Job 3-4

Chuck preached through Job awhile back. If you have time, it might be interesting to listen through the sermons while you are reading this section.

Job 1:1-19 (Suffering: Part I)
Job 1:6-11; 2:1-10 (Is God Good, Even When Life Is Not?)
Job 2:9 (Four Reasons Why Evil is not an Argument Against the Existence of God)
Job 3 (When You Wish You Were Dead)
Job 4:5-11 (Suffering = Retribution?)
Job 2:11-13; 4:7-9; 5:17-27 (With Friends Like These)
Job 32-37 (Elihu: A Reasonable Explanation)
Job 38:1-42:6 (God on Trial?)

It's interesting to see various people's response to Job's suffering.

As we saw earlier, after Job has been afflicted with all sorts of trouble, his wife questions why he is still holding onto his integrity. "Curse God and die!!!" she suggests. But he will have none of that.

His friends come over in sympathy and just sit there with him for three days without saying a word. In times like this, it really is probably better not to say anything. I mean, really, what would you say???? "God has a reason for this?" - not so comforting.

Job FINALLY speaks after three days of silence. And what does he do? Instead of cursing God, he curses the day he was born. He curses his own existence and wishes for death. The peace of death. Death will free him from this suffering.

Job says "I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil."

In the next chapter, his friend, Eliphaz the Temanite, speaks up. He tries to encourage Job by telling Job to rely on his piety and righteousness. From Eliphaz's view, Job cannot perish because he has been blameless before the Lord.

"Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it."

Job 1-2 (Suffering of a righteous man)

Job 1 and 2 force us to explore a question about our faith and trust in God. Do people follow God because they believe that God will give them good things?? If everything is being taken away from God's people, will they still be God's people?

The backdrop of the story is a little peculiar. Satan and God made a bet. God asked Satan to "consider" His servant, Job - who is blameless and righteous. He would allow Satan to remove everything that Job has, including his servants, animals, wealth, even his sons and daughters. When Job still wouldn't curse God, Satan said that no one would still be loving God if his body is suffering. God replied: "Go do what you want with Job, just don't kill him." So Job was afflicted with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head (OUCH!!). Even when his wife pleaded for him to curse God, Job still wouldn't do it. "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" And so he remained blameless through all these set-up tests.

I often wonder how many people would be able to compare their faith with that of Job. We all remember the lyrics of the song "Blessed be Your name":

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

Every time I hear or sing this song, I always think of this book... and I always wonder if I really mean every word...

Genesis 20-22

King Abimelech took Sarah as his wife but ended up seeing God in a dream. There after he returned Sarah to Abraham and made peace with him. God has the power to control the way things flow, but no more dreams in our time. And there are God fearing people; you just need to provide the proper methods get them on board.

God finally gives Abraham and Sarah a son, Issac. They were super old by then, about 100 years old. It was part of God's promise to them that he would give them a son, they just needed to wait a long time. We need to wait too some times. Abraham's first son Ishmael was sent off; Ishmael would become a great nation. Abraham makes treaty with Abimelech at Beersheba.

Abraham was tested with the sacrificing of Issac on an altar. Since he feared God and did what he was told even though it was with his only son, God blessed him and his descendants . Isaac show obedience too allowing his old father to tied him up and chop him. Isaac survived the test. Both father and son pass the love-God test.

Genesis 17-18

More and more scandal!
Sarah has no faith
In verse 18, three men come to visit Abraham and Sarah.  The significant part is that Sarah, who is sitting inside the tent, laughs at the idea of her having a child.  She has no faith.  God hears her, and asks Abraham why did Sarah laugh?  Sarah then lied and said she didn't, even though she did.

Abraham pleads with God
In the next section God reveals his plan to Abraham that he is going to destroy Sodom because of the great sin there.  Abraham pleads with God, asking him whether he would spare the city if 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 righteous people are there.  God said that he would spare the city if there were 10 righteous people.

Sodom is really messed up
In the next scene, we see how awful Sodom really is.  If you remember from previous chapters, Lot lives in Sodom because the land there looked more lush.  In this scene, 2 angels have visited Lot.  According to this account, "all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house."  They yelled out, asking Lot to release the two men so that they could have sex with them.  Of course Lot would have none of that.  This really illustrates how sinful this city was.  All the men from the city were here!  God said he would spare it if there were 10 righteous people . . . but from the looks of this, the city is deeply seated in sin.

Weirdly, Lot is willing to offer his virgin daughters to have sex with them (poor girls!!!!!!) but would not hand over the angels.

Destroyed Cities
God then decides he must destroy the city.  The angels told Lot and his family to RUN RUN RUN!!  Flee!! Don't look back!  Lot was afraid of running all the way to the mountains; he didn't think he could survive.  He pleaded with the angels, asking if he could just go to the nearby city.  God relented and let Lot run there.  Lot's wife didn't have faith and looked back, thus turning into a pillar of salt (can you imagine the look on Lot's face when that happened??)

Sodom and Gomorrah were totally destroyed.  Sulfur rained down (smelly!)

Lot's daughters are gross
Lot's daughters then decide they needed to continue the family line, and since there were no men around, they got their father drunk two nights in a row, and took turns sleeping with him.  They both got pregnant and formed the origins of the Moabites and the Ammonites.

Genesis 16-17

This is kind of a scandalous story in the Bible.  Abram and Sarai are childless, and they are worried about an heir as they are both getting older.  Sarai suggests that Abram produces a child with Hagar, and then when it finally happens, it produces tension between Sarai and Hagar.  Sarai blames the strained relationship on Abram even though she was the one who suggested it.  Okay, they are both at fault, so I don't understand why she says, "May the LORD judge between you and me."  Does she think she is innocent (or perhaps less guilty) than Abram?

After the domestic problems have been sorted out, God appears in front of Abram and reaffirms the covenant he made with Abram previously.  He renames to Abraham and Sarah and finally gives Abram and Sarai a child.

 

I think this story is a good reminder of how God chooses ordinary people who have steadfast faith and trust God, but aren't perfect. 

Genesis 13-15 (Abram & lot separate; God's covenant with Abram)

Genesis 13 started with Abram and Lot going their separate ways and each taking a portion of the land. Lot chose the plains of Jordon and Sodom because the area was rich and well-watered, despite the wickedness & sin of the Sodom people. Abram, on the other hand, let Lot choose first and also let God take care of him. This is a demonstration of his faith in God's providence. God was pleased and promised Abram the multitude of his offspring and also massive land.

Later on, Abram had to rescue Lot from the attack of the Mesopotamian Kings (I don't necessarily understand the significance of this, except perhaps demonstrating Lot had chosen an apparently wealthy land but without regard to the danger he was exposing himself to?). Abram also refused to take goods from the King of Sodom (wicked king) but accept blessings and food from the King Melchizedek who was the high priest of God.

Genesis 14 is the first chapter that mentioned about tithing ("Abram gave the [priest King Melchizedek] a tenth of everything", showing his faith in God.) Chapter 15 describes God's covenant with Abram, promisng him a true son (out of his own flesh), a new land to live in, a large family and son of his own flesh, a great nation! In this passage, we can see that Abram is not afraid of asking at all--he has a question, he asks God. Sometimes we hesitate to pray to God and tell Him what we want. Perhaps we should just learn from the Father of faith-"Abram believed in God, and God credited it to him as righteousness." How beautiful is this picture! :-)

Genesis 10-12

We enter a brief genealogy of starting from Noah's sons, who become the Japhethites, the Hamites, and the Semites.

Genesis 11 begins the story of the Tower of Babel, where mankind decided to build a tower to the heavens in order to "make a name for ourselves." God scattered them by confusing their language so they could not communicate with each other anymore. As I mentioned in my earlier post, this is the third time Man has failed (1st being Adam's sin and 2nd being right before the flood).

In this case, God decides to work through Abraham, promising that He would make Abraham a "great nation." Abraham takes his wife and follows God.

They go to Egypt while there is a great famine in the land. Abraham decides that if they find out his wife Sarai is married to him, they will kill him in order to take her. So instead he lies to Pharoah and tells everyone that Sarai is his sister. They treat Abraham well & Pharoah takes Sarai into the palace.

Of course, God judges Pharoah for his acts, inflicting serious disease. Pharoah, after finding out, is furious, and kicks them all out of the land!