Key Truth: God alone is sovereign and truly good which sets us free to glorify God even when we are suffering and don’t know why.

Introduction:

Q: If you could describe yourself or if someone else were to describe you in just a couple of sentences, what would be written?

“The first chapter of Job describes him, in fact, as the embodiment of the ideals held out in the first psalm….Job is the embodiment of the prosperous just man held up as a model in the Book of Proverbs.”

Patrick Henry Reardon, The Trial of Job

Does Job Fear God for No Reason?: A Utilitarian View of Man’s Relationship to God: 

Job 1:6-12

“The author is telling us in this way that a utilitarian religion lacks depth and authenticity; in addition, it has something satanic about it….The expectation of rewards that is at the heart of the doctrine of retribution vitiates the entire relationship and plays the demonic role of obstacle on the way to God. In self-seeking religion there is no true encounter with God but rather the construction of an idol.”

Gustavo Gutierrez, On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent

Q: Why do you love and fear God? Do you struggle with making God a means to an end instead of Him and His glory being the end?

Blessed be the Name of the Lord: Worship as Critical Response to Suffering:

Job 1:20-22

“(Job) is so absorbed by the sovereign action of God in giving and in taking away that there is a humble acceptance in blessing even the hand that has struck him. Would that we could learn to make that our first reaction to the crisis- to pray.”

David Atkinson, The Message of Job

 Q: How do you respond when suffering and evil encroach upon your life?

Skin for Skin: The Defeat of Satan and the Beginning of the True Test:

Job 2:1-10

“In order that we may properly appreciate the conduct of Job in his affliction, we must further take into account another consideration. Job went into his trial destitute of many of those firm supports and grounds of consolation which are now so plentifully supplied to suffering saints. Those revelations had not yet been made upon which the believer now so firmly rests his hope in times of deep distress. Truths, which are as familiar to us as household words in the gracious disclosures of the gospel, had never yet been clearly set before the minds of men.”

William Henry Green, Conflict and Triumph: The Argument of the Book of Job Unfolded

Q: Is God’s sovereignty and providence comforting to you amid the inexplicable?

Application:

Job 1-2 teaches us that:

-  God is mysteriously sovereign over the evil and suffering that befalls us limiting it according to His will.

-  A utilitarian relationship with God is not a true relationship and places us in grave danger.

-  Our first and ongoing response to suffering should be prayer and worship, seeking the comfort and glory of the Lord.

Baptism

Benediction:

Romans 1:16-17