2660 Belt Line Road Garland, TX 75044 972.494.5683 www.springcreekchurch.org
HOW TO BE A FRIEND IN A CRISIS Where is God in all of this? – Part 3 Pastor Keith Stewart May 31, 2020
“I couldn't explain why Becki had to lose her leg, but I knew the answers being given weren't right.” - Pastor Jim Conway
“…when you start reaching for puny answers like that, it dehumanizes those who suffer and insults God.” - Pastor Jim Conway
1. INTRODUCING JOB
❑ A truly unique book
❑ A quick synopsis
In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. Job 1.1
2660 Belt Line Road Garland, TX 75044 972.494.5683 www.springcreekchurch.org
• He was a righteous man (v.1)
• He was a rich man (vv.2-3)
• He was a religious man (vv.4-5)
While he was still speaking… Job 1.16,17,18
❑ A man full of faith and questions
Be merciful to those who doubt. Jude 22
“If faith never encounters doubt, if truth never struggles with error, if good never battles with evil, how can faith know its own power? …In my own pilgrimage, if I have to choose between a faith that has stared doubt in the eye and made it blink, or a naïve faith that has never known the firing line of faith, I will choose the former every time.” – Gary Parker
Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. Job 1.20 (NLT)
His friends talk ABOUT God but only Job talks TO God.
2660 Belt Line Road Garland, TX 75044 972.494.5683 www.springcreekchurch.org
2. HOW NOT TO BE A FRIEND IN A CRISIS
When Job's three friends…heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. Job 2.11
❑ Eliphaz – “God Told Me to Tell You…”
This truth was given to me in secret, as though whispered in my ear. It came to me in a disturbing vision at night, when people are in a deep sleep. Job 4.12-13 (NLT)
When your heart is so hard and your understanding so darkened that you are not listening to God.
To confirm leadership and direction He has already given you.
Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid. Job 6.21
2660 Belt Line Road Garland, TX 75044 972.494.5683 www.springcreekchurch.org
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. 1 Corinthians 10.13
“So if only I were a weaker person, Robbie would still be alive?”
- Harriet Schiff, a bereaved parent
❑ Bildad – “Mr. Holier-Than-Thou”
Bildad's name means “son of contention.”
How long will you go on like this? You sound like a blustering wind. Job 8.2 (NLT)
Your children must have sinned against him, so their punishment was well deserved. Job 8.4 (NLT)
2660 Belt Line Road Garland, TX 75044 972.494.5683 www.springcreekchurch.org
The Parable of the Papyrus
The Parable of the Spider’s Web
The Parable of the Gourd
❑ Zophar – “I’m going to shame you into submission.”
An empty-headed person won’t become wise any more than a wild donkey can bear a human child. Job 11.12 (NLT)
You people really know everything, don’t you? And when you die, wisdom will die with you! Well, I know a few things myself - and you’re no better than I am. Job 12.2-3
❑ Elihu – “I’ve got nothing to say but that’s not gonna stop me from saying it!”
2660 Belt Line Road Garland, TX 75044 972.494.5683 www.springcreekchurch.org
God does all these things to a man - twice, even three times - to turn back his soul from the pit, that the light of life may shine on him. Job 33.29
I've observed it… Job 4.8
We have examined it and it is true. Job 5.27
…they [had] not spoken of me what was right, as my servant Job [has]. Job 42.7
❑ Why does this book spend so much time on wrong answers?
Why would God allow so many chapters of this book to be filled with so much bad theology and misinformation?
3. HOW THE STORY ENDS
2660 Belt Line Road Garland, TX 75044 972.494.5683 www.springcreekchurch.org
❑ Job is vindicated
• God says Job spoke the truth about Him.
You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. Job 42.7; 42.8
• God asks Job to pray for his friends.
My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. Job 42.8b
The ones who thought they spoke FOR God had to have someone speak TO God on their behalf.
❑ Job is restored
The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And
2660 Belt Line Road Garland, TX 75044 972.494.5683 www.springcreekchurch.org he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren- Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died, an old man and full of years. Job 42.12-17
In the Old Testament there are 1,426 names of individuals mentioned of which 111 are women (that’s less than 8%).
❑ Job is compensated
At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Job 14.7
Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend. Job 16.19-21
I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. Job 19.25
2660 Belt Line Road Garland, TX 75044 972.494.5683 www.springcreekchurch.org
Your pain can be a prison or a prism.