Job’s Worst Life Now (Job 1:6-2:13 August 7, 2016)

I want you to think for a moment about the worst tragedy you have faced in your life. Some of you have led a blessed life and the worst you have faced is:

The pretty girl saying no to a date. Or the car you bought turning out to be an absolute lemon.

But most here have faced or will face real tragedy:

The phone call in the middle of the night – your son was in a car accident. The doctor delivering the bad news – it is cancer. Your accountant saying – sorry you have lost your house.

When real tragedy hits – how did you respond? Did you cry out:

Why God? Why are You doing this to me? OR did you say: Thank you God? I know this is for my good.

As I reflect on my life – I think too often my first response has been to cry out – why God? For most of us, suffering feels like punishment so I think asking why is the most natural reflex. But faith says that the God who loved us enough to send Jesus works all things together for our good. Whatever He sends our way is for our good. As my favourite hymn says:

Whatever my lot, You have taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.

The Bible is very clear – God has His reasons for sending suffering. Punishment is but one reason. I Googled and found 36 reasons why God might choose to bless us with suffering. Here are a few of them:

To encourage repentance To mature us To edify the church To encourage a longing for heaven To teach us about God and His gospel

Now let me put this together. Think again about your greatest trial. Think of the pain and the hurt. Now – what if God granted you a glimpse into His sovereign purposes – and you realised that the suffering and pain was intended to work one of more of these blessings in your life. The suffering is not punishment but for your good. Would you be angry? You mean You put me through all this just to teach me a lesson? Would you be confused? Wasn’t there any easier way to learn this? Or would you be thankful? If that is what it took – bless you Lord! This morning we are going to see righteous Job suffer more than just about any man in history. But God is also going to do something unusual. He is going to allow you and I to see a glimpse of why He sent suffering into Job’s life. God sent the suffering to show Job the real question is not why – it is who. Job asks why – but God never answers his why. Job never gets the glimpse into heaven we are going to get in chapters 2 and 3.

What Job gets is an encounter with the majesty of God – and as his understanding of who God is becomes more robust – He realizes that he can trust this God even with his unresolved tensions about the reasons for his suffering. Job is a good man – but even good men can have an inadequate view of God. One of the main reasons for Job’s suffering is to correct his inadequate view of God. As well, in this book, what Job gets are hints and pictures and revelations that all point to the fact that God deeply cares about suffering. He cares to the point that someone – will come to actually end the suffering of this world. Instead of an answer to the why – Job gets a solution – a who – God Himself and hints concerning the Lord Jesus. Understanding this truth is so important that God puts this faithful, godly man through incredible suffering in order that he can learn it. What we are going to see this morning is this:

Some lessons are worth the suffering. The truth of the lesson – the gospel – that God wants Job to learn is so crucial – so foundational – God deems the cost of Job’s suffering worth it. Last week we started Job. We looked at the first five verses: The Prosperity Gospel How We Think The World Should Work (1:1–5) This morning we come to: The Anti-Prosperity Gospel How It Seems The World Often Works (1:6–2:8) The echoes of a good creation lead us to want the world to function according to a prosperity gospel. We want the righteous to be blessed and the wicked to receive punishment. But because this is a fallen world, this is not how the world always works.

At times every one of us will receive suffering that is undeserved. At times every one of us will receive blessings that are undeserved. This morning we are going to see the godliest man of his day suffering the most awful calamities. Righteous Job will suffer in way we would not wish even upon a drug czar. Job is blameless – and what happens is not his best life now – what we see is Job’s worst life now. He receives punishment that does not seem to fit his crime. So look with me at Job chapter 1 beginning in verse 6:

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”

In the vast, majority of disasters and catastrophes on earth – we are never privy to the plans of God. But occasionally God peels back the curtain to give us a glimpse of why He does what He does. It seems that the Lord revealed this scene to the author of Job – and what a scene it is. If we didn’t have Job – I doubt many of us would imagine demons and Satan himself having access to God and having a conversation like this with God. But more than that – we read this section – and if you are like me – you are stunned at what God does. The enemy turns up and the Lord says to him:

Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?

This is an important verse. Later Job is going to think that God is unaware of how righteous he is – that God just needs to be made aware of how good Job is and his pain will stop. Also later we will see that Job’s three friends are convinced Job has some huge secret sin.

Neither is true. Job is not suffering because God has overlooked him or because Job is harbouring huge sin. As well, think about what is happening here. God is painting a target on Job’s back. John Piper points out that this scenario seems to be like a known jewel thief walking into a jewellery store – clearly casing the place – and the owner who knows he is a thief saying – I hope you noticed our most precious gem – the Job diamond in the corner? Why would God do this? Why would he point Satan towards His most faithful servant? Some say that God wants to choose the godliest gem He has to show him off. Job is so godly he will stay faithful even as Satan afflicts him with suffering. I struggle with that idea for several reasons. I don’t see God using us as mere pawns in this way. As well, if this were the case, the one who would get the glory in this book would be Job – not God. And unfortunately Job doesn’t survive Satan’s best shots – in chapter 3 he crumbles and his faith struggles. So again I ask – why does God do this? Why does God put Job in Satan’s crosshairs? Because there is a great truth Job needs to learn. A truth that is worth of any amount of suffering. To help us think through what this truth might be – I want us to think about what Job’s expectation of God is. I want to suggest that there are five basic views of God. The first view is: The non-existent God. There is no God. We could call this one – the que sera sera non-God – what will be will be. If an earthquake strikes, if I get cancer, if a car hits my dog – it is all just random chance. There is no reason, no malevolent or benevolent force involved.

No one will ultimately right wrongs and dispense justice. Hitler and Stalin are never punished. Good does not ultimately triumph. It does no good to get angry or cry out – because there is no one in the heavens to hear. The second view is: The non-caring God There is a powerful God but He just doesn’t care. He created the universe then just took His hands off. God is like a boy rolling a stone down a hill. He sets it in motion – but what happens after that he doesn’t control. The third view is: The impotent God There is a caring God but He is impotent to help. He can’t stop tragedy or pain. Now – I trust no evangelical Christian would seriously hold any of these three views. That is not to say we never have thoughts about God not caring or questions about whether He can help – but in our souls we know this is not true of God. But my question is this. If you have one of these three views of God – how would you respond when tragedy strikes?

In 1969 a Swiss-American psychiatrist – Elizabeth Kubler-Ross proposed that most people respond to grief and tragedy in five stages. Many took her work and added a sixth stage – initial immobilisation. The idea is that when tragedy strikes the way most people respond is that their initial response is to be immobilised almost paralysed with grief. This is followed by a stage of denial – this just can’t be happening to me. Then comes anger – how can this be happening to me? Bargaining follows – God I will spend ten years in the peace corps if you heal me. God I will even go to church if that is what it takes. Interestingly she found that even most atheists got angry at the God they don’t believe in and bargained with the God they don’t think can help. Finally, after a time of testing – those who don’t end their life come to accept their fate. They find a way to cope with the pain. They can lose themselves in drugs or sex or materialism. They can play the victim and hope for expressions of love. They can be stoic and just say – such is life. However, evangelical Christians have a different hope. They do believe in an all-good, all-sovereign God. The question is how does God choose to help us. I want to spend a little while looking at the fourth view: The proportional justice God. One key to understanding this book is that this is the basic view of God that Job and his three friends hold. And I have to say – even though I know this view is wrong – I have found myself thinking like this too many times – and some of you will have as well. At the end of the sermon I want to show you the fifth view – which is the one I believe God is leading Job – and us – to understand. But for now we will look at this view. We might call this – The karma God. The Disney ending God. The prosperity gospel God.

This view holds that there is a God. He is a good, caring God. He is an all-powerful, sovereign God. And because our God is just and fair – His punishments fit the crime. Basically it says this God will dispense justice to us proportionate to our goodness or our evil. This is perhaps the most common view of God in the religions and philosophies of the world. Something about this view just seems right. We think rewards and blessings should be proportional. Big sins deserve big punishment. But note the implication of this – big punishment must mean that somewhere there is a big sin. Listen to the words of Eliphaz in Job 4:7–8:

Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.

You reap what you sow. God doesn’t punish the innocent – only those who deserve it. This view is so ingrained in us that even many biblically literate Christians – default to this view when troubles strike. If you hold this view and something bad happens in your life – the first thing you do is think – God is punishing me – what is it for? Is there something I have to stop or something I have to do? Is there a sin to stop? Am I not reading my Bible enough or giving enough? God just show me what I have to do? Unfortunately, this has been me too many times. And I could not tell you how many times someone in our church has had something terrible happen – a miscarriage, a lost job, a painful illness – and they have said to me – I knew I was struggling in my faith – now God is punishing me. What we are going to see is this is exactly where Job and his friends jump to. His friends say – God is afflicting you – there has to be a huge sin – just confess it.

But what we will see is that Job searches his soul – and he can’t find any sin worthy of such punishment. In Job 6:24 he cries out to God:

Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray? God – just show me my sin? Job believes there is no huge sin in his life – but he says – if I am blind to a sin – God – please show me. The question is – if you believe in a proportional justice God and you know there is no big sin in your life – what do you expect God to do when trials hit you? You expect God to soon end your suffering and restore your perfect life. That seems proportionate. You will put up with suffering for a time while you wait for God to act. That is what I believe we see happening in Job 1 and 2. Job is tested. Job’s response is to trust that God will take care of him. But as we will see – God doesn’t end Job’s suffering. Job waits and waits for God to act – and when we get to chapter 3 – and God has not intervened – we see Job collapsing. He drops his bundle. He despairs of life. He is incredibly confused about what is going on. There is something very important we need to learn from this. If God isn’t acting the way we expect – if life is running differently to how we think it should – then it is not God with the problem – it is our view of God that needs adjusting. Job had to learn this lesson. As godly as he was – his view of God was inadequate. And it is a lesson that was ultimately for his good. Look at how this plays out. Verses 9-12:

Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”

And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

When God says – have you considered my servant Job – Satan responds and says – Job isn’t so hot. He only loves You because you protect him and give him a great life and stuff – plenty of stuff. Let me at him. Let me get at his stuff. Let me get at his happy family and he will curse You to Your face. I am sure Satan thinks this about all Christians – not just Job. Is he right? Here is the sad fact – too often – I think Satan is right on the money. Despite the Bible being crystal clear that if you come to Christ – you will be persecuted, you will suffer, you will be expected to give significant chunks of your wealth away. Despite the fact that there are no promises of health, wealth or prosperity for Christians. Despite all of this – I suspect Satan has put his finger on a reality that many who name the name of Christ do so precisely because they expect their powerful, rich, generous heavenly Father to bless them materially, physically and relationally – and most of us tend to think this from time to time. Here is the deal many of us think God should or even does offer. In this life:

Strength for saintliness. Gold for godliness. Delight for devoutness.

Then in the life to come:

Heaven for holiness Perhaps some – even some here this morning – follow Christ because of what He might do for them in this life or in the life to come. If we live godly – God should owe us. Satan is convinced that men worship God for what He can give them. In my time off I visited many churches. A number handed out prayer lists. I looked at those lists – request after request for prayer for health issues, financial issues, circumstantial issues.

Please don’t mishear me – I am not saying it is wrong to ask God to help in these areas. Far, far from it. It is just that if that is all we ever ask God for – maybe Satan has a point about us. I asked myself this week – if God took everything I had – my possessions, my church, my family, my health – if all I had was Christ – would it be enough? Honest answer – I’d really like to think so. I love my family. I love my life. It would really hurt to lose what I have. So if Christ alone is enough – I know it would only be because of the power of the Spirit in me. Now in the case of Job – Satan demands to put this to the test. A series of devastating calamities befalls him – all in one day. God says – He is in your hand Satan – you can do what you want with one exception – just don’t touch his body. Wow! A few questions spring to mind – perhaps the first is – might God do that to us? Is Satan up in heaven saying – I want to test Michelle Hunwick – I want to see what she is really made of – let me at her? While it is hard to be definitive – I don’t think so. Revelation 12 teaches us that at the cross – Satan was cast out of heaven to the earth. He pursues the church. He is filled with wrath. But he is limited. My understanding is that Satan is prowling about like a roaring lion – but in this time after the cross we have the resources to resist him. I do not believe Satan has access to God or the power to touch us in the same way he touched Job. But there is another question – a more fundamental question. Is this the God you want to worship? A God who would put Job and maybe you – through a trial like this?

If the lesson is worth the trial – absolutely! Now we are coming close to the heart of this book. Verses 13-19:

Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

Notice how God and Satan are portrayed. They are not two equals battling. As Luther put it – The devil is God’s devil. He can only do what God allows. Have no doubt Satan wants to torture Job and indeed every Christian, but he can only do what God allows. Satan is clearly pictured as subservient to God. God is in control of every event. When God loosened Satan’s leash – somehow Satan was able to influence both men and natural forces to work his destruction on Job. But, it is done in such a way that the Sabeans and Chaldeans chose to attack – and are liable for their actions – and Satan – is also liable for his actions. Yet the sovereign hand of God is still behind all of these events – and He is in no way the author of evil. How this actually works is beyond my understanding – that is how this chapter presents things. That said, I suspect Job woke up that morning with no expectation that this day would change his life forever. Many if not most calamities come out of the blue.

On this day – four immense calamities befell Job in a matter of minutes. Two were natural disasters, two were man-made disasters. Here is Job minding his business and he looks up and sees four messengers heading his way. Messenger 1 – Immense tragedy – I alone survived. Messenger 2 – Immense tragedy – I alone survived. Messenger 3 – Immense tragedy – I alone survived. Messenger 4 – You can imagine Job – Don’t tell me – Immense tragedy – You alone survived. This has to be the hand of God. Four immense disasters in one day and one survivor as witness from each event. In the space of a few minutes – Job’s entire world is irrevocably shattered. One calamity is bad enough – Job had to listen to news of four calamities. And these are not the honey I have bad news – I pranged the car style calamity. By the time the last messenger has come Job realised – he had lost almost everything. His wealth – gone. His servants – gone. Then the final calamity. A great wind collapsed the house – killing all ten children. I have never had a child die. Some of you have. That has to be the worst news you can hear. Imagine hearing everything you have is lost and then hearing – and as well – every one of your beloved children are gone. Read the first five verses again. Job loved these children so much he made intercession for them just in case they might sin. Job had to be stunned. Wondering if he heard right. I suspect he pinched himself to try and wake from this nightmare. He did everything right. He loved God with all his heart. He had no secret sin. Yet God sent these tragedies on him. Why? At this point Job doesn’t know why. Despite this – here is Job’s response – verses 20-21:

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

Job worshipped God!! No matter how you cut it – if you were grading Job you would have to give him 10/10 for the way he initially responded to this incredible testing. Verse 22:

In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Job didn’t accuse God – call God out – or curse God. But Satan is not done yet. Chapter 2. In verse 3 God says:

[Job] still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.

God says – you took his wealth – his position – his children – and he still blessed Me. Verses 4-5:

Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.”

Skin for skin. Job could handle it when someone else’s skin – someone else’s body was touched – but let me touch his skin – his bone – his health – and you will see the real Job. At this point we might expect the Lord to say to Satan:

Enough. You had your shot and failed. The man has suffered more than any human being should. He has been taken from riches to bankruptcy, from greatness to destitution, from a happy family to utter bereavement – and he worshipped me. No more.

But that is not what happened. Verse 6:

And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” The fact that God did not say to Satan – enough – leave Job alone.

The fact that God allowed Satan to inflict further agony on him – tells us something. There is a very deep lesson here – for Job and for us – so deep even these trials are worth it. It is so important that God allowed Satan to inflict even more misery on Job. He could touch his skin – his body – his health – the only thing he could not do is end Job’s life. Verse 7:

So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.

We don’t know exactly what this disease was. Leprosy, elephantiasis, yaws and scabies have been suggested as among the possibilities. What we do know is it was horrific. We are told Job had inflamed eruptions accompanied by intense itching. Chapter 7 seems to describe maggots or worms in the skin ulcers, bad breath, along with terrifying nightmares. Chapter 30 talks of the erosion of his bones and the blackening and falling off of his skin. Imagine being afflicted with weeping, pussy ulcers, parasites. You itch night and day. Scraping your skin with broken shards gives minor relief. You are terrible to look at and men avoid you. You are isolated and despised. Unclean. An outcast. Losing your wealth and children is one thing. Constant agony is something else. Social isolation makes it all the worse. Put them all together and it is the depth of misery. But Job’s temptations are still not done. We learn later that Job sat like this for months – wasting away. Finally – his wife has had enough. Verse 9:

Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”

I used to be critical of Mrs Job. But a few things.

God never criticises her – so we had better be careful doing so. It wasn’t just Job who lost everything. The wealth, the servants, the position, the ten children – she also lost them all. Now she has practically lost her husband. He is unclean and sitting on an ash heap. He is unable to comfort her, work or even be with her. It looks like the man she loves is about to die. Finally, she cracked – Job just curse God and die. I can’t bear to see you like this. I would rather see you dead than in this agony. God did this. You know it – I know it – curse Him – blame Him – bring His judgment down so He finishes you off and you die. Just get it over with. This is yet another trial for Job. But his response is just as incredible. Verse 10:

But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”

I don’t like this ESV translation. We never receive evil from God. Far better is the NAS:

Adversity. Or the NIV:

Trouble. We accept what God gives us – both blessings and calamities. I ask you – how many of us would respond to such severe adversity like this? God is sovereign – I trust Him – I accept the disasters He has sent on me. Verse 10:

In all this Job did not sin with his lips. But there is one more trial to come. Verses 11-13. Three faithful friends came. We learn later in Job that it took them some time – months to organise this meeting and to come. So Job has been suffering for a prolonged time.

Finally, they arrive. When they see Job they were totally unprepared. The wretch they saw bore no resemblance to the great man they once knew. The only thing great about this wretch was his suffering. When they saw Job – they had no words of wisdom or comfort. They just sat with him in his suffering for seven days – the time of mourning the dead. This silent presence is far better help than the unwise counsel they are about to give. It was as if the Job they knew had died. A final test – no comfort, no explanation, no hope from these friends. If the book of Job ended here – we would think Job’s view of God was enough to sustain him through the toughest of times. But – the book does not end here and Job’s response does not remain as good.

Here is the Kubler Ross chart again looking at most people’s emotional response to grief. Now compare that with Job’s Emotional Response.

We began the book with every part of Job’s life going well.

Job’s Emotional Response

1:1-5

3:1-42:6

1:6-222:1-13

Then incredible tragedy struck and he worshipped. Then things got even worse. His own health failed. And he said – I accept this from God. Job clearly understood this was from God. Job knew that God controls fire and wind and God controls the hearts of men. In 1:21 he says – the Lord gave and the Lord took away. He doesn’t say – the Lord gave and Satan and storms and the Sabeans took away. In 2:10 he says – You speak as one of the foolish women. In Hebrew poetry a fool is one who acts as if there is no sovereign God overseeing this world. And in the same verse he says – shall we receive blessing from God and shall we not receive calamity? Job knew what happened to him happened at the hand of God. Here is the point I need you to grasp this morning. Job believed that this loving, caring, good, sovereign God could and would stop his suffering. But Job’s view of God – the proportional justice God – is ultimately inadequate. Last week we saw why God does not respond proportionally. Because a proportional response would mean hell because all men – even the best of men are sinners. This view of God has no way of dealing with sin. We do not want God giving us what we deserve. So God needs to reorient Job’s view of justice and sin and how God deals with them. Here is the picture. Job is waiting. He is like Jonah waiting for what he thought God should do. But God did not intervene. And like Jonah – Job eventually cracked. Next week we are going to see Job lose it in a major way. God didn’t act the way he expected.

Now please hear me out. I am not saying if your theology is right – you will never lose it. In fact, I think every one of us would lose it if we suffered a fraction of what Job did. I am saying – Job was expecting the wrong intervention by God – and it made his fall into despair far worse and far more painful. I well remember years ago a young couple – from a different church – whose daughter died. They were rejoicing. Seemed strange – then I found out why. They were convinced that if they prayed enough, gave enough, believed enough – God would raise her from the dead. When that didn’t happen they collapsed. Their faith in God was shattered – because God didn’t act the way they expected. So what lesson is so crucial – God deemed this incredible suffering was an acceptable price to pay to learn it? It is to show Job and you the greatness and glory of God. This God will by definition do what is right and just – even if we can’t understand how it can be right and just. Job never gets a full understanding of how God reconciles His justice with His love. There are hints about it in this book. A speech by Elihu goes very close. But, as those who live on this side of the cross we have a fuller revelation. We know that the Lord is: The substitutionary justice God. The God of the Bible – the true God does care. He cares so deeply about our suffering and pain He did something astonishing. God sent His own Son – Jesus as a substitute to pay the penalty for sin – to deal with the root cause of suffering. It is crucial for us to understand this. Without grasping this there is no salvation. This passage teaches us that:

Some lessons are worth the suffering. I am sure that in the crucible of suffering – Job asked – does God really love me? I am sure that in the crucible of suffering – you have asked – does God really love me? The answer is found in the lesson God wants Job to learn in the rest of this book. A couple of years back at the Oxygen conference, Bryan Chapell shared about something that happened in the first church he pastored – a church in a mining and pastoral area of Indiana. In that church there was a man who was a miner and many years earlier when he was just a young man – he was injured in a mining accident and became a quadriplegic. When Bryan came to the church this man was in it – he was now much older – but he was a faithful active member of the church. There was another man in the church. A young man who had recently had some tragedy in His life and His faith was shaken. He was angry at God. In his struggle, he thought about the older quadriplegic man. It struck him the older man had experienced far more tragedy and had lived a much harder life – yet He still trusted the Lord and loved the Lord. He went to the older man and asked – considering what God let happen in your life – how can you still believe God loves you? The older man was honest. There are many days that I look out my window and Satan comes to me and says – look at your friends – they married, they had children, they have grandchildren – you have none of these. How can you say God loves you? On other days Satan comes to me and says – look at where you live – an old house decaying around you – yet your friends live in nice houses. How can you say God loves you?

And the young man asked – considering your suffering – how can you still say God loves you? He replied – on those days – I take Satan by the hand and I lead him to a small hill named Calvary – and I point to Jesus – my God, my Creator – who chose to be crushed for me – and I say – see – this is how I know God loves me. This is the lesson Job will learn. God loved him enough to give him something greater than merely intervening in this life. This is the only truth that makes sense of all his suffering. This is the only truth that makes sense of all your suffering. This is our gospel. This is our God.

Job’s Worst Life Now (Job 1:6-2:13 August 7, 2016)

Main Point: The magnitude of Job’s suffering is proof of how crucial the gospel is. � How do you usually respond to trials and suffering? Why is that your initial

reaction?

� How do you think Satan can afflict believers today? What are the limitations put on him? What are our resources to resist him?

� Discuss Kubler-Ross’ stages of grief. Do you think Christians respond differently?

If so how? � When tragedy strikes – how do you expect God to act? Why? � Discuss the difference between the proportional justice God and the substitutionary

justice God. � If there is sin in your life – how can you tell if trials are a consequence of the sin –

a punishment for sin – or not related to the sin? � Is it wrong to love God for what He can give us? Why? � What is the right motive for loving God? � What are the indications that God is sovereign over Job’s sufferings in chapters 1-

2? � Why did God allow Satan to inflict such suffering? � Do you think God let Job suffer too much? Was there an easier way to learn the

lesson? � How should we respond to suffering in our life? � How can we know God loves us when the trials seem too deep?