2nd Evangelical Free Church

What does experience show us about God?

Job 12:

Job phrases his reply to Zophar in words that include the arguments raised by Eliphaz and Bildad. Perhaps they had good intentions for what they said, concerned as they are with Job’s healing. Yet they have accused him of foolishness, arrogance and stupidity. Job tells them that he is as wise as they. He knows all their arguments, all their wisdom. Yet he admits he knows one thing more: his experience has told him that the rigid idea of God’s retributive justice is belied by experience. His own suffering tells him that the righteous indeed suffer bad things for no apparent reason.

 

In addition, as Job observes the world God’s ways seem arbitrary and inexplicable. Wicked men prosper unmolested, while the good and the innocent are oppressed, enslaved and subjected to a multitude of sorrows. Job also sees great injustice as he observes the animal world. Tame, docile creatures such as sheep, cows and goats all are victimized by ravenous predators without cause simply because this is how God made them. Finally Job notes that kingdoms and rulers rise and fall without any valid explanation. Good nations rise only to fall to the might of wicked ones which fall victim to those even more wicked. Job essentially feels that God does as He pleases and this seems unjust. As Job wrestles with this inconsistency, his thinking leads him to conclude that God is much more mysterious and infinitely vast than he previously thought. His ways are not ours.  

Meditate & Apply: Does God play by your rules? Does He seem unjust, arbitrary and unfair? How would you like Him to act and why?

How can we argue with God? Or can we?

Job 9

Job resents Bildad’s persistent assertion that he has sinned and needs to repent. If he is so obviously at fault, why hasn’t someone told him what he did to deserve his predicament? Job does agree with Bildad that the Lord is just, but what he is experiencing has him baffled. His tribulations make it seem that the Lord is not fair or just for He apparently sends afflictions not only upon the sinful but also upon the righteous and in an arbitrary manner. His confusion about God puts him in a better place to learn truth and wisdom than his closed-minded friends for his struggle to make sense of it all leads him to the Lord.

Yet when Job considers arguing with God or filing a suit against him in a court of law, he finds this impossible. God is supreme; He makes the rules. He has created all things and He controls all things. All that happens in the universe is under his sovereign power. He limits the most ferocious of beasts. He controls the deadliest and most powerful of storms and natural disasters. He sets boundaries upon the oceans and the heavenly realms so that nothing happens by chance. A man cannot dispute with God and tell Him He is wrong for allowing anything that occurs, good or bad. Such an assertion assumes that man knows better than God and this is just not possible. Man needs an arbiter or umpire who would allow him to speak to the Lord without fear of reprisal. Job did not know this, but that intermediary, that one who negotiates for us is Jesus.

Meditate & Apply: Should you be afraid to tell God what is really on your mind? Do you think it is okay to tell Him what is really bothering you about what He’s doing in your life or the world? Why or why not?

Doesn’t God always bless the righteous?

 

Job 8

Job’s friend Bildad seems to be quite upset by Job’s response, by his failure to admit to sin. He continues to stress the “wisdom” Eliphaz presented about the certainty of God’s retribution. Since God always blesses the righteous, it must be assumed that Job has sinned: all those who suffer pain and deprivation are surely being punished by God for wickedness. Therefore, according to Bildad, Job’s children earned their untimely death because they had sinned. Bildad’s rigid type of thinking will not allow him to consider that God could act in another way or that He would allow the innocent to suffer, for any reason.

 

Bildad’s statements are rather callous considering the context of Job’s suffering and grief. He should refrain from speaking because, though he is called a friend of Job’s, he really does not care about his spiritual or emotional well-being. And he does not really know his friend. If he did, he would know that Job was blameless so there must be another explanation for his tribulation. Neither does he know God even though he asserts emphatically that he does. To admit the Job’s experience contradicts his concept of God would challenge and upset his personal views of a nice neat orderly world in which God’s behavior was predictable. There is no room in his life for a God of supreme mystery and awesome wonder.

Meditate & Apply: We have all endured our share of suffering, pain and grief. During such times has anyone ever told you that you were being punished for sin? How did you feel about that? Were they right? Why or why not?

We fear the lack of control.

Job 6-7

Job’s response reveals that he is very upset and that is an understatement. Eliphaz has mocked his pain and revealed that he does not know Job at all. His friends came to help but Job finds that their advice is as unattractive as unseasoned food. Their counsel is as empty and lifeless as a dry stream. As a counselor and friend, Eliphaz is totally useless and wrong for, as Job announces, he is blameless. He has done nothing to bring this catastrophe upon himself. He is right with God. Job continues to maintain his innocence before them and before the Lord. If he has sinned, then show him what he has done so that he may repent and make himself right.

 

In response to their accusation of sin, Job accuses Eliphaz and the other 2 friends of being fearful of God, afraid that by associating with Job in his pain, they will suffer the same thing. Their nice comfortable little reasoned view of life has put God in a box where, to a large degree He is under their control. So long as they please Him, they figure they are safe from trouble. Looking at Job they are afraid to even think that this is not so. The reality is that God will often act in ways that mystify and confuse us, filling us with fear and turmoil. We think that if we just do all the right things and say all the right prayers God will be obligated to us. This of course puts us, not the Lord in control. It may be nice to think this way and even teach it as do those preachers of the gospel of health and wealth. Yet experience tells us that bad things do happen to good people for reasons that only God knows. He does not have to share those with us.

 Meditate & Apply: Do you think complaining to God about what He is doing in your life or about some perceived injustice makes sense? Does that invite Him to wreak havoc on you? Why or why not?

How can words of wisdom become words of foolishness?

Job 5

Eliphaz continues to speak out to Job about the necessity of repentance. He assumes that God always does good and that he only punishes evil. Therefore it is foolish to argue with this basic truth. Since the Lord is disciplining Job, it must be for a sin or sins he has committed. He needs to ask God for forgiveness. Eliphaz’s speech is filled with Biblical wisdom and statements of God’s greatness that remind us of the Psalms. They inspire confidence in God who rewards those who walk in obedience and punishes the wicked. What Job is enduring is God’s discipline. The best thing to do is cooperate and learn.

 

Yet as wise as this advice sounds, it is highly inappropriate and wrong. We readers know this because we were privy to what Satan did at the permission of the Lord and why. Neither Job nor Eliphaz are aware of this. Yet even so we can tell that Eliphaz does not know or really care about his supposed friend. He assumes he has sinned. He ignores Job’s pain as he makes mention of those calamities the Lord will deliver the righteous from: those calamities are the very ones Job has suffered. This statement of great wisdom, meant to encourage and instill hope becomes an insult, a proclamation that is insensitive to Job’s pain and sorrow. True friends are wary of making such hurtful statements to those in pain.

Meditate & Apply: When you were in sorrow or pain, what did your relatives and friends tell you that was helpful? What was harmful or insensitive? Think of these things when you next must provide consolation.

Is sin the cause of all suffering?

Job 4

We encountered Job’s 3 friends in the 2^nd chapter. They appear to be wise men there because they keep a silent vigil with the grieving man. Silent presence is an act of wisdom. Often the only thing we can do is sit with someone who is grieving or facing serious pain and/or death. Sometimes we cannot speak because we do not know what to say or because we feel their pain deeply and, we, too, are overcome with grief. But more often, we do not speak for fear we will say the wrong thing or utter empty platitudes that sound right, true, and noble but which make things worse or entirely miss the point.

 

Unfortunately, once Job speaks, his friends feel the need to respond to his outburst in an attempt to make things better, to make him see reason. Their dialogues with Job explore some of the ways that people thing and speak when coping with sorrow and tragedy. Eliphaz begins by stating the obvious answer, based upon Biblical wisdom, the law of retribution. Bad things happen only as a result of sin. If you are good you will have minimal or no problems in life. Hence, Eliphaz, tells Job, he has sinned and brought this tragedy upon himself. He backs up his statement by claiming to have heard a revelation in the spirit, a whisper in the night which ought to stress to Job his need for repentance.

Meditate & Apply: Though sin is sometimes the cause of our suffering, how does Eliphaz miss the point?

Why me?

Job 3

In the first 2 chapters we are told twice that Job did not sin even after he lost everything. In fact, he blessed God. Now as he speaks we realize that he is not happy or filled with joy. Rather he is filled with questions, doubts, turmoil, confusion and overwhelming sadness.  He does not know why these things have happened to him because he knows he has not done anything wrong. He is still operating under the misconception that a good life will always, without fail, reap rewards and blessings. This idea has been so challenged by his experience, that his concept of God, his entire view of a nice orderly world has been blown apart.

As he tries to come to terms with his confusion, he voices his complaints, his feelings of woe. He comes dangerously close to stepping over the line by cursing the day of his birth in a way that seems an attempt to reverse Creation itself by cursing the light. Job thinks that death is preferable to his present state because at least then he would be resting and at peace. We may think that such words are sinful, that no one should give utterance to such ideas, as this is unbefitting to a believer, a lack of faith. Yet which of us can say that we have never felt such things or even spoken them? Which of us have never been in such a situation that we despaired of life because we had no clue what God was doing or why He was or is allowing us to endure what we are enduring? Which of us has not jumped to the easy conclusion that God is punishing us for sin? We want easy answers as Job does but there are none.

Meditate & Apply: Have you ever cried a prayer of deep sorrow to God? What resulted from it?

Why do I have problems? Why do I suffer?

 

Job 1-2

The book of Job raises some questions about the nature of life which challenge our preconceived ideas about why we suffer. Like those who preach a health and prosperity gospel, we all would like to think that because we are believers we should never be sick, needy or poor. We think that any kind of suffering is a result of sin, of a failure to follow God’s laws and rules. If we do everything right, we will never have any problems. Yet we see here that Job was such a righteous man. This meant that not only did he have little or no sin in his life he was also generous and kind to the poor and promoted justice for the underprivileged and the oppressed. He was so conscientious that he even offered sacrifices for the sins his children may have committed unawares. He followed God’s law and was richly blessed.

 

God was very pleased by Job citing him as the epitome of godliness before His angels. He boasted to Satan of his righteousness. Satan challenged God, maintaining that the Lord was deliberately protecting him from harm. Satan then voiced the idea that Job was good only because of what he could get, not out of love or a sense of committed, loyal service and worship. God knew that this was not the case, so he allowed Satan to afflict Job with catastrophic suffering and pain which reduced him to nothing. He allowed this to make it clear that Job served with sincerity but also to demonstrate the underlying principle of life: He is in control; being righteous, following rules and laws do not guarantee prosperity and health. Ultimately, riches and poverty, success and failure, health and sickness all result from His sovereign will, not our actions.

Meditate & Apply: What does Satan mean when he says Job does not worship God for nothing (1:6)? Why do you worship and serve God? Do you expect guaranteed blessings in return?

What is this Song of Solomon's all about?

Song of Solomon.

These 8 chapters are taken as a whole for they convey one thought: extolling the joys of the sexual relationship within marriage. Now in times past the Church Fathers, the reformers and many Evangelical scholars have all interpreted this book as an allegory of relationship of the Lord to the believer or the relationship of the Lord to His Kingdom, Israel or the Church. In addition others have interpreted the images of the shepherd as indicative of Jesus and His love for us. Such interpretations may be nice but they downplay or neutralize the true intent which we might perhaps find embarrassing: the joys of sexual relations between husband and wife.

As we recall from Ecclesiastes every thing that God has given us is to be used in the way He intended. This is true of His gift of sexual pleasure. Our society focuses on sexual pleasure as if it were the key source of true contentment and happiness. This is the wrong focus. Sexual pleasure is but one aspect of life, an important one, but not as important as a right relationship with the Lord. Sexual pleasure is enjoyed only within the context of a loving relationship between a husband and wife in which each is committed to pleasing the other and not the self at all. Sexual relationships outside of marriage all seek gratification and pleasure for the self, often by using others as objects or by abuse. Such actions are sin. They will not honor God or satisfy us, but will only lead to sadness. Solomon knows this from first hand experience and wants us to be spared his pain. So glorifying sex in marriage is appropriate for it conveys to us the wisdom of trusting God and waiting for marriage. 

Meditate & Apply: Are you convinced that sexual intimacy is to be enjoyed only within marriage? Why or why not? How is this reflected in the things that occupy your life?

How does Solomon describe the aging process?

Ecclesiastes 12.

The images Solomon uses in this final chapter convey to us with great force the certainty of old age and death. He describes for us the aches and pains and failing strength and health that will afflict us all, albeit in varying degrees and different rates. He desires to show us how foolish it is to pursue the pleasures of the flesh as our main goal in life. One day we will no longer be able to derive any pleasure from them. All those things which we thought satisfied our lusts and gave us enjoyment will fail to gratify us. This is because we will have become jaded and bored or else we will be suffering from a host of maladies that result from a life of drunkenness, overeating, overstimulation and self-indulgence.

 

These pleasures of the flesh are given to us by God for us to enjoy His goodness. We must use them properly while we can, and in the proper way, not in excess or selfishness. We are to balance work and pleasure so we may enjoy both. We are to use all the talents, abilities and possessions that He has given us in the way He intended them to be used. Despite what our culture says is important, it’s preoccupation with self advancement and personal fulfillment, we are to use our talents and possessions not for our selves or for our own entertainment. Rather, we are to use all that we have to while we can to help the poor and needy, to seek justice and comfort for the oppressed and bring the good news of salvation in Jesus to those who are enslaved by sin and the devil. These are activities that honor Him and give us joy.

Meditate & Apply: Are you using the gifts God has given you properly? Or are you waiting until you are older to live for God? What does Solomon tell us about the folly of pursuing self while young? Will you reap a harvest of bitterness and dissatisfaction in your later years?