Delta Church - SPI

Job 38:1-40:5

Job’s three friends have come and gone. Elihu, a fourth friend, has even entered into the conversation and moved closer to the truth. Yet in the end, the wisdom of man has left Job with no answers. And then the one thing Job has desired and simultaneously dreaded finally takes place—he gets his chance to talk with God. But what becomes immediately evident is that the conversation is not going to unfold how he dreamed it would—but as we will see, this is for God’s glory and Job’s good. Main Idea—God has the whole world in His hands, including the continuing presence of evil.

Job 29-31

After hearing God speak Job plunges back upon the ash heap of his suffering. He has one last appeal to make to God, his heavenly Friend. Job’s approach is to remember the past before his suffering, lament his present loss, and express his longing for a secure future with God. This past of ‘that was then/this is now/what will be?’ is a pattern that common to sufferers. In this way Job gives us an approach on how to look to God even when it seems that best days are in the past and the loss and pain of suffering will never go away. In these moments in our suffering how can we know our future is secure and that we are right with God? It’s at this point, NT believers will be able to see that the answer to ‘what will be?’ is found in Jesus. Main Idea—When past blessings become present loss, remember that your future is secure in Jesus.

Job 28:1-28

Ever since Chapter 4, we have been bombarded with the wisdom of man seeking to make sense of Job’s suffering all to no avail. The three cycles of argument have been born from Job’s howls from the ash heap of his unexplainable suffering in Chapter 3 where Job screamed out the agonized question of every sufferer—the question of “Why?” What 24 chapters of conversation have revealed is that Job still has no answer to the ‘why’ of his suffering. And furthermore, what these chapters have also revealed is that God has not answered Job’s question of “Why?”

All of this produces the question—“Why will God not answer my question?” Chapter 28 shepherds us to see—What if the security we desire on the ash heap of suffering isn’t found in the wisdom of an answer for why we suffer. Instead what if the security we want is found in the wisdom of getting more of God himself through our suffering. Main Idea—While the wisdom we seek for why we suffer isn’t wrong; ultimately the wisdom we are to seek is Christ himself.

Titus 3:8-15

Titus 3:1-7

Titus 2:11-15

Job 19:1-29

Job 14:1-22

Job’s desire to speak to God back in Chapter 9 comes to pass in this text. Job begins to speak to God in Chapter 13 but his conversation surprises us. Instead of Job presenting his court case before God with evidence of how his suffering is unjust, he instead begins to talk about the problem of sin and death. But if you think about it, it’s really not all that surprising that this is where Job takes his conversation with God. Death is very much on Job’s mind. Chapter 2 has made it clear that he is very sick (2:7). And it just makes sense that as Job feels himself slipping toward the grave under what feels like God’s unexplainable punishment, he would ask the question—“What would happen to me if I were to die on this ash heap?” Job’s suffering is forcing serious reflection on the nature of death and what lies beyond the grave. And Chapter 14 records how Job fights to see more than just death in his suffering. Main Idea—When suffering forces me to face my mortality, I can rejoice in the hope of resurrection life.

Job 9:1-35

Imagine what it would be like to be judged unfairly. Chances are good that in some way, big or small, this has happened to you. And if so, then you can appreciate how Job feels in this chapter. 1. As the cycles of conversation continue to unfold between Job and his friends, it becomes evident that Job feels wrongly condemned by God.Therefore, he wants a day in court with God so he can prove his innocence. But there’s a problem, this is God the Almighty Job is talking about! And Job has a double fear: who on earth can challenge the Almighty and he’s fearful that if he got his day in court then this just might prove God to be unjust as he’s beginning to worry. These thoughts lead Job to long for a solution to his problem—the need for mediator who can stand in the gap between him and God and make all things right.

Job 4-27

Between the initial shock of Job’s suffering and his dark lament, Job’s friends show up. They begin so well but as they open their mouths to speak they prove to be “miserable comforters” who “torment” Job as they heap up “empty nothings.” Unfortunately, when we look into the mirror of Job’s friends we can see our reflection in them. So how can you and I not become “miserable comforters” like Job’s friends? We discover answers to this question in Chapters 4-27. We will learn to speak in healing ways to those who are suffering when you and I look at Job’s friends, observe what they did, and then learn to do the opposite!