Dec 10, 2013
Sunday December 8th
To start off chapter 2 of Job, here’s a little picture of what it
looks like to go from bad to worse:
So, to remind you of what Job has suffered so far… in chapter one
he lost all of his herds, all of his servants, and all 10 of his
children, on the same day!
Amazingly, Job kept his faith and he actually blessed God rather
than cursing Him. But now things are going to go from bad to worse
(starting with verse 1):
Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present
themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to
present himself before the Lord. 2 The Lord said
to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered
the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and
walking around on it.”
This is the same scenario that we saw in chapter one, but notice
the difference in what God says next:
3 The Lord said
to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one
like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God
and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his
integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin
him without
cause.”
The beginning of verse one says “Again there was a day” and we can
imagine that it wasn’t very long after these first tragedies that
Satan wanted to take another shot at Job. It must’ve really irked
Satan that ALL of that misery STILL didn’t shake Job’s faith. In
fact God seems to be rubbing it in when He reminds the devil that
Job “still holds fast his integrity”.
Also, take note of the fact that God clearly says that Job’s
ruinous misfortune was “without
cause”.
This is important because it will become the entire basis of the
argument between Job and his three friends in the coming
chapters.
So, starting in verse 4, Satan lays out his next line of attack:
Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all
that a man has he will give for his
life. 5 However,
put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he
will curse You to Your face.” 6 So
the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in
your power, only spare his life.”
Rather than acknowledging Job’s faithfulness, Satan simply shrugs
it off and says, “That’s because you didn’t let me hit him
directly.” But now he will:
7 Then
Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and smote
Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of
his head. 8 And
he took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the
ashes.
Satan isn’t allowed to kill Job, so he attacks him with the worst
possible affliction he can think of… BOILS, from the bottoms of
Job’s feet to the top of his head!
And in case you don’t think of that as a truly horrible affliction,
remember this; that BOILS were one of the PLAGUES that God sent
upon Egypt to cause Pharaoh to set the Israelites free from
slavery!
Exodus 9:8-11
“Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take for
yourselves handfuls of soot from a kiln, and let Moses throw it
toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh. 9 It
will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and will
become boils breaking out with sores on man and beast through
all the land of Egypt.” 10 So
they took soot from a kiln, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses
threw it toward the sky, and it became boils breaking out with
sores on man and beast. 11 The magicians
could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils
were on the magicians as well as on all the
Egyptians.”
Poor Job is already sitting on a pile of ashes, mourning the deaths
of his children. Now he picks up a piece of broken pottery and
starts to scrape his skin with it, to let the boils drain out. But
to ADD to his misery, his wife gives him this piece of encouraging
advice:
9 Then
his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse
God and die!”
In defense of Job’s wife, it’s quite possible that she just wanted
to see the poor guy put out of his misery. She most likely believed
that if Job cursed God, then God would strike Job dead, which
considering the circumstances might be the most merciful ending to
the story in her mind.
But EVEN with his body covered in boils from head to toe, Job isn’t
looking for the easy way out, AND he isn’t blaming God for his
misfortune.
10 But
he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women
speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept
adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his
lips.
James
5:11 says:
“We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the
endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s
dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion
and is merciful.”
That’s very true, but of course JOB at this point has no idea that
everything is going to turn out okay and he has no idea WHY all of
this is happening to him, but he still doesn’t sin against God with
his words or in his heart.
When WE are in situations where afflictions surround us and we
don’t understand what’s happening, we can at least try to be aware,
as Job was, that God is somehow in control and that He is worthy of
our praise in the good times AND the bad times!
And rather than blame God when things aren’t going well, we should
try to determine if our troubles are coming from one of these
sources:
1st, they could be due to satanic activities. Job’s problems were a
result of direct satanic attacks. The woman in Luke Chapter 13 that
Jesus healed; Jesus confirmed the fact that she was under demonic
attack when he says this in verse 16:
“And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is,
whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not
have been released from this bond on the Sabbath
day?”
2nd, our troubles could be caused by ungodly men:
In 2 Timothy 4:14 Paul says, “Alexander the coppersmith did me much
evil”.
In 2 Timothy 4:10 Paul says; "For Demas hath forsaken me, having
loved this present world."
Our suffering might be caused by ungodly people like Alexander or
Demas.
3rd, much suffering comes as a result of the evil world system that
surrounds us:
2 Peter 2:8 says about Lot living in Sodom, "For that righteous man
dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous
soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds." The world system
harasses the souls and spirits of believers
everyday.
4th, suffering could come from our own fallen nature: In Romans
7:14-15 Paul says, "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am
carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not: for what
I would that do I not; but what I hate, that do
I”.
Our own fallen nature gives us plenty of problems.
Job isn’t sure WHAT is causing his problems, so he just sits and
scrapes his boils; until his three friends arrive:
11 Now
when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come
upon him, they came each one from his own place, Eliphaz
the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the
Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come
to sympathize with him and comfort
him. 12 When
they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not recognize him,
they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his
robe and they threw dust over their heads toward the
sky. 13 Then
they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven
nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw
that his pain
was very great.
Consider how terrible Job must’ve looked if his three friends
didn’t even recognize him when they first saw him. After they
realize what he’s been through they just sit with him on the ground
for seven days and seven nights. No one says a
word.
According to ancient tradition this behavior was the most intense
form of grief they could display. We see this same practice of
mourning seven days over the dead in Genesis
50:7-10
“So Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the
servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household and all the elders
of the land of Egypt, 8 and
all the household of Joseph and his brothers and his father’s
household; they left only their little ones and their flocks and
their herds in the land of Goshen. 9 There
also went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very
great company. 10 When
they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the
Jordan, they lamented there with a very great
and sorrowful lamentation; and he observed seven days
mourning for his father.
Often times when people we know have experienced tremendous grief
or loss, we don’t know what to say to them. No choice of words
seems sufficient. Sometimes it’s just best to be there for them in
silence like Job’s friends were.
We often forget the value of silence because we live in such a
noisy world, with TVs, computers, and cell phone yakking at us all
the time. But the bible has a lot of good things to say about
keeping quiet, including these words of wisdom from Proverbs
17:28
“Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise;
When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.”
One reason that these three friends remained silent was simply
that proper
Old Testament grieving protocol was that the person who experienced
the loss should be the first one to speak.
And starting in chapter 3, which we’ll look at next week, Job
finally speaks, then his friends all speak, and you might conclude
after hearing their arguments that they would’ve been better off if
they had stayed silent!