The Mystery of Christ: Deserted Job 23:1-9, 16-17
- You might be surprised how often in the biblical narratives that people feel utterly abandoned by God.
- Psalm 22:1 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.
- Psalm 13:1-2 “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?”
- Matthew 27:46 “…Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying,…My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
- The feeling of being abandoned by God is something to be expected, not unusual, especially in times of deep trouble. Why is this?
- 1 Peter 1 3:7 “These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
- At some point, at the end of your present trial, Christ will reveal himself. In other words, you will experience good tidings, laughter, play and dance. Because you remained strong in the struggle, you will praise, glorify and honor the author of your happiness when it returns.
- So we are to understand and experience our present suffering as having meaning. It may seem meaningless at the moment, but you can create meaning for it in your waiting, knowing that if you remain faithful, Christ, the good tidings of life, will be revealed and experienced once again. Joy comes in the morning, the Scriptures tell us. And it is a joy unspeakable, a joy not possible prior to the struggle. This is what Paul said last week, you may remember about the mystery of Christ. God is with us. That will be enough, but we must remain faithful for our struggle to have meaning.
- Remember in Genesis 18-21, God promises the barren Sarah that she will bear Abraham a son, but ten years pass before the promise is fulfilled. Then their son is born and he is named, Isaac, when means laughter. “Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” Do not abandon God in your struggle. You will come out on the other side stronger, laughing.
- A question to ask in our struggle is how can I turn this suffering into something meaningful, for myself, for my family, my community, my Church, my people, my nation?
- Job finally arrived at seeing he suffering as meaningful but not before he experienced what felt like abandonment by God, which, as we said, is not uncommon in our suffering. Let’s look at the stages that Job goes through in dealing with his personal trial.
- He comes with a bitter complaint. The hand of God feels heavy. His is a bitter complaint, because he is an upright, faithful man, yet he is enduring great suffering.
- If I could just talk to the head man, I could get this straightened out. I would lay out my case, make the best of argument and in, effect, I would change God’s mind, Job says.
- But he cannot find God so that he might deliver his complaint. God seems absent. If only I knew where to find him, I would go to his dwelling.
- What is Job doing here at first? He is accuses life. This beautiful, awesome gift called life, that he is granted in the great Mystery of existence, he accuses it and demands that life justify itself. Like we have any right to accuse life! This is a negative position. It leads nowhere. We have no right to accuse life. We take the good days and the bad days. And when the bad days come, we remain faithful and know that on the other side of the struggle, Christ will reveal himself and we will be blessed. The premise that we called to life by is one that affirms life. We join Job with his words from last week in response to his wife. Remember his wife says to Job in his suffering, why do you maintain your integrity, just curse God. Job replies with much wisdom and from a place of affirmation, how can I accept the good in life if I am not prepared to accept the trouble that comes. Life is a throw of the dice, and this is where life has taken me at this point.
- Intellectually, even spiritually, in his soul, Job understands this. Job says that if he is going to accept the good things in life, he must accept the troubles, too. Besides, the Scriptures say, as Jesus says, God makes the sun rise on the evil and the good, makes it rain on the just and unjust. But oh, the emotional and physical pain of our suffering lead us to a place where we want to stand before God and justify ourselves, to make our case, to plead for relief.
- Job says if I could just get to God I would state my case, and who could oppose me? Job feels like an injustice has been done to him, even though intellectually, as he said last week, I know it is part of life to accept the good days with the days of trouble. Yet, the pain and suffering are so deep, that he wants to negotiate relief.
- The upright can establish innocence. Job maintains his innocence all along. Good for him. Because, just because we suffer, does not mean we have done something wrong. That is poor theology, and unhealthy for the soul.
- I go all directions, and God is not there. Job doesn’t find a judge, because God is not the correct judge in this case. This is not God’s case to hear. Life brings good. It brings bad. That is not on God. Life is a beautiful, awesome, sometimes fearful gift, but we must engage it with the strength of a lion.
- Job says, “Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,by the thick darkness that covers my face.” What does it mean not to be silenced in the darkness? Job says he will roar, and remain upright, innocence and expectant in his struggle.
- He will affirm life
- He will remain faithful to his work, to his responsibilities
- His suffering will make him stronger
- Someone once said, it will all be okay in the end. And if it’s not okay, that means it is not the end yet. God’s promise ups that one and says, joy comes in the morning. Endure the struggle, affirm life even in the pain, endure with faith, and the good tidings of the Christ await.
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