If you have been reading through the Bible by the little blue sheet we got, then you have just finished the book of Job. Most of us know the story of Job, how God allowed Satan (the accuser) to torture Job, because God knew that Job would not fail Him. So Job loses his family and ends up with a really bad case of boils. During this time he has three “friends” who try and comfort Job in his pain. What they end up doing is not very much good. They accuse Job of being evil. They tell him that God is punishing him because he has committed some great sin. Job admits to being a sinner, but he knows that he hasn’t done anything THAT bad. So he refuses to listen to his friends. In the end, God speaks to Job and compares resumes with him. God’s comes out a little better. In essence, he tells Job that He (God) is in control, and he knows what He is doing. God also tells Job’s “friends” to have Job present an offering for them for their forgiveness.
A couple of lessons to learn
from Job:
1. Don’t
try and defend God. God is a big boy;
he doesn’t need us to defend Him when bad things happen. Life can get really bad; we all know
that. When it happens to one of your
friends, don’t try and explain it to them.
Learn from Job’s friends what not to do. Be there for your friends in their time of need. Cry with them. Hurt with them. Be there
for them. They don’t necessarily need answers;
they need you to love them.
2. In
chapter 9:33-34 Job cries out, “If only there were someone to arbitrate between
us, to lay his hand upon us both, 34 someone
to remove God's rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.” Job cries out for someone to be the middleman
between he and God. That is how we
are. He is calling for someone to
testify to God his innocence. We go one
step farther. We need someone to go for
our forgiveness. That’s where Jesus comes
in. He is our middleman. He is the one who goes to God and says, “They
are o.k. See my hands? See my feet? My side? That is all for
them. They are with me.”
Job felt separated from
God. Our sin does separate us
from God. That is why we need Jesus. Thank God for the cross.