God Responds
I. A Quick RECAP
A. God ALLOWS Satan to HARM Job (Job 1:9-12, 2:4-6; Luke 22:31-34)
B. Job QUESTIONS God’s JUSTICE (Job 9:22-23, 27:2)
C. Job’s Friends QUESTION his INNOCENCE (Job 4:7-9, 22:4-11)
II. God SHOWS UP
A. EXPOSES Job’s Deeper FALSE ASSUMPTION (Job 38 (esp. v. 21))
B. REVEALS the COMPLEXITY of Creation (Job 39, 40:8-14)
C. INVITES Job to Trust His WISDOM (Job 40:15-41:34)
III. God SETTLES the ARGUMENT
A. The Friends were Wrong (Job 42:7-8)
B. Job was Right (Job 42:7-9)
C. The Sufferer Blesses Others (Job 42:10-17, 7-8)
IV. Job’s RESPONSE, Our RESPONSE
A. UNDERSTAND His/Our PLACE in CREATION (Job 42:1-6)
B. EMBRACE His/Our ROLE (Job 42:9-10; Luke 22:31-34)
C. TRUST God’s WILD and FREE Creation (Job 42:6, 14-17)
Questions for Further Reflection…
- If you read through Job this past week, did you see anything you hadn’t noticed before?
- What assumptions have you made about God or the universe? What has led you to make those assumptions?
- What parts of God’s creation don’t make sense to you?
- We naturally gravitate towards ideas like the Retribution principle (good things happen to good people, etc.). Why do we struggle with concepts like God’s Wisdom?
- As you read through Job this past week (or listened to the sermon) how many of the friends’ statements were things that you could hear yourself saying?
- How do you feel reading God’s rebuke of the friends and His defence of Job?
- How does the ending of Job make you feel?
- What is your role in God’s wild and free creation? Where and how can you be a part of His unfolding wisdom?