Job Cries out for God

Claim

1. Suffering clarifies our hope in God alone.

CONTEXT

Current series. Faith Suffers.

Second sermon from the book of Job.

Last week. Chapters 1-2 introduced Job a righteous and God-fearing man.

Satan, like a prosecuting attorney in heaven, claimed against God that Job’s faith was superficial.

So God allowed Satan to test him

Job was struck with affliction - loss of possessions, children, even health.

In the moment of disaster, maintained integrity

“Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

not a momentary test.

integrity over time.

The test stretched out over weeks, months.

Survey the devastation of fields and finances.

horrified and his bodily suffering.

Funerals for children.

Friends (Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar) arrive from far away.

They grieve with him

They listen to his curse the day of his birth

Then they begin to challenge him. Their basic shared message: God does not allow the righteous to suffer, unless they have sinned. You must have sinned. This must be your fault. Confess your sin and be forgiven and God will comfort you.

Job, however, clings to his claim that he is innocent and does not deserve the suffering that has come upon him.

About 20 chapters back and forth. Job becomes increasingly exasperated with his friends and desperate for a divine answer.

Listen in to the conversation at chapter 23.

TEXT

Job 23 NEB

Then Job answered: My thoughts today are resentful, for God’s hand is heavy on me in my trouble. If only I knew how to find him, how to enter his court, I would state my case before him and set out my arguments in full; then I should learn what answer he would give and find out what he had to say. Would he exert his great power to browbeat me? No; God himself would never bring a charge against me. There the upright are vindicated before him, and I shall win from my judge an absolute discharge. If I go forward, he is not there; if backward, I cannot find him; when I turn left, I do not descry him; I face right, but I see him not. But he knows me in action or at rest; when he tests me, I prove to be gold. My feet have kept to the path he has set me, I have followed his way and not turned from it. I do not ignore the commands that come from his lips, I have stored in my heart what he says. He decides, and who can turn him from his purpose? He does what his own heart desires. What he determines, that he carries out; his mind is full of plans like these. Therefore I am fearful of meeting him; when I think about him, I am afraid; it is God who makes me faint-hearted and the Almighty who fills me with fear, yet I am not reduced to silence by the darkness nor by the mystery which hides him.

Introduction

Exegesis - Job desperately want God

Job 23:2 “My thoughts today are resentful, for God’s hand is heavy on me in my trouble.”

A summary of his state of mind over the last 20 chapters.

words of a desperate man.

He is getting no comfort from his friends. They are blaming the victim.

and worse…even God is distant!

Job 23:8–9 “If I go forward, he is not there; if backward, I cannot find him; when I turn left, I do not descry him; I face right, but I see him not.”

the opposite experience of the psalmist in Psalm 139:7–8 “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.”

More akin to Psalm 22. My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far away from the sound of my groaning? I cry to you by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. …

Job feels wronged…

cant believe it be just chance. divine sovereignty And power.

He doesn’t deserve it.

But if God, we’ll only God could speak to that!

Job wants to get with God; he wants divine revelation ruling.

Job 23:3–4 “If only I knew how to find him, how to enter his court, I would state my case before him and set out my arguments in full;”

Job want to appear in the divine court. Job imagining the court that the book of Job opens with.

Satan was there made accusations. Job was not.

Job wants to make his case!

The great king and judge will examine and discover.

I have kept his commandments

I will prove to be gold. Job 23:10.

No, Job 23:7 “There the upright are vindicated before him, and I shall win from my judge an absolute discharge.”

he knows this is a bold claim! Reverent fear of God.

Ancient history, kings and judges were often the same thing. They made a ruling and could reward or execute you on the spot.

Job 23:13–14 “He decides, and who can turn him from his purpose? He does what his own heart desires. What he determines, that he carries out; his mind is full of plans like these.”

That is why I need…to go to the place where the buck stops!

Humble and reverent. The highest court. I want God to pronounce on all this suffering/ wrong I am experiencing!

Interpretation

Wrongs other people have perpetrated against us. Theft, abuse, abandonment, false accusation, all kinds of things.

Sometimes we get justice. Police intervene; the court rules in our favor; a policy gets changed.

Thanks be to God for those who advocate for better laws and practices that promote justice.

But even with all our best efforts some injustices never get addressed. Sometimes relationships, families, and communities, hearts and lives are destroyed….and no one can offer a remedy or an answer for why.

We have to somehow live with it…in it. It can make us desperate. Mentally, emotionally, physically.

Even spiritually: For more: Behind earthly evil is the accusation of satan who wants to discredit our faith.

Martin Luther, A Mighty Fortress is our God: Still our ancient foe does seek to work us woe!

to add to our injury- doubt, temptations, discouragement.

satans goal: to make us say: it’s all too much, I give up on God.

We CAN GIVE UP ON GOD OR, (like Job), WE CAN HOPE TO GET TO GOD.

Jesus told a parable, Luke 18. The widow who persistently went to the wicked judge. Denied her justice. She kept coming and wore him down until he gave her satisfaction. Jesus asks, How much more should God’s faithful ones cry out to God day and night for justice…knowing that he will hear them.

Jesus taught this, and he role-modeled it.

When Jesus suffered, he had to look to God alone for his vindication.

Jewish court: (Matthew 26) Jesus stood alone before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council, which condemned him.

He said, You will see the Son of man coming on the clouds in great glory with his angels. You condemn me, but God will give me justice.

Roman court (John 19:11): When he stood before Pilate the Roman governor. Pilate said to Jesus’ silence, don’t you realize I have the power to condemn you or free you?

Jesus said, you have no power over me but what has been given to you from above. you may condemn me but God will give me justice.

GOD DID VINDICATE Jesus by raising him from the dead.

Through sinful men you put the Christ to death, but God raised him form the dead and God has fixed a day when all the world will be judge justly through him! (Acts 13, 17)

In Christ, God demonstrates his righteousness. Injustice, wrongful suffering, inflicted by man, inflicted by Satan, will not go unaddressed.

Job could not know this hundreds of years before Christ. But by desiring God’s justice, he pointed to Christ nonetheless.

Job and Jesus teach us to know and hope that God is our great King and Judge.

that he is merciful, yes, to all who repent…and yet also gives justice.

All God’s people should turn to God as the ultimate court of appeal.

Application - let us cry out to God in hope

There are times when God’s people — Job, Jesus, ,you and I — will feel powerless, trapped, and hurt.

these can have a hidden blessing: they remind us that our ultimate hope is for the justice only God can give.

As gods people: we do not become wrathful.

do not take revenge but leave room for God I shall repay.

We do not despair:it is all useless, no one knows or cares. No, we will stand before God who will judge.

We go through suffering in hope, we do not give up on God, we get to God:

we may not understand, but God sees the whole picture.

we may not be perfect, but we know that God can untangle the mess.

We know that God will vindicate those who trust in him.

That future hope, works backwards toward today.

Job patient in suffering looking forward. Job 19:25 “But in my heart I know that my vindicator lives and that he will rise last to speak in court;”

Jesus composed in the present, looking forward.

If you are going through a hard time right now. Look not just at the present. Focus on the future certainty.

Conclusion

God will judge. Not a threat, a promise.

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION

(a) Address to God

(b) Praise and thanksgiving for who God is and what God has done

(1) in creating the world

(2) in redeeming the world in Christ

(3) for specific acts of faithfulness to the present community

(4) for the sure promise of the coming kingdom

(c) Intercessions for worldwide and local concerns, including

(1) the creation and its care, especially . . .

(2) the nations of the world, especially . . .

(3) the nation and those in authority, especially . . .

(4) the community and those who govern, especially . . .

(5) the church universal, its mission, and those who minister, especially . . .

(6) the local congregation and its ministry, especially . . .

(7) those with particular needs, especially . . .

(d) Doxology in praise to the triune God, in unity with those who praise God in heaven and on earth