the story of Job: understanding God in suffering

Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of Christ with Coffee on Ice. I am your host Ali Yost. It is a joy and honor to be here with you guys today. Happy Friday everybody, I will be so honest right now. I am exhausted. I am so tired. I have had the busiest week and I also would love to just blame it on everything else. I'm like, oh well these deadlines came up and this crept up on me and I had no idea. I think, okay, yes, I had a stressful week but also I probably could have done better with my time management and so I think that that's why now I'm so exhausted is because I just didn't pay attention to time. Does anybody relate to this? I don't know. I didn't pay attention to time and then all of a sudden like all at once I felt everything needed to be done because I thought I had all the time in the world and turns out I didn't anymore. So that's just where I'm at. I am so so so so tired but still super grateful to be here. Hopefully this coffee will help. We do have our coffee on ice. It's here. Praise God, please wake me up. And we do have our Christ. We have our word of God with us today as always. This is my Bible. We will be reading scripture today which I'm excited about. I honestly, per usual, I have an idea of what we're going to do today but I'm really excited to just see where the Lord leads us. Yeah, I read the NLT translation so when we are reading from the Bible today that is the translation that you guys will be hearing. I'm not sure. I'm like, I don't know if I like my outfit today. If I'm just being honest, okay, if you're not physically watching what I'm wearing is a blue button down with a white t-shirt underneath and then I'm wearing these really cool brown Adidas track pants which were the moment of this outfit and then trying to figure out what to pair with it. It's not hot enough. Like it's not cold enough to wear a sweater because I could totally pair this with like a really cool chunky sweater but it's definitely not warm enough to like not wear something long sleeve and so I went on Pinterest and I was just looking for some inspo and this is kind of what I got from it. I don't know, like do you guys go to Pinterest for outfit inspo? Obviously. I like go through phases where I just try to go right off of my own imagination but lately I'm like no, I'm in my Pinterest era again and so I went on Pinterest to get some inspo and I just feel like most times I do that. It looks so much better on Pinterest. You know what I mean? You're like I'm almost wearing the exact same outfit but something's off. Anyway that's kind of how I feel today. That's right. Maybe it's cute. Maybe I'm overthinking it. Also when I, you know, we just look at something for too long it like no longer looks like it anymore so I think that's what I did too much this morning as well is I looked at my outfit for too long in the mirror until it didn't even look like an outfit anymore. Sometimes I do that with my face. Do you guys ever look at your face too long where you're like who is that? Yeah I don't suggest like looking into anything for too long or we will always get in our head. Amen. I feel like that's probably applicable to a lot of things. Just don't think too much. We should definitely think. Thinking is good but if we think too much I feel like that's when we can get into a danger zone. Anyway guys I also want to share some really cool news just about the podcast in general because I just think this is so cool and to be so honest I don't really look at these things. The only things I really look at when it comes to the podcast is like well I look at our YouTube channel a lot because our YouTube channel is like so fun to me and I love looking at the comment section and just reading all of what you guys are taking away and learning and then even encouraging me and or others and it's like the best. But I don't really look at any other analytics further than that meaning like I don't look at any other charts. You know I just like to keep it simple and just hang with y'all but anyway I decided yesterday to like look more into you know analytics and numbers I guess I can't even tell you the last time I've done this but I wanted to share with you guys and this is just all Jesus okay. This is literally him it's not me it's what his spirit is doing but Christ with coffee on ice has reached 157 different countries or regions in the world. 157. A lot of them I actually don't know how to pronounce which is insane. We have Liberia, the Maldives, Mongolia, Dominica, Palestine, Haiti, Morocco, Georgia, Fiji, Albania, Saudi Arabia, Madagascar, Vietnam, Bahamas, Macedonia, Qatar, Nicaragua, Iceland, Ukraine, Lebanon, Israel, Serbia, Zimbabwe, Jamaica, Bulgaria, Estonia, Taiwan, Zambia, South Korea, El Salvador, Thailand, Turkey, Peru, Egypt, Japan, Hong Kong, Guatemala, Greece, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Croatia, Argentina, Colombia, Romania, Belgium, Hungary, Portugal, Ireland, Austria, Indonesia, Spain, Denmark, Singapore, France, Poland, Finland, Mexico, Norway, Brazil, Switzerland, Sweden, India, New Zealand, Netherlands, Philippines, South Africa, Germany, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and the United States. That wasn't even all of them you guys but that is just like so freaking cool. That is so freaking cool. Again, this has nothing to do with me but this podcast has an overall okay so I think these are the total streams played for Christ with Coffee and Ice. I don't even know how long we've been doing the podcast for a little over two years almost three years. 6,561,845 people or I guess streams because a lot of people probably keep listening so maybe that's not people. It's definitely not people but the gospel will be heard in all the nations and it's really cool that we get to be part of such a special community here on the podcast that the Lord is creating and fostering and loving and showing up for and so I actually would really just love to pray. Let's just thank Jesus for what he's doing here. Lord, Jesus, I thank you for this community. Lord, I thank you for what you're building here. Holy Spirit, I thank you that you are moving in a way that gives you all the glory. Jesus, we just ask that you have your way not only with this podcast but also with our lives. Lord, I ask that you just continue to make it known of just the example that you are and who you call us to be that we get to follow in your footsteps and become more and more like you. Jesus, help us to spread the good news and to tell people about your goodness and who you are. Let us be complete reflections of that. Lord, I pray that we are just a mirror of who you are. God, I pray that we have deeper revelation of your character today and we even get to reflect that to the world. Lord, I thank you that our lives are not promised. The timestamps on our lives are not certain. We don't know how many more days we have. Your mercies are brand new and we get to start over but we get to live today as if it is our last and I pray that in Jesus' name. I thank you that we have that opportunity to live as if today could be our last and so Lord we ask that you just convict our hearts of what that looks like. How can we be your hands and feet today Jesus? We surrender to you Lord. We love you. We fear you. We need you. Live in us today Jesus. Dwell in us. How can we be your hands and feet today Jesus? How can we stop looking at our circumstances even if it's just for a moment to see someone today? Thank you Lord that you've chosen us and we will never thank you enough for it. Thank you for saving our lives and I pray all of these things in your mighty mighty mighty beautiful beautiful name. Amen. I'm really proud of you guys. I'm really proud of you guys. I just feel your dedication to being more like Jesus. I feel it like just showing up and being more like him and loving people that way. That's what we're called to do. That's it. Like that's it. At the end of everything at the bottom of the foundation of all things like all the things that we build on this foundation that should be you know is Jesus and it's the gospel and it's the good news and it's him even past all of that. It's like getting back to that. It's just him and it's just about loving people. We only can love because he first loved us. It's about his love. That's it. It's just his love. That's all that matters today is him and his love. So anyway thanks for letting me share that with you guys. I just thought that that was really cool. I had no idea. I genuinely had no idea how much he was doing. Thank you Jesus. Okay well today again like I said I have no idea. Kind of have a little bit of an idea but I had opened randomly the book of Job which I haven't I don't know if I've entirely read the book of Job but I do this thing with Jesus most mornings where I will sometimes not always because I also am trying to like read the Bible from front to finish but sometimes I'll just open it randomly and I'll be like okay Jesus what do you have for me or like what can I learn from you? And so this morning I did that and I just randomly opened to the book of Job like honestly kind of in the middle of it. I opened up to Job chapter 36 and I just think we should read it. I just love to read it to you guys. You're welcome to join with me if you have your Bible nearby but if not I'm happy to read it to you. You guys have been loving that. It's so funny. I feel sometimes not indifferent but like sometimes I'm like do people even really like hearing me read the Bible or do they just want to you know every time I do it you guys are like I love listening to you read the Bible so I'm happy to do that. So happy to do that for you. Okay we're in the book of Job and just to give a little extra context if you guys are not familiar with the book of Job we love to go to the book of Job when we are suffering and in pain we do because it just makes us feel validated you know when we're going through a hard time and it feels like everything is being stripped from our lives. Usually the book of Job is where we go and just to know a little bit more about who Job was and his character Job was blameless. He was upright deeply reverent towards God and extremely wealthy with a big family so he's basically like the picture of someone doing life right. He was a friend of God he was obedient he feared the Lord and he had everything wealthy a beautiful big family and then there's a moment behind the scenes between God and Satan. Okay so this is I'm just kind of like summarizing the book of Job up until this point where Satan argues to God which is crazy okay Satan really has some serious he got some courage he goes to the Lord and he says Job only loves you because his life is blessed so Satan tries to convince God that the only reason that Job is like so loyal to God and has so much reverence for God and would do anything for God was because of how well off Job was and so God actually accepted that challenge or argument I should say from Satan and was like okay if that's what you really believe then you can go ahead you can make his life a living hell basically is what God said but you cannot touch a hair on his head you can't kill him you can take everything from him then go ahead I give you permission which is crazy because even in this book it shows that the enemy actually doesn't have any authority at all because anyone who already has authority would never have to go to somebody else asking for permission so it's the fact that even the enemy actually the enemy has to ask God permission to move which is a crazy concept but it's true anyone who has all authority would never have to go to another person and ask for permission so let that also be a reminder that Satan actually has no authority over your life and anything that's happening to you had to go through God first which sometimes is a hard pill for us to swallow it's not that these things have been caused by God but God allows it and he allows it because he has a plan for it he has a plan to redeem it he has a plan to actually produce something beautiful out of it to receive more glory and to actually grow us even more so God allows Job to be tested but with limits but this is the key is that Job obviously he doesn't know that this conversation happened between God and Satan okay so Job doesn't know that this conversation is happening it's just all of a sudden now his life is flipped upside down out of nowhere and you can imagine like if you're a Job or honestly like maybe you know not everything has been stripped from your life but let's say something has happened to you in your life where you almost feel like God could be punishing you where you're like wait a minute God I thought we were friends I thought we were on good terms I thought that I pleased you so if I please you why are you allowing these things to happen to me or in my life or to the people that I love and so if that is something that you felt in your life Job did I'm sure Job went through that same grieving process and confusion of like God wait I thought I knew who you were I thought that I was your friend I thought that you loved me why are you letting these things happen and the thing is is that I think another thing that's like produced out of us when we have to walk through moments like that is God could also be deconstructing maybe a false version of him that we've created in our mind that God is only pleased with us he's only happy with us we're only near to him he's only our best friend if everything is going well but the minute that things aren't going okay or things are taken from us our loved ones die unexpectedly right all of a sudden out of nowhere when you've been the healthiest person in your life you're now facing trials with your health if our definition of God being a good God is only tied to when things are going well we've created a false version of who he is in our mind and so I think that like when we go through hard hard times where it feels confusing as to why God would allow it it feels confusing of his affection for us because it's like well if you loved me why would you ever allow me to go through something like this how could you stand seeing me go through something like this it really forces us to deconstruct and rearrange how we see God is it is it that he's only good and only pleased with us if it means that good things are happening then it turns into this like reward system where it's like oh I know God's pleased with me because I'm having all of this financial breakthrough or I know God is pleased with me because I I've been thriving my life is so great and it's not that God isn't pleased with us in those moments but we also have to believe that he's the same God even in trials and tribulations and when we have to go through suffering and pain and grief and confusion we have to believe that he's also just as pleased with us if you relate to Job and you're like no I actually fear the Lord I have deep reverence for him I love him I'm obsessed with him he's my entire world you have to believe also then that God is pleased with you no matter the circumstances in your life right we've talked about having our faith in circumstances and how that is like a very um fickle not sturdy foundation so if our understanding of God being a faithful loving caring affectionate God is only based on circumstances that's also a very unsteady foundation to have your belief system of who you think God is on did that sentence make any sense um but what I'm saying is that belief system of who you think God is isn't it it's not gonna last if it's based off of circumstances if you believe God is only good when things are good you're going to be confused about who he is all the time I think if we're being honest with each other there are a lot of things about our everyday lives that we don't have to think about that other people do certain privileges like three meals a day some of us may not have to worry about hunger but other people do and every active change begins with a neighbor with someone saying we can take care of each other here in food banks and food pantries neighbors pack fresh food and dignity into every box moving from farms to families through Feeding America's nationwide network so when that box reaches a home it carries more than food it carries a promise that together we can end hunger Feeding America led by neighbors give now to end hunger at feedingamerica.org here at Christ with coffee on ice we obviously talk a lot about purpose here about finding the path God has set for us and when it comes to education that path should lead to a future that matters that's why when I heard about Grand Canyon University I was so impressed because they are a private nonprofit Christian university in beautiful Phoenix Arizona that believes education shouldn't be a privilege but an affordable path forward for everyone. GCU is grounded in Christian truth they are working to empower the next generation to lead with integrity and serve with purpose and they make it accessible did you know GCU has kept tuition at the same rate on its traditional campus for 17 years plus in 2025 alone they awarded over 404 million dollars in institutional scholarships whether you're looking for a degree on campus or online find your purpose at GCU private Christian affordable nonprofit visit gcu.edu to learn more so obviously after the Lord told Satan all right you can go ahead and test my kid with limits of course in a very short span Job loses everything he loses his wealth his servants and all of his children and then his health declined he started to get painful sores covering his body and even his wife actually tells him curse God and die which this moment was a pretty like pivotal moment or I guess I should say it was very raw it was a very raw and human moment because after everything had been taken from Job his children his wealth and now his health his wife says do you still hold fast your integrity curse God and die and the truth is is like his wife was also grieving like she also had lost all of her children at that point she also lost their entire life and stability this was a moment where obviously it wasn't just Job's suffering it was also hers too and so we can kind of speak out in a motion this way sometimes in life where I mean her words likely come from shock trauma or just overwhelming grief she had lost sense of God anymore from her perspective Job was good and God still allowed all of this so basically what her conclusion was in making a statement like that to Job was what's the point of staying faithful if this is the outcome so she's like okay if this is the outcome if this is just going to be your life like what is the point in staying so faithful to the Lord like curse God and die then like because in her eyes she also probably like this does this doesn't even feel just this doesn't even feel right Job had been nothing but faithful to God so why was all of this happening if this is just his fate and this was just what was going to happen to his life like why hold your faith in God anymore why have any loyalty to the Lord anymore and actually an interesting perspective that I read about this part is she actually by saying this like it sounds really cruel where she's like just curse God and die already but actually like she may be expressing mercy not cruelty by saying that because obviously Job is now covered in painful sores sitting in ashes physically and emotionally broken so curse God and die could mean just let it end this is too much like you've gone through too much you're suffering too much so it may be less about rebellion it could be she could be like what rebel like forget it like be bitter towards God it could but also I'd like to imagine that they were in love and she cares about Job and and obviously she's grieving and going through all of her own loss because this is all her loss as well but also like watching her husband have to go through all of this probably was also a very painful thing to witness because she loves him so she could have also just wanted his suffering to stop and so Job's wife in this moment is actually representing a very real human response when life doesn't make sense when pain feels unbearable when God feels silent people can move towards bitterness hopelessness and giving up hello that's like the most relatable emotion there is when things are not going right and we feel discouraged and we feel abandoned by God because of it a lot of times we do become bitter we become hopeless there's a temptation to give up right but what is so stellar about our brother Job is I'm sure there was a temptation even in what his wife was saying to be like you know what she's kind of right I don't know but he didn't actually in his response Job answered her shall we accept good from God and not trouble okay so Job is a freaking rock star this guy says basically what we were what we were saying at the beginning of this episode right is like if our understanding of who God is is only when things are good our understanding of who God is is not real or it's it's a false version of him because he's still good in everything so Job was like okay so should we only expect like good things from God or should we also expect trouble aka not punishment but like challenges tribulations he does test us he's allowing Job to walk through a test of faithfulness and it's not to like catch him in a trap or to be like see I knew you weren't faithful actually God's attitude towards Job was he was so pleased with Job he was so confident in Job when Satan came to God and was like oh yeah well it's only because he's his life is so good it was because of how confident God was in Job that he said okay then go ahead and take everything from his life and see what happens so it's actually like how do I put this into words it's actually in God's confidence in us and it's not in our works okay it's not that he's like oh yeah he's gonna be able to do it all it's it's God's confidence in our heart posture of like how much we love him like I'm not saying that through the trials like you'll see in the book of Job Job goes off on God so it's not even guys this is so good it's not even that Job was like did that handled all of these trials perfectly there are parts of the book of Job that you're reading you're almost like okay bud whoa okay okay let's like he just goes for a long time actually about how hard it is because can you imagine right we're not invalidating our brother Job that was all I can't imagine right but it's like he didn't do it quote perfectly so it's not that God had the confidence that Job was going to be able to get through this without blaming God without cursing God without being frustrated with God without misunderstanding God at times right but he knew Job's heart at the end of the day he knew that Job had a heart for him God knew that Job had a heart for him so that was why God was like I actually feel confident enough to let my child walk through this because I know they love me and they're not going to understand it they're probably gonna curse me out they might try to turn their back from me a couple times but at the end of the day I know that that's my kid you may turn your back on God but it won't stay that way and he knows it so if you've turned your back on God through a season of feeling like you're like I'm Job this has been so hard God why am I not given a break right now I feel like there's one thing that happens in my life and I'm kind of starting to see the light or maybe not at all maybe you're still in that mud and then another thing happens and you turn your back on God for a couple days a couple months a couple years a couple minutes whatever that looks like he knows your heart he's like no that kid's mine oh the book of Job is so good guys we should actually just read it from the start to finish but Job doesn't deny the pain but he also refuses to turn against God letting suffering refine who God is oh oh my gosh let suffering redefine who God is that is my biggest prayer for you guys today for all of us in Jesus name Lord I pray God that you redefine redefine our definition of who you are in suffering it is so easy to find the definition of who you are God when things are going great and we have freedom and we don't have to worry about bills and all the relationships are going great and everything is thriving and our businesses are doing well and our kids are doing great and our relationships with our spouses and our significant others are awesome like it is so easy to define you as good and faithful and kind and compassionate but Lord I'm asking that today you start to stir our hearts God and give us a deeper revelation and understanding of who you are what is the definition of who you are in trials and in suffering that is so good suffering God actually we thank you that you use suffering as a tool to redefine who you are in our minds that you don't just let suffering happen to us but you actually use it as a tool to refine us and redefine how we see you you are actually changing our eyesight of how we see you God as faithful it's just like a deeper understanding it's so surface level and easy to believe that God is good when things are good that's like honestly anyone could do that anyone could do that somebody who doesn't actually even know God could be like yeah God's good because look everything's good but it's actually like it's having deeper intimacy and actually actually actually understanding who God is only in suffering it's only in suffering do we actually get a real definition of who the Lord is Job's wife her statement highlights a core tension is God still worthy of trust when life falls apart she says no it's not worth it but Job says yes even now and I think that um I mean I don't really know what Job's wife relationship was to God but I would imagine she had a really great relationship with God if she's married to a man like Job I'm sure she has faith in the Lord trust the Lord loves the Lord all of the same things Job does and I won't say that she's any less faithful to God because of her response I think that this also can be an example of how each person kind of responds to suffering differently like not everybody responds to suffering the same way and honestly but I will say I think it's more rare but Lord let us be Job's God actually create us like seriously make us Job's I feel like most of us actually would reply like his wife like honestly most people would feel what she felt at some point I think what makes Job so remarkable is like his response because most of us probably wouldn't respond that way but Lord make us that God this is so good Job you rock so when Job responds to his wife right I'm just we're hold on this is more for me getting back on track than you guys you guys are probably caught up but shall we accept good from God and not trouble so in other words even if I don't understand I'm not letting go of who God is and that's the tension in this verse because one response says if life falls apart my faith falls apart and the other says even if life falls apart I'm still holding on so the question that we should ask ourselves when understanding this we're not even in Job 36 right now we're still in forget it okay this is in Job 2 the book of Job chapter 2 hey the Lord had different plans for today he wanted us in the book of Job but he had something else okay just for reference this is pretty much all of chapter 2 in the book of Job so when we read this I'm getting so excited because this episode rocks thank you Holy Spirit the question that we need to be asking ourselves then is what is my faith actually built on if you feel convicted in your response that maybe you could relay a little bit more to Job's wife than Job what is my faith actually built on is it built on God giving me a life that makes sense or is it built on trusting him even when it doesn't will you choose to say okay God I'm still going to hold on to you when things aren't okay when things aren't going well when your life is absolutely falling apart will you still say God I still am hanging on to you I'm going to be honest I think the only reason and I know that I know that the Lord's gonna have me go through a lot more in my life because he's not done with me yet he's not done with you he's not done with me but I think that the one thing that keeps me in a place of like hanging on to God no matter what because I have been through I don't want to say that I've been through like I don't know what you guys have been through but from my version my life what I've walked through I have been through some really trying times and in those trying times I think the thing that has me holding on to God is just desperation the thing that motivates me and like keeps me in a place of like choosing to hang on to God is I don't know what other hope I have I came from a life where my hope was in everything else and it didn't work and I think that the Lord allowed me to have that life I lived 27 years of my life without him did everything on my own made all my own decisions carried every single burden on my own shoulders I did that my whole life and it didn't work and so I think the reason he allowed that is because he let me taste and see that anything outside of him sucked like I suck without him life sucks without him and the thing is is like life can still have very sucky aspects when you have God to lean on like you still have oxygen I don't have oxygen without him and I know a life of of holding my breath for 27 years and the only reason why I'm like even saying this is because I just felt a question prompted of like okay well how do you even do that Ali like how do you even stay motivated to hang on to God when things are hard and it's I just it's desperation it's believing that there actually is nothing else out there that can give me hope like God can give me hope there's nothing else out there that can give me more strength and it's not myself either like I definitely can't give myself enough strength to get through the things that I'm going to face in my life without God sure yeah there's probably times in that where I'm like God are you sure like I don't see how this could be good for me you know and I think that that's that's why Job was also able to say no I I have to keep hanging on to God because he believed the truth that God is the only way he's the only thing that could get him through it like Job didn't believe that he could get himself through it alone he didn't give up on God because he knew that there was no other hope but God God is it and so whether we understand why we're going through the suffering or not God is still our hope he's still our dad he's still our shepherd he's still the one leading us through it what if my friend secretly hates me something bad will happen if I don't do this does God really still love me after what I've done do you ever have thoughts like this and I'm talking about unwanted thoughts that play on loop in your mind over and over thoughts like that can be signs of OCD but because OCD is so misunderstood a lot of people don't even know it can show up in that way OCD is a common highly misunderstood mental health condition that causes intrusive thoughts and a powerful urge to do something to neutralize those thoughts OCD thoughts feel deeply personal and completely against your values that's why they're so distressing and the thing is is that these behaviors only provide short-term relief the good news is OCD is highly treatable with a specific kind of therapy called ERP or exposure and response prevention no CD is the world's leading provider of OCD treatment all of their licensed therapists truly understand OCD and specialize in ERP therapy therapy with no CD is 100 virtual covered by insurance for over 138 million americans and includes support between sessions so you're never facing OCD alone to learn more about starting OCD therapy with no CD go to no CD.com and book a free call with them that's no CD.com to learn more and start getting help so after his wife suggested to just curse God and die the next thing that happened was then Job's friends in his community show up three of his friends show up and they sit with him in silence for seven days and this is actually the most compassionate thing that they do this is such a beautiful example of how the body works and should operate and should work is obviously so these were his three closest friends and they came simply just to mourn with him because obviously they had heard everything that happened the loss of his children the loss of his life as he knew it and obviously his physical suffering and so they weren't coming to fix anything they came to grieve with him which is like such a reflection of Jesus it's Jesus who comes obviously he's the one that redeems he heals he restores he does fix Jesus fixes but it's interesting to me that before he does God always pauses to sit and grieve and be in it with you I felt that so many times from Jesus where like nothing actually is redeemed yet nothing is restored everything is so so so painful and confusing still and before anything he has a plan he has he had a plan every single time every time I've gotten out of these moments or these seasons he knew exactly what he was going to do but before he acts he actually likes sits in compassion and will grieve with you before Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave Lazarus had died and Jesus quote didn't come in time and this is what Mary and Martha were saying who were sisters of Lazarus and before Jesus raised him from the dead he already had a plan to do it he knew he was going to do it he actually he grieved and he cried with them like he mourned with them he felt compassion for them and he felt the pain that they were feeling and it grieved his heart and so that is the character of Jesus he will sit with us in our grief he doesn't just watch and go there there oh you poor thing I know no he actually like physically feels it with us can we talk about the fact that that's like actually who God is when we are walking through something and we are feeling emotions I genuinely believe that God is right there with us feeling it with us because it's it's been shown in in the story of Jesus and in scripture that God deeply feels for us with us when somebody who you're that you care about you love this person so much it could literally be your own blood it could be your own family it could be a friend but like you love this person so much and you see them going through the hardest thing of their life they're grieving they're in pain they can't even go about their days you're telling me that your heart doesn't grieve okay yeah maybe it's not happening to you but because of how much you love that person it grieves you so anyway I just I just think it's a beautiful example of how we should be in the church with each other Job's friends genuinely cared about him and when they saw him when they saw Job they barely recognized him they wept loudly they tore their robes as a sign of deep grief and they sat in ashes with him this is real shared sorrow that was demonstrated in these friends of his I think the reason why they sat with him for seven days too is because they saw that his suffering was very great and so sometimes pain is so deep that words feel inappropriate like saying anything there's just no words explanations feel empty you know sometimes being like oh well God's allowing this for a reason like sometimes grief can be so deep that it's like there's actually nothing to say right now but I'm just going to sit with you in this grief and that's what his friends did for him so his friends obviously didn't try to explain God fix Job or rush him out of grief they just sat stayed and shared the weight of it I just think that's so beautiful I think that was worth like diving into a little deeper what great friends and even this circles back to how Job didn't I guess handle what he was going through perfectly but he at some points in the book you'll see that he even wishes at one point that he was never born and he questions everything he wants answers from God justice and explanation and God won't speak and it's interesting because then his friends they start to question as well like what's so cool about what God is doing is he's not only redefining who he is to Job but he's also using Job as an example to minister to everyone else around him so his wife being an example right she's like okay why don't you just curse God and die and he's like I'm not going to do that and now his friends I think what their misunderstanding of who God is is being shown in this as well God is uprooting false belief systems of who they've all thought that God was up until this point through what he's doing with Job so he's impacting everyone else around Job because then his friends argue and they're basically saying you must have done something wrong to endure all of this because their belief system at the time was good people equals blessed and then bad people equal suffer so Job's suffering must equate to hidden sin so then his friends are questioning everything because obviously they've understood that like only good people receive blessings if you're a bad person then you go through suffering then you don't have favor of the Lord on your life so they're like you must be living in a way that we don't know about because why would this be happening to you but obviously Job pushes back he's the best Job pushes back just as he did with his wife to his friends and he and he says well he knows that he hasn't done anything to deserve this he insists on his integrity so then that's when Job starts to wrestle with God's fairness and God's silence Job is obviously honest but he's confused but not rebellious but he is confused I think again this is like reconstructing God's fairness and his and also his silence with Job okay so now fast forward a lot we're in Job 29 through 31 okay and this is like the summary of that so now we're hitting like a little bit of an emotional climax just when you didn't think it could get any more crazy no but in Job 29 through 31 Job starts to reflect especially in chapter 29 about how good his life used to be and I say let's we're gonna read a little bit of that because I said that I would read some of the scripture to you guys and I've been yapping the whole time okay so let's go to Job 29 and this is Job just again reflecting on how great his life used to be and he's like man the good old days Job continued speaking I longed for the years gone by when God took care of me when he lit up the way before me and I walked safely through the darkness when I was in my prime God's friendship was felt in my home the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me my steps were a wash and cream and the rocks gushed olive oil for me those were the days when I went to the city gate and took my place among the honored leaders the young stepped aside when they saw me and even the aged rose in respect at my coming the princes stood in silence and put their hands over their mouths the highest officials of the city stood quietly holding their tongues in respect all who heard me praised me all who saw me spoke well of me for I assisted the poor in their need and the orphans who required help I helped those without hope and they blessed me and I caused the widow's hearts to sing for joy everything I did was honest righteousness covered me like a robe and I wore justice like a turban I served as eyes for the blind and feet for the lame I was a father to the poor and assisted strangers who needed help I broke the jaws of godless oppressors and plucked their victims from their teeth I thought surely I will die surrounded by my family after a long good life for I am like a tree whose roots reach the water whose branches are refreshed with the dew new honors are constantly bestowed on me and my strength is continually renewed everyone listened to my advice they were silent as they waited for me to speak and after I spoke they had nothing to add for my council satisfied them they longed for me to speak as people long for rain they drank my words like a refreshing spring rain when they were discouraged I smiled at them my look of approval was precious to them like a chief I told them what to do I lived like a king among his troops and comforted those who mourned so I think it's clear that Job in chapter 29 is expressing like man I used to hold a lot of value people used to really look up to me and I used to be really really favored and I had a great life and I even I helped poor people and orphans and widows and even people who were oppressed you know and I think Job is just like I was a good person and people really like respected me this was him reflecting on all the ways that his life was so good and then you'll see in chapter 30 he then talks about the other side of the coin where now his life is like completely opposite of that he says but now I'm mocked by people younger than I by young men whose fathers are not worthy to run with my sheepdogs a lot of good they are to me those worn out wretches they are gaunt from my poverty and hunger they claw the dry ground in desolate wastelands they pluck wild greens from among the bushes and eat from the roots of broom trees they are driven from human society and people shout at them as if they were thieves so now they live in frightening ravines in caves and among the rocks they sound like animals howling among the bushes huddled together beneath the nettles they are nameless fools outcasts from society and now they mock me with vulgar songs they taunt me they despise me and won't come near me except to spit in my face for god has cut my bow string he has humbled me so they have thrown off all restraint these outcasts oppose me to my face they send me sprawling and lay traps in my path they block my road and they do everything they can to destroy me they know I have no one to help me they come at me from all directions they jump on me when I'm down I live in terror now my honor has blown away in the wind and my prosperity has vanished like a cloud so it sounds like Job was really my feet it sounds like he was really coming for the next of these people like I know that in the beginning there you're like wow bud but like he's basically like these people are the lowest of the lowest people like these people are awful people and they don't even have respect for me they actually spit in my face these people who spit in my face and don't even have respect for me sound like animals howling among the bushes they are driven from human society and people shout at them as if they were thieves these people live in caves they're literally rejected by society that's how awful they are and not even they respect Job they terrorize him and so it's just he's expressing the contrast of like oh my gosh like I was I was like a king and now the lowest of lowest people some of the most awful people don't even respect me Job just goes through all the stages of grief and emotion because then in chapter 31 he then is protesting his innocence so this is just him he's going through all the stages of grief where he's like okay god this is who I used to be this is apparently how I am now I don't understand it I have no respect my life is in shambles am I not innocent of all of this what did I do to deserve all of this is what he's saying right have I lied to anyone or deceived anyone if I have strayed from his pathway or if my heart has lusted for what my eyes have seen or if I'm guilty of any other sin let's someone else eat the crops I have planted if I've been unfair have I refused to help the poor have I put my trust in money have I looked at the sun shining in the skies or the moon walking down its silver pathway and been secretly enticed in my heart to throw kisses at them in worship aka like have I worshiped anything else other than god did I worship creation before you he's like I didn't do these I didn't do anything wrong why do I deserve to endure the things I'm enduring but finally okay in Job 38 okay chapter 38 is when god finally speaks he finally answers Job this whole time he has not opened his mouth to Job and so Job is kind of going crazy he's like trying to figure everything out he's trying to understand he's going through all the emotions with with god right and then the Lord actually finally speaks to Job but he challenges Job this is the beginning of chapter 38 okay then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words brace yourself like a man because I have some questions for you and you must answer them where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth this is so good guys this is so good tell me if you know so much who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line what supports its foundation and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it bursts from the womb and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness for I locked it behind buried gates limiting its shores I said this far and no farther will you come here your proud waves must stop have you ever commanded the morning to appear and cause the dawn to rise in the east have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth to bring an end to the night's wickedness as the light approaches the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal it is robed in brilliant colors the light disturbs the wicked and stops the arm that is raised in violence have you explored the springs from which the seas come have you explored their depths do you know where the gates of death are located have you seen the gates of utter gloom do you realize the extent of the earth tell me about it if you know where does light come from and where does darkness go can you take each to its home do you know how to get there but of course you know all this for you were born before it was all created and you are so very experienced so god goes on and on okay in this language you're welcome to read the rest of this yourself it continues into chapter 39 he continues to challenge and then for the rest of chapter 40 to 41 god goes back to challenging jope will you discredit my justice and condemn me just to prove you are right are you as strong as god can you thunder with a voice like his all right put on your glory and splendor your honor and majesty give vent to your anger let it overflow against the proud humiliate the proud with a glance walk on the wicked where they stand bury them in the dust imprison them in the world of the dead then even i would praise you for your own strength would save you and i think that the tone too of of god speaking to job is obviously this is an off-field overwhelming and holy moment like i can actually only imagine how job is feeling right now hearing from god this was not like a casual moment and what's surprising is that what led up to this was job asking all the questions of like why is this happening to me but what god doesn't explain is why instead he asks job all the questions god is asking things like where were you when i created the world do you control the forces of nature do you understand the universe do you sustain life so what god is doing in this is he's not obviously shaming job or ignoring job's pain of what he's been going through but he's revealing who he is it's in our suffering that god reveals more of who he is so it's not like god is like owning job in this job was clearly just trying to understand why all these things were happening to him as everyone else was also confused about it and so in that god doesn't tell him why but he just reveals more of who he is so the core message of what god does here in the book of job is that throughout all of these questions god is actually saying i am god and you are not it's actually not harsh it's just reality there is a gap between divine wisdom and human understanding you don't see what i see is what god is saying only job sees his pain but god sees everything that is actually what we have to have our hope in is like we don't have our hope in our circumstances what we see or even what we feel because sometimes a that could just be pain but we have to have our hope in is that god sees everything we have to have our hope in god god is also telling job that you can trust me even without answers like even if i'm not directly saying hey and by the way i let this happen because you know like we saw the background us readers we saw why it happened but job it was a mystery to him up until that point he doesn't know and so god is also teaching him that he can have trust without knowing everything or even knowing why and i think that this part of the book of job matters so much obviously because god doesn't just give job a reason or a timeline or justification right he doesn't give him answers he actually just gives him a revelation of god's power wisdom and care and that is actually what changed job it's in our human understanding that's so limited that we think that if god gives us the answers it will change us it'll make everything better but in god's divine wisdom which surpasses anything we could understand he actually knows that it's in revelation of who he is his power his wisdom his care like those are just examples of what kind of revelation you could have of of who he is but it's actually in revelation where he knows that that's where change happens so we think it's answers we think it's explanations but god's like no the thing that's going to change you is revelation an understanding of who i am so a major takeaway at the conclusion here that the end of the book of job is that job never actually gets a direct explanation from god he doesn't god never reveals to him why he allowed it he never reveals to job the the conversation that he had would say in like god doesn't just say okay here and this is why you suffered instead job encounters who god is and that changed everything it was an encounter with who god is and deeper revelation okay so let's just read the last chapter of the book of job this is a crazy episode i don't even know what just happened but we're here we're are we still locked are you guys still here okay chapter 42 so then job replied to the lord okay i know that you can do anything and no one can stop you you asked who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance it is i and i was talking about things i knew nothing about things far too wonderful for me you said listen and i will speak i have some questions for you and you must answer them i had only heard about you before but now i have seen you with my own eyes i take back everything i said and i sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance conclusion the lord blesses job okay so we do have a happy ending after the lord had finished speaking to job he said to elif as i didn't say that right but that's okay i am angry with you and your two friends for you have not spoken accurately about me as my servant job has so take seven bowls and seven rams and go to my servant job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves my servant job will pray for you and i will accept his prayer on your behalf i will not treat you as you deserve for you have not spoken accurately about me as my servant job has these are the friends so they did as the lord commanded them and the lord accepted job's prayer when job prayed for his friends the lord restored his fortunes in fact the lord gave him twice as much as before then all his brother's sisters and former friends came and feasted with him in his home and they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the lord had brought against him and each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring so the lord blessed job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning for now he had 14 000 sheep 6000 camel 1000 teams of oxen and 1000 female donkeys he also gave job seven more sons and three more daughters he named his first daughter gemma mai the second kezza and the third karen hapuk in all the land no women were as lovely as the daughters of job and their father put them into his will along with their brothers job lived 140 years after that living to see four generations of his children and grandchildren then he died an old man who had lived a long full life so obviously god then restores and doubles all of what job had lost his wealth had doubled he receives more livestock a restored household his family and community returned to support him job has more children again obviously he lives to be very old and he gets to even witness his family go on for generations he lives a really long full life but one thing that's worth mentioning okay is that obviously we love the happy ending and the lord restores but what this doesn't mean is that if you suffer well god will give you double or a formula or guarantee for life we don't actually always know what god's plan is for us through suffering so can't promise you that if you're going through financial trouble right now that god is going to double it but i pray for that in jesus name and i hope for that i believe that's his heart but i think what's more important about this is that this is a picture of god's restorative nature though so again maybe we don't put so much emphasis on what the promise is because like again job didn't even know that was coming for him it's not that job even believed that anything would be doubled so we don't again we don't put our faith in that we believe that that's the nature of god god has a restorative nature to whatever that looks like what's more important about our takeaway in this is that it's a reminder that god sees us and he restores in his way and timing of whatever that looks like and for job god said double i believe that's his heart for all of us but however that looks it's in his restorative nature though and another really cool thing from this too is like restoration usually comes after a deeper revelation job didn't get restored because he figured everything out he got restored after encountering god hello humbling himself and releasing offense so we heard in the scriptures how job was like yeah i repent i thought i i i questioned you lord and i thought i knew who you were but i had no idea who you were and then releasing offense that was towards his friends his friends thought that he was kind of being sus behind the scenes you know so when job also prayed for them he released any offense that he had towards his friends and maybe any offense he could have had towards god as well so i think our final statement here is that god didn't earn his restoration in this right he simply encountered god and god chose to restore him and his life and there was so much to learn and he did learn and there's so much we will learn it's like it's also not even the fact that like god used job as an example to the people who were present at that time but like now god is using job as an example forever and ever and ever for thousands of years he used job not only for like job because obviously did so much in him and it did so much even to prove to the people around him of who god is it was creating this deep revelation in him everyone around him and then it still creates deep revelation for us today god is so much bigger he's just so much bigger guys have faith in him and we finished we finished it like i said last week guys i still don't really feel like we scratched the surface of this but this was so fun i loved this i feel like i learned so much and yeah let this just like boost our faith in who god is and let this actually um give us a hunger for a deeper revelation of who god is but not be surprised if that comes with tribulations and trials let us not be surprised that when troubles come it's actually an answered prayer because if you've prayed lord i want a deeper revelation of who you are refining defining all of those things typically come in trials and when we are faced with hard things so lord i just pray that we are not surprised and i pray that we don't define you as only a good god in good times that it's even in our trials we should expect good things from you but also troubles happen and lord we thank you that you are in it with us every step of the way that you never abandon us even when we feel abandoned and you have a plan for our lives god thank you that jeremiah 2911 is relevant for all of us that you have plans to give us hope and a future we love you god amen amen guys hey before we go though can we do something really cool today can we show somebody how cool jesus is can we walk more like him talk more like him be more like jesus today i love you guys i'm proud of you and i will see you next friday bye