain some great insights to lift our vision. When we go through times of loss we need to have our vision directed to who God is. Let’s read a few verses from the 38th chapter of Job. (Read verses, 4 – 6, 12, 16 – 18, 34 – 37.)
8.) There was a man who was suffering a lot. He and his wife went to the doctor and the doctor runs a bunch of tests. The doctor talks to his wife about the results. The doctor says that he cannot have any stress in his life that she must make sure that every thing he needs he gets. He must be waited on every hour, every moment. The wife is very somber when she hears this. She loves her husband. You can tell that a real struggle is going on inside of her as she listens to the news.
Finally the wife walks slowly to meet her husband in the waiting room with the doctor. The husband wants to know what the doctor told her. The wife says, “Honey, dearest, the doctor said you are going to die.”
9.) How do you respond with suffering and loss and the belief in God? Some people, it seems, experience tragedy that seems unfair. They lose family, they lose wealth, they lose personal health.
You might have wondered in recent days about the suffering of the people of Haiti. They are already one of the poorest countries in the world. Why did they have to suffer? Why did Job suffer?
10.) The celebration of communion involves remembering Jesus, who suffered for us. We lay our lives down before the Lord in humility. I invite you to yield your lives, surrender your life, give it to the Lord today. Give all of your layers to the Lord. Can you say, “I came into the world with nothing and when I leave I won’t take anything with me. So I choose to Praise God.” Lay down your life, knowing that it might be taken from you some day.
If you are struggling with loss, grief and volatile emotions read the rest of Job and see how the Lord can guide you.
Pray for someone you know who is going through a time of loss and suffering as you affirm your trust in God and your willingness to praise Him in times of gain and loss.
