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This morning we continue our series of messages titled A Tough Faith for Tough Times. When we talk about a tough faith, and when we talk about experiencing tough times, there is one Biblical character that looms larger than any other, and that is Job. How could we nottalk about Job in this series? This is not the first time I have preached on Job. A few years ago, I did a series of messages on the book of Job. As I always say when I teach or preach on Job, it is always worth returning to him, especially in times of difficulty. If there is anyone who can serve as an example of surviving tough times, it is Job. The archetype for surviving tough times, Job had it all, and then lost it all. By the end of the story, all the blessings have come back to Job, but even though they are restored, it certainly would not have erased the pain he experienced.
Job I a rather long book, and as I am presenting a single message on his story, I must provide only a very cursory overview.
Follow along as I read Job 13:1-5 –
1 “My eyes have seen all this, my ears have heard and understood it.
2 What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.
3 But I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God.
4 You, however, smear me with lies; you are worthless physicians, all of you!
5 If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom.
6 Hear now my argument; listen to the pleas of my lips.
7 Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf? Will you speak deceitfully for him?
8 Will you show him partiality? Will you argue the case for God?
9 Would it turn out well if he examined you? Could you deceive him as you might deceive a mortal?
10 He would surely call you to account if you secretly showed partiality.
11 Would not his splendor terrify you? Would not the dread of him fall on you?
12 Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.
13 “Keep silent and let me speak; then let come to me what may.
14 Why do I put myself in jeopardy and take my life in my hands?
15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.
Job is obviously angry in this passage, and rightfully so, as he has experienced so much loss and suffering. If anyone could lay claim to justified anger, it would be Job. When we go through tough times, the same emotions that Job experienced also well up within us, and this year, to some extent, we have all felt a wide range of emotions and have grappled with them as they have weighed heavily upon us.
#1. Suffering is not always a negative, even though we see it is as one. Let us not curse our suffering; let us learn from it.
On the surface, that sounds like a completely ridiculous statement, doesn’t it? How can suffering be anything but negative? The reality is, sometimes there are lessons that are only learned when we experience difficulty. I don’t know why that is, but it seems to be part and parcel of the human condition that we sometimes have to learn our lessons the hard way.
We also must realize that we are never guaranteed that we will escape suffering and difficulties. Sometimes we hear the phrase entitlement mentalitybandied about in our culture. Entitlement mentalityis a phrase generally used to critique people, but here’s the truth – we all feel entitled. Who doesn’t think I’m a good person? Who doesn’t think,I try to help others. I work hard and take care of my family. I do what is right. I’ve not hurt anyone. Why should I, then, have to suffer? Shouldn’t I be exempt from suffering and hardship, because of my goodness? Well, no, because that is not how life works. We might feel entitled to a blessed life, free of tragedy and suffering, but the Bible nowhere promises that will be our reality. Now, don’t get me wrong; I wish life could always be filled with blessing and be free of tragedy and suffering, but that is just not going to happen. There is no hedge of protection we can build around our lives that will save us from the difficulties of life, and the Bible does not guarantee a trouble-free life. Somehow, a lot of people have the idea that the Bible does promise a trouble-free life, and that is one of my primary contentions with the so-calledprosperity gospel. The prosperity gospeloffers the promise – a false promise, in my opinion – that God places a hedge of protection around his people, sparing them from suffering and instead, offering them only blessing. Just a cursory reading of the Bible reveals that difficulty and struggle are a part of life. Job, for instance, did everything right. He left nothing to chance, even offering sacrifices on behalf of his children in the event they had done something wrong. So why should Job have to be subjected to suffering? If anyone would have been spared from suffering, certainly based upon their goodness, it would have been Job. Job was so righteous that he even wins praise from God. In 1:8, God asks Satan, have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. That’s God speaking about Job – talk about high praise! And yet Job suffered terribly. His righteousness, his faith, and even the praise from God did not protect him from suffering.
What Job has to teach us – even though it seems counter-intuitive – is that suffering is not always a negative, even though we see it is as one. I think this is why Job never questioned his faith, even though he suffered so immensely. No matter how painful his loss, no matter how deep his grief, no matter how alone he felt, Job held to his faith, revealing that faith is indeed one of the great resources that helps us face our difficulties.
I Peter 1:1-7 adds further clarification of this, as we read, inall this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Though I wish it weren’t the case, it is true that some lessons only come through difficulty. As we have moved through this difficult year, I’m not sure what lessons humanity has learned, and it may take time before we are able to understand what those lessons are. And, I must add, I would never wish suffering about anyone else. I am simply saying that suffering does not have to be in vain; we can learn from our suffering, and we can learn very valuable lessons. Through the power of God, our suffering can be transformed into what can shape, and mold, and teach us in important ways.
In fact, when we think about the lessons we learn from suffering, we can ask, can we truly appreciate companionship if we have never known loneliness? Can we truly appreciate bounty if we have never been in need? Can we truly appreciate love if we have never felt unloved? Can life be as rich and as meaningful if we have not known suffering and difficulty?
#2. Struggle brings a focus and clarity to life that is not present in times of blessing.
Philip Yancey has written numerous books, many of which I have read and found very helpful. Yancey says that one of the lessons of suffering is that suffering actually gives us the opportunity to focus on what matters most.
As we have moved through this year, first with the pandemic and then the other struggles that have come our way, I believe we have all grown to appreciate the gifts in our lives, gifts such as faith, family, and friends, and perhaps we have appreciated them in ways that we had not in previous months and years. As we go about our lives and our business, we don’t always think about the gifts we have in life, until those gifts are threatened, or taken away. I am grateful for my faith, but I have thought about my faith in a greater way this year. I am grateful for the church, and after experiencing twelve weeks when we could not meet, and another two weeks in August when we could not meet, I do not at all take for granted the gift of being here together. It never occurred to me that it might become a reality that we would be out of church for so many weeks, but after it did become a reality, every time I now walk through the doors and into the building I thank God for the gift of coming to church. I am grateful for my family, but I have found myself even more grateful for them this year. I am grateful for my friends, but I am more appreciative of them this year.
Suffering provides us with a focus and a clarity that we might not otherwise have.
#3. Be a Good Listener for Your Friends.
Like most everyone else, I am a consumer of tech devices. I depend on my cell phone. I depend on my computer. I depend on my tablet. There is a lot of technology in my life, and I am grateful for what it can do to help keep my life and work moving along in an orderly fashion. I am grateful for the way in which technology has helped the church during the pandemic. We are able to continue our meetings online, we can communicate with one another in various ways, and we can offer a high-quality livestream for those who are not with us for in-person worship. One of the things I don’t like about all the tech devices, however, is that they make it easier to be distracted when someone is talking to us. Most people, for instance, don’t use Facetime on their phones. You know why? They don’t want the other person to see they are balancing their checking account, or paying their bills, or doing something else while you are pouring your heart out to them.
It is important to listen to others, and to practice active listening. In our Stephen Ministry training we are taught how to actively listen. Not passively, but actively. We learn the tools that remind us to talk less and listen more. I’m not sure why are we so much more comfortable talking than listening, but sometimes we simply talk too much. When we talk more than we listen, we increase our odds of saying the wrong thing, but when we listen more than we talk, we increase the odds of helping the other person in a truly meaningful way.
Keep in mind that much of the book of Job is a conversation between Job and his three friends. Keep in mind also that Job’s friends were not of help to him, and one of the reasons why they were not of help is they did not listen to him. In chapter after chapter we follow the story like a debate – one by one, each of the friends brings an accusation to Job and then Job responds. This pattern continues for three cycles and after reading through the entire conversation it’s easy to think that what Job really needed was some new friends. In fact, if Job’s story were to take place today, he might “unfriend” them, and use a lot of sad and angry emojis as he does. Job’s friends were there, not to listen and support him, but to accuse him. They believed Job had done something wrong and needed to be confronted. What Job needed, however, was for his friends to listen to him.
But sometimes, as friends, we don’t know what to say or what to do when someone is struggling. Even though I have officiated at hundreds of funerals I still find myself thinking what am I going to say? What do you say? I’m sorry for your loss? I’m thinking of you and praying for you. And then what? Then it can get awkward, and as we struggle for something to say, that becomes the moment when it is easy say the wrong thing.
There are certainly times when we say the wrong thing, but Job’s friends did not misspeak. They didn’t stumble on their words. They said exactly what they believed, and in doing so, Job’s friends actually rub salt into his wounds by blaming him for his condition. Job’s friends instinctively responded to his suffering by blaming him for his situation. Because the theology of the time was a system of rewards and punishments, in their mind Job got exactly what he deserved. If a person was righteous, they believed, God’s reward was a blessed life; if a person was sinful, they were punished according to the severity of their deeds. Because Job was suffering in such a severe manner, the conclusion of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar was that Job must have committed a very grievous sin. But Job had done nothing wrong. He continues through the entire book to protest his innocence, and he is disappointed by the accusations of his friends. And, in an especially tragic turn, Job’s friends eventually make up stuff in order to accuse him even more severely. There is a good deal of sadness in reading through the story of Job and listening to the accusations against this good man. He was suffering through no fault of his own, and when he needed the love and support of his friends, he instead received their condemnation and judgment.
It is important to remember that sometimes people do suffer because of their own actions, but not always. In this world in which we live there are plenty of reasons why people suffer, and sometimes they do suffer because of their actions, but there are plenty of times when people suffer through no fault of their own. The deck is stacked against a lot of people. If you are a person without many resources in this world your life is going to be difficult, not because you have done anything wrong but because our world favors people who have the blessing of resources. But even when a person is very blessed in life it does not guarantee that they will escape difficulties. People get sick. People have accidents. Companies downsize. I am not meaning to sound harsh; I am simply stating some facts of life.
Job challenged the idea of reward and punishment, which is an idea that still resonates today, unfortunately. If you are my age or older, you might have some agreement to the old saying that people should just pull themselves up by their bootstraps. That was more possible in generations past. It was more likely that when one played by the rules – got a good education and worked hard – that life would go well for them, but that’s not nearly as true today. Some people cannot afford bootstraps, or if they can, there is no one to help pull them up. Our children and grandchildren are living in a very different world from the one in which we were raised, and they will struggle, and are struggling, in ways in which we did not, and we cannot blame them for the difficulties imposed upon them by this rapidly changing world. Just like Job’s friends, it is easy for us to blame someone’s suffering on their own actions, when they may be innocent and may be suffering unjustly.
Compassion dictates that we use our ears more than our mouths, listening to what a hurting person has to say, offering care and refusing to be judgmental, and knowing when to speak and when to hold our tongue.
#4. Allow Suffering to Make Us Compassionate.
Job’s friends showed zero compassion for him. And perhaps they showed no compassion because they had not yet experienced any real suffering in life. It was easy for them to be judgmental when their lives were going well, but would they become compassionate once they had experienced suffering?
Early on in the pandemic, I thought it would be an experience that would tear at our social fabric. But in those early months it did not seem to do so, thankfully. Instead, we saw many examples of compassion, of people helping one another, and people exhibiting mercy. That still continues, to some extent, but was we have moved through one difficulty after another, it is obvious that our social fabric has not only been torn, but has been ripped asunder. Instead of making us more compassionate, we have too many examples of our struggles making us less compassionate, less patient, and less loving.
The danger of these times is that we can become hardened. We put a protective shell around ourselves. We tell ourselves, I don’t want to worry about anyone else’s problems. I’ve got 100 of my own, and I can’t deal with those of anyone else. And we go into a shell of self-protection. And we all feel that way, to some extent or the other. We are all worn out with “pandemic fatigue.” We want this to be over. We want life to return to normal. But Covid doesn’t care who you are. It doesn’t care who I am. It doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor. It doesn’t care about your political affiliations. It is an equal opportunity attacker and destroyer. As the cases are rising, as winter approaches and uncertainty is looming, as we grow fearful and anxious, we must remember to be compassionate. People need us to be compassionate, and we need to be people of compassion. The world needs compassion more than ever. As hard a time as I might be having, as hard a time as my family might be having, I cannot forget about others.
Job’s friends were not at all moved to compassion by his plight. What a terrible attitude that was!
#5. Hold to Your Faith, No Matter What.
I love the final verse of our Scripture text, when Job says, though he slay me, yet will I hope in him. What an amazing declaration! He also says, we should note, I will surely defend my ways to his face. Job does not waver in his faith, but he also voices his desire to defend himself before God. Job does eventually get his audience with God, as he desired, but it does not turn out the way he hoped that it would.
Job has a lot of complaints to make, and he is justified in making them. Job has suffered greatly, and he has a right to complain about what has happened to him. But there is something fascinating that takes place as well, and it is this – do you know what Job does not do? Job never questions his faith. Isn’t that amazing? After all he has suffered, and after all he has lost, Job never questions his faith. Job never doubts his faith. Job never considered giving up on his faith. Never.
Suffering generally does one of two things, in relation to our faith. Suffering generally brings people closer to God, perhaps even awakening a faith that had been dormant, or it drives people away from God. Seldom does suffering leave us in the same place in relation to our faith. But Job does not fit into either of those categories, as his faith remains strong. Job was at the bottom. He had lost everything. In spite of his incredible level of loss, Job is able to say, though he slay me, yet will I hope in him. Job’s faith is the only thing he has not lost, and he holds tightly to it.
Scripture does not tell us that God will prevent or remove suffering from our lives; what it tells us is that God will enter into our suffering. The central tenet of Christianity is the Incarnation – the affirmation that God became a man in the person of Jesus. As the gospel of John reminds us,the word became flesh and dwelt among us(John 1:14). We are to model the Incarnation in the lives of others by entering into their suffering and in doing so we demonstrate the type of love that God demonstrates to us. And not only does God enter into our suffering; God also experienced suffering on the cross.
This is why we hold to the hope of our faith. And we hold to the hope of our faith because there is also this truth – where else are we going to find such a promise and such hope? I’m not saying that as though we resign ourselves into faith because there is nothing better, but the truth is, there is nothing better! Science and medicine will help us get through this pandemic. There is good news in recent days that one or more vaccines are on the horizon, and we are all grateful for that news. But there will be something else that comes along. There will always be the next challenge that we face. Science and medicine cannot protect us from that reality. But whatever comes our way, it is our faith that will ultimately see us through.
Job was not alone, and neither are we. God is with us. God will never leave us. Amen!
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