he Book of Job:

The Question of the Ages—Why?

When Tragedy Strikes, How Should We Respond?

Job 1:20-22 (NIV) – [20] At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship [21] and said: “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” [22] In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

1. Job grieves.

a. Job tears his robe and shaves his head.

b. This is the customary sign of intense mourning and grief for people of that day.

Genesis 37:29, 34 (NIV) – [29] When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes… [34] Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days.

Micah 1:16 (NIV) – [16] Shave your heads in mourning for the children in whom you delight; make yourselves as bald as the vulture, for they will go from you into exile.

c. The process of grief is God’s gift of healing through tragedy.

Ecclesiastes 7:3 (NIV) – [3] Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart.

Ecclesiastes 7:3 (NLT) – [3] Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us.

Ecclesiastes 7:3 (MSG) – [3] Crying is better than laughing. It blotches the face, but it scours the heart.

d. We grieve without losing hope.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 (NIV) – [13] Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.

Lamentations 3:19-23 (NIV) – [19] I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. [20] I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. [21] Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: [22] Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. [23] They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

e. We are comforted to comfort others.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV) – [3] Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, [4] who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

2. Job worships.

a. Job falls down and worships God.

b. Worship (shachah) means to bow down, to prostrate oneself, to crouch, to fall down, to humbly beseech, to do reverence, to worship. (Complete Word Study Dictionary)

c. Worship may seem like the most unnatural, insincere and unrealistic response to tragedy, but it is the best response.

d. Job could worship God after these tragedies because worshipping God was Job’s custom.

e. Worship during crisis is the greatest expression of faith.

John 4:21-24 (NIV) – [21] Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. [22] You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. [23] For a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. [24] God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

f. Worship isn’t about a place of worship; it is all about an attitude of worship.