Job
25 Mar 2016
Over the last couple of months on Sunday evenings we have been going through the book of Job. For years I always struggled with this book of the Bible. It seemed so long, and had so many puzzling aspects to it. Part of the decision to preach through it - even in the brief overview style that I have done recently - was so that I had to force myself to begin to get to grips with it. As I have done so two points have become abundantly clear.
- Reading and understanding Job is a lifetimes work! I have only scratched the surface over these few weeks. This is true for every book of the Bible, but feels especially true here.
- Job is a vitally important book. Again, this is a feeling we should have every time we begin to get our teeth into any book of the Bible. But the themes of Job are often neglected by the church, to our great cost.
Here, in no particular order, are five things I have learnt from the book of Job. They came to me quite quickly as I thought back over the series - I’m sure with more time I could come up with 5 more!
WE NEED TO BE PREPARED FOR SUFFERING IN ALL ITS FORMS
This is the most obvious point. When we first meet him in chapter 1 Job is a blameless man - not sinless, but a living example of repentant faith in the Lord. Yet his life is turned upside down by violent destruction to his property, the death of his family, and the collapse of his health.
While these things can never be thought of as “normal” - sin and suffering are always intruders in the good world God has made, nevertheless we will all experience them at some point in our life. While sometimes they come as a direct result to choices we make, often they don’t. They come for many other reasons. Working out the reason is not the most important response we should have - it is remembering that God has not abandoned us even in the struggles. He has not disappeared. He is never surprised. He is never out of control.
This is a fact to get absolutely clear in the good times, so we are not shaken in the hard times. How do we view our lives? With gratitude for everything, or with a sense that we are entitled to an easy life?
WE NEED TO TAKE THE DEVIL SERIOUSLY
The book of Ephesians reminds us that our battle is not against flesh and blood. Although he is defeated, the devil is real and active. So we must put on the armour of God and pray at all times! Yet, so often we read those passages and are tempted to think they are exaggerations.
Job begins with God giving Satan permission to attack Job’s family, possessions and health. At the end of the book we get terrifying descriptions of Behemoth and Leviathan, which are best interpreted as pictures of Satan himself. Always fully under God’s control, but terrifying evil that no one else can defeat. Satan reappears in the Bible tempting Jesus, and Jesus himself says that he has given him permission to test Peter. We refuse to take him seriously at our peril.
This should not frighten us, but it should wake us up. We are not rationalists - we believe in a spiritual world. The devil exists as much as God and his angels. He is utterly defeated at the cross, but not yet destroyed.
WE NEED A LARGE VIEW OF GOD
If the Old Testament was removed from our Bible’s what would we lose? It’s a silly question - but some Christians functionally live as if all we had were the books from Matthew onwards. Obviously we would lose any sense of the story God is telling through the history of the world - the covenantal sweep of his promises, made and then fulfilled.
We would also lose out on the doctrine of God. The Old Testament is full of the grandeur and glory of our God. This is just as true in the New Testament, but there is much more in the Old. In Job, the chapters where God speaks from chapter 38 are moments when we are simply to read or listen and just catch our breath at how great, how majestic, how holy and how glorious he is. It is an important corrective to any temptation we might have to just think that our God is simply a larger version of ourselves. This should provoke praise and awe and obedience.
The greater realisation comes when we see that this great God humbled himself and became man. Reading Job 38-40 alongside Philippians 2vs 5-11 is a moving experience. Jesus is in the book of Job - both prefigured in the depths of the sufferings that Job goes through, and also as we meet God himself.
WE NEED TO HEAR FROM GOD IN POETRY AS WELL AS PROSE
Aside from the very beginning and very end, Job is a book of poetry. That is not to say that it isn’t true. The 1st World War poets spoke about things that really happened. If something is poetry it does not mean we can read anything into it that is not there - the author’s intention still matters.
Poetry engages our emotions. We feel the agony of Job as well as understand what has happened to him. We are swept up with the emotional pull of what his “friends” say, and begin to realise that the appeal of false teaching is not simply intellectual. When God speaks our hearts are moved with awe at who he is, and utter terror at his poetic descriptions of evil. Although creation scientists may want us to believe that Leviathan and Behemoth are dinosaurs (and they argue that for noble reasons wanting to defend the historicity of scripture) they are simply missing the point of the poetry.
We are whole beings - our emotions included. One evidence for the Bible being God’s word to us is that in it he communicates to us in all kinds of ways. History. Stories. Poetry. Love songs. Don’t neglect one at the expense of another!
WE NEED TO BEWARE OF CARELESS THEOLOGY
Job’s three “friends” show us where theology can go wrong. They are so convinced they are right! They have such a clear view of the character of God, of his justice, and the sinfulness of sin. We may not spot them as false teachers in a Bible study. But faced with a real friend in need they fail - and with devastating consequences (they are rebuked by God himself).
We can learn lessons from these men. God reveals his truth to the humble - those who are willing to listen and pray. As we learn from his word we need to be applying his word to our lives - rather than with the intention of being armchair theologians. Real theology is hard won - both from engagement with God’s word, but also with life itself as we learn to apply what we know. Wrong theology can do real damage.
If you would like to do more reading on the book of Job, the books I would recommend are -
Christopher Ash - Job (Crossway, in the “Preach the Word” series). A big book, but excellent and readable. Can be expensive, but sometimes the kindle version is on offer at Amazon.
Christopher Ash - Out Of The Storm (IVP). A written up collection of sermons. An excellent introduction and summary of his larger book.
Bob Fyall - How Does God Treat his Friends (Christian Focus). Again, a collection of sermons so a good overview. Fyall is excellent on the Leviathan passages.
Derek Thomas - The Storm Breaks (Evangelical Press Commentary). If you want a book that will take you through the whole of Job, but is not too daunting, this is the book. A short chapter of simple commentary and application per each one or two chapters of Job.