Job

This blog post is Part 2 of a series entitled, "A Summer of Wisdom" by Pastor Jeffrey Dean Smith of Donelson First in Nashville, TN. 

Message Date: July 24, 2022

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On May 10, 1748, while on a ship off the coast of Ireland, a young man found himself aboard a vessel caught in a horrific sea storm. Up until this point in his life, this man had never been religious. It was on this vessel that this young man prayed to God to save him. “God have mercy,” he begged.  

The cargo miraculously shifted to fill a hole in the ship’s hull and the vessel drifted to safety. This soon-to-be writer took this as a sign from the Almighty and marked it as his conversion to Christianity. When the storm died down, he devoted himself to God!  

This man had actually made a fortune as a slave seller. After his conversion, he left the slave trade and became a minister. He soon began speaking out against slavery.  

He soon would write over 280 hymns. One hymn, in particular, has appeared on more than 11,000 albums, and it is estimated it is performed more than 10 million times annually.  

The ever-popular lyrics to this song written by John Newton: “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.”  

The words penned for the song have been a source of encouragement to countless people for well over 200 years.  

Wisdom Literature is too a source of tremendous wisdom for so many people.

Wisdom Literature was a category of literature in many cultures in the time of the Old Testament. In its purest sense, Wisdom Literature highlights the workings of the world. It deals with larger philosophical issues as well as those areas of life that one would take a commonsense approach in dissecting.  

Wisdom Literature = writings that give instructions for living well while discussing the challenges + difficulties of life.  

Wisdom Literature books of the OT:

• Job
• Psalm
• Proverbs
• Ecclesiastes
• Song of Solomon (Song of Songs)

Wisdom Literature book #1: Job  

The BIG QUESTION: Can God be trusted?  

A secondary BIG QUESTION: Why does bad happen to seemingly good people?

Job is a complex read. It is a series of issues rather than a single issue that tackles:

• the suffering of the innocent.
• the testing of the righteous.
• and ultimately, man’s choice as to whom he will turn in times of tragedy.  

Through this series, my goal is to discover: 

1. The truths of God’s Word are timeless.

2. When I lean into His Word + choose to apply these truths to my life, I will find peace whether my circumstances do or do not change.  

Job 1:1-5

We have already learned a lot about Job in these 5 opening verses.  

1. Job was blameless and upright. - Job 1:1  

It appears that Job was a man whose personal integrity meant everything to him.  

The Hebrew word for these 2 words:  

Blameless (tam) Hebrew = absence of blame or guilt  

Upright (yasar) Hebrew = to behave according to God’s expectations  

This does not mean that Job was sinless. No man is sinless. And Job even says he is a sinner:

Job 7:21: Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins? For I will soon lie down in the dust; you will search for me, but I will be no more.

This reality about Job forced me to ask these 2 questions this week:

1. Am I one whose personal integrity means everything to me?            

2. In what area(s) of my life can I better walk upright?

As we continue through this Wisdom Literature study, you are going to have more and more opportunities to examine these scriptures, consider the lifestyles of those about whom we are studying, and then hold the mirror before yourself as you ask some very personal and intimate questions about your walk with the Lord.    

2. Job feared God. - Job 1:1

What does it mean to fear God?

Well, the answer to the question is answered by yet another question:  

Does the one fearing God have a relationship with God?  

For one who does not know Jesus as Lord, fear can be extremely overwhelming and even paralyzing. Such fear is founded upon the judgment of God and eternal separation from Him in hell.  

Hebrews 10:31: It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  

Luke 12:5: But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.  

To the unbeliever fear = judgment + death

To the one who knows Jesus as Lord, meaning you believe Jesus is who Scripture states – God’s Son, the Savior of the world who gave His life for you dying on the cross and coming back to life. And, you have chosen to surrender your life to Him…   For such a person, fear means something entirely different:

To the believer fear = reverence + life  

Hebrews 12:28-29: Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

Proverbs 1:7: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Job had such fear – fear that guided his steps in a reverent way.  

First, Job was blameless and upright. Secondly, Job feared God.

3. Job shunned evil. - Job 1:2  

The Hebrew word: shunned = reject  

So Job did not merely try to live right. He actually actively “rejected” evil when it came his way.    

4. Job was greatly blessed. - Job 1:2-3

• He was a father to 10 children, 7 sons + 3 daughters.
• He amassed a large wealth in livestock. Five hundred yoke of oxen is actually 1,000 oxen since a “yoke of oxen” is 2 oxen.  

In these times, people measured how blessed a man was in 1 of 2 ways:

1. By the number of children he had.
2. By the measure of one’s wealth, i.e. the number of livestock he owned.  

Scripture is letting us know just how blessed & wealthy Job was.    

5. Job was enormously popular and respected. - Job 1:3  

the greatest (Hebrew) = revered; respected.    

6. Job protected the spiritual integrity of his family. - Job 1:4-5  

Job acted in a priestly role here as a spiritual leader of his family.

This type of offering that Job offered was a “whole burnt offering” which meant that the animal offered as a sacrifice was completely consumed by fire.  

Job was doing so, as scripture states to purify his family. Such an offering would atone for the sins of his family.  

Fathers + Grandfathers, this warrants a pause for us this morning as we each consider:  

Do I work to furiously protect the spiritual integrity of my family?

How shall I do this you might ask? In countless ways. Here are a few:

Furiously protect the spiritual integrity of my family by:

1. Realizing my family looks to me as the spiritual leader in the home. 
2. Rocking dad jokes…no matter how bad the jokes! You guys know that French fries weren’t actually first cooked in France. No, they were cooked in grease! Why does the Norway Navy have bar codes on the sides of their ships? So that when the ships come back to port they can Scandinavian!
3. Leading the charge in establishing & encouraging my family’s mission statement.
4. Creating opportunities to connect with my family in the areas important to them. My daddy was a strong spiritual leader in our home growing up. My daddy never made a lot of money, but he got creative at creating connection moments.  

I get the attention of my children when I give my children my attention.  

1.  Job was blameless and upright.
2. Job feared God.
3. Job shunned evil.
4. Job was greatly blessed.
5. Job was enormously popular and respected.
6. Job protected the spiritual integrity of his family.  

The book of Job then turns to the scene in Heaven when Satan, standing before God, insists that Job’s loyalty to God is only a result of God’s blessings to Job. Satan is convinced that Job will quickly turn on God if God allows Job’s stature and wealth to be taken from him.  

Job 1:6-12  

Is there one sentence in these verses we’ve just read that stirs within you a longing to have such a sentence verbalized about you by God Almighty?  

There is for me! It’s: Job 1:8  

I long for such to be said of me, particularly from God! 

Notice that God uses the same language we read earlier at the beginning of this book. God says Job is: Blameless. Upright. He fears God. And he shuns evil!  

So God gives Satan freedom to do what he desires with Job. And look at what happens next: Job 1:13-19  

Within seconds, Job loses everything.  

He loses his oxen and donkeys. He then loses his sheep. And then his camels and all but three of his servants. And then, he loses a house in which his children were partying, and horrifically, he loses all of his children and all but one servant in this house!  

Job lost all 10 of his children in one instant. Imagine, Job most likely must bury all of his children on the same day. I cannot fully speak to the overwhelming sense of grief and emptiness and sadness and anger and brokenness that comes from such a loss.  

But I can say that Job’s response is an example for us all of what the “next response” should be with any loss we encounter in this life. After Job loses everything, what is his response?  

Job 1:20-22  

Job reveals 2 ways in which you & I are expected to respond to devastation.  

When facing devastation, I am to:

1. Mourn.

To remove one’s robe and shave your head was a sign of distress and mourning in the OT. It’s important to take time to mourn. Life is hard. The difficulty is unavoidable at times in our lives. Brokenness is a part of each of our stories. Job reminds us it is natural & normal to mourn.

If you are in a place of brokenness or loss on any level, take time to mourn!  

The writer of Ecclesiastes, another book that we will study in this wisdom literature series, said it best when he wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:4: … a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance… To mourn well is to heal whole.  

Isaiah 22:12: The Lord, the Lord Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.  

2. Worship.

The acts of tearing his robe and shaving his head are not the only two acts in which Job engaged.  

Notice Job 1:20  

What else does Job do? Job “fell to the ground” = to be prostrate  

This is really, really good!!

The Hebrew word used here to describe Job’s posture:

hawah = the realization and acknowledgment of a significant act of God.  

We see the use of this word only 4 other times in the Bible. In each of these instances, God has just performed an amazing act and His people are recognizing this act and giving glory to God for what He has done! In the same way, Job acknowledges by his prostration that God has performed a remarkable act and Job accepts it as such. Job is accepting of the actions of God.  

This is a truly remarkable response from Job particularly in light of the fact that he has just lost all 10 of his children.  

Notice the first words out of the mouth of Job – such wisdom:

Job 1:21: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.

He blesses God. And he does-not-even-mention his losses. Wow! What a response!

Well, the story is just getting going here. I encourage you to read the entirety of the book of Job. We are in no way able to teach through it all in this Wisdom series.

My hope for you is that this study ignites within you a desire to want to go deeper. So that’s what your personal devotional time could be throughout the study.

Job 2:1-10  

Satan once again stands firm in believing that Job will in fact turn on God when confronted with loss, pain, and destruction.  Satan is wrong.

But look at how quickly Job’s wife curses God!

Job is called by God “a blameless, upright, God-fearing man who shuns evil.” His wife knows this. This is his spouse. She knows his character and his heart as one after the heart of God. Yet, we see a stark contrast in what she knows about her husband and how she responds to what has happened in her husband’s life: Job 2:9  

I sure hope when my wife, Amy, comes to me with concerns, brokenness, or tremendous pain, I offer her Godly counsel rather than as Job’s spouse offers to him.  

With school starting back, students I want to encourage you to use wisdom in choosing to surround yourself with people who offer you Godly counsel rather than just offer you what it is that you want to hear or what they think you need to hear.  

I want to encourage all students to pause right now to consider your closest circle of influence and ask yourself:

Do my closest friends push me closer or pull me away from God?

My question isn’t: “Are my closest friends Christians?”

Again, Job’s wife knows that Job is a man who follows God. She too probably follows God. But in this situation, her counsel is not a reflection of the character of God.  

Look at Job 2:9 - - She tells him, “Curse God and die!”  

We see that Job’s wife had an opportunity to offer him Godly wisdom. She does not. There is a pattern we see often in the Wisdom Literatures of the OT. This pattern is a clear comparison of God’s wisdom to humanity’s words….  

…meaning  - the way you and I offer counsel or opinions to others falls under one of two categories.  

We either offer Godly wisdom in the things we say, or we merely speak the typical words of humans as we talk. There is a distinct difference between offering someone the truth of God’s word or just simply offering someone words from my mouth.  

This is why it is so important that you and I get God’s Word in our hearts so that His Holy Word leads the things we say.

Jesus said in Matthew 12:34: You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.  

He also said these words in Luke 6:45: A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.  

Job’s wife offers counsel. But it sure isn’t Holy, is it?            

God’s Wisdom or Human’s Words?

1. Not all counsel is godly.  

Proverbs 30:5-6: Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.

If a person’s suggestions, recommendations, or condemnations aren’t in sync with God’s, then such counsel is wrong, no matter how popular, culturally relevant, or accepted the person.    

2. Not all counsel is popular.

Saying what is “right” won’t always sit right with others. The word of God can be divisive and offensive.  

1 Peter 2:6-8: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.  

Let me say: I do not preach hate! What I do preach might not always be popular…but it is NOT hate! Again, not all counsel is popular.    

3. Godly counsel needs God’s counsel.

Job’s wife misled him. His friends didn’t do much better. Well, at first they did…Job 2:11-13   

Then they begin to talk, and all they do is speak foolishness. Job’s friends go on and on about how Job’s sins have led to Job’s demise. This of course is a lie.  

Eliphaz, one friend of Job’s says: Job 5:17-18  

Bildad, another friend, says: Job 8:1-4 - He is saying that Job and his kids obviously sinned!  

Yet, another friend, Zophar, ignorantly speaks as well: Job 11:11 - He is saying, “Come on Job! Don’t you get it? God sees your deception and sinful life and you are receiving what you deserve!”  

The foolish emotion-driven counsel of these three friends reminds me that I must be very careful in the counsel that I offer to others. I want to encourage you to do the same.  

I do believe these three friends meant well in their chastisement of Job. The mistake that each of these three companions of Job made?  

Never offer counsel before first seeking God’s counsel.  

Job’s friends get it right at first. Because they keep their mouth shut. When they begin to speak without first allowing God to speak to them, what flows next is foolishness at best.  

Proverbs 29:20: Do you see someone who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for them.  

Job comes to this final conclusion: Job 42:2-6 / Job 42:12-17  

3 takeaways:

1. God may allow me to go through extremely difficult times to accomplish His will. God has a right to do what He desires. He is God.  

2. God may allow circumstances to unfold in my life for which I will never fully have an answer. Remember: What God does isn’t necessarily what I desire.  

3. God is working in ways to which I may never be privy for His glory and for my good.