Have You Considered My Servant Job

     People have always thought well of you.  You have much to be thankful for, your possession plentiful, and you have a close-knit family.  You are a devoted believer; you place God first in your life.  As you age, you find yourself worrying more about the welfare of your kids.  You wonder, will they remain faithful to God?  You acknowledge God for all the blessings He has bestowed upon your life.  But then, unexpected news arrives, and life unravels. 

     Now, looking back on this, you realize that there is no way to describe how blindsided you felt, the day all of your children perished in a house fire.  They had been celebrating a birthday in the house of your eldest.  You probably would have been there too, but you had second-thoughts knowing that alcohol was flowing freely.  You preferred not to see your children’s behavior compromised.  Sometimes things got out of hand.  You prayed for your children often, hoping this phase would pass quickly.  Little did you know that it would be the last time you would see them alive.  You wished you could hold each of them one more time and tell them how very much you loved them.  Now it was too late.  Why had this happened?

     Overcome by grief, your brother-in-law arrives with news of the chemical explosion at your business.  Employees perished, and the building was a complete loss; everything you had set your hand to accomplish, your lifetime achievement, gone!  The tow-truck arrived as you watched them load your luxury car, the repossession a complete shock.  You reached your insurance agent on the phone only to learn that your office manager had failed to pay the last two premiums.  She left unexpectedly last week.  You had a suspicion of embezzlement, now confirmed.  Your wife forgot to tell you about the call you received, revealing you no longer had coverage.  You felt your chest tighten.  She was listening in on the conversation as she apologized.  She had had too many things on her mind.   You chose to love her despite being disappointed in her failure to communicate.  You remind yourself that she, too, has just lost all of her children.  You offered the hug she desperately needed.

     God reminds you of the song you just sang last Sunday in worship, “You Haven’t Failed Me Yet.”  You are beginning to believe differently.  Would you sing those words again?  You decide to praise God in the storm; what choice do you have?  God is your rock and your salvation.  Who else can help you find your way through this tremendous grief?  You pray for peace.

     You can’t imagine your life getting any worse.  Just before bed, your wife reminds you, ‘at least you have your health.’  You chose not to tell her that you’re not feeling all that well.  Your bones ache, your throat feels scratchy, and you just discovered that you have a skin rash around your waist and it begins to hurt.  You have heard of a rash that can be brought on by stress.  You wake the next morning, sure enough, you could barely tolerate the weight of the sheets against your skin.  The pain is intense; you surmise you have a full-blown case of shingles.

     Your wife never told you that she contacted some of your old high school buddies, hoping that they could come and cheer you.  Upon first sight of you, they were overwhelmed and couldn’t speak to you for days.  They just sat and stared at the rash that now covered your whole body, face, and now your eyes were beginning to swell shut.  They watched you moan and groan.  It was impossible to enjoy their company; this was no time to talk about the good old days. 

     With no forewarning, your friends’ demeanor quickly changes; they had been whispering in the other room, now their accusations came to light.  What was wrong with them?  They reminded you of how God chastised Cain, in his anger, and told him that sin was crouching at his door.  “When you do better, you get better,” they said.  You blinked your swollen eyes in disbelief.  How could they accuse you of such things?  What were they implying?  It sounded an awful lot like judgment.  Anger pounded in your temples as if you were not feeling lousy enough; now you had a migraine.    You begin to defend yourself, knowing that only God could vindicate you before them.  Were you going to lose your reputation too?  God knew of your desire to please Him and recognized your obedience to evaluate your heart often and confess your sins.  You couldn’t think of a single unconfessed sin.  You tried.  You said, “if only God would answer me in my distress.”  They said you were not worthy of having an audience with God.  You said things that ruffled their feathers.  Now you understood the song, “If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no friends at all.”  You weren’t sure whether to still call them friends.  Although you still had your wife, she refused to comfort you.  She had sided with your friends.  You refuse to listen to their advice; you cursed the day you were born.

     A young preacher-type speaks up; he's young enough to be your son.  He had been sitting in a dark corner for days listening and shaking his head from side-to-side.  You wonder whose side he is on.  He speaks abruptly; his face is red, you wonder about his blood pressure as you see the veins bulge in his neck.  Apparently, he is mad at your friends.  Without warning, you learn that he is upset with you too.  He tells you that you must listen to his words.  What choice do you have?  He doesn’t accuse you of hidden sins, but he tells you what he has observed.  He says, “you talk disrespectfully about God.”  He stresses the importance of immediate repentance.   As you consider what he is saying, no words come to mind.  You sit dumbfounded.

     At that moment, a thundering voice shakes the ceiling as if an earthquake were next.  You realize it is the voice of God.  You tremble in fear like you’ve never experienced.  God is in the room.  You start to speak and you hear the command, “SILENCE!!”  God challenges you on the many accusations and assumptions that you have made about Him.  He begins to ask questions and your brain turns to mush.  No logical explanation can cover your opinion.  You’ve made God too small.  You feel terrible as you realize how disrespectful you’ve been.  He is God and you are not.  You humbly fall prostrate on the floor and beg for His forgiveness.  God lifts you up; you feel enveloped in His love.  “Forgiven,” God says.  God is Big; you marvel; God is Very Big!

     Your name is Job.

Discuss:

1.  Describe what it would feel like to have God tell you that you are making Him too small.  Could this be true about you?

2.  Do you think we should engage in evaluating God’s justness?

3.  How might we explain human suffering to someone who believes in Karma labels it as a consequence of sin? 

4.  What is Common Grace?

5.  Describe what it feels like to suffer for no apparent reason.  Has this ever happened in your life?

6.  If someone were to as you to rectify the reasoning why God would offer Job to Satan, what explanation would you use?    

7.  How might we teach others that Karma is a man-made philosophy?

8.  Describe something that has changed in your life as a result of suffering.