(remember, these are unedited/draft show notes, not a transcript — listening is always better — and if you listen AND follow along below, you’ll see why)
Focus Question:
Can you trust God?
Intro:
Can you trust God? That question is both a root theme in the book of Job and still a problem in this time. Today we wrap up the book of Job and the book of Psalms, and we’ll close with a Bottom Line segment reflecting on this question.
NEW TESTAMENT SEGMENT:
As for our NT segment today, the narrative turns from where it’s been — teachings for a new community and responses to the Gospel — to Luke demonstrating the authority and identity of Jesus.
Passage: Luke 8:22-56
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 34
Words: ~727
Related to today’s focus question — Can you trust God? — do you recall how as God speaks in Job he says stuff like, “Who rules the winds and stars and when wombats give birth?” Interestingly, the examples Luke gives show Jesus to have power and authority over the physical realm, the spiritual realm, and even over disease and death. In other words, Jesus is God, so at the same time we’re asking if you can trust God, the question is simultaneously, “Can you trust Jesus?”
ORIGINAL TESTAMENT SEGMENT:
Turning back to Job, yesterday we got to the climax of the story — all the earthlings have had their say, and now God speaks. Kinda gets in Job’s face, and Job be like, “I am so insignificant. How can I answer you? I place my hand over my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not reply; twice, but now I can add nothing.” (Job 40:4-5, CSB)
Passage: Job 40:6-42:16
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 69
Words: ~1135
So what about faith in a sovereign God and can He be trusted?
Wisdom SEGMENT:
Before we get to that in our Bottom Line segment, we close out with the remaining two Psalms on our reading plan. Let’s pray as we praise in these…or is that praise as we pray through these?
Passage: Psalm 103, 150
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 22+6
Words: ~361+98
THE BOTTOM LINE:
The book of Job concerns itself with the question of faith in a sovereign God. Can God be trusted? Is he good and just in his rule of the world? Job will declare outright that God has wronged him (19:6–7). At the same time, Job is certain that his “enemy” is actually his advocate and will vindicate him.
The book sets out from the beginning to show that the reasons for human suffering often remain a secret to human beings. Indeed, Job’s sufferings come upon him because Satan accused him in the heavenly courts, and the reader never learns whether these reasons were explained to Job. Probably they were not. There is irony in the book of Job, due to the fact that God seems both too close and too far away. On the one hand, Job complains that God is watching him every moment so that he cannot even swallow his spit (7:19). On the other hand, Job finds God elusive, feeling that he cannot be found (9:11). Though God is intensely concerned about humans, he does not always answer their most agonizing questions.
At the same time, Job’s friends offer no real help. They come to “comfort” him (2:11), but Job ends up declaring them “miserable comforters” who would “comfort” him “with empty nothings” (21:34). These friends represent an oversimplified “orthodoxy,” based on a misreading of the wisdom tradition to the effect that all troubles are punishments for wrongdoing. Their “comfort” consists largely of applying this message to Job, urging him to identify his sin and repent of it. In so doing, these friends serve as a mirror for all readers who might be inclined to say similar things to people in distress.
Astonishingly, the Lord does not take Job to task over his words, instead calling them “right” (42:7). The book as a whole illustrates that a full understanding of God’s reasons for events is not a prerequisite for faithfulness amid terrible suffering. Further, Job’s deep perplexity and questioning are not a provocation to God.(1)
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
(1) Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 870.