Third Sermon on Job

Sermon Job III

Scripture Job 42:1-6

When we left Job last week, Elihu, the youth, was ranting against Job and the other three elders. Then in Chapter 37, we get a hint that maybe Elihu has stumbled on a grain of wisdom. In Job 37:5 Elihu says, “God thunders with his voice wondrously, doing great things we cannot comprehend.” As Elihu goes on, however, I wonder if he has actually found wisdom or is he just ranting. He says, “God will not bring hardship to those who are just or wise of heart.” Those are Elihu’s words, not mine. God does in fact allow hardship to the righteous. God allows bad things to happen to good people. Where is God’s justice when evil is rewarded and innocence is punished? The answer is in God’s response to Job if we can sort it out.

I have told you before how angry I was when my boys drowned in Rock Lake. Teachers aren’t supposed to favor some students over others, but teachers are also human. I was their teacher, their football coach and had watched them grow up. I had hunted birds with them. They were like sons to me. They were good kids and their parents didn’t deserve to be punished. Pastor Jack Pea knew how close I was with them so he called me the morning after while I was still asleep. I was devasted and immediately mad at God. I stayed mad for well over a year. Then I was in a Bible study group with Pastor Jack, and we were studying the book of Job. When we got to chapters 38 and 39, God’s speech to Job, it hit me right between the eyes. It was as if God was speaking directly to me. “Where were you when I laid out the foundations of the earth?” Who do you think you are Frank to question my actions? I got over being mad, but I still didn’t have an answer to why God allows bad things to happen to good people.

I think most people actually believe the same thing Job’s three neighbors believed. “It’s your own damn fault.” You have done something to offend God. We may not even realize what it is, but God punishes us for a reason.

I posed that question to several people whose word I valued. I asked the adult Sunday School class, and one attendee suggested that God allows bad thing to happen to prevent worse things. He told of the time he had three flat tires on his work van in one day. Then he commented, “I wonder what calamity God saved me from while I was changing tires.?” My mother had been widowed four years and was sitting at the picnic table in the yard watching the tree trimers. She was waiting until they finished to pay them. When they came over to talk to her, she had passed. For her children it was a time of grief, but she didn’t suffer for an extended period like our dad. He slowly, painfully, deteriorated and finally wasted away. God saved Mom from that, and he saved us from experiencing it again. Imagine a world without pain. Wouldn’t that be cool. God could eliminate pain if He wanted. Several years ago, I began to lose the feeling in my hands. They were free from pain, but I found that to be a curse. I would injure myself and not know it until I saw the bleeding. Not only did I not feel pain, I didn’t feel my grand-daughter’s hand when she held mine. I was grateful when some very talented neurosurgeons worked some magic and restored most of the feeling in my left hand. No one constructed a therapy plan, so Linda Lynch suggested I drag out my old guitar that had been stored in my basement. So, when you hear me play poorly today it is Linda’s fault. Without her suggestion I wouldn’t be able to play at all. Pain is part of God’s plan. Billie experienced pain in her abdomen, and I took her to the ER last Sunday morning. If she had not experienced pain the real problem would not have been diagnosed until it was too late. God allowed a bad thing to happen to Billie (pain) in order to prevent a worse thing from happening.

I have another Christian friend who maintains that God doesn’t allow bad things to happen to anyone. He only allows good things. It is up to us to find the good in what God allows to happen. I like those words, but I can’t find any good in losing my boys in the lake. I can’t find any good in the raise of Hitler’s Germany and in the extinction of millions of human beings. I can’t find any good in the death of an infant. I just can’t.

Then I began to consider that God doesn’t have the same frame of reference as I do. God doesn’t think Like me. God doesn’t think like humans do. It is very human to believe everyone has the same beliefs and value systems that we have. A thief will be the first to safeguard his possessions, because he believes other people would steal them. Liars are the ones who don’t believe you. Christian believers can’t understand why anyone would not have faith, while non-believers can’t understand why anyone would trust in something they can’t see.

It took me a while and several readings until I finally figured out what God was saying to Job in chapters 37 and 38. God was telling us that we judge events by our criteria, and that is wrong. Take death for example. For us death is a final experience. We grieve the loss of a loved one. I grieved the loss of my dad even though it ended a painful existence. In his last few years, he lost his mobility, his memory, and his eyesight. It was awful to watch. For God, however, death is the portal to paradise. At least it is for believers. We can’t get to heaven in this life.

I’m not about to try to explain what God’s criteria are. I am just smart enough to realize He doesn’t see things the same way we do. I know he loves me and wants what’s best for me. But God’s definition of what is best may be much different than mine. As Pastor Jack Pea used to say, God is God and I’m not. I have been around enough to understand that good and bad are relative to one’s position. What is best for any individual soldier may be very wrong for the Army. What seems good to me may very well not be the will of God. God doesn’t allow bad things to happen to good people, but we are incapable of determining what is good and bad in the eyes of God.

Pray with me. God, You are Lord and I am not. I am insignificant compared to you. I am not capable to understand your motives, so I will not try. I know you created me out of love. That has to be enough. As Job said, “I have faith that my redeemer lives.” Blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen