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BY GLENN PEASE
NOTE: For messages on suffering in Job, see the book
ISSUES OF SUFFERING.
CONTENTS
1. THE COURTROOM OF HEAVEN Based on Job 1:6-12
2. JOB'S WIFE Based on Job 2:1-13
3. THE SAINT IN DEPRESSION Based on Job 3
4. DOWN IN
THE DUMPS based on Job 3
5. SINFUL SYMPATHY
Based on Job 4
6. SANCTIFIED SYMPATHY Based on Job 4
7. JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS Based on Job 5
8. DISCOURAGING COMFORT Based on Job 5
9. JUSTIFIABLE COMPLAINT Based on Job 6
10. SELF DEFENSE Based on Job 6
12. JOB AND SELF-ESTEEM Based on Job 27:1-6
13. THE TREASURES OF THE SNOW Job
37:1-14 and 38:22
14. A HAPPY ENDING Based on Job 42:1-6
1. THE COURTROOM OF HEAVEN Based on Job 1:6-12
The FBI has some amazing ways of bringing criminals to
justice. One of these ways is by means
of the Petrographic Unit of their famed laboratory in Washington, D. C. This unit is devoted to the analysis and
identification of different kinds of soil.
They know what soil is from a South Dakota corn field, or a moss
cranberry bog, or an Arizona desert. By
analyzing the mud on a mans shoes, or from the underside of his car fender,
they can tell where he has been.
For example: In March
of 1960 a car had been abandoned near the dump in Atlantic City, New
Jersey. It had been set afire and
burned out. The FBI took samples of the
soil under the fender, and they sent it to this Petrographic Unit. The soil revealed that that car had come
from Morrison, Colorado, where Adolf Coors III had been kidnapped and murdered
less than five weeks before. This
evidence put the FBI on the trail of Joseph Corbett Jr., owner of the car, who
is now serving a life sentence. The mud
under his fenders led to the discovery of the corruption in his heart. The FBI has developed some marvelous methods
to get their man.
Satan, in the book of Job, is portrayed as a sort of FBI agent
of the spirit world. He walks to and
fro upon the earth like a spy seeking to detect some evidence to show that even
the best of men are no good. It is not
just the guilty he is after, but the innocent.
Satan seems to have a compulsion to prove that all goodness is mere
sham. He feels that righteousness is only a racket, and that men
are pious only because it pays. God has
a different view of man, however, and he proudly calls attention to his
righteousness servant Job. Satan
clearly despises Job whom God so admires.
Satan is a pessimist about man in general, and Job in particular. He knows he could prove that Job is a pious
hypocrite. He just needed to the
freedom to put him to the test. He is
saying to God, "Just let me analyze the soil is he make of, and I can
prove he is rotten to the core. By his
own mouth he will reveal his guilt, for he will curse you."
We are comparing Satan with the FBI, but he is really more
like the diabolical secret police, or Gestapo, who are determined to ensnare
the innocent, and prove that the loyal are really enemies of the state. God thinks Job is an ideal man, loyal and
loving and committed to what is good.
Satan is the great accuser who says it is all a hypocritical facade. God does not ignore this accusation, but
takes it seriously, for Satan appears to be a servant of God. His duty is to investigate, and bring back
reports to the court of heaven. God does not scold or rebuke, but gives him
greater power to test his theory, and get more evidence. Satan is like a prosecuting attorney in the
court of heaven.
Before we pursue this case, and the methods used by the
prosecuting attorney to prove Job was a scoundrel, we need to do a little FBI
work ourselves, and investigate this zealous accuser. A slang expression for confusion is appropriate here, as we
ask: Who the devil is this Satan who
marches into the presence of God with these charges against Job? We are forced by the book of Job to confess
how ignorant we are about Satan, and his function in God's total plan. It is not wise to be ignorant about one
whose job it is to know everything about you.
The CIA of our nation has spies in the Intelligence agencies of other
nations so we can know what they know about us. If you don't know what your enemy knows about you, he has an
advantage over you. Paul said this of
Satan in II Cor. 2:11. He said we are
not ignorant of Satan's devices, or designs.
The purpose was to keep Satan from gaining the advantage over us. Paul is saying, what you don't know can hurt
you.
Job did not know that Satan had accused him of serving God for
the profit in it. He was at a
tremendous disadvantage because of this lack of knowledge. We have this information, however, and we
can see what Job never did. Satan's
primary function is that of man's accuser.
God is for man, and Satan is the opponent of man. The Jews have an ancient tradition that
Scripture seems to support. They say that
Satan fell because of his jealousy of man.
This would explain why he tempted man to fall. God made him a marvelous being of glory, but he became envious
when God made man in His own image, and began to devote so much love and
attention to man, as the crown of His creation.
Cain envied Able because God accepted Able's offering, and not
his own. This led to murder. It is generally believed that Satan hated
God first, and that was the motive to get man to oppose God and rebel. But, as the International Standard Bible
Encyclopedia points out, there are more scriptures that suggest, "Satan's
jealousy and hatred of manhas led him into antagonism to God, and consequently
to goodness." This fits the
picture we have in Job, and most all of the Old Testament. Satan is a servant of God, but by the time
we get to the New Testament, he is a total enemy of God, and the reason is
clearly due to the opposition Satan took to man. God is determined to love and save man, but Satan is determined
to destroy man.
The New Testament supports this view by showing Satan to be
the chief opponent of the plan of salvation.
He alone could hinder it, and in the book of Revelation, in 12:10 we
read this description of Satan's being cast out of heaven. "I heard a loud voice in heaven,
saying, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the
authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been
thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God." Satan has always been man's great enemy, and
Jesus is the only defense attorney who can help him escape the charges, for
Satan is right when he accuses man, and man's only hope is pardon through the
blood of Christ.
Satan was wrong in his accusation against Job. Had he just accused him of being a sinner,
he would have been accurate. Satan was
really out to get Job as a fraud, but Job was good and loyal to God that Satan
could not tolerate it. Job was
destroying Satan's whole plot to undermine God's faith in man. Satan had to prove that Job was a pious
hypocrite, to prove all righteousness of men was a sham. At its very core, the book of Job reveals a
battle over the worst and dignity of man.
Satan argues he is worthless, and not worth saving. God takes the position that men can be
faithful, and pass any test they have to go through. Here were the two views of man, and Job was the one who would
prove either Satan or God the wisest, and the best judge of the worth of
mankind.
How Job responds to this test will determine if Satan's
pessimism should govern the destiny of man, or God's optimism. As the Advocate and Accuser of mankind watch
Job, it is a good thing he didn't know what was going on in heaven, for such a
responsibility would frighten anyone into panic. This glimpse into the court of
heaven is worth the focus of our attention for a few minutes.
Presidents call their cabinets together, and kings call
their courts and nobles together for counsel.
Leaders and authorities in all walks of life meet with others to hear
reports and make decisions. This
pattern, according to Scripture, is also followed in heaven. The implications are, God has multitudes of
servants, active in all parts of His vast universe, which is beyond our
comprehension. These servants come
before God from time to time to report.
All of the millions and billions of spiritual beings God has created are
not idle, but are active, an Satan is but one of these servants, here in Job.
This strikes us as being very unusual, but this concept is
referred to many times in the Old Testament.
God is supreme ruler over a host of celestial beings who are sometimes
called gods. When Satan is called the
god of this world, it is easy to see how this planet was assigned to him, by
God, in the counsel halls of heaven.
Listen to some of these verses from the Psalms. Psa. 86:8, "There is none like thee
among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like thine." Psa. 96:4, "For the Lord is great and
greatly to be praised. He is to be
revered above all gods." Psa.
135:5, "For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all
gods." These gods, so often
referred to, are obviously the celestial members of God's heavenly
counsel. They are gods, or rulers, over
various parts of God's creation. Satan
being the god of this world. All of
these gods are created beings who are servants of Jehovah.
We have to use our imagination, but just think of the great
assemblies among men. The supreme
court, the congress, the U. N., and imagine how much more impressive the gathering
of those ambassadors of God, who have come back to the court of heaven from the
far corners of the universe. God rules
the universe through a great host of principalities and powers in heavenly
places. We know very little about the
vast complex government of God's total universe. Psa. 82:1 gives us just a glimpse. "God has taken His place in the divine council; in the midst
of the gods He holds judgment."
This is the real Supreme Court.
Psa. 89:6-7 says, "For who in the skies can be compared to the
Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord, a God feared in the
council of the holy ones, great and terrible above all that are round about
Him."
We tend to miss this Old Testament concept, and see God alone
on the throne, or Jesus at His right hand, but we do not see the Parliament, or
the Congress, that host of powers by which God governs His universe. I am grateful for the book of Job, for it
compels us to consider the facts of God's heavenly government, and it helps us grasp
some things that other wise are too obscure.
One of these being the nature and role of Satan. Satan's existence, fall, and battle with
man, all make sense when we see him as a ruler gone corrupt, because of pride
and envy. Job had to suffer because of
Satan's recommendation in the council of heaven, just as all men often suffer
because of decisions made by government bodies.
It is clear that Job was not suffering to make him a better
person. It was designed by Satan to
prove he was never a good person in the first place. If God wanted to improve somebody by suffering, He would have
chosen somebody other than Job. Job was
selected to suffer because he was the best man alive. He did not need to be purified by the fires of affliction. There is a lot of truth to the idea there is
value in suffering, and the idea that people can be made better through it, but
you have to ignore Scripture to think that is an adequate explanation of
suffering. It is another half truth
that becomes a whole lie where it doesn't fit.
To say to someone who has lost a child that God allowed it to make them
stronger, is to stand with Satan against man, rather than with God, and for
man. All the ideas about suffering
being of value have limited application.
In Job's case they don't fit at all.
Job was not a better man for his suffering. The only real bad thing he ever did, he did because of his
suffering.
Another view of suffering is that it brings out the good in
others. There is no doubt about the
truth of this view. Disaster and great
human suffering always produce heroic deeds, and noble responses. Most all humanitarian acts of love are in
response to human suffering. Again,
however, it is folly to think of this as the ultimate value of suffering. To
kill 7,000 people in an earthquake, to produce heroic deeds, and give many
people a chance to express compassion, it not good planning, if you mean to
imply, God allows such tragedy for these weak reasons. It would be equivalent to your sticking your
arm in the combine, so your son can learn emergency first aid. No one would be impressed with your wisdom.
This view of suffering does not fit the suffering of Job at
all; not even superficially. His
suffering brought out the worst in everybody.
His friends were compelled by its severity to be severe in their false
judgment that he was a terrible sinner.
Job's wife was likely a sweet godly woman, but his suffering made her
bitter, and she called upon Job to curse God and die. The only way you can get good out of all suffering is by the
Procrustes method. You have to chop off
what doesn't fit, and stretch everything else so it does. The honest mind can find no comfort in this
kind of exercise. The flow of lava
enriches the soil, but do not think this will bring comfort to those who have
just seen their families and villages wiped out by a volcano. Christians who latch on to one theory of
suffering, and apply it to all situations, do great harm, just as did the
friends of Job. When the theory does
not fit, people are forced by the theory, if they really believe it, to think
of God as unjust or uncaring.
Job the sufferer had to suffer even more because of the
non-sufferers easy solution to his problem.
So when you are trying to persuade the victims of a natural disaster
that it produces unity and heroes of compassion, they will be lamenting your
blindness to the looters and thieves.
Easy answers are almost always false answers, when it comes to the realm
of suffering. Job is a victim of a
jealous enemy, who is Satan. Job is so
good and godly, and such an ideal man, that God has blessed him in every way,
and it makes Satan sick. Job never
would have been the target of Satan's testing had he been more worldly and
wicked. Satan is out to get Job just
because he is so good. The facts are
just the opposite of what the friends of Job spend hours arguing about. Job does not suffer because of sin, but
because of the lack of it. He suffers
because of his opposition to sin, and he proves you can suffer plenty by not
sinning.
Satan is no amateur accuser.
He knows that if you can bring the best man to a fall, you don't have to
worry about lesser men. Satan goes
right to the top. God is so proud of
Job that he flaunts him before Satan, the first pessimist of the universe. Have you considered my servant Job God
asks? That is, in all your snooping and
spying out the defects in man, have you been able to get anything on Job? Satan is aggravated that his file on Job is
as empty as his heart is of love. He
insists that the reason is because Job has a, let's make a deal religion, and
God is giving him such a good deal he can't afford to be a sinner. Satan says just stop the handouts, and you
will see, Job, like a spoiled child will throw a tantrum, and curse you to your
face.
Satan is no atheist.
He not only believes in God, and that God is good, he believes God is
too good to man. Satan does not attack God,
but man. His goal is to prove to God
that man is not a being worth saving, for he only loves God for purely selfish
motives. If Satan can get man to curse
God, and God to condemn and forsake man, his ambition will be fulfilled. Note how directly opposite this is to the
role of Christ as the one mediator between God and man. His goal is to get man to love God, and God
to pardon and save man. Satan,
therefore, is the anti-Christ. If Satan
could get his way, he would be a top leader in God's universe, and man would be
scraped as a failed experiment.
Satan charges that what appears so good is really a cover
up. Man's chief nature is selfish, and
what's in it for me is all he cares about.
Remove the fringe benefits and he will drop his faith without
regret. If Satan is right, and he can
prove it with Job, then God's whole plan for man is a flop. What value is goodness if it is only
purchased behavior? If evil paid more,
then the person would be evil. Man is
not loyal is what Satan is arguing. He
is good when it pays, but cut off the check, and he will side with evil. Satan's question is a key factor in this
whole book. Does Job fear God for
nothing? Would he be truly good if the
wages were withdrawn? God looks at Job
and says yes.
But if Satan is right, God can have no true relationship with
man, for all religion is a fake loyally for a price. God had to let Job be tested, for the value of the whole plan of
salvation depended on Job proving Satan wrong.
I wonder if God could have the faith in us that he had in Job? We need to examine our lives in the light of
Satan's charge. Do we love God, serve
Him, come to church, live righteously, all because it pays, or would we do all
of this even if the blessing were taken away?
Would you be one of those who lets tragedy cause you forsake the church,
and God's people, or could you say with Job, "Though He slay me yet will I
trust Him." The book of Job makes
us ask the question, can God believe in me?
2. JOB'S WIFE Based on Job 2:1-13
Because of his great novel, War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy became
one of the most famous Russians that ever lived. His fame and fortune did not bring him happiness, however,
because of his wife. They were about as
compatible as a porcupine and a bubble.
She loved luxury, and he hated it.
She loved the plaudits of society, and he sought to escape them. She just loved the use of wealth for power,
and he felt it was a cursed sin. She
was so filled with jealousy that she drove all his friends away from the
home. She even drove out her own
daughter, and then rushed into Tolstoy's room and shot the girls picture with
an air-rifle.
For years she nagged, scolded, and screamed to get her own
way, and when he resisted she would fall to the floor in a fit with a bottle of
opium to her lips, swearing she would kill herself. Finally, at age 82, Tolstoy fled from his home into the cold not
knowing where to go. Eleven days later
he died of pneumonia in a railway station house.
I share this history, of a less than ideal wife, because most
of the commentators of history feel that Job's wife was in this same category,
or even worse. Way back in the early
centuries of Christianity, preachers were saying, Job's biggest tragedy was
that his wife was not visiting the kids when the tornado hit. Job lost everything but his wife, and
leaving her was Satan's most cruel blow.
Modern preachers say this same type of thing as a joke, but many of the
great theologians have meant it in all seriousness. Augustine called her the
devil's accomplice. Calvin called her a
Diabolical Fury.
No woman in history has been so severely condemned for so few
words. She only steps on the stage for
a moment, and she utters about ten words.
On the basis of those few words she has been psychoanalyzed by preachers
and scholars, and they have concluded, she was to Job what Judas was to
Jesus. She was just a terrible
wife. Kuyper, the modern preacher and
theologian, expresses the pessimism of the centuries about her. He writes, "In her the last spark of a
woman's love, the last remainder of feminine devotion, has been completely
extinguished." God made man just a
little lower than the angels, but here was a woman who seems to be just a
little higher than the beast.
You women will be glad to hear that there is another, far more
merciful, view of this poor woman.
William Blake, the English poet-painter, produced a book of paintings
depicting the major scenes of the book of Job, back in 1825. He did not follow the lines of tradition,
and write her off as one of Job's problems.
He portrayed her at Job's side sharing in his suffering, in every
scene. He vindicated her against the
scorn of the centuries. This made many
Bible expositors look more closely at the record of Scripture, rather than
tradition, and their closer look changed tradition.
For centuries nobody ever stopped to consider that the ten
children Job lost were also her children, and that as a mother, she would have
a more severe struggle with grief, even than Job had. Plus, there is the fact that she now, on top of it all, has a
husband who is helpless, and apparently fighting a hopeless battle against a
dreaded disease. It is often more
difficult to watch a loved one suffer than to suffer yourself. For centuries
men looked upon Job's wife as an uninvolved bystander, who could have been a
great encouragement to poor Job in his time of need, but she blew it. Nobody ever bothered to ask what she was
going though. Everybody talks about the
great suffering of Job, but few ever talk about the greater suffering of his
wife.
Modern scholars, more sensitive to the grief she was trying to
cope with, see the whole account in a different light. They no longer see her as a tool of Satan
trying to get Job to turn on God. They
see her as a woman in despair who cannot take anymore of the heartache of
seeing her husband die a slow agonizing death.
She, therefore, urges him to end it quickly by cursing God. It was a common belief that sudden death
would result from cursing God. She was
saying that he should commit suicide.
Her motive was mercy, for she was advocating mercy killing.
Job clearly rebukes her for her desperate advice, and tells
her it is folly to be angry at God. You
have to take the bad with the good, and that is just life. "You buy the land, you get the
stone. You buy the meat, you get the
bone." Job has a spirit that
handles crisis in a calm philosophical manner, and he stifles his wife's more
emotional reaction to grief. What we
have here, in this couple, is a very
common experience. Two people coping
with tragedy with two different perspectives, both of which represent millions
of personalities.
When we get the record straight, we discover that Mrs. Job's
reaction is just as common, and just as normal as that of Job. All this business about her being the devils
accomplice is nothing but slander against a Godly woman. God no where condemns her. He had a good chance at the end when he
condemns Job's friends, but God obviously did not see her as a vicious
foe. Instead, she becomes the wife and
mother of the ideal family again, and they live happily ever after in God's
blessing. I prefer to see Job's wife in
the light of God's treatment of her, and Job's love for her, rather than in the
light of histories condemnation of her.
If we learn nothing else from the study of Job's wife, let us
learn this: Do not ask only, what do
great men say, or what does tradition say, but ask, what does the Bible
say. Check your convictions against the
Word of God. If they don't fit the
facts of Scripture, you should be glad to change your convictions. Once you know what Scripture says, then it
is of value to search history and tradition for support. The contemporary poet, Thomas John Carlisle,
in his book Journey With Job, has this excellent sympathetic description.
Job's wife is often
caricatured
as a second Satan since she
said
"Curse God and
die" though few would like
to have their own biography
encapsuled
in one phrase in or out of
context.
At least she didn't
prostitute theology
and make believe to dust her
husband's ash pit.
Perhaps she had to take a
job
to shield herself from the
poor house and provide
for doctors bills-if one
would come-
and to take her mind off
what the patient looked like
and all that had happened to
her as well as him.
Job did not cry which
doesn't mean she didn't.
It's hard to have a hero for
a husband.
Lest you think the modern poet
is too sympathetic with her, let me share with you the fact that the merciful
and optimistic view of her goes back before any preacher ever condemned
her. The Septuagint is the Hebrew Bible
which was translated into Greek 200 years before Christ. This was the Bible of New Testament
Christians. In that Bible this
paragraph was added to the story of Job to give more details. The 70 scholars who translated that Bible
apparently felt that no woman could say only ten words and be done with
it. So they added this expansion which,
though it was not Scripture, does give us a commentary on how they saw Job's
wife. They saw her as an exhausted
grief stricken woman who had come to the end of her rope. That addition reads like this:
After a long time had pasted
his wife said to him, "How long will you exercise patience, saying See, I
will persevere a little longer, waiting and hoping for my redemption? For consider, the memory of you has vanished
from the earth, your sons and your daughters are no more,
those who were the pains and
the travail of my womb, and for whom
I exhausted myself in
vain. As for you, there you sit, your
body
rotting amid worms, and
spending the nights in the open air.
While I, wondering about a slave, roaming restlessly hither and thither,
from house to house, await the hour of a sunset that I may rest from my
weariness and from the sorrows which now press
upon me. Now say some word
against the Lord, and die.
Job's wife carried even a greater burden than he, and so her
grief reaction is more understandable.
The apocryphal Job says she made the supreme sacrifice and sold her hair
to buy bread. The Koran does accuse her
of being tempted by Satan to have all her former luxury restored if she
worshipped him. She told Job, and he
swore to give her one hundred lashes if he recovered. The Koran, however, ends the story with mercy for her. Job was
aloud to keep his oath by striking her with one blow of a palm branch with one hundred
leaves. G. Campbell Morgan, that prince
of expositors, sums up the positive perspective on this suffering woman. "Don't let us criticize her until we
have been where she was." He says,
she just felt she would rather see him dead than to suffer so.
All of this was to set the stage for a study of grief. There are two basic responses to tragic
suffering: Resignation and
rebellion. Job took the route of
resignation, which is clearly the best way to go, but his wife took the way of
rebellion, which is so much harder. So many people have to take this more
difficult route, because they are just not made like Job. They need to be angry in their grief, and
get their negative emotions expressed before they can adjust, and accept their
suffering. If they try to suppress their
rebellion and anger, and pretend they are resigned to their fate, as the will
of God, they risk a lifetime of bitter resentment. Honest rebellion is far more healthy than hypocritical
resignation.
Job's wife was no hypocrite.
She was angry at life, and angry at God, and angry at her husband for
his excruciating patience. Maybe he did
not mind dying by inches, but she could not tolerate it, and she cried out,
"For heaven's sake get it over with.
If God won't make you well, then get on with the inevitable-cruse God
and die." The Speaker's Bible
says, "The sorrow of Job's wife has never been dealt with-perhaps never
will be; certainly never by a man."
I know what the author means. A
man can never know what a mother of ten children feels like when she is
suddenly, and tragically, left childless.
But certainly men are not so hard and insensitive that they cannot come
to some intelligent grasp of her grief.
Edgar N. Jackson, the outstanding authority on grief, in his
books Understanding Grief and The Many Faces of Grief, says the goal of the
counselor and comforter is not to say, "I know how you feel." That is superficial, and can never be fully
accurate. What is important is not to
feel what they feel, but to let them feel what they feel. You must give others the full right to feel
their real feelings, and share them, rather than try to make them feel in ways
that conform to what is acceptable to others.
In other words, do not try to make them feel like you feel they ought to
feel.
Poor Mrs. Job would have ended up in an asylum had she gone to most of the preachers of history
for counseling. Most of them could not
have tolerated her feelings of rebellion.
The fact is, however, that her feelings were normal, and common even
among Christians, when they faced tragedy.
To accuse her of being Satan's assistant is as cruel a thing to do as
something dreamed up by Satan's assistant.
The record shows that Job also became very angry and rebellious as his
suffering continued. Even this near
perfect man, with nearly infinite patience, could not escape the rebellious
emotions. He charges God with hunting
him like a lion, and comes very close to doing what his wife asked him to do.
In chapter 9:22-23 he says, "He destroys both the blameless and the
wicked. When disaster brings sudden
death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent." If cursing God would have led to sudden
death, Job came exceedingly close here, and elsewhere. The point I am seeking to establish is, it
is not just the emotional female, but also the rational male that goes through
the rebellious stage of grief.
It is very important to know this so that, if and when it
happens to you, you can be aware that it is normal, and that God will not condemn
you for your rebellious anger. Why
not? Because the fact is, tragic death
is not His will, but is suffering that comes from the enemy. It is evil, and we have every right to be
angry about it. Jesus in His humility
was angry as He saw the sorrow that the death of Lazarus to Mary and
Martha. He was angry at the injustice
of the money changers in the temple.
What is not right should make us angry, and tragedy is not right. The death of any loved one is a robbery by
our enemy, and anger is perfectly normal.
Our problem is, we tend to get angry at God, for we feel He could have,
and should have, prevented that robbery.
Grief leads people to become angry at pastors for not being more
effective with God in prayer for healing their loved ones. They get angry at doctors, funeral
directors, and anyone else who seems to benefit by the work of the enemy.
Resignation is so much easier on everybody, but the facts of
life indicate that rebellion is more common, and we need to be prepared to
expect it in our own hearts, or we will give Satan an advantage over us in
grief. Sometimes the finest Christians
are shocked at how they handle grief.
C. S. Lewis has become one of the best known Christians of the 20th
century. His books are read around the
world. He has become a pillar of the
faith. Before Lewis died, he had to
watch his loving wife die. He loved her
dearly, and was very angry that disease and death should rob him of his
treasure. This great man of God would
not hurl rocks at Mrs. Job, but would have held her hand and said, "I
understand."
He tells the whole story of his own rebellion in his book, A
Grief Observed. He writes, "It is
hard to have patience who people who say there is no death or death does not
matter. There is death, and whatever is matters. And whatever happens has consequences, and they are irrevocable
and irreversible." His own grief
made him realize how easy it is to be like one of Job's friends. It is so easy to bear other people's
sorrows, and give advise, but it is all so superficial, and we really do not
grasp what grief is all about until we have to endure it ourselves. He wrote, "If my house has collapsed at
one blow, that is because it was a house of cards. The faith which took these things into account was not faith, but
imagination. The taking them into
account was not real sympathy. If I had
really cared, as I thought I did, about the sorrows of the world, I should not
have been so overwhelmed when my own sorrow came."
C.S. Lewis is confirming G. Campbell Morgan's conviction that
we ought not to condemn Job's wife for her rebellion until we have been where
she was. Let me assure you, most
Christians with a deep faith, and a clear hope of heaven, would still go
through rebellion on their way to resignation.
One of the best examples of this I have ever read is Iona Henry's book,
Triumph Over Tragedy. Mom and dad sat
in the hospital praying for their 14 year old daughter Jane. She had a brain tumor and was having
surgery. The father was already in the
rebellious stage, and was fighting a private war with God. "Jane, I told God, was only 14-too
young to die with a tumor on the brain.
I begged God for mercy and I argued:
I even threatened Him-anything to save Jane."
Jane died, and they had to go home and tell their ten year old
son. He ran into the library and began
to kick the furniture. They decided to
go on a trip after the funeral. They went to his father's place, who was a
preacher. On the way they were hit by a
train, and the father and son were killed instantly. The mother was as good as dead with many severe injuries. She spent a third of year in the hospital in
a strange town. Her book is the story
of her journey through rebellion to restful resignation in Christ.
She struggled so deeply with the issue of suffering, and I
will sharing her insights as we study Job.
For now, we want to learn from her rebellion. After her long recovery and return to a life empty of all the
people she loved, she writes, "I wandered the streets, forlorn, lost,
ready to scream my bitterness. I looked
at women with husbands and laughing children, and I hated them." Many a times she thought of suicide. She had to cling to a post in the subway to
keep from throwing herself on the tracks.
Joni, another great Christian sufferer, also said she would have gladly
committed suicide in her rebellious stage had she been able to figure out a way
to do it. Her paralysis is the only
thing that saved her.
What helped Iona come through her rebellion to a state of
peaceful resignation in Christ was not easy answers, or condemnation of her
rebellion, but acceptance of her rebellion. Those who helped her most were those
who recognized that it is a very dark world in which Christ is the light, and a
Christian does not need to pretend it is otherwise. We only add to people's grief when we fail to see their need to
feel angry at life's evils. God has a
much better psychology. He allows
people to even get angry at Him, in order to rid him of their hostility. The Psalms are full of this kind of release
for grief emotions. The more you
understand grief, the more you will sympathize with Job's wife, and not condemn
her. Christians have failed so often to
be comforters in life's trials. Let us
learn from the study of grief that Job's wife had a normal response to her
suffering, and that we need to accept this kind of response in other Christians
who suffer tragedy.
3. THE SAINT IN DEPRESSION Based on Job 3
I read a humorous story that fits the experience of Job. A man was on his roof trying to fix the TV
antenna. Suddenly it began to rain, and
while struggling with the guy wires he slipped. As he tumbled down the roof, he made a last ditch effort to grab
the drain trough. There he was, hanging from the edge, three stories up, and in
seconds his fingers began to tire.
Desperately he struggled to hold on, but his strength was nearly gone. Not knowing where to turn, he looked up into
the sky and asked, "Is there anyone up there who can help me?" Sure enough, a cloud parted, and a voice
came from behind the cloud, "Believe and let go." The man starred blankly into the sky for
about 20 seconds, and then shouted,
"Is there anyone else
up there who can help me?"
It is easy to understand why the man wanted a second
opinion. We always desire a second
opionion when the first opinion is not what we want to hear. If we do not like God's first response to
our prayer, we seek for a second response more favorable to our desires. We are
lovers of the second chance, and of the truth that, if at first you don't
succeed, try, try again. This is one
of life's most joyous positive facts.
Thank God for the second chance.
But there is another side to this truth illustrated by our story. Life also gives us a second chance to blow
it. Doubt gets a second chance to
overwhelm faith, and cause you to question God's answer. You may succeed today, but Satan will give
you a second chance to fail tomorrow.
You may stand fast in the storm of affliction today, but Satan was not
discouraged, for he will give you another chance to sink later on. Peter stood on water, but Satan gave him a
second chance and he sunk.
It is important that we
see both sides of this picture. Just as
we never give up hope for the sinner, because as long as he is alive, there is
a chance he will repent, and open his heart to Christ, and become a forgiven
child of God. Satan never gives up on
the righteous saint either, for as long as he is alive, there is always the
chance that he will fall through temptation, or crack under pressure and curse
God. Just as no defeat in this life is
final, so no victory is the end of the battle, for in the next round Satan can
lead us back into defeat.
Job illustrates this truth so dramatically in chapter 3. Chapter one draws to a close with Job
saying, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of
the Lord." Chapter two has Job
rebuking his wife for her pessimism, and saying, "Shall we receive good at
the hand of God and shall we not receive evil?" Both these first two chapters emphasize that Job did not sin with
his lips. There is just no doubt about
it, Job won round one and two easy.
Satan got a lot of punches in, but Job never even said ouch. Now we come to chapter three, and all the
judges agree, this one goes to Satan.
Satan does not win the fight, for he said Job would curse God, and it is
to Job's eternal credit that he never did that. He did, however, do some
cursing, and that gave Satan this round.
Job so cursed the day of his birth, and his very existence,
with such hostility, it is understandable why this chapter is the first one
with no praise of Job. It does not
say, he did not sin with his lips. Satan gave Job a second chance to express
his grief with rebellion, and Job did it.
Thank God! Yes, thank God, Job
broke loose with this bitter curse of his life. Without this crack in his armor, he would be of little value for
us to study. If Job was like a machine that could take all the suffering he
endured, and just keep smiling, and saying that God is in heaven, and all is
right with the world, the book would have no message for us.
You might just as well study the rock of Gibraltar for
insights into life's meaning. If Job
had never become depressed and hostile in suffering, he would have nothing in
common with the rest of mankind. If Job
never had to battle rebellion, we could not identify with him anymore than we
could with a bowling pin. It takes a
lot of punishment, but just keeps standing in there without complaint. If you can find comfort in that fact, then
you could enjoy Job without chapter three.
Most people need chapter three to make the story of Job realistic and
relevant. Chapter three shows us Job
the man. The man like us, with feelings
and emotions. The emotion that stands out here is one we want to focus on. It is the emotion of depression. There are three things about depression that
we want to consider.
First:
I. DEPRESSION IS NASTY.
It is nasty in the sense that it is very disagreeable and
objectionable, like nasty weather. It
is nasty in the sense that it is harmful and dangerous, like a nasty fall. Depression is of the kingdom of darkness,
and not of the kingdom of light, for it robs the soul of the fruits of the
spirit. Faith, hope, love, the great
virtues all begin to wither in the darkness of depression. That is why it is so superficial to say that
suffering purifies the soul. This is an
aspect of the truth that can be illustrated from life, but to try and apply it
in all situations is to be blind to the facts of life. If suffering made everybody stronger, we
would live in a world of heroes, but the fact is suffering makes most people
worse and weaker.
Job's soul is not being ennobled by his suffering. Here is a man who is crying out, "I wish I was dead." His ideal would be to never have been born,
and his second choice was to have died at birth or shortly after. Death would have been sweet relief to him.
"If only the night had never been when I was conceived. If only the day of my birth had never
dawned, I would be so relieved."
If a great man of God could feel this way in depression, it makes sense
why depression is a major cause of suicide.
35 to 40,000 people a year, in the United States alone, take their own
lives because of depression. This
represents over half of the suicides.
Many feel that depression is the cause of more human suffering than any
other disease in the world.
The story is told, and angel of the Lord informed Satan that
God was going to take away all of his weapons but one. "Which one is that," he asked? When the angel replied, "Depression," Satan laughed and
said, "Good, in that one I have them all." Depression is a nasty weapon.
Look what it has done to Job. It
has made him his own worse enemy. This is one of clues to determine if you are
heading for depression. Satan uses
depression to get you on his side against yourself. If you begin to lose your sense of self-esteem, and get down on
yourself, you are coming under Satan's influence. Depression is a tool Satan uses to distort reality in the human
mind. In extreme cases wealthy men will
moan because they cannot provide food for their children. Beautiful women will beg for plastic surgery
in the belief that they are ugly.
Brilliant men will berate themselves for being stupid. Depression makes people see only the worst
about themselves, and long for escape from life, and themselves.
If you find yourself complaining, griping, and being
pessimistic about everything, that should be a clue that you are fighting
depression. Job was always such an
optimist about life, but now we see the storm begins to drag his anchor, and
the lines that held him fast to heaven are straining. He is becoming a pessimist like the author of Ecclesiastes who
writes in 4:2-3, "I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate
than the living who are still alive; but better than both is he who has not yet
been, and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the son." The bliss of death, or non-existence, looks
so good to those who reach the bottom of depression. This is despair, and that is where we find Job in chapter three,
on the bottom. You have to admit it is
a nasty emotion that can do that to such a saint. The second thing we want to see is-
II. DEPRESSION IS NORMAL.
It's nasty, but it's normal.
That is, you don't have to be ashamed that you get depressed. It is a natural response to life's
negatives, and both God and man expect it. By being normal, I do not mean it is
good, or all right. It is normal to
burn your hand if you pick up the hot end of a stick, but that is not to say,
it is okay to pick up burning sticks at the wrong end. Just because something is normal, does not
make it good. It is just that something
that is normal eliminates shock or surprise.
Nobody is surprised that a red hot stick burns your hand when you pick
it up. It is no shock that a man of God
blisters from such an act. So, also, it
should be no surprise that God's people get depressed. It is normal for Christians to get athletes
foot, tooth aches, and gray hair. It is
also normal for them to get depressed.
Had Job not gotten depressed in his suffering, he would have
been abnormal. Anyone who goes through
life and never experiences depression, is abnormal. It would be wonderful to be abnormal, and escape all depression,
but the fact is, most Christians are normal, and at some point they struggle
with depression. Tim La Haye surveyed
over 100,000 Christians, and never found one who could say they had never been
depressed. You chances of getting
through life without depression are about as slim as your chance of keeping a
pound of jello nailed to a tree. But
don't feel bad, for depression is a sign of normalcy.
Dr. W. L. Northridge in his book, Disorders Of The Emotional
And Spiritual Life says, it is healthy to have a mixed temperament that can
experience the negative side of life as well as the positive side. He writes, "Those who never feel
depressed are rather superficial, if not psychotic." He is saying, if you never feel depressed,
you may be sick, and not able to deal with reality as it is. You are not prepared to weep with those who
weep, because you cannot grasp the reality of the sadness that leads to weeping.
Job's friends could not accept his depression as normal. The result is, they could not be true
comforters. Many times we fail to be
Christlike in relating to the depressed, because we cannot accept their depression
as normal. We try to hide it or escape
from it, rather than accept it as part of life's real battle. Joni illustrates this in her book, A Step
Further. She tells of Jeanette and her husband who lost three year old Bradley
to cancer. He was a cute little blonde
blue-eyed boy they loved as deeply, and fought for so earnestly for one and a
half years. Two weeks after the funeral
she went to a women's Bible study. A
little boy about Bradley's age was on his tiptoes trying to get a drink at the
fountain. When she saw the darling, she
began to sob. A woman she did not know
saw her, and patted her shoulder saying, "I am praying for you honey,
praise the Lord." This sounds like
a nice gesture to us, but for Jeanette the words stung like fire.
Jeanette later told of how she felt. "I really had to ask God to help me with my feelings about
that woman. I know she only wanted to
help. But the way she said praise the
Lord made me feel like I didn't have any right to cry if I was trusting the Lord. Maybe she didn't know that trusting the Lord
doesn't rule out crying. Maybe she
forgot that God told us to weep with those who weep." Here was a woman who was hurt, because she
was made to feel she had no right to be depressed as a child of God. We often do this in trying to help fellow
believers out of depression, but we would help more by recognizing the right to
be depressed.
Dr. Tim La Haye, one of the outstanding pastors of our day,
tells of his being deeply depressed. It
was because a project he had worked on for years, to build a new church, was voted
down by the San Diego City Council. A
dear missionary friend heard the bad news, and came to cheer him up. With a big smile on his face, he slapped him
on the shoulder and said, Praise the Lord !
Tim writes, "My reaction was one of intense anger. I not only
resented his lack of sensitivity and understanding, but even his cheerful
grin." You only add to people's problems when you think a cheery Praise
the Lord settles it all. Prov. 25:20 says, "As he that taketh away a
garment in cold weather.....So is he that singeth songs to a heavy
heart." We are to weep with those
who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice, but not rejoice with those who
weep, for this says they do not have a right to be sad.
As we have said, it is normal to be depressed, and one should
not be judged as a failure to be what God wants them to be, when they are
depressed. God expects Christians to
get burned when they touch fire, and He expects them to suffer depression when
they are touched by grief and serious suffering. This does not mean it is good, it simply means it is normal. It is nasty but normal emotion. But the best thing about depression that we
want to consider is-
III. DEPRESSION IS NEGATEABLE.
You can nullify the effects of depression, and deprive it of
its very existence. It can be
neutralized and abolished, with no permanent victory for evil. As down as Job was, and as deeply as he sank
into despair, he did not give depression a permanent victory. Satan won this round with his powerful punch
of depression, but Job still went on to take the fight. How did he do it? By something he did, and by something he didn't do. Here are two keys to getting out of the
dungeon of depression. The first thing
he did to negate depression was-
1. He expressed his feelings.
Chapter 3 is an excellent example of spiritual vomiting. He was getting
all the bitter poison in his soul out of his system. If you really want to help people in the depths of depression,
induce vomiting. That is, help them to
verbally pour out their feelings, and express their sorrow and despair over
their loss, whatever it might be.
It is not easy or enjoyable to clean up a mess that the
stomach could not handle. Nor is it easy
to hear the verbal pessimism of a depressed soul, but someone has got to do it
to be a true comforter. Most of us
would have cut Job off after his first sentence when he said, "Let the day
parish wherein I was born." We
would have prevented him from ventilating his feelings. It would not be for his good, but because we
could not stand to hear such things. We
don't want people to vomit because we don't want to see it, and we don't want
people to let out their poisonous feelings of their depressed mind, because we
don't want to hear it. But the true
comforter says, "Let it out, and if it hurts me to hear such awful things,
then I will suffer with you, and weep with you."
Joni said something that should open our eyes to understand
Job, and all who suffer depression. She
writes, "At first it may seem that a person who has just lost a leg,
discovered he has terminal cancer, or broken his neck, is desperately looking
for answers. Why did this happen to me?
He cries, and so we jump right in and give him 16 Biblical reasons why
it happened. But more often than not,
when he first asks "Why?" He
doesn't really mean it as a question.
He means it as an emotional release---sometimes even as an
accusation. It's not the genuine
"Why?" of a searching heart, but the bitter "Why?" of a
clenched fist.
It takes time for a person to realize that he will never walk
again, or that he really does have terminal cancer, or whatever. After he has had time to cry, to agonize, and
to sort out his feelings, then he gets into an "Asking mood," and
then our advice and counsel is helpful."
Job was being wise and normal in getting his feelings
expressed. We need to be wise in
recognizing it is good to do so, and, therefore, listen to those who cry out,
and have sympathy, and not try to cut them off. Job expressed his worse feelings, and that was healthy. The second thing is what he didn't do.
2. He didn't act on his feelings.
Feelings are not evil, no matter how negative they are. Feelings are
neutral. Good feelings are not a virtue
if they do not lead to good actions. Bad feelings are not evil if they do not
lead to evil actions. Feelings are the
potential for good or evil, but in themselves they are neither. It is what the will does with feelings that
is good or evil. If you do not chose to
act on negative depressed feelings, they will be negated, and time will erase
them. There is a time for action, and a
time for inaction. The time for
inaction is when you are pessimistic and depressed.
The rule of life that most counselors recognize is, never make
any major decision in a depressed mood.
Don't pay any attention to yourself when you are down on yourself. Don't decide to quit anything, or give
something. Just refuse to do anything
based on your depression, for actions will lead you to do what is wrong, and
that is how depression wins the battle.
It gets you to do what is
foolish. Feelings can change, and as
long as you just feel, you have not lost, but once you act on your feelings,
and quit your job, jump off the bridge, or hit someone, evil has won the
battle. Job felt like committing
suicide, but he did not act on his feelings, and so he gained the victory over
depression.
Jesus did these same two things on the cross. He expressed His deep feelings when He said,
"My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?" Yet, He did not act on His deep feelings,
and come down from the cross, forsaking His commitment to be our Savior. Jesus endured the worst than Satan could
throw at Him, and like Job, He conquered, but Jesus is more than our example,
He is the source of our victory. As we
remember what He did for us on the cross, let us thank Him and ask Him to give
us victory over that great enemy of the soul-depression.
4. DOWN IN THE DUMPS based on Job 3
A midwestern pastor was cleaning out his garage. He was planning to haul the rubbish to the
dump. His two sons were excited about
this, because they considered the dump the happy hunting ground. Only those who have ever found an exciting
piece of junk there can fully appreciate their feelings. Unfortunately, the father got a call that
demanded that he go to the hospital. He
told the boys he would have to haul the rubbish away another day. One of the
boys kicked the ground, and in disgust said, "I'll never be a
minister. You don't even have time to
go to the dumps."
It would be a blessing if it was true, that pastors and
leaders of the church did not ever have to get down in the dumps of
depression. The facts of history
indicate, however, that depression is no respecter of persons. You do not escape it by being in the
ministry, or by any other profession, however noble. The best of men and women, and the wisest, and most gifted, and
most used of God, find themselves going to the dumps. If Job could stay on his ash pile all through history, he could
visit with the great of every age, for sooner or later they all sit where he
sat-in the dump of depression.
Martin Luther was
typical of the great men of God who found themselves in the dumps. Chapter 3 of
Job could well have been one of his own songs of the blues. He sounded so much like Job when he wrote,
"I am sick of life, if this life can be called life. Implacable hatred and strife amongst the
great-no hopes of any improvement-the age is Satan's own; gladly would I see
myself and all my people quickly snatched from it." He could not see the future and how his
writing would influence millions all over the world.
Many saints have gone through what is called, the dark night
of the soul, where they feel God has left them. Saints do not go to hell, but hell comes to them. Depression can be so severe that it is a
minor hell-a taste of what it is to be God-forsaken. Some depression is good, for it keeps us in touch with reality,
which is full of evil and sorrow. It is
sometimes easy to forget this, and go our own selfish way if depression does
not bring us down where we feel what is real.
Tim LaHaye has written some of the finest books, and one is, How To Win
Over Depression. He wrote this book
because back in 1969 it hit him, and
for two and a half years he went through five periods of depression. The awfulness of it motivated him to seek
answers, and to help others to gain victory.
Vance Havner went through great depression when his wife died, and he
wrote, Though I Walk Through The Valley, to help others who go that same way.
Having great gifts, or excellent character, does not spare you
from depression. Sir Winston Churchill
had serious bouts with depression.
Edgar Allen Poe would fall into a pit of depression after creating a
master piece, and Van Gogh cut off his ear in a fit of despair. A list of the
most famous and most talented people in the world would also be a list of
people who have fought depression. It
is a part of life, and is due to the fact that nobody's life is all it was
meant to be. Men cannot help struggling
with the meaning of life, and the purpose of so much that is evil, and this leads to depression.
Many people read Job and get relief from their depression, but
others read it and get more depressed.
They see Job suffering as meaningful, for there is a goal, but their own
suffering does not seem to have any meaning.
It is always easy to think the other guy does not have it as bad as
you. The fact is, just because we know
Job's suffering had a meaning, he did not know, and had no clue as to what was
going on. It was totally meaningless to
him. He would not have been able to
come out of his depression by mere positive thinking. He needed that, and after his pessimism was expressed, he still
had some optimism. But Job expressed
severe depression where he felt hopeless.
One of the symptoms of despair is that death looks good. Death is an enemy to those who love life,
but those in deep depression look upon death as sweet release from life's
misery. Job praises death in verse 13,
as the place of quiet rest. He longs
for death, and feels it is unfair to have to go on living, when death is so
inviting. Such a love for, and longing
for death, is not the normal attitude of a healthy man. It is a sign of deep depression. The depressed are pessimistic about life,
and optimist about death. A Christian
who spends too much time longing for heaven, is probably depressed about life
on earth. This poem was found, as an
ancient Near Eastern text, and it reveals just how appealing death can become
when one is fed up with life.
Death is in my sight today,
Like the recovery of a sick
man,
Like going out into the open
after a confinement.
Death is in my sight today,
Like the odor of myrrh,
Like sitting under an awning
on a breezy day.
Job sees death as a place where the weary are at rest, and
everybody is equal, and there is no more oppression. It looks so good to him, he is sad he has to stay in the land of
the living. Verse 21 is the climax of his
death wish, for he longs for death, and desires it like a man digging for treasure. This might sound like a wonderful view of
death, but it is not. It is a sick
view, for all Job wants is escape.
Death is just a way out of life's trials. It is no virtue to be ready to
die gracefully if God wants you to live and fight. Paul did not know which way to go. He did not know if he should die and be with God, or stay and
serve his Lord. But he did not long for
escape. He loved life, and only thought
of death as a door to Christ's presence.
Paul was not depressed, but had a healthy view of life and death. Paul wanted more of life, but Job wanted out
of life.
Job's view is that of a pessimist. We know he had good reason, but still it is not a view of life
and death that is healthy for the believer.
It is like the Greek pessimist.
Sophocles, the ancient Greek, sounds just like Job.
Not to be born is the most
to be desired, but having
seen the light
the next best is to go
whence one came
as soon as may be.
This is pagan thinking, and
when a believer gets depressed, he tends to develop pagan thinking.
That is why it is always wise to reject your thoughts, and your
feelings, when you are depressed.
True men of God often develop negative theology because they
are depressed. They lead others to
think that way, as if it was Biblical thinking, but in reality it is pagan
thinking from the pit of depression.
Lets look at some of the major causes for depression, for knowing these
can help us understand ourselves, and understanding ourselves, is the key to
coping with depression. One of the
primary causes is-
1. DISAPPOINTMENT.
This is where it all begins.
We have so many dreams and hopes in life that never go as we plan. You don't get depressed when everything goes
your way, but since so often things go the opposite of what you planned, you
get depressed. The more you are
disappointed, the more likely you are to get depressed. If you favorite plant dies; your cat
scratches the leg of your dining room table, and your son comes home with two
F's on his report card, all in the same day, you may find yourself heading for
the dumps. That is too much
disappointment to handle cheerfully.
Think of what Job's mind was handling.
He had all his dreams of the future shattered in one day. No human being alive can take that kind of
disappointment and escape depression.
Tim La Haye, in his book on depression, puts his finger on a
major source that helps us better understand Job. He tells of how people who seldom express depression have
terrible spells when they face divorce.
He quotes one man as saying, "It took me almost a year to get over
it! I had never been depressed in my life until my wife left me. Suddenly the carpet was jerked out from
under my whole life. For weeks I just
wanted to die." This is a common
reaction, and La Haye says, "The root problem with those caught in despair
is almost always the rejection of the person they love most." Disappointment in those we most love is the
quickest way to the dumps.
If we apply this to Job, it does fit. Back in chapter 2 Job rebuked his wife for
her pessimism. She was being weak, and
he was being strong. That very rebuke
of the one person left in his life, his primary source of love, could have
added greatly to his own depression.
Job had every reason there is to be depressed, and to be badly
depressed. We will never have as good a reason as Job had, but any
disappointment is sufficient to produce some degree of depression.
What can we do to off set it?
We can expect to be disappointed.
It is not so hard to take, if we plan for it. If you have a goal to achieve, and circumstances, or people, fail
you, be prepared with a second goal, or back-up plan. Expect that you may be disappointed, and be ready to adjust. If you are not flexible, and instead, expect
every plan to go your way, you are planning to be depressed. Instead, plan to escape the effects of
disappointment by being ready with an alternative. This is superficial counsel to those in grief like Job, but it
fits so many of life's disappointments, and even covers tragedy if you think
about it. If death takes a loved one;
if your house if destroyed; if you are forced to change your profession; if war
should come to our country; all of these possibilities need us to be
prepared. It is wise to give thought to
how you would handle such things, for being prepared to adjust to
disappointments, however tragic or trivial, is the key to winning over
depression. Secondly, consider-
2. LACK OF SELF-ESTEEM.
If you cut yourself down, and think you are unworthy of being
loved, you will struggle with depression.
It is not what others think, but what you think of yourself, that really
matters. Job sees himself as a misfit. He feels it would be better had he never
been born. Abortion would have been a blessing he thinks. His self-image is poor, and he is depressed.
When his friends begin to accuse him of being a sinner, Job
snaps out of his depression, for he has a good self-image, and he defends his
righteousness. Your self-image can be
both the cause and the cure of your depression. Job went into the dumps because his self-image began to fade, but
he was lifted out of the dumps when his self-image was attacked, and he had a
high enough view of himself to come to his own defense.
A Christian needs to develop a healthy self-image as a child
of God, so that no matter what happens, and how badly he fails, or how much
disappointment he faces, he can say, "Life is still worth living, for I
care, and I can be used to be part of God's answer in this needy world. This is the key factor in helping yourself
get out of the dumps."
5. SINFUL SYMPATHY Based on Job 4
Tragedy so often leads to bitterness against God. Mark Twain had a daughter who died at the
age of 21 because of diphtheria. His
wife also died young. He became so
angry and bitter that he lashed out at God with the very gift that made him
famous, his pen. He wrote and imaginative tale about Noah's Ark. Three days out of port in the flood Noah
discovered he had left behind the tsetse fly, and had to go back. Mark Twain comments on how thoughtful God
was to make Noah go back for this creature, so that men could be afflicted with
its dreaded disease for all these centuries.
The story was such a bitter and sarcastic slam at God that his relatives
would not allow it to be published until 50 years after his death.
Job was not so direct in his bitterness over tragedy. He avoids an attack upon God, but he curses
his birth and his life, and complains that God allows life to go on in such
misery. It was shocking to Job's
friends to hear him expressing such bitter emotions. The way he was handling
his emotions was not pleasing to them, and they could no longer sit in silence
and let his outcry against God go unchallenged.
Chapter 4 is the beginning of the speeches of Job's three
friends, and his responses. Eliphaz is the first to speak, because he is the
oldest, and has seniority. The three
speak in the order of their age. The
speeches get more and more radical, as they go from mild rebuke to vicious
attack, because Job refuses to respond to their advice as they expect him to
do. These three men were true friends
of Job, and not enemies. They traveled
far, and stayed long, to comfort Job in his misery. We have to commend them for their effort. The reason they failed
is because they were ignorant, and not because they were evil. They were just
like all of us tend to be, inadequate of our understanding of how to help the
grief stricken suffer.
As we commend their heartless attacks on Job, let us keep in
mind, they represent us, the majority of well-meaning people who make life's
burdens heavier, because we do not understand sympathy. We will learn little from the study of Job's
friends, unless we see ourselves in them.
The most caring and compassionate of us make some of the same blunders
they did. The closer we are to the
sufferer, the more likely we are to be as foolish as they were. We need to learn from their mistakes how to
be true comforters. This means we must
learn what sympathy is all about. For
the basic need for all who suffer is sympathy.
This is a neglected virtue in the Christian life, because we think of it
as a sort of weak second rate virtue, unworthy of major attention.
This is a tragic attitude, and it leads Christians to be no
better prepared than Job's friends to meet the deepest need of the sufferer. We handicap ourselves by failing to develop
the capacity for sympathy. There is no
way to become truly Christlike without this virtue. Jesus became a man to make sure He had the powers of true
sympathy, and that is a primary basis for our comfort. Heb. 4:15 says, "For we have not a high
priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every
respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning." The sympathy of Jesus is the key to His
ministry of His intercession on our behalf, and the key to our security. We know that even if nobody else understands
us, Jesus does. That is what sympathy
is all about. It is the ability to feel
what another feels, and to be able to understand why they feel the way they
do.
Sympathy is one of the key ingredients to being a
blessing. Listen to Peter as he makes
it one of the links in the chain of successful Christian living. He writers in I Peter 3:8-9, "Finally, all of you, have unity of
spirit, sympathy, love of the brethren, a tender heart and a humble mind. Do not return evil for evil or reviling for
reviling, but on the contrary bless, for to this you have been called, that you
may obtain a blessing." Peter
would agree with Edmund Berke who said, "Next to love, sympathy is the
devinest passion of the human heart."
This is what Job's friends lacked, and what all of us lack so often, to
be the blessing Peter says we are called to be. Job's friends did just what Peter said to avoid. They responded
to Job's negative emotions with their own negative emotions, instead of
sympathetic understanding.
Chapter 4 shows us three approaches that Eliphaz took to Job,
which he apparently thought would be helpful, but which are contrary to the
true spirit of sympathy, and thus, must be classified as sinful sympathy, for
they do more harm than good. The first
thing we see is-
I. HIS ACCUSATION.
Eliphaz starts off by saying he hopes Job will not be
offended, but he just has to respond to Job's negative emotions. When you have to apologize for what you are
about to say, you can count on it, you are not on the right track, for like
Eliphaz, you are more concerned about getting something off your own chest than
about lifting the burden of another.
Eliphaz had to get out what was on his mind, at the expense of Job.
In verses 3-5 he says, you are always such a good counselor to
others in their trials, but now when you suffer, you go all to pieces. He is saying to Job, why don't you take your
own medicine. He accuses Job of not
being able to practice what he has preached to others. You have helped others be submissive in
suffering, and now, you become a rebel in
your own. You tell others to
seek the silver lining in every cloud, but you seek only the escape of
death. Shame on you Job, for your
inconsistency.
If you look back at chapter 3, you have to agree with
Eliphaz. He has accurately analyzed
Job's cry of anguish. It is nearly
pagan, if not clearly pagan, in its view of life. Eliphaz was right, for Job
was not on the level where a godly man ought to be. If he was right, then why was he so poor a comforter? Because, Eliphaz, like so many people before
and since, had the mistaken idea that what is true must always be good. If Job is being inconsistent, let him
know. If a Christian brother or sister
is being sub-Christian in their emotions, point it our right away. Such is the role of the analyzer, but it is
not the role of the sympathizer.
A truly sympathetic friend is not concerned with setting you
straight, but with understanding why you are so crooked. Eliphaz should have said something like
this: "I understand your feelings
Job. I would feel the same in your
shoes." He would not have to give
up his convictions about how people ought to respond to suffering. He could say, "I know it is not right to feel as you do, but I would
probably feel the same, if I were in your shoes." Sympathy always comes through by saying,
"Even if I don't like how you feel, I accept you as you now feel."
Job did not hear that at all. He heard only an accusation designed to shame him back on the
right path. Eliphaz was using his wisdom
and energy to push Job, rather than help him lift his burden. When you have sympathy, you don't tell the
sufferer to get rid of his burden, you help him carry it, and feel something of
the load he bears. Charles Parkhurst
put it, "Sympathy is two hearts tugging at one load." Eliphaz only added to Job's load with his
accusations. He is a mirror, however,
in which I can see myself. He is not a
bad, or cruel man, he is just stupid about human nature. Put yourself in the shoes of Eliphaz, and
imagine that you witness an outstanding Christian going to pieces. I am sure one of the first responses in our
minds would be, "Why doesn't he practice what he preaches."
Like those around the cross, who said of Jesus, He saved
others, let Him save Himself, so we look at the strong and godly in suffering,
and expect them to set the example, and save themselves. We certainly don't expect them to be
depressed, and cry out in despair as Job did.
We would be embarrassed by such a lack of faith. We would probably seek to shame them back
into their senses by some form of accusation.
"What will people think?" "You have told others how to
handle grief, now practice what you
have preached."
Let's face it, it is a fact of which we are all aware, it is
easier for us to preach than to practice.
It is so much easier to know what is right, than to do what is
right. Paul experience this, and writes
in Rom. 7:15, "I do not understand my own actions, for I do not do what I
want, but I do the very thing I hate."
All of us will have times when we cannot do what we know to be best, but
we will do what we know to be folly.
Thomas Boston preached that failure to sleep soundly was a great waste
of time. Then he fell into a state of
restlessness, and could not avoid the very thing he condemned. He preached on the text, "Be content
with such things as ye have," and then later found himself seized with
dissatisfaction.
Every Christian fails at some time to practice what he has
preached. Eliphaz made a big deal of
pointing out to Job his inconsistency, and by so doing, missed his chance for being
a comforter. Job was not so stupid he
did not know he was being inconsistent.
He did not need a lecture on his defects at this point. They were already crushing him. The suffering saint who feels depressed and
angry at life, is fully aware of his inconsistency, and that is why guilt is
one of his heaviest loads. What he
needs is someone who can sympathize. He
needs someone who can say, "You are not the worst sinner who ever lived,
because of your negative feelings."
True sympathy recognizes it is no sin when you can't feel
like you ought to feel. Jesus said to
His disciples, "Let not your hearts be troubled," and then went into
Gethsemene where His heart was so deeply troubled it almost broke. Jesus did not sin by this
inconsistency. He experienced what we
all do, and that is why he is the perfect sympathizer. He knows that there are griefs and
sufferings and trials that come into our lives that make it impossible for us
to feel the positive emotions of life.
We do not have to feel the death of the negative emotions like Job, but
we do have to understand that they are legitimate, and there is no call for
accusation about not practicing what is preached. Job needed a word so
sympathy, but he never got it. The
second approach of Eliphaz was equally empty of comfort.
II. HIS ARGUMENT.
In verse 7 we see just what every sufferer needs, and argument
that shows them they are wrong to feel as they do. Eliphaz says to Job, think now, who that was innocent ever
perished? Or, where were the upright
cut off? The wicked reap suffering and
judgment from God, and the righteous reap reward from God." The argument of Eliphaz is a classic case of
oversimplification. It does not deal
with life as it really is, but only as his theology says it should be. Eliphaz is trying to give Job a snow
job. He is trying to whitewash over the
blackness of Job's tragedy, by pretending that there is no real evil for the
man of God. Only the wicked suffer. The
good guys never suffer, and what seems so is really good for discipline, and
other values. So cheer up Job, if you
are truly righteous, your suffering is no tragedy at all. Some may get comfort from this type of
argument, but many see it as rejection, as Job did.
How can there be any real sympathy if you are convinced there
is tragedy. You do not accept the
sufferer's feelings, when you try to show them they are foolish for their
feelings, because they are based on a false view of suffering. I enjoyed Iona Henry's book, Triumph Over
Tragedy. She shares of how she reacted
to some of the arguments of her comforters.
She lost her daughter in surgery, and then her son and husband, a week
later, were killed in a car accident,
which put her in the hospital for months. Some of the arguments she wrestled with were these:
1. There is a purpose in all of this. This traditional Protestant way of coping with tragedy gave her
some comfort in her deepest pain, but lost its power when she recovered. It just did not fit the facts of life. Pete, Jack, and Jane, all had more talent to
contribute to the cause of Christ than she had. The idea that there was a mysterious hidden purpose in saving her
out of the holocaust brought her up against a brick wall. If there was any purpose, why didn't God
reveal it? A hidden purpose is no
better than no purpose at all. It just left her empty, and explained
nothing. She could not buy that
argument.
2. One of her friends, on a similar track of Eliphaz, told her that
God loved her in a special way, and that is why she had to suffer so much. Those who suffer most in this life will be
so much happier in the life to come.
Suffering was a sort of merit, and, therefore, it really is not evil,
but a blessing in disguise. Iona could
not buy this one either, for it made no sense.
Some of the finest Christians did not hardly suffer at all. Why would she be selected out of all
humanity for this special suffering.
Did God love her more than He loved most of His children? She writes, "I couldn't believe that!
My faith had taught me that God has no caste system, that He plays no favorites
and has no pets, that He sends His blessed rain upon the just and unjust
alike..." She could not believe she was a privileged character for her
great suffering.
Other friends tried the fate approach, or the Pollyanna
approach, but none of them met her need.
The approach that did work was the sympathetic approach of her
father-in-law. It was his son and grandchildren who died, so he also suffered
deeply with Iona. His attitude is
summed up by one paragraph from a letter he wrote to her. He said, "God is as sad over this as
you are. It is not God's will that such
things happen. Amid the many
circumstance of life, some things happen because we belong to a human
society. But God's will is for life to
be lived to its fullness. When it
isn't, He stands as of old, weeping with us." This view met her need, and strengthened her faith. This is what Job needed, but he got an
argument instead. The third approach of
Eliphaz is common, but cruel.
III. HIS ASSUMPTION.
In verse 12 Eliphaz really comes on strong, as he relates to
Job the frightening vision he had one night.
God gave him a special revelation that no man, no angel, nothing or no
one, is pure before God. All need the
discipline of suffering to be worthy, and only the wicked resent it. In other words, "Watch your tongue Job. God revealed to me that you deserve what you
are getting, and if you keep up your rebel spirit, you will get even worse."
Eliphaz could not have planned a less sympathetic
approach. The assumption that his dream
became the standard by which all men's experiences are to be measured, would
make any man angry. Whenever you
attempt to impose your experience, however spectacular it may be, upon others,
and especially others in their suffering, you cannot escape being guilty of
sinful sympathy. John Wesley was going
to sail from England to Georgia, but George Whitfield, the great evangelist of
the day wanted him to stay in England.
Before the ship sailed he went to Wesley and said, "God spoke to me
in a dream and told me you were not to go." Wesley said, "If God does not want me to go, He will speak
to me in my own dream."
Few things are more aggravating to a sufferer than a
non-sufferer who has a text, or a theory, or a vision, or whatever, that wraps
it all up in a nut shell. Eliphaz was
saying, "I got my idea direct from God, and so you have to swallow it or
else you are rejecting God's word."
This is the method by which strong leaders control the weak-minded
masses. Many sufferers would have
submitted to such impressive arguments.
Job, however, was no ordinary sufferer.
He would not submit to any argument that did not fit the facts of
reality.
Job's response to Eliphaz in chapter 6 is one of total
disappointment. Job needed his three
friends, just as Jesus needed His three closest disciples in Gethsemane, but in
both cases they were let down. In both
cases the three friends were good and godly men, yet they failed in the crisis,
because they lacked sympathy. Cannon
Farrar wrote, "A man may lose position, wealth, and even health, and yet
live on in comfort...but there is one things without which life becomes a
burden-that is human sympathy.
We will find a lot of truth in the speeches of Job's three
friends, but it is all in vain, for even truth is empty of value and meaning
when there is no sympathy. Any theology
that drives the springs of sympathy, however true, is of little or no value to
God or man. H. C. Trumbull preached to
the inmates of a prison, and he said, the only difference between himself and
them was the grace of God. Afterward,
one of the prisoners came to him and said, "Did you mean what you said
about sympathizing with us, and that only the help of God made you differ from
us?" When Trumbull replied,
"Yes, I really meant it," the prisoner said, "I am here for life,
but I can stay here more contentedly now that I know I have a brother out in
the world."
This prisoner was so changed by the power of sympathy that he
received the Christ that enabled Trumbull to express it. The changed life lead to receiving a pardon. Instead of sinful sympathy, he experienced
sin-freeing sympathy. Philip Crownell
said, "None will deny that the one thing supremely characteristic of
Jesus, Son of God, is his sympathy. For
that is what he is, God's incarnate sympathy." Sympathy is thinking with the mind and heart of Christ, and this
is what every sufferer deserves to experience from Christian friends.
6. SANCTIFIED SYMPATHY Based on Job 4
Sometimes you have to hurt others to help them. Iona Henry's case is a prime example. She
had been in the hospital for 83 days on Demerol. She became dependent upon this drug for sleep, and escape, for
she could not stand to think of her future without her husband and two
children, all of whom had been killed.
The doctor told her she had to learn to sleep on her own, but she just could
not do it without Demerol.
One day a nurse came into her room and whispered to her,
"I heard something awful today in the nurse's dining room." "Tell me! What did you hear?" responded Iona. The nurse let her have it.
They are saying that you are becoming a dope addict. Iona became so furious. She could never remember a time when she was
so completely angry. She blasted their
gossiping tongue, and vowed to show the smart alecks she was no dope
addict.
In a fit of rage she picked up a book and began to read. It was already hot, and her angry rebellion
made it worse. Her bed was soaked with
perspiration. When the two innocent
student nurses came with her Demerol, they stood wide-eyed in shock when she
refused. "The doctor ordered
it," one of them stammered.
"I don't care," she raged.
"Take it away." So
they did. Iona said she felt like the
three Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace, and equally determined. It was a night of horror, but she was
committed to die before she would ask for her Demerol.
She fought all night, and wanted to give up a dozen times, but
just before dawn she dozed off. When
she woke up she was greeted like a victorious queen. She had conquered Demerol, but she, and everybody else, knew it
never would have happened if she had not been motivated by strong anger. Anger can be a friend that gives us the
energy we need to fight an enemy. Anger
can be good, and the nurse's did her a big favor by making her angry. Inoa's need at that point was not for
sympathy. What she needed was an
internal motivation to fight a weakness that could have destroyed her.
Job's situation was not the same things at all. Yet his friends provoked him to anger. It is possible that the rage in his heart, that
kept him fighting back against their accusations, was of some value. It did motivate him to think, and argue, and
could have been good for his circulation.
There was no hint, however, that the friends were acting in Job's best
interest. They were just stubbornly
interested in getting Job to conform to what they felt was a proper response to
tragedy. The anger they kindled only
made Job's misery worse. Job did not
need the same medicine that Iona needed.
His need was for a bridge of sympathy from which he could cross over
from despair to new hope. We often
fail, as did Job's friends, because we do not diagnose the need properly.
I must confess that I have assumed the same thing as Job's friends
were assuming. I have dealt with suffering people, thinking that what they
needed was an intellectual explanation.
Like Job's friends, I was too quick to give what I had, rather than
listen to what the sufferer needed.
Someone wrote, "The intellect alone never produced real
sympathy. The will alone never
can. It is born of loving desire
working with and in these." The comforter must be ever asking, what does
the sufferer need, and not, what can I do? If you ask this latter question, you
are striving to meet your need, and not theirs. This is where Job's friends failed him. They did not love enough to enter his feelings. They sought to change his feelings by
their intellect, and this makes people
feel rejected, for they are not being accepted as they are.
If you observe Jesus in relation to all kinds of people, you
will see that He always accepted people where they were. He did not approve of where they were
necessarily, nor did He expect that they would stay where they were, but He always
started with them where they were, and not where He thought they should
be. That is what sympathy is. It is
accepting a person where they are, even when where they are is not acceptable.
The woman at the well is a good example.
She was not living a life style acceptable to Jesus, but He accepted her
where she was, and the result was a changed life style. This is what sympathy is all about. It is the ability to be with another person
where they are, and feel what they feel, and communicate that you understand. Sympathy is the heart of fellowship, and the
key to oneness in Christ.
Someone said, "Sympathy is your pain in my
heart." Animals apparently cannot
experience this. They have feelings,
but not sympathy. They can eat heartily
while their friend or family member lay dying, with no tear of pity, or sigh of
sympathy. Only man has this unique
capacity to weep with those who weep, and also to rejoice with those who
rejoice. Sympathy includes the positive sharing as well as the negative emotions.
Eliphaz had the capacity to sympathize, but he quenched it by
responding to Job's depression with a defense of what is right and best. Let's not do to Eliphaz what he is doing to
Job. Let's sympathize with Eliphaz, and
try to feel what he was feeling. Job
was the one hurt deeply, but he forgave him in the end. It is quite easy to understand Eliphaz. My tendency is to do the same thing he is
doing. If someone is negative, I want
to rush in and counteract it with the positive. If someone is down on life, I want to present to them the joys of
life. If someone is attacking God, I
want to defend God. It is perfectly
normal to respond to any negative with a desire to counteract it, for the good
of the one held in its grasp. But it is
not good just because it is normal.
One of the key lessons of the book of Job, as I see it, is
just this: What are normal and natural
human feelings are not necessarily the best.
What we need to see is that the normal is tainted with sin, and is below
the level where God expects us to live.
Knowing this, we can then, by His grace, go beyond the normal, and
natural, to feelings and responses that are pleasing to God, and helpful to
man. It was normal for Eliphaz to
respond to Job with a defensive attack.
Think of your own response to the folly of your children. How many have said, "How can you be so
stupid?" "You know better
than that." "You should be
ashamed of yourself."
The sympathetic mind says, "I will let these natural and
normal impulses remain unexpressed until I put myself in the other persons
shoes." You do not really know
another person until you try to do this.
George Eliot said, "The only true knowledge of our fellow man is
that which enables us to feel with him."
Had Eliphaz put himself in Job's place, and tried to inner into the
feelings that would arise in such a tragic circumstance, he would have been a
comforter, rather than an irritant.
Before you criticize anyone for their feelings, and negative
emotions, try to put yourself in their shoes, and feel what they feel. This sympathetic approach will cause you to
resist the normal response of criticism, and come through with an attitude that
comforts and encourages. The key to
being a good counselor is sympathy, and the key to being sympathetic is honest
self-examination. What would I do or
feel in the same situation? That is why Jesus is the supreme sympathizer. He has been there, and though He never fell,
He knows how easy it would have been with the defective nature all other men
have. We have this fallen nature, and, therefore, should be able to easily
develop the power of sympathy. Ella
Wheeler Wilcox put it into poetry-
I treasure more than I
despise
My tendency to sin,
Because it helps me
sympathize
With all my erring kin.
He who has nothing in his
soul
That links him to the sod,
Knows not the joy of
self-control
That lifts him up to God.
So I am glad
my heart can say
When others slip and fall,
Altho I safely pass that
way,
I understand it all.
This poem points out a vital truth: You do not have to fall, to sympathize. You do not have to actually experience what another does, to
understand. You have the capacity to
feel, to some degree, what it would be like to have the actual experience. Eliphaz could have felt what it would be
like to lose his whole family and all his possessions. Maybe not to the same degree as Job, but
enough to grasp what Job was going through, and to sympathize.
Christians who do not suffer often fail to use their capacity
to enter the suffering of others, and the result is, they are often like Job's
friends, and very unsympathetic. Vance
Havner refers to this in his book Though I Walk Though The Valley. He watched his wife die, and went through a
terrible time of depression. He writes,
"We read in the Bible of a great multitude who have come out of great tribulation. I have joined the society and their fellowship is precious
because they know. They do not make
light of my troubles. Only fair-weather
travelers who have known little sorrow do that." Havner, a great evangelist known by millions, obviously had to
contend with some of Job's friends.
That is, Christians who could not grasp his sorrow and depression. They were critical of such a man of God
feeling as he did.
God forbid that we should ever be so callous, and a pain to
any member of the body of Christ. It is
easier for those who have suffered deeply to be more sympathetic. Those who are more likely to be like Job's
friends are those who have not suffered, and do not bother to develop the power
of sympathy. Most of us are in this
second category. The more we can feel
with others in that which we have not experienced, the more we become like Christ, and can minister to
others with a truly sanctified sympathy.
7. JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS Based on Job 5
There is a poem that I have enjoyed for many years, but I could
never see how it could be used in a sermon, until I began to study the friends
of Job. I want to share it with you,
for it both describes them, and gives us insight into why they could be so
wrong when they were so often right. It
is called The Blind Men and The Elephant by John Saxe.
It was six men of Indostan
To learning much incline,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
The First approach the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy
side,
At once began to ball:
"God bless me! But the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"
The second,
feeling of the tusk,
Cried, "Ho! What
have we here
So very round and smooth and
sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"
The third approached the
animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within
his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he,
"the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"
The fourth reached out a
eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this
wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he;
" 'Tis clear enough,
the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"
The fifth who chanced to
touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the
blindest man
Can tell what this resembles
most;
Deny the fact who can
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"
The sixth no sooner had
begun
About the beast to grope,
Then, seizing on the
swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he,
"the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in
the right,
And all were in the wrong.
Job's friends were each partly in the right, but all were in
the wrong. The reason is the same as
for the blind men. They were blind to all
of reality but their own narrow perspective.
They had found their peace of the puzzle, and declared that to be the
puzzle. It was all so easy to solve,
for there were no complexities to deal with.
The friends of Job explained life's sufferings, and specifically Job's
sufferings, as very simple and obvious.
They said there is no mystery here at all. It is clear as a bell that suffering is God's judgment on the
sinner. Job is suffering, therefore,
Job is a sinner.
We know Job was not suffering due to his sin, and God was not
chastening him for any failure. But we
do not know this about others who suffer, so how are we to deal with them? The same way Job's friends should have dealt
with him. They should have been willing
to admit the mystery, and not pretend to know what they did not know. It is one of the worst forms of pride to be
unwilling to confess ignorance.
Everybody is ignorant concerning many of the mysteries of life, and
especially the mysteries of suffering.
The first thing you will do about suffering, if you are wise, is not to jump to conclusions. That was the mistake of the blind men, and
Job's friends. They had their theories
about things, and immediately began to declare them as the sum of all wisdom.
The second thing we
learn from their mistakes is, do not deal with people and their problems as
categories, but deal with them as individuals.
Job was an unique individual, and his suffering did not fit any general
category. This is not to say there is not
general category, for there is. There
is suffering that is the chastening of God.
There is suffering that is the result of sin. There is suffering that is the result of ignorance. There are valid general categories, but it
is a mistake to take any individual sufferer, and cast him into one of these
categories, without adequate study of his individual situation. This takes time, and communication with the
individual to gain understanding.
Job's friends just assumed that Job fell into a certain
category, because they could not see any other category where he would
fit. This was a sin, and they needed to
be forgiven to be right with God. It is
a common sin to be guilty of, this treating people as categories, and not as
individuals. The more you study the
controversial issues of life, the more you realize that there is usually some
truth on all sides. Some will have
truth that applies to many situations, and others will have truth that fits
different situations.
The wise Christian is one
who refuses to assume that there is only one way to look at an issue. Life is complex, and each individual
situation must be dealt with on its own merits.
Take divorce for example:
Some Christians argue that it is never the will of God, but others are
equally convinced that it can be the will of God. The Bible would support both. It is never God's best, but it is
sometimes the lesser of two evils. It
was for their hardness of heart that God granted the right of divorce in the
Old Testament, but the point is, He did grant it, and not because it was good,
but because it can be the best thing in a bad situation. The Bible does not
take a hard nosed one sided stand, with no exceptions. Jesus clearly stated an exception, and
established that a Christian must deal with each situation on its own merits.
If we follow this through on all kinds of issues on life, and
especially the issue of suffering, we will avoid the folly of Job's
friends. They were rigid and
inflexible. They responded to Job like
they would a drunken bum who ended up behind bars. They said, "You
brought this on yourself Job. By your
sin and rebellion against God."
They knew of no sin he had committed, but because they only had one
category to put him in, that of a sinner, they jumped to this conclusion. They had no category of righteous people who
suffer unjustly. Their false attitude,
and inability to deal with issues on an individual basis, forced them to be
cruel to Job. To comfort him would be
to encourage a sinner in his rebellion.
Their motive was noble, and they thought they were being the best of
friends, but they blew it because they refused to deal with Job as an
individual.
There was no room in their thinking for an exception. Even God was not allowed to be free in their
theology. He had to be, and do, just
what they said he had to be, and do. He could not relate to an individual on a
unique basis, but had to relate to all people the same. He was like a giant cosmic computer programmed
to conform to their concept of who he was.
The explains God's anger at the end of the book. God said to Eliphaz, and his two companions,
in 42:7, "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two
friends: For you have not spoken of Me
what is right..." God was not
pleased with all of their eloquent praises of His power and majesty, for they
distorted it to make God look as cruel as they were.
God finally came to His own defense, because these so called
defenders were making Him look terrible, until Job was beginning to think God
was his enemy. God and men desire to be
dealt with as individuals, and not to do so is to lose compassion, and become a
cold and callous counselor. John R.
Thomas was judged by some to be a hard hearted boy, while others felt he must
be a lad of great faith. Both miss the
boat, for they judged him by putting him into a category based on external
evidence, rather than getting to know him as an individual. As chaplain of a state hospital in Madison,
Wisconsin, he tells his inner story.
When he was ten or eleven his mother taught him how to respond to the
question, what are you going to do when you grow up? He was to say, "When I grow up to be a man, I'm going to
take care of gran."
Gran was his mother's mother, who lived with them. All of the ladies who visited were so
impressed with this young boys devotion to his grandmother. "What a wonderful boy," they would
exclaim. As he grew older, he realized
he did not want to devote his life to caring for his grandmother. He wanted a life of his own. When she died, his sisters and brothers were
all weeping, but he was not sad at all.
Some of the relatives thought he was not sad because of his faith that
she was in heaven. Others thought he
was cold and heartless. Those who took
the pains to know him as an individual understood that he was relieved by her
death, for he had been made to feel he was responsible for spending his life
caring for her. His fear was now
relieved, for she was gone. The innocent
little game his mother started led to John having a unique attitude in this
particular situation. It could only be
understood by dealing with John as an individual, rather than a category.
When Jesus teaches us not to judge, this is one of the things
He was getting at. Don't judge people
on the basis of mechanical categories.
If you are not going to take the time to get to know them as individuals,
and understand them as unique persons, then just refrain from making any judgments,
for that is an immoral way to deal with people. People who suffer struggle with their own self-image, just as Job
did. They ask, am I really a worth
while person? Would I be better off
dead? When such sufferers are treated
without regard to their individuality, they feel rejected, just as Job
did.
The wise counsel we received in seminary was helpful, and life
has confirmed its value. Never be shocked at anything you hear, but except the
person where they are. No matter how wicked
the sin; how deep the grief; or how rebellious or bitter, you accept it as a
normal response for that person, at that time.
If you can not accept negative emotions, as Job's friends could not,
then you have no business being a counselor of the distressed. You will do much
harm, because you will be frequently jumping to conclusions.
8. DISCOURAGING COMFORT Based on Job 5
Emilie Lorning in her novel, Swift Waters, tells the story
of a young single pastor who fell in love with a beautiful young woman in his
congregation. She learned to play the
chimes in the tower of the church, and when she learned the pastor's favorite
hymn, she would play it frequently.
There was great difficulty for either of them to communicate how they
felt about each other, and so the relationship did not develop.
It took a calamity to bring them together. The community was struck by a sudden flood.
She was caught in the church and had to flee to the tower for safety. As darkness fell, a great searchlight moved
about illuminating the flooded city. As
she followed the light, she spotted her lover rescuing a family from the roof
of a nearby home. The light moved on,
but when it returned she saw the last child put in the boat, but her lover
sinking in total exhaustion. His
thoughts were that he had done his best, and now, since there was no one who
needed him, he was ready to die.
Meanwhile back in the church tower it dawned on her that she
could do something. She sprang to the controls,
and sent out over the waters the notes of his favorite hymn.
O God, our help in ages
past,
Our hope for years to come;
Our shelter from the stormy
blast,
And our eternal home.
When this message in music reached
his ears, he knew whose hand was at the controls. A new surge of strength
filled his being, and he swam to safety to find life and a love that even flood
waters could not quench. This is not
only a good love story, it illustrates the tremendous power of
encouragement. A drowning man can be
saved by encouragement. It can make the
hopeless hopeful, and the despairing feel like living again.
Encouragement can spur men on to tasks they would never do
without it. D.L. Moody told of a
fireman climbing up a burning building to rescue a child. The wind swept flames came so near he
wavered, and he considered giving up, but someone in the crowd below said,
"Give him a cheer." The crowd
roared its encouragement, and with fresh courage the fireman went on to save
the child. In the day of judgment, said
Moody, those who did the cheering shall in no wise lose their reward. To be an encourager is to be in God's will.
The great Dr. F. B. Meyer said, if he had his ministry to live
over again, he would preach more sermons of encouragement to God's people. Its a shame that Eliphaz did not hear Dr.
Meyer before he went off to visit Job.
If anyone ever needed the rejuvenation that encouragement can give, it
was Job. Unfortunately, none of the
three friends of Job had the gift of encouragement. If they did, it was well hidden.
Job was drowning in a sea of lonely despair, but instead of hearing the
lovely music of encouragement, Job heard only the discord of criticism. The result is, Job is not a love story,
because even though all of the characters in the drama are friends, they are
empty of sympathy, and so there is seldom heard an encouraging word, and so the
skies are just cloudy all day. The saying,
"With friends like that who needs enemies?" Must have originally been a reference to Job's friends.
Nothing hinders growth and achievement more in the Christian
life than does discouragement. It is
one of Satan's most effective tools for fruit reduction in the life of a
believer. The fruit of the Spirit can
only grow in the sunlight of encouragement.
This being so, the book of Job makes clear that one of life's greatest
tragedies is that believers do not comfort and encourage one another, but
rather are often discouraging. That is
what we see Job's friends being to him.
The paradox is, they did it by using that which is true. Commentator after commentator on the book of
Job is impressed with the eloquence of Eliphaz. He is a master theologian.
He has a profound grasp of the principles of life. So much of what he says is excellent
material for expounding on the glory and majesty of God.
Why then does God call him foolish at the end of the
book? Because he misapplies his
wisdom. He says the right thing, but
always in the wrong place, and to the wrong person. Truth out of context can
become folly. This explains why
something that is true does not necessarily encourage us. Being true is not enough. Ideas must fit the need, or their
truthfulness is of little value. There
are millions of things that are true, and even important, but they are not
relevant in times of grief. We see this
so clearly in chapter 5 of Job.
Hopefully this study will teach us how not to do it. Eliphaz meant to be a comfort, but instead
he was a master of discouraging comfort.
The first thing we see is,
I. DISCOURAGEMENT BY COMPARISON.
Eliphaz compares Job to a fool who does everything wrong, and
so deserves to suffer for it. What he
says about the fool in these first few verses is perfectly true. They call upon gods who will never answer,
and never give them support. They kill
themselves by their foolish anxiety and bitter rebellion against life. Their children parish because of their
background that prepares them only for misery.
The fool eventually loses everything, and brings all the troubles of
life upon himself. It is as natural for
the fool to get into trouble as it is for the sparks in your campfire to fly
upward.
Everything he says is true, and can be supported by other
Scriptures. Why then is Eliphaz
classified as a fool himself, for he is giving an accurate description of a
fools life? It is because he is implying that it fits Job's situation. He does not come right out and say so, as
the other friends will later do, but you can count on it, Job felt the cutting
edge of the comparison. Trouble does
not just happen, he says to Job. There
is always a cause for it, and the cause is folly. The degree of your trouble makes it obvious that you have been
and utter fool somewhere along the line.
Eliphaz could have written a book on the power of negative thinking, for
he was an expert.
My reading, and possibly your own experience, suggests that
what the grief sufferer really wants is neither positive nor negative thinking,
but rather, a caring presence. The last
thing they need is what Job is getting here-a comparison with the sufferings of
others that throws the burden for the whole thing back on him. Many times we suffer and have to confess
that we have been foolish and to blame.
We have brought it on ourselves, and must bear the responsibility of the
pain. But to make this the cause of all
suffering is to be cruel, as Eliphaz was being cruel to Job.
Let me share some testimonies of some suffering members of the
body of Christ. They reveal that the
sufferers greatest need is sympathy.
They are encouraged by those friends who can just accept them where they
are, and not try to explain things by comparing their suffering with that of
others.
1. John Thomas is the chaplain of Mendota State Hospital in Madison,
Wisconsin. He lost his wife to cancer
after a seven year battle. He went
through a period of grief, and he wrote, "When I was able to share my
loneliness and hurt other people responded.
With only two exceptions, people did not try to cheer me up. I found that to be important because it said
its okay for me to feel loss and grief and crying, its all right to be this way
now." Eliphaz could not do
this. He could not accept Job's grief
and depression. He saw it as a defect
that proved he must be guilty of great folly.
Job made the same mistake with his wife. He could not accept her grief, and said, "You speak like one
of the foolish women." It is hard
to just accept people where they are, but it is the only way to be of
comfort.
2. Janette Klopfenstein has written two books about death and grief
since her husband died suddenly at age 29.
In her book, My Walk Through Grief, she tells of her battle with
depression. "Those who came and
cried and shared a feeling of loss were much more supporting than those who
came as comforters and said nice words.
Canned phrases about life must go on, and Bible quotes about the
mysteries of God, and the goodness of God's will, especially when quoted by
those who had not faced a devastating death, seemed glib indeed." This speech of Eliphaz is filled with the very
things that discourage most who suffer grief.
It is not only the negative approach he begins with, but even the
positive approach of trying to cheer him up with glorious theological
truths.
There is good news here for those of you who never know what
to say. Don't feel bad, for it seems that most all of the mistakes
are made by those who have something to say. The evidence of life says, the
less you say, the better. Just say you
are sorry and be with them, and listen.
Job's friends never became a problem until they opened their mouths, and
began to explain everything.
3. Joseph T. Bayly lost three grown sons to disease and
accidents. He is one of the great
Christian grief sufferers of our day.
In his book, The View From The Hearse, he writes, "We are most
likely to be helpful with an economy of words.
In our context with people at death...it is easy to say too much, to
talk when we ought to listen. I was
sitting, torn by grief. Someone came
and talked to me of God's dealings, of why it happened, of hope beyond the
grave. He talked constantly, and he
said things I knew were true. I was
unmoved, except to wish he'd go away.
He finally did. Another came and
sat beside me. He didn't talk. He
didn't ask leading questions. He
listened when I said something, answered briefly, prayed simply, left. I was moved. I was comforted. I hated
to see him go."
The grief sufferer can say to every friend, you light up my
life either by your coming or by your leaving.
The goal is to be one who comforts by being present rather than absent.
Eliphaz could have encouraged Job by remaining silent, or by leaving, but he
had to explain everything to Job, and make sure he understood why he was
suffering. Thomas John Carlisle, a
modern poet, writes, "It is a large order for friends to stay shut up, and
Job was no luckier than we. It is the
subtle and grateful superiority of the non-sufferer that gets us. He is glad
that he isn't in our boat, but he bids us keep an elevated chin, and not rock
anything. He knows he can go home unscathed
not being at our address or in our shoes. This leads us to look at the second
paragraph of the speech of Eliphaz which reveals-
II. DISCOURAGEMENT BY
CONTRAST.
First he compares Job to the fool who does everything wrong
and suffers the consequences, and now he contrasts Job with the wise man who
does everything right, and so always
comes out smelling like a rose. The
wise man, of course, is himself. In
verse 8 he says, "As for me, I would seek God and commit my cause to
Him." In other words, if I were in
your shoes Job, I would not be carrying on in this scandalous way, but I would
surrender to God, who would reverse my fortunes, and raise me up. God does not raise up the foolish and the
wicked, who seek by crafty schemes to get their own way. He brings them to defeat, and since that is
where you are, you are obviously not responding to God like I would.
Eliphaz is again implying that Job is missing the boat by not
confessing, repenting, and casting himself on the mercy of God. He is saying that if Job was really as
spiritual as he is, he could solve this whole mess, but apparently he is
unwilling to surrender. There is a very
subtle assumption here that may influence all of us. Eliphaz is assuming that just because Job is unfortunate he must
be on a lower level morally and spiritually.
In other words, Job is no longer on the same plain with the prosperous
non-sufferer. His suffering makes him
inferior to his advisors. It all fits
his little theory that dominates his theology,
which is, that the fool suffers, and the wise prosper. It is all so simple, but it is the cruelest
theology around. Eliphaz could not grasp the idea of the
sufferer being one who was still in God's will.
Eliphaz looked into the mirror and said, "Mirror, mirror,
on the wall, whose the wisest of them all." Then he stood there pleased as it reflected his own image. He thought, I am healthy and prosperous
because I seek God. Job, in contrast,
is sick and in misery. The only
explanation is that he does not seek God.
He must be a fool and not wise like me.
Eliphaz is a victim of his own theology, and he was one of Job's
heaviest burdens. Satan's work was
swift, but the torment of his friends was slow agonizing torture. The third thing we see in this chapter is
the greatest paradox of all-
III. DISCOURAGEMENT BY
COMFORT.
In verse 17 Eliphaz says, "Happy is the man whom God
reproves, therefore despise not the chastening of the Almighty." Eliphaz goes on for the rest of his speech
describing the victory that Job can experience over all the evils of life. The future is bright he is saying to Job, if
you only repent and respond as God desires.
He ends this chapter with a word of authority by saying, "We have
searched this out Job, and it is true."
If you know what is good for you, you will listen, for this is the
medicine you need for a cure. Job, of
course, vomits at the very thought of their medicine, and they are deeply
offended. They are even more convinced
than ever that he is a wretched sinner.
They had given Job their best shot.
Their comfort was the best they knew how to give, and Job rejected
it. Obviously Job must have deep
spiritual problems to reject our wisdom and advice, was their conclusion. They never dreamed that Job's problem was
their advice and comfort.
Let's examine this comfort to see how it can be that something
true and good can be such a pain. The
truth of what Eliphaz says in verse 17 is beyond dispute. Both the Old Testament and New Testament
teach it clearly that the Lord chastens those whom He loves. It is so undeniable that even the pagan
world accepts it validity.
Nevertheless, it is irrelevant to Job's situation because it doesn't
fit. This truth cannot be applied to
all suffering of God's children, for it makes a mockery of God's love and
Fatherhood. Any father who would chasten his children by germ warfare, and
giving them a disease, or by breaking their bodies, or destroying all that they
love, would be justly locked up as a disgrace to society.
Here we have Job's friends trying to get him to swallow a
theology that says, all your tragedy is God's way of making you a better
person. It is the chastening of the Lord
that ought to make you rejoice, for it shows He really cares. This is, in fact, a valid piece of the
puzzle in dealing with the mysteries of suffering, but when this piece is
forced to fit where it does not fit, it is folly to try and make it fit. It ought to be obvious to a blind man that
Eliphaz is trying to apply a truth where it just does not belong. Death and destruction is not a
chastening. If it is from God, it is
wrath and judgment, and not anything to
be happy about.
It is tragic when theologians try to apply a truth to every
situation. It is like the wisdom I read
one time that said, "Death is natures way of telling us to slow
down." This is no more ridiculous than Eliphaz trying to tell Job that all
is well and the future is bright, because all you have suffered is just the
chastening of the Lord. This kind of
comfort is a mockery of God and also of the depth of Job's grief. He did not just lose the local bowling
tournament, or five hundred dollars on the stock market-he lost everything. This theology, which is so true in life's
minor trials and set backs, is so false when applied to a major calamity. Charles Simeon says the major fault of these
men of piety was their, "Continual misapplication of the sublimest
truths." May God help us to see
from their mistakes that the truth of any statement is no justification for its
cruel and uncharitable application.
Eliphaz almost had to endure God's chastening for his false use of the
idea of chastening in relationship to Job's suffering.
Eliphaz was going to make this truth fit Job even though it
was like Saul's armor on David. No
wonder Job resisted and rejected it. He
was wise to do so, just as David was wise to get out of the armor. The armor was good armor, and doubtless
could have saved many a warrior in battle, but it did not fit David, and would
have been a hindrance to his victory.
So this truth about chastening is a real Biblical message that can be of
great help in many situations of life.
But when it is applied where it does not fit, it is folly and
hurtful.
The friends of Job lacked the ability to be flexible about
life. They were like computers locked
into a pattern of response. As soon as
they saw suffering, their mind registered sin.
They had no other category in which to think. They were no prepared to consider the possibility of a righteous
sufferer. If the righteous suffered was
the chastening of the Lord for their sin.
There was no other category.
They could not deal with individuals, but only with categories. They did not listen to Job, or try to
understand his unique situation. He
just fell into a category, and they responded automatically as they would to
all in that category. Everything is
black and white, and there is no room for individual differences. They were not open to a God who deals with
us as individuals; a God who could deliver Peter from prison, but let John the
Baptist die there. There theology was
fixed, and any thought of flexibility would be considered compromise.
Jesus was rejected because of thinking like Job's
friends. They were Godly men who did
it, for they thought they were the defenders of the faith. They said God is one, and no man can be
God. They were right, of course, but
they were not flexible enough to see that God had the freedom to become man,
and he also had the capability of being three in one. In other words, they locked God in and said, He can do nothing
outside of our system. Jesus did not
fit their theology, so they crucified Him.
Job's friends are verbally crucifying him because he will not fit their
system.
One of the most important lessons we need to learn from the
word of God, and from history, is that everybody is an exception. That is, you do not deal with any person on
the basis of a system. Such legalism is
condemned by the Word and history. The
only Christlike way to deal with people is to treat everyone as a unique individual. Do not categorize people and classify them,
and then whip out your chart to see what your response should be. This may seem very scientific, but it is
cruel, and a rejection of the person.
Job's friends were discouraging comforters because they never did listen
to him and treat him as an individual.
Jesus did not have a book of rules to tell Him how to deal
with different categories of people.
The Pharisees had that book. He
did not see a leper and say, in this case I must cross the street and pass on
the other side. He did not confront a
prostitute and say, in this case I must not speak to her or be touched by
her. He did not encounter a Publican
and say, I dare not eat with this kind of man.
Jesus had no such rule book. He
dealt with all people as individuals, and the result was, He had no prejudice,
but was able to minister to all kinds of people equally. Job's friends would rather fight than
switch, but the purpose of the book of Job is to help us see, if we are like
them, we need to switch and deal with people in a Christlike way. Job's friends show us how not to do it. Jesus shows us how to do it. He was the great Comforter. If you want to be pleasing to God, and a
pleasure to man, be an encourager to those who suffer, and do not be one who
gives discouraging comfort.
9. JUSTIFIABLE COMPLAINT Based on Job 6
Disraeli, as the Prime Minister of England, was once walking
with a friend. As they went along the
street in London, they met a distinguished looking gentleman. Disraeli greeted him, and asked, "How
is your old complaint?" The man
responded that it was getting worse, and he was sure it would be the death of
him. Disraeli and his friend walked on,
and the friend asked him who that gentleman was. Disraeli said, "I haven't the faintest notion." " But you asked him about his old
complaint," protested the
friend. Disraeli replied, "I have
found that almost everybody has some complaint, and they like to talk about
it." Here was a man who knew human
nature. He knew that some negative
feeling lurks in the heart of just about everyone, and even those for whom life
in general is okay. How much more is this the case for those who suffer life's
worse trials? The question is, is it
wise to express your complaint?
To complain or not to complain, that is the question. The book of Job forces us to ask this
question. The obvious answer is no, we
ought not to complain about life. After
all, nobody likes a complainer, and a
horse cannot be kicking and moving forward at the same time. The poet wrote,
A horse can't pull while
kicking,
This fact I merely mention,
And he can't kick while
pulling,
Which is my chief
contention.
Lets imitate the good old
horse,
And lead a life that's
fitting.
Just pull an honest load and
then
There'll be no time for
kicking.
Job's friends were saying something like this to him about his
negative reaction to his tragic circumstances.
Eliphaz has just told him to be happy with the chastening of the Lord.
Job fires back and answer in chapters 6 and 7, and it must have made their ears
tingle, and their blood boil, for Job insists that he has a right to
complain. In 7:11 he comes to this
conclusion, "Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the
anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul."
Job meets fire with fire, and we are compelled at this stage
of the conflict to start choosing up sides.
Job is not lily white in all his suffering. Before this conflict is over, he too will have to repent for much
of what he says. The issue now,
however, is, does he have a right, and the freedom to complain? His friends said, "Knock it off. It is not proper for a man of God." Job says, "You guys don't know beans
about suffering. It is not only right,
but it is necessary and normal. You
expect animals to stir up a fuss if they don't have food. You understand the beast, but you criticize
me for crying out when I cannot eat, because life is as tasteless as egg whites without salt." If Job is right, those who complain that we
ought not to complain are the ones who have no right to complain.
Spurgeon says that Job speech here is primarily a
justification of his right to complain. Job argues back using the same
categories as Eliphaz used in his speech.
Eliphaz used comparison and contrast, and Job responds with a comparison
and contrast of his own. Let's look first at Job's-
I. COMPARISON.
Job compares the weight of his grief with the sand of the
sea. He argues that such a great
measure of weight justifies complaint. Job is saying, "Look you guys, this is not much ado about
nothing. I am being crushed, and you
offer me counsel that fits a man who has just found a worm in his apple, or a
pit in his pie, or a pebble in his soup.
I am not making a mountain out of a molehill. You guys are reducing my mountain of tragedy to a molehill of
triviality. I cannot begin to
exaggerate the heaviness of my soul.
The weight of my calamity is so enormous that the sands of the sea
cannot match it. The sand of the sea
was a typical figure used to describe what is infinite in number or
weight."
Job's defense is that the degree of the load does make a
difference in what is acceptable behavior.
The teen-age boy who jumped off a bridge and killed himself, because his
favorite TV show was canceled, was off balance. A cry could be acceptable behavior for that degree of
disappointment, but more than that is abnormal. People have taken their own life for all sorts of trivial
reasons, like missing a train, or low grades.
Job wanted to die too, but in his case it is a normal feeling. There is not a normal man alive who can
suffer what Job suffered and not complain, and feel that life is to bitter to swallow
anymore. Great men have wanted to die
for much less.
Moses wanted to die because his people were so
discouraging. Elijah wanted to die
because he felt so alone and discouraged.
These two great men of God could have been lifted from their pit of
depression by some good positive thinking, but this would have fallen flat with
Job. Anyone who thinks positive
thinking is always the cure, has not faced reality. If you were counseling Job, and wanting him to look at the bright
side of things, what would you tell him?
Would you say, it could be worse?
Do you suppose he would have been encouraged if you told him he might
have had eleven or twelve kids who were killed, instead of just ten? Positive thinking is of most value to those
who are suffering because they have been too negative in their thinking. Job thinking had nothing to do with his
tragedy, and so no change in his thinking could make a difference.
There are times when negative thinking is a necessity. It may be a necessary evil, but it becomes a
necessity. The greatest men of God all
through the Bible and history practiced what we are calling justifiable
complaining. We could also call it,
therapeutic negative thinking. David
says in Psalm 142:1-2, "I cry with my voice to the Lord, with my voice I
make supplication to the Lord, I pour out my complaint before Him, I tell my
trouble before Him." This is what
is called catharsis. It is a pouring
out of the poison inside, which is necessary for healing. Job is not alone in his complaint about
life's trials.
Some may object that Old Testament saints are not our
guides. Sometimes Old Testament
behavior is sub-Christian, but the study of suffering reveals that those who
suffer without complaint are the ones on the sub-Christian level. In other words, if you suppress your
emotions so that you can take everything life throws at you without complaint,
you are not being Christlike at all.
You are conforming to a pagan standard. Let me explain that. Back in 300 B.C., a man by the name Zeno
started a philosophy called stoicism.
It basically said that you will find happiness by suppressing all
emotion. You must learn to destroy all the weakness of emotion, and face suffering
and death with no sorrow, and the good things of life, with no joy. It was a back to nature type philosophy,
where the goal was to get rid of human emotion, and learn to be like the
animals. Animals do not cry or complain
when a loved one dies. The goal of the
Stoics was to be as indifferent to suffering as a worm. Whoever heard a worm complain?
Epictetus, and early Stoic, said, you need to harden your
emotions by breaking something in your house everyday, and say, "I don't
care." You keep moving up to more expensive things until you
can see your pet killed and say, "I don't care." The ultimate perfection is reached when you
could see your whole family wiped out, like Job did, and simply turn and walk
away saying, "I don't care."
The Stoic said everything is God's will, and so you are to
discipline yourself to accept everything, however tragic, without struggle or
emotion. Some of our popular sayings
come from the Stoic view of life.
"Grin and bear it; that's the way the ball bounces, the cookie
crumbles, and the cake breaks."
Emotions were evil to the Stoic.
Both laugher and tears were obscene.
The nicest compliment you could give a Stoic was to say, "In all
the years I've known you, I've never seen you show any emotion." This extreme is rare today, but the gist of
it has come into our culture. The
American Indians followed this philosophy, and so did many of the white
pioneers. It still survives as part of
the tough rugged American image, and is behind every parent who says to his
weeping youngster, "Big boys don't cry." All of the Bible big boys
did cry, but even little Stoics did not cry. The Stoics seem so virtuous when
they opposed negative emotions, but this is really sub-Christian.
Seneca was one of the great Stoics. He lived the same time as Jesus did. He taught that anger was a hideous emotion, and one should never
show it in the slightest degree, even though he beheld his father murdered, and
his mother raped. He ends his long
essay on anger like this: "There
is no surer proof of greatness than to be in a state where nothing can possibly
happen to disturb you." According to this view, Jesus was not great,
for He expressed a great deal of emotion.
Neither the Old Testament, nor the New Testament support this pagan
philosophy. The Bible says God made man
much higher than animals, and just a little lower than angels. His emotions are one of the things that make
him unique. God expects man to be an
emotional creature. He is made to feel
all of the positives of joy, and the negatives of anger and suffering. A man is only truly healthy when he can
express his feelings. Every feeling has
a legitimate right to be expressed.
Paul said we are to be angry but sin not. There is a sinful way to express anger, but
there is also a good and right way.
Paul did it, and so did Jesus.
All emotions can be right in the proper situation, even those that we
see Job expressing. This is hard for
many believers to accept, for it seems to lead to inconsistency. That is what Job's friends were accusing him
about. A man of God should not be
negative. Job says that is blind,
unrealistic idealism that does not fit reality. Job is a great comfort to millions of God's children who
suffer. His response, and his theology
does fit their actual experience of life. He did not pretend to be a
super-spiritual sufferer who could just grin and bear it, and say praise the
Lord anyway. He treated tragedy with
respect by feeling it, and expressing those feelings. There was no escapism with Job.
He got no comfort by trying to deny the reality of evil. Many believers often try to pretend that
there is no evil. This is not healthy
at all. Job is healthy, for he condemns
evil for what it is.
Job demonstrates the beauty and the duty of
inconsistency. Let me be clear here, it
is never valid to be morally inconsistent.
It is never a virtue to disobey God.
But there is an inconsistency in feelings that is an important part of
the Christian life. Job is a great
example, and we need to learn to apply this truth to our own lives. Philip Cronnell, president of Kansas City
Baptist Theological Seminary, in his book Survival Of The Unfit, has a chapter
on the saving grace of inconsistency.
He calls true inconsistency a breathe of life, and the key to Christian
freedom that prevents error, and preserves sanity.
Christian who cannot be inconsistent are like Job's
friends. They are locked into a rut of
conformity that does not permit them to experience the fullness of reality. Cronnell says, "The man who, in a right
way, can be boldly "inconsistent" can live on both sides of a
truth." Job was this kind of a
man. He could be honest with all of
reality. Those who cannot, like his
friends, tend to become either heretics or bigots, because they are so afraid
of being inconsistent, they refuse to acknowledge that there is another side of
the truth. The globe of truth is too
massive to handle with a single hand.
This is not only a great lesson of Job, but of the entire Bible. If we do not grasp the need for
inconsistency, we will have a hard time making progress in Christian
maturity.
Inconsistency is like the play in the steering wheel that
allows you to go one way or the other.
Those who demand that there be no inconsistency are trying to drive with
a locked wheel. They will soon be in
the ditch, because the road of life is full of curves, and if you are not
prepared to adjust to the changes, you will be forced off the road. Let me give you a specific
illustration. The Bible clearly calls
us to rejoice always, and to rejoice with those who rejoice. If you look in on that side of the truth,
and refuse to deviate whatever comes,
you will soon be in the ditch of disobedience. How will you obey the command to weep with those who weep, and
fulfill the ideal of, blessed are those who mourn. There is a time to laugh, and a time to cry, and the Christian
must be prepared for both, for it is a blessed inconsistency to be free to be
all things to all men. Job's friends
lacked this freedom, and were very poor comforters because of it.
Only the inconsistent Christian can be a whole and healthy
Christian, for we must in inconsistent to deal with reality, which is so
variable. Job's friends kept trying to
say that life is always consistent. The
good always prosper and the evil always suffer. Job said you can go ahead and live in your fantasy world, but I must
live where I am, and where I am it is not that way. I live in a world where the good suffer, and where they have to
let off steam by complaining and being angry, in order to keep from cracking
up. I am so miserable I want to die Job
said. You tell me, to be consistent
with my faith, I should be happy, but you are the abnormal ones. It is normal to be inconsistent, and to feel
the reality of tragedy, and to express strong emotions in suffering.
Who is correct in this debate? Christians will be found on both sides. The friends of Job were wise and godly men. How do we know for sure which is the example
to follow? As Christians, we go to the ultimate source, the life of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Did Jesus have only
positive emotions, or did he also have strong negative feelings? The facts make it clear, Jesus agrees with
Job. There are justifiable complaints
in life, for Jesus was sinless, yet we see Him complaining of both His friends
and His enemies. It is a startling fact
that when God entered flesh in Jesus Christ, He did not enter it in its
pre-fallen state, but, rather, in its fallen state. Jesus was sinless, but He still lived in a body that could suffer
the effects of sin. He suffered
cruelty, injustice, and death, all of which are the result of the fall. Paul says in Rom. 8:3 that God sent His own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.
Jesus did not take on a fake body, and one which was not of
this world. He took one just like ours. It was able to feel pain and suffering, and
even temptation. Jesus experienced all
of the weaknesses of the flesh. He was
tired and hungry. He was angry and
disappointed. He knew sorrow and
grief. Jesus took that human body into
the presence of God, where He will ever be one with man. It is transfigured now, but Jesus will never
forget what we must endure in the flesh.
He is ever sympathetic with our suffering and grief. The cross is the culmination of
identification. On the cross Jesus
experienced the worst that evil could do to man. On the cross Jesus wears our humanity, shares our infirmity, and
bears our iniquity.
In living a real human life we see Jesus doing the very things
we often feel guilty for, because Job's friends keep telling us this is not
proper for a child of God. Jesus felt
frustrated with His disciples, and He complained of their dullness. He said, "O men of little faith, do you
not yet perceive?" Several times
Jesus complained of their lack of faith. He experienced even deeper frustration
with those He came to save. When they
would not listen, He wept. This would
have seemed inconsistent to Job's friends, but it is the beautiful
inconsistency of a compassionate heart that feels like breaking when men miss
God's best.
Jesus was aggravated with James and John, who wanted to call
down fire from heaven on the Samaritans.
Jesus said you are not of my spirit.
He rebuked Peter and said, "Get thee behind me Satan." To His three closest disciples He
complained, in His saddest hour, "Could you not watch with me one
hour?" One hour is all he asked
from those who were to receive eternal life from His suffering. The point is, Jesus felt negative emotions,
and He expressed them. We haven't even
looked at His anger at injustice and hypocrisy. He blasted the Pharisees, and cleansed the temple with great
anger. The life of Jesus confirms that
Job's emotions were legitimate. Jesus
was completely honest with His human emotions, and He cried out on the cross,
"My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?" That is the essence of what Job's complaint
is all about. In the light of the
cross, we must agree with Job's defense, and recognize his was a justifiable
complaint.
10. SELF DEFENSE Based on Job 6
Some of you may have visited the famous Carlsbad Caverns of
New Mexico. I have not, but I have read
about how the ranger guides the group to a place where they are seated on stone
benches. Then all of the lights go
out. Suddenly it is as black as black
can be. You can hear water dripping you
never heard before. You know there are
a hundred people around you, yet there is a strong feeling of being alone. Some who have been there say there is a
feeling of oppressive darkness. Another
way to get this feeling of aloneness and heaviness is to suffer great loss,
like Job did. The difference is, Job
could not turn on the light and dissolve the load that lay so heavy on his
heart.
Friendship is supposed to lighten the load, but in Job's case,
his friends made it even heavier. If
there was some way to weigh burdens, it could very well be that Job would be in
the Guinness Book of Records as the man who, next to Jesus, bore the heaviest
load of grief in history. Jesus is the
record holder, for He bore the sins of the world. His load was heavy beyond our comprehension. We can grasp the load of Job, somewhat, but
the weight of our Lord's grief is beyond calculation. We read in Matt. 26:37-38, where Jesus took His three disciples
into Gethsemane, and He began to be sorrowful and very heavy. He was grieved, and in great distress. In the New English Bible Jesus says,
"My heart is ready to break with grief." Weymoth has, "Is crushed with anguish."
Jesus complained for the same reason Job complained: There friends did not recognize the load they
were bearing, and offer to give them a hand.
It would have take so little for them to lighten the load, and add some light to the heavy darkness, and
establish what Wordsworth describes:
That blessed mood,
In which the burden of the
mystery,
In which the heavy and weary
weight
Of all this unintelligible
world,
Is lightened.
The burden of Jesus was just ignored by His disciples. This is what often happens when the great
suffer. Everybody assumes they can
handle things, and do not need the aid and encouragement of their
inferiors. It is a tragic mistake, for
even Jesus needed the comfort and sympathy of His disciples. Job's friends were not just indifferent. They felt compelled to argue, scold, and
reject him for his negative expressions of grief. Having no one else to defend him, Job comes to his own defense,
and as his own lawyer, argues his case before the court of history.
Job's major argument is that there is some negative things in
life that are natural, and they ought to be accepted by believers. Job is not saying that these negatives are
good, he is just saying they are a part
of life that we must face up to, and not try to escape. They are like pimples on the body. There is nothing good about them, but we
have to accept their presence if we are going to deal with them. One of the criticisms of Christians is that
they cannot accept the reality of tragedy.
They refuse to accept the fact that evil is real, and that things do
happen in this world that are victories for the forces of evil. Christians escape tragedy by denial. They say it is all really just mysterious
good that we don't quite understand.
Philip Yancy in his book, Where Is God When It Hurts, tells of
a funeral he attended for a teen-age girl killed in a car accident. Her mother wailed, "The Lord took her
home. He must have had some
purpose....Thank you Lord." Here
is a typical Christian escape. She felt
the tragedy, but she could not admit it was tragedy. She could not accept her emotions as truth. She had to assume it was really good, and
give thanks to God for it. Paul did say
that in everything we should give thanks, but not for everything. Christians who thank God for everything are
not facing up to the reality of evil.
This is escapism. By so doing
Christians exalt all the works of the devil to the level of admiration. They call black white by denying evil and
calling it good. I can just hear David
following this line of thinking. "Thank
you Lord for taking Bathsheba's husband home in that battle
today." God did not take him
home. David murdered him. To say thank you God is to thank God for
murder, which He hates.
Thank God Job did not say thank God. Such a denial of tragedy would have ruined the value of this
great book. Job defends our basic human
right to feel the reality of evil and its tragic consequences. It is true that Job did not have our New
Testament hope. Tragedy is overcome in
Christ, for all evil can do, at its worst is deny the Christian time. It cannot
take from him the eternal life he has in Christ. This does greatly modify tragedy, and give us the victory, but
even so, it is superficial not to recognize that tragedy and evil are still real. They cannot win the war, but they do have
the power to win battles, and this can hurt terribly. We are not to grieve as those who have no hope, but we are to
grieve because evil is real. Death is
an enemy, and it can rob us of values that are precious. Even if it is only temporary, it is still
tragic and not good.
Job's friends were deniers of tragedy, but Job would not
swallow their weak medicine. He preferred to live in the real world, and not in
a world of ivory tower theory. Job not
only knew that what happened to him was tragic, he also knew that the way his
friends were treating him was also tragic.
He did not submit to their criticism without rebellion. Show me a person who feels he is being treated
unjustly, and I will show you a human volcano that could erupt at any time. Jesus exploded when He saw how the religious
leaders were ripping off the masses in the temple exchange. Jesus did not deny the reality of evil, and
submit to everything as the will of God.
He identified evil, and fought it with powerful emotions, as well as
actions. He did not say,
"Thank you Father for these
crooks." He labored for their
elimination.
Job, we must remember, is also the good guy as he fights back
with powerful emotions. We are not saying he was as pure as Christ, but the fact
is, he was right, and his friends were wrong.
G. Campbell Morgan, that prince of expositors, sees in Job's defense
that which is admirable. He writes,
"There is majesty in the impatience of Job with the men who philosophized
in the presence of agony, and it is impossible to read without a consciousness
of profound sympathy with the suffering man."
Job takes off the mask, and his pious friends do not like
it. They do not consider his honesty
acceptable social behavior in the presence of godly people. They looked upon Job's honest emotions as in
offense, like swearing in the presence of a lady. They expect him to wear the mask of hypocritical acceptability. It is better to grieve within, and not let
others know, for this makes it hard on them, for they are embarrassed with
honest emotions. They expected Job to
respect their right to be free from other people's burdens. Why should we have
to listen to your groaning and moaning when life is just dandy for us? They
wanted Job to play the role described in this poem:
Though I am beaten,
Nobody shall know.
I'll wear defeat proudly;
I shall go
About my business
as I did before.
Only when I have safely
Closed the door
Against friends and the
rest,
Shall I be free
To bow my head
Where there is none to see.
Tonight I will shed my
tears;
Tomorrow when
I talk with you,
I will be gay again.
Though I am beaten,
Nobody will guess,
For I will walk
As though I knew success.
Job's friends would have been proud of him had he given such a
speech. But Job disappointed them, and
let his negative emotions out, right in their presence. Job was wise, and those who go the other
route often end up hardened, bitter, cynical, and disillusioned, for they place
themselves in a self-made hell of loneliness that God never intended for any of
His children. The whole idea of the
people of God is so that every person might have a company of friends and
sympathizers to help him bear whatever burdens life brings.
Job's friends were more concerned about theology than about
him as a person, and the result is, they failed to be what God wanted them to
be. Job's sorrows were not lightened,
but made heavier by them. They were to
him like Peer Gynts onion. He pealed it
and pealed it, and could find no core.
It was all outsides. So Job's
friends also revealed no real core, or heart, or inner man. They were all outsides with their cold
external system. They could not be
honest with Job, because they could not accept that being honest with all of
life, is the only way to be pleasing to God.
Those who become the greatest helpers to those who suffer are those who
express honestly their own negative emotions.
In 1967 Joni wrote of how she felt in her suffering. "Once again, I desperately wanted to
kill myself. Here I was, trapped in
this canvas cacoon. I couldn't move
anything except my head. Physically, I
was little more than a corpse. I had no
hope of ever walking again. I could never lead a normal life and marry Dick...
Why on earth should a person be forced to live out such a dreary
existence? How I prayed for some
accident or miracle to kill me. The mental and spiritual anguish was as unbearable
as the physical torture." She was
so utterly helpless she could not do anything to end her life, and in angry
agony she suffered
and complained.
It would be easy to conclude that the suffering of a young
girl cannot be taken as a valid example of Christian feelings. What about mature people who have lived
long, and have faced a multitude of life's trials? Let's look at their feelings, and see if Job is supported by
history. Let's look at how a great man
like Michelangelo faced grief. This
genius, whose art has caused millions to praise God, knew what it was to
grieve. He wrote in a letter, as his close friend was dying, "I am in
great affliction here. Urbino is still
in bed and very seriously ill. I do not
know what will come of it. I feel this
trouble as though it were my own son, because he has lived in my service 25
years and has been very faithful. Being
old, I have no time for form another servant to my purpose, and so I am sad
exceedingly." Just how sad is that?
Michelangelo wrote this after his servant died: "...The better part of me is gone with
him, nor is there left to me ought but infinite distress."
When I read this, my mind jumped immediately to the apostle
Paul. He responded in a similar way
when he had a dear friend near death.
In Phil. 2 he writes of Epaphroditus in verse 27, "Indeed he was
ill, near to death. But God had mercy
on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon
sorrow." Paul openly confesses he
would express deep grief if he had lost this dear friend. It is established, therefore, beyond a
shadow of a doubt: negative feelings are a normal and acceptable part of the
Christian life. There is nothing
Christian about being a Stoic. Job was
absolutely justified in his self-defense.
Paul Aurandt shares this true story of James Macie. He was an illegitimate child, which is
really a foolish idea, for it is the parents that are illegitimate, and not the
child, but as is so often the case, the stigma of this followed him for
life. The laws of England, in the 18th
century, denied him the rights of any ordinary citizen. He was born in 1765, the illegitimate son of
a British Duke. He abandoned his mother
in France, and then returned to England.
James was made a citizen, but with limitations.
He could not enter
Parliament.
He could not hold public
office.
He could not hold any job
under civil service.
He could not enter the army
or navy.
He could not be a member of
the church of England.
He was bitter at these and other limitations, and when he grew
up and became a noted scientist, he could not be knighted, as were his
colleagues. The constant rejection by
his country led him to reject them.
When he died in 1829 he left his wealth to the United States of
America. He had never been here, but by
willing his fortune to the U.S. he disinherited the country that had
disinherited him. He wanted the money
used to establish an institution to increase knowledge, and perpetuate his true
family name, which was denied him in birth.
It was the name Smithson. The
result is, we have in our capital the vast storehouse of cultural and
scientific accomplishment-The Smithsonian Institution. All of this was a gift from one who was
called illegitimate.
God has used so-called
illegitimate people all through history.
He also uses so-called illegitimate questions to accomplish his
will. One of the greatest of all
so-called illegitimate questions is the question why? Job in verse 20-21 specializes in this question. In the Revised Standard Version we read it
three times.
1. "Why hast thou made me thy mark?"
2. "Why have I become a burden to thee?"
3. "Why doest thou not pardon my transgression?"
Why in the world the idea ever became so wide spread that we
are not to question God, is a mystery.
The Bible is full of it, and Job is an expert at it. I have had people come in deep distress with
a heavy load on their minds, and they will begin, "I know we are not
suppose to question why-but," and then they share their burden, which is a
questioning of why. My question is, why
should we not ask why? Why should this
most natural and universal of questions be considered illegitimate? It makes no more sense than the custom of
calling and innocent child, illegitimate.
Why should our whys be suppressed? Why is simply a acknowledgment of mystery, and a probe into the
darkness for more light. It is the
natural response of the child to the unknown.
Why muvver, why
Was those poor blackbirds
all baked in a pie?
And why did the cow jump
right over the moon?
And why did the dish run
away with the spoon?
And why must we wait for our
wings till we die?
Why muvver, why?
It is foolish to tell a child he is not to ask why, for he
will only ask why, and then what will you say?
For there is no good reason why we shouldn't ask why, since we do it
from childhood to old age.
Why?
This is the cry
That echoes through the
wilderness of earth,
Through song and sorrow, day
of death and birth.
Why?
Why?
It is the high
Wail of the child with all
his life to face,
Man's last dumb question as
he reaches space:
Why?
This was the question our Lord asked on the cross. "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken
me?"
Why in the world is the
world so full of whys?
Why are tears so frequently
torn from people's eyes?
Why in this world of
laughter is it someone always cries?
Why in this world of the
living is it that everybody dies?
It is not only not wrong to ask why, it is wrong to not to ask
why, for to never be puzzled by the mysteries of suffering is to be sinfully
indifferent to that which touches all mankind at some point. He who never asks why is dead from his
dandruff down. Why is not only a
permissible question, it is an indispensable, and there's no basis in the
Bible, or in logic, to forbid its use.
It is not a illegitimate question, but one that is both legitimate and
profitable. We cannot live in the shadow of this twisted question mark, but we
must walk under it from time to time, even as we walk through the valley of the
shadow of death. Our comfort is in the
fact that Jesus has already been there, and He leads the way, understanding why
we ask why. Every thinking man asks
why in the face of terrible tragedy. It
may be the why of anger, or the why of frustration, or even the why of mere
curiosity, but no mind can be totally devoid of the question why.
Why, is a cry for meaning, and God has so made us that we can
handle most anything when there is meaning.
The question why does not have its origin in man's sinful rebellious
nature. It has its origin in the
original image of God, in which man is made.
It is a good and a godly question, and can move us in the direction of
discovery of the meaning we need for victory.
Rob a man of his right to ask why, and you deny his manhood. You reduce him to a mere machine, which is
to have no concern about its function or destiny. Man refuses to be a mere machine. He wants to be treated on the level of a person, made in the
image of God, and worthy of some answer to life's mysteries. To be sure, questions can be a nuisance, as
most parents are aware. Even adults ask
many foolish questions. One elevator
operator got so tired of people asking him the time, he installed a clock in
his elevator. Now everyone asks him,
"Is that the correct time?"
The very first question Jesus was asked on this earth, of
which we have a record, was in Luke 2:48, where Mary, after three frantic days
of searching, finds Jesus in the temple. Her first words are this
question: "Son, why have you
treated me so?" Jesus responded to
that question with, "Did you not know that I must be in my Father's
house?" The next verse says they
did not understand the explanation.
What we see here is that it was perfectly legitimate for Mary to ask
why, but the asking is no guarantee you will get an answer that you understand. The answer was there, but it took time and
growth in her understanding before it became meaningful.
We should ask why, but we should also be patient, and
recognize that the answer may not be easy to comprehend. Therefore, there is a need for patience and
persistence in pursuing the answer until a foundation of meaning is
established. Job is famous for his
patience. He kept on asking why, and
never gave up until he got a response from the silent heavens. The answer he got to his particular whys was
that they were based on his ignorance of what was happening. God was not punishing him as a sinner. He was not chastising him as a disobedient
saint. Job asked why don't you forgive
me? The answer he got from God was,
"I can't forgive you if you have not offended me. There is nothing to forgive." So Job's questions were natural, but they
had no real answer, because they were based on a total misunderstanding of what
was going on.
So often our whys our whys of ignorance and
misunderstanding. We are like the
little boy being taken to surgery who cries out, "Why don't you stop
them?" to his father. The little
guy in tears, and full of fears, cannot understand why his dad does not deliver
him, for he does not know that what is happening is for his good, and dad is
allowing it because he loves him. Job's
whys were in this category. He did not
know that God was not down on him, but so proud of him, he knew he could
demonstrate to all the universe a loyalty that could not be crushed by
suffering. Job was being highly
honored, but he thought he was being hotly hated. We do not know how many of our whys fall into this category, but
doubtless there are many. It is the
great hope of the ages that one day the senseless will make sense.
Meanwhile, our whys will continue, and they will be like Job's
whys. Job wanted to know why things
were as they were, and why things that could be, were not. In other words, why is evil so evident, and
why is good so often hidden? These two
whys cover the vast majority, if not all, of the whys of men, and we want to
focus on each of them. First-
I. THE WHY OF PRESENCE.
verse 20.
Why am I the target of all the arrows of affliction? Job is being very personal. It is not the philosophical question of why
so much suffering in the world, but why me?
Orlo Strunk tells of rushing his wife to the hospital with a ruptured
appendix. Right across the hall was a
woman who kept crying out, "Oh, why me Lord? Why me?" These
groans kept up for hours, and made everybody nervous. Some patients closed their doors, and others complained. Here was a woman who had become so obsessed
with the question why, she became a neurotic who spread her gloom to everyone
else. Most do not get so obsessed, but
most who suffer deeply do ask the question, why me?
Even if we do not suffer personally, we still cannot escape
the reality of suffering all about us.
The news is full of stories that
make us ask why. Why should
Christians come home from church, and be killed at the hands of intruders? Why should such a lovely Christian girl
suffer rape? Why should a concert
pianist lose his hands in an accident? Why should a bus load of children
parish? Why should a missionary be
killed on his way to the mission field?
Not a day goes by without reason to ask why. Why are there so many things present in this world that are
miserable and evil?
During a scene in Eugene O'Neill's play, All God's Chillun Got
Wings, one character asks another, "Will God forgive me?" The response is, "Maybe God can forgive
you for what you have done to me, and maybe He can forgive me for what I have
done to you, but I don't see how God can forgive Himself." This was his way of asking, why does God
allow the presence of so much evil in the world? Why the starving children? Why the cruel murder of masses by bloodthirsty tyrants? Why the earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, and
multiplied forms of suffering? Many a
doctor has vowed to take the cancer cell before the throne of God, and ask
why? This is not the cry of the blasphemer
only, it is the cry of the believer. It
floods the heart and mind of the son, as well as the skeptic; the devout, as
well as the doubter; the redeemed, as well as the rebellious. Many who feel it is wrong to ask these whys
need to see how common they are in the Word of God.
1. For 7 years the Israelites were at the mercy of the
Midianites. They would come and destroy
their crops and treat them like slaves.
Gideon, a great man of God, said in Judges 6:13, "If the Lord is
with us, why then has all this befallen us?" God did not say to bypass
that skeptic, who dares to question my providence. Instead, he chose this man to be the one to
set Israel free. The man with enough
gumption to ask why is the man with enough motivation to do something about it.
2. In Ex. 5:22 Moses cries out, "O Lord, why hast thou done
evil to this people? Why didst thou
ever send me?" Did God move on
from this questioner to find somebody more docile? No, He chose Moses to lead his people out of their bondage. God did not chose a yes man, one who says
all is well, and I can accept everything that is. Instead, He chose a why man, one who could ask why is everything
so rotten, and why is there no relief? A why man is ready for action to change
what is wrong. A man who does not
wonder why, is not likely to be part of the answer.
We don't have the time to examine the many whys of the Bible,
but we do want to focus on the fact that Jesus was, in His humanity, also a why
man. I found 21 places in the New
Testament where Jesus asked the question why.
He asked, "Why do men reject the best? Why are men so
materialistic? Why do we worry so? Why are we so critical and fearful? Why do
we put God to the test? Why are we so
skeptical and doubtful? Why don't we
use our heads? Why don't we
believe? Why the injustice? Why am I forsaken?" For anyone to say it is not right to ask why
is to question the sinlessness of our Savior.
II. THE WHY OF ABSENCE.
Job is not only bothered by what is, but by what isn't. Why does God not pardon my offenses, and forgive my sin? Life could be better and we know it, so this provokes many whys.