Serving the God of Job

The Man Job • 1:1 - Who he was: “pure and upright, feared

God and turned away from evil” (NET)• 1:2-3 – What he possessed: “the greatest

(richest) of all the people of the east” • 1:4-5 - What he did: “send and consecrate

them, … offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all”.

Satan’s attack on Job’s possession

• Sabeans: “oxen, donkeys, servants” (v. 14-15); • The fire of God: “sheep, servants” (v. 16)• Chaldeans: “camels, servants” (v. 17)• Great wind: “sons, daughters” (v. 18-19)

Job’s response: “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (1:21)

Satan’s attack Job physically

• Satan: “painful sores” (2:7 NIB)

• Job’s wife’s response: “Curse God and die” (v. 9).

• Job’s three friends• 2:11-13 “Job's three friends… sat with him on

the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him”

Elifaz’ message to Job

• 4:8 “those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same”

• 15:5 “your iniquity teaches your mouth” • 22:5 “Is not your evil abundant?” Source of his message: Experience and visions• 4:8 "As I have seen"; 4:12-21 " visions of the

night" (cf. v. 13); 5:3 " I have seen"; 15:17 "what I have seen..."; 15:18 "what wise men have told..."

Bildad’s message to Job

• 8:4 “your children have sinned against him”• 8:13 “Such are the paths of all who forget God”• Job 18:5 “the light of the wicked is put out”• 18:21 “Surely such are the dwellings of the

unrighteous, such is the place of him who knows not God”

Source of his message: What the fathers have searched (traditions)• 8:8-10 “Inquire, please, of bygone ages, and

consider what the fathers have searched out.”

Zophar message to Job

• 11:20 “the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last”

Source of his message: Legalistic

The message of Elihu

• 37:14 “Hear this, O Job; stop and consider the wondrous works of God”

• 37:22-24 “God is clothed with awesome majesty. The Almighty-- we cannot find him; he is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate. Therefore men fear him; he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.”

Job’s messages

• God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me. You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me (30:19-21).

• Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat! I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me (23:3-5).

The Message of the Lord

• 38:1 “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind”

• 38:4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?”

• 38:8 “who shut in the sea with doors”• 38:12 “Have you commanded the morning”• 38:17 “Have the gates of death been revealed

to you”

The Message of the Lord

• 38:19 “Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness”

• Ch. 38 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow… hail,” (v. 22),

• lightning (v. 24, NET) • the torrents of rain (v. 25), • rain (v. 26), ice (v. 29), • Pleiades/Orion (v. 31), clouds (v. 34)• “Lion” (v. 38), raven (v. 41)

The Message of the Lord

• Job 39, “mountain goats” (v. 1), • “donkey” (v. 5), • “Wild ox” (v. 9), • “ostrich” (v. 13), • “horse” (v. 19), • “hawk” (v. 26).• Job 40 “Behemoth” (v. 15)• Job 41 “Leviathan” (v. 1).

Job’s response

• 40:4 "Indeed, I am completely unworthy– how could I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth to silence myself (NET)

• 42:5-6 “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.“

• 42:10 “And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.”

So what

• There is an invisible spiritual war going on• Friends may not always know the mind of God

in our situation• Suffering is not always because of sin in our

life• God may be up to something• Stop complaining about things that are not

going your way; listen to God