" A Sudden Tragedy "

“ A Sudden Tragedy “

Job 1:20-22 “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return thither: The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.”

Job 2:9-10 “Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.”

No matter what happens

In your life

Remember that God

Is still God

In the midst of a Sudden Tragedy

Mal. 3:6 “For I am the Lord, I change not; Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”

He Is still

And will always

Be worthy of Praise & Worship

Footnote: But have you ever wanted to break up with God

No matter how much

you go to church

read your bible

pray & spend time with God

It’s hard dealing with the Sudden Tragedies of life

We have no control

over the sudden tragedies of life

But we do have control

On how we handle

The Sudden tragedies of life

But we like to see

things coming or

See things transpire gradually

Example:

Marriage ( Divorce ) — Job( Layoff ) — Cancer — Daddy/Mother ( Death )

Note: This is the first two chapters of Job, Job has to deal with the sudden tragedies in his life with NO WARNING.

Explain: Job

7,ooo — Sheep

3,000 — Carmel

500 — oxen

500 — donkeys

Servants — Many

10 — Children

His wife

The book of Job

is written around the time

of the Babylonian exile

In 587 BC

the Israelites was conquer

by the Babylonians

under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar

And when they are conquered

Jerusalem is destroyed

The temple is burn down

And the Israelites

are sent into Babylon

to live in exile

They live in exile 70 years

Until the Babylonians

are conquer by the Persians

And the Emperor Cyrus

gives a command

that gives the Israelites

a pass to go back to Jerusalem

And through all of this

the people of God

have one question on there mind

And there question is this

Question: How could God let this happen to us

How could a God that love us allow our city to be destroyed

How could a God we worship allow the temple to be burn

How could a God we serve send us into exile

And the only answer that they was hearing

Was a answer that came from the Prophets

So while Israel is trying to figure this out

Jeremiah — Hosea — Ezekiel — Isaiah

All give Israel the same answer

And the answer is this

The reason you're struggling

Is because you have sinned

So now in their minds

Of these Israelites

They are thinking

That God operates in

DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE

In other words

This is distributive justice

what you do will determine

what God will do

If you act right God will reward you

If you mess up God will punish you

And the book of Job

is written to remind us

That God don't always

operate like that

So when Job is talking to his 3 friends

Eliphaz — Bildad — Zophar

They represent

the traditional theological

understanding that you

Job had to do something wrong

For all of this to happen to you

Because God wouldn't have

punish you

if you had not done

something wrong

But the text says

Job was Blameless — Upright — Fear God — Escheweth evil

Job shows us

that bad things

happen to good people

But the only problem with that is

Show me good people

Because Jesus says

Mark 10:18 “And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.”

Isaiah 64:6 “But we are all as an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; And we all do fade as a leaf; And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”

1st. His Sorrow in the Tragedy V. 20

Job 1:20 “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,”

He "Rent his mantle, and shaved his head.

These are two of the main ways in which men in those days displayed their sorrow.

The mantle was the outward garment which covered the other garments of a person.

Shaving the head was sometimes replaced by cutting the hair if it was long.

Job's sorrow was not expressed in an uncontrollable manner.

Shaving the head would especially require care and control.

And the fact he only tore his outer garment indicates that he was in control of his emotions.

It is not wrong to sorrow, but it is wrong to sorrow overmuch to the extent that emotions more than principle control one's conduct.

Note: Sometimes I don’t feel like singing.

Psalms 137: 1-4

1st. His Sorrow in the Tragedy V. 20

2nd. His Submission to the Tragedy V. 20

Job 1:20 “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,”

To worship God says that Job approved and accepted what was done here.

Note: How do Job worship God at a time like this because Job knew God was still behind all of this.

Job treated his change in circumstances to Divine will and submitted to it and honored God and His will by worshiping Him.

TOWDAH ( to-daw ) — agreeing with what has been done or will be.

Note: Job is not like us cause we don’t complain when things are going good.

1st. His Sorrow in the Tragedy V. 20

2nd. His Submission to the Tragedy V. 20

3rd. His Steadfastness in the Tragedy

Job 1:21 “And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return thither: The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Trouble did not stop Job from worshiping

Though he had lost his possessions

and his children

Job still worshiped

This shows

a very high priority on worship

So many church people today

have no such priority

in regards to worship

The slightest affliction

or any inconvenience

will stop them

from showing up at church

on Sunday to worship

Job certainly

had a great excuse

for missing out on worship

but he still worshiped

This is the steadfastness of worship that we all need

1st. His Sorrow in the Tragedy V. 20

2nd. His Submission to the Tragedy V. 20

3rd. His Steadfastness in the Tragedy

4th. His Statement about the Tragedy V. 21

Job 1:21 “And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return thither: The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

This shows Job Perspective of life.

Providence in life — "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

Job understood that all he had came from God and it was a gift, for the Lord "gave."

>> Being a gift means it was a result of God's mercy.

Also being from God meant that God had control of it and if He so desired He could take it away, too.

WORSHIP ( comes from 2 words ) — WORTH & SHIP

Worship is how much God is worth to you

1st. His Sorrow in the Tragedy V. 20

2nd. His Submission to the Tragedy V. 20

3rd. His Steadfastness in the Tragedy

4th. His Statement about the Tragedy V. 21

5th. The Sovereignty over the Tragedy V. 22

"In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly" (Job 1:22) ( 2:9-10 )