Introduction

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In 2002 … baseball manager Billy Beane took the Oakland Athletics all the way to winning the Western Division of Major League Baseball … despite having a budget half that of his rival teams.  He did it using what’s called Sabermetrics … which looks at the analytical data of each player.  Now since Beane couldn’t afford the top-level players … he decided to ignore things like batting average … or base stealing skills … and instead just looked at the players who got onto first base most often.  So with his analytics expert Peter Brand … Beane puts together a team of undervalued players … who got on base.

The Athletics went on that season to break the American Baseball League winning streak of 19 straight games.  They won 20 games in a row.  The following year the Boston Red Sox started to employ Beane’s Sabermetrics … and the year after that … won the World Series.  Now throughout the 2002 season … and still to this day … there is widespread debate over Sabermetrics in baseball.  And the debate is … ‘HOW did that work!’  For both the Athletics and then the Red Sox to field teams with no superstars … no big hitters … yet win more games than all the other teams … should NOT have worked.  It was SO amazing they turned it into a Brad Pitt movie … called Moneyball.

Now I tell this story … because that’s the question this passage leaves us asking; ‘HOW did that work!’  So we’re closing out our series on the book of Job today … and Job 38-42 is my second favourite part of the Bible.  Revelation 4-5 is my favourite part of the Bible … for the exact same reason.  These 2 sections of the Bible … in my opinion … give us the greatest pictures of God’s glory in the Bible.  These 5 chapters outline for us the incredible power and majesty and creativity and glory of God … in a way that should make EVERY Christian want to read Job 38-42 at least once a year.

But the thing that’s striking about this passage is that ever since chapter 3 of the book … Job has been calling out for God to speak to him and tell him WHY he is allowing this suffering.  And he’s not alone in this question.  Many years ago Steven Fry was asked what he would say to God if it turned out he was wrong and God DOES exist.  And his answer was ‘kids with cancer.  What’s that about?’  Countless people throughout the ages have asked the question ‘if there really is a God, why does he allow suffering?’  And this includes Christians.  Christians believe in a God who is in complete control of the universe … AND is infinitely loving.  To be honest … the deeper our understanding of God … the bigger our complaint about suffering should be.  Is it because you CAN’T save us from suffering Lord … or because you don’t want to?  And Job has spent some 35 chapters calling for an audience with God.

And in chapter 38 … in the words of Forrst Gump … God shows up.  Yet instead of answering Job’s question … God spends 4 chapters berating Job.  And do you know what happens at the end of this dressing down?  Job is transformed.  His anger is gone … and he’s back to serving the Lord.  So like Sabermetrics in baseball … we’re left asking ‘how did that work?’

Well that’s what we’re here to find out today.  How does being told off by God … transform Job into one of the greatest servants who ever lived.  And I’ve got 3 points to help us try and figure this out … as your sermon outline shows.  We’re going to begin by looking at (i) What God says … point 1.  We’ll then analyse (ii) Why it worked … point 2 … before concluding with our application … which is (iii) How to respond … point 3.  What I mean is … how to respond when suffering comes knocking.  Now can I say … that I for one am very sad to see the end of this series.  The book of Job has exceeded my expectations.  But let’s go out on a high … by looking at God’s answer to the question of suffering.

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What God says

 

And our passage begins with these words:

Job 38:1 (NIV) Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm.

The Hebrew for ‘storm’ is literally a tempest.  For those who say ‘I’ll believe in God if only he would reveal himself to me’ … be careful what you wish for.  God has a habit in the Bible of showing up in a category 5 hurricane.  But that’s not what’s really frightening about this encounter.  What’s really frightening is what God DOES … and what he DOESN’T do.  And we’ll look at what he DOESN’T do first … which is 2 things:

To begin with … he DOESN’T give Job an explanation as to WHY he is suffering.  All Job has been begging for … for some 35 chapters … is to be able to plead his case before God … because his suffering seems unwarranted.  Yet the book ends with Job never being told about Satan’s little wager with God from chapters 1 and 2.  Like why would God go to all the trouble of showing up … and NOT give Job the answer he’s been looking for?  That SEEMS strange on the surface … wouldn’t you say.

The SECOND thing God doesn’t do … is give Job comfort.  What we saw a few weeks ago is comfort is one of the main things sufferers need to get through times of affliction.  But there’s no ‘I’m so sorry you’re going through this Job’.  There’s no ‘Is there anything I can do to help Job’.  And there’s no ‘Please know I’m walking through this with you Job’.

Instead … what God DOES … is he spends 4 chapters hammering Job … starting straight off the bat:

Job 38:2 (NIV) “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? 3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

Not this guy has suffered more affliction than almost any other person in human history … and God’s first words are ‘stand up and act like a man.’  Then he asks Job a series of questions.  And those questions have a single theme.  And that theme is … ‘can you compare to me?’

So he starts in v. 4-11 by talking about creation:

Job 38:4-5 (NIV) “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!

Where you THERE … millions of years ago Job … when the universe burst into existence out of nothing?  Is it by YOUR power that the world exists?  In v. 12-35 he talks about seasons and weather patterns:

Job 38:35 (NIV) Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

He then talks about the animals.  The rooster … the lioness … the ravens.  Then in Chapter 39 the mountain goats … the bear … the wild donkey.

Job 39:19 (NIV) “Do you give the horse its strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?

The point of all this is to say to Job … ‘who do you think you are … to question my plans?’  Now by chapter 40 … Job’s got the message:

Job 40:3-5 (NIV) Then Job answered the Lord: 4 “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. 5 I spoke once, but I have no answer— twice, but I will say no more.”

And do you know what God says?  I’m not finished yet punk … and he continues berating him.  In v. 8 and following he says ‘how DARE you question my justice’.

Job 40:12-14 (NIV) look at all who are proud and humble them, crush the wicked where they stand. 13 Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave. 14 Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.

He then goes on to talk about the Behemoth … which we THINK is the elephant … then the Leviathan in chapter 41 … which we think is the crocodile.  Listen to what he says about the crocodile:

Job 41:5 (NIV) Can you make a pet of it like a bird or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?

Job 41:8 (NIV) If you lay a hand on it, you will remember the struggle and never do it again!

Now what God says in all of this is … ‘you are not God’.  You are not even CLOSE to God.  As such … you know NOTHING about how this universe works.  So how DARE you darken my counsel with words without knowledge … Job 38:2.

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Why it works

 

Now this seems quite harsh on the surface.  Like talk about kicking a guy when he’s down.  But that’s NOT the truly shocking thing about this passage.  The truly shocking thing about this passage is … it works!

Job 42:1-6 (NIV) Then Job replied to the Lord: 2 “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know […] 5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

The million-dollar question is … HOW did this work?  On the surface it looks like God did EVERYTHING wrong.  Instead of comforting Job in his suffering … he KICKED Job when he was down.  Yet Job is transformed.  OK … his anger is gone.  His complaining is gone.  He’s back to how he was in chapter 1 … repenting of anything he’s done wrong … v. 6 … and obeying the Lord’s commands.  In v. 7-9 he prays for his friends as God tells him to.  So HOW did this work?

The reason it worked is because God has reminded Job that God knows better than him.  You see we have a tendency as humans to think that our 25 years … 50 years … 75 years on this planet means we know better than God.  But Ps 139 says God knows everything there is no know about you and me.  God knows more about us than we know about ourselves.  Like have you ever thought something … or said something that surprised you?  Have you ever caught yourself saying ‘oh my goodness … where did THAT come from’.  God is not surprised by that.  He knows everything about us.

Bet even MORE than that … Matthew chapter 11 tells us God knows every possible option of what COULD happen.  It’s like the Nockolas Cage movie called Next … in which Cage’s character can see into the future 2 minutes.  But it’s not 2 minutes into the ACTUAL future.  It’s 2 minutes looking at every possible scenario different actions might create.  So there’s one scene when he wants to get a girl’s attention … but some scumbag is bothering her.  And he goes through all the possible scenarios where he beats this guy up FOR her.  The problem is … the girl is disgusted in him in each of those scenarios.  The only scenario where he gets the girl … is if he lets the scumbag punch him.  Now in Matthew chapter 11 … Jesus says if the miracles he performed in Capernaum had been performed in Sodom … the people of Sodom would have repented.  God knows everything about everything.

And this is why God’s lecture works on Job.  God is not being overly harsh here.  He’s telling Job that the reason he’s having such a hard time … is because he thinks he’s competent to judge God.  He thinks he knows more about how the universe works than God.  Now if you only take 1 thing away from today … this is what you should take away.  If there IS a God … who created a universe too big for us to see … made up of particles too SMALL for us to see … then he knows more than you and me.  Now if there’s NO God … then there’s no need to complain about suffering at all.  We’re all just one big cosmic accident.  But if there IS a God … He knows more than we do.  OK … ‘Where were you when I created the heavens and the earth’.

And the way this helps is … it limits our misery in suffering.  So suffering WILL produce misery.  The Bible doesn’t deny that.  It says we should GRIEVE our suffering … as Job does in chapter 1.  But the moment we start to second guess what God is doing … the moment we start to question God’s plans and purposes … we add a whole new layer of misery to ourselves.  We add worry and anxiety and turmoil to our grief … spending our days thinking ‘the world would be so much better … if only God would do things MY way’.  What Job does in chapter 42 … is he stops questioning God’s plans … and instead RESTS in the fact that God IS in complete control … and IS infinite in love.

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How to respond

 

The final question is … HOW does resting in God’s infinite power and love help Job?  Well … I have 5 pieces of application today … to show us how Job responds … and therefore how WE should respond … to Job 38-42.

And the FIRST is … we cannot preach Job 38-42 to someone in the wheelchair.  Maybe GOD can tell Job off in the midst of his suffering … but you and I can’t.  If someone is crying in front of us … on account of acute suffering … saying to them ‘where were you when God created the heavens and the earth?’ … is probably not going to be that helpful.  But here’s the thing … we CAN preach Job 38-42 to OURSELVES in the middle of hardship.

Now this is not easy.  It requires being quite tough on ourselves.  But when we’re tempted to question God’s plans … we NEED to remind ourselves (i) either there is NO God … and I have no right to complain anyway, or (ii) there IS a God … and there is no way my knowledge is as good as His.  And that helps us stay in our lane.  OK … it’s not your job to organise the intricacies of the universe.  That’s God’s job.  Your job is to deal with the suffering God has put before you.  So rather than ADD to anoth3r layer of anxiety and misery to our worries … let’s stay in our lane … and leave the intricacies of the universe up to God.

The SECOND thing we do … is we remind ourselves that EVERY piece of suffering is a test.  So IF God is in complete control … AND IF God is infinite in love … that means no matter WHY suffering comes … we can be sure God is using that suffering for our good.

Romans 8:28 (NIV) And we know that in all things [… including suffering …] God works for the good of those who love him

Yet IF all suffering is being used for our spiritual growth … if ALL suffering is a test … then God CANNOT tell us the reason for our suffering.  OK … the POINT of a test is to help you grow.  I had a lecturer at Uni … who 2 hours before our final exam left a pile of answers TO that exam at his office door … just in case any students happened to drop by.  It was his way of being nice.  Now I’m thankful I didn’t learn about that until AFTER the exam.  Because if you have the answers before the test … then it’s not a test.  And this is why God never tells Job why he’s suffering.  If he did … Job would not have had an opportunity to past the test and become the world-changing servant he went on to be.  So our SECOND piece of application today is … rather than complaining about what the master is doing … we need to remind ourselves that there IS an explanation for our suffering … there IS a good purpose for our suffering … we’re just not allowed to know it … or that good purpose would disappear.

So … once we’ve (i) reminded ourselves God is the master … and (ii) that his purposes are good … application point number 3 is … get on with being a servant.  This is what Job does.  Notice that Before Job’s suffering ends in Job 42:10 … God tells Job to intercede for his friends in v. 7-9.  And he does.  And it is in that moment that Satan loses the bet.  Remember the wager Satan made with God back in chapters 1 and 2.  Satan said ‘Job only serves you for the STUFF you give him.  The whole purpose of this ordeal was to figure out if Satan is right or not.  And HOW do you determine whether someone is a servant or a gold digger?  You take away whatever it is they value … and see if they continue to love God … continue to serve God.

Yet not only does Job defeat Satan HERE … v. 7-9 points to Satan’s ultimate defeat … by Jesus.  Jesus is the ultimate innocent sufferer … the ultimate intercessor … and the ultimate servant.  You see God said to Job ‘obey me’ … and the next verse took his suffering away.  God said to Jesus ‘obey me’ … and then crushed him under infinite suffering.  Yet it was that suffering that brought about Satan’s ultimate defeat.  Satan is no longer ABLE to accuse God’s servants like he did Job … because Satan has been hurled down to earth … Revelation 12.  So application point number 3 is look to the cross … which reminds us that every piece of suffering is an opportunity for us to defeat Satan.  And Satan is defeated when we follow Jesus … who said ‘I have not com to BE served … but to serve’.

FOURTH thing … don’t base your relationship with God on him doing your bidding.  In the final season of Young Sheldon … a series of disasters befalls Sheldon’s parents.  The town pastor stops by to see how they’re doing and says ‘I don’t want this to cause you to walk away from the Lord’.  And Sheldon’s mother … perhaps the most devout Christian on television … says ‘it kind of feels like the Lord is walking away from me’.  Friends the only reason we’re ever tempted to think we’ve been cut off from God … is because we base our relationship with Him on whether he’s serving us or not.  So OF COURSE we’ll have a lousy relationship with him when he’s not snapping to our call.  Base your relationship with God on YOU being the servant … not Him.

Fifth and final thing … never stop pursuing the Lord.  One of the greatest verses in the book of Job is Job 42:8 … when God says to the 3 friends:

Job 42:8 (NIV) … “You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.”

Now remember Job has been ranting and raving for some 35 chapters … cursing the day of his birth, accusing God of injustice … and being filled with self-pity.  So how can God say Job has spoken the truth about Him?  It’s because EVERYTHING Job did and said … was trying to get near to God.  So even though Job never learnt the REASON for his suffering … he learnt the MEANING of suffering.  The MEANING of suffering is to draw us closer to God.

 

 

Conclusion

 

And THAT … is the answer to suffering.  And that’s why God’s speech works.  When talking about his battle with cancer … John Piper said ‘suffering doesn’t defeat you if it takes your life.  Suffering defeats you if it takes your faith’  So may we NEVER let suffering … or Satan defeat us.  May we instead see that the ANSWER to suffering is it’s a test.  And that test is to NOT be a gold digger … but a servant … who never stops trying to get closer to our master.