Living with Dragons
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Job’s Situation
Job’s Situation
There was a man in the country of Uz named Job. He was a man of complete integrity, who feared God and turned away from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters. His estate included seven thousand sheep and goats, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man among all the people of the east.
His sons used to take turns having banquets at their homes. They would send an invitation to their three sisters to eat and drink with them. Whenever a round of banqueting was over, Job would send for his children and purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned, having cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.
He was still speaking when another messenger came and reported, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house. Suddenly a powerful wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people so that they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, saying:
Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will leave this life.
The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.
So Satan left the Lord’s presence and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself while he sat among the ashes.
Job’s Complaint
Job’s Complaint
God should never have MADE a world with such SUFFERING in it. Job 3:1-10
After this, Job began to speak and cursed the day he was born. He said:
May the day I was born perish,
and the night that said,
“A boy is conceived.”
If only that day had turned to darkness!
May God above not care about it,
or light shine on it.
May darkness and gloom reclaim it,
and a cloud settle over it.
May what darkens the day terrify it.
If only darkness had taken that night away!
May it not appear among the days of the year
or be listed in the calendar.
Yes, may that night be barren;
may no joyful shout be heard in it.
Let those who curse days
condemn it,
those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.
May its morning stars grow dark.
May it wait for daylight but have none;
may it not see the breaking of dawn.
For that night did not shut
the doors of my mother’s womb,
and hide sorrow from my eyes.
God must not CARE about the SUFFERING of his people. Job 9:14-24, 7:12;
How then can I answer him
or choose my arguments against him?
Even if I were in the right, I could not answer.
I could only beg my Judge for mercy.
If I summoned him and he answered me,
I do not believe he would pay attention to what I said.
He batters me with a whirlwind
and multiplies my wounds without cause.
He doesn’t let me catch my breath
but fills me with bitter experiences.
If it is a matter of strength, look, he is the powerful one!
If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;
if I were blameless, my mouth would declare me guilty.
Though I am blameless,
I no longer care about myself;
I renounce my life.
It is all the same. Therefore I say,
“He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.”
When catastrophe brings sudden death,
he mocks the despair of the innocent.
The earth is handed over to the wicked;
he blindfolds its judges.
If it isn’t he, then who is it?
Am I the sea or a sea monster,
that you keep me under guard?
What did Job see?
What did Job see?
Job saw that his suffering came from CHAOS, not God’s PUNISHMENT. Job 3:8, Job 41:33-34; Isaiah 27:1; Revelation 12:9;
Let those who curse days
condemn it,
those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.
He has no equal on earth—
a creature devoid of fear!
He surveys everything that is haughty;
he is king over all the proud beasts.
On that day the Lord with his relentless, large, strong sword will bring judgment on Leviathan, the fleeing serpent—Leviathan, the twisting serpent. He will slay the monster that is in the sea.
So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him.
CHAOS does not outweigh the GOODNESS of God’s creation. Job 41:11-12; Job 38:4-15;
Who confronted me, that I should repay him?
Everything under heaven belongs to me.
I cannot be silent about his limbs,
his power, and his graceful proportions.
Where were you when I established the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
What supports its foundations?
Or who laid its cornerstone
while the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Who enclosed the sea behind doors
when it burst from the womb,
when I made the clouds its garment
and total darkness its blanket,
when I determined its boundaries
and put its bars and doors in place,
when I declared, “You may come this far, but no farther;
your proud waves stop here”?
Have you ever in your life commanded the morning
or assigned the dawn its place,
so it may seize the edges of the earth
and shake the wicked out of it?
The earth is changed as clay is by a seal;
its hills stand out like the folds of a garment.
Light is withheld from the wicked,
and the arm raised in violence is broken.
Job saw that God really UNDERSTOOD the depth of his SUFFERING. Job 41:19-29
Flaming torches shoot from his mouth;
fiery sparks fly out!
Smoke billows from his nostrils
as from a boiling pot or burning reeds.
His breath sets coals ablaze,
and flames pour out of his mouth.
Strength resides in his neck,
and dismay dances before him.
The folds of his flesh are joined together,
solid as metal and immovable.
His heart is as hard as a rock,
as hard as a lower millstone!
When Leviathan rises, the mighty are terrified;
they withdraw because of his thrashing.
The sword that reaches him will have no effect,
nor will a spear, dart, or arrow.
He regards iron as straw,
and bronze as rotten wood.
No arrow can make him flee;
slingstones become like stubble to him.
A club is regarded as stubble,
and he laughs at the sound of a javelin.
Job saw God ARMED and doing BATTLE with Job’s true ENEMY. Job 40:6-14, 41:1-7;
Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:
Get ready to answer me like a man;
when I question you, you will inform me.
Would you really challenge my justice?
Would you declare me guilty to justify yourself?
Do you have an arm like God’s?
Can you thunder with a voice like his?
Adorn yourself with majesty and splendor,
and clothe yourself with honor and glory.
Pour out your raging anger;
look on every proud person and humiliate him.
Look on every proud person and humble him;
trample the wicked where they stand.
Hide them together in the dust;
imprison them in the grave.
Then I will confess to you
that your own right hand can deliver you.
Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook
or tie his tongue down with a rope?
Can you put a cord through his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?
Will he beg you for mercy
or speak softly to you?
Will he make a covenant with you
so that you can take him as a slave forever?
Can you play with him like a bird
or put him on a leash for your girls?
Will traders bargain for him
or divide him among the merchants?
Can you fill his hide with harpoons
or his head with fishing spears?
Living with Dragons
Living with Dragons
God’s plans are BIGGER than we can UNDERSTAND.
God cares deeply about our SUFFERING—and he will DELIVER us.
Our comfort comes from knowing God’s CHARACTER, even when we can’t know his PLANS. Job 42:5-6; Romans 8:31-39;
I had heard reports about you,
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore, I reject my words and am sorry for them;
I am dust and ashes.
Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
Because of you
we are being put to death all day long;
we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.
