Job 3

pastor here at Cross Church El Mirage and we're so glad that you joined us today. If you're joining us maybe for the first second time, I would love to connect with you. I'll be outside underneath the awning after service, so feel free to swing by there after service. Well, here's the deal whether you're here in person or if you're watching online with us today, we got a lot of great stuff in store. We are going to be in the book of Job chapter 3 today. I will preface this if you're joining us maybe for the first time. We are in the second week of the series through the book of Job. And there's not many sunshine and rainbows moments in the book of Job. All right, just to put it lightly. All right, so just so we clear up all the expectations. However, what I love about this is that even though there aren't sunshine and rainbows, there are still really important things that we learn in this book of Job that I think does help to form our faith in a really important and foundational way. And so we're in chapter 3 and last week I'll just summarize chapter 1 of Job into chapter 2. Basically, we have three main characters. We have God, Satan, and Good, you guys are on it today. I love it. We have God, Satan, and Job. Pretty clear that those are our three main characters. And in chapter 1, bad things happen. That's the best way to put it. God puts forth Job as someone that Satan could test. God gives Satan permission to test Job. However, the one restriction on the permission that Satan is given is that he's not allowed to touch Job's life. Everything around Job can be touched and taken, but it cannot be impacted his life specifically. And so, as we look at this text today, we have all of that that happens in chapter 1 all the way into chapter 2. And then in chapter 3, which is where we're going to find ourselves today, Job opens the plot. He begins with his initial opening dialogue. I don't know if you guys have ever had this. Have you ever had someone ask you the question, "Why?" Anybody? You can also tell those of us that are parents in the room, like our kids ask why all the time, right? Why? Why? Why? And sometimes the answer because I said so isn't good enough, right? If you have one of those kids, they're like, "Well, why is it, you know, you said so? Why is this?" You get those questions. And in those questions, here's what is revealed. What's going on in someone's head. If they're wondering, "Why is the sky blue?" or "Why is this thing happening?" or "Why are we going here?" What it reveals is what they're thinking through. One of the realities of life is as we grow older, our questions that in life and what he's facing. And I think ultimately what we'll find is that this reveals to us some really important things. And so, if you'll read with me, we're going to start in Job chapter 3. We'll read just a few verses to give us a context for today. >> [snorts] >> In Job chapter 3, beginning in verse 1, says this, "After this, Job began to speak and cursed the day he was born. He said, "May the day I was born perish. And the night that said a boy is conceived. If only that day had turned to darkness, may God not care about it or light shine on it." I'll pause there. Basically, the next 25 verses are Job saying, "Why, God?" I just want to be really clear today. If you're here in the room and you've ever asked the question, "Why, God?" You are in good company. Job is asking the same questions. The questions that we ask today sound something like this. Why did the cancer have to happen to him or to her? Maybe the may question that honestly Job gets into, he asks things like this. As a matter of fact, he says in verse nine, "May its morning stars that day grow dark. May it wait for daylight, but have none. May it not see the breaking of dawn." As a matter of fact, 21 times Job is going to say, "May the day not have come." Or, "Why?" We ask those questions, too. We say things like, "Why can't things ever work out for us?" "May darkness and gloom surround me forever." Sometimes deeper things. "Why does this person seem to get all the blessing and I get all the struggle?" As we look at this today, Job is just very honest and puts it all out on the table. And what I think we're going to find today is that there's three elements to Job three that are going to really help us in terms of faith formation. They're They're very important parts of the story. The first one that we see is the right to lament. We see here the right to lament. You'd say, "Pastor, what does this really mean?" Well, here's the unfortunate reality. Uh one of the parts of my job is that I spend more time than probably the average person at funerals. And I see situations like this all the time. Where people feel an unnecessary expectation after walking through difficult seasons much like Job has, to instantly or quickly take all of their feelings, put them in a box, and move past them. However, Job demonstrates for us that we have the right to lament. And as a matter of fact, I would argue lament is a healthy reaction to difficult moments. One of the things that gets maybe put into the category of unspoken context around lament is that lament is a lack of faith. That we don't just trust God enough if we spend time lamenting. However, that cannot be true. Ultimately, what we understand is that lament is a healthy and normal reaction to difficult moments. We should feel that lament or that grief. And it's in that feeling of grief where Job ask, "Why?" Job ask, "Why?" He says, "Why, God?" As a matter of fact, his honesty goes very, very detailed here. "Why is the light given to one burdened with grief? And life to those whose existence is bitter, who wait for death, but it doesn't come?" He continues verse 23, "Why is life given to a man whose path is hidden?" He goes on and asking very specific why questions. "Why, God?" I'm reminded that you and I should not push the big questions of our faith down deep and avoid them. A faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted, but ultimately a faith that can't be questioned can't be trusted. I am a firm believer that asking why is not a bad thing. God is capable. He is in control and on his throne. And why questions? They're not a bad thing. Let me demonstrate this to you. Psalm chapter 10 verse 1, David, a man after God's own heart, let me remind you, ask God specifically, "Why do you stand so far?" His demonstration in that text in the Psalms, which give us this very similar to Job 3, just this honest reaction. He says, "Why do you stand so far?" He's like, "I'm reaching out for you, but you are so far away from me." Habakkuk chapter 1 verse 3, Habakkuk says this phrase, speaking to God in prayer, says, "Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?" A question I'm sure many of us have asked, "God, why do these bad things happen? Why don't you just fix it, God?" It's in Matthew 27:46 where Jesus ask a why question. He says this phrase, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Ultimately, we firmly believe that Jesus completely without sin, and the reminder here is that Jesus also ask a why question. So, for us, the reminder is that asking why is not the end of the world. Asking why is not the end of the world. As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to say this, why isn't off limits with God. Why isn't off limits with God? He is big enough to handle your questions about why. Understand it this way very clearly, if God is powerful enough to hold all of the world and the galaxies together in place, the stars in the sky, and know your name and mine, he is big enough for our why questions. He can handle them. And one of the things that I believe is a reality is that asking the why question is often a bigger step of faith than is blind or ignorant obedience. There's the people that would say, "In order to follow God, you just take your questions, you put them to the side, and you just blindly follow." I firmly believe that God is able to answer our why questions. He is able to walk through those seasons with us, and that we don't need a simple blind faith. However, the reality or the balance of that, the tension, if you is that why questions with God don't always get answers. I can tell you plenty of times where I've sat with families asking God, "Why this? Why this struggle? Why this battle? Why this season? Why this person? Why this thing?" Two questions we may never get an answer to. However, here's the reminder for us. If we are left with a why question that doesn't get answered, we have to be okay with the fact that God's in control. And it's in those moments when the why questions don't have answers that faith steps in. Not blind faith, but faith that trusts God in the waiting and in the tension of not knowing all the answers to continue in the journey. Second thing I want you to see that's an element of Job chapter 3 is the reality of sorrow. Let me just read for you this verse. Job chapter 3 verse 26. In describing his feelings after asking these why and may questions, he says in verse 26, "I cannot re- relax or be calm. I have no rest, for turmoil has come." So many of us who've walked through seasons of grief would describe it this way. "I have no rest, for turmoil has come. I cannot relax >> [snorts] >> or be calm." And so we understand in this context that the reality of sorrow is some of us are saying, "Even today in this moment, I have no rest. I have had all that I can handle, God." And it's in this that we see Job experiences grief. He is experiencing grief. Lament and grief go hand in hand. They go together. And it's in this where Job is experiencing grief. He experiences grief because he walks through a difficult season. He's lost his family, he's lost his income, he's lost all of this stuff. And so he experiences grief. Some of us, on a bit of a lighter note, experience grief every time we watch our football team play. Although the Cardinals won, so that's something, all right? We'll see. That's one and oh, that's more than half the league can say. So Job experiences grief. Because lament and grief go together, Job experiences this, and he demonstrates for us the reality that there is no perfect way to walk through grief. As a matter of fact, I can tell you as I've walked through difficult situations with plenty of families, the reminder is this. There is no perfect plan A, B, and C, step one, two, and three when it comes to grief. Each of us handles grief in a different way. As we look at Job, he handles grief by writing this poetic speech. And it's beautiful, and it articulates his feelings. Me, on the other hand, when grief comes, I would struggle to write a verse to express my feelings. And some of us feel that way. Some of us, when grief comes, we're not poetic or silent, we get angry. And we go from not saying, "Why, God?" to blaming God. And we find ourselves in these different moments. However, the reminder, as we experience grief, just like Job does, is a deeper truth for this passage. And it's the reminder that God is with us in the grief. God is with us in the grief. Just like a moth to flame, and the number seven coming after the number six, is the reminder that God is with us. As a matter of fact, scripture would teach us this. In Psalm 23:4, it would say this very clearly, God is with us. It's the demonstration of one of the names for God, which is Emmanuel, which directly translates to God with us. You see, God is with us in the grief. >> [snorts] >> Now, that doesn't mean that when God is with us, it eliminates the circumstances. It eliminates the situations that we walk through. However, it does mean that God is with us in the grief. One of the things I got to do a couple weeks ago was have lunch with one of the guys from our church. And uh I tell you guys this often, one of the things that I lament most and I mean the word lament about Sunday mornings is my conversation with any one person last no more than really about 30 seconds. And I every single Sunday, um you won't feel alone in this. Every single Sunday, I walk away and say, "Did I ever finish that conversation with so-and-so?" Because we get into the conversation and we're doing this and I never feel like I really finish the conversation. So, I took this guy out to lunch. We're catching up and it's a reminder to me that you never know what people are walking through. That you never fully know people's story. I was having a conversation with this guy over lunch and we're eating and talking and about halfway through the conversation, he drops a bombshell of something he's walked through in his history. And I was blown away. It's heavy. It's more than we walked through it. Lo and behold, about 3 minutes later, he shares another bombshell. And another and another and I can't tell you it genuinely amazed me all that he's walked through. We get to the end of the conversation and I all I was left with was this. I said, "Man, I after all you've shared, I cannot believe the fact that you show up to church on a Sunday with a smile on your face. I don't know how you do it." He then interjected this this statement I'll never forget. And he says it's all thanks to God. To which I say, the world WOULD SAY YOU'RE CRAZY. WHY WOULD you trust God with all that you've walked through? How could you show up with a smile on your face? And he said it's all thanks to God. God is with us in the grief. God is with us in the grief. He's with us in the good times and the bad times. You see that phrase out of Psalm 23:4 where God is with us doesn't come with a conditional statement that God is with us if we act right, think right, live right. It's simply that God is with us. And we need this reminder often. Because God is with us doesn't mean the circumstances go away, so it can cause us to wonder. As a matter of fact, one of the times I wondered um was in the summer of 2013. I'd just finished my first year of college. I was going to a summer class and I was definitely paying great attention. 100% because C's do get degrees, all right? Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Um Unless you have scholarships, that's a different conversation, but I was in class and I was watching the news while paying attention and I started to see the storms roll in. And the news coverage had changed. It was about 30 minutes outside of Oklahoma City when all of the news coverage turned to the weather in Moore, Oklahoma, which is where the church I was serving at at the time was located. And they began to share more and more updates and we watched on the news, actually ended up canceling class um because this storm rolled in. It took out a school there. Um it was in the middle of the day, so it took out a school where kids were at. Loss of lives, homes, incredible destruction. And I remember watching that and I even get chills just thinking about it now. Just the weight and the gravity of that situation. There was a specific family who had had their home on one side that got taken over by a tornado one year. And about 10 years later in 2013, it was taken out by another tornado. They were building their third home in the same lot. Which I did say they were crazy, but they continued. And one of the things that I found in that process is over that summer watching the church be the church. You see, here's what the church should do in times of grief, in times of lament. With the understanding that God is with us, the church should be there to support people. And I watched as the church showed up for people who lost everything, who literally were picking up the pieces of their homes and lives and trying to figure out how to go forward, the church stepped up. Because when we understand the concept that God is with us in the grief, we as the church can also step up and be the church to be the hands and feet of Christ by helping people through that situation. As a matter of fact, it's demonstrated in Job chapter 2. Let me read for you out of Job chapter 2. And between Job's conversation and when everything has happened bad in Job's life, there's this little section here that begins at Job 2:11. It says, "Now when Job's three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, quite a name, heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each one of them came from his home. They met together to go sympathize with him and comfort him. When they recognized him, or when they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust in the air and on his head. And then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, but no one spoke a word to him, because they saw his suffering was very intense. Now, I'm just going to be vulnerable today. I think the easy thing when we see people walking through grief, myself included, is to simply shoot a text and say, "Hey, I'm praying for you." And to leave it at that. But what's demonstrated for us here by Job's friends, takes a lot more courage. It's more than a text message. They step out of their comfort zone. They initiated. They didn't wait for Job to reach out. They went to him when they heard he was walking through this. They met together to go sympathize with him and comfort him. Now, what they did in this moment, I think, is so powerful. So many of us feel like when we get into this, we need to have the perfect word to say. We need to go and preach to our friends. And while yes, Job needed to hear that God was with him, what his friends did that meant the most, is they just sat with him. For 7 days and nights, they sat on the ground with him. But no one spoke a word to him. Can I just tell you today, sometimes the most powerful thing you can do, the most powerful words you can speak, are nothing. Are just to sit with people in your life that are walking through grief. Job's friends sat for 7 days and nights. Just sitting. And that's before Job even speaks and gives his speech here in chapter 3. His friends simply sat there. What that reminds us of is the power of presence. Our physical presence is powerful. How do we see that demonstrated in this text? Job's friends sit with him. They simply sit with him. They sat on the ground for 7 days and nights with their friend because that's what he needed. They didn't need a perfect answer. They didn't need a cute verse [snorts] to just initiate. They simply sat with him. One of the things I think is so difficult about these moments is that um we tend to want to get a way out. You know, we we tend to have these sort of phrases that we go to. And trust me, I'm I'm as bad as any. I'm One of the things that we often say to people when they uh go through difficult moments is we say, "Hey, let us know if you need anything." And can I just tell you I wish I could eliminate that word from my vocabulary and yours. Job's friends didn't wait and say, "Hey Job, buddy, could you just write us a letter if you need anything? We'd be happy to help." And while that phrase comes from a good place, the truth is the friends took the initiative to be there for Job. They didn't wait for him to ask. They knew he was going through a hard time, and so they simply showed up. It reminds me of a story of a pastor named Chris Hilken out in uh California. Um about 4 years ago, he walked through a difficult season. He has five kids, so he doesn't have hobbies or free time cuz he has five kids. I have three kids. I get it. And he shares the story of uh what happened after shortly after the birth of his fifth kid, uh he lost his wife. Tragic story, long story. Um short answer is he lost his wife. And I don't know if you know this, but when I tell you there's no plan or playbook for grief that's perfect, when you're a dad, now a single dad of five kids who's lost everything, it seems, there is no perfect reaction. And in sharing his testimony, he talks about often those difficult first days and weeks and months. One of the things that I will never forget is the way he talks about the people that showed up. He said he got so tired of hearing people say, "Hey, just let us know if you have have any needs, just let us know." He said the people that meant the most to him in that season were the ones that just showed up. They didn't have to say a word, they simply sat with him. Doing exactly what Job's friends did, just showing up and sitting with him. They didn't have to figure out perfect plans for everything. Some of them showed up and brought food and that was a blessing. But but they just showed up. It's a reminder that the power of our physical presence matters. And ultimately what it does is it teaches us a principle that who is with you is greater than what is happening to you. You'd say, "Pastor, in that story, what's happening to this man is difficult." And I would say, "Yes and amen." And what's happening to Job is terrible. Yes and amen. However, it is vital that we understand who is with you is more important than what is happening to you. Yes, that means that community is vital. You need to have some good friends in your life that when life gets sideways, when it seems like you're asking the why or may questions, you can call people and say, "What do I do?" But you also need to be reminded clearly and consistently that God is with you. No matter what is happening to you, who is with you? God is with you. Psalm 23:4, God is with us. Not based on our circumstances, not based on how good or bad we've been lately. Simply, God is with us. Throughout all of Job's story, we'll find that the one theme and thread that stays consistent is that God is with us. As a matter of fact, in Job chapter 1, verse 22, what we find is this, throughout all this, Job didn't sin or blame God for anything. Job isn't perfect, but throughout all of this, he knew the fact that God was with him. And my prayer is that you and I would know that truth as well, that God is with us. Let me pray for us. God, we come before you, and God, we we thank you for passages like this that aren't easy or honestly much fun to read, but that ultimately teach us really helpful principles, God. That why questions aren't the end of the world, that they're not off-limits, but also that the reality of lament and grief is real. It's heavy and difficult, but even in the midst of the difficulty of this, God, my prayer is that as a church, we would be friends like we see in Job 2:11 that would take the initiative to sit with those that are hurting. That we would be reminded of the fact that it's your heart, Psalm 34:18, that you are near to the brokenhearted. That you care for those who are crushed in spirit, and you save them. God, I pray that we would be a people that would be willing to sit with others. And ultimately, God, my prayer is that that would advance the kingdom. That you would use us powerfully, even if it's just using our proximity. God, we thank you for times like this when we're challenged by scripture, and God, we pray that you would call us closer to yourself today. And we pray all this in your name. Amen. Let's stand as we continue in worship.