Let's Bring Our Suffering to the Lord

LET’S BRING OUR SUFFERING TO THE LORD

A Reflection on Job 1-2

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date:   March 22, 2020

Series: Covid-19 Talks

Note:   Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard   Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Special Note to the Reader

The vast majority of my sermons are in manuscript form prior to the moment of preaching, then an edited manuscript is made available to the church family and to the wider public. However, during the season of time when churches were unable to gather together because of the Covid-19 crisis, no manuscripts were prepared. Therefore what follows is an edited transcript of the video message, which includes a general introduction, a pastoral prayer, and a sermon. For those who have read my manuscripts, don’t be surprised if this transcript sounds different than what you are accustomed to.

The Lord’s grace be with you as you read!

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Good morning, Good afternoon, Good evening – as the case may be. Greetings to South Paris Baptist Church and to anyone else who is tuning in. Of course, this is not a live broadcast. We are recording this on Saturday, March 21st for use on the Lord's Day, Sunday, March 22nd.

And I hope that this video message encourages and strengthens you in your walk with God. We might call these talks here ‘the Covid-19 talks’ – and I said talks (plural) not talk (singular), because I'm envisioning multiple talks along these lines. These are not talks about Covid-19, but they are talks in light of the Covid-19 crisis that we are facing.

What does it mean for us to walk with God and to walk with one another through this global pandemic that is having a very tangible and in some ways trying effect upon our lives. So that's why we're here. We can't gather together in person right now, of course, so we're doing this online video message and I hope that it's an encouragement to you.

So here’s what we're going to do in our time around the Word today. We're going to look at the Book of Job. But before we get there, I do want to take a little bit of time and pray. There is a lot to pray about and we want to be praying for one another, we want to be praying for the church, we want to be praying for our neighbors. So let's go ahead and pray.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father,

We come before you and we thank you that you are our faithful God and that all things are under your Sovereign Authority.

Father, we thank you that you have made a way for us to come into your presence through the grace and the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Father, we come before you in a time of great need. Our lives have been upended in many ways during the past several days. Many people are hurting and are fearful all around the world.

Father, we pray especially for the church – not only our own church, not only the church in our own country, but the church throughout the world – all those faithful believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we pray that we would be faithful and that we would maintain a good testimony. Father, we pray that you would steady our hearts and that we would not be easily shaken, but that we would hold fast to your promises, that we would walk in love, that we would lay down our lives for others, and that we would proclaim the gospel.

Father, we pray for the world. Father, how many unbelievers might be open to hearing the Word of God because of this great time of crisis. We pray that you would open doors wide for the gospel. Father, give us the strength and courage to share the good news. Father, we pray that you would open blind eyes and open deaf ears and give people a heart to understand and to embrace the glory and the salvation that comes through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Father, help us to love our neighbors and to love the people that you have put around us. Help us to love one another.

Father, we pray for those who are facing very particular concerns at this moment, whether its financial or whether it's their physical health or whether it's the physical health of a loved one, whether it's just being overwhelmed by uncertainties. Father, I just pray that you would minister grace mercy and peace to every heart. Father, I pray that we would feel the reality that we are safe and held fast and sustained by your strong hand.

As we now turn our attention to your Word, Father, we know that your Word is at work in those who believe. So Father, we pray that your Word would be at work in us right now, sanctifying us and transforming us in every needful way.

We pray all these things in the strong name of Jesus.

Amen.

INTRODUCTION TO SERMON

All right. I encourage you to take your Bible and open it to the Book of Job. The Book of Psalms is right about in the center of the Bible – and the Book of Job is right before the book of Psalms. So I encourage you to go there and follow along. But before I start reading I just kind of want to share the big idea of this talk. And as I hope to show you as we go along – this big idea is full of significance and application for our walk with God. But here's the big idea: calamity comes from the hand of God.

Calamity, adversity, hardship, difficulties – they come from the hand of God. There are some people out there who would not agree with that statement. They would say that good things come from the hand of God, but that bad things do not come from the hand of God. They would say that bad things come from the devil or that bad things come from bad people, but bad things don't come from God. There's people out there who think that way but that is not a biblical way of thinking.

Now, to be sure, our God has a fatherly and benevolent disposition and – all things being equal – he delights to pour blessings into our life. The greatest blessing is knowing him. But he's a kind and generous Father and he loves to bless his children. The thing is – not all things are equal in this world. The fact of the matter is that this world is a fallen and sinful world.

And so sometimes God visits this world with judgment. And even those who are God's children – those of us who believe in Jesus – we have not been perfected yet. We need to be sanctified. We need to grow and we need to grow together. And so, often enough, God visits his children with calamity and with suffering in order to strengthen us and to prune us and to sharpen us in our walk with God. So that's the world we live in. We live in a world that is fallen and that is sinful and that is imperfect and so as God visits this world he often visits it with calamity.

And yet, he does so with good purposes in mind. Even so, calamity comes from the hand of God.

BRIEF JOURNEY THROUGH JOB 1:1 – 2:10

Now let's look at Job chapters 1 and 2, beginning in verse 1. I encourage you to follow along.

“There was a man in the Land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.” (Job 1:1)

So Job was a righteous man.

“There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.” (Job 1:2-3)

So Job was not only a righteous man – he was a great man, he was a wealthy man, and he had a large family.

“His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For job said, “It may be that my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.” (Job 1:4-5)

Now notice verse 5 – because verse 5 sets up a significant theme for the Book of Job, especially Job chapters 1 and 2. Job was concerned that his children – in the midst of prosperity, in the midst of feasting and abundance, in the midst of the good times – Job was concerned that they would curse God, that they would dishonor God, that they would disregard God or perhaps treat him with indifference. And that's so interesting when you know what's going to follow in the Book of Job. Because what is going to happen? Well, right now in these first five verses, Job is enjoying great wealth and prosperity and the good times – and certainly he is blessing God. But here's the question that the Book of Job raises: Will job continue to bless God when the good times are taken away and when calamity comes? So take note of that. You're going to see it come up more than once as we go on.

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.”” (Job 1:6-10)

Notice that Satan's perspective is that the reason that Job is blessing God, is because God has blessed job with abundance.  Satan continues in verse 11:

““But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.” (Job 1:11-12)

So there's the test, there's the question: When Job loses everything, will he continue to bless the Lord or will he curse the Lord to his face?

Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” (Job 1:13-19)

In a moment job learned that he had lost nearly everything. What will he do?

“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” (Job 1:20-22)

Now there's a lot I want to say about chapter 1, but let's go right into chapter 2 in order to get the full picture.

“Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life.”” (Job 2:1-4)

In other words, Satan is reiterating the same thing from chapter 1 – he is saying to God, ‘Job is still blessing you because you are still blessing him with physical health.’ Satan continues in verse 5:

““But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 2:5-10)

Remarkable suffering!

QUESTION: WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF JOB’S SUFFERING?

Three Immediate Causes

Now I have a few questions for us. The first question is: What are the immediate causes of Job’s suffering? I see three.

Immediate Cause #1: wicked men. There are the Sabeans (Job 1:15) and there are the Chaldeans (Job 1:17) who wreak havoc on Job’s property and upon his servants.

Immediate Cause #2: extreme weather. You see in Job 1:16 that “[the] fire of God fell from heaven” – I'm not sure exactly what that's referring to, but it's probably referring to extreme atmospheric conditions. And then in Job 1:19 “a great wind came across the wilderness”. And so this extreme weather wreaks havoc on Job’s family and on his possessions and servants.

Immediate Cause #3: physical disease. As we see in chapter 2, “loathsome sores” or boils afflict Job from head to toe (Job 2:7).

And so these three immediate causes – wicked men, extreme weather, and physical disease – are causing Job great suffering.

The Intermediate Cause

But we know that those immediate causes are not the only causes in view in Job chapters 1 and 2. There is also an intermediate cause that stands behind those immediate causes – and that intermediate cause is Satan. Satan is the one here who is challenging the Lord and seeking Job’s harm. And we're to understand in chapter 1 that when “Satan [goes] out from the presence of the LORD” (Job 1:12) – that Satan is the one who stirs up the Sabeans and the Chaldeans, that he is the one who stirs up bad weather, and – as Job 2:7 specifically tells us – that “Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck job with loathsome sores”. So there's a very real sense in which Satan is working through the wicked men, through the bad weather, and through the physical disease in order to afflict job with suffering. But here's an important question: Is Satan the ultimate cause of Job’s suffering?

No! Satan is not the ultimate cause of Job’s suffering!

The Ultimate Cause

Job chapters 1 and 2 proclaim very clearly that the Lord himself is the one who is the ultimate cause behind Job’s suffering. I can show you that in at least three places.

1) First, in Job 1:12, the Lord is the one who is granting Satan permission to wreak havoc on Job’s household. And again in Job 2:6, the Lord is the one who is granting permission to Satan for Satan to wreak havoc on Job’s physical health.

Now, this is an awesome statement to make because the Lord is sovereign and he is under no obligation to grant permission to Satan for Satan to wreak havoc on Job’s life. The Lord can say ‘No’, the Lord can draw the hedge or the boundary marker wherever he wants – but in this particular instance, the sovereign God grants permission to Satan for Satan to wreak havoc on Job’s life.

2) The second indication that the Lord is the ultimate cause of Job’s suffering is what the Lord himself says to Satan in Job 2:3. What does the Lord say? The Lord says to Satan, “[You] incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” Here the Lord is acknowledging that the Lord himself is the one who ultimately signed off on Job’s suffering.

3) The third indication – and perhaps the strongest indication – that the Lord is the cause of Job’s suffering, is what Job himself says. What does job say in Job 1:21? He says, “The LORD gave” – the Lord gave my children, the Lord gave me all my wealth, and the Lord gave me all my servants. And then what does Job say in the same verse? He says, “and the LORD has taken away” – the Lord has taken away my children, the Lord has taken away my wealth, the Lord has taken away my servants. The Lord gave, and now the Lord has taken away – “blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21).

Now as John Piper has very helpfully pointed out[1], the author of The Book of Job makes it very clear that Job’s perspective (that the Lord took away all these things) is not wrong. Look at verse 22: “In all this” – in what Job just said in verse 21 – “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” (Job 1:22) Which means, among other things, that job is correct, that Job is right to believe and say that “the LORD has taken away”.

And you see the same sort of thing in Job 2:10. Of course, in Job 2:9 Job’s wife had told Job to “[curse] God and die.” But Job says ‘No’ to his wife’s counsel! And Job says, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10) The idea is that while we must be willing to receive good and blessing from the Lord, we must also be willing to receive evil or adversity or hardship or calamity from the Lord. And again, the author of The Book of Job tells us that Job’s perspective is not wrong: “In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 2:10)

So for these three reasons we are right to understand that the Lord – the sovereign Lord – is the ultimate cause of Job’s suffering. 

Where is your focus?

Now, let me show you a little graph that I put together for this teaching:

ULTIMATE CAUSE: THE SOVEREIGN LORD

INTERMEDIATE CAUSE: SATAN

IMMEDIATE CAUSES: WICKED MEN / BAD WEATHER / PHYSICAL DISEASE

JOB

So you have the man Job down at the bottom.

Above him you have the immediate causes – wicked men, extreme weather, and physical disease.

And then above those immediate causes you have Satan – the intermediate cause – wreaking havoc on Job’s life.

But then, high above and sovereign over all, you have the Sovereign Lord who is ultimately directing his world and orchestrating Job’s life.

Now ponder this little graph as I ask you an important question – because this is where it gets really practical in terms of your mindset. What I'm telling you – that calamity comes from the hand of God – is not just something to affirm theologically. While we certainly want to get the theology right, we must understand that this truth is something to embrace in a very personal and spiritual way as we as we walk with the Lord. So here’s the question – suppose that you are Job or just think about your own suffering right now: Where is your focus? What are you focused on?

If Job had been focused on the Chaldeans and the Sabeans, he might have gotten angry and bitter. If Job had been focused on the extreme weather or the physical disease, he might have wondered, ‘Why me?’ And all of that is a dead end because the Sabeans and Chaldeans obviously do not have good purposes in mind for Job. And extreme weather, physical disease, the coronavirus, the Dow Jones Industrial Average – these things are not seeking your welfare. And yet how tempted we are to put our focus there on these immediate causes and to get angry and bitter or to feel powerless because of these impersonal or perhaps cruel forces that seem to be all against us.

Of course, some people might want to focus on saying, ‘Satan did it. Why is he picking on me? Let me get in the boxing ring with the devil and see if I can fight him.’ Well, that's not going to work. Satan is stronger than we are if we are left to ourselves.

But here's the thing: Job doesn't focus on the immediate causes. He doesn't focus on the intermediate cause – in fact, Job is not even aware of what Satan is doing. Instead, Job focuses on the Lord. And that is key. Here's why.

Because all of these other factors that are going on in our life – they are not attending to us with loving and gracious purpose. But God our heavenly Father is – he is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He sent his beloved Son to save us from our sins, to die for our sins, and to bring us into God's forever family. And he has given us his promises and he sent his Holy Spirit into our lives and he continually rules over us for good. And so if we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, if we know the living God and we know something of his love and his grace and his mercy, then we know that even if he sends calamity our way – and sometimes he does, and right now we've got calamity and hardship and some measure of suffering and loss, but – we can be confident that this is for our good, because I have a gracious heavenly Father who is orchestrating it all for my good.

LET’S BRING OUR SUFFERING TO THE LORD

So what does Job do well in Job 1:20-21? He evidently goes before the Lord. He places himself before the Lord. Verse 20 says: “Then job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.” Let's get the picture right here. This is not some superficial, plastic, put on a good face, pep rally worship service kind of thing – not that any true worship service should be like that, but I just want to make sure you get the accurate picture here. Job is not shouting ‘praise the Lord!’ with great gusto. It's not like that. Job’s suffering is overwhelming, and he is full of grief. And tearing his robe and shaving his head and falling on the ground pictures a man who is stricken with grief and who is overwhelmed by pain. And so there's a sobering reality here, but in the midst of that he goes before the Lord. He sets himself before the Lord. He grieves before the Lord. And in the depths of the suffering and the pain he is able to say: ‘You know, I really don't have a rightful claim on anything. Everything I have is on loan from the Lord, and he can take it away at any moment.’ And he is able to say: “Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

And so there you have it: in the midst of the calamity, in the midst of the suffering, when the good times are gone and the bad times have come, Job continues to bless the Lord. Perhaps with heartache and with great sorrow, but nevertheless with sincere faith and hope, he continues to look to the Lord. And this is a beautiful thing.

You see, if you get fixated on those immediate and intermediate causes, if right now all you're thinking about is ‘what the coronavirus is doing and what it is going to do’ or ‘what the economy is doing and what it is going to do’ or ‘what the politicians and the government officials and the health officials are doing and what they are going to do’ or whatever else you are tempted to focus on, then you are going to miss something big.

It’s not that it is wrong to be aware and mindful of those things – awareness is fine. But if that's where your focus is, you're going to miss something big. Because in the most important thing in the midst of a crisis like this is to discover God's purpose.

And even beyond discovering God's purpose, we probably ought to say that the most important thing is actually to discover God – to discover a bigger and more profound grasp of God. That's what Job himself experienced. Job was already a righteous man.

Now perhaps you are not a righteous person. If you are reading this today, and you have not come to know God, and you've never tasted his salvation, and it cannot be said of you that – by God's grace and God's Spirit – you have become a righteous person, if you are unrighteous and you are reading this today, then all of this suffering and calamity should be a big wake-up call to you. It is time to forsake the path of sin. It is time to turn to the Lord and to seek the Lord while he may be found. He would be glad to receive you, and to pour out His grace and mercy upon you.

But in Job’s case, and hopefully also for many of you who are reading this, Job was a truly righteous man. He feared God he turned away from evil, but he wasn't perfected yet. He still needed to be pruned. He still needed to be sanctified more deeply, he still needed to be sharpened. And that's what happened at the end of The Book of Job. After all of the suffering and all of the agony, this is what Job says near the end of the book. He says to God, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you” (Job 42:5). He came to know God in a deeper and more profound way.

Wouldn't it be a beautiful thing if on the other side of the coronavirus crisis – and who knows how long it is going to last – but wouldn't it be a beautiful thing that in the midst of this crisis and on the other side of it, that it would be said that South Paris Baptist Church was deepened and strengthened and sharpened and pruned and made more loving and more useful to the Lord precisely because of the trial that is presently upon us?

So all that to say: Brothers, sisters, friends, let us take our suffering to the Lord. Let us take the suffering of our brothers and sisters to the Lord. Let us take the suffering of the world to the Lord. People are suffering greatly right now, especially those who don't know the Lord, and we ought to have a tender heart, we ought to feel compassion.

SUFFER WITH THOSE WHO SUFFER

There is one final thing I want to leave you with – we might as well finish Job chapter 2! If you are familiar with The Book of Job, then you probably know that Job's friends didn't do so well. But actually the very first thing they did at the end of chapter 2 – it was beautiful. So let me read it:

“Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.” (Job 2:11-13)

Yes, there are words of comfort to speak. Yes, there are deeds of love to perform. But let us not forget in the midst of this global, national, and regional crisis – let us remember to come alongside people, to suffer with those who suffer, to mourn with those who mourn, and to intercede before God in the midst of all this grief. Let’s pray.

CLOSING PRAYER

Father, I pray that we would be profoundly changed and deepened and strengthened and transformed through this crisis. Draw many people to Jesus, and strengthen us as a church to glorify your name.

Have mercy on us all.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen. 

BENEDICTION

Thank you for joining me today. The Lord bless you as you walk with him through this valley.

ENDNOTES

[1] I have probably heard John Piper discuss this on multiple occasions. As representative of Piper’s teaching on this matter, see his message “Job: Reverent in Suffering,” July 7, 1985. Published online by Desiring God and available here: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/job-reverent-in-suffering. In particular, notice what Piper says under the heading ‘4. Satan’s work is ultimately the work of God.’