Job and his hope...

It would be easy to start reading the book of Job, get about 5 chapters into it, get bored, and skip to the Psalms. Let’s face it, Job is a difficult book to read for many reasons. First, Job is forty-two chapters long. Second, almost all of Job is poetic conversations that are very lengthy to say the least. Third, and most importantly, Job deals with a controversial issue that everyone with a brain has pondered at some time in their life.

You have this guy, whose name is Job, who follows God closely. God even says Job is, “blameless and upright.” He has ten children, who he watches after closely, and an incredible amount of wealth. Then, all of a sudden, everything is gone. Some of his possessions are stolen, some destroyed, and worst of all his children die in a horrific “natural” disaster. Now this is obviously a sad state of affairs, but it gets worse. The controversy that makes it difficult to swallow is the fact that God allowed Satan to destroy all of Job’s possessions and his children…

In 21^st century America we tend to view God as a sweet, yet weak, being that will bless you in this life if you just work hard, college degree, and get a good job. Sounds a lot like Karma doesn’t it? Unfortunately, as the Tea Party and the Occupy movement have so clearly communicated, that is just not the case. Something seems wrong with the world when you work hard, get an education, and follow your dreams only to find out that the world does not bow down to you just because you have a piece of paper that says G.P.A 3.5 written in bold letters.

So why does God allow such horrible things to happen? I mean look around at the world and you will see poverty, war, babies being systematically murdered legally, and many other forms of suffering. So if God is all-powerful, all-good, and all-knowing why would he allow these horrible tragedies to happen? One answer I have heard recently is that he is too weak to change it. If that is what you think, then think about this, “If God was able to create the entire universe, why do you think is incapable of handling his creation?” It seems to me that managing conflict would be much easier than creating everything out of nothing.

Another answer that is possible is this: “God is in the process of doing something, the details of which we may not completely understand.” Many people reject this view outright because it assumes that human beings may not have it all figured out. This view also takes the steering wheel of eternity out of the hands of scientists, politicians, and every other power hungry group looking to set the pace for progress.

Throughout Job’s conversations with his friends he consistently hopes for something beyond this life that God will do to make things right. Here is an example of one of Job's cries for help…(Job 16:19-22)

¹⁹Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high. ²⁰My friends scorn me; My eye pours out tears to God, ²¹that he would argue the case of a man with God. as a son of man does with his neighbor. ²²For when a few years have come I shall go the way from which I shall not return.

Job had an idea that something greater must be happening in heaven, that God would not forget him.

Now when you experience crisis of some kind, may you know that there is a reason to hope. There is a reason to press through the pain and suffering. His name is Jesus and he came to rescue his people from their sins (1 Corinthians 15:1-11). Please, consider the implications...

Risk

1 Samuel 14:6-11

Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.” And his armor-bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you heart and soul.” Then Jonathan said, “Behold, we will cross over to the men, and we will show ourselves to them. If they say to us, “Wait until we come to you,” then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up to them. But if they say, “Come up to us,” then we will go up, for the Lord has given them into our hand.

This is such a strange story. Jonathan’s father, Saul, was chilling at the pomegranate cave while he should have been fighting and Jonathan got the wild idea to go fight Israel’s enemies with just his armor-bearer. At this point, Jonathan seems either very brave or incredibly stupid…or both. Either way, his statement to his armor-bearer shows his bravery. He says, “It may be that the Lord will work for us…”

He does not even know for sure if the Lord will deliver him in this situation! He thinks that he and his armor-bearer may very well die and he presses forward anyway! Here is what I think is happening: Jonathan, knowing his father is not doing what the Lord had commanded him, is following through with the plans the Lord has given his people. Jonathan simply desires to be obedient to what the Lord commanded, whether it ends in his death or victory. Wow!

We see this same type of obedience from Jonathan later in the same chapter…

1 Samuel 14:24, 27, 43 ²⁴And the men of Israel had been hard pressed that day, so Saul had laid an oath on the people, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies.” So none of the people had tasted food…²⁷But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath, so he put out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes became bright…⁴³Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” And Jonathan told him, “I tasted a little honey with the tip of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am; I will die.”

Needless to say, the people of Israel rose up and protected Jonathan from Saul because they knew that Jonathan had saved them from their enemies.

So what can we take away from this? I think this story, among other things, gives us an example of the benefits of faithfulness. You may notice throughout this story that the people Jonathan associates with are fiercely loyal to him. Jonathan’s armor-bearer is willing to go on a suicide mission with him. Also, the people of Israel put their lives at stake in order to save Jonathan from the King! Jonathan’s faithfulness to the Lord showed his people that he did not just care for himself, but for all of them!

An even greater example that Jonathan is showing here is that of one man laying his life down for the entire nation. Where have you seen that before? Can you say, J-E-S-U-S? The greatest example of self-sacrificial faithfulness is Jesus Christ willingly dying on the cross for our sins so that we might be reconciled to God. The Old Testament is full of pictures of the gospel, including this one.