# Job 3

Sermon transcript from Cross Church El Mirage.
Series: Job
Date: September 20, 2026
Watch: https://crosschurchcares.com/el-mirage/episodes/sermon-title-job-3

## Summary

Have you ever found yourself asking, "Why, God?" In the midst of grief and turmoil, Job's story invites us to explore the power of lament and the reality of sorrow. How can our questions deepen our faith? Join us as we uncover the truth that God is with us in our darkest moments. Let's dive in together!

## Transcript

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.