October 16, 2005
NO MATTER WHAT!
Job 1:5-12; Matthew 11:28-30
Shauna and Meghan Murphy were sisters, high school students and sports players. They were filled zest for life and lived it to the fullest. Until last Wednesday evening. In Southborough, Massachusetts the Land Rover being driven by seventeen year old Shauna struck a utility pole. Both girls were killed and a friend in the back seat was seriously injured. As we drove through Massachusetts the radio air waves were filled with discussion about the girls, teen age driving and the tragedy of two beautiful girls losing their lives.
I don’t know the faith of the families effected but I do realize that even despite our Christian belief we all will have the rug pulled out from under us in some way at some point.
In the midst of reaching for the stars and in the pursuit of happiness too often we find that in spite of having a nicer home or better car or more money, there are challenges that seem to undermine our quest for the American dream.
And so we must ask ourselves what really matters? And if we are Christians the challenge is to our faith and trust in God.
And at the end of the day, despite the bank account or roof over our head, we have to face where our real trust is located.
Who do we really trust with our life?
What does it mean to trust God no matter what? After all, we as human beings work so hard to get to where we are at and yet that falls far short of the ideal for the Christian.
Jesus talked about the good life that we can have through Him. He says in John 10 that he came that we might have not just new life in Him but have an abundant life.
So why is it that we live the holy life and do all the things that God expects of us and yet face difficult circumstances that test our trust?
Life will not be without struggles and difficulties. So the question begs to be answered: Why?
Let’s look at the characters involved in Job’s narrative.
I. SATAN: DESTROYER OF THE GOOD LIFE.
Most of us here will take this seriously. Satan is not a bad-guy figment that Christianity conjured up to answer the problem of evil. The Bible makes clear that there is an enemy
1. Satan is real.
There are those who would say that the devil does not exist. But I would suggest to you (Adam Clarke) that those who believe this either pray very little or none at all. There is a very real adversary who…
2. Satan is seeking whom he may devour.
In fact, Peter suggests to us that the devil goes to and fro. This suggests that in the heavenlies or even in the very land you live, the devil is pacing back and forth, never resting and never tiring from seeking to disrupt and destroy someone’s life. Through the works of his minions, he grabs and grapples especially with those who are called of God.
3. Satan cannot do anything without God’s permission.
His work is not simply of his own doing but with the permission of God. This can be difficult for us to understand but yet this is true. Whatever we face we can know that it is not because we are totally at fault.
Let me insert here, once again as I have on other occasions, that we can put ourselves into places beyond our control to overcome. If you drink and drive, don’t blame the devil for your problems. If you are selfish and allow life to revolve around yourself, then don’t blame the devil for what your actions bring. If you don’t handle your finances properly, or peek at pornography or any number of other things, don’t blame the devil for the problems that come your way.
Yes, it is true that God does not allow anything that we cannot endure. This is hard for me to comprehend, I admit. But it is true.
However, we have an individual named Job who is singled out for affliction. And he was righteous. (More about this later.)
The bottom line about Satan is that he tirelessly seeks to destroy but can only do so with God’s permission. In fact, let me even suggest that God suggests. Yes! God will even point the devil in a particular direction.
To understand this let’s look at God’s conduct in all of this.
II. GOD: GIVER OF THE GOOD LIFE.
As I have already mentioned, Jesus came to give us the good life through His life. This is the very character of God being offered for us receive.
To understand the good life, we need to see who God is.
1. God is holy.
God’s continue call to those who love Him is to be like Him. And so He gives us the call to the holy life. This has been from the very beginning.
God is the very essence of perfection. He is without error and His judgments are faultless.
2. God is sovereign over all.
However, let’s understand that God is more than “the Architect” of some matrix type universe. He is the Creator of a perfect earth that was polluted by sin. So now this imperfect world needs to be redeemed. And so God is not only the Creator- as my Indian tribe refers to God- but He is Redeemer. In His sovereignty He seeks to liberate lost and imperfect human beings like you and I.
3. God knows and cares.
God was not allowing the bad to happen to Job because He did not care about Job. He was allowing it to happen because He did care about Him.
And realize this: whatever we go through we do so because God knows us and cares about us. His thoughts are greater than our thoughts and His ways are greater than our ways.
As hard as this is to accept, we must understand that knows exactly what I am going through and He cares about me.
So what about Job? If Satan is the destroyer of the good life and God is the giver of the good life, how does Job then live the good life?
III. JOB: LIVING THE GOOD LIFE.
1. Job was a godly man.
a. A man who lived holy.
b. A man who feared God.
c. A man who avoided evil.
2. Job was a family man.
a. He was a party animal dad. He led the family birthday celebrations. This is implied by the traditions that families had back in those days.
b. He provided for his own. He was wealthy. He had more than any man could want or imagine. His children were set for their own lifetimes with an inheritance that was unequaled by any others.
c. He trusted God. Job had a firm belief that regardless of what happened in life, God cared about him. This was not some fancy he held but was a certainty of belief.
3. Job was a praying man.
a. His feared God not only for himself but God for his family. This drove him to worship and prayer. His holy life was not one taken lightly. I think that the scriptures imply to us that Job lived as holy of a life as any one.
b. He offered sacrifices for his children in case they were careless with their life. He sets for us a role model of praying for our children. He knew his kids. He understood human nature. He cared enough for his children to stand in the gap for them in prayer. What a calling he took upon himself.
c. He trusted God to take care of him- his needs, his family, his faith. His trust was not in his riches or power. He was rich and these riches made him powerful.
If anyone had room to complain it would be Job. He live about as perfect as a man could live. But yet God saw fit to take everything away from him.
Conclusion
What do we ultimately learn from this?
For you to trust God calls for you to give up your expectations. If I truly believe that God is in control then I let Him be in control.
How do I do this? How about having a prayer life? How about living a holy life? How about surrendering my will and my rights to myself over to God?
For you to trust God calls for you to rest in Him. Jesus said, “Come to me all you labor and are heavy burdened and I will give you rest.” I rest from my holy efforts to prove myself worthy to God. I rest from trying to control my life and not allowing God to lead. I rest from all work and my life becomes a holy Sabbath that I live every day.
For you to trust God calls for you to believe Him. When I sing, “God will take care of you” I have to sing this believing that God will take care of me. When I sing, “When we all get to heaven” I have to believe God’s promises through His Son Jesus Christ that I have eternal life through His precious blood.
Hell may vent its fury against you or me, and against our families, our friends and even our Church, but yet we must trust God.
For you to trust God calls for you to be humiliated. Oh, how we hate to think of this! No one likes to be shamed or embarrassed. And yet, for this Christian, the true test of holiness and commitment is realizing our humiliation in Christ.
Humiliation comes in various ways and forms for each person. Some of you know exactly what I am talking about. You had to overcome certain feelings about using a cane or even a wheel-chair. Some of you needed to go on certain medications. Most of us at some point realize that the body of a twenty year old is long past. These things can be humiliating to us because it changes our perspective about our selves and what we think others will think.
On the same token, when we stand before an awesome and mighty God we will be shamed about certain things in our life. Forget the physical aspects and consider the spiritual for a moment. Your anger problem should cause you to be humiliated. Your lust problem should cause you humiliation. Your swearing problem should cause you humiliation. Your pride problem should cause you humiliation. Not in front of your family- of course, that would be refreshing of sorts- but in front of a Holy God.
Humiliation is not merely about misery and squalor but about coming to the end of our self. It means throwing our whole dependence on God. It means giving up our hopes and dreams to God.
Jesus says to us: “Come to me…” How do we discern these words today? Jesus was publicly disgraced because of our sin. When we suffer humiliation we are able to identify with Christ. When this happens we taste what the Apostle Paul talked of in Philippians 3:10- “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and to somehow share in his sufferings…”
To come to that place where our public pride is broken calls for me to come to Christ. By coming to Christ I am recognizing my ultimate weakness and brokenness.
Oswald Chambers challenges us in this way:
In every dimension in which you are not real, you will argue or evade the issue altogether rather than come; you will go through sorrow rather than come; and you will do anything rather than come the last lap of the race of seemingly unspeakable foolishness and say, “Just as I am, I come.” As long as you have even the least bit of spiritual disrespect, it will always reveal itself in the fact that you are expecting God to tell you to do something very big, and yet all He is telling you to do is to “Come … .” (My Utmost for His Highest, October 8)
Joni Erickson Tada had to deal with such a humiliation. In 1967 she dove into a swimming area and suddenly lost all control of her body. She realized in the next five minutes as she was being rescued that her arms and legs were no longer working or feeling. At the hospital the first steps of humiliation began as her swim suit was cut off of her. Next, it was her family who had to see her face and body become something other than what it was. Over the course of the next several days, weeks and months she had to come to grips with the realization that she could no longer do the things she used to do nor could she be the person she used to be.
The humiliation hit its apex when she asked for a mirror. She looked into the mirror and saw a sunken in face and blotchy skin. Her hair had been shaved and this hideous creature stared back at her. At that point she wanted to die. She begged her friend to give her an over-dose of medication so she could end her life. The friend refused.
Today, Joni leads a radio program. She is married and even is allowed limited driving. She is an amazing artist using her teeth as hands. She travels the country speaking words of encouragement and challenge to those of us who have so much more than she.
Job was not merely a man for his time but a man for our time. And lest we forget, in the end God triumphed because Job remained faithful and trusted God despite the friends who brought unhealthy advice.
What is it that God is calling on you to surrender in your quest to trust Him more?