The Road to Emmaus#14 Job

God owes me (or does He?)

“There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.” (Job 1 v1)

Job is introduced as a faithful man who loves and fears God – he seems like the “super-Christian” we all aspire to be. No-one is perfect but Job seems to have come pretty close.

So we look at Job and think that he deserves to have a good life – he deserves to be blessed by God and it looks like he has been:

“There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.” (Job 1v2-3)

But then we are shown a conversation between God and Satan

“Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around 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. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face” (Job 1v9-11)

According to Satan, Job only follows God because God has been good to him – if all that was taken away then Job would give up on God. So God, who is still in complete control of all situations allows this to happen.

Job loses everything – his children are dead, his livestock, property and wealth have all disappeared and his health is in ruins too. Job has nothing left…except God. Job’s suffering is not a punishment for some slip up (although his friends accuse him of a secret sin which has caused this suffering). Suffering is not logical or easily explained – we can’t always point to a reason. Suffering is not a punishment.

As Christians we are guilty of thinking that if we obey God and live as Christians that we deserve happiness, healthiness, wealth, success etc etc. The problem is that this “prosperity gospel” isn’t Biblical, it isn’t true and its actually really dangerous. It teaches that we use God, not that God uses us.

We only have to look at Jesus to see that it isn’t true – Jesus was the only perfect man and He lived a life that was 100% dependant on and obedient to God. Yet was Jesus rich, popular, successful? No he was poor, homeless and hated. The truth of the gospel is better than the lies of the “prosperity gospel”. Living a life which glorifies God and looking towards the hope of our perfect eternity in Heaven is better than anything that the world can offer.

“It’s possible that God’s plan for us is littleness. His plan for us may be personal failure. It’s possible that when another door closes, it’s not because He plans to open a window but because He plans to have the building fall down on us. The question we must ask ourselves is this: Will Christ be enough?” – Jared C Wilson

“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.  And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1v20-21)

Job is a story of incredible suffering – but also of incredible faith. As Christians we still suffer, we still feel pain but it is our response that sets us apart. We don’t have to pretend that grief doesn’t hurt, but instead we fix our eyes on Jesus who is the light in our darkness.

�1 Rachael Gamble

The Road to Emmaus#14 Job

The true and better Job

Job was called “upright” and “blameless” but he was still just a man. Everyone has sinned, everyone messes up. There is only one truly innocent man – Jesus Christ the son of God.

“He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth” (1 Peter 2v22)

And we see Job go through suffering but Jesus suffered more than we can ever understand. His suffering had a purpose:

• Jesus took the sins that we have committed – every sin that has been or will be and he paid the price through his suffering on the cross and because Jesus paid for our sins we can be forgiven.

“He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities.” (Isaiah 53v5)

• Jesus was perfectly obedient to God in a way we can never be – He was obedient to God even though it meant horrific suffering and because of the cross God looks at us and sees the perfect obedience of Jesus.

“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2v8)

• Jesus defeated death by suffering death. Over Easter we’ve been celebrating that death has been defeated and Jesus has risen. We sing “Now death where is you sting? Our resurrected King has rendered you defeated!”

“That through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” (Hebrews 2v14-15)

Throughout his suffering Job was surrounded by his friends

“Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.” (Job 2v11)

However his friends were not helpful –his wife encourages him to curse God while his friends start inventing secret sins to try and explain what’s going on.

“You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.” (Job 22v7)

They’re so unsupportive. We can learn that to be a supportive friend we don’t need to have (or invent) answers. Yet in the end Job prays for his friends, the very ones who condemned him and blamed him for his suffering.

“And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to you folly” (Job 42v8)

And we can again see Jesus through this picture – Jesus is the true and better Job who prays for his friends and prays for us, as Christians, also.

“For I have given them the words that You gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them” (John 17v8-9)

�2 Rachael Gamble

The Road to Emmaus#14 Job

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one” (John 17v20-21)

Jesus prays for the church that they would be one – He prays for unity amongst believers. Unity is difficult – but it is something that we have in the cross but also something we have to work at. We all have to put the effort in and remember that what unites us in Jesus is bigger than whatever else divides us. Unity demonstrates to the world that we have something better.

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Questions

1. Do you ever think that God ‘owes’ you for being a good Christian and for following Him? 2. Is it easier to be a Christian when things are going well in your life or when things are difficult? 3. Have you ever thought that your suffering was a punishment from God? 4. What is your first response to suffering? Do you blame God? Run away from Him? Try to fix it

yourself? 5. What similarities can you see between Jesus and Job? 6. How and why do you think Jesus suffered? 7. Were Job’s friends helpful when he was suffering? What can we learn from them about helping

our friends who suffer 8. Have you ever thought about Jesus praying for you before? What would you expect Jesus to pray

for the church? 9. Why is unity so difficult for the church? What can we do to promote unity?

�3 Rachael Gamble