A Purpose in Suffering

As we cracked open our Bibles this week to the Old Testament book of Job, some of our ladies began to ask some very thought-provoking questions. One asked how we could possibly know that word for word conversations between Job and his pals are exactly word for word. Was there a little court reporter sitting in the wings, typing all the dialogue? Another question arose about the sovereignty of God and why the Old Testament paints him in a sometimes terrifying way while the New Testament paints him in a more gentle, loving way. I love all of these questions because it means that we are digging deep in God's Word, not just scratching the surface. If you'd like to study Job with us, I have plenty of extra books you're welcome to purchase. It's easy to follow along on the blog and study on your own! I hope you'll join us in digging deep into this story of a righteous man who had everything stripped from him and had to decide if he would stick with God or turn away.

We started our study with the basic facts of Job. This book was most likely set in the time of the patriarchs - think Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Bible isn't written in chronological order. If it were, Job would most likely be found early in between the first few chapters of the book of Genesis. Job and his peers lived in the land of Uz, which today is the northern portion of Saudi Arabia. While no one knows exactly who wrote it, it was probably passed down orally for a while before it was written down. (This is what birthed the question about the little court reporter!) We can't discount the fact that all Scripture is literally God-breathed. Meaning, even stories that were passed down orally, like Job or the story of Creation itself, are the literal words of Almighty God. 1 Peter 1:21 tells us how these prophets were carried along by the Holy Spirit as they spoke and wrote the words of God.

The first and last sections of Job are written as prose, like a story being told. But the many chapters in between can be read as poetry. Many scholars believe that this is because of the way the book of Job was passed down orally over the generations. Poetry was easier to remember!

So why is this book included in the Scriptures? What purpose does it serve? There are several purposes. Old Testament Law was set up with a system of justice and fairness – an eye for an eye, if I kill your donkey, you can kill my donkey, etc. Job shows us that this is not always the case anymore- a new way is coming. We can never atone for our sins on our own – Someone would need to pay the price. This changes the whole system of “justice”. Second, the book of Job shows us the absolute sovereignty of God. Nothing that happened to Job happened without God specifically allowing it. Every single detail passed through his fingers before it came to Job. God is sovereign over all.

As we looked at Job 1:1-5, we discovered the character of Job – noble, upright, righteous, wealthy, rich, the greatest of all the people in the east. Job feared God and turned away from evil. And yet in the middle of his great worldly prosperity, Satan took it all away from him.

Before we go any farther, I want to acknowledge that many of you today are in the midst of painful situations. Maybe you’ve just gone through a painful time or maybe you’re in one now. If that doesn’t describe you then you can be sure that your painful time is coming. I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know all the reasons for your pain and I’m certainly not trying to make assumptions about what you’re going through. If you're hurting, I'm so sorry. I hope that our study of the book of Job will bring you comfort and encouragement.

As we read Scripture, we must remember that this is a book about GOD. Don’t read Job and immediately ask yourself how it relates to you. Instead, ask yourself “What does this say about GOD?” If we come at Scripture from this stance, it shines an entirely different light on every single thing, including suffering. Here’s what we can learn from the first chapter of Job. 

Your suffering has a purpose.

When it comes to suffering, there are two very similar purposes:

1.     Satan desires to destroy your faith.

2.     God desires to strengthen your faith.

When you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, your faith will either be strengthened or destroyed. Here's the key: the direction your faith takes in suffering will depend largely upon the strength of your faith before the storm ever comes. That means the time you spend with the Lord now, when everything is fine, will have a large impact on the strength of your faith when trials come. The stronger your faith when things are going well, the stronger your faith will be when things are going badly. What will happen to your faith when the trials come? Will it be strengthened or destroyed? 

Another theme I see emerging in the book of Job is this:

Suffering always reveals who and what you worship.

Where is your treasure? In chapter one of Job, we see the most prosperous man in the east lose everything he holds dear. Yet in his grief, he worships. How can this be that in the midst of incredible pain and suffering, Job worshiped? This man valued God above his possessions, even above his children. He was ready to weather the storm because he had not put his possessions or his children or any other thing in the place that only God was meant to occupy in his heart. God was already on the throne of Job’s heart, so when everything fell away, Job’s faith in God remained steadfast.

That is not to say Job didn’t hurt. He tore his robes and shaved his head! He truly grieved over the losses he experienced. But in grieving the loss of his livelihood and his children, he didn’t sin. In his despair he remained true to the One who is Faithful and True.

As you read and study the book of Job, keep one thing at the forefront of your mind. This book, despite its name, is not about Job. This book is about God. What can we learn about His character through this book? Who is He? What are His attributes? What is He like? Why is He trustworthy?Remember, the whole Bible is about GOD and it was written so that we can know Him better. A benefit to knowing Him better is that we will rest in the shadow of his wings as the storms swirl around us.

I’d like to close with something from my own time with the Lord. Read Psalm 18. As you read this passage, ask yourself what this says about God. You’ll find so many attributes of our great God that I hope it will leave you hungry for more.

God's Got This

Hard to believe this month we will see democracy at its finest moment as “We the People” take to the voting booth to cast our votes for the next President of the United States of America. To say this is a tumultuous time in our nation would be an understatement. But you know, every four years is "the biggest election we’ve ever experienced". The path of our great nation continues or resets every four years. Some of those years have been our greatest moments and some would be considered only a small flicker of light. I remember Ronald Reagan as a young boy. I remember watching him, even though I really didn’t understand what all this political stuff meant at the time. He commanded attention and he was a great leader. I remember in 1986 when he spoke on the Challenger Shuttle explosion. He was my president then and at age nine, I knew it.

My parents played an informative role in my political views. They never missed a beat when it came to elections and they made sure I knew how and why they voted. They also taught me the meaning of Romans 13:1-7. That passage weighs heavy on my heart the closer we come to approaching November 8^th and the change of power that will occur in January. For me to say that we have two virtuous people of character and high moral standing running for office would be…well…overstating the truth like a bass fisherman who caught a minnow but says he landed a 15 pound monster. I’ve heard many times over through the process, “This year, it is the lesser of two evils.” But that is not a great Biblical worldview approach to what we face. Evil is evil and it does not come in degrees or stages. What we have this year are two fallen people who profess one thing and do something completely different. Sound any different than people we’ve met in the Scriptures? Moses was a murderer, David an adulterer, Solomon loved too many women…yet God used each one of them.

Ultimately, this is how Paul weighs government authority in Romans 13:1-7. (Read it!) 

·      Everyone is to submit to the governing authority.  It is a command that Paul gives the church. To submit to the authority of the government is to submit to God.

·      There is NO authority except from God, and those who exist have been instituted by God. God is sovereign and His rule is sovereign in the affairs of this world.

·      To help illustrate Romans 13, Daniel concludes from King Nebuchadnezzer’s dream that God is in control, setting up and taking down kings to accomplish His perfect will. Daniel 2:27-44 &: Daniel 4:17-27

·      Paul wants you to understand that “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases.” Proverbs 21:1. So the tyrant Roman Emperors (who were NOT Christian) like Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, had ascended to power with God’s permission, actually by His direction. According to Romans 13, they were even “instituted by God.” The three emperors mentioned above were the emperors most likely alive while Paul is writing Romans. Nero was notorious for burning Christians in his courtyard for light at night. Yet Paul can write Romans 13, and inform us to submit to the governing authority…interesting isn’t it?

So, however the election turns out, on November 9^th we, The Church, will carry on because Jesus will be on His throne, and all these issues we face today will one day be subject to Him and placed under His feet. So be encouraged, and do not let your soul be downcast.

But is there ever a time for rebellion? We do have precedent in Scripture that we can resist if the government ever decides to force us to act contrary to God’s will. In Acts 5:29 Peter stands and says, “We must obey God rather than men.” Peter was not defending marriage or the unborn or lower taxes or gun laws or free trade. Peter just wanted to share the gospel.

On moral issues and in life, we win when we share the gospel. The key to changing our nation is not a Christian in the White House, though that certainly would help. But what will change our nation is a consistent witness of the gospel with proclamation and life-style witness. What we say and what we do must match up and we do this with the power of the Holy Spirit as we surrender ourselves to God’s will.

So pray before you go and vote on November 8. But also pray after you vote! Pray and ask the Lord to stir and awaken the Church in the United States of America. Pray and ask that God will return to our Oval Office the characteristics of a Christ follower…but remember…man will always disappoint us, but for those who call on Jesus as Lord, we will not be disappointed.

I pray this has caused you to think a bit, and I hope you have prayed about your decision. I know I have agonized over this entire election cycle. But God’s got this…no matter what…God’s got this.

Dr Chris Irving

Senior Pastor

First Baptist Church of Gonzales

Redemption Received: Gomer's Story

It may take you a few minutes to find the book of Hosea in the Old Testament, but I promise it will be worth the time to read it. Hosea isn't one of those books we go to often, but the story we find there is a tale of love and redemption and the relationship between Hosea and Gomer will leave you in awe of the redemption God offers me and you. I really want you to read it for yourself - if you don't have time for fourteen chapters and want to read the condensed version, just read this:

Hosea 1:2-10, 3:1-3, 6:1, 14:1-2    

Hosea was a prophet who lived and ministered sometime between 753BC and 687BC. He was a mouthpiece for the Lord during a time when people didn't have Bible apps on phones in their pockets. God commanded him to marry a sexually immoral woman - a prostitute, an adulteress, a harlot. Probably not quite the match that Hosea was anticipating. He obeyed the Lord (willingly? bitterly? We don't really know.) He took Gomer as his wife and together they had three children, Jezreel, "No Mercy" and "Not My People". What names! It might've seemed to Hosea that he was being punished by the Lord with a harlot wife and children who weren't loved. 

But God had another plan.

You see, Gomer's life was not about her. Neither was Hosea's about him. God wasn't concerned with their happiness or their prosperity. He wasn't bothered with their reputations, their social standing or their positions. Gomer and Hosea were put on this earth to illustrate the redemption story of God's people. Gomer and Hosea point us to Jesus's redemption of you and me. They were made for something bigger than themselves.

Hosea took Gomer for a wife but it wasn't long before she went back to her old way of life. Promiscuity seemed more alluring to her than faithfulness. Most men would've washed their hands of such a "dirty" woman, but Hosea pursued Gomer. My favorite words in the whole book of Hosea are found in chapter 3, verse 2 when Hosea says, "So I bought her". God told him to go get her back. She came at a price though and Hosea came ready to pay up. He bought her back from the pit she had chosen and redeemed her again. 

The whole idea that God loves us so much that he would find us in the midst of our sin, the pit that we have deliberately chosen, is an idea I have a hard time wrapping my head around. But just as Hosea paid the price to redeem Gomer, Jesus Christ has redeemed us on the cross by paying the price with his own blood. There's nothing good in you or me that makes us worthy of such redemption and that's the beauty of it. It's a gift. Free. We can't earn it and we don't deserve it. Gomer didn't deserve it, but Hosea bought her back. You don't deserve it but Jesus bought you back.

Hosea 6:1 says,

Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.

The pit that you may find yourself in is not one that is too far to receive the gift of redemption. There's nothing too bad, nothing too terrible that God will not redeem. He gave his only son, Jesus, so that he could pay the price for you, even while you were still in that pit. Don't stay torn and struck down. Turn to him and he promises to heal you and bind you up. What a precious promise!

And keep in mind that your story is not about you. It's all about Him and His redeeming love.