Scripture reading: Job 1:1-12.

Sermon text: Job 1:13-2:10.

“Why do good things happen to good people?” I don’t think that question really explains our chief question. Better, most of us would ask, “Why do bad things happen to God’s people?

Over the centuries, countless believers have looked to the book of Job for answers to this question. The sermons for October will come from this book, a book long considered one of the masterpieces of ancient wisdom literature. We’ll have to consider our question, as well as the answers we find in Job’s experiences.

The book opens with a description of Job that everyone wants to hear: “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.” The author described Job as “blameless,” a word that in Hebrew also means “perfect” or “complete.” The Hebrews used this word to describe the type of sacrifice acceptable to God. The author next described Job as “upright.” In Hebrew, the word used refers to someone who kept the law. Job’s qualities led him to fear God; he worshiped the true God with the reverence due His standing as the Creator and Ruler of the universe. Job also “turned away from evil.” Unlike many people in his society — and ours — Job refused to give into temptation; he refused to join others in evil.

Job’s character revealed itself in his family relations. Job’s children constantly feasted with one another. Job constantly sacrificed on behalf of his children just in case they “sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Job stood as an example of godliness and righteousness in his family and in his land.

From all appearances, God blessed Job for his outstanding character and righteousness. Job possessed great herds of livestock, the land to support them, and the servants to care for them. Everyone who saw Job saw the blessing of God on his life.

This appearance of blessing crashed into pieces in a single day. Here’s an important lesson to remember from this book: Job did nothing to merit the catastrophes that befell him. Everything that happened to Job occurred because of a conversation in heaven, not because of Job’s actions on earth. We must remember this when we’re tempted to accuse someone of sin when misfortune wrecks their lives.

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.” The accuser (the word in Hebrew usually translated as “Satan”) never appears in Scripture without bringing disaster with him. His appearance in the Garden of Eden as a serpent led to the sin of Adam and Eve. Satan appeared in the wilderness to tempt Jesus. St. Paul wanted to visit the Thessalonians, but “Satan hindered us” (2 Thessalonians 2:18).

Fortunately, Scripture also records that Christ will definitively end Satan’s deception of humanity. St. Paul wrote that the “lawless one… by the activity of Satan” will herald the second coming of Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:9). St. John saw Satan’s expulsion from heaven and final judgment (Revelation 12:9 20:10).

God asked Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Again, God Himself described Job as a righteous man. God recognized Job’s godly character; He had blessed Job because of that character.

Satan’s accusations targeted God Himself more than Job. “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”

God gave Satan permission to strike Job, “Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” Satan could do nothing to Job without God’s permission, but one he received it, he struck quickly and with devastating results. Within a day, Job had lost all his herds and, even worse, his 10 children.

Job’s reaction revealed even more of his inner strength and faith in God. “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.” Job realized that God had given him his family and his possessions, and that God could take those blessings in His time and His way. We find another description of Job’s reaction: “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.”

Job’s reaction apparently failed to impress Satan. When Satan appeared again before God, God asked him again: “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”

Satan’s response demonstrated his desire to destroy the faithful. “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 your face.” Satan cared nothing for Job, except that he believed he could push Job to curse God. Satan cared only for striking at God through his faithful servant.

Satan’s final strike against Job didn’t drive Job to curse God, but it did finally push another person over the edge. Job’s wife had lost her children, a tragedy that would crush anyone. Now, she saw her husband stricken with a plague of boils. Overwhelmed by the disasters she had experienced, Job’s wife challenged him,  “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”

Job’s response to his wife revealed his belief in God’s blessings. “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” We can’t read too much into Job’s response, especially his opening sentence. Job didn’t necessarily call his wife a foolish woman; any woman married to Job would bear the responsibility of assisting him in the administration of his vast holdings, so his wife would have earned and demonstrated a great deal of wisdom in her life. Her grief had finally driven her to despair. Job’s response probably helped her realize her need to turn to God for comfort and peace.

Why, you may ask, would God allow Satan to strike Job like this? Why would God remove His protection from one of His most faithful servants?

You’ll probably hate this, but frankly, the book doesn’t give an answer. We’ll get the closest answer you’ll find 4 weeks and 40 chapters from now.

The best we can do for today revolves around Job’s first answer. “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.” I think we’ll get no better answer than this one.

Job realized that he possessed nothing that God had not provided for him. Like Job, we owe God the praise for every blessing we receive. None of us here can really call ourselves “self-made.” God blesses us with talents and with opportunities, without which we would have nothing in our lives. Like Job, we must understand that God acts within His right as his creator to take everything He gives us.

Job also realized that God did nothing without good reason. Job knew nothing about events in heaven, but he accepted God’s actions (or inaction) in his life. We, too, know nothing about how God’s work in heaven may affect us.

Unlike Job, however, we do know how God has worked in our history to give us the ultimate blessing: eternal life through Jesus.

If you want to see just how unjust life can get, look no further than Jesus’ sham trials and crucifixion. Even more than Job, Jesus lived a blameless and upright life. In spite of this, Jesus died through the injustice of the Jewish leadership and Pilate’s cowardice.

Yet, we also see a great lesson in Jesus’ unjust death. In His death, Jesus accepted the Father’s will because He knew that the Father’s will would result in the salvation of everyone who would believe in Him. Only the God revealed in Scriptures, the Father of Jesus, Our Lord, could take a crucifixion and transform it into the instrument of humanity’s salvation.

Job could accept God’s work in his life, both good and bad, because he had come to realize he could trust God to do the best for him. God never gave Job a blessing that didn’t help him grow in righteousness. God never put a trial before Job that didn’t help him develop wisdom and strength. God worked constantly, patiently in Job’s life to mold him into a godly man who served as an example of faithfulness and righteousness.

This, I believe, can serve as our lesson as well. We live in an unjust world, a world marred by sin and the damage it causes. We live in a world where pride, envy, and lust drives people to slight one another, steal from one another, abuse each other, and even kill one another. Much of what happens to us doesn’t come because of a conversation in heaven; the wrongs occur because of sin.

Other events happen to us, things that we can’t blame on anyone. Illness strikes down the strongest; accidents take those we love. We have no one to blame. What do we do? How do we respond to these experiences?

We must respond as Job responded to God: “Blessed be the name of the LORD.” We bless the name of the Lord by standing strong in our faith in spite of the events of life. We bless the name of the Lord by showing those around us that even in grief, trials, tragedies, and disappointments, we still trust God to work in us and prepare us for an eternity where no sin will ever assail us again.

We bless God’s name by giving credit where it belongs as we endure the experiences of life: we tell everyone around us that through His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus has worked to make all things right. He has done so for every believer in all history. He can do so for you. Confess Jesus as Lord of your life, believing in His resurrection, and watch how God can give you peace in all life can throw at you. Bless His name, for He has done great things for us.