Job: Devoted When It’s Uncomfortable
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Ours is a culture consumed by comfort.
We may not like that statement. But I’m pretty sure it’s true. As you mull it over, can you think of specific instances that either confirm or contradict it?
Poll the congregation
Our pursuit of comfort is a result of our wealth. Impoverished people will endure great discomfort to procure the necessities of life. But most of us are so far removed from that experience that it is a wholly alien concept to us.
That is what makes the lesson from the last survivor so challenging.
Survivor? Sure, why not. In Ezekiel 14, God was warning of impending judgment upon His people. It was a time of restoration that should have been marked grateful dedication. Instead, it was a time marked by “persistent unfaithfulness” (13). And so God said,
14 Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,” says the Lord God.
Noah, Daniel, and Job. Each of those men had survived tumultuous times and had been delivered from danger because of their personal holiness. But at the end of the day, demonstrate that personal holiness is personal.
Noah survived the global devastation of THE Flood. He was devoted even when it was unclear.
Daniel survived many tumultuous times, but that survival was predicated on surviving captivity and intentional indoctrination. He was devoted even when it was unpopular.
Transition
And then there is Job and his lesson.
Illumination
A Man of Wealth and Worship
A Man of Wealth and Worship
1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. 2 And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. 3 Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.
4 And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did regularly.
Wealth leads to comfort. Job likely knew what it was to be comfortable. He also sought to comfort others by utilizing his wealth to their advantage.
A Man with A Target on His Back
A Man with A Target on His Back
God painted the target
God painted the target
8 Then 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, one who fears God and shuns evil?”
Satan pointed at the target
Satan pointed at the target
Armed with permission and boundaries from God, Satan set out to make Job so uncomfortable that he would reject God.
Sabean raiders stole Job’s oxen and donkeys, killing their attendant servants, 1:14-15
The “fire of God” fell in a forcible sacrifice that consumed Job’s sheep and killed their attendant servants, 1:16
“fire of God” was the description of the men who saw it
recognize that Satan is a counterfeiter with some control over natural elements
recognize that God is not a taker, He does not force sacrifice upon the unwilling and He does not do collateral damage
Chaldean raiders stole Job’s camels, killing their attendant servants, 1:17
A great wind struck the house his children were feasting in, killing them and their attendant servants, 1:18-19
Painful boils broke out all over Job’s body, leaving him to sit in ashes scraping the boils and allowing the ash to absorb the ick.
Job’s wife seems to have been spared, but that was not necessarily a comfort.
9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
Job had three friends, and one wannabe, who came to bring comfort in his time of adversity. They brought comfort by accusing job of being a great, closet sinner because this much adversity could never be brought upon a good man.
To say that Job was uncomfortable would be to sorely understate his situation. He confessed that he was in pain and misery. He wished he had never been born, but he was. He longed for the release of death, but it did not come.
10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
7 And so it was, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. 8 Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”
Conclusion
Job remained devoted to God even though it was uncomfortable. And not kind of uncomfortable. it was the kind of uncomfortable that we will likely never know. Not that our own discomfort is not real: it is. The question is not “will devotion to God cause discomfort?” We have the same adversary that Job did. The real question is “What will you do when you experience discomfort because of your devotion?”
Job survived his ordeal. God restored all that the Devil had taken, and then some. Job survived because of his personal holiness, not in spite of it.
Application
In a post-christian society where evil is called good and good is called evil, we will be uncomfortable. Personal holiness and the survival it brings require us to be devoted even when it’s uncomfortable. That is a commitment we need to make for ourselves.
