Sermon – Job 42 – Job’s Restoration

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon – Job 42 – Job’s Restoration

October 18, 2015

Today I will be preaching my fourth and final sermon drawn from the Old Testament Book of Job. Job is a literary work of wisdom. It explores the complex subject of undeserved suffering. It uses the literary device of personification. The central character Job is the personification of undeserved suffering. Through Job we learn the wise way of dealing with suffering.

In this book there are several responses to undeserved suffering. Job's wife suggested that it be blamed on God. Job rejected this. Suffering is not God's fault. Job's friends suggested that undeserved suffering be blamed on Job. But Job rejected this knowing that he was blameless. Suffering is not the victims fault. Blaming God and blaming the victim for suffering is not the wise thing to do. So let's take a look at Job's reaction to suffering.

Job was angry at God for his suffering and so he demanded a hearing to explain his side. God accepted this offer, and, as we heard last week, responded to Job with a series of questions. These questions were designed to help Job realize that if he just looked up from his suffering he would see that God's blessings were far greater than he ever imagined. God's blessing far exceed his own suffering. And when Job realized that the blessings he received from God were so great he also realized that his own personal suffering was really quite small. This is wisdom we can all use. Whenever we experience suffering we can look up from the suffering to see God and remember all that God has done for us. When we do this our suffering seems not as important as it did before. With this new perspective Job responded to God. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

In the 4^th century the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. He wanted Christianity to be the official religion of the empire. And so he called together the leaders of the church in a council at Nicea. 318 Christian delegates came from all over the world. Of those 318 bishops 306 had lost an eye, a hand, or became lame in the persecution of Christians that preceded Constantine's conversion. Only 12 of the 318 were healthy and whole.¹ In the midst of their undeserved suffering Christians gathered in Nicea to praise God in gratitude for his love and blessings. Sustaining these men of the faith through persecution was scripture especially the Book of Job. Let's now turn to the conclusion of this important book.

Job 42:1Then 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.

4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
    I will question you,
    and you shall answer me.’
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.”

When Job finally looked up from his problems and saw God, he realized that the suffering he had experience was nothing when compared to the enormity of blessing he had received from God. He realized that God's purposes were so immense he could not possibly understand all that God was doing. His God was much bigger than he thought. And when he realized all this, Job's anger abated. When Job meditated on the bigness and goodness of God he repented. He turned away from his anger at God and turned to gratitude for all of God's blessings.

This is wisdom we can learn from. Even though we may be suffering, a bad hip may prevent us from walking, a stroke may prevent us from driving, an oxygen tank may prevent us from resuming our activities, God still blesses us richly. We receive from God the blessing of life. We receive the blessing of a new day. We receive the blessing of sunshine and comfortable homes. We receive the blessing of church and friends and family. We receive the blessing of good food to eat and clean water to drink and clothes to wear. All these blessings come from God. And the benefits we receive from God far outweigh whatever problems we experience. The moment we realize that God's blessing far exceed our problems is the moment we become content with our lives. We lose our anxiety. Our anger dissipates. We become grateful. This is what happened to Job.

But what about Job's friends? They had blamed Job's suffering on Job. They believed a lie that all suffering is a result of the victim's sin. And because of this belief they will blame themselves when they suffer. God wants to help Job's friends deal with suffering properly. And so this is what God told Job to do.

7 After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. 8 So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

God knew that Job's friends would beat themselves up for their poor advice. He also knew that they would blame themselves for their own suffering. And so to prevent this God wanted them to experience forgiveness through sacrifice and prayer. Job's friends were to sacrifice a bull for themselves and Job was to pray for them.

So too with us. We blame ourselves when we suffer. And this makes suffering so much worse. God wants us to experience forgiveness from him so that we will also forgive ourselves. And that is why he blessed us with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the opportunity to confess through prayer here in worship. Here in church we hear the wonderful message of forgiveness. And this helps us to forgive ourselves when we suffer.

Our God is so much more than someone who blesses good people and curses bad people. God does some reward and punishment, but he goes far beyond that. Our God graciously blesses us. He gave his Son for us. He forgives us and assures us of eternal life. When we experience undeserved suffering our God responds with unmerited favor. This is called “grace”. The answer to the question of why good people suffer is that God responds graciously with blessings in abundance.

So what should we do when we experience suffering. The wisdom of Job is that we should count our blessings. Remember this poem:

Count your blessings, name them one by one.

Count your blessings, see what God hath done.

Count your blessings, name them one by one.

Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. (Johnson Oatman Jr. Hymn #563)

And so Job, after his anger turned to gratitude and after he prayed for his friends was graciously blessed by God. He received God's unmerited favor, God's grace. Let's count Job's blessings.

10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. 11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver[a] and a gold ring.

12 The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters.14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. 15 Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.

16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so Job died, an old man and full of years.

This brings the story of Job to a close. God's response to undeserved suffering is unmerited love. Whenever you are suffering or someone you love is suffering do not blame God and do not blame the victim. Rather remind the sufferer that God loves them unconditionally, and continues to bless them in many ways. Help the sufferer to avoid anger and become grateful by counting his blessings. Let's pray.

Lord God of heaven we all experience great suffering from time to time. Suffering is a part of life. But you bless us to richly. And your blessings come in such abundance. Whenever we suffer help us to count our blessings so that our anger can turn to gratitude for all you do for us. This we pray in the name of your greatest gift, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

1(http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/s/suffering.htm)