Shrinking from the Suffering of Job
Oh Lord, I did not want to read Job 1 this morning. But that is where the plan had me reading. I knew what was in it. And how my heart shrinks at the thought.
Oh Lord, You have just blessed me with the most amazing birthday I could have ever imagined. 50. I think of the Syrian refugees who have no homes and of Christ who had no place to lay His head, and yet You allowed Wally and me to spend the night at the Peabody, to be pampered like a king and queen and even to feast like royalty at the Flight. And we came home to a place of such comfort—that may not be the Peabody—but for us it is just as nice—much nicer than Jesus or the Syrians had.
Job was the wealthiest man in the entire area according to v. 3, and we may be far from that, but I don’t feel like it. We don’t lack for anything. You have graciously provided for all of our needs and more of our wants than I could have ever imagined or hoped for.
Oh Lord, it brings tears to my eyes to read of Job’s children in these first verses—because I know what’s coming, and my heart shrinks from it. Seven sons and three daughters. You’ve blessed us with three sons and one daughter, and so I picture the faces and the relationships of Will, Elizabeth, Walker and Ian. And it says they would take turns feasting in each other’s homes, inviting their sisters to celebrate with them—so I’m guessing they were young adults since they had their own homes?—perhaps the daughters were teens. And when these celebrations ended Job would offer sacrifices for his children in case they had sinned in some way and cursed You in their hearts. (v5) Lord, all of this sounds so familiar, how our kids love being together and hanging out—how fun and festive it is—the laughter and loudness and stories—but how as their mom what I wonder about most is their walk with You. V. 5 says it was Job’s regular practice to offer sacrifices for them, and I think of how You’ve moved me as You’ve grown me to devote myself more and more to praying for our children and their spouses. Oh, how this strikes right to my heart.
And then, of course, is the entire conversation between You and Your and our enemy, the accuser—Satan—who accuses Job of being a fake—that Job’s devotion to You is all because of Your goodness to him. And of course, again, I know the rest of the story with Job, but I don’t know the rest of mine. Oh Lord, would You keep me faithful? Whatever Your Providence permits. I know You are good and holy and wise. Would You impress that truth so solidly on my mind and heart that I will persevere in faithfulness and worshiping You regardless of what You bring into my life?
And then, of course, Job loses everything—all of his earthly wealth wiped out in a matter of moments. No insurance. Nothing to fall back on. Everything is gone.
And then, what I and every parent fears most happens—not just the death of one child, which would have been bad enough—but all three precious daughters and all seven cherished sons. In one tragic whirlwind or tornado, they are gone. Not only are those ten lives snuffed out, but all of his interactions with them and theirs with each other—the celebrations and feastings and joys of being together are no more. He can’t go back in time and have them back. All ten gone. I cannot begin to imagine such loss.
And so he tears his robe in grief and shaves his head, and then he falls to the ground and … I would expect he falls to the ground and weeps, or falls to the ground, his heart breaking, or falls to the ground and doesn’t get up, or falls to the ground and cries himself to sleep. But instead, he falls to the ground and worships. He worships You. He doesn’t curse You. Instead, he says in v. 21 “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised.” He recognizes that ultimately You are the source of every gift and every loss, and He praises You. Oh Lord, would You give me the same grace to recognize Your hand in everything as You gave Job—to praise You regardless of what You bring into my life?
Thank You for Wally’s preaching through Job, and especially in Your Providence that You would have him preach the last chapter the same day You would have me read Job 1.
And thank You for how You have provided Your own commentary on the book of Job in James 5:11—that the two main things we see in Job are 1) the perseverance and steadfastness of Job in that he kept on praying throughout the entire book—even if they were prayers of screaming at You, he never turned away from You through very intense spiritual warfare, and 2) Your compassion and mercy. In 42:6, Job repents in dust and ashes before You, and as in so many places in Your Word, You are near to the broken and contrite of heart. You love us enough to humble us. Oh how that terrifies me. And yet, Lord, I trust You. Everything that happened to Job ultimately was so that he could really see You, as he says in v. 5 “Before I’d only heard about You, but now my eyes have seen You.” And Lord, though I haven’t been through anything like Job, the one thing I have seen is how You’ve used pain and suffering to draw me deeper in my relationship with You. I’ve come to know You better and see You more clearly in times of darkness when You are the only light I see.
And thank You so much for what Wally brought out about the happy ending—the relief it gives because You have wired into us a longing for a happy ending—a distant memory of Eden. And yet, as satisfying as the ending of Job is, it’s still not perfect. Because even though Job gets tice the wealth and his health is restored, and he even has 10 more children and even lives to see grandchildren, these are not the same 10 he lost, and certainly he still grieves the first ten. And so, that makes us yearn for the real happy ending. And we think of Christ Jesus who was truly the Innocent Sufferer—not like Job, who though righteous, was still a sinful man. And Jesus never prayed prayers screaming at You or saying things about You that weren’t true. You never abandoned Job like You turned Your face on Your own Son as He cried out to You, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
And how striking it is Lord, that You would reinforce how Job points forward to the truly Innocent Sufferer, Jesus Christ, by having me read in John 18:28-19:42 the same days as Job 1-2, when again and again You, Lord Jesus, stood trial before Pilate, the governor, he could find You guilty of nothing. And then, though You were innocent, that he would have you flogged with a lead-tipped whip, and then shove a crown of thorns into your head, slap You across the face, throw a robe on the open fleshly torn wounds of Your back, and then have You stoop over to bear the heavy load of the solid wood cross as You stumbled up the hill to Calvary where they hammered nails into Your hands and feet and pierced Your side with a sword. Job’s wife told him to curse God and die, but You were cursed by God and died, for as it is written in Deuteronomy 21:23 and Gal. 3:13, anyone hung on a tree is cursed by God.
Oh Jesus, once again, I am so astonished by Your love, what You endured so that I might live happily ever after. And then, how beautiful it is to get to the end of John 20 when Thomas, who at first did not believe You’d been raised from the dead, after he put his finger in Your hands and into the wound in Your side, then he finally believed You really had come back to life. And You said in v. 29, “You believe because You have seen Me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing Me.”
And that theme of seeing brings me right back to Job seeing You at the end of 42:5. And yet, what Job saw with his own eyes was all Your virtues that You described in chs. 38-39, 41. He didn’t see You physically on the earth like Thomas and Peter and John and Mary and the other disciples. And yet, in Job 19:25-27, Job said, “I know that my Redeemer lives and I will see Him with my own eyes.” Lord Jesus, as You said, blessed are those who believe without seeing. You gave Job that grace to believe without seeing, and You’ve given me that grace too. How I pray for those who are blind, that You would open their eyes to see You and Your truth.