A Doorway to Reading Job
[Due to technical issues beyond our control, there is no recording of this week’s service.]
I. Job: A short SUMMARY of a long STORY .
A. A SETTING beyond our COMPREHENSION. (Job 1:1-2:7)
B. Job is FAITHFUL despite losing EVERYTHING. (Job 2:7-10)
C. The NOISE of others and the SILENCE of God. (Job 2:11-37:24; 19:2-6)
D. Job repeatedly REQUESTS an ANSWER. (7:13-21; 10:1-3: 13:3; 13:20-24)
E. God RESPONDS but doesn’t ANSWER. (Job 38-42)
Job is quite the book. There is an opening that challenges all of our assumptions, a long and poetic middle section that we can often get lost in, and an ending that doesn’t answer the questions we want it to. But it is a book of wisdom, and one worth spending sometime with.
1. Kid’s Question: If you could ask God any one question, what would you ask?
2. When have you encountered suffering, in your life or in the lives of others, that made you ask the hard questions about God? What was that like for you? What did/have you learned?
II. WRESTLING with some FOUNDATIONAL ideas.
A. The TRILOGY of WISDOM. (Prov., Ecc. Job)
B. The “TRILEMMA” that Job ADDRESSES. (Job 4:7-9; 8:2-6; 27:2-6)
1. BEWARE your SIMPLE answers. (Job 16:2-4)
2. God is BIGGER than our MINDS. (Job 42:1-6)
3. WISDOM rests in relational TRUST. (Job 19:25-27)
In order to take a big picture look at the book of Job it is important to build on a foundation of ideas that we see throughout Scripture. It helps us to confront the challenges faced by Job and his friends as they wrestled with God’s role in the suffering of Job.
3. Is the role that the books of wisdom play individually something new to you? How does that help you understand the differences between Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job?
4. When have you offered “simple answers”? When have others offered them to you? What was that like?
5. What does God being bigger than our minds look like on a day to day basis? Does this mean that we don’t think and wrestle through difficult issues? If not, what does it mean?
III. Job and our JOURNEY of FAITH. (Ps. 13 and 73)
A. STARTING with SIMPLICITY. (Mt. 18:3; Ps. 73:1)
B. CONFRONTED by COMPLEXITY . (Ps. 73:2-16; Mt. 5:44-45)
C. PARALYZED by PERPLEXITY. (Ps. 13:1-4; Mt. 26:56; Lk. 24:17,21)
D. TRUSTING with HUMILITY. (Ps. 13:5-6)
While we may not suffer like Job, there is a cycle in this story that we often rotate through in our own journey of faith. It’s important to realize that this cycle is normal and has been throughout the history of the church with all who follow Jesus. We also need to realize where this cycle leads.
6. Have you seen the cycle of simplicity, complexity, perplexity, and humility play out in your own life? When? How did you respond as you went through that?
7. How do Psalm 13 and 73 represent your own experience in life?
8. What might the story of Job be saying to you today? What is one area in your life where God may be calling you to trust with humility right now?