I’ll Never Get Over This | Job 42:1-6

Opening Remarks:

How many of you like school? You need therapy. People that like school are the same crazy people that like the Dentist. Most of us don’t like school because of the tests. They stress us out. Some of you never study and you still pass. The rest of us don’t like you. We don’t care about you’re A+. Let us rejoice in our C.

A hard test is no fun, especially a life test. When something happens in life that just about breaks you. Ask Job. Job was a man who faced some incredibly difficult tests of life. But his response to the tests can provide some real help to us. So please turn to Job 1, which we’ll read in a few moments

My Spelling Bee History

How many of you have discovered you’re good at something and you didn’t even know it? Carpet ball…Cornhole…Ping Pong…Rock Paper Scissors. Some of you boys have discovered you’re good at faking showers.

I discovered a hidden talent when I was in 5th grade. I found out I was good at spelling. Entered my school Spelling Bee and won, won the citywide Bee, top 3 in the county, then went to State. Street Cred just increased 100 fold.

After a couple of years of competing well at State, I finally won the State Spelling Bee in 7th Grade and got to go to Nationals in Washington DC. I actually won State two years in a row and went to DC twice. My second year I wanted to do well so I studied really hard. A couple of hours every night studying with my dad, in addition to regular schoolwork. And the timing was terrible because I was also taking the class that I struggled with more than any other class I ever took – Algebra 2. I was so far behind and me and my teacher just did not connect well. I knew a day of reckoning was coming after the Spelling Bee.

Went on trip, had a great time, spoke into an ESPN microphone, came back after being gone for a week focused on spelling, walked into Algebra 2, sat down, and my teacher very smugly threw a test on my desk. He knew I wasn’t ready for it, but he didn’t care. Mr. Andrews still made me take it.

Mr. Andrews was, how do you say this diplomatically, related to Hitler. He cut me no slack. And I bombed the test. And if I’m being honest, I got angry. I went home and complained to my parents. I felt singled out. I thought he should have been more understanding. I wanted them to go to bat for me.

And in the middle of my pity party, my parents helped me with some loving wisdom. They compassionately looked me in the eyes and said, “Stop complaining, you big baby. Unless you want to wear diapers the rest of your life, you have to learn how to deal with it when life gets hard.” At least that’s how I remember it.

You see, my parents knew that no one gets to avoid the tests of life. You might as well figure out how to respond to them correctly, because they’re coming and they’re not easy and they’re not fair

Many of you are still young enough that the concept of “Tests of Life” doesn’t register much with you yet. Your biggest test is “How do I beat this level in Call of Duty?”

But even if you can’t relate to difficult tests, one thing is certain – all of you will face them someday. And your response to the tests will determine if your faith is Fall Proof.

But there are also young people in this room that have already been through serious testing. The longer I’m around teenagers the more I realize that many of you have already faced or are facing tough situations:

Death of a loved one Abuse…someone you trusted

Divorce of your parents Serious Health situation

Situations like those are tough enough for someone my age, but many of you have dealt with those kinds of things already. I hate it for you, especially when you consider the explosive rate of depression and anxiety among people your age.

Listen, to you that have dealt with traumatic life experiences already, let me just say that God loves you. No one can humanly do for you what He’s already done for you. You have a heavenly Father that has proven He is everything you need in any situation. Job learned that, and I’d like to glean some hope from his situation.

I. Job’s Beginning And End Were Great

Beginning: Job is blessed and enjoying life

Vs. 1 – He has a great relationship with God and a proper view of God

Vs. 2-3 – He has many possessions and a life that seems just about perfect

Vs. 4-5 – He raised children to know and love God. He wanted his family to do right.

End: Job is even more blessed materially and with his relationships (42)

Vs. 12 – He has more cattle and possessions.

Vs. 13-15 – He has children again and his children are more renowned than before.

Vs. 16 – He lives a long life and sees multiple generations.

But as good as the beginning and end were, the middle was awful.

II. In chapter 1, God allows Satan to meddle with Job’s life.

He comes to God asking for permission to test Job.

Vs. 9-10 – Satan is trying to prove that Job’s walk with God is shallow. He says Job only serves God because God has blessed Job so much Vs. 13-19 – Satan is allowed to take Job’s possessions (Cattle, servants, children) Vs. 21-22 – Job maintains his walk with God and proper perspective.

Satan comes back and decides it’s because God has protected Job’s physical body – Job 2:4-5

Vs. 6 – God allows Satan to touch Job’s body with boils, but not to kill him. As if it weren’t already terrible, now Job is also physically miserable. He has to scrape his scabs to clean them while he sits and mourns. And as though it can’t get worse, look at vs. 9. Job’s wife tells him to give up on God.

So most of the book of Job is he and his three “friends” trying to explain why all of this has happened to Job.

There are over 300 questions in the book of Job (2x Psalms)

Just over 30 pages in Job, so that's around 11 questions per page The book of Psalms has a little over 2 per page The point is a comparison. Job’s life and struggles were so difficult that he asked lots of questions.

That’s a natural response to struggles. You ask, “Why” a lot. You’re hoping that God answers.

The vast majority of Job is trying to explain why. His friends thought it was because of Job’s sin and they try to convince him of it. Job knew that wasn’t the case. But after waiting for the “why” it turns out he never really got an answer.

III. Job never learned why

That doesn’t seem fair, does it?

A whole book with Job’s friends and himself asking why and discussing the possible reasons.

But what’s interesting is Job’s story still ends well, even without the why.

He ends up with more possessions and more renowned children and more blessings than he had at the beginning.

What I hope you’ll understand is you don’t have to know why to enjoy a positive outcome.

You could say it this way, You can enjoy the results without ever knowing the reasons.

There are a lot of great lessons to learn from Job:

God is not obligated to answer my prayers the way I expect Him to.

Even if it doesn’t seem fair, I still deserve worse.

Any suffering I endure doesn’t compare to the suffering Jesus Christ endured.

He’s sinless, but He took our sin upon Him on the cross. He allowed people He created to beat Him, mock Him, spit on Him and hang Him on a tree, naked for the world to see. I would never presume to downplay your suffering, but in case you think no one understands, Jesus Christ willingly suffered in terrible ways so you could have eternal life. He understands ur suffering.

But the most important lesson from Job comes at the end.

Job never got an answer. He never heard why. Even though his life turned out better at the end than it was at the beginning, Job still couldn’t look back and have an understanding of why it all happened. He eventually got to enjoy life after the test, but not because he understood. It is summed up in Job 42:1-6

Job recognizes the difference between him and God Job realizes that God is capable of anything and misses nothing. Job acknowledges that God is full of wonder. And in verse 5 Job basically says, “I used to have somewhat of a second hand knowledge of you. But it’s different now because I’ve seen you for myself.”

Illustration: No In-n-Outs in SD, they can’t know till they’ve tried it

When Job finally saw God for himself it brought everything into focus. Even though Job got a “No answer” to all his questions, he saw things more clearly than he ever had before because He saw God for who He is.

When you see God for who He is, the whys are no longer nearly as important.

The change that God makes in you suddenly becomes all you need to make the test worthwhile.

Sometimes the best result you’ll experience in a struggle is that your faith is increased. You grow.

You don’t know why, you don’t get a reason, but in the process of struggling you get a glimpse of God and it changes you.

You may not get the answer you want, but the change produced in you makes the struggle worth it. If you choose to learn.

Here’s the mindset we need: In this test, I’m going to be a student, not a victim.

In other words, you must decide that rather than play the victim card and focus on how hard it is, you’re going to instead choose to learn all you can from the test.

The Lie teens believe is this: I’ll Never Get Over This

But it’s possible to be a student instead of a victim.

Students learn. Victims wallow. Young people are really good at wallowing.

Teens make great victims. It seems like some young people would rather be a victim than have an easy life. Which I don’t get. I would rather have it easy. I put the treadmill on negative incline so I can walk downhill. But teenagers love to highlight it when they’ve been mistreated, or something’s unfair, or their life is harder than most.

Why is that? Why do young people love to play the victim?

I think it’s probably pride. Victims get attention.

I’m not talking about real victims. I’m talking about playing the victim.

If life is hard, people pay attention. Girls, you’ve learned this. If you cry, people notice. You’ll get out of a lot of traffic tickets if you’ll learn to cry on demand.

Guys, my advice to you is, when your woman cries, run away. You will not say the right thing. I say that joking, but it’s true. There are people that play the victim because it brings attention.

Illustration: A story a few years ago about a 17-year old named Michelle Carter in Massachusetts who had an 18-year old boyfriend, Conrad Roy, who sent hundreds of texts to Conrad encouraging him to take his own life. She was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors proved she wanted to play the role of “grieving girlfriend” so she could have sympathy and attention. She wanted to be the victim. Because victims get attention. But victims also miss the lessons. In others words, you can’t play the victim and be a student at the same time.

The trials of life are meant to reveal things about us and help us grow. And if all you ever do is play the victim card, you miss the lessons.

So be a student, not a victim. Job got to enjoy the results without reasons because he chose to be a student, not a victim.

The Bible is full of people that God used because they refused to be victims. They chose to be students instead. Joseph, Ruth, Daniel, David, Esther.

Don’t buy the lie that you have to be a victim. That there are some things you can’t over.

How do I choose to be a student, not a victim?

Ask “What can I learn?” instead of “Why did this happen?”

Look for a solution instead of someone to complain to.

Serve others instead of feeling sorry for yourself.

Allow God to change you, not just your circumstances.

Remember the cross when you think life’s not fair.

Examples

When your friends leave you out, a victim will pout, but a student will find someone else to be a friend to.

When you are mistreated at school, a victim will let it ruin their day, but a student will remember Jesus had it worse.

When your parents split up, a victim will say, “Why? God must not love me!” But a student will say, “How can I grow closer to God through this?”

When you realize you don’t have the looks or the talent or the family situation one of your friends does, a victim will get jealous, but a student will ask God to change their heart to be like Christ.

If you choose to be a student instead of a victim, you may never get the answers you want, but you won’t miss the lessons you need.

Some of you have already been through tests – Abuse, abandonment, divorce, death, moving, a tough home life, adoption, foster care, legal trouble, health, etc.

You have a choice: Be a student or a victim. Victims waste the test by learning nothing. Students may not get a perfect score, but they learn.

So many young people turn a test into a double loss. The test itself is terrible, but their response makes it a double loss, because instead of learning they lose faith.

God loves you. That test is not meant to break you. God can use it to grow you.

For those of you in here that haven’t faced your toughest days, know this: They’re coming. & when they do, you have a choice. Determine right now you’re going to be a student, not a victim.

Abbey Brown: She’s an almost 30 year woman from BBC Stillwater, OK. When she was 3 she got Rocky Mtn Spotted Fever from Tick Bite, her condition was misdiagnosed resulting in severe brain damage that left her without the ability to speak, walk, and use her hands. After years of therapy, she can walk and she can use her left hand some, but she still can’t talk. She developed dystonia as a result of the bite, which causes her muscles to tighten and her body to contort in different ways. There’s no cure. She is who she is. Her brain is fine, but her mouth can’t form words and her body doesn’t obey.

But along the way Abbey decided to be a student, not a victim. She started writing, she now has a blog read by thousands of people. And she learned to paint. She paints and prints her paintings out on note cards and people from all over have bought and used them. She could have sat down and never stood up again. But she chose to be a student, not a victim, even though it doesn’t seem fair. Those tests are hard, but she used the test to learn instead of wallow. And God is using her.

If you want a testimony like that, you can have it, but you must choose student over victim.

Don’t believe the lie that there are some things you can’t get over. You can be the student instead of playing the victim.

Some of you are facing tests. They’re hard. But you’ve been the victim and not the student. It’s time to choose to be a student. You can’t change the test, but you can choose to grow and learn.

When you face a test, decide that you will be a student, not a victim.