Studies in Job: Part I, "The End"

“The End”

Sabbath School Study

October 1, 2016

Introduction

Every history class I have ever taken starts at the beginning—the beginning of some period of time—never the end.  Wouldn’t it make much more sense, however, if history classes began first with the end in sight?  We could then better see how historical events led to the concluding events of that epoch or even the world itself.  Even the Bible begins with the end in sight:

And I will put enmity

between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and hers;

he will crush your head,

and you will strike his heel.” (Gen. 3:15)

The historical event then makes it clear how that end is being played out now.  But when we are in the middle of a crisis, logical questions arise. We cannot see far.  Our frustrations mount. We often blame one another and eventually even God is blamed. 

We see this happening when God led His people out of the Egyptian slavery.  With the scent of freedom in the air, they meet their first crisis.  They cannot see any solution.  The dust clouds of Pharaoh’s approaching army is seen in the horizon barreling down upon them. The Red Sea blocks them from moving forward or so they think.  Faith in God wanes and they turn on the one whom they can see.  It was Moses who brought them to this point.. They are in the middle of a redemptive event but they cannot see it. They see only what is threatening them.  Fear dominates. Blame permeates the crowd. What they cannot understand becomes the fuel for accusations. Like the Pharaoh they are fleeing from, they in essence cry out, “Who is the Lord . . . I do not know him (Ex. 5:2)  Faith and trust in God is being tested.

Later, much later, a prophet of God by the name of Habakkuk looks around at the political scene and becomes overwhelmed.  He too raises questions.  He doesn’t understand why God doesn’t do something NOW!   Habakkuk says,

How long, Lord, must I call for help,

but you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, “Violence!”

but you do not save?

Why do you make me look at injustice?

What Habakkuk concludes after raising these important observations has become an reassurance to me.  I find it a helpful backdrop, for my study of Job.  There is a reoccurring pattern in the Bible. After all of the questions, sincere questions, Habakkuk come to a conclusion:

Though the fig tree does not bud

and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength;

Hab. 3:17-19

“Blameless” Job Has Questions

1.     Job also had questions in the midst of his suffering.  Were they legitimate questions?    

Catastrophe not only hit Job but also his family and even some who were associated with him as well.  With sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head (1:7) Job cries out,

“Why did I not perish at birth,

and die as I came from the womb? (3:11)

(and)

Or why was I not hidden away in the ground like a stillborn child,

like an infant who never saw the light of day? (3:16)

(and)

“If only my anguish could be weighed

and all my misery be placed on the scales!

It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas—

no wonder my words have been impetuous. (6:2,3)

Have you ever wished you had not been born?  Ever feel like life is just too heavy to bear?

Clearly Job did not understand what was happening to him or why?

As paradoxical as it is, “Suffering is not only the way Christ became like us and redeemed us, but it is one of the main ways we become like him and experience his redemption." 

CS Lewis wrote: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

 Do you agree with Lewis?  Why?  Does it work? Has pain gotten your attention and broadened your understanding of God?

Have you ever been through a trying or difficult situation that you could not understand why it was happening and felt unfairly treated either by people or by God?   Then you have a friend in Job!

2.    What key principle did God raise with Job? (Job 38:1-4)

Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

“Who is this that obscures my plans

with words without knowledge?

Brace yourself like a man;

I will question you,

and you shall answer me.

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?

Tell me, if you understand. (Job 1:1-4)

Job’s trouble began when a storm (“mighty wind”) struck (1:19) and now God speaks to him “out of a storm.” (38:1).  In the midst of storms we face God often asks us what He asked Job.  Will you doubt Me because you don’t understand what is happening to you and to those around you!  Think again.  You have a limited understanding yet one thing is clear, I do have a plan and it is at work now.  Bear with me. Trust me.  You will understand more later.

3.    What was Job’s confession about God in 42:3?  About himself in 42:4,5?

a.     About God: “You (God) asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand.” (42:3)

b.     About himself: Recognizing that he had complained about things he really did not understand, how did he feel then” (42:6)  “Therefore I despise myself

and repent in dust and ashes.””

c.      What has happened to Job through ordeal he had been through:  He had grown in wisdom and understanding of both God and himself.—2 sides of the same coin.

4.    What is the greatest complaint God had with the three friends of Job? (See 42:7,8)

a.     Speaking to the three friends God said, ““I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” (v.7)

b.     “My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” (v.8)

c.      “Cynicism is the essence of the satanic. The Satan believes nothing to be genuinely good – neither Job in his disinterested piety nor God in his disinterested generosity. Faith in God’s goodness is the heart of love and hope and joy and all other radiant things: cynicism is studied disbelief; and a mind turned in upon its own malice is the final horror of the diabolical.  (Tyndale Com)  [ Definition of cynicism: an inclination to believe that people are motivated purely by self-interest]

                                              i.     Does Satan have a valid point, that people serve God only for what they get from Him? (1:9,10)

d.    Why do you think this truth is so important? What insights does Job 1:7-11 present about why this truth might be so important?

“The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” (Job 1:7-11)

5.    What did Job learn from his ordeal?  Were his questions answered?  What happened that caused this change?

Ironically, as the book ends, Job never fully understood the big picture.  He admits that. (42:3) We have no indication that he ever knew of the conversation that God and Satan had nor how he, himself, fit into the evil scheme of Satan.  But what Job learned through his ordeal was enough. 

While still sitting on the ash heap, his bitterness fades.  He repents of the abusive words he had directed towards God.  No longer is God someone in the “history books”, “My ears had heard of you.”  But now His personal encounter with God changed everything! –“but now I my eyes have seen you.” (v.5)

6.    Was it Job’s “repentance” (v.6) that brought his restoration or was it something else? See verse 10)

What do we learn from this? Which of the following are lessons that come from the book of Job?

a.     Hurry up and repent?

b.     Treat others with kindness, including those who hurt you?

c.      Know God – allow each experience to lead you to a deeper understanding of God while allowing God to be God.?

Conclusion

Illustration of a little girl and her mother trapped at a WalMart by the rain.  “We won’t get wet. That’s what you told Daddy . . .

Job: “I know that my redeemer lives,

and that in the end he will stand on the earth.” (Job 19:25)