Sermon for February 26

Job 38:1-7

Job 38:1-7 

English Standard Version 

  The book of Job is long and complex, and it covers a range of emotions.  Through it all, Job is pleading for an audience with God, to learn about the reasons why he is suffering.  

  In the end of the book, Job receives an audience with God, but it doesn't go the way he expects it to.  Rather than have a courtroom like setting where Job can plead his case with God, Job is confronted with God in the fullness of God's majesty, and God begins to describe to Job how God was active when the foundations of the earth were laid.  

  In the face of such overwhelming greatness, Job's questions shrink down, and Job realizes that perhaps God's understanding is greater than his own.

  Like Job, we're all pursuing God, and we all encounter hardships.  Like Job, we all have big questions about why some things happen, and life often doesn't make sense.  We're wondering about the reality of suffering.

  Scripture tries to give us an eternal perspective, so that we recognize that our sufferings happen in context -- and in light of eternity, our sufferings are not as tragic.  

  So we can continue to ask our big questions... but let us recognize that this side of heaven, we may not get the answers we're searching for.  May the reality of God's presence give us comfort and assurance that our trust is well-placed and that God is big enough to conquer the things that oppose us.

Job 38:1-7

Job 38:1-7 

English Standard Version 

  Like you, I have lots of questions for God.  Some of them are simple (what's the real purpose of mosquitoes?), while others are more complex (why allow the ongoing suffering of people, especially children?).  Job had questions for God.  His life had been turned upside-down, and he spends chapters and chapters in dialogue with his friends, trying to understand why these terrible things have happened.

  In the end of the book, God shows up in dramatic fashion.  "Where were you?" God asks, reminding Job that it is God who has lain the foundations of the earth and kept the sea penned up in its place.  Before the majesty and grandeur of God, what can be said?  It certainly puts our suffering in perspective as we remember that God is greater than we can imagine and can see things that we cannot -- we can trust God even when we don't understand the full reason for things, because God sees farther than we can -- God's vision stretches far beyond what our minds can grasp.

  So don't apologize for your questions, but don't let them stand in the way of your worship.  You can have both, for God is both mystery and intimate, near to us and yet dwelling in the heights of heaven.

Job 39:19-25

Job 39:19-25 

English Standard Version (ESV) 

  In God's reply to Job's questions, the reader can sense the delight God takes in creation.  Creation isn't an accident, or some hastily thrown together ingredients.  This isn't an image of God as a clockmaker who sets things in motion and then steps back to see what happens. No, rather we have an image of a God who cares deeply for creation and finds joy in the creatures that have been made.  

  And if God cares this much for the horse, and we know God clothes the flowers of the field, how much more does God care for you?  Remember how deeply loved you are.  Today, as you go about your day, notice something beautiful in creation.  Watch the leaves play in the breeze, or the squirrels run about, or the flowers show beauty to the world.  Be in awe of the intent with which God has created, and then remember that God cares enough for you to send God's only Son into the world so that you might be saved.

  All that God has done, God does with great purpose, and that purpose is born out of a great love.  This side of heaven, we will never fully understand that love, but we can try and bask in moments of wonder here on earth.

Job 38:1-7

Job 38:1-7 

English Standard Version (ESV)

  When I think of how many questions I often have, I think of God, answering Job out of a whirlwind not with answers, but with questions, with a reminder, that there is much we do not know on this side of heaven.  God is the one who has crafted the earth, who has laid the foundation and taught those stars their song.  I am much smaller then this, but I also know that this God cares for me -- that I am the lost sheep, and the Good Shepherd searches for me.  Combine our knowledge of God's sovereignty with the awareness of God's unique love that we see in the Gospels, and know that you are loved by the most powerful being in existence.  Though we may not fully understand the hows and the whys, we can trust in the goodness of God.

Job 38:1-7

Job 38:1-7
English Standard Version (ESV)

  I'm trying to make sense of all of this, and sometimes I like to open Scripture and be reminded that it just doesn't always make sense.  Job had plenty of reasons to ask big questions -- his life had been devastated and he was lost.  He asked all of his questions, but when he was confronted with the majesty of God, he suddenly didn't need those answers anymore.  God was sufficient.
  In these times, I pray that we find sufficient peace in the majesty and mystery of God.  It's not easy, what we're going through, but God is here, even if we don't fully understand it.  There is peace in knowing that the God who crafted the mountains is still reigning in heaven, and that will never change.

Job 40:4-5

Job 40:4-5
English Standard Version (ESV)

  We often tell children to listen more than they speak, because they have two ears and one mouth.  Me?  I'd just be happy if my children talked at a regular volume and didn't shout all the time! 
  We all love the sound of our own voice, and we fall into the trap of our prayer lives becoming wish lists of things God needs to do to make our lives better.  Often, what we really need to do is to learn to be still before God.  In our lives, we spend so much time posting our lives, posting our moments and thoughts on social media, shouting into the whirlwind, that we need time to be still, to let God speak to us, to be silent and listen.  How else should we expect to hear what God has to say to us?

Job 38:34-38

Job 38:34-38
English Standard Version (ESV)

  We sometimes forget to be in awe of God.  We tend to shrink God down so that we can understand God -- we take our human emotions and experience and assume that God goes through the same thing, only perfectly.  We have to do this in a way, just because we need some way to understand God.  This is part of why God came to us in the person of Jesus Christ -- so we could better understand God's love.
  But sometimes, we need to lose ourselves in awe of God.  We need to remember that God's voice can cause the rains to pour down, that his commands send lightning, that he can number the stars and count the hair on our heads.  God is so much greater than we, and it makes it all the more amazing that he loves us so.  God loves you and will never let you go, but he is also almighty and perfect and powerful and hung the sun and moon in the sky.
  Be in awe of God.  Be grateful for his love, and wonder at his mercy.

Job 38:1-11

Job 38:1-11
English Standard Version (ESV)

  This is a helpful reminder for us -- God has a much bigger perspective than we do.  God understands things from an eternal point of view, outside of time and space.  Job is asking some big questions of God, and God reminds Job that Job can only see things from a limited point of view.  God, who sees redemption that stretches beyond our lifespan, points out that he was there at the beginning of the earth.
  The upshot of this for us is that we need to trust in God.  Even when we can't fully understand or grasp what God is doing, it's vital that we trust in God.  God has promised that he has our best interests in mind, and that he will carry us through (not always around) whatever trials we face.  God will never leave or forsake us, so even when we can't see around the next corner or through the darkened channel ahead, may we remember that God's light will always shine, even in the darkest night.