Reimagining God's End Game

Welcome

Well, good morning friends! I’m glad to be with you today. If we haven’t met yet, my name is Dan and serve here alongside Jason Philips as one of your pastors.

We are really grateful you’re here with us today as we’re finishing up a short, five week series through the Old Testament book of Job.

Now, it’s a long book - 42 chapters - so we haven’t dealt with everything. Instead, we’ve been focusing on a series of “invitations” the book Job offers to us; invitations to reimagine some aspect of God or ourselves.

We talked about how Job invites us to “reimagine God’s economy, or how He works in the world.” Two weeks ago, we saw Job as an invitation to honestly face what we called, The Dark Night of the Soul. Last week, we saw an invitation to rethink our need for answers.

Now, I know that we’ve been in the deep end of the pool over the last couple of weeks and it hasn’t always been the most upbeat series we’ve done here! We’ve walked with Job through his own hopelessness and in a lot of ways, I think it’s given us permission to voice our own…but all along the way, I’ve tried to make a subtle distinction - that even though Job the character is pretty hopeless, Job the book is not!

Today, we’re going to explore why the book of Job, with all of it’s honesty, all of the questions, all of the suffering and loss, is profoundly hopeful!

Twins were talking to each other in their mother’s womb. The sister said to the brother, “I believe there is life after birth.” Her brother protested vehemently, “No, no, this is all there is. This is a dark and cozy place, and we have nothing else to do but to cling to the cord that feeds us.” The little girl insisted, “There must be something more than this dark place. There must be something else, a place with light where there is freedom to move.” Still she could not convince her twin brother.

After some silence, the sister said hesitantly, “I have something else to say, and I’m afraid you won’t believe that, either, but I think there is a mother.” Her brother became furious. “A mother!” he shouted. “What are you talking about? I have never seen a mother, and neither have you. Who put that idea in your head? As I told you, this place is all we have. Why do you always want more? This is not such a bad place, after all. We have all we need, so let’s be content.” The sister was quite overwhelmed by her brother’s response and for a while didn’t dare say anything more.

But she couldn’t let go of her thoughts, and since she had only her twin brother to speak to, she finally said, “Don’t you feel these squeezes every once in a while? They’re quite unpleasant and sometimes even painful.” “Yes,” he answered. “What’s special about that?” “Well,” the sister said, “I think that these squeezes are there to get us ready for another place, much more beautiful than this, where we will see our mother face-to-face. Don’t you think that’s exciting?”

The brother didn’t answer. He was fed up with the foolish talk of his sister and felt that the best thing would be simply to ignore her and hope that she would leave him alone."

PAUSE

I love that line right at end - “I think these squeezes are there to get us ready for another place…”

And right there, I think, the point of the book of Job is summed up. That what we experience now has a purpose…it’s not wasted…it’s not random…and it’s not just chance…that even the “squeezes of this life - the unpleasant and even painful ones” are getting us ready for something far more beautiful that this.

I share that story because it sets up the final invitation from the book of Job…the invitation to reimagine God’s end game; to reimagine what God plans to do when all is said and done.

So if you’re not there yet, meet me in Job chapter 42. Job 42, starting in v. 10. I’ll read this passage, pray, and then we’ll get started.

Job 42:10–17 ESV

10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold. 12 And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters. 17 And Job died, an old man, and full of days.

PRAY

A Hallmark Ending

Alright, let’s go ahead and get started.

Let me ask you this…how does that ending land with you? I don’t know how else to put it…does that strike anyone else as a little too “on the nose”?

Think about the whole story we’ve covered so far…

From the very beginning, we know that Job is a good man…“blameless and upright”…he’s living the good life…He’s the got the house, the family, the money…it’s the dream!

But in single day, he looses everything for reasons that are a complete mystery to him!

Most of the book ,then, is this long conversation between Job and his friends as they are trying to make sense of all his loss. Which is the most natural thing in the world to do.

His friends think the answer is obvious! The equation is simple: God is absolutely just, Job is suffering, therefor he must be reaping what he’s sown - he’s obviously done something to offend God and he’s being punished.

They just think they’re the ones who love him enough to tell him the truth!

Job, on the other hand, can’t for the life of him think of what he’s done…and he’s not just being modest about it. So he quickly shifts his attention from what his friends are saying to a series of questions, borderline accusations, he has for God: “Why are you doing this to me?” “Do you get some kind of satisfaction out of persecuting me?” “Is my suffering entertaining to you?” “Wouldn’t it be better if you just took my life from me?”

Those questions are really honest from Job - and it’s his honesty that I think invites us to be honest with our own questions about what God is doing and why.

And listen, you don’t need to have lost the same kinds of things Job did for you to have the same questions he had. What we’ll find is that it’s our own seasons of loss often bring us to the very same kinds of questions Job asks all along the way.

Loss of almost any kind - can bring us to very deep and disorienting questions about how a God who says He loves would allow us to go through what we’re going through.

At least 10 times Job cries out to God for an answer.

But it’s not until chapter 38 that God responds.

Job 38:4–7 ESV

4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, 7 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Now, we spent a lot more time on this in week two, but I don’t think God is responding with some long, “who do you think you are?” to all of Job’s questions.

Actually, his response has very little to do with any of the questions Job’s been asking!

Remember, all he’s wants to know is why.

“God, if You really are just, why all the loss? Why all the suffering and pain?”

Instead, God invites Job to reimagine what He is like. That instead God being primarily just, He spends two whole chapters to say, “No, you’ve misunderstood. More than just, I am wise.”

And then we get to the end.

Look again at the verses we started with: Job 42.

Job 42:12–13 ESV

12 And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters.

Well, isn’t that nice?

He got all his stuff back. In fact, more than what he started with!

And what are we supposed to do with that ending? Is this the great resolution we’ve been waiting for? That Job suffered all the loss, but it’s okay because it all worked out in the end?

Even the last line in v. 17…

Job 42:17 ESV

17 And Job died, an old man, and full of days.

Doesn’t that kinda sound like some ancient version of “And he lived happily ever after?”

Is he supposed to move right along because he got seven more kids?

You see, I think the problem we end up having with the end of the book is that it’s a perfect ending. Too perfect. Dare we say, unbelievably perfect.

I mean, we are almost conditioned to respond to “And he lived happily ever after.” with “well wouldn’t that be nice…”

Because we know better, right?

We know that in the real world, the story doesn't always end that way. We know that the children you lose are not replaced by new ones. We know that a business that fails doesn't always come back twice as strong. We know that there are chronic illnesses that don't go away and broken relationships that are never restored this side of heaven. That’s why this ending can feel jarring, maybe even a little cheap. It feels like a story for someone else's life, not ours.

PAUSE

But I wonder if the book of Job, in ending like this, is not just trying to tell us that everything worked out for Job and so you can trust that it will probably be okay with you in the end too.

I think there’s a lot more going on here - and actually, the way this ends, is pointing at something much bigger than just a resolution to one man’s story.

I can’t help but think of the story we started with - the two twins talking in the womb and the question the first one asks, “What if these squeezes are there to get us ready for another place, much more beautiful than this…?”

You see, in the same way, the book of Job is inviting us to ask the question: What if?

What if there is more than just this? What if there is something after this experience? What if there is something after loss? What if there is something on the other side of suffering? What if God is ultimately up to something more?

See, in this way, Job is inviting us to reimagine God’s end game!

Let me show you what I mean. Look again at v. 10.

Job 42:10 ESV

10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

Now, we can take this at face value - that God his restored or “returned” all of what Job has lost…but as you read through the rest of the Old Testament, you’ll find this word “restored” all over the place. Think of it this way, every word in the bible is important…but some are “theologically load-bearing.” Like, a lot more is resting on them than might seem at first.

In the original language of the Old Testament, Hebrew, it’s the word: שׁוב.

If you trace how this word is used in the rest of the Old Testament, two patterns come front an center.

First, you’ll find that over and over again שׁוב, “restored,” is primary way to describe the change in relationship between God and humanity - to describe a broken relationship that’s been, repaired. It is a relationship that He longs to be restored…made right…the way it should be…a return to how it was in the beginning.

And so you will find the Old Testament, in many places, talking about people “returning” to the Lord - the relationship being restored and recovered - the way it is meant to be with him…a relationship marked with love, trust, and peace.

Deuteronomy 30:1–6 ESV

2 and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you…6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

But there is this broader picture of hope of restoration, שׁוב, that points to the future plan God has with His creation to restore all things…to make all things right…to make all things new…a day when the world is remade to how it was in the beginning - where brokenness is repaired, every sickness healed, every injustice overturned, every good and right longing satisfied.

All of the prophets in the Old Testament point forward to that day! The very storyline of the entire bible is pointing to that day!

See, the ending of Job is not just a nice little bow on the end of one man’s experience - it is just a foretaste of what God actually plans to do with all of creation!

Revelation 21:3–4 ESV

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

PAUSE

Friends, Job having his possessions restored at the end of this story is not good news because it indicates that you, on the other end of suffering, can hope to get back what you lost in this life…

No!

See, the end of Job is good news because points to God who sees all of what is wrong - hears the cries of His people - and has put in to plan a way to, one day - make all things right.

In other words, it’s good news because the answer to the question the twins in the womb are asking, “What if these squeezes are there to get us ready for another place, much more beautiful than this…a place where we see our mother face to face?”…the answer is yes.

There is.

There is something more.

And it is far greater than anything we can hope to experience here and now in this life.

As Paul says in 2nd Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 4:17 ESV

17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

That this life - with all of it’s squeezes and pressures - with all of the grief and loss…is being used by God to prepare us for something more…a place where meet Him, Know Him and See Him face to face.

Again, like Paul says:

1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

PAUSE

Do you see, the reason we seem to intuitively understand that cancer is not the way it should be…that loss is not the way it should be…that sorrow…that loneliness…that hurt…that even death itself is not the way it should be is only because there is a way it will be.

This is why I’ve said all along this series, even when Job the man was hopeless, Job the book is not!

Because Job the book...along with the whole storyline of the bible points to the way it will be!

It points to the God who Himself is at work to bring about that day…with no more tears, no more death, no more mourning and no more pain.

And in this way, we are reimagining God’s end-game.

So What?

So, what do we do with this?

Well, if we are invited to reimagine what God is ultimately doing in this world, the first thing we do is receive that invitation.

Pausing to ask, What If

I keep going back to it, I know, but I can’t help but replay that story of the twins in the womb. Because as we read it, we know what’s on the other side. We know, beyond the shadow of a doubt there there is more to life than what they know in the womb.

For us, receiving the invitation to reimagine God’s end game looks very similar. The wisdom of this book is that it prompts us to take all of what we experience in this life—every moment, every pain, every sorrow, and ask the same question…'what if’?

What if this dead-end job is preparing me for a reliance on God I couldn't learn anywhere else?

What if this season of loneliness is God getting me ready for a deeper communion with Him?

What if the pain of watching a loved one suffer is hollowing out a space in me for a kind of compassion I never knew I was capable of?

What if this squeeze is getting me ready for another place?

But friends, can I just be honest with you for a minute?

As your pastor, standing up here talking about this big, beautiful idea of God’s end game... this is not always easy for me to live out. And maybe you feel the same way.

I think part of me struggles to receive this invitation because, frankly, it can feel a little impractical. When the bills are piling up, or one of my kids is sick in the middle of the night, or I'm just feeling the weight of the world, my first instinct isn't always to pause and "reimagine the end game." My brain is looking for a spreadsheet, not a sermon illustration about twins.

I struggle with reimagining because I want to run to other solutions. I want a five-step plan. I want a quick fix. I want something I can control and manage. We all do.

It’s so much easier to try and solve the immediate problem than it is to do the slow, patient work of trusting that God is telling a bigger story.

And maybe the biggest reason I struggle is the simplest one: I just forget.

I’m not alone in that. We get so caught up in the chaos of the moment, so focused on the immediate pain or frustration, that we completely lose sight of the bigger story God is telling. The squeeze becomes the only reality we can see.

So what do we do?

I think the answer is actually pretty simple.

We have to rehearse the story.

Over and over again.

You see, there is incredible power in retelling the story of Job. We come back to it not because it gives us easy answers, but because it reminds us that we’re not alone in our questions. It reminds us that this invitation to trust in the middle of the squeeze is an ancient one, and God is patient with us as we learn to receive it. The reality is, we will spend our lives learning to receive the invitations from this book - so I in no way tell you any of this as someone who’s figured it out! I am learning along the way with you.

But it’s not just Job’s story, there’s power in retelling the stories of people who have received this invitation before us. It’s why we share our testimonies (Next week, during life change Sunday, we want you to have the opportunity to share!)

These stories become this great "cloud of witnesses" that the book of Hebrews talks about, showing us that it’s actually possible to reimagine God’s end-game.

It’s those who have learned to walk through the valley of the shadow of death with a good shepherd who are able to look back over the course of their lives - and say even of that valley, “…surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life.”

Gospel

And friends, the Bible is clear about how we meet that Good Shepherd.

The Old Testament prophets longed for this day of restoration. They saw it from a distance. But how do we get from our broken world to Revelation 21? The answer is Jesus.

The whole storyline of the Bible points to Him!

You see, in Jesus, God didn't just give us a promise of restoration; He stepped into the brokenness to begin the work Himself. Jesus is the true and better Job. He was the truly “blameless and upright” one who endured the ultimate squeeze, the ultimate Dark Night of the Soul on the cross.

He cried out to God and was met with silence so that we would never truly be alone in ours. And in His resurrection, Jesus began the great work of shuv.

His victory over the grave is the down payment, the guarantee, that the restoration of all things is not just wishful thinking. It's the ultimate foretaste of what God plans to do for all of creation. It's the first day of the new world.

So, the first way to receive this invitation to reimagine God's end game is to receive the one who makes it all possible. It’s to put your trust in Jesus.

Closing: It Is Well Story

Horatio Spafford was a successful lawyer and real estate investor in Chicago in the late 1800s. A man of deep faith, a close friend of the evangelist D.L. Moody. By all accounts, he was living the good life, just like Job.

And then the "squeezes" began.

First, his young son died of scarlet fever. A devastating blow. Then, in 1871, the Great Chicago Fire wiped out nearly everything he owned, all his real estate investments. Financial ruin.

Two years later, wanting to give his family a rest, he planned a trip to Europe. He sent his wife, Anna, and their four daughters ahead on a ship called the Ville du Havre, planning to join them after he wrapped up some business.

But a few days into the voyage, their ship was struck by another vessel, and it sank in just 12 minutes. All four of his daughters—Annie, Maggie, Bessie, and Tanetta—were lost at sea. Only his wife, Anna, survived. She sent him a heartbreakingly short telegram that began, "Saved alone..."

PAUSE

Horatio immediately booked passage on the next ship to join his grieving wife. And a few days into his own journey, the captain called him to the bridge. He said, "Mr. Spafford, I believe we are now passing over the place where the Ville du Havre went down."

And it's right there, in that moment of unimaginable loss, floating over the very spot that held his four little girls, that Horatio Spafford receives the invitation we've been talking about this morning. The invitation to reimagine God's end game.

Because in that moment, what do you do? Everything in you wants to scream at God, "Why? Is my suffering entertaining to you?" Every bit of evidence says, "This is not fair. This is not right. God has abandoned me."

And yet, instead of being crushed by the waves of sorrow, Horatio Spafford went back to his cabin and, with a pen in his hand, he asked, "What if?" "What if there is something on the other side of even this loss?"

And he wrote these:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll… Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my soul.

PAUSE

Friends, do you see what he’s doing there?

He is not saying, "It is well with my circumstances."

No!

His circumstances were a wreck.

He was not throwing around some platitudes insisting he was fine. He wasn’t.

He was saying he could look at the greatest loss imaginable and still say "it is well," because he had reimagined God's end game. He knew this wasn't the end of the story.

Spafford wasn’t saying it was well, but that he was trusting in the day when God would make all things well.

And in a few moments, we're going to sing his words. And as we do, we're joining a chorus of believers throughout history who, in the middle of their own squeezes, have chosen to receive this same invitation: to trust that there is something more, and that because of Jesus, it is, and will be, well with our souls.

Let’s Pray