PAULSGROVE BAPTIST  CHURCH

THE BOOK OF JOB

HIDDEN GEMS

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The book of Job is a dark book with hidden gems. There is incredible physical suffering and deep emotional anguish. This is not the world we want or expect from a God who is Love. We will discover that this account of Job’s experience includes suffering, but it is not about suffering. The primary character is introduced at the start. Job is a man who fears God, shuns evil, is upright and maintains integrity in the face of devastating loss. However, the primary character is not the main character. The main character remains silent for much of the time. Job is a book primarily about God. It is God’s character, God’s sovereignty, God’s justice, God’s goodness and God’s love. These are the gems we will explore together.

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We may identify more closely with Job’s friends than with Job. We love to understand and make sense of our world. It gives us a false sense of security if we think we understand how the world works. But this false sense of security creates a barrier in our relationship with our creator. It also creates an unbridgeable chasm when we experience mysterious suffering. Suffering that cannot be traced to our own poor choices or the unkind actions of others. The friends will face God’s rebuke, and we need to take note of that rebuke. We will hear a young man who brings wisdom beyond his years, and we will do well to listen to his voice. Job’s suffering was unique, but through his life we will discover precious gems about friendship with God that lie hidden in the depths and darkness. We will have to work hard to dig them out, but the effort will be rewarded.

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Job suffers because he is a friend of God. In his suffering he holds on to his integrity. He never curses God, nor does he succumb to his friends' plea to confess sins he has not committed so that his suffering might end. Job is a friend of God and he is a worshipper of God. Job helps us explore what true worship is. He questions, he raises his fist, he pleads for God to let him die. God remains silent for a very long time, but when he speaks, Job is left silent. Job is brought to the place of true worship. He bows down in the darkness to the One who is God.  He allows his questions, his desire to understand, to be set aside as he acknowledges he is the creature and God is the creator who is sovereign, just, good and loving.

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Job will point us to the very heart of the gospel, because Job is also about Jesus. Job foreshadows Jesus. Job is blameless, Job shows perseverance in undeserved suffering. As followers of Jesus we are told we must take up his cross and follow him. We can learn much from Job about what this involves and our prayer as elders is that we will grow in our understanding of who God is and what it means to worship Him for who he is rather than what we would want Him to do for us.

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