© Rev. Lance Carrithers, all rights reserved.  Permission required to copy any portion of this message by any means. Email for permission: lance@firstchurchdc.com

"God is Right Where it Hurts" 

Job 38:1-6; 42:1-9

    Last week, we left Job on the ash heap, scraping his sores, lamenting the fact that he cannot perceive God’s presence in the midst of his suffering.  

          We lamented that perhaps he might have sensed God’s nearness, if not for the blame game of his friends, who suggested that God was the one who had brought this calamity down upon Job, in retribution for either Job’s sins or the sins of his children.

          And so Job sits, suffers and waits, calling and crying out to God to answer him—sort of a court of the universe where Job can make his challenges and God will have to respond so that Job can understand why these things have happened. 

          In verse 38 of this drama, God’s voice is finally heard—out of a windstorm.

          Let’s hear Eugene Peterson’s imagination at work in his translation of these same verses from “The Message.” (vs. 3 ff)

          “Pull yourself together Job!  Up on your feet!  Stand tall!  I have questions for you and I expect straight answers.  

          Where were you when I created the earth?  Tell me since you know so much!  Who decided on its size?   Certainly you know that!  Who came up with the blueprints and measurements?  How was its foundation poured, and who set the cornerstone, while the morning stars sang in chorus and all the angels shouted praise?  And who took charge of the ocean when it gushed forth like a baby from the womb?  That was me!  I wrapped it in soft clouds and tucked it in safely at night.”

          God continues on and on, asking Job if he had ever ordered the morning to get up and get to work.   If he knew where the light was kept and where darkness lives during the day.  Where the hail and snow are stockpiled, or from where lightning is launched.   Beyond the earth, does Job have any understanding of the stars and heavenly bodies that make up the rest of the universe?

          For four chapters, God’s talk is of the mysteries of creation, the unseen force behind nature, the very stuff of life and death.   Job…do you know…do you understand any of this? God says to him?

          Finally, in the 42^nd chapter, Job finds the courage to speak.

You can hear him stammering in the presence of the almighty.   “I know you are the one.  You can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.   Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things to wonderful for me to know.   My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.”

          My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.

Let’s stop there for just a minute.

          At first glance, God may seem like a bully.   Job had been an upright man, remember?  A man of unwavering faith—remember?  With a family that was killed.  And a great wealth that was taken from him.  Remember?   And still…he did not curse God as Satan had supposed he would.

          All Job asked for….throughout the book all Job asked for was for God to come and explain why.   Why these terrible things have happened.   Why the suffering, the tragedy.  And when God comes, God comes with what might seem like arrogance—“Job—you’re nothing.   You don’t deserve to know.  I am God.  I am the Creator of the Universe.  Until you can do what I do, you have no business asking me anything.”

          I’ve been uncomfortable with the ending of Job because of that interpretation.   Perhaps…just perhaps…there is another way of understanding the ending of this drama.

          Remember last week?  When we talked about Job being utterly alone in his misery, there on the ash heap.   How his friends, rather than drawing near to offer comfort could only accuse and blame?   God was the one who had done these things, and Job was the reason.     And the only thing worse than suffering such miserable events is to suffer them alone.  Remember?  

          Now, fast forward to the end.  God appears.  Job is not alone after all.    And this one who has come to draw near, this one who has come to be with Job in his misery and his suffering….oh Job, don’t you see?   Can you understand?   Who it is that is here with you?   It is not just anybody.   It is the greatest force of the world….of the universe.  THE power of the universe.   Who has come to take account of your suffering?

          It is the One who Job has heard of, and trusted, and obeyed.   But now, Job has a new perspective.  One he could not have known before.   Once I had heard of you, but now my eyes have beheld you.  This…THIS is the one who has come to be with Job in his suffering.   The One who comes to us in our suffering.   The powerful, creative force of all that we know and all that we do not know.  God Almighty.  The Holy God of all creation. 

          And if God seems in a surly mood, I want you to look again at the next part of the story.   After speaking with Job, “God turns to Eliphaz the Temanite. ‘I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”

          How’s that again?

          “I am angry that you and the other friends have NOT SPOKEN OF ME WHAT IS RIGHT, as my servant Job has.”

          What’s got the Almighty Creator of all that is hot under the collar?   What was it the friends had been saying about God?  Do you remember?  

          The things they said that implied that God was the one who had inflicted Job?  That God is the one who devastated Job’s life.  That God is the one who caused the deaths of his children.  That God is the one who covered Job with boils.  That God is the one who has brought these unthinkable and unbearable things to pass!  That Job had angered God with his sin and that God in turn, did these terrible things.  

          “I am fed up!,” God says to Elphaz, “because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”   Hear it?     Oh—all the more reason for us to be careful in saying things that imply that God’s work is that which brings us pain, suffering, and despair.    Fred Phelps and his clan from Westborough Baptist Church are so concerned about America’s sin—how America has angered God.   Telling us that the character and nature of God is such that God is killing our young sons and daughters in war, the God is unleashing destructive hurricanes on innocent people, that God is directing deranged men to line up little girls in an Amish school to hurt them and kill them!   Oh be careful.   In this story from the Bible--God’s anger is provoked by those who do not say what is right about the character and nature of the Almighty! 

          If there is anything that’s making God angry here…God says pretty plainly that it is what Eliphas, Bildad, Zophar and Elihu have been saying about God’s character.

          In the end, God’s mercy heals and begins to restore Job’s life.   God is powerful enough to accomplish that--to bring redemption out of even the greatest of suffering.  

          By the end of the story, Job has learned that he is not alone.   The author of all creation is by his side, watching out for him.   By the end of the story, the friends have learned that God’s work is the work of mercy, healing and restoration, not the work of pain, grief, illness, distress and suffering.    By the end of the story, have we learned anything?  Anything that might give us hope in our despair?  Anything that might help us offer comfort and care to others who suffer?   We’ve learned something…haven’t we?   About the merciful God of the ages…our help, our hope.  

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