Job 1:1-3:26 , 1 Corinthians 14:1-17 , Psalms 37:12-29 , Proverbs 21:25-26
Today is the 21st day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian and it’s a pleasure and an honor to be here with you today as we continue forward into this week. And we concluded the book of Esther yesterday and we talked about. Today we’re moving into some new territory.
Introduction to the book of Job:
For the next little season here were going to be exploring the deeper recesses of our hearts and we’ll be looking at it through the lens of suffering and of meaning and purpose. And, so, that brings us to the threshold of the book that we’re about to step into, the book of Job, which poetically deals with the problem of evil and human suffering and just begs the question, why? Why me? And then rustling for that answer. Funny thing about Job is its origins are disputed because it's…just…there’s like no historical context in the Bible. There’s no historical figures. I mean there are people in the Bible, obviously, but none of them can be cross-referenced and located in history, which leads to a lot of conjecture. In spite of this, it’s widely accepted that Job may very well be one of the most ancient books in the world and perhaps the most ancient book in the Bible. But even Jewish tradition has varied opinions. Some scholars believe that because of the archaic Hebrew used in the original manuscripts and the uniqueness of words found in the book - Job uses a lot of Hebrew words not found anywhere else in the Bible - that Job was maybe contemporary with Abraham, or Jacob. Others believe that it was written by a scribe returning from exile whose native tongue wasn’t Hebrew. And others follow tradition that Job was written or collected by Mosses, so there’s conjecture around this. And if it was written by Moses, it’s unknown whether he was writing down oral traditions that had been passed down for…for who knows how long or weather he was writing a bit of a theological treatise dealing with suffering and pain as a parable. These are only a few of the many varying explanations for Job’s existence. But regardless, it’s beautiful. It’s a beautifully written work and it’s among the most riveting literature in all the world to help us deal with suffering. So, as we move through the book of Job we’ll deal with these questions, the questions of unwarranted suffering and the council of friends who are attempting to help Job find the answer. Often what we’re going to find is that Job’s friends giving advice sound very, very similar to the kind of advice we might give and totally valid, only to find out that they didn’t know at all what they were talking. And we’ll discover that as we demand answers for our suffering or our hardship or our struggles and then…and then we contrast that with the glory of God. And we become speechless because God’s glory is infinite and far beyond whatever we might be going through at the moment. His power and his strength are so vast that their unknowable, right? They can’t be quantified. It's…it’s beyond our comprehension. His beauty is indescribable. It is God and only God who can sustain our lives, but often when were we’re suffering were asking why, are you letting this happen. And there’s not always this immediate answer that we’re looking for, no matter how much we stamp our feet and shake our fists and make demands. And the more that we demand, the more you become aware that we’re putting ourselves, we’re elevating ourselves into a position of highest judge, even to the point of making a judgment against God, which is a scary thing indeed. So, ultimately we can spend our lives looking for an answer or we can trust God. And this may sound like it’s trite but it’s bedrock. All of our lives boil down to this core awareness. Our very existence itself boils down to this awareness. There are always parts of our story that are incomplete. There’s always more going on than we ever know, but our suffering, our hardship, our struggle is a continual invitation to leave behind our knowledge of good and evil and fall helplessly and hopelessly into God. I mean the struggles that we face are continually inviting us to answer one simple question, is God good or not. And we can answer, of course, yes, then even in the face of hardship we know we’re on the right path. And, so, with that, let’s dive in to this new season, and this new book. Job chapter 1 verse 1 through 3 verse 26. And we’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week.
Commentary:
Okay. So, we’ve worked our way through three chapters of Job, and…I men…this is one of the most riveting points in the Bible to me. Every year we pass this territory, it’s the same thing for me…this…this image of how a man systematically lost everything that he cherished. I mean to the point that all of his joy, all of the hope that he had was crushed to the point that he wanted to be lying in the grave. And, I mean, we can we can see why. Everything, everything that he had that mattered was taken away. The thing that is most riveting about that, the posture that is portrayed here is…it is just riveting to me because it’s usually not what we do, right? If we have a season like Job and, come on, let’s be honest, none of us have had a season like Job. We may that we’re suffering like Job, but we just read what happened to Job. So…so as not to make a blanket statement, let me just say that it’s unlikely that any of us have suffered like Job, probably none of us have had a bad day like the one Job had when servants couldn’t finish what they were saying and what they were saying was destruction of one of the aspects of Job’s life, they couldn’t finish even saying it before the next one came up with more bad news. Job’s response should silence and humble us because so often, you know, if we were to encounter say 1%, 2% of what Job is facing, we’re shaken our fists at the sky. Job’s response is certainly to acknowledge what he’s going through, right? As was the custom, he tore his clothes to show that something is torn inside of him and he put sackcloth on and he sat in ashes and put ashes on himself. He’s clearly demonstrating and acknowledging the pain and suffering. But what he did was he fell to his knees and worshiped God. It’s such a vivid picture and such a contrast with the way that we deal with these kinds of things, usually. Job’s posture is just different than that, right? He’s not saying all kinds of affirmations and, you know, trying to find mantras that he can repeat to keep his courage up…like he’s acknowledging completely what is going on. It’s just that he’s responding to it differently than most people do. He fell to his knees and began to worship God. I mean there’s thousands of us going through thousands of different things, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands. Like, every one of us have a story to tell and at one point or another we’re going through patches that we don’t want to be going through, we’re walking through things that we’d rather not be, we’re suffering in ways that would rather not be. If we could remember this picture, though it would orient us correctly. As we’ll see, this isn’t going to take everything away just because Job fell to his knees and worshiped God. But the posture of heart is clear. No matter what happens, Job has committed himself to trusting in the sovereign God and in Him alone. And as this develops in the story it will be even more riveting.
Prayer:
Father, we come into Your presence, first confessing that…I mean…this…this is normally not our posture. I mean…we might worship and praise You…hoping that You’ll make things better…quickly…as soon as possible, but…but we haven’t faced with Job has faced and he fell to his knees and worshiped You. And this humbles us. And, so, we worship You, to begin with today. Lord, we worship You. You are the sovereign God. The fact that we are breathing oxygen. The fact that we have a consciousness and are even aware that we exist is a gift from You. We have nothing and we are nothing without You. And, so, we are reminded today as we look into the book of Job that are hope is in You and You alone. Everything else that we put our hope in, all of our own ingenuity and strength, this isn’t gonna work. It’s going to turn out to be false hope. And, so we put our hope in You alone and we confess that You are good. And Father, we confess this in the face of what we are dealing with right now and in this community it runs the gamut of everything a person can face. So, inside this community, as a collective, we have endured with Job is enduring, just not as individuals, but we are all facing something. And, so, we fall to our knees and worship You. You are good. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And we invite Your Holy Spirit to draw near and comfort us in this. We turn to You. Rather than being estranged from You and pushing You away and being angry, we run toward You and fall before You and receive Your comfort. Come Holy Spirit, we pray. Blessed to be the name of the Lord. Amen.
Song:
Brent Bourgeois - Blessed Be the Name (from Job)
May the day perish on which I was born.
May the stars of its morning be dim.
Why is life given to the bitter of soul
Or to those who stand in anger of Him?
Oh, He pierces my heart and does not pity.
He breaks me with wound upon wound.
Remember, I pray that you have made me like clay
And you’ll return me to dust again soon.
Oh-oh, Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked I shall return.
Oh, the Lord gave, the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
He commands the sun and it does not rise,
And treads on the waves of the sea.
Yet, how small a whisper we hear of Him
For He is not a man, is He?
That my words were written forever
With pen and golden rod,
My redeemer shall stand at last on the earth.
In my flesh, I shall see God.
Oh-oh, Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked I shall return.
Oh, the Lord gave, the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
But now ask the beasts and they will tell you,
And the birds of the air and they will teach you,
Or the fish of the sea will explain it to you,
That the hand of the Lord has done this
In whose hand is the life of every living thing
And the flesh of all mankind.
Oh-oh, Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked I shall return.
Oh, the Lord gave, the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Oh-oh, Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked I shall return.
Oh, the Lord gave, the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.