Reflections on Job part 2 - "Life Restored" (Job 42)

1. Revision

We saw last week that Job was in a sorry state. He had been traumatised by the loss of his ten children, all his livestock and most of his servants. Now he was covered head to foot with awful sores. Such was all the pain derived from this, that Job wished that he had never been born.

We see here the effects of a fallen and uncertain world. We also see here fragile faith facing a test. We can see that sometimes God allows us to endure a significant struggle in the hope that we will come through with a stronger and more effective faith. The question being considered is whether we are really God’s person, or is this just a bit of an act!?!

We know as well that God will enter our suffering ... seeking to console, comfort and guide. Yet there still remains a vulnerable and mortal human being here ... that needs to be supported and helped by fellow human beings. The fact that there might be a (veiled) purpose behind certain suffering ... does not lessen its dramatic personal impact.

We have seen such sudden and tragic happenings in Queensland this week. People will be asking questions, in some cases blaming God for their situation, and we hear their pain. Others will be praising God that they escaped worst-case-scenarios. Some will feel alone, others will appreciate the practical and compassionate help of their neighbours. The nation faces a test of their resolve. If we can absorb the necessity to creatively co-exist through life’s challenges, then we will be all the better.

Job cried out long and loud. Other personality types may have just bottled it all up. In the Christian community, it will necessarily be sisters and brothers in the faith that should be ready to help. There are ways too that the Jesus following person, although hurting and depressed, can and should help themselves.

In Job’s case, three friends made themselves available, but when Job screamed out his questioning doubts and fears publicly, these friends couldn’t help but seek to correct Job and tout their own theological agendas. This just tipped Job further into depression. Later a fourth counsellor Elihu could only criticise Job for doubting God, and suggested to Job that God was way too important to ever answer Job personally. Wrong!!

God may not feel the need to explain everything to Job, but certainly God would answer Job’s prayers for help. We know that Job was an innocent sufferer, because God had previously declared him to be “blameless and upright”. So it wasn’t a secret unconfessed sin that had caused Job’s suffering, rather just the vagaries of life. And contrary to Elihu, God will speak to Job!

The suffering people in Queensland did nothing to deserve what happened to them; but it happened anyway. They will simply need to be supported, cared for and helped. Perhaps Job’s friends would have been looking to allocate blame here too, but we know better. [Perhaps they would have tried to silence the mourning as well.] But, we know that God will draw beside the grieving, and God will empower those who are courageously seeking to help, and God will be available to help with the rebuilding of people’s lives.

2. How should we respond?

(a) To our own (undeserved) suffering?
THE DO NOTS:
· Withdrawal, isolation, cutting people off;
· Self-criticism (being ridiculously hard on oneself, believing everything is your fault);
· Negative self-talk (which becomes entrenched in one’s thinking).
THE DOS:
· Willingness to be open & honest;
· Accept offers of friendship & support;
· Seek actively whatever help is needed (God’s & other);
· Courageously act on good advice (you might need to think about something differently);
· Worship God, pray, and express what you can be thankful for;
· Continue to look for ways to serve others;
· Celebrate progress.

(b) To the suffering of others?
THE DO NOTS:
· Judgements, criticisms, corrections;
· (Philosophical) arguments; (theological) clichés;
· Exclusion (walking away or leaving them out).
THE DOS:
· Companionship (being there), listening (intently);
· Loyalty which goes beyond the good times;
· Genuine compassion (that originates in the heart of God);
· Words of genuine encouragement and reassurance (that the other person can and will get through this if they open themselves to the right help – God’s & other);
· Yet if there is nothing insightful to say remain silent while remaining present & available (weep with those who weep, rejoice with those who rejoice – Romans 12:15);
· Practical care (just picking up the slack a bit – but not producing dependence);
· Building opportunities for mutual sharing and serving – not just a one way situation.

3. God’s resolution (Job 38-42)

(a) Life as a Rollercoaster

You can view scene 15 of Ron Howard's film "Parenthood" (1989). Life is often like a rollercoaster, fast ups and downs and spiralling curves; and you have to yell and scream a bit, and certainly close your eyes from time to time; and sometimes your stomach becomes a bit churned up. And once you get on a rollercoaster, you have to wait for a time before you can get off ... they won’t stop it just because you’re finding it a bit difficult. But isn’t this better than a merry-go-round, where you just go endlessly round and round at a slow an unadventurous pace; and your senses have not been tested at all, you just go through the motions, there’s been no real impact, and you leave it totally unchanged! Living life on a rollercoaster will certainly show us how much we need God, and in so knowing ... we will find our proper focus.

(b) God speaks from “the whirlwind”

At the beginning of chapter 38, God responded to Job “out of the whirlwind”. This is a picture of God dramatically entering the vigorous debate over Job’s suffering (with something definitely to say). One wonders though if this could also relate to God entering right into the midst of Job’s chaotic emotional state[1] ... his rollercoaster ride.

Whereas Job had questioned God’s wisdom and governance – ‘how could God let all this chaos happen’ – ‘how could God allow someone to suffer this much’, God seeks to establish that the Divine integrity is intact – it’s just that Job’s view of God has been deficient. For, this is the Creator of all the universe, and what a universe it is ... who else could have created like this (certainly not Job or any other human)! This is the God who keeps the earth spinning on its axis despite all the evil done in the world over the centuries (who else’s wisdom could handle this task)! It is only the Creator of such a complex world who will ever be able to understand all its complexity and ambiguity. It is only God who can fully know how the subtle balancing acts of earthly events work out, and how God restrains evil and provides care.

Never though, is Job’s innocence ever brought into question by God; only the depth of his understanding of God (his theology). So, the point is: we have to allow God to form in us a belief system, and a faith, that will stand the test of time.

We are human, and as such we are permitted to express emotion, doubt and fear. We need such a release valve or we will implode. That’s the way we have been created, so that’s okay. Yet as believing people, when we have gotten such feelings off our chest, it’s time to deal with reality ... that is, to help ourselves and help others. God took Job through a process of realising this[2], which all culminated at chapter 42 and verses 5 & 6.

At the beginning of chapter 42, Job reasserts God’s greatness (as he had done previously when first tested with severe loss, but before things became really grim for him). Job also acknowledges, however for the first time in this case, that there are things that he will never understand, AND that this should not, and now will not, disrupt his worship of God.

But there is more! Look at verse 5!! This is vital!!! Job had known about God from what he had heard from others, but his knowledge of God had been found to be deficient under pressure, and his faith was maybe not as strong as it needed to be. Now Job had “seen” God for all that God was worth! Now Job would likely form a close personal relationship with God.

The Hebrew of verse 6 is very difficult to translate, and could easily be misinterpreted. But the context of the whole book gives us the clue. The basic meaning of “repent” is to change one’s mind; so the meaning here is likely to be that Job has now made the decision to get on with life (and seeking God) despite continuing in the “dust and ashes” of his mourning. Job could go on forever bemoaning his situation and questioning God, but where would that get him! So, Job’s life and future is now given over in wholistic trust, no matter what the circumstances of life brings. The human condition is horribly fallible (and in this sense “despised”), but life in God is absolutely extraordinary.

And so, the New Living Translation (NLT) might be preferred here, where Job says:
I had only heard about you before,
but now I have seen you with my own eyes [that’s the onset of personal faith].
I take back everything I said [I reject my criticism of God, and now believe firmly in God’s integrity],
and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance [rather than being stuck where I am, I have decided to move forward].

God then pays out on Job’s so-called ‘friends’ for their unthinking and destructive words to Job. And despite all of Job’s somewhat critical words addressed to God, Job is commended for the way he has endured and persevered. This is because Job never rejected God, never ‘threw out the baby with the bath water’; Job hung in, and his mournful words actually formed part of his continuing search for truth. The sometimes blunt and forthright comments of Job about God (from the depths of his agony) have been deemed closer to the truth than the inappropriate and uncaring words of the three ‘friends’.

The three ‘friends’ had to seek Job’s forgiveness if they were to be pardoned by God for what they did. And, yes, Job forgave them (which, of course indicates a whole lot about Job).

With this new attitude, which was proved in his forgiving attitude [dealing well with any abiding bitterness], Job’s life took a major turn for the better (42:10). We don’t know how quickly (or slowly) those “loathsome sores” cleared up ... we’re not told ... for that wasn’t what was important anymore; for Job there was a new relational focus on God. The description in the closing of this book indicates that Job’s life was even better after his struggle than it had been before. Job was at peace with the world!

And at the end (42:11), there is the irony of these relatives (the first mention of them), never to be seen when Job was in trouble, surfacing out of thin air (with their guilt laden gifts). But I imagine Job forgave them too! Job has learnt a great deal, but the mysteries of the cosmos remain mysteries!

4. What do we learn?

The book of Job shows us that even a person as stable and faithful as Job was, can struggle with doubt and depression when the circumstances surrounding life go terribly wrong. At different times we can all struggle to maintain our faith when things happen to ourselves or others that seem contrary to fairness, e.g. prolonged illness, accidental injury, personal attack, family tragedy, and community disaster. It is not a sin to struggle with faith; rather this very struggle is an opportunity (however much it is unwanted or undeserved) to grow and mature.

Job also shows us that we are free to express our real heart-felt emotions and our deepest gloom to God. If God allows us to be tested, then we know for sure that God will be alongside us, present in our struggle, ready and willing to enter into our suffering. God will help us resolve our issues (in good time); and being with us all the way, God will seek to draw us through a better person. Through this process we may be able to find that glimmer of light indicating better times ahead. Job helps all faithful sufferers draw courage and retain faith.

The book of Job also reminds us about the quality of care that we should be providing to those who find themselves suffering through those aspects of life that turn adverse to them. We are given the negative example of certain so-called ‘friends’, who did not listen carefully enough to the cries of Job (to understand where he was really at), nor were attentive to the promptings of God (towards the sort of compassionate and honourable response that was needed). We can do better!

The suffering which threatens to destroy us [or so we think] can, if taken on board, be the means by which we discover a larger self with resources of strength, and insight and courage and heroism and love and compassion of which so far we have been totally unaware.[3]

[1] we remember that Job’s children were lost when a dramatic wind event caved in the house (1:18-9)
[2] there had been some previous progress at 40:3-5
[3] “Learning to Care” by Michael H. Taylor, page 64