Category: Sermon

Difficult one

Following Job’s lamentations and questionings about his circumstances, one might expect that God would finally provide a detailed justification or explanation for Job’s suffering and losses.

Instead, to our surprise, God responds by launching into an extensive series of rhetorical questions.

It’s like receiving punishment from your father for what seems like no reason, and when you ask him why, instead of explaining, he responds by discussing his authority, position, and everything he has provided for the family.

This approach may seem puzzling at first, but there’s a deeper purpose behind it

…

1. To highlight the vast gap between divine and human knowledge

In the earlier chapters, Job questions God’s justice and makes repeated demands for an explanation of his suffering. Throughout the book, Job has expressed his belief that his afflictions are unjust, saying things like:

• “Show me where I have erred” (6:24)

• “Why have you made me your target?” (7:20)

• “I am innocent, yet God denies me justice” (throughout chapters 9-10)

• “I desire to argue my case with God” (13:3)

In chapter 31, Job presents a comprehensive defense of his righteousness, challenging God to answer him and explain why such suffering has befallen someone who has lived virtuously.

God’s response in chapters 38-39 doesn’t directly address Job’s specific complaints, but instead reframes the entire conversation by highlighting the vast difference between human and divine knowledge, wisdom, and power.

God opens His response to Job with a powerful declaration: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me” (38:2-3).

Kon hai tu?

—the contrast between limited human knowledge and God’s infinite wisdom. God’s questions to Job reveal this knowledge gap in several ways:

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (38:4). Job wasn’t present at creation and lacks the perspective to understand God’s purposes from beginning to end.

God asks about controlling lightning, storing snow, and directing rain – all natural processes beyond human control or complete understanding.

God isn’t trying to make Job feel small or stupid. Instead, He’s helping Job see things differently.

While our human understanding is valuable, it has clear limits because we’re confined to time and space, unlike God, who exists beyond these limitations.

It’s like we’re placed in a square room with just one window. What we see is limited. We might observe a dog chasing a boy and draw many conclusions about what’s happening, but we can never know the complete truth until we step outside that room and see beyond that single window’s perspective.

Gospel

The same vast gap between divine and human wisdom that we see in God’s response to Job is also powerfully displayed throughout the Gospel narratives. Consider these examples:

• The disciples repeatedly misunderstood Jesus’ mission, expecting a political Messiah who would overthrow Roman rule, while Jesus knew He came to establish a spiritual kingdom (Mark 10:35-45)

• Peter rebuked Jesus for predicting His own death, prompting Jesus to respond, “Get behind me, Satan! You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Mark 8:31-33)

• The religious leaders, despite their theological expertise, failed to recognize God incarnate in their midst (John 1:10-11)

• The disciples were confused by Jesus’ teaching that the first shall be last and the last first (Matthew 20:16)

Jesus Himself emphasized this wisdom gap when He prayed, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children” (Matthew 11:25)

Paul later articulated this profound truth in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, explaining that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” The cross itself—God’s ultimate solution to human suffering and sin— appeared as foolishness to human wisdom.

This Gospel perspective reinforces what Job learned: that divine wisdom operates on a plane far beyond human understanding, and that salvation comes not through comprehending God’s ways fully, but through trusting the God whose ways transcend our understanding.

Application: When faced with suffering or injustice, we naturally demand explanations.

These chapters remind us that our perspective is limited. This doesn’t mean we should stop seeking understanding, but it calls us to humility – recognizing that some divine purposes may remain beyond our comprehension in this life.

2. To reveal that creation operates on principles beyond mere human justice and retribution

“Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let my accuser write out the charges against me.” (Job 31:35)

This was Job’s boldest statement, essentially demanding that God appear in court to justify the suffering inflicted on him. Job was so confident in his innocence that he signed his name to his defense and challenged God to respond with specific charges against him.

In chapters 38-39, God does respond – but not with the legal proceeding Job expected.

Instead of addressing Job’s specific complaints or explaining why he suffered, God shifts the entire framework of the conversation.

God demonstrates that Job’s expectation for divine justification based on human standards of justice was fundamentally misguided.

One of the most profound insights from God’s speech to Job is that don’t you see creation doesn’t always follow the simple cause-and-effect relationship that humans expect, that righteousness leads to prosperity while wickedness leads to suffering.

Consider God’s descriptions of:

• The rain that falls “on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man” (38:26) – God’s provision extends beyond human need or desert

• The ostrich that “deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers” (39:16). Animal behavior that seems illogical or even cruel by human standards

• The hawk that “soars by your wisdom” (39:26) – Natural instincts that operate according to divine design rather than human instruction

These examples demonstrate that creation follows God’s wisdom rather than human expectations of justice.

Javed Akhtarʼs observation:

Have you noticed there is no concept of justice among animals in the natural world? They hunt, kill, and consume one another according to their instincts and survival needs, without any moral judgment being applied to their actions. The predator isn’t considered “evil” for catching its prey, nor is the prey viewed as “innocent” or “deserving of protection.” Animals simply follow the natural order established at creation, operating within ecological systems designed by God, and no creature faces punishment or moral condemnation for fulfilling its natural role in this divinely orchestrated balance of nature.

The universe isn’t organized primarily around human concerns or moral categories. The lion hunts prey not because the prey deserves punishment, but because God has designed an ecological system with predators and prey.

God describes animals whose behaviors puzzle human observers, demonstrating that even within the observable world, much remains mysterious.

Application: When we face suffering, we often instinctively ask, “What did I do to deserve this?” God’s speech suggests this may be the wrong question. Instead of always seeking moral causes for our circumstances, we might better ask, “How can I encounter God within this situation?”

Job’s suffering was not a punishment for sin, but instead became the context for a deeper revelation of God’s character and wisdom. Similarly, our sufferings may serve purposes within God’s creation that transcend simple moral causality.

3. To invite Job into a relationship based on trust rather than understanding

Throughout God’s response to Job, we see an invitation to trust rather than merely understand. This is evident in several ways:

• God’s questions don’t provide explanations for Job’s suffering but redirect his focus to the trustworthiness of the Creator

• God reveals His intimate knowledge and care for creation, suggesting that this same care extends to Job despite appearances
• Rather than defending His justice in abstract terms, God demonstrates His wisdom through concrete examples of provision
• God doesn’t rebuke Job for his questions but invites him into a deeper contemplation of divine wisdom

The essence of God’s response is captured in His repeated refrain: “Do you know?” and “Can you?” These questions aren’t meant to shame Job but to lead him toward a profound realization: even without understanding the “why” behind his suffering, Job can trust the “who” – the God whose wisdom orchestrates the universe.

This invitation to a relationship transforms Job’s experience.

Before God speaks, Job demands answers and justification. After encountering God’s wisdom, Job declares, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you” (42:5).

The transformation isn’t from ignorance to knowledge but from knowledge about God to knowing God personally.

Gospel Connection: The Gospel narrative itself invites us into a relationship based on trust rather than complete understanding in several profound ways:

• Jesus frequently taught in parables that puzzled even His closest disciples, who often asked, “Explain this parable to us” (Matthew 13:36). Rather than making His teaching immediately clear, Jesus used stories that required reflection and trust.
• When Thomas demanded physical proof of the resurrection, Jesus gently responded, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” John 20:29), highlighting the value of faith that transcends empirical verification.
• In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus modeled trust amidst suffering when He prayed, “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42), choosing submission to the Father’s wisdom rather than demanding to understand the necessity of His suffering.

“We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

“Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Ultimately, the Cross itself stands as the supreme example of God’s invitation to trust beyond understanding. To human wisdom, “the word of the cross is folly” (1 Corinthians 1:18), yet through this seemingly foolish means, God accomplishes our salvation. We are invited not to fully comprehend how Christ’s death atones for our sins, but to trust that it does.

Application: In our suffering, we often prioritize explanation over relationship. We demand to know why God allows pain, assuming that understanding would bring comfort.

God’s response to Job suggests that even complete theological understanding wouldn’t satisfy our deepest need, which is for God Himself.

Rather than exhaustive explanations, God offers His presence and the invitation to trust His wisdom even when it remains partially veiled to us.

True comfort comes not from having all our questions answered but from knowing the One who holds all answers.

Conclusion

When faced with life’s inevitable sufferings and questions, we can apply several key principles from God’s response to Job:

1. Embrace Mystery as Part of Faith

God never condemns Job for asking questions, but He does invite him to recognize the limitations of human understanding. In our information-saturated age, we often demand complete explanations. True wisdom includes the humility to acknowledge that some aspects of God’s ways remain mysterious to us. This isn’t a call to blind faith but to a mature faith that can hold both questioning and trusting together.

2. Find Comfort in God’s Detailed Care

Notice how intimately God knows each creature He describes—from the lion’s hunting patterns to the eagle’s nesting habits. This same God who attends to the needs of wild animals surely attends to our needs with even greater care. When we feel forgotten in our suffering, we can remember that the God who counts the stars also counts our tears.

Jesus beautifully illustrates this principle in the Sermon on the Mount when He says, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

(Matthew 6:26). Similarly, He points to “the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Matthew 6:28-29). Through these natural examples, Jesus reinforces the same truth God revealed to Job—that the Creator who attends to the smallest details of nature surely cares for His human creation with even greater attentiveness and love.

3. Shift from “Why?” to “Who?”

Job began by asking why he suffered. God redirects him to consider who governs the universe. This shift doesn’t trivialize our questions but places them in a larger context. Rather than fixating on explanations that may elude us, we can anchor ourselves in the character of God revealed throughout Scripture and creation.

4. Seek God’s Presence, Not Just Answers

The ultimate resolution to Job’s suffering wasn’t an explanation but an encounter. God’s presence, not His explanations, brought Job peace.

In our struggles, the deepest comfort comes not from having all our questions answered but from experiencing God’s presence amid our questions.

In the end, what Job received was greater than the answers he sought—he received God Himself. And this is the great promise extended to us as well. Our unanswered questions may remain, but they need not prevent us from experiencing the presence of the God who holds all wisdom and who invites us into a relationship with Him.

Let us respond as Job eventually did—not with continued demands for explanation, but with humble worship of the God whose wisdom permeates every aspect of creation, including our own lives with their joys and sorrows.

Good morning, church! Hope you’re well. As you all know, it’s Baby Jason’s dedication today, and as a church, we couldn’t be more thrilled for Vijay, Sharon, and Jason. The dedication will happen a little later, but the occasion of a dedication gives us a good opportunity to get some instruction on family life.

So today we’ll take a pause from our Job series and try to answer this question: Why does God place us in families? What is God’s purpose in family life? Specifically, what’s God’s purpose in parenting?

Because when you look at the world around you, it’ll give a wide range of answers. When you talk about family life and children, a lot of people will tell you that it’s because of social expectations. You’ll hear things like “You’ve been married for a few years, so when’s the baby coming?” It’s social pressure or social expectation which makes us think about having children. If we don’t have children, then that’s going to invite a lot of questions from people around us.

Another reason that was true of our parent’s generation was that they saw their children as an investment. They would invest heavily in their education, giving them the best that they could with the hope that their children would one day become really successful and repay the favor. This investment that they’ve made in their children would reap multiplying dividends.

And then there’s a reason that is more common to our generation which is viewing children as a means to prove our self worth. I’m going to raise my children as a personal project of mine so that at the end of the day people will recognize and appreciate me for being a standout dad or mom to my kid. I’m proving my self worth through my children. The worst thing that could happen to me is for my children to make me look bad in front of others.

There could be many more reasons that you’ll find on why people choose to have families, choose to have children. But there could also be reasons to not have children which is increasingly becoming the case among people living in urban cities.

One of the reasons is financial strain – “How can we take care of another human being in such an expensive world? We only have enough for ourselves, and if we have children, that’s going to add a financial strain in our lives.” Another reason is the fear of losing our freedom – “Right now there’s a lot of freedom & space that we experience as a couple. That will be taken away from us the moment we have children. It’s too much of a responsibility”. So children are viewed as a burden rather than a gift to the family. 

Where am I going with this? I want all of us to take a minute to analyze what we think is the purpose of a family? Some of us are already parents here. Some others would be parents sometime in the future. If you’re neither of these two, you definitely know someone who is a parent right now. It’s something that all of us can relate to: What’s God’s purpose in parenting?

That’s what we’ll try to address this morning as we look at Psalm 78. Before we proceed, I’d love to pray for us.

Pray

This Psalm was written by Asaph who was a worship leader in David’s time. He wrote 12 Psalms and some were songs that were sung by the whole congregation. In fact if we see the caption under the title of this Psalm, it says a “maskil” by Asaph. It was probably a note or a scale on which the song was being sung. Almost like it was saying “to be sung on E minor”.

This was most likely a song that was regularly sung by the congregation. For us modern day believers, this would seem like a strange, unusual worship song. It probably wouldn’t make it to our worship setlist. Why? Because a lot of it, especially the latter part of Psalm 78 talks about sin, rebellion, God’s judgment.

We’re not used to hearing these themes being preached, let alone singing about it during worship. And yet in David’s time, they had no such problem. Singing songs during worship wasn’t about feeling good or experiencing an emotional high. Singing songs of worship was a time of instruction where their hearts were being instructed on how to be faithful to God.

The context is that this was an instructive, warning worship song. Within this instructive, warning worship song, it addresses the question: Why does God place us in families? What is God’s purpose in parenting?

1. Parents are God’s instruments to reveal the glorious deeds of the Lord (V1-4)

1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
    incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
    I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 things that we have heard and known,
    that our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children,
    but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
    and the wonders that he has done.

The Psalm starts out by Asaph calling for people’s attention in V1. He’s urging people to pay careful attention to what he’s about to say. There’s an urgency to what he’s saying. This is absolutely critical for God’s people to know. He’s basically telling them “You need to drop what you’re doing and pay close attention!”

In V2, it says that he “will utter dark sayings from of old”. What are these dark sayings? When we use the word “dark” we refer to subjects that are sinister or evil or disturbing. But that’s not what is referred to out here. It’s referring to “difficult to understand” subjects, perplexing topics that when God’s people spend time talking about it, it will prove to be beneficial to them.

And in V3, he clarifies that this isn’t “brand new information”. This is not “breaking news”. These are stories about God which their forefathers have considered to be so important, so significant that they have delicately passed it down through generations.

In V4, Psalmist is saying that it’s not just relevant for our generation, it’s relevant for the next generation as well. That’s why we are not going to keep this hidden from them. The next generation ought to know this. What is that?

the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,

    and the wonders that he has done.

Notice it doesn’t just say “deeds of the Lord”. It says “glorious deeds of the Lord”. The deeds of the Lord that He’s performed for His people are nothing short of glorious. These are praiseworthy actions. These are astounding feats. As you look through OT history, these are unbelievable deeds that God has actually done. Parting the Red Sea so that His people could walk on dry ground. Feeding His people with manna from heaven for 40 years every single day.

It goes on to say “and his might, and the wonders that he has done”. The glorious deeds of the Lord reveal His might and power. If we all read the miraculous accounts in the Bible, we would be left with only two choices – either it’s all a lie – too good to be true OR it’s actually true and that the God of the Bible is all-powerful, almighty God! One of the amazing stories in the Bible is that God made the sun stand still for an entire day so that God’s people could defeat their enemies. For 24 hours, the sun didn’t go down. Either it’s a lie or it’s true and the God of the Bible is the all powerful, almighty God. Josh 10:14 – that passage ends by stating “Surely God was fighting for Israel”.

But what does this have to do with parenting you may ask? Parents have a unique calling to be used as an instrument of God to reveal these glorious deeds of the Lord to their children! Take a moment to allow this to sink in. It’s not the Sunday School teachers role, it’s the parent’s role to reveal these glorious deeds of the Lord to their children so that they can step back and be amazed and at wonder thinking about the God of the Bible.

When was the last time we saw our children amazed thinking about the God of the Bible? When was the last time we saw wonder in the eyes of our children as they thought about the God of the Bible? Oftentimes our children aren’t amazed, because they don’t see the amazement and wonder in our eyes as parents. They probably see more excitement, more amazement, more wonder in our eyes for a great sportsperson or celebrity or businessmen but they simply don’t see that when we talk about God.

And so this is deeply convicting because we need to acknowledge that we are sometimes the barrier in keeping God’s glorious deeds from our children. Our confession and prayer should be this “God, would you please help me stand at wonder and amazement at glorious deeds first? Help me to be so amazed by it that comes through as I tell my children about You”.

Not only are Parents are God’s instruments to reveal the glorious deeds of the Lord but

 2. Parents are God’s instruments to set children’s hope in God (V5-8)

5 He established a testimony in Jacob
    and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
    to teach to their children,
6 that the next generation might know them,
    the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
7 so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
    but keep his commandments;
8 and that they should not be like their fathers,
    a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
    whose spirit was not faithful to God.

V5 & 6 tell us that it’s not only the glorious deeds of the Lord which need to be taught to our children, it’s also the commands of the Lord which needs to be taught to them. By teaching them the commands, we’re giving them a picture of what it means to be in relationship with Holy God. We’re communicating to our children who is the real boss of our home – are we the boss or is God the boss? We’re revealing to our kids whose approval matters the most in our home – does our approval matter the most or is it God’s approval?

As believers, we’re not obeying God’s commands and teaching our kids to do the same to get God to love and accept us. No, we’re already fully loved and accepted because of the best, perfect work that Jesus did for us. But we obey God’s commands out of loving service. Jesus said in John 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commands. “He is my Master and I love Him” – that’s why we obey Him & that’s why we teach our kids to do so as well.

And what is the Psalmist saying will be achieved by teaching commands to our children? V7. They would set their hope in God. Parents cannot save their children, only the Lord can save their children. But what parents can do is prepare the soil for children to have ample opportunities to place their hope and trust in God. When parents out of obedience make radical choices for their families which seem crazy to the rest of the world, it’ll prepare the soil for their children to have ample opportunities to place their hope in God.

This time of the year is a little tough on our kids because they see their friends participating in many activities revolving around idols. It’s hard on them because they feel like they are missing out but at the same time it’s opening up many opportunities to have conversations with our children on why we can’t participate – it’s because we love and worship our God. We believe that somewhere deep in their hearts, God will use this to prepare the soil to have ample opportunities to put their hope in God.

And the Psalmist goes on to say “and not forget the works of God,
    but keep his commandments;
8 and that they should not be like their fathers,
    a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
    whose spirit was not faithful to God.”

Psalmist’s main concern is forgetfulness and how that translates to gradual unfaithfulness. His concern is that if the parents don’t consistently remind their children of God’s glorious deeds and commands, that they would forget the Lord and gradually become unfaithful to Him. The history of Israel actually revealed that so clearly. Psalmist gives many examples of this in the following verses:

9 The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,
    turned back on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep God’s covenant,
    but refused to walk according to his law.

11 They forgot his works
    and the wonders that he had shown them.

Have you ever considered how dangerous forgetfulness is to your & your children’s spiritual life? Maybe initially, there was this zeal and priority that was placed on God and the things of God. But then, as life gets more complicated, busier, more stuff is added into our schedule, which now competes with our time with God and the things of God. And next thing you know is forgetfulness – where we forget the promises of God, the work of God that He did for us, we forget the call of God to live a holy life, we forget the people of God and eventually that leads us to forgetting God Himself.

So what’s the antidote? God knows that we are forgetful so He’s given us so many means of grace by which we can remember Him. He’s given us His Word. He’s given us our church family. He’s given us the Lord’s Supper by saying “Do this in remembrance of me”. These are all means of grace to keep us from forgetting and being unfaithful to the Lord.

Parents, make sure those guard rails are put in place for yourself and your children so that you are fighting the tendency to forget God and the things of God. We are God’s instruments to set our children’s hope in God.

Brothers and sisters, as we studied today, it’s such a huge calling and privilege to be chosen as tools and instruments of God in the lives of our children. God’s purpose in using us is is two fold:

• To reveal the glorious deeds of the Lord
• To set children’s hope in God

Is that easy for us to do? No. If we’re honest, both of these are impossible to do on our own strength. We know how our own pride and selfishness keeps us from being used as God’s instruments to our children. So we need grace – Grace to first be able to acknowledge our helplessness (parents tend to think they are self sufficient). Grace that makes us run to Jesus for forgiveness (because we will mess up often). Grace to surrender ourselves to God’s purpose in parenting (our tendency is to follow our own purposes. )

• The book of Job presents one of the Bible’s most profound explorations of human suffering.
• No other book in the Bible explores suffering with such profound depth.
• It uniquely provides both an earthly and heavenly perspective on suffering.

In earlier chapters, we witnessed an intense debate between Job and his three friends: Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.

Last Sunday, we examined Job’s final response to these friends—his oath of clearance.

Today, in chapters 32-37, a fourth friend named Elihu enters the conversation.

Who is Elihu? – Job 32:1-5

“So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God. He burned with anger also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong. Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he. And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger.” (Job 32:1- 5, ESV)

• Appears to be youthful, angry, somewhat arrogant, and somewhat boastful
• Though Elihu is introduced as a new voice in chapter 32, his theological approach shares significant overlap with Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar:

Similar theological framework – Like the three friends, Elihu believes that people suffer because they sin. He thinks bad things happen to those who do wrong.

Similar accusations against Job – Though his language is sometimes gentler,

Elihu essentially repeats many of the same charges, accusing Job of arrogance, self-righteousness, and rebellion against God.

Similar defense of God’s justice – Elihu, like the other friends, cares more about defending God’s fairness than actually helping Job feel better.

• In past sermons we’ve discussed these approaches extensively and learned what the Bible teaches on these matters.
• Today, I want to focus on common mistakes Christians make when responding to suffering through Elihu’s example—mistakes that still persist in our churches.

In any case, you’ll notice that when God finally speaks, He addresses and corrects the three friends (Job 42:7-9), but remains silent about Elihu.

• Though Elihu may have been well-intentioned in his remarks, he missed the mark.

Today, we’ll examine four critical mistakes Elihu made – mistakes we often repeat when trying to comfort those in pain.

1. He assumed he fully understood God’s Purposes

Elihu repeatedly claimed to know exactly why Job was suffering:

“I tell you, in this you are not right… Why do you complain to him that he responds to no one’s words? For God does speak—now one way, now another though no one perceives it.” (Job 33:12-14)

Elihu presumed to know God’s exact purposes in allowing suffering.

Consider how Elihu claims to speak for God in Job 36:2-4: “Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for I have yet something to say on God’s behalf. I will get my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker. For truly my words are not false; one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.”

Elihu repeatedly assumes he knows exactly why Job suffers and what God is doing, despite having no direct revelation from God. He presumes to understand divine purposes that even Job himself doesn’t comprehend.

How often do we make the same mistake? We say things like

“God is teaching you patience,”

“This happened because God wants you to minister to others with the same affliction. ˮ

While these may sometimes be true, doesn’t Scripture teach that God’s thoughts far exceed our understanding?

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

• It’s like a three-year-old trying to understand quantum physics.
• Even a three-year-old trying to understand quantum physics has a smaller knowledge gap than the one between our understanding and God’s wisdom.
• When our children are young, they cannot understand why parents won’t let them eat candy for dinner.
• From a child’s limited perspective, parents seem cruel, but the reality is that adults understand nutrition in ways children simply can’t grasp.

Gospel Connection:

• Jesus himself demonstrated this truth in Gethsemane when he prayed,

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

• Even Jesus, in his human nature, didn’t fully comprehend all the Father’s purposes in his suffering, yet he trusted.
• Our response should be the same – humble trust rather than presumed understanding.

2. He prioritized Defending God Over Comforting Job

Elihu was deeply concerned with defending God’s justice:

“Far be it from God to do evil, from the Almighty to do wrong” (Job 34:10). While his theological concern was valid, Elihu’s defense of God came at the expense of compassion for Job.

He was more interested in winning a theological argument than comforting a suffering brother.

“Does he need your help? Is it for his benefit that you try to make things right? Does God need you to defend his ways? Will you plead the Almighty’s case?” (Job 13:7-8)

The Bible clearly addresses the question of whether humans need to defend God.

In Job 13:7-8, Job directly challenges his friends, questioning whether God needs their defense.

This passage reminds us that our attempts to defend God often say more about our own insecurities than about God’s character.

When we rush to explain suffering or defend God’s actions, we may actually misrepresent Him, as Job’s friends did.

God later rebukes them, saying, “You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has” (Job 42:7).

True comfort comes not from defending God’s reputation but from embodying His compassion.

• . When people suffer, they need our presence more than our explanations.

“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” (Romans 12:15)

Question: When a brother or sister loses a loved one, can a theological explanation about God’s sovereignty really help them?

In times of deep distress, they don’t need a lecture on God’s will.

They need someone to sit with them and acknowledge that their loss is horrible.

The people who demonstrate Christ-like love are those who simply show up, bring meals, and cry with them.

Gospel Connection:

Jesus didn’t come with mere theological explanations for our suffering – he entered into it.

John 11:35 tells us simply, “Jesus wept” at Lazarus’s tomb, even though he knew he would raise Lazarus.

Christ’s incarnation itself demonstrates that God prioritizes presence with the suffering over abstract explanations.

The gospel reminds us that God doesn’t stand aloof from our pain but enters into it fully.

3. He Confuses Youthful Passion With Spiritual Maturity

Elihu began his speech acknowledging his youth but claiming special insight:

“I am young in years, and you are old… But it is the spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.” (Job 32:6-8)

He then proclaimed: “I am full of words, and the spirit within me compels me” (Job 32:18). Elihu confused his passionate feelings with divine inspiration.

Scripture values wisdom gained through experience:

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10)

“Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness.” (Proverbs 16:31)

When we’re young, it’s easy to look at another person’s situation and believe we know everything about how to help them.

We might be single yet believe we understand everything about marriage, or be in perfect health and claim to understand what it means to be sick and hospitalized. From this position, we confidently give “godly advice” on trusting God for help and healing.

But the truth is that life isn’t as simple as we imagine. Only when we’re married do we realize how challenging it can be, especially when confronting our own sinfulness.

Similarly, only when we or someone in our family falls ill do we truly understand how difficult such situations can be.

Illustration:

It’s easy to approach a grieving brother or sister with memorized Bible verses when they are in trouble, or to lecture them on why God allowed their suffering.

When we reflect on our responses later, we often realize how shallow and harmful our “comfort” had been. Our passion wasn’t matched by maturity.

What that brother or sister would have appreciated most was simply our presence and our kind words of affirmation and encouragement. Did we give that?

Gospel Connection:

Jesus grew in “wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). Even the Son of God experienced a maturation process in his human nature.

The gospel reminds us that spiritual growth is a journey.

Christ’s example teaches us that true wisdom comes through patient development, not instant passion.

4. He Oversimplifies the Relationship Between Sin and Suffering

Like Job’s other friends, Elihu maintained that suffering must be connected to sin: “If they are bound in chains and caught in the cords of affliction, then he tells

them what they have done— that they have sinned arrogantly.” (Job 36:8-9) This oversimplification overlooks the complexity of suffering in a fallen world.

“As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.'” (John 9:1-3)

We have emphasized repeatedly that Christian suffering is not necessarily a result of sin.

Is it true that people sometimes suffer due to sin? Yes, of course. But is sin the cause of all suffering, especially in the life of a child of God? The answer is no.

Illustration: A young mother in our church was diagnosed with cancer despite living a faithful Christian life. Some well-meaning believers suggested she must have unconfessed sin or lack of faith. These simplistic explanations only added to her pain. Her testimony through suffering ultimately brought many to Christ – demonstrating that God’s purposes are far more complex than simple cause-and-effect.

Gospel Connection: The cross stands as the ultimate refutation of the idea that suffering always indicates sin in the sufferer. Jesus, the only sinless human,

experienced the most unjust suffering imaginable. The gospel reminds us that in a fallen world, the righteous often suffer while awaiting final redemption. Jesus didn’t promise his followers exemption from suffering but promised to be with

them through it.

Conclusion: A Better Way to Respond

So how should we respond to suffering Christians? Let me suggest four alternatives to Elihu’s approach:

Practice humble presence – Simply be there, acknowledging that you don’t have all the answers but offering your presence as comfort.

Listen more than you speak – James 1:19 reminds us to be “quick to listen, slow to speak.” Let the suffering person express their pain without rushing to respond.

Comfort with Scripture wisely – Share God’s promises without presuming to know exactly how they apply to this specific situation.

Point to the suffering Christ – Remind them that Jesus understands suffering intimately and that the gospel promises ultimate redemption of all pain.

The book of Job reminds us that in the face of suffering, theological explanations often fall short. What remains is the faithful presence of God and his people. As we seek to comfort those in pain, may we avoid Elihu’s mistakes and instead embody the compassionate presence of Christ himself.

Good morning everyone! Hope you’re doing well this morning. If you’ve been tracking with us, you’re probably aware that as a church we’ve been going through a series titled God’s blessing in suffering from the book of Job. Interestingly, we’ve been journeying through this book for the last 6-7 months. Before I start, here’s a quick question for all of us this morning. If you could use one word to describe the series so far, what would you say? And let’s try to be as honest & candid as we can be. 

One of the feelings that we might be experiencing through this book is “frustration” – frustration in the manner in which Job is having this debate with his friends and with God.

What’s frustrating is that even now neither party is willing to budge, neither party is willing to give way. Job’s friends continue to say that his terrible suffering is caused by some secret, hidden sin in his life. Job continues to deny any hidden sin & instead protests against God, saying that He’s being a bully.

So we’ve reached this point in Chapter 31 where Job is frustrated with his friends, his friends are frustrated with Job, Job is frustrated with God and as we read, we too are frustrated with Job and his friends.

But apparently we’re supposed to feel this frustration – that’s how the book was written – so that we can appreciate God’s response in the later chapters. God is not a “miserable comforter” like Job’s friends and neither is God “unjust” as Job portrays him out to be. So I’d ask us all to be patient as the story unfolds over the next few weeks.

But you may ask “God will reply later, but what about today’s passage?” What we’ll see today is Job’s final, last, concluding appeal before God. Even at the end of chapter we see this – “the words of Job are ended”. He is not going to say anything more after this. This is his last, final attempt to prove his innocence.

This is like a tense courtroom scene where the defendant makes his concluding remarks. And what does Job do to prove His innocence?

He takes an oath of clearance. What was it? In the OT, once the accused exhausts all the usual means of showing proof to clear his name, then he turns to “an oath of clearance”. That’s his last resort.

Here the accused will need to list out all the things they have not committed and swear before God. Which means that if the accused is found guilty of having done all the things they said they didn’t do, then God’s curse would come upon them.

But if indeed they didn’t do the things that they said they didn’t commit, then they would be spared by God.

So the oath of clearance was a risky, dangerous thing to do, because it would bring God into the equation. And that’s precisely what Job wanted! By taking the oath of clearance and listing all the things that he has not committed, he is asking God to either bring the curses of the oath if he’s guilty or to spare him and declare him innocent. So the stakes are really high!

Let’s look at Job’s oath of clearance. These are the list of things that Job says he didn’t commit:

1. Lust (V1-4)

1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes;
    how then could I gaze at a virgin?

The NIV puts it in this way: “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman. I find it interesting that Job doesn’t say “I’ve avoided looking at young women lustfully”. He says that he’s made a covenant with his eyes to not look lustfully.

Covenant meant a serious commitment. It was a binding agreement, a contract that parties would make with each other in ancient times. Breaking a covenant would result in serious repercussions.

And it’s interesting that that’s the kind of resolve – a covenant type of resolve – that Job made when it came to the subject of lust. He didn’t take lust lightly. He didn’t downplay lust by saying “Oh, I’m just an admirer of beauty”. He didn’t just say to himself “Technically I’m not doing anything wrong to anyone. I’m just entertaining certain thoughts about the person. It’s not affecting that person, it’s just in my mind”.  He didn’t have that kind of casual approach toward lust. He understood the seriousness of it & made a covenant with his eyes to not look lustfully at a woman.

And the reason he made that covenant with his eyes is because of V2-4.

2 What would be my portion from God above
    and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
3 Is not calamity for the unrighteous,
    and disaster for the workers of iniquity?
4 Does not he see my ways
    and number all my steps?

There was a fear and an awareness of God watching Him and knowing his most private thoughts and intentions. He knew that there is no hiding before this God. There is no denying before this God. There is no downplaying before this God. There is no justifying before this God. This God knows everything. He knows his most private thoughts. Job had a fear and an awareness of God.

And fear doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing all the time. It can sometimes be a healthy thing. Sometimes fear protects us from getting ourselves into dangerous situations. If we’re in a jungle and we see a bear approaching, fear would make us run toward safety. Similarly, it was a healthy healthy fear of God & an awareness of God that made Job make this covenant with his eyes.

And that should instruct us to long for this kind of healthy fear and awareness of God. Our prayer should be “God, would you please give me a real awareness of Who You Are? God, would you please give me this healthy fear which will guard me from lusting after others?”

Lust was the first, the other thing that Job said he didn’t commit was

2. Dishonesty (V5-8)

5 “If I have walked with falsehood
    and my foot has hastened to deceit;
6 (Let me be weighed in a just balance,
    and let God know my integrity!)
7 if my step has turned aside from the way
    and my heart has gone after my eyes,
    and if any spot has stuck to my hands,
8 then let me sow, and another eat,
    and let what grows for me be rooted out.

In these verses, Job is saying that he steered clear of dishonesty both in his words and actions. V5 uses two words to describe dishonesty – falsehood and deceit. Falsehood is the practice of telling something that is not true – telling lies. “Oh, it’s just a white lie – it’s not harming anyone”. “Lies are okay as long as it’s helping someone”. No, that’s still falsehood.

Deceit goes a little further – it is a deliberate act of distorting the truth with the purpose of misleading; it’s being cunning; it’s being manipulative; it’s changing facts to suit your convenience.

Then we see the oath of clearance displayed here. Job is saying that if he is found guilty of being dishonest in his words and actions, then let God take whatever he’s worked hard for & hand it to someone else. If he’s in the wrong, then someone else should enjoy the fruit of his hard work.

The next thing that Job said he didn’t do was

3. Adultery (V9-12)

9 “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,
    and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,
10 then let my wife grind for another,
    and let others bow down on her.
11 For that would be a heinous crime;
    that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;
12 for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon,
    and it would burn to the root all my increase.

Job is saying that he didn’t entertain thoughts of adultery. He didn’t entertain thoughts of cheating on his wife. And if he was found guilty for doing that, then (oath of clearance) let his wife be taken away and given to other men!! Let everything that Job has burn up in flames.

V11 and 12 shows how he viewed adultery – as a heinous crime (very wicked thing, something that’s twisted). Something that needed severe punishment and something that deserves fiery destruction – ancient times they had named the place of destruction “Abaddon”! In other words adultery is destructive! 

And yet when we look at the world around us, adultery isn’t often pictured as a heinous crime. In fact some movies glorify adultery.

At most it’s something that people are embarrassed by, and people will explain it away by saying things like “because they experience neglect in their marriage relationship, hence they were forced to confide in someone outside marriage”.  But no, it should be called as it is : a heinous crime! Something that is wicked. Something that is so destructive.

But not just that, he also didn’t commit

4. Oppression (V13-15)

13 “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant,
    when they brought a complaint against me,
14 what then shall I do when God rises up?
    When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
15 Did not he who made me in the womb make him?
    And did not one fashion us in the womb?

Job said that he never rejected any grievance brought to him by his servants. He gave his servants and subordinates freedom to approach him with their complaints even if it was against him.

Though he had the power and influence to suppress their complaints, he never did because he recognized that there is a superboss in heaven whom everyone reports to. What will Job do when his servants escalate to the superboss? And this superboss in heaven doesn’t show any partiality.

When we become powerful, when we have the power to hire someone else, when we become bosses (it could be at work where you’re a manager or at home where you’ve got house help) , there’s often a tendency to be abusive because we feel that our authority allows them to get away with abuse. And yet passages like this and others in the NT tell us a different story:

Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. (Col 4:1)

Another thing Job said that he didn’t do was:

5. Ungenerous (V16-23)

16 “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,
    or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
17 or have eaten my morsel alone,
    and the fatherless has not eaten of it
18 (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father,
    and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow),
19 if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
    or the needy without covering,
20 if his body has not blessed me,
    and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
21 if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
    because I saw my help in the gate,
22 then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
    and let my arm be broken from its socket.
23 For I was in terror of calamity from God,
    and I could not have faced his majesty.

The most vulnerable of people which Job’s friends accused him of abusing: the poor, the widow and the orphan, Job is saying that this same vulnerable group of people was given special attention and shown extreme generosity by him. He looked after the poor, the widows and the orphan with the wealth that he had.

The reason he did that was not as a CSR activity, it was not to get a tax deduction like many people do today, but because of V23 – out of a real fear of God. He knew that he would face judgment if he took advantage of this vulnerable section of people. After all they have a special place in God’s heart.

But not just that, Job also said that he didn’t commit:

6. Idolatry (V24-28)

24 “If I have made gold my trust
    or called fine gold my confidence,
25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant
    or because my hand had found much,
26 if I have looked at the sun when it shone,
    or the moon moving in splendor,
27 and my heart has been secretly enticed,
    and my mouth has kissed my hand,
28 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
    for I would have been false to God above.

Don’t you find it interesting that the man who was known as the greatest in the East is saying that he didn’t look at his gold, his treasure, his bank balance to find his confidence and security in them? (His sense of security didn’t come from his gold and bank balance)

The richest man of the East says that he didn’t look at his great wealth and say “I’m happy and joyful because I have all this great wealth”.

Neither did he look at the created things of the world like the sun, moon, animals, the gadgets, the clothes, the shoes, the house, the holiday destination, a position of prominence, or certain people and worshiped them instead. We see that in his response since tragedy hit him. Don’t you find it interesting that not even once does he ask God to return back what he lost? Oftentimes we become aware of our idols only when we end up losing them. Job is saying that he kept any form of idolatry far away from him.

Why? V28 – Because that would be false to God above. In other words, that would be being unfaithful to God. And he wasn’t okay with that. He saw everything in relation to God. Isn’t that amazing? The reason why Job didn’t end up worshipping his wealth or anything else in creation was because he didn’t want to be unfaithful to God. “How can I do this against my God?” – that was the question he constantly asked himself.

Not just that, he also said that he wasn’t:

7. Revengeful (V29-30)

29 “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me,
    or exulted when evil overtook him
30 (I have not let my mouth sin
    by asking for his life with a curse),

Even as Job’s enemies (those who hated him) were facing misfortune, Job didn’t see that as an opportunity to gloat and enjoy seeing their misery. He didn’t see that as an opportunity to curse them because of how terribly they’ve treated him.

And then Job also said that he wasn’t

8. Unwelcoming (V31-32)

31 if the men of my tent have not said,
    ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’

32 (the sojourner has not lodged in the street;
    I have opened my doors to the traveler),

In ancient times, there weren’t that many inns and hotels available & so travellers would often be at the mercy of kind hearted people who would open up their homes to them. And Job is saying that his servants went out welcoming travellers so that they would have adequate food & shelter. In other words, he’s going out of his way to be hospitable and welcoming.

Not just that, Job said that he wasn’t also:

9. Hypocritical (V33-34)

33 if I have concealed my transgressions as others do
    by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
34 because I stood in great fear of the multitude,
    and the contempt of families terrified me,
    so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors—

In these 2 verses Job exposes the sin of hypocrisy which is to behave a certain way on the outside but be totally different on the inside.

On the outside there’s a very holy exterior, but on the inside there’s a very unholy interior. And he exposes it to say that the reason why people are hypocritical is (v34) because they fear man. It is because they want to please people all the time. It is because they are enslaved to people’s affirmations. It’s because in their hearts – People are Big but God is small.

And the final thing Job says he didn’t do is:

10. Exploitation (V38-40)

38 “If my land has cried out against me
    and its furrows have wept together,
39 if I have eaten its yield without payment
    and made its owners breathe their last,
40 let thorns grow instead of wheat,
    and foul weeds instead of barley.”

The words of Job are ended.

With the kind of wealth that Job had in those days, he would have been buying and investing in land day in and day out. And yet, Job is saying that he never did that by exploiting anyone. He never achieved success at the expense of other people. And then in V40 again – oath of clearance – if he’s guilty, then let all of his land be destroyed immediately.

And so Job has made his final attempt to prove his innocence. He’s invoked the oath of clearance telling God – “Now you decide. If I’m guilty of any of these things that I said I’ve not committed, then you curse me and destroy me. But if not, then clear my name and declare me as innocent”. That’s what he desires.

And in the coming chapters we will come to God’s response to him but what I wanted us to think about is this: what if we had the chance to make an oath of clearance for the same 10 things that Job said he didn’t commit? What would the result be? Would we be found guilty or innocent? Let me list out the 10 once more:

Lust, Dishonesty, Adultery, Oppression, Ungenerous, Idolatry, Revengeful, Unwelcoming, Hypocritical, Exploitation

Some of us may say “I’m guilty for some things in this list, but for others I think I’m okay. Don’t I get passing marks?”

James 2:10: For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

So what’s our hope? We have someone better than Job who came for us. Someone had come 2000 years ago who was more righteous than Job. Even with Job’s integrity, he was still a broken sinner who needed redemption which is why he himself says in Job 19 “I know that my redeemer lives”.  He knew he needed a redeemer himself.

This redeemer was none other than God’s own Son Jesus Christ. Every place where we failed, Jesus succeeded. Have you failed the fight with <>? Jesus has succeeded. And then Jesus went up on the cross to pay the penalty for all our failures. He paid the price for our guilt. He died on the cross for us, was buried and rose again on the Third Day so that whoever repents of their sins and puts their faith in Jesus would miraculously be declared innocent and not guilty! How come? How did this come about? It’s because Jesus has transferred His successes to us.

So let the list not lead us to despondency, but drive us to be more aware of our desperate helplessness & our great help which has been provided in Christ Jesus. He only can remove our guilt, He only can make us innocent & He only can transform us into children who live like innocent children in this broken world.

Good morning, church! Hope you’re doing well this morning. As we turn to God’s Word this morning, I want all of us to ask ourselves, “What am I expecting God to do through His Word this morning?” Hebrews 4:12 gives us a great place to start from:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

This passage reminds us that the next 30-40 minutes isn’t about a feel-good message, but allowing the living and active Word of God to pierce our hearts & expose hidden areas that don’t align with God’s character and will.

The reason God’s Word does that is not to condemn us, but to convict us and bring us to repentance. So I would urge all of us to have this expectation above every other expectation & let’s humbly ask God to use His Word to pierce our hearts, expose our hidden sin, and bring us to repentance.

If you’ve been tracking with us, you would be aware that we’ve been going through a series titled God’s blessing in suffering from the book of Job. And as we arrive in Chapter 28 this morning, we know that what should’ve been a consoling, comforting conversation between Job and his friends has turned into a long, frustrating debate.

In fact, so frustrating was this debate that it seems like Job interjects Bildad in Chapter 25 and doesn’t allow him to continue. Zophar, the third friend in the conversation ,doesn’t speak again. The debate has reached its most frustrating point, and yet in the middle of all this, Job suddenly begins a poem on wisdom.

Now why does Job suddenly introduce a poem on wisdom out of nowhere? It’s not because he wants to distract from the main topic of the debate. It’s not because he’s suddenly feeling philosophical. Let’s remember that Job is still grieving the unbearable loss that he’s experienced.

After all, he’s lost his health, his wealth, and his family. And he experienced this unbearable loss after being faithful to God all his life. So he is in this place where he’s still trying to make sense of what just happened to him. Questions of how and why are still lingering in his heart. And that’s why he’s searching for wisdom, he’s looking for wisdom, he’s on the quest of finding wisdom.

So if you’re in this place today, where questions of how and why are still lingering in your heart, if you’re thinking in your heart, “I wish I had the wisdom to navigate through the difficulties and hardships in my life today”, then know that you’re not alone, God’s people through history have had similar struggles, and God’s Word has something to speak to us.

How do we find wisdom? Let’s try and figure this out verse by verse.

1. Wisdom can’t be found by human strength (V1-12)

The first few verses almost seem like Job’s giving us a science lesson by talking about mining and precious metals. But why is Job talking about this? He’s trying to show how humans are ambitious beings. They will go to any extent to try to get hold of their desires.

1 “Surely there is a mine for silver,
    and a place for gold that they refine.
2 Iron is taken out of the earth,
    and copper is smelted from the ore.

These were precious metals in Job’s day as much as they are considered precious today. All of these metals were much sought after. They were in demand because of their value.

3 Man puts an end to darkness
    and searches out to the farthest limit
    the ore in gloom and deep darkness.

Mining or extracting precious minerals and metals from the earth is no easy job. The first big challenge is to locate where these metals are at (which are usually at unfamiliar, unvisited locations), then the next big challenge is to have the right equipment & have the willingness to put your life at risk to be able to mine metals.

We still have the benefit of technological advancement today. In Job’s day, they didn’t have that benefit and so one could only imagine how much tougher & extreme it would have been to mine for these metals in those days. And yet people did that – because they desired these metals and their ambition didn’t stop them from doing that. In fact the verse says “man…searches out to the farthest limit the ore in gloom and deep darkness”.

4 He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;
    they are forgotten by travelers;
    they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.

Again referring to the mining illustration where shafts or vertical tunnels are sunk into the ground in order to excavate minerals or metals. Same theme again, going far away from the town, doing labor intensive work, taking huge amounts of risk in order to get hold of these precious metals.

5 As for the earth, out of it comes bread,
    but underneath it is turned up as by fire.

6 Its stones are the place of sapphires,
    and it has dust of gold.

Food, vegetables and fruit is easily accessible on the earth – they are all found on the surface. But these precious metals and stones are located in the depths and need to be dug up.

7 “That path no bird of prey knows,
    and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.

8 The proud beasts have not trodden it;
    the lion has not passed over it.

When it comes to mining and finding these precious metals and stones, animals have absolutely no idea. Animals don’t care as much as we do. Mining and finding these precious metals and stones is a uniquely human ambition.

9 “Man puts his hand to the flinty rock
    and overturns mountains by the roots.

It doesn’t matter if it involves breaking hard and tough rocks. It doesn’t matter if a mountain needs to be overturned. If humans have something to gain from it, they’ll go and do it.

10 He cuts out channels in the rocks,
    and his eye sees every precious thing.
11 He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,
    and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

Humans will go on relentlessly breaking and cutting through the rocks until they find these precious metals and stones. Whatever is stored deep inside the earth, humans will find a way to bring it out.

This is true not just of the mining industry but also of knowledge and technology. We live in an age where AI tools can be accessed on our phones at any point of time. Technology that was once considered unknown a decade ago has now become the norm for many of us.

So when you think about it – it almost seems like whatever humans want to find, they’ll find a way to get it. No matter how difficult it might seem, humans will find a way to get hold of it. That’s their ambition. And yet look at V12

12 “But where shall wisdom be found?
    And where is the place of understanding?

Despite all human effort and ability, despite all the experience with mining and searching and finding whatever they want to find, they can’t find true wisdom. That’s the point Job is trying to make. Human ambition and human effort and human strength cannot bring you to true wisdom. 

But not only can wisdom not be found by human effort but

2. Wisdom can’t be compared in its value (V13-19)

13 Man does not know its worth,
    and it is not found in the land of the living.

The problem is not only that we can’t find wisdom with our human efforts and ambition. The problem is that we can’t estimate the value and worth of wisdom. This wisdom that is spoken of in Job, we can’t comprehend how valuable it is in reality.

14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
    and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

One reason why we can’t comprehend the value of wisdom is because it’s not found in the natural world around us. It’s not found on earth, nor is it found in the sea. So we’re already getting a hint here, that when Job is talking about wisdom, he’s not referring to worldly knowledge – things that we can learn by observing and studying the world around us. This is a different sort of wisdom which is being described here – something that’s not found in this world.

15 It cannot be bought for gold,
    and silver cannot be weighed as its price.

16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
    in precious onyx or sapphire.
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
    nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
    the price of wisdom is above pearls.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
    nor can it be valued in pure gold.

In these verses, Job is comparing wisdom with the most precious earthly treasures and then says that none of these treasures put together can come close to its value because it’s so much more superior in value and worth. V17 sums it up so well – it says “nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold”. Even if we take all of our jewelry, empty out our bank balance and sell all our possessions, we’ll not be able to buy this “wisdom”.

Let’s remember that these are the words of someone who used to be known as the greatest man in the East – someone who was very wealthy. All these precious stones and metals, in all likelihood, he used to have all of them in his treasure chest until tragedy struck. And yet, he’s the first one to declare that all this is nothing compared to the value and worth of true wisdom.  

Not only is wisdom not found by human effort & not only is wisdom incomparable in its value but

3. Wisdom can’t be perceived by human ability (V20-22)

20 “From where, then, does wisdom come?
    And where is the place of understanding?

21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living
    and concealed from the birds of the air.
22 Abaddon and Death say,
    ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

This brings it to the crux of the problem. The crux of the problem is in V21 that this wisdom is “hidden” from us. It is “concealed” from us. It’s kept a “secret” from us. In our natural state, we simply don’t have the capacity to perceive “wisdom”.  It’s similar to what Paul says in 1 Cor 2:14:

14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Unless God gives us discernment, unless God gives us perception, unless God opens up our spiritual eyes, we won’t have the capacity to perceive wisdom.

Sometimes when me and Angie want to talk about some subject that we don’t want our kids to be listening to, we’ll switch to another language. A language that they’re not familiar with or comfortable in. We’re concealing our conversation from them.

But if our children need to be involved in that conversation, what will need to be done? Either they learn another language or we reveal it to them – we translate it to them. In the same way, unless God reveals to us or gives us the capacity to discern, we won’t be able to perceive “wisdom”.

Let this truth humble us this morning – we are utterly helpless when it comes to perceiving and receiving and understanding wisdom.

Not only is wisdom not found by human effort, not only is wisdom incomparable in its value and not only is wisdom not perceptible by human ability but

4. Wisdom can only be found in a relationship with God (V23-28)

23 “God understands the way to it,
    and he knows its place.

In contrast to humans who cannot find wisdom, God knows the way to wisdom. He knows exactly where wisdom is kept. How does He know where wisdom is?

24 For he looks to the ends of the earth
    and sees everything under the heavens.

It’s a reference to God being all-knowing all the time. There is nothing that is unknown to God. There is nothing that God is ignorant about. There is nothing that God is unsure about. There is nothing that is kept hidden from him. He knows everything at all times. In other words, He is the all-wise God.

25 When he gave to the wind its weight
    and apportioned the waters by measure,
26 when he made a decree for the rain
    and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
27 then he saw it and declared it;
    he established it, and searched it out.

The God who determined the weight of the wind, the God who determined how much water should be in the seas, the God who commands the rain, lightning and thunder, He is the One who saw wisdom, declared wisdom, established wisdom and searched wisdom – examined wisdom completely. In other words, God knows wisdom from the inside out.

What Job is telling us is that – if we need to find wisdom, the only place we can only find that is with God. Nowhere else.

28 And he said to man,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
    and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

I know we’ve spoken so much about wisdom. But what is wisdom after all? Is it what we learnt from our schools and colleges – is that wisdom? Is it what our parents & elders have taught us – is that wisdom? Is it what we’re picking up from social media – like a viral clip?

Is it what celebrities, successful businessmen or great sportspersons – when they share their inspiring stories and lessons of life – is that wisdom? All of that can be clubbed as worldly knowledge. Not to say that all worldly knowledge is bad, some might be helpful as well. However, that’s not true wisdom.

So then what is true wisdom?

It’s the skill of making godly decisions in life. It’s the skill of applying biblical truth in your daily lives. It is a God-given God-centred biblical way of living your life.

By this definition we can see that it’s not just about making godly decisions on a Sunday but it’s about making godly decisions throughout the week. It’s not just about hearing God’s word on a Sunday but knowing how to apply that through the week.

True wisdom is trusting and obeying God’s Word in our everyday situations and relationships. In other words, it’s something that every believer in Christ is empowered and called to do at the same time.

So somebody could be very intelligent and successful in life, but still not have wisdom. They could still end up making terrible life decisions & making a mess out of their relationships – which is often the story of a lot of famous people. Why? Because they don’t have wisdom.

But how do we obtain this kind of true wisdom? V28 By having the fear of the Lord.

This fear is not being scared of God or dreading His presence. Why? 1 John 4:17 says “perfect love casts out all fear”. Because Jesus came for us and died in our place taking on our punishment and wrath, hence there’s no need for us to be scared of God.

But if it’s not being scared, what is this fear of the Lord? It’s a reverential, holy fear of God knowing that He is Holy, Just and Righteous. It’s having the awareness that God hates sin – not only in unbelievers but also in the life of the believer! There is no condemnation for believers in Christ but God still hates sin within us.

And therefore the fear of the Lord means approaching Him with that reverence. Let’s look at a few other verses in the Bible that talk about the fear of the Lord:

Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always,

    but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity. (Prov 28:14)

Fearing God in this context shows sensitivity toward sin. It means not having a “chalta hai” attitude toward sin. It means not having a casual approach to sin.

28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire. (Heb 12:28-29)

The first part of the verse talks about grace – where we have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Did we do anything to deserve that kingdom? No, it was just a gift of grace. What should that grace enable us to do? Should it make us have a casual, indifferent attitude toward God? Does that make us have a lower view of God’s holiness?

In fact, it’s the opposite. It makes us more aware of God’s holiness because now we know what it cost God to grant grace to us.

Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

God’s character doesn’t change even though we’ve become believers. He responds differently to us now that we are His children, but doesn’t mean that God is no longer a consuming fire.

And that’s why the second part of Job 28:28 is a right response. and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Having a sensitive, repentant, yielding, submissive heart is one that is wise. We started today’s sermon by talking about desiring wisdom in the midst of hardships, so how do we tie this together?

This passage tells me that true wisdom shows itself by not using hardship as an excuse to sin against God. God still desires for me to fear Him and have reverence for Him in my hardship.

“But God didn’t answer my prayer the way I wanted Him to? Though I was faithful to God, He still allowed this difficult thing to come upon me.” Yes, that’s true but still not an excuse to sin. Why? Because God’s character hasn’t changed. Neither has our calling changed. We are still called to revere, fear, obey and turn toward our God.

So if you feel like your heart has wandered away this morning? God is calling us to repentance.

Good morning, church! Hope you’re all doing well. If you’ve been tracking with us, you’re probably aware that we’ve been going through a bible series titled God’s blessing in suffering from the book of Job.

As we arrive in Chapter 24 today, it seems like the conversation or rather debate, is reaching a point of frustration. Both Job and his friends are not seeing eye to eye at all. His friends are continuing to harp on the same theme that Job’s experiencing this great suffering because of a deeply sinful and wicked life.

Job on the other hand is continuing to say that he’s been living a righteous life and God’s being unjust and unfair toward him. And as we come to this chapter, we can sense that their debate is hitting a dead end with both parties getting more frustrated with each other.

I was reading one commentary which said that it almost seems like the writer of Job also wants us to also experience that frustration as we’re reading this. Because it’s the same tune that we’re hearing again and again.

So if you’re sitting here today frustrated with this ongoing conversation or debate between Job and his friends, you’re not in the wrong place. That’s exactly the tension that we need to feel.

And yet this same “frustrating text” finds itself as part of God’s Word. This isn’t a piece of fiction. This isn’t simply a piece of history. God has intentionally put this passage in here to teach us something powerful and personal.

As God’s children, we humbly come to God’s Word today, acknowledge our challenge in reading passages like these & ask Him for help to understand and show us what this means for our lives today. Would you join me in prayer as we seek God’s help with this passage?

(Pray)

Before we jump into today’s text, I think it’s important to take note of what was spoken right before this – because this is part of an ongoing conversation. Back in Chapter 22, Eliphaz made some serious accusations against Job. He accuses Job of taking advantage and mistreating the most vulnerable of people – the poor, widows and orphans.

Chapter 22:5: For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing

    and stripped the naked of their clothing.

9 You have sent widows away empty,

    and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.

From the OT, we realize God’s heart for the most vulnerable people. God’s got a special place in his heart for them, which is why the OT law had some serious laws to protect these people.

Ex 22:22-27

22 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. 23 If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, 24 and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

25 “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. 26 If ever you take your neighbor’s cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, 27 for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

So we can see that God deeply cares for those who are vulnerable. In fact, God stands up to defend the defenseless. And so Eliphaz is using this truth to say what he’s been saying so far, “Job, you’ve mistreated the poor, widows, and orphans, and now you’re getting what you deserve”. Without providing any proof or facts, Eliphaz makes these heavy accusations.

And so this chapter is Job’s reply to those accusations. But he responds in a very different way. He doesn’t go on the track of giving a line-by-line reply proving his innocence with how he treats the vulnerable because he knows that all those accusations are baseless and unfounded.

He instead uses the subject of the vulnerable people to talk about God’s apparent slowness in justice. That’s the theme of our sermon today, “When God’s justice seems slow”.

So the same subject of vulnerable people is being used by Job’s friends to blame Job. And the same subject of vulnerable people is being used by Job to blame God.

Let’s look at Chapter 24

1 “Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty,
    and why do those who know him never see his days?

It doesn’t get more direct than this. According to Job, God doesn’t keep track of time when it comes to delivering justice. God is very slow when it comes to giving justice. It’s an unending wait for those who are waiting for justice. It’s like the slow justice system of our country, where some cases take years or decades before justice is delivered.

And then Job goes on to give examples in the following verse:

2 Some move landmarks;
    they seize flocks and pasture them.
3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;
    they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They thrust the poor off the road;
    the poor of the earth all hide themselves.

It’s always the vulnerable people who end up getting the raw end of the stick. What we learn is that this is not a recent thing; it’s been going on for ages, where the powerful prey upon the vulnerable people.

5 Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert
    the poor go out to their toil, seeking game;
    the wasteland yields food for their children.
6 They gather their fodder in the field,
    and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

It’s a terribly tough life for those who are vulnerable. Their situation forces them to go into the worst of places to put food on their plates. Worse, they find themselves looking for help from wicked people who use that as another opportunity to take advantage of them.

7 They lie all night naked, without clothing,
    and have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the rain of the mountains
    and cling to the rock for lack of shelter.

Absolute destitution! When we talk about the poor, we’re not talking about people who just don’t have as enough as everyone else. The poor described in these verses don’t have access to basic things that are needed for survival (food, clothes, shelter).

9 (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,
    and they take a pledge against the poor.)
10 They go about naked, without clothing;
    hungry, they carry the sheaves;
11 among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil;
    they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.

Again, another example of how their vulnerable condition makes them an easy target by oppressors. They are constantly used by the powerful to do things for them, while they themselves don’t get the basic things needed for survival.

12 From out of the city the dying groan,
    and the soul of the wounded cries for help;
    yet God charges no one with wrong.

That’s the accusation that Job has against God. The weak and vulnerable keep approaching God, asking for justice with “groans and cries”, but God remains silent. God does nothing. According to Job, God turns a blind eye. The wicked and the ones who are responsible for doing such evil are roaming free with no accountability.

13 “There are those who rebel against the light,
    who are not acquainted with its ways,
    and do not stay in its paths.
14 The murderer rises before it is light,
    that he may kill the poor and needy,
    and in the night he is like a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,
    saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
    and he veils his face.
16 In the dark they dig through houses;
    by day they shut themselves up;
    they do not know the light.

17 For deep darkness is morning to all of them;
    for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

The impression that Job has is that there’s a typical time for evil and wickedness to thrive. He feels that it mostly happens at night when there are fewer people on the streets, guards are down because most are asleep, and there’s a better chance to get away with stuff.

Murderers, thieves, and adulterers are all up to something at night. And why is Job saying this? Another example where God does nothing, or at best is slow to respond.

18 “You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;
    their portion is cursed in the land;
    no treader turns toward their vineyards.

Job is now quoting what his friends have said earlier: “Didn’t you say that only bad things happen to wicked people? I’m going to challenge that thinking once more”.

19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;
    so does Sheol those who have sinned.

20 The womb forgets them;
    The worm finds them sweet.
they are no longer remembered,
    so wickedness is broken like a tree.’

Job is saying to his friends, “according to you, wicked people’s land is cursed, lives are miserable, and they will vanish from the face of the universe. 

But is that actually what you see around you? Is it based on facts? Or are you just saying things to win this debate?”

21 “They wrong the barren, childless woman,
    and do no good to the widow.

22 Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
    they rise up when they despair of life.

The wicked, the oppressors, the powerful – they do all these terrible things to the most vulnerable people but God gives them a nice, long life.

23 He gives them security, and they are supported,
    And his eyes are upon their ways.

According to Job, it in fact seems like God is giving the wicked people protection. They live in safe, secure environments – physically, emotionally, and financially – everything is comfortable for them.

Up to this point, as I was reading, it almost seemed like Job was accusing God of participating in wickedness, but he stops himself from going there and then says this in V24.

24 They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;
    they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
    they are cut off like the heads of grain.
25 If it is not so, who will prove me a liar
    and show that there is nothing in what I say?”

As Job ends this reply, we see that he acknowledges God’s justice happening at some point, but it’s just too late, according to him. God delivers justice, but too slowly for his liking. Sometimes that’s our complaint with our justice system: they eventually give a verdict, but it’s just too late.

And this delay further encourages wicked people to play with the system & continue to do wrong. It is no longer a deterrent for them. And that’s what Job is saying about God. God’s delays in delivering justice simply enable the powerful & hurt the vulnerable and defenseless.

And Job is not just saying this to win an academic debate with his friends. This is not like a TV debate where people just say things to win the argument. When Job says this, he’s saying this out of deep sorrow and pain.

Let’s remember that he’s just lost his health, his wealth, and most painful of all – his family – he lost all of his precious children. So he’s telling God, “I’m the weak, vulnerable, and defenseless one here. And God – why are you slow in delivering justice to me? Why is it that the wicked seem to be enjoying life out here?”

Have any of us ever been there? Have any of us in our sorrow and pain ever thought to ourselves, “I know God is good and that He is Just and will give me justice eventually, but why is God so slow in doing that? On the other hand, why is it that those who rebel against God are sitting comfortably? Why is God slow in giving justice?”

1. God’s delay of justice is not ignorance but mercy (Romans 2:4-5)

4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

This passage tells us that God holds back on giving instant justice (immediate judgment and punishment) not because God doesn’t care but because God wants to bring unbelievers to repentance. Although in our human eyes, it sometimes feels like God’s is soft toward the unfaithful & harsh toward the faithful but that’s not the case in reality.

God’s showing extreme patience, extreme kindness, extreme tolerance desiring that the unfaithful and the wicked repent. Many times we can’t comprehend the great extent of God’s kindness where He defers His judgment so that it gives people a chance to repent.

So when we see our colleague at work use crooked means and always gets that promotion and recognition, it’s not because God is being soft on our colleague. God is exercising extreme kindness so that they come to repentance.

When our family or friend keeps saying insulting things to us and gets away with it, it’s not because God is being soft on our family or friend, it’s because God is exercising extreme kindness so that they come to repentance. 

Some of us will still think “No, but God should not be showing that kind of kindness and patience to them. They don’t deserve it.”

Okay, but did we deserve it then? We sometimes forget that if God enacted the same expected instant justice towards us, none of us would survive. We ourselves are examples of God’s extreme patience, kindness and tolerance.

Every time we share our testimonies, we should always add this one line – “Till date I can’t believe how God puts up with someone like me, and yet He continues to show me extreme kindness in Christ Jesus”. 

2. God’s seriousness about justice is revealed on the cross (Romans 3:23-26)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Just because God’s speed of justice isn’t as fast as we would like, it doesn’t mean that God’s not serious about justice. God’s seriousness and commitment to divine justice is beyond what we can imagine.

The proof of His seriousness was shown on the cross. God loved us so much but He couldn’t let us off the hook. If He did that, He would be unjust. So what He did was take our punishment and place it on His own Son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died on that cross in our place.

We deserved to be on that cross, not Him. But He lovingly exchanged that place with us – suffered and died for us & rose again on the Third Day so that God could be shown as Just and the Justifier of those who have faith in Jesus.

Would God have put His Son Jesus in your place if He wasn’t serious about Justice? If you’re wondering today if God is Just and will continue to be Just? Look to the cross – that’s the proof and evidence to show not only how much God loves you but to the extent God can go to deliver Justice.  

3. God’s certainty of justice helps us to patiently wait (James 5:7-11)

7 Be patient, therefore, brothers,[a] until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

The book of James was written to suffering believers who were going through extreme hardship and persecution. And rather than promising them about instant justice, it’s interesting that James encourages them to wait patiently because the Lord’s coming and His ultimate Judgment is certain.

And look at the way James describes Jesus’ second coming – He is standing at the door. He’s right outside. He’s going to come anytime and so believers – you can be assured that justice will be served, every wrong will be made right and you will be fully restored as God planned for you.

So until then, what will you do? We will wait patiently. The last verse is one of the most encouraging ones – what will we get to know about the Lord as we wait? That He is compassionate and merciful.

In some ways as we wait for justice to come through, God’s using this time to help us understand our Savior’s heart. We will be able to understand Jesus’ compassion and mercy up close which will increase our love and dependence on Him. Wouldn’t you want that?

How does a child understand that his or her parent is compassionate and merciful? It’s not when they are having fun and playing together but rather when the child messes up & bruises himself or herself. That’s when the parent has an opportunity to show compassion and mercy and that’s when a child gets to understand it up close. Could it be then that God uses our waiting period of suffering to help us understand truly how compassionate and merciful is our Lord’s heart?

Good morning Church, welcome to another Sunday by the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

How are you? Good to see you have weathered another Mumbai Rain on a Sunday to be here.

A lot has happened this week for us as a country. I am sure all of you are aware of the tragedy caused when Air India flight AI171 crashed onto the BJM Medical College and the civil hospital. Not just that, there have been a few accidents with the Mumbai local trains as well. It is hard to hear and see untimely deaths; there is no possible way we can reason and explain why God permits these incidents to happen. Let us pray that our God of comfort reveals himself to comfort those families who have lost their loved ones.

We’ve been doing a series as church from the book of Job called God’s blessing in suffering.

But today, we will be taking a break from the book of Job, and we will be doing a stand-alone sermon from Luke 15:11-32, which is the parable of the prodigal son, or how I’d like to call it, the parable of the loving Father.

Why are we doing this right now? because today is Father’s Day, and this is a parable narrated by Jesus which displays the heart of a father.

So to all the Fathers in our church, we wish you a very happy Father’s Day,

I am paraphrasing, Disciplines of a Godly Man, on what Kent Hughes says about Fathers,

Men, as fathers, you have such power! You will have this terrible power where your children are unequivocally drawn to you, they long for you, it is true with both boys and girls, and you will continue to have this power where you have the affections and attention of your children, until you die,

whether you like it or not, and there is a high calling as fathers because you imprint in your children – and your attitude towards, authority, your attitude towards women, your regard for God and the Church, you have the power to imprint your children and grace them for life, These are terrifying responsibilities, and I pray and hope you get to learn and be shaped in these as you know God – The Father more intimately.

So once again, wishing you a happy father’s day, you mean a lot to each of your families, and even as you are present and participate in our church and the other Rhythms of our church like GCs & DNA, I am sure, what you model and display means a lot to other younger parents or like me future to-be parents.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to[a] one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’[b] 22 But the father said to his servants,[c] ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

So, now Let’s get to the passage for today, and start with the context of this passage, In the Gospel account of Luke, Jesus after appointing his 12 deciples, He starts his journey towards Jerusalem, and in this long Journey, he displays his public ministry and mission to the people around him, this is accompanied by amazing miracles and parables,

And as He journeyed, all of Jesus’s miracles and parables drew a lot of attention from the Jews, tax collectors, Pharisees, and the scribes. If you read the first 2 verses at the beginning of Luke 15: 1-2, you get to see the latest interaction

15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

So as jesus revealed himself to his disciples and started showcasing who he is to publically to the people, the Pharisees were constantly trying to provoke him to say something wrong, to get him and persecute him, because when Jesus was healing the sick and teaching the people in parables they were not finding anything that could allow them to persecute Jesus for saying somethign in conlfict with scripture or the Roman empire.

But here, uniquely and astonishingly, you see the Pharisees are condemning Jesus because he received sinners. Who are these sinners that Jesus received? The outcasts of that time: Tax Collectors, Prostitutes, Lepers. This interaction is unique because Jesus shares 3 parables and through them responds to the Pharisees. He doesn’t rebuke them; he dialogues with them.

So the rest of the passage, Jesus talks about 3 parables, which are a response to the accusations laid down by the Pharisees and the scribes, and to also address the hardness and indifference of their hearts towards the sinners and the outcast.

In the first parable, The Lost Sheep, we learn that the shepherd went after 1 out of 100. In the parable of The Lost Coin, we learn that the woman sought 1 out of 10. In the parable of The Lost Son, we see the father looking for 1 out of 2. A core theme in all the parables is that every single lost sheet, lost coin, and lost son is important.

And Jesus, as he shares the parable of the Prodigal son, it’s his longest parable in the gospels, and in some studies it also shows that this is the most well-known as well, possibly because of such relatable themes of the relationship between a son and his father.

Let us now explore the different Themes in the passage as we work through the passage verse by verse, in the v11-12

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 

So here is a man who had 2 sons, and the younger of the sons asked his father to give him the share of property that was going to come to him, and the father divided the property and shared it with the son. The elder son usually would get 2/3rd and the younger son would get 1/3.

During those days, it’s not common to ask for inheritance upfront, a father could either grant the inheritance before or after his death, but it was usually done after, but The younger son asked for a special exception, He wanted his share while his father was still alive,

from the father’s perspective, it is an act calling for separation from him, it implied that he wished his father dead. Even though the father knew that the son asked for his inheritance out of his selfishness and foolish desires, yet, the father divided his portion and gave it to his son.

v13-16

13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to[a] one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

As we see from verses 13-16, Now that the son had gotten what he asked for, He collected all that he had, and Left, He probably went to a far of country to live independently, without the restraints and rules of living in his Father’s home, He went to a far away lands which is to say, He gave into his desires and tendencies, and pursued it into a land far off from his home, where he wasted his fortune in the indulgences of his sin, he wasted it on Harlots and lived a life devoid of the religious practices he ought to live as a Jew. Basically he lives his life away from his Jewish community into a Gentile land.

He squandered it all, recklessly, and he lost all that his father had given to him.

Not only did He display utter disregard for his father by asking him for his inheritance, he failed to steward his inheritance, and he misused his property recklessly, in luxury and in sin, and when there was a famine in the land, he began to be in need.

It’s not that the famine occurred because he spent all his money, but he was affected by the famine that came into the land. For us, it would be the equivalent of a recession, where there is a high risk of losing jobs and livelihoods, and if you do lose it, then it helps if you have stewarded your money to help you in times of need. So since the younger son exhausted his money, during the famine, he began to be in need.

You can imagine how much he fell off from the life he enjoyed, that He accepted a job from the citizens of the country, who possibly is a Gentile, and the job he got was to feed the pigs. He accepted this job !! For any righteous Jew, this would be unacceptable, offensive, and outright undoable, but driven by the need and hunger, he accepted to do this Job,

The word used to describe this verse is the same that is used to describe Husbands cleaving to their wives, in Matt. This is to show the utter desperation that the famine led the younger son to.

Also, the status of the job he accepted to do, to feed pigs, you can imagine the outrage, the shudder to the listeners of this parable, could there be anything that he could do which was more deplorable than this?

And yet, his condition did not get better; he longed for the food of the pigs, he longed to be fed with the pods that were meant for the pigs to be eaten.

so He rebelled against his father, He disobeyed and lived a life of Sin, He is in immense need and has been doing the detestable work of feeding the pigs and he is paid so poorly that while he is in the pig pen, he longs that he would be fed with the Pods of the pigs!!

His state is reflective of the state of a sinner, living in his sin, reaping the consequences of his sin.

v17-20,

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

Then in v17, He came to himself, it is here where He begins his return to the father, it starts with coming to his senses, and admitting his guilt and sin,

Even though he is still driven by hunger and a want to be fed, in his misery and desperation, he thinks of his Father, he practises what he wants to tell his father, so that he will be accepted back as a servant.

How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’

In his speech, he doesn’t justify his sin; he plainly confesses and repents of his wrongdoing. In his confession, he knows what right he has to go back to his father, so he asks for a place amongst his hired servants.

20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’[b] 22 But the father said to his servants,[c] ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

And as he came to the father, while he was a long way off, the father saw him. He felt compassion and ran. The father waited for his son; he never stopped looking for him. This is amazing. The father is not running to meet a son who is coming back from achieving something that would make his family proud; this father ran for the son who rebelled and lived a reckless life.

If you imagine the father running, he may be wearing a long robe, and as he is running, he is exposing the lower part of his legs. When people witness this crazy father running towards his son, it is culturally inappropriate and shameful. So the father ran, embraced, and kissed his son repeatedly to show his unconditional acceptance of his son.

Here is a Father who kept watch and ran towards his Lost Son

Then, you see in v21, the son said to him, what he had planned in v18,

“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

The father probably didn’t even hear this, he didn’t let him finish, and even before that the father calls our to his servants and says “bring quickly the best robe & put it on him, and Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and Let us eat and celebrate, For this my son was dead, and is alive again, He was lost and is found.”

The Father commands his servants to honor his son—the best robe, the best ring, the best feast!

The best robe for the returned son is a sign of dignity and honor, proof of the prodigal’s acceptance back into the family. The ring for the son’s hand is a sign of authority and sonship. The sandals for his feet are a sign of his not being a servant, as servants did not wear shoes.

The father does not question his son or lecture him; instead, he joyfully forgives him and receives him back into fellowship.

What a picture of God’s love and grace! God’s heart is full of compassion for His children; He stands ready to welcome the returning sinner back home with joyous celebration.

The father kept watch for his wandered son,

Here is a Father who embraced his lost son and restored his identity

The father celebrated in the fellowship of his son, who was dead but now alive, who was lost but now found.

25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

Now, his older son, who was working in the field, heard the sound of the celebration and asked a servant what was this all about, When the servant said to him, your brother is back, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he received him back safe and sound, He was angry and did not go in,

He felt like the joyful reception of his younger brother was an insult to his obedience and faithfulness.

The older son’s words and actions reveal several things about him:

1. His relationship with his father was based on work and merit. He points out to his father that he has always been obedient as he’s been “slaving away”; thus, he deserves a party—he has earned it.
2. He despises his younger brother as undeserving of the father’s favor.
3. He does not understand grace and has no room for forgiveness. In fact, the demonstration of grace toward his brother makes him angry. His brother does not deserve a party.
4. He has disowned the prodigal as a brother, referring to him as “this son of yours” (verse 30). 5) He thinks his father is stingy and unfair: “You never gave me even a young goat” (verse 29).

The father’s words are corrective in several ways:

1. His older son should know that their relationship is not based on performance: “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours” (Luke 15:31).
2. His older son should accept his brother as part of the family. The father refers to the prodigal as “this brother of yours” (verse 32).
3. His older son could have enjoyed a party any time he wanted, but he never utilized the blessings at his disposal.
4. Grace is necessary and appropriate: “We had to celebrate” (verse 32).

The younger son struggled with rebellion, wanting to pursue selfish desires, and the older son struggled with self-righteousness. Both of them longed and desired autonomy and entitlement.

In the story, both sons fall short of what it means to enjoy the company and fellowship of the father. Both of them thought they deserved better than what they had in the companion of the father.

The father went after both sons

The father reminded the sons of their identity

It cost the father to accept them back,

32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

Here is a Father who paid the price to restore his sons through shame and by losing his property.

Hello, everyone…. a warm welcome to all of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you all can see a slight change in the preaching roster, I will be praying that God’s word really encourages you to see His glory.

So we’ve spent around 2 months now studying the book of Job in a series called “God’s blessing in Suffering”, to be honest, it is not an easy book to ready, when you read it in isolation it makes you weary, but god had a purpose to having this book in the bible, He is sovereign and sees us in our suffering.

Now let’s recap what has happened until now. Here we have Job, a man from the Land of Oz, He had 7 sons and 3 daughters, He had 7000 sheep, 3000 camel, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, he was the greatest in the land of east. a man that was blameless and upright in God’s sight, when scripture says Job was blameless it doesn’t mean that he was without Sin, it means that amongst his peers he was beyond reproach, that he was a man of integrity in his faith, family and business.

But what happens next is an ongoing conversation between God and Satan in God’s courts in the presence of the sons of God,

The Lord said to satan, “From where have you come ?”

Satan answered and said, “ From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down it. And God said to satan Have you considered my servant Job? There is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from Evil.

Satan then goes on to accuse God that, Job serves God for no reason he is a man who is blessed in every side, from his family to his possessions, and then Satan challenges God, to touch all that he has and take it away from him, and He will curse you to his face. And God permits satan to touch all that Job has, but not to harm Job.

Then in the blink of an eye, Job loses everything. He loses his wealth, his possessions, his servants, and his children.

How do you respond to such a drastic loss, all in a day? How did Job respond? He blesses the name of the Lord, he humbly breaks out in praise. He said, “ Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Then God, yet again, continuing the dialogue between him and Satan, witnessed Job’s faith, said to satan in his courts, Have you considered my servant Job? He still holds fast to his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.

Satan replied: Skin for skin! all that a man has, He will give for his life, but stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to his face. & the Lord said, Behold, he is in your hands: Only spare his life. & Satan went about and struck Job with sores, from the top of his head to the tip of his toe.

Then his friends Eliphaz- the temanite, biildad-the shuhite, and Zophar-the naamathite came to visit him, to show him sympathy and comfort him. “When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.”

Then there is this dialogue between Job and his friends, and most of the rest of the book continues with that.

Job 3 – Job’s Lament

After seven days of silence, Job finally speaks. He doesn’t curse God… but he does curse the day he was born. He wishes he’d never existed. His pain is so raw that he feels life itself is meaningless. He is troubled in his spirit, and you can see he longs for rest, but trouble comes.

Job 4–5 – Eliphaz Speaks

Eliphaz is the first of Job’s friends to respond. He tries to comfort Job. He also kind of provokes Job, who had instructed many during their time of weakness, but now, when calamity has struck him, he is impatient and dismayed. His main comfort to Job is that he must’ve sinned.

In Eliphaz’s response, there is an idea that good people always get blessings, and bad people get punishment. He persuades Job to pay heed to his advice because he has searched all of this out, and he knows that this is true.

Job 6–7 – Job Replies

Job then answers and says that his complaint is just, when weighing his suffering, it far outweighs the very sands of the earth,

Jobs’ friends don’t get it, He accuses his friends of offering cold comfort. He acknowledges that his pain is too heavy, and in his own awareness, he mentions that his unrestrained speech is from the anguish of his spirit and the bitterness of his soul.

He begins to question why God would even bother creating him if life is going to be this painful.

Job 8 – Bildad Speaks

Bildad takes it up a notch. He’s more blunt than Eliphaz. He says, “God doesn’t pervert justice. If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.” Ouch.

He urges Job to seek God, plead with God for mercy, repent, and return to God. He tries to become an advocate of God that God will not reject a blameless man, and that god will restore Joy in his life.

His response lacks compassion, or just plain awareness of the pain that Job is going through, so his comforting thought may sound right, probably brutal for Job, who is on the receiving end of it.

Job 9–10 – Job’s Deep Questions

Job responds with anguish and confusion. He acknowledges that God is great and powerful… but he wonders, how can a man be in the right before God? He doesn’t see how it’s fair. He says there is no arbiter between him and God, and wants God to take his rod away and let not the very thought of God terrify him.

He pleads with God: “Why did you create me only to crush me?” It’s raw. It’s honest. And it’s incredibly human. He wants God to leave him alone so that he can find a few days of cheer before he dies.

In short:
Job is grieving and questioning.
His friends are blaming and preaching.
And the tension is building about the understanding of suffering, repentance, God’s mercy, and Justice.
“Now we come to Job 11, where Zophar, the third friend, speaks.

Current chapter

Zophar, the third friend of Job, responds to Job’s cry. He is probably the youngest and theologically the most rigid.

Zophar’s response to Job

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
2 “Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and a man full of talk be judged right?
3 Should your babble silence men, and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
4 For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in God’s eyes.’
5 But oh, that God would speak and open his lips to you,
6 and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

Here based on what Job said, it feels like Zophar is offended by Job’s complaints. He has zoned out and loses track listening to Job’s lengthy replies and calls it a multitude of words and babble.

He feels like the goal of Jobs’ complaints was to speak against God and to silence men.

Zophar shows no compassion to the remarkable suffering endured by Job, he believes that Job said that he is pure and clean in God’s eyes.

But to be honest, Job doesn’t claim anywhere that he is pure, in Job 9: 20 you can see Job says, though I am blameless, He would prove me perverse. He meant it as the impossible task of defending himself before God in terms of Justice,

However, for us who have the benefit of reading Job in its entirety, we know that it is God who says that Job is blameless and upright, there is none like him.

Then Zophar continues to address what he believes is Job’s incorrect understanding of his standing before God. He says, “ God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.”

Such harsh and condeming words from Zophar to job, This actually touches the theme of all of Job’s friends replies, where they associate Job’s suffering with his spiritual standing before God, and so the tension is building between them where the third time in last few chapters one of job’s friends is going to say almost the same thing they have been contending with him, that he has been having some secret sin in his life which he has not repented off, which has caused him all the suffering.

Zophar’s rebuke lacks empathy and compassion. You would hope that when you are suffering, the words of a friend are measured and filled with Grace !! We show love by empathizing with the seasons of celebration and allowing ourselves to feel broken with our friends in their seasons of heartache.

As Paul writes in Romans 12:15
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 

Even Jesus Wept, along with Mary and Martha, when Lazarus died. even though Jesus promised that Lazarus’ sickness would not result in death, and that he purposed it for the benefit of all of us to see his work and glory. Yet, when he met Martha and Mary, he wept with them in their mourning.

John 11:35 – Jesus Wept.

There is a tension between their understanding of God’s justice and the expression of God’s mercy.

Now let’s see what happens next from v7-9

7 “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
8 It is higher than heaven–what can you do? Deeper than Sheol–what can 21you know?
9 Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.

Romans 11:33-34
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and
knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!

In Psalm 139, you get to see a similar description of God’s presence, where the psalmist says,

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, [1] you are there.9If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,10even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

He then proceeds to describe in human terms the length and breadth and depth of God’s wisdom. When Zophar says What can you do? & what can you know? He is challenging the limits of our understanding of God,

So yes, God’s power and presence are limitless, His wisdom is vast and beyond our measurement. There are mysteries of God that exist beyond our comprehension, our understanding is finite.

Then he goes on to say,

10 If he passes through and imprisons and summons the court, who can turn him back?

11 For he knows worthless men; when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?

12 But a stupid man will get understanding when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man!

Here, Zophar states that God has the ultimate authority in calling a court and presiding a hearing to judge and possibly imprison. Who can stop him? again a rhetoric,

Now here is where it is interesting, Zophar is presenting all these attributes of God, whilst passing a judgment on Job himself for his bitter lament. Although Zophar’s understanding of God’s mysteries is right, He has misused the theological truths to judge, shame, and guilt Job for his complaints.

Here he says, God knows the worth of man or the worthlessness of man,

when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it? Implying that Job here in question is the worthless man, and that He is suffering because of some iniquity, He is also responding to Job’s complaints because he feels Job is asking God not to consider his iniquities, and give him an easy way out.

Because, according to his simplistic understanding of God’s justice, everyone is dealt for their sins and they are dealt less than what they deserve, there is no room for understanding God’s mercy in light of his justice.

But in light of the Gospel, this truth of God extracting from us less than what we deserve is a display of God’s steadfast love.

Psalm 103:10-13

He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

Even Paul prays for the Ephesians that they would get the understanding of the limitlessness of God’s love towards them,

Ephesians 3:18-19

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

He then plainly calls Job dumb & stupid, that he will never understand the things of God, that he will get understanding when a wild donkey’s colt is born as a man.

And offers Job his ultimate solution as the answer to his misery. Let’s read from v13-20

13 “If you prepare your heart, you will stretch out your hands toward him.

14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not injustice dwell in your tents.

15 Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure and will not fear.

16 You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away.

17 And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning.

18 And you will feel secure, because there is hope; you will look around and take your rest in security.

19 You will lie down, and none will make you afraid; many will court your favor.

20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last.”

Zophar echoes the same words that Eliphaz and Bildad spoke, the answer is easy. Job should simply repent and seek the mercy and goodness of God.

He suggests that repentance would lead to restoration, where Job would forget his misery and would remember it as a moment in the past that had by.

He mentions that there is hope if Job repents of his Sins, this act of repentance will bring him rest and security

So the underlying themes of God’s Justice & mercy we see in Zophar’s understanding and also all the other Job’s friends’ understanding are that,

God is wise and omnipresent, he renders to those what they deserve based on their sins.

But he is merciful in the sense that when Job repents, God will restore his life, and his misery will be no more.

He continues to say how repentance will bring him restoration and security, that he will not dread sleep again.

Strangely, he ends with a warning to Job, it’s almost like a threat, that there is still time to repent, for the wicked, who is implied to be Job, and once the way of escape is lost, then the only hope for the wicked is death.

There are truths in Zophar’s understanding of God’s mysteries, but incorrect application of God’s justice. His assuption that Job’s security would lie in the repentance of his sins could not be farther from the truth of the gospel, we don’t come to God because we repented, we come to God because of what he has already done for us and what we get to enjoy as free outpouring of his grace towards us.

So, what are some takeaways from this passage for us?

Lament freely to God

If you are suffering, Lament, Lament is an outpouring of our hearts to God. Maybe it comes naturally to you, maybe it doesn’t, but it is an expression of our true emotions. I would go on to say that Godly lament is worship unto God.

If we don’t take our lamentations to God, the burdens of our suffering and pain will take us to other places. We will take our lament to relationships, habits, bitterness, and anger. Take your lament to God, don’t let it take you away from God.

We have the gift of Psalms to see a few people in history lament to God. Not all Psalms end with trust in God, there are 2 that just end as an expression of Anguish

Psalm 22, we hear David’s anguish: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry out by day but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent. Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. In you, our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: ‘He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.’”

Psalm 13,

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

2 How long must I take counsel in my soul

and have sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;

light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,

4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”

lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love;

My heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

6 I will sing to the Lord,

because he has dealt bountifully with me. (NLT)

Complaint to God the right place to complaint, and may be you are already bringing you complaints, groanings and laments to God, and are waiting for an answer from God,

continue to be at God’s throne of grace, He will not leave you, he will give you strength to endure through suffering. The lord is near to those who are brokenhearted, and cling to the promise from Matthew 5, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Be at it, we may not understand the manifold wisdom of God, but we can trust and rest in his steadfast love and hold on to his promise of Grace in our time of need.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16)

Listen without judging:

There is an insight here, when Zophar responds to Job, he is responding to a completely different conversation in his head, as compared to Job, his response is filled with Judgement. All of Job’s friends are trying to wrestle with his complaining, and they don’t have the answers themselves.

If you have friends or family coming to lament to you, we also would not have all the answers to suffering like Jobs’ friends, because there is unexplainable suffering in the world

The process of listening to someone’s suffering and lament can easily wear us down, it is emotionally a heavy weight to carry, and we can get into the state of projecting our framework of life onto the other person.

Every time I would have my wife, Jubi, come to me and share any of her troubles, I would often try to fix it, because I would have a certain framework in my mind through which I would look at her troubles.

We might not understand suffering, but keep coming to God in your suffering. And if you are being a faithful friend to those who are suffering, bring them to God’s throne of grace.

Paul writes in Romans 12:15

15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Lean on the finished work of the cross

As you find your posture in the midst of suffering, whether you are the person suffering or you are the person listening to the sufferings of a friend,

know that suffering is not directly caused by your Sin, it may be but God does not intend to permit suffering in your life as a way to even the scales of your sins.

Jesus died for us on the cross to give us something better.

Titus 3:4-7

4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

in Jesus, it has already been finished for us on the cross, where he took on the penalty of our sin, he took on the dread of our iniquities, and the retribution for our sins, so that he could restore our relationship with God.

1 Peter 2:24

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

As you think and reflect on today’s passage, we can take a moment to Lament, pray for our friends who need encouragement right now

Good morning church! A warm welcome to all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. As a church we’ve been going through a series titled God’s blessing in suffering from the book of Job. For many of us, this series title seems like an unusual one because we’re not used to hearing blessing & suffering in the same sentence.

We either say that we’re blessed when things are going great for us & on the other hand we say that we’re suffering when things are going really bad for us. It’s simply not natural for us to say that we’re blessed especially in the face of tragedy.

And yet the Bible from Genesis to Revelation tells us something quite different. It portrays suffering as a good thing in the life of the believer. Suffering is the expected norm for believers.

And if suffering is the expected norm & if suffering is truly a blessing, then we desperately need to be instructed on how to respond to suffering in our lives and in the lives of others. If you’re like me, I need a lot of help in knowing how to respond to suffering in my own life & in the lives of others.

And that’s why we’re glad that we’re going through the book of Job because it’s gradually beginning to unravel God’s blessing in suffering. So we’re going through it chapter by chapter – and we’ve arrived at Chapter 12 today. But before we proceed, I’d love for us to pray and ask God to help us with this.

Let’s recap the context to Chapter 12. How did we get here? In the first couple of Chapters we understand that Job who was a faithful, committed man unto the Lord is met with the most extreme kind of personal tragedies that we wish wouldn’t happen to anyone.

On a single day, he loses everything that he had – his thriving business, his enormous wealth, his health & worst of all his precious children.

We get to know that this extreme personal tragedy was not caused by something that Job did, but a result of a conference that took place in heaven where Satan challenges God & tells God “If you take away all that Job possesses, everything that is near and dear to him, he will be left with no option but to curse you to your face”.  And so what follows for the rest of the book is an examination to see whether Job actually curses and abandons God.

And as Job’s processing this extreme tragedy, his 3 closest friends – Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar come to meet him & comfort him. But instead of comforting him, they resort to condemning him & are in this desperate attempt to prove that Job’s suffering is directly caused by his own or his children’s sins. 

Last week we read through Zophar’s speech and that was probably the most brutal & harshest of the three friends. He said Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves (Job 11:6) – In other words, he is saying that Job deserves more suffering for his sin. It’s only due to God’s mercy which is why he is suffering what he is suffering. Otherwise, he deserved much more according to Zophar. And so today’s passage is Job’s response to what Zophar said.

As it has been our practice, we’ll first try to understand it from Job’s perspective verse by verse, and then in the end we’ll try to bring it together with a fuller, complete biblical perspective which will be our takeaways from today’s passage:

1. Job’s rejects his friends’ condescending approach (v1-3)

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 “No doubt you are the people,
    and wisdom will die with you.
3 But I have understanding as well as you;
    I am not inferior to you.
    Who does not know such things as these?

V2: Job is basically telling his friends “you guys think that only your perspective matters, you guys think that only you have wisdom and hence have pronounced final judgment over my suffering”.

V3: Job tells his friends “But even I’ve got understanding just like you. Even I’ve got a mind. I’m not inferior or lesser to you when it comes to wisdom”.

As you can see here, the problem in Job’s friends was not just what they said but also how they approached it. The problem was not just in their  content speech, but also in their approach.

They’ve been condescending & patronizing toward Job. They’ve been snobbish in how they’ve broached the subject with Job. While speaking to Job, they’ve had this air of superiority. Almost like they’ve already figured out everything in Job’s heart & life & hence, they’ve pronounced judgment on him saying that he’s hiding some secret sin which is why this severe, intense suffering has come upon him.

And there should be an instruction here for us as well. One of the most unhelpful ways to approach someone who is suffering, is to approach them with unsubstantiated assumptions about their situation & then force down those assumptions without seeking any clarity from them. There are a couple of dangers in doing this:

• We will inappropriately & immaturely position ourselves in the place of God as though we’re all knowing – as though we know everything about another person’s life & situation
• We build a wall in our conversation with the suffering person because they’ll easily sense us being condescending & patronizing. Even if we’re saying something that’s right and true, it won’t go through to the other person because we’re approaching it with condescension.

But not only did he reject his friends’ condescending approach,

2.  Job rejects his friends’ theology of convenience (V4-6)

4 I am a laughingstock to my friends;
    I, who called to God and he answered me,
    a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
5 In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune;
    it is ready for those whose feet slip.
6 The tents of robbers are at peace,
    and those who provoke God are secure,
    who bring their god in their hand.

Job’s point in V5 is that it’s simply convenient for those who aren’t experiencing suffering (those who are in a comfortable place in life) to pass snap judgments and despise those who are going through suffering. In other words, Job is telling them “it’s easy for you to say all this, because you’re simply not suffering”.

It’s convenient for them because of their comfortable situation but not just that, it’s also convenient for them because they are not willing to wrestle with the dilemma of suffering that exists in the world. V4 & V6 describes that dilemma. V4 – Job talks about how the just and blameless are made a laughingstock. Job who lived a faithful life has now become the joke among his friends, he’s become the joke of the town. On the other hand, in V6 Job talks about how the wicked are safe & secure. They spend all their time rebelling against God but they seem to have no problems at all.

Job’s friends were not willing to deal with the question of “Why do bad things happen to the faithful?” & “Why do good things happen to the unfaithful?” They’re not willing to deal with this dilemma of suffering. They would rather stick to a theology of convenience which says “good things happen to the faithful, bad things happen to the unfaithful”. Job rejects this theology of convenience.

Job started by rejecting their condescending approach & their theology of convenience & now he moves on to proposing a couple of things in his case against God.

3. Job proposes creation as a witness to God’s sovereignty (V7-12)

7 “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
    the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
8 or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;[b]
    and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9 Who among all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every living thing
    and the breath of all mankind.
11 Does not the ear test words
    as the palate tastes food?
12 Wisdom is with the aged,
    and understanding in length of days.

In V7 & 8, Job is telling his friends to inquire of animals, birds, plants and fishes (every living creature), and they’ll all bear witness to the fact that it’s God who governs and controls everything that happens in this universe.

V9 – Job asks a rhetorical question if there’s any creature who’s not aware of God’s sovereignty? Sovereignty means “God does as He pleases”. And so Job is basically telling his friends that if they want to know A to Z in the theology of God’s sovereignty, pay close attention to animals, birds, plants and fishes & you’ll see how God governs and controls their lives. 

Jesus says something similar in Matt 6 when he refers to birds : 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Birds don’t have storage cabinets & drawers like us but yet they are faithfully taken care of by God.

In V10-12 – Job is telling his friends that everything that happens in our lives is held in the hands of God. And he’s asking his friends why they’ve not yet understood or accepted this aspect of God’s sovereignty yet? He’s basically telling them that all other creatures understand and accept, but why are they struggling to do so?

So the first proposal is how creation itself witness to God’s sovereignty, but also there is a second proposal

4. Job proposes an unlimited scope to God’s sovereignty (V13-25)

In the next 12-13 verses, Job goes on to explain to his friends how there’s no limit or boundary to God’s sovereignty. “God does as He pleases and there is no limit or boundary to that”. Job’s friends have only spoken about God’s justice & God’s wisdom in a very narrow manner so far, and Job is basically telling them that they’ve not even scratched the surface.

13 “With God[c] are wisdom and might;
    he has counsel and understanding.

God is omnipotent (all-powerful) & omniscient (all knowing). And we can add omnipresent (present everywhere) to the list & that’s the combination we’re talking about. Who can stand against the power of this God? Who can advise God and tell him to do things differently?

14 If he tears down, none can rebuild;
    if he shuts a man in, none can open.
15 If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
    if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.

That’s the unbelievable power of our God. Whatever God’s determined will happen exactly in the same fashion as He’s determined and in the exact time as He’s determined.

16 With him are strength and sound wisdom;
    the deceived and the deceiver are his.

It’s not just those who are deceived, God’s sovereignty is so far reaching that even someone who is actively deceiving and rebelling against God is also governed and controlled by God.

Though God is not making them deceive or sin – that’s their own responsibility but yet in some way God still governs them. We see that right throughout biblical history where unbelieving, pagan rulers doing terrible things have been governed by God.

Let’s take Pharaoh for example. See what it says in Romans 9:17-18:

17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

Pharaoh was no believer. Throughout his lifetime, he was known to be an incredibly powerful & cruel king, and yet he was a pawn in the hands of God accomplishing God’s purposes. He was raised up by God to be an example of God’s judgment over wickedness, and Israel became an example of God’s mercy and salvation.

17 He leads counselors away stripped,
    and judges he makes fools.
18 He looses the bonds of kings
    and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
19 He leads priests away stripped
    and overthrows the mighty.
20 He deprives of speech those who are trusted
    and takes away the discernment of the elders.
21 He pours contempt on princes
    and loosens the belt of the strong.
22 He uncovers the deeps out of darkness
    and brings deep darkness to light.
23 He makes nations great, and he destroys them;
    he enlarges nations, and leads them away.
24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a trackless waste.
25 They grope in the dark without light,
    and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.

It’s the same repeated theme in these verses. All those who are considered to be wise & strong can be reduced to nothing by God. And so that’s the unlimited scope to God’s sovereignty. God can truly do whatever He pleases.

So far it seems like Job’s on the right track because most of what he says is true about God’s sovereignty. God is indeed infinitely powerful and infinitely wise. There isn’t a limit or a boundary to what He can do.

But here’s where I think Job gets it wrong, he’s saying all these things about God’s sovereignty not out of worship to God. He’s not saying these things because he marvels at the infinite power and wisdom of God.

He’s saying all these things about God’s sovereignty to back his claim of God being a bully toward him. Although God is sovereign, Job feels that God lacks care and purpose in the way in which He exercises it.

It almost seems like Job’s saying “God, You’re sovereign but not caring. God, You’re sovereign but not purposeful. Your ways seem harsh & erratic”. Job views God like this megalomaniac king who wants power and control and uses it for His own self interests. In Job’s mind, God’s ways appear to be arbitrary, random and fickle like many of the pagan gods of ancient times. But who has the guts to question God? Who dares to challenge God?

And even as I say this, I know that this is not just a feeling that is limited to Job. Many times when we feel like God’s not answering our desperate cries for help, we can struggle to believe that God cares for us deeply.

“Though God has all the power in the world, why is God not giving me relief? Maybe God doesn’t care enough”. Those are the feelings in our hearts. How do we navigate through this?

Romans 8:28-30

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

This is a very loved passage but we often forget that this passage is actually written in the context of suffering. It’s written to encourage suffering believers. Just a few verses earlier in V18, Paul says that these earthly sufferings we experience are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed when Jesus returns.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good

The “good” in this context doesn’t not refer to earthly comfort but conformity to Christ (v29), closer fellowship with God, bearing good fruit for the kingdom, and final glorification (v30).

God’s sovereignty isn’t random, arbitrary or fickle. It’s carefully thought out and planned since eternity past, couched with love and care for those who are called by God. Christians can be assured that all things work together for good.

Matt 10:29-30

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?[i] And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Sparrows were the smallest of creatures and the penny was one of the least valuable Roman coins. And yet God faithfully rules and cares for these sparrows which are insignificant in the eyes of the world. And if God does that for sparrows, will he not care for His own people? If that’s not enough, Jesus tells us that God even knows and keeps count of the number of hairs that we have on our heads! God cares deeply for us.