The Old, Old Story - 2- Where is God?

Scripture: Job 23:1-9, 16-17

Job 23:1–9 NIV

1 Then Job replied: 2 “Even today my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning. 3 If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling! 4 I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. 5 I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say to me. 6 Would he vigorously oppose me? No, he would not press charges against me. 7 There the upright can establish their innocence before him, and there I would be delivered forever from my judge. 8 “But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. 9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.

Job 23:16–17 NIV

16 God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me. 17 Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.

10/13/2024

Order of Service:

Announcements

Opening Worship

Prayer Requests

Prayer Song

Pastoral Prayer

Kid’s Time

Mission Moment

Offering (Doxology and Offering Prayer)

Scripture Reading

Sermon

Closing Song

Benediction

Special Notes:

Week 2: Mission Moment

Speaker for Operation Christmas Child - Washington Free Methodist Church

Opening Prayer:

God, you promise never to forsake us,

but to bring us to life,

nurture us with your presence,

and sustain us even in the hour of our death.

Meet us in our deepest doubts

when we feel abandoned,

drowning in our fear of your absence.

Visit us in the tension between our yearning and our anger,

that we may know your mercy and grace in our time of need. Amen.

Where is God?

Cheap Hope

This month, we remember the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. For hundreds of years, the loyalties of the church had been pulled away from God as they sought the means to overcome the challenges they faced in their own strength. As the Roman Catholic Church faced the challenges of widespread illness and disease, poverty and death, a lack of engagement by the discouraged people, and bankruptcy, the leaders of the church abandoned the Scriptures. They saw new ways to keep the money flowing, and their name promoted among the nations. In the 1500s, Martin Luther was one of many people who distinctly felt the call of God and was willing to stand up to anyone and everyone to ensure that the gospel was preached free and true. God‘s love, favor, Grace, and salvation could not be bought or earned. Proclaiming the same truth Paul preached in the New Testament to the Jewish leaders of the world, Martin Luther changed the world again, and we are here today because of his sacrifice.

In the 1930s, Martin Luther‘s church in Germany faced corruption again. The grace of God was preached so free that anyone could do anything and expect to remain under the blessing, favor, and grace of Jesus. Repentance was unnecessary. The leaders of the church and the state use this free grace theology to justify horrible things they did to people of Jewish and Romanian descent, as well as many others who were considered social deviants. As those church leaders put their blessing or turned a blind eye to what we now call the holocaust, God raised another reformer from the same land.

Deitrich Bonhoeffer valued God‘s grace more than his own life. He knew the difference between free and cheap grace. While God‘s love is given to us freely, it is not handed out thoughtlessly as if it had no value. On the contrary, that grace cost God the life of Jesus, His only son. The grace we receive from God is worth more than we are. Think about that for just a second. As Paul wrote, we are all clay pots, sitting here holding the priceless treasures of God.

We are indebted to Martin Luther and Deitrich Bonhoeffer, and many others God called forth over the years to remind us of who He is, especially in our darkest hours when it is so difficult to see him. Grace is not the only thing that can become cheap in these times. Hope becomes cheap as well. Playing Church becomes easier than being the church. Platitudes and jokes are easier to share than the gospel. And we find ourselves fighting over things that are truly cheap because we are afraid to allow ourselves to hope for something we cannot see, are afraid to believe, and don’t even know how to ask for it.

It is difficult to see God when we suffer and grieve.

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Struggling Hope

I have to give credit where credit is due. Job Chapter 2 says that after Job lost his children and his possessions and then lost his health, his friends came and just sat with him quietly for days. If you know someone suffering, sometimes that is the best thing you can do.

I interned at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis as a Hospital Chaplain. One night, I was called to the emergency room for a young boy who had a bicycle accident and a severe brain injury. I was warned before going in that both mom and dad were there, although they were separated at the time, and I had no idea who was with the boy when the accident happened. I don’t always pick up on the emotions of others, but the tension in the hospital room was palpable. I walked in, introduced myself, and told them I was there to help with whatever they needed, and then I sat for the longest 20 minutes of my life quietly. After that, I stood up, told them how to contact me if they needed anything, and left. The next day, the chaplain’s office received a message from the parents, thanking me for the visit and telling them I had just the right words for that terrible time they faced. I don’t know what words they heard, but I can attest that they didn’t come out of my mouth, and they weren’t from me. Sometimes, God speaks through us. Sometimes, people hear God clearer when we stop trying to talk for him.

And then sometimes we open our mouths and ruin it. That’s what happened with Job’s friends. Over half of this book is the accounts of these friends going back and forth, debating with Job, trying to figure out why this tragedy happened to him and what he needed to do to fix it. And the problem was there was no fixing it. Our minds and hearts can’t handle that, and it often doesn’t matter whether we are suffering or watching others suffer. We have an allergic reaction when we encounter suffering for no reason, and we frequently say or do foolish things, things we regret later, to make the feeling go away.

If I had to give that feeling a name, I would call it Struggling Hope. It feels like dog-paddling in deep water when you know your strength is failing. You know you can keep it up for a minute or two, maybe five or even 10 minutes, but you feel the strength leaving your body, and you don’t see any options of rescue or relief. Why do I call that struggling hope instead of hopelessness? Because there is a unique strength in faith that comes in those moments between life and death, those moments we sometimes stubbornly call ourselves not dead yet. Job had several of those moments. In chapter 13, verse 15, offended by the patronizing words of his friends, Job makes a declaration:

Job 13:15 NIV

15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.

Translators struggle with this verse because they can’t quite tell if it says, “I have no hope” or “Even though He kills me, I will still trust in him.” Maybe it’s both. Those words come from a heart struggling with hope. No matter where I am, I want to see God and plead my case before him. I might be wrong and deserve this, but I want the chance to ask.

“If I only knew where to find him, then I would go and plead my case before him,” Job says. “But it doesn’t matter if I look to the north, south, east, or west. I don’t see Him anywhere. If I could find him, surely He would hear me. I am surrounded by darkness, but my heart will not keep quiet.”

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Challenges

What changed in the last 20 chapters? Last week, we read in the first two chapters that Job lost everything: his property, family, and health. He sat in ashes and grieved, but he didn’t lose his faith or his integrity. What occurred that turned his mind toward doubt and caused his heart to struggle?

Time. Sometimes, we say that time heals all wounds. But that is not true. Often, it just creates scars. But it can also invite you into the process of grief—the journey of grief. Our feelings and experiences change from day to day and week to week. We cannot expect our faith and our behavior to remain stagnant. Just because we get something right one day does not guarantee we will always get it right.

In life, we sometimes face setbacks. We don’t have to like them, and we certainly shouldn’t try to have them, but the pressure we face rarely comes at us in single, isolated moments. Moments of grief stick together like snow, light and fluffy, even beautiful. Over time, those tiny, fragile flakes build up and harden into shells of ice that weaken and bruise us and keep us from moving forward.

In Job‘s case, I don’t think this is backsliding. I think this is something very different. This is a picture of what maturing faith looks like. A young, naïve faith settles for easy answers and platitudes. A growing faith struggles to know God more. Just look at the Psalms of King David. The young man who wrote The Lord is My Shepherd also wrote the words that Jesus prayed from the cross: “My God, why have you forsaken me?” Doubt says, “I will not believe until these specific criteria are met.” Growing faith says, “I want to believe. Lord, help me struggle with my unbelief.”

One of the most famous teachings of Jesus regarding our growing faith is the parable of the four soils. Those fruitful plants at the end of the parable who reproduce themselves 10, 20, and 100 times over were there the day the birds came to eat seeds sitting on top of the hard ground. They were there on those hot, dry days when the other plants were dying of thirst. And they were right there among the weeds who tried to overwhelm them before the harvest. Those seeds faced the same challenges as the others. The difference was that they were cared for, and they persevered.

If life was easy, we wouldn’t need Jesus. If life was simple, we wouldn’t have to grow. The challenges we face are real. They can be harrowing, sometimes devastating. And we may never fully understand why we go through the things that we do. But just like Job, we can turn every tragedy into one more opportunity to seek Jesus.

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Persevering Hope

Perseverance is like the capstone of our faith. Well, that place may be reserved for the selfless love of Jesus. But I think it’s perseverance that holds that love in place. Paul wrote to the Ephesians that they should wear the full armor of God and stand firm against the temptations and schemes of the devil. Every letter John wrote to the churches in Revelation tells them to persevere and be steadfast in their suffering. And Peter also wrote about perseverance to the churches in 2 Peter chapter 1.

According to Peter, perseverance is something we grow into. God gives us faith, which we lay as our foundation. Then God gives us goodness and knowledge that we build upon that faith. This is a beautiful beginning, but we know our lives can still go off the rails, causing devastation and destruction, even when we start on the right foot. So God gives us self-control to stay the course, and to self-control, He adds perseverance. Resisting the temptation or the attack of the devil takes self-control. But just as Job shows us, the devil does not give up when he fails. He comes back and tries again. Resisting him once takes self-control. Resisting him every time takes perseverance.

Only after perseverance do we begin to take on the characteristics of godliness, which open the door to mutual affection, brotherly love, and the true capstone of it all, that selfless love of God. God wants every one of us to be born and new as His children in His kingdom, and it will take perseverance for us to grow and mature and hatch out of our place of darkness and be able to walk into the light of Christ.

Job had what theologians have come to call a dark night of the soul. He had to sit and mourn and grieve. He had to question and allow his mind to be expanded. He needed to realize that everything we have comes as a gift from God. Job struggled to persevere, not because he was a sinner, but because God was still working on him. He still had room to grow.

Last week, I said that when we face tragedy in grief, we need to seek Jesus. Today, I stand with you as one like you, who has lost, grieved, and hurt, and sought Jesus, and found only darkness and silence. And I walked with the grieving long enough to know that this darkness and silence does not mean God is not there. Sometimes, even when spoken in love, the truth is not something we can hear or experience in those moments.

So Jesus comes and weeps with us outside the tombs of our loss while we, like Mary and Martha, look upon Him incredulously, wondering why he’s not doing something about it when He has the power to fix everything. I know that when I sit with those who are hurt, it takes far more strength, self-control, and perseverance to just be present with them without jumping up and trying to fix the problem. I cannot imagine what kind of strength it takes the God of the universe to come and sit and weep with us, allowing us to grieve and grow from it.

Every dark night of the soul has an end. It’s not usually a Hollywood happy ending, either. It’s something else. And we may face them again if God wants us to grow. I know I can say in the most detached, objective, and clinical way that these dark times of suffering are a gift from God to us as well. And I know that will fall on deaf ears. But as Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount, love on our good days and love to those who love us in return is not really love. Anybody can do that. Love shows its true colors when it is suffering. We recognize this love when spouses neglect themselves to care for one another or parents for their children. We even celebrate examples when people go the extra mile to show compassion for their enemies. But there is a greater love at work here—the love between Jesus and us.

We did not know that Love until Jesus left heaven and came down to suffer with us. That love was made complete when He took our sin upon Himself and laid down His life so that we might live. And then He returned to put up with us some more, knowing we still didn’t have it right. We have no concept of God’s love for us that does not involve His suffering. So when we are invited into those dark nights, those places of growth through suffering, it is because God sees the potential in us to love a little bit more like Him.

So stick with it. As you work through the grieving process, you will slowly begin to see Jesus using that gift of suffering to work and grow, shape, and mature your faith in ways we could never do ourselves. And that is gift enough. But there’s more. The world can’t stop the pure witness of someone loving God, with self-control and perseverance in the middle of their suffering. When the world knows it has nothing to offer to fix a situation or to give an answer, our love for Jesus shows faith in His silent presence beside us and within us and makes His presence undeniable to all who come near. It causes them to say with the centurion who watched Jesus die on the cross, “Surely this was the son of God.”

Where and when do you struggle to find Jesus?

Will you invite Jesus into the places where you experience suffering and grief?

Will you stay with Him until He finishes His work in you?

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, We are simple people trying to live simple lives. We don’t understand why You created us or called us to follow you, but we know that You see more in us than we see in ourselves. We know we are not the people You wish us to be, but You don’t give up on us. Help us to hold fast to you. Help us to trust and follow where You lead us, putting our faith in You more than the destination, and give us what little we need today so we can use it faithfully to build a life that shows our love for You. In Jesus name, Amen.

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