Wisdom in Suffering (Hope)
Notes
Transcript
Announcements:
Announcements:
Gym Night with JHM Wednesday
Where’s Waldo
Baptisms (April 12th — After Easter)
Introduction:
Introduction:
We are in our 3rd week out of 5 talking about Biblical Wisdom Literature
And the reason we’ll be studying these books is because I believe there are timeless truths that have the potential to change our lives contained in these words
These books have changed my life—and I hope as we take time to go through them, that you would read them and be changed by them as well
And every week so far we’ve talked about the goal of wisdom literature
It’s not secret knowledge that we learn
But it is very practical
And often the hardest part isn’t learning about it—but it is actually living it out
Last week we looked over Proverbs and saw the paths that lie before every one of us
The Wise Person
The Foolish Person
And we talked about how true biblical wisdom is about going with the grain of creation
Or its about living how we were intended to live
Story of the knife opening can
But as we move forward today, we’ll begin to see that biblical wisdom is not a formula
That Proverbs is not a book of promises
It gives us some general rules:
Wise people with enjoy life more
Foolish people will suffer and ruin other’s lives too
But the Book of Job teaches us that there are always exceptions to the rules
What happens when we do everything right
We walk the path of wisdom
But things seem to fall apart
In Proverbs 10 & 11 we read:
9 The one who lives with integrity lives securely,
but whoever perverts his ways will be found out.
Proverbs 10:16 (CSB)
The reward of the righteous is life;
the wages of the wicked is punishment.
Proverbs 10:30 (CSB)
The righteous will never be shaken,
but the wicked will not remain on the earth.
Proverbs 11:8 (CSB)
The righteous one is rescued from trouble;
in his place, the wicked one goes in.
Proverbs 11:19 (CSB)
Genuine righteousness leads to life,
but pursuing evil leads to death.
Proverbs 11:21 (CSB)
Be assured that a wicked person
will not go unpunished,
but the offspring of the righteous will escape.
So one might read the Proverbs—and come to the conclusion that:
If life is going well for somebody—they must be on good terms with God (righteous)
If life is going downhill for somebody—they probably have some sort of problem or sin that is causing it
The righteous will lead prosperous lives
The wicked will be punished and destroyed
And not only if we read proverbs… but I think we naturally think this way
What it means to be blessed or in God’s favor—is to be successful
But Job is a book about suffering—and specifically undeserved suffering
And today we are going to try and answer the question: Is there any wisdom in suffering?
What do we actually learn for our own lives from the suffering of others & our own suffering?
Scripture Reading:
Scripture Reading:
1 There was a man in the country of Uz named Job. He was a man of complete integrity, who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters. 3 His estate included seven thousand sheep and goats, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man among all the people of the east.
4 His sons used to take turns having banquets at their homes. They would send an invitation to their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 Whenever a round of banqueting was over, Job would send for his children and purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned, having cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.
6 One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. 7 The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?”
“From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered him, “and walking around on it.”
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.”
9 Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Haven’t you placed a hedge around him, his household, and everything he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he owns, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself while he sat among the ashes.
9 His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10 “You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said.
11 Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very intense.
Outline:
The Story of Job
Suffering with Others
How to Suffer Well
The Story of Job
The Story of Job
We don’t have all of the answers to questions we might have, but we do know:
Job is a godly and righteous man
Job lived a prosperous life (He was living the proverbs life)
For some reason—Satan approaches God
And God points out Job to him, because He is proud of him
Then Satan does what Satan does—accuses
He accuses Job of working for pay
He accuses God of paying for popularity
So Satan makes a wager—and God accepts
If Job was to lose everything—how would he respond?
Would he still worship God?
And Job loses everything
His livestock, his wealth, his children, his reputation, his own health
And at first Job stays strong in the face of all of this loss
But eventually he is brought to the end of himself
And it’s really interesting what Satan is doing here
He’s not just trying to ruin Job’s life—He is trying to make it look like Job has been forsaken by God
Satan is almost copy & pasting from Deuteronomy to make Job look evil and unrighteous
15 “But if you do not obey the Lord your God by carefully following all his commands and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overtake you:
18 Your offspring will be cursed,
and your land’s produce,
the young of your herds,
and the newborn of your flocks.
19 You will be cursed when you come in
and cursed when you go out.
20 The Lord will send against you curses, confusion, and rebuke in everything you do until you are destroyed and quickly perish, because of the wickedness of your actions in abandoning me.
35 The Lord will afflict you with painful and incurable boils on your knees and thighs—from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
So not only is Job suffering—but according to the Torah (Bible) it looks like it’s his fault
And so the rest of the book of Job comes after
In the middle of all of this mess he has 3 friends that come to sympathize with Job and comfort him
And the rest of the book is a series of speeches
Job speaks
One friend speaks
Job replies
Another friend speaks
Job replies
A third friend speaks
Job again responds
Then it happens all over again—with a second round of speeches and responses
The first round of speeches are relatively polite
They are encouraging him to return to God
But the second round of speeches is raw
They are calling Job’s character into question
Remember—Deuteronomy says these sorts of thing happen to people who abandon God and reject him
They are reading their Bibles
They are saying—hmm… it looks like you’re actually cursed by God—what could you have done
Please just confess your sin—return to God
And after we see that Job stands firm and declares his innocence
And after Job says this a new friend comes and chews Job out
He is angry at Job and is demanding that he has done something wrong
And after all of this, God himself comes down in a whirlwind and addresses Job (which we’ll talk about later)
And the book ends with Job being restored and actually being more blessed than he was before
What do we do with this crazy story?
It’s really hard to teach this entire book in one sitting
I took a whole semester of Bible college on this book
But what does this mean for us today?
I think Job is speaking wisdom into our lives in two areas:
How we Suffer Alongside Others
How to Suffer Well
How we Suffer Alongside Others
How we Suffer Alongside Others
I think that there is a lot from Job’s interactions with his friends that we can learn from
And we don’t learn in the same way as we read in the Proverbs
Proverbs is more theoretical—no direct context
But Job is a story—there are real stakes
And often in stories—and our own lives—we learn more from the mistakes than the successes
Most of what we learn in Job is a negative example—what not to do when suffering with others
Instead of listening to Job—Job’s friends are giving him unsolicited advice
Instead of patiently caring for Job—they are probing him and trying to find a solution to his problems
Instead of trusting Job—they question his character and heart
The way that Job’s friends treated him did not relieve his suffering—they added to his suffering
This is what friends are for, to help us through difficult times
Proverbs 17:17 (CSB)
A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for a difficult time.
But unfortunately, Job’s friends blew it
They used God’s word—not to encourage him—but to condemn him
They were unwilling to sit with him in this difficult time, and instead were treating his life like a problem to be solved
And I think we can learn so much from this
How do we love and care for friends that are suffering?
Are we like Job’s friends?
If we have a friend that is suffering…
Are we quick to throw a Bible verse at them?
Are we uncomfortable with their suffering and want to fix things—not because we care but because we want to avoid the uncomfortablilty?
Are we willing to listen to their problems without giving them advice?
When it comes down to it a good friend:
Bears our burdens with us; not solves our problems for us.
They are committed to us and to be with us through a difficult season—not quick to offer advice and fix our problems
They are willing to sit with you in your own difficulties, to listen and sympathize
I'm sorry to hear that, I know that must be difficult. And I know there's not much I can do to change things, but I’m committed to being by your side through this.
They gently point us back to Scripture and the goodness of God
They don’t slam Bible verses at you
They don’t answer all of your questions
But they remind you of who our God is
And I don’t know if you all have walked through difficult problems with others… but this makes the world of difference
I’ve had people that have counseled me through hardships that just was not beneficial
I opened my heart and shared my pain—and I felt like I was just another problem to solve
Although I spoke a lot—I did not feel heard
My pain wasn’t acknowledged—it was avoided
And I’ve also walked through things with people that meant the world to me
They didn’t have much to offer—they couldn’t change my circumstance—they didn’t offer me life changing advice
But I knew—I’m not crazy—I know I was heard
I know this person cares for me and understands my pain
And it’s deeply comforting.
We are here for you
And so I think the way in which Job’s friends interact with him give us a great amount of wisdom to how we are to be good friends in a time of suffering and hardships.
Suffering is not a problem to be solved, but a reality we have to learn to live with
But what about when we are the person suffering?
Job is also offering us wisdom in how to suffer well
How to Suffer Well
How to Suffer Well
The book seems to be spiraling downward after each conversation
Job’s friends accuse him
And Job is consistently maintaining his innocence
He is just wanting to know why all of this has happened to him
And unfortunately… Job (and us) never get the full and satisfactory answer
And I think this is one of the first bits of wisdom for us
When we are suffering—asking WHY—is almost always going to leave us dissatisfied
Unless you are clearly in the wrong—and your own mistakes or sin have caused your suffering (in that case you know why)
But when things just seem to be going wrong—life is falling apart—We have to acknowledge, we might never know the ‘why’
As the book wraps up—God and Job have a conversation
And in that conversations Job is not given any answers
He’s not even given the backstory about Satan behind behind it all
In short, God just says — ‘Just know that I am God’
I created the universe—I sustain the earth and all of creation—I know what I’m doing
And through all of this Job finally sees things correctly in the final chapter:
1 Then Job replied to the Lord:
2 I know that you can do anything
and no plan of yours can be thwarted.
3 You asked, “Who is this who conceals my counsel with ignorance?”
Surely I spoke about things I did not understand,
things too wondrous for me to know.
4 You said, “Listen now, and I will speak.
When I question you, you will inform me.”
5 I had heard reports about you,
but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore, I reject my words and am sorry for them;
I am dust and ashes.
In short, Job says:
“I withdraw my demand for answers”
“I am not healed, but I have seen God”
And God restores his honor and possessions
And Job doesn’t receive a single explanation
And I think for us… this is one of the main takeaways from this book
The key to going through suffering—for suffering well
Is not finding answers—its knowing who God is
And listen—pain and suffering are unavoidable
We will face hardships, trials, and tragedies in our lives
And Job is teaching us that we won’t always have the answers we are looking for
But that we have a God who we can take our tears to
And guys—honestly, this is a really hard topic
I know people who have left the faith because of this
I know people that refuse to become Christian because of it
Why does a good God allow such evil things to happen in his world?
It’s not because God is evil
He is not the author of anything evil
God is actively against and at war with evil, sin, and death
God respects people’s free will which means some terrible things happen
But God uses even the evil for his purposes
20 You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.
28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
And these are nice answers—in theory—but when YOU are going through pain and suffering
We want to know why
And Job does not help us here
It’s frustrating and disappointing… but this book is telling us that we are missing the point
We see that it’s not about having answers but about Knowing God
One of my favorite books “Till we have faces” hits on this theme time after time
The main character goes through it
Trial, suffering, hatred, distrust… and the whole time she is blaming the Gods
She writes a book about all her grievances and how she has been dealt unfairly to present to the Gods
And at the end of the book we read:
“I ended my first book with the words 'no answer.' I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice?
When it boils down to it… is God enough?
Can we trust God, in the midst of chaos and suffering?
Are we seeking a quick fix to our problems?
Are we seeking the perfect explanation or answer?
Or are we seeking God himself?
Wisdom is telling us: When things go wrong—Seek God
Not to fix everything—but to know that he is near the brokenhearted and gives strength to the weary
To learn a deeper and more intimate way of relating to God
A wise person, a mature Christian, isn’t so strong that they are immune to pain—and nothing phases them
A mature Christian experiences deep pain and immense suffering—and knows God’s care and comfort in the midst of it
Conclusion
Conclusion
And as we wrap up, we can’t end without talking about Jesus
The character most like Job in the entire bible is obviously Jesus
He is a righteous and wise man that has done nothing to deserve wrong
Yet he suffers—terribly
Yet in his suffering and rejection from his friends he remains faithful to God
And he remains faithful to his friends:
10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and doubled his previous possessions.
Job endures the sins of his friends, and is able to reconcile their relationship with God
Not only does he not reject those who rejected him—he brings them in and stands in the gap between them and God
And as we take communion, this is what we remember
God is not immune to the suffering of the world
God became vulnerable to pain and suffering
Jesus suffered and died for us
His body was broken—His blood was shed
We know that there is wisdom in suffering
Small Group Questions
Small Group Questions
Icebreaker: Who is a friend (or family member) that you are grateful for and why?
Have you had someone treat your suffering as a problem to be solved? (Give an example)
How did that feel?
What makes it difficult to live through seasons of hardship and suffering?
What wisdom is Job offering us in times of hardship and suffering?
