Untitled Sermon (11)

Hearing God in the Storm.

Job 38:1–7 NIV

1 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said: 2 “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? 3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. 4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone— 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

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Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 38

God’s overall point in the speech is that no one can know what God knows or do what He does—and thus Job cannot understand how the world works or his own situation for that matter.

Job 38:1 NIV

1 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

God begins to unpack a series of questions showing his Vast difference between hmslef and man.

In answeringthis He wins a challenge with satan

Job 1:9 GNB

9 Satan replied, “Would Job worship you if he got nothing out of it?

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 1

Fearing God is connected with showing obedience to Him. In Genesis 22:12, Abraham’s obedience shows that he feared God. Similarly, in Deut 6:2, God instructs Israel to demonstrate their fear of God by keeping His commandments. See note on Eccl 3:14.

Introduction

Job 38:4–7 NIV

4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone— 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

Why a Good God Allows Suffering

Why a Good God Allows Suffering

tells us that “all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Yet how many of us feel it’s hard to read in the middle of the storm?

In that story, Joseph’s brothers betray him and sell him into slavery.

In that story, Joseph’s brothers betray him and sell him into slavery.

Decades later he tells them, “As for you, you planned evil against me, but God planned it for good, in order to do this—to keep many people alive—as it is today” ().

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 38

38:1–41:34 Throughout his speeches Job asked—even demanded—that God answer him (7:20–21; 10:2–3; 23:2–7; 31:35). He wanted God to explain why He was afflicting him. Here, God responds to Job—but He does not explain His purpose in afflicting Job. God neither references Job’s suffering nor his claims of innocence—but He does refer to Job’s challenge (40:8).

Also, God does not condemn Job as Job’s friends expected. Instead, He emphasizes His power and supremacy as He sarcastically asks Job a series of questions about nature and creation—emphasizing the vast difference between Himself and humanity. In answering this way, God wins his challenge with the satan figure (1:9; note on 1:6). Job has proven that he fears God because of who God is, and not because of how God has blessed him (see note on 1:9). God’s overall point in the speech is that no one can know what God knows or do what He does—and thus Job cannot understand how the world works or his own situation for that matter.

Cycles in Job Table

38:1–40:2 God opens and closes His first speech by challenging Job (vv. 2–3; 40:2). Through a series of rhetorical questions, He exposes the limitations of Job’s understanding and reveals His own power as Creator. He reveals His work in creation (vv. 4–15), shows His power and knowledge in maintaining and governing the created order (vv. 16–38), and shows His power in sustaining life in the animal kingdom (38:39–39:30).

38:1 Yahweh answered Job from the storm Theophanies (appearances of God to people) often include displays of the power of nature. God’s appearance at Mount Sinai was accompanied by thunder, lightning, and clouds (Exod 19:16–20). Fire is also often associated with theophanies (Exod 3:2; Deut 5:24). Here, God appears to Job in a whirlwind

The Case of Joseph

With Joseph, God does more than just make the best of a bad situation; He uses it for ultimate good (compare ).

Ephesians 1:11 NLT

11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

Five chapters before declaring that “God planned it for good,” Joseph said to his brothers, “You yourselves did not send me here, but God put me here as father to Pharaoh and as master of all his household, and a ruler over all the land of Egypt” (). We see two wills at work here: Joseph’s brothers successfully perpetrated evil, and God successfully brought about good from their evil. God sovereignly worked so that the moral evil they committed—and the evils that resulted—were dramatically reversed to achieve His good purposes. As Joni Eareckson Tada puts it, “God permits what He hates to achieve what He loves.”

Five chapters before declaring that “God planned it for good,” Joseph said to his brothers, “You yourselves did not send me here, but God put me here as father to Pharaoh and as master of all his household, and a ruler over all the land of Egypt” ().

We see two wills at work here:

A. Joseph’s brothers successfully perpetrated evil, and God successfully brought about good from their evil.

God sovereignly worked so that the moral evil they committed—and the evils that resulted—were dramatically reversed to achieve His good purposes.

As Joni Eareckson Tada puts it, “God permits what He hates to achieve what He loves.”

The Good of the Cross

With Joseph, God does more than just make the best of a bad situation; He uses it for ultimate good (compare ).

Five chapters before declaring that “God planned it for good,” Joseph said to his brothers, “You yourselves did not send me here, but God put me here as father to Pharaoh and as master of all his household, and a ruler over all the land of Egypt” (). We see two wills at work here: Joseph’s brothers successfully perpetrated evil, and God successfully brought about good from their evil. God sovereignly worked so that the moral evil they committed—and the evils that resulted—were dramatically reversed to achieve His good purposes. As Joni Eareckson Tada puts it, “God permits what He hates to achieve what He loves.”

The Good of the Cross

The cross is God’s answer to the question, “Why don’t you do something about evil?”

God did do something—and what He did was so powerful that it ripped in half, from top down, the fabric of the universe itself.

God does not merely empathize with our sufferings; He inserted Himself into history through Jesus.

What Jesus suffered, God suffered.

God ordained and allowed Jesus’ temporary suffering so He could prevent our eternal suffering.

Good Friday isn’t called Bad Friday, because we see it in retrospect: We know that out of the appallingly bad came inexpressible good.

And that good trumps the bad: Although the bad was temporary, the good is eternal.

If someone had delivered Jesus from His suffering, Jesus could not have delivered us from ours (; ).

Isaiah 53:10–12 NIV

10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Romans 6:5 NIV

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Suffering and God’s Purposes

Suffering and God’s Purposes

Paul wrote, “To you has been graciously granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on behalf of him” (). He said, “All those who want to live in a godly manner in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (). Jesus noted, “In the world you will have affliction” ().

Abel, who pleased God, was murdered by Cain.

Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, nearly all the prophets, and many other biblical figures suffered (compare ).

As followers of Christ, believers routinely suffer, but God has a way of using it for His purposes.

Every character in God’s story serves a purpose, as do all characters in His story today—believers in Jesus.

Joseph, after being sold into slavery and later sent to prison on false accusations, surely had endured enough for one life.

At times, he must have felt like giving up.

Talk to Job in the middle of his story—10 children dead, his body covered with excruciating boils, feeling as if God abandoned him, and friends haranguing him.

Job even says: “Why did I not die at birth?” (). But Job also says that God “knows the way that I take; he tests me—I shall come out like gold” ().

And later on Job remarks, “I heard of you, but now my eye has seen you” ().

2. Becareful who you are listening to in the storm

Alcorn, R. (2012, 2016). Why a Good God Allows Suffering. In Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

2. Becareful who you are listening to in the storm

Throughout Jobs struggle he not only asked but demanded that God answer him.

Alcorn, R. (2012, 2016). Why a Good God Allows Suffering. In Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

We ask questions because we want an explanation.

He wanted God to explain why He was afflicting him.

He responds but does not explain His purpose

3. Focus on Who is in charge and not the storm.

4. Hearing God when you can’t trace him

You have to be quiet

Your surroundings need to be quiet

Your ear need to be clear

You need to listen with your your mind and heart not just ears

Take time to process what you hear