Sermon – Job 38:1-11 - “Where Were You?”

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon – Job 38:1-11 - “Where Were You?”

Beaver Dam and Pitts Creek Churches

13th Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 1, 2012

As your pastor I have come to realize that there is a question you would like to ask me or God, but many of you are afraid to ask. This question is implied is most of our prayers and is often just below the surface of many of our conversations. It is a question that has plagued humankind since creation. And this question is fundamentally tied to who we think God is. But we don't ask it, because we think it is not OK to ask this question of God. Thankfully, Job asked it, and God responded with an answer. Let's see how God answers the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” But first, let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

For 37 chapters Job asks the same question over and over again. We are told that Job is a blameless person. He did not sin. He was faithful to God. But when an invading army killed his sons he asked, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” When a fire destroyed his farm he asked, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” When a hurricane destroyed his home with his family inside he asked, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” When skin cancer coved his body he asked, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

The same question is on our hearts too. When a granddaughter who has just given birth suffers from cancer don't we ask, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” When you have been unemployed for two years and the day you finally get a full time job your truck breaks down and you have no money to repair it or get a new one don't we ask, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

When you get lung cancer having never smoked or liver disease without drinking heavily don't we ask, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” And all this happen just last week. What will happen in the week ahead. The problem is that we think God's justice requires that the good be blessed and the evil be cursed. But sometimes this is reversed. This good suffer while the evil go on with their lives. So with Job we ask over and over again, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

When Job was asking this question his friends came over trying to help. They told Job that at some point in his life he must have disobeyed God. He must a sinner even though he can't remember doing it. These friends explained that God is just and blesses the righteous and curses the sinner. The curses that Job has received are from God, punishment for his sins. So Job has to repent. He has to change from being a sinner; he has to stop sinning. But Job wasn't a sinner. The Bible tells us he was blameless. The curses he received were not a punishment for sin. Something else was going on. Job's life became so bad that he began to curse the day he was born. He demanded an answer from God. “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

Beginning in the 38^th chapter of the Book of Job, God answers this question.

Job 38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:

² "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?

³ Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

⁴ "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?

Tell me, if you understand.

⁵ Who marked off its dimensions?

Surely you know!

Who stretched a measuring line across it? ⁶ On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone-- ⁷ while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

⁸ "Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,

⁹ when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,

¹⁰ when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,

¹¹ when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'?

¹² "Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place,

¹³ that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?

¹⁴ The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment.

¹⁵ The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken.

¹⁶ "Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?

¹⁷ Have the gates of death been shown to you?

Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

¹⁸ Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?

Tell me, if you know all this.

¹⁹ "What is the way to the abode of light?

And where does darkness reside?

²⁰ Can you take them to their places?

Do you know the paths to their dwellings?

²¹ Surely you know, for you were already born!

You have lived so many years!

²² "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail,

²³ which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?

²⁴ What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,

or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?

²⁵ Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,

²⁶ to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it,

²⁷ to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?

²⁸ Does the rain have a father?

Who fathers the drops of dew?

²⁹ From whose womb comes the ice?

Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens

³⁰ when the waters become hard as stone,

when the surface of the deep is frozen?

³¹ "Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades?

Can you loose the cords of Orion?

³² Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs?

³³ Do you know the laws of the heavens?

Can you set up God's dominion over the earth?

³⁴ "Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?

³⁵ Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, 'Here we are'?

³⁶ Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the mind?

³⁷ Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?

Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens

³⁸ when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together?

³⁹ "Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions

⁴⁰ when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket?

⁴¹ Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God

and wander about for lack of food?

God's answer to Job was not what he expected and not at all what we expect. Rather than answer our question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” God asks us questions. What's going on here? I think that two things are happening. First, God wants us to know that our idea of who God is is way to small. We think that our God is a God that mechanically passes out blessings every time we do something good and punishes us whenever we do something bad. But that is not what God is about. God is much more than just a dispenser of blessings and curses. And this brings us to the second thing that God wants us to know. God is the creator and sustainer of the whole world. God's responsibility is to make everything work together. God creates each day, sends the sunshine and the rain. God nurtures the seed in the ground to make it grow. But sometime the seed dies for lack of water because God has sent the rain to water someplace else. If we focus only on ourselves we would think that God is unjust. But if we could see things from God's perspective we would know that God is good and acting justly. So when we see bad things happening to good people we need to remember that this is only a small part of the much larger plan that God is managing. Since this larger plan is often hidden from our sight we are left with a mystery.

So when a loved one loses her health, or a family member loses a house or a job it is OK to ask, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” But we have to be prepared not to receive an answer, at least the answer we want, because the world we live in is mysterious. We don't know fully what God is up to. So all we can do is trust God to do what is best for the whole world. And if God is at work in the world we will be truly blessed.

Not knowing fully what is going on around us is difficult for us. We like to be in control. So we pray to God asking God to do what we want done. But if our prayers are not answered and we ask God, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” be prepared to receive not an answer but a question. God will ask you, "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?” And you will be left with a mystery that somehow your loss and pain and suffering is part of God's plan for the whole world. We need something to sustain us as we face this mystery. That's why God has given us prayer and a Bible to meditate on. And that why God has given us this table where in the elements of the bread and juice the Holy Spirit seals God's love on our hearts. So take and eat, do this remembering Jesus, and be sustained by his continuing presence as we face the mysteries of our God.

Father in heaven, we know that you love us and always do what is best for us. But sometimes we just can't figure out, “Why bad things happen to good people?” Sustain us in this mystery with your love and presence and assure us that whatever happens you are in control. We worship you O God, our creator and sustainer. Amen.