Another Very Bad Day
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Another Very Bad Day
Another Very Bad Day
We are taking a look through the book of Job. It is going to be a bit dark and troublesome for a while.
But, there are some parts that we will see as we go through that paint some positives about the Lord.
Here is something to keep in mind.
Grief can be an act of worship
The CHARACTER Job is portrayed as someone who is unfairly going through tragedy because of something happening in the unseen realm.
And it is UNFAIR.
Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
This is a repeat of the opening formula from last week.
Now that we have read it once and we saw what happened to Job, we should be thinking:
Oh no…what will happen now
Yes! God was right about Job and the adversary will be punished.
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”
God is calling attention to the adversary’s judgement against Job, that it was not correct.
That is important…The Adversary’s JUDGEMENT is wrong.
God calls this spirit out for doing this for no reason. LIKE LOKI, just playing with the humans with no care for them.
God cares for the humans, but this spirit does not.
Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life.
Interesting....
With all the loss, the adversary recognizes that Job does not believe HIS LIFE is in danger.
Job is righteous, he is blameless, that is God’s judgement.
The adversary makes a charge against Job and against GOD’s JUDGEMENT.
SKIN for SKIN is the adversary saying TO GOD, you are WRONG in your JUDGEMENT!
That is the core challenge.
If you lost everything would you believe you could not live?
But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.”
But, please send out your hand and strike his bone and his flesh, then will he not bless you to your face?
The LORD said to the adversary, “Look! He (Job) is in your hand, only guard his life.
Job 2:6
The adversary must GUARD Job’s life. But everything else is up for grabs.
So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
Don’t draw a conclusion that all skin sores are evil imposed by the adversary.
And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.
The scene is set.
This is where Job is going to remain, sitting in this ASH PILE until the last chapters of the book.
LET THE REAL TEST BEGIN!
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”
QUESTION: What is the adversary LIMITED TO?
A: Job’s body. His BONE and FLESH.
In Genesis 2 the man recites a poem when he sees the woman.
“…bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh...”
But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Is Job claiming God has given evil to him?
Is it fair?
No.
It is not a model for the garden.
Does the ADVERSARY have a choice?
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.
And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven.
Why do they sprinkle dust?
Where does human come from?
The DUST
Where does human return?
The DUST
It is like sprinkling death on themselves. It is a way to identify with suffering.
And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
Grief can be an act of worship
“Shall we also receive good from (the) God, and shall we not receive evil?”
(receive, accept, take, embrace, decide, interlink)
Job has a healthy outlook.
He is considering all the good
In light of the current evil.
Now, SENSITIVE AREAS...
When evil comes on us young, it often impacts any good that comes in our life.
And if we have had good in our life from our youth, then when evil comes, it can cancel all the good.
Job is innocent, and his GRIEF is going to be poured out in some amazing ancient poetry.
Job wants and believes he should be dead.
But he is not.
And that has him confused.
He believes that God has preserved him.
But he cannot (yet) understand why.