“Job” Job 1: 1-22

Stories didn’t used to be written down. They were shared around tables and campfires. Around beds and in the fields. Stories used to be passed on verbally. So why did people take time to tell stories, and what made them so important that someone eventually wrote them down and we find them now in the Bibles that we read?

I think stories in scripture are like a lens that help us reframe the world in order to understand. They tell us something about God. Something about ourselves. Something about what we experience so we can try to make sense of it. 

Yet, the story of Job doesn’t do that very well. Job tells this absolutely heart wrenching story that doesn’t seem to make much sense, yet it is one of the oldest in the Bible. It goes something like this…

There once was a man who everyone knew was blameless and upright. He was the person  that you could count on to be faithful. He was incredibly blessed - he had a large family, large herds of animals, and many servants. And Job prayed for his family. He was concerned that one of his family may have sinned and he may not know it, so he had offerings he made on all of their behalf. That was the faithfulness of Job.

But one day, Satan, the Advisory, and God were in a conversation. Satan had just spent time walking on earth, and God asked him if he had seen God’s servant Job. This blameless, righteous, faithful man. But Satan told God that the only reason Job appeared that way was because he was so blessed. Surely, if Job had more trials in his life than he wouldn’t act as he did. His faithfulness would falter. 

So God allowed Job to be tested by Satan, to prove that his faithfulness was not conditional. And calamity after calamity came upon the house of Job - to the point where one person couldn’t finish telling him about something horrible that happened before another would come up to tell him more. His servants were attacked and captured. Fire burned up his sheep and his servants. All of his children died. 

And Job could do nothing but mourn. He tore his clothes and shaved his head, all marks of deep grief. But he still praised the Lord both with his lips and the way he lived his life. 

Why, o why, would this be a story that is passed on from generation to generation? Maybe, because we have all been there. Maybe because no one makes it through this life without experiencing pain. Maybe sometimes we have even had Job-levels of pain where nothing seems to go right. Where grief is so profound that we are afraid that it is going to swallow us whole. Job’s story reminds us that we are not alone. We are known.

And more than known in our pain, we can bring that pain before God. I’ve had people tell me from time to time that they are afraid to bring their whole selves before God. They are afraid to tell God about their grief and their struggles. They are afraid that it will look like they are complaining. And I point them to Job. Job who cried out to God in mourning. I point them to the Psalms and other places of laminations in scripture. Laminations is not a word we hear very much anymore. Or even the more well known version of lamenting. When we lament, we express our emotions of pain and suffering and sorrow to God. And it doesn’t hurt God’s feelings. God will not turn away from our pain and suffering, because God knows us, God is involved in our lives, and God can speak to our pain. 

Over the years there have been books and songs and poems written about God. Who is God. How is God in relationship to us. One of the most prevalent images of God is someone “out there”. A being far away from us who looks down upon us. The grand master of time who wound up the cosmic clock, stepped back, and just watched what happened. 

But, friends, that is not our God. God is not far off and distant. We will find out later in this sermon series that God is so close that he comes to talk with Job. God is so close that he does not leave Job alone in his pain. 

Even though pain is universal, its something that we don’t talk about, especially in our society. We pretend that there is nothing wrong. Or we put on a brave face. We don’t let people see us cry in public or for too long. But because we are not open about our pain it is really hard to wrestle with questions about pain. And as a result, we feel like we are alone or that God has abandoned us. 

Or we want to make pain into some sort of ultimate teacher. We think God caused our pain to try to teach us a lesson. Friends, God does not cause our pain. Even in the story of Job, Satan is the one who brings the pain. But God can redeem our pain. God doesn’t need to use pain to teach us something, but with time it may transform something in us through the goodness of God. 

One of the pastors in our annual conference suffered a stroke several years of God that has lead to some profound reflection and insights. Recently on his Facebook page, he was talking about the stroke and how it opened up a whole new dimension to a quote he had in a sermon shortly before his stroke. The quote is from Pastor Mark Batterson in his book about prayer entitled The Circle Maker: “We need to ask God to give us the grace to sustain, the strength to stand firm, and the willpower to keep on keeping on.”

Why can we ask God for these things, because it is God who is right with us in our pain. Why can we ask God for these things, because it is God who sustains us in our pain. 

Satan wanted to challenge God about Job’s purity. He wanted to question whether or not Job actually as as devout or if it all just was a show because he was blessed. But in the midst of all that Job faced, he prayed, brothers and sisters. He still turned to God. 

For so many folks, pain has caused them not to seek out God, but rather to turn away. To think that God has abandoned them so they abandon God. The story of Job reminds us, that no matter what we have faced, that Job has been there. But no matter what we may face, we can still turn to God in prayer. Even prayers of crying out in lament. 

Friends, I don’t know what you are carrying into this place this day. I don’t know every heartache you have faced. Or what trials you are currently walking through. What grief you hold in your heart. But I do know this. God is able to take it. God is able to hear our prayers and walk with us, even through the valley of the shadow. So let’s take time this morning to simply cry out to God. To cry our for ourselves. To cry out for those we love. To cry out for this world. Let us come before God in an attitude of prayer, knowing that God will meet us, wherever we may be at…