There are lots of reasons to come to church.  You know the top ones, but most of us, somewhere on that list, have this: to feel good.  Considering the garbage we face on a daily basis, we want this to be an hour of escape, a time for a spiritual pick me up.  At first glance, though, our OT lesson, our sermon text, does not do that.  Hear the words again. These are not happy, joyous words. They’re the opposite - sad, tortured words. But in these words there is something we can relate to.

They come from Job. He was a complicated man of whom we see a number of portraits in his life. 1st, there’s Job the rich believer who didn’t let $ ruin his devotion to God.  After he loses almost everything, there’s Job the patient believer, who accepts the Lord gives and takes away. Then there’s Job the despondent believer, who’s down due to his tough life. And then Job the defiant believer who wants to know why God is letting this happen. After God responds, Job is a repentant believer who realizes not to question God. Finally, we see Job again a wealthy and now wiser believer whose devotion to God was deepened by suffering. Today we focus on middle Job, the despondent believer. Why focus on a sufferer, a man of constant sorrows?  To get rid of some big myths and point out one great truth. But first, a little more information on Job.

God allowed faithful Job’s faith to be tested. He lost it all: stuff, kids, health. Soon after, 3 friends commiserate with him and offer advice - Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. Much of the book is a dialogue between these 4. They basically tell Job this: “Job, you reap what you sow.  You must’ve done something terrible for God to punish you. Find out what it is, repent, and God will leave you alone.” And they were dead wrong. The truth is Job hadn’t done anything more wrong than any other sinner, and really had done quite a bit right. Job is called “blameless and upright.”  Actually, one of the great lessons of Job is that God is not a vengeful, scorekeeping God who dishes out punishment when His children mess up.

Rather, hardship - times of testing - are intended to teach us, and a part of God’s wisdom in refining our faith. God often uses hard times to bring us closer to Himself. We’ll get to that. Anyway, after his friends give bad guidance, a guy, Elihu, then gives good counsel. He urges Job not to question God’s wisdom. Then God Himself speaks to Job and says the same thing. Job knows he was pig headed to question God, repents, and is blessed with more stuff, health and a new family.

Our text picks up just after Job has heard the “reap what you sow” speech. He addresses his feelings to God. (1-3) Comparing his life to forced labor, Job sees his days as futile, meaningless and endless. Then comes evening. (3) Hoping for relief in sleep, Job finds night is his worst time. He can’t sleep, and when he does, he has nightmares. And the physical isn’t much better. (5) It might have been leprosy – maybe not. Either way, it wasn’t good. (6-7) Job sees his life as hopeless and he can’t conceive of seeing happiness again. On that pained, pessimistic note, our text ends.

What do we make of these words?  What do they mean to us? Think of the show Mythbusters. They take stories of how people survived this or lived through that and test it. Let’s do some myth busting of our own. #1: many people, sometimes Christians among them, buy into the philosophy of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar - the idea that when we experience bad or tough times God is punishing us for our past or present sins.  That’s a myth. Does God punish sin? Yes. Does God punish us for our sins?  No. If that’s confusing, look to the cross. God punished Jesus in our place. Peter said, “He bore our sins in his body on the tree, so we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you’ve been healed.”  Isaiah says, “the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” - spiritually healed.  
Though our sins are deserving of God’s punishment, we don’t get it. Why? Jesus bore our sins as a substitute. Every sin we’ve committed/will commit was nailed to Christ’s cross. And sin, which once barred us from heaven, has been replaced by Jesus’ perfection, and heaven is ours through Him. We’re redeemed, forgiven, free to live for God now and in eternity.  

But we still have a sinful nature. We still sin. As Xtians this isn’t our desire, and we dare never use it as an excuse. And there are times because we bring consequences on ourselves by our sinful actions. If I rob a bank, I go to jail. Those consequences can be painful. That’s our doing, not God’s. But God may allow things to come into our lives which are not consequences for our sin. That was the case with Job.  But before we go any farther, we need to understand the Scriptural concept of “discipline.”  “Discipline” is a totally different animal than the “punishment” Job’s friends spoke of.

The classic section of Scripture on this topic is in Hebrews 12:7-11. What is God telling us? In His love for us He will discipline us to purify and refine our faith. That’s a good thing.  A European theologian once said that American Christians have an underdeveloped understanding of suffering. He implied we always see pain/hardship as negative and something to be avoided, but Scripture speaks of hardship and suffering being or at least leading to something positive.

What could that be? The Lord may bring things into our lives so we must rely totally on Him, and then experience 1st hand His power to preserve us in horrible circumstances. Or the Lord is preparing us for later in life. Or because of the experience we’ve gone through we can later comfort/strengthen other Xtians going through the same thing. Whatever the case, of this we can be assured: God has a plan. To get that is to get the words of the hymn: “What God ordains is always good.”

Let’s bust another myth, one held even among some Xtians. And that has to do with how the believer can react during times of adversity, whether from God’s loving, disciplining hand, or simply as the result of living in this world. Job’s words are those of a despairing man. We get that. He was depressed. A believer lacking hope. And note Job isn’t the only believer who was depressed over circumstances. There was Moses, Joshua, Elijah, David, Jeremiah, and Paul, to name a few.  

So they suffered. The point? Because we have a sinful nature, the believer can and will become depressed at times. I know that is not a brilliant observation, but I mention it because there is a myth that real Xtians never get down/depressed.  Or that the person who gets depressed must have a defective or weak faith.  As a result, some Christians who have low periods begin to question their faith and in the process heap all kinds of guilt upon themselves for feeling low. But as can be seen from Job and others, these feelings happen.  And they don’t mean that God doesn’t love us or that we are losing our faith or even that our faith is necessarily weak.  It’s simply part of being the imperfect human beings that we are.

But the best news is there is a cure. Blue times may come, but they don’t have to stay. Luther said you can’t stop birds from flying over your head, but you can stop them from building a nest in your hair.  The cure for going through difficult times is to redirect our focus away from our troubles and back to the wisdom, love and power of God. The best example of that is Christ’s cross. When we do that, the times of despair in our lives will be momentary and not lasting. Seasonal, not terminal.

That’s where Job ended up. He looked past his own plight to God’s wisdom. He came to “get” that even in difficult times, God had not abandoned Him.  As a result, the brutal words of our text turn to praise/worship as Job, guided by a gracious God, did indeed see happiness in his life again.  And that’s the great truth of our text:  God will never leave us or forsake us.

What have we learned today?  First, that the idea of God punishing us for past sins with present hardship is a myth.  Our sins have been paid in full on the cross. Period. 2nd, at times even Christians may become despondent.  But this doesn’t mean they don’t have a strong faith – it only means they are human. And finally the down times in our lives, the times when we feel as if we will always be the man or woman of constant sorrows, they will become momentary as we focus not on ourselves, but on the cross.  Because there we see the ultimate example of God’s enduring love and wisdom:  Jesus Christ our Lord.  May that truth bust the myths and cause us to serve our God in every way.  Amen.
 

There are lots of reasons to come to church.  You know the top ones, but most of us, somewhere on that list, have this: to feel good.  Considering the garbage we face on a daily basis, we want this to be an hour of escape, a time for a spiritual pick me up.  At first glance, though, our OT lesson, our sermon text, does not do that.  Hear the words again. These are not happy, joyous words. They’re the opposite - sad, tortured words. But in these words there is something we can relate to.

They come from Job. He was a complicated man of whom we see a number of portraits in his life. 1st, there’s Job the rich believer who didn’t let $ ruin his devotion to God.  After he loses almost everything, there’s Job the patient believer, who accepts the Lord gives and takes away. Then there’s Job the despondent believer, who’s down due to his tough life. And then Job the defiant believer who wants to know why God is letting this happen. After God responds, Job is a repentant believer who realizes not to question God. Finally, we see Job again a wealthy and now wiser believer whose devotion to God was deepened by suffering. Today we focus on middle Job, the despondent believer. Why focus on a sufferer, a man of constant sorrows?  To get rid of some big myths and point out one great truth. But first, a little more information on Job.

God allowed faithful Job’s faith to be tested. He lost it all: stuff, kids, health. Soon after, 3 friends commiserate with him and offer advice - Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. Much of the book is a dialogue between these 4. They basically tell Job this: “Job, you reap what you sow.  You must’ve done something terrible for God to punish you. Find out what it is, repent, and God will leave you alone.” And they were dead wrong. The truth is Job hadn’t done anything more wrong than any other sinner, and really had done quite a bit right. Job is called “blameless and upright.”  Actually, one of the great lessons of Job is that God is not a vengeful, scorekeeping God who dishes out punishment when His children mess up.

Rather, hardship - times of testing - are intended to teach us, and a part of God’s wisdom in refining our faith. God often uses hard times to bring us closer to Himself. We’ll get to that. Anyway, after his friends give bad guidance, a guy, Elihu, then gives good counsel. He urges Job not to question God’s wisdom. Then God Himself speaks to Job and says the same thing. Job knows he was pig headed to question God, repents, and is blessed with more stuff, health and a new family.

Our text picks up just after Job has heard the “reap what you sow” speech. He addresses his feelings to God. (1-3) Comparing his life to forced labor, Job sees his days as futile, meaningless and endless. Then comes evening. (3) Hoping for relief in sleep, Job finds night is his worst time. He can’t sleep, and when he does, he has nightmares. And the physical isn’t much better. (5) It might have been leprosy – maybe not. Either way, it wasn’t good. (6-7) Job sees his life as hopeless and he can’t conceive of seeing happiness again. On that pained, pessimistic note, our text ends.

What do we make of these words?  What do they mean to us? Think of the show Mythbusters. They take stories of how people survived this or lived through that and test it. Let’s do some myth busting of our own. #1: many people, sometimes Christians among them, buy into the philosophy of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar - the idea that when we experience bad or tough times God is punishing us for our past or present sins.  That’s a myth. Does God punish sin? Yes. Does God punish us for our sins?  No. If that’s confusing, look to the cross. God punished Jesus in our place. Peter said, “He bore our sins in his body on the tree, so we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you’ve been healed.”  Isaiah says, “the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” - spiritually healed.  
Though our sins are deserving of God’s punishment, we don’t get it. Why? Jesus bore our sins as a substitute. Every sin we’ve committed/will commit was nailed to Christ’s cross. And sin, which once barred us from heaven, has been replaced by Jesus’ perfection, and heaven is ours through Him. We’re redeemed, forgiven, free to live for God now and in eternity.  

But we still have a sinful nature. We still sin. As Xtians this isn’t our desire, and we dare never use it as an excuse. And there are times because we bring consequences on ourselves by our sinful actions. If I rob a bank, I go to jail. Those consequences can be painful. That’s our doing, not God’s. But God may allow things to come into our lives which are not consequences for our sin. That was the case with Job.  But before we go any farther, we need to understand the Scriptural concept of “discipline.”  “Discipline” is a totally different animal than the “punishment” Job’s friends spoke of.

The classic section of Scripture on this topic is in Hebrews 12:7-11. What is God telling us? In His love for us He will discipline us to purify and refine our faith. That’s a good thing.  A European theologian once said that American Christians have an underdeveloped understanding of suffering. He implied we always see pain/hardship as negative and something to be avoided, but Scripture speaks of hardship and suffering being or at least leading to something positive.

What could that be? The Lord may bring things into our lives so we must rely totally on Him, and then experience 1st hand His power to preserve us in horrible circumstances. Or the Lord is preparing us for later in life. Or because of the experience we’ve gone through we can later comfort/strengthen other Xtians going through the same thing. Whatever the case, of this we can be assured: God has a plan. To get that is to get the words of the hymn: “What God ordains is always good.”

Let’s bust another myth, one held even among some Xtians. And that has to do with how the believer can react during times of adversity, whether from God’s loving, disciplining hand, or simply as the result of living in this world. Job’s words are those of a despairing man. We get that. He was depressed. A believer lacking hope. And note Job isn’t the only believer who was depressed over circumstances. There was Moses, Joshua, Elijah, David, Jeremiah, and Paul, to name a few.  

So they suffered. The point? Because we have a sinful nature, the believer can and will become depressed at times. I know that is not a brilliant observation, but I mention it because there is a myth that real Xtians never get down/depressed.  Or that the person who gets depressed must have a defective or weak faith.  As a result, some Christians who have low periods begin to question their faith and in the process heap all kinds of guilt upon themselves for feeling low. But as can be seen from Job and others, these feelings happen.  And they don’t mean that God doesn’t love us or that we are losing our faith or even that our faith is necessarily weak.  It’s simply part of being the imperfect human beings that we are.

But the best news is there is a cure. Blue times may come, but they don’t have to stay. Luther said you can’t stop birds from flying over your head, but you can stop them from building a nest in your hair.  The cure for going through difficult times is to redirect our focus away from our troubles and back to the wisdom, love and power of God. The best example of that is Christ’s cross. When we do that, the times of despair in our lives will be momentary and not lasting. Seasonal, not terminal.

That’s where Job ended up. He looked past his own plight to God’s wisdom. He came to “get” that even in difficult times, God had not abandoned Him.  As a result, the brutal words of our text turn to praise/worship as Job, guided by a gracious God, did indeed see happiness in his life again.  And that’s the great truth of our text:  God will never leave us or forsake us.

What have we learned today?  First, that the idea of God punishing us for past sins with present hardship is a myth.  Our sins have been paid in full on the cross. Period. 2nd, at times even Christians may become despondent.  But this doesn’t mean they don’t have a strong faith – it only means they are human. And finally the down times in our lives, the times when we feel as if we will always be the man or woman of constant sorrows, they will become momentary as we focus not on ourselves, but on the cross.  Because there we see the ultimate example of God’s enduring love and wisdom:  Jesus Christ our Lord.  May that truth bust the myths and cause us to serve our God in every way.  Amen.