A Crash Course Throught The Old Testament, Part 7 (The Book of Job)

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This is Something to Null on, a short podcast for the Christian with a short attention span designed to give you something to mentally or spiritually null on throughout your day or week. And I'm Nate Vainio, your host. We've been working through a series called A Crash Course Through the Old Testament. The intention has been to give a broad and enticing picture of the Old Testament to those who see the book as a bit intimidating. Hopefully, we can accomplish this by doing a quick overview of each book and seeing how they are interconnected to the rest of the Bible. Keep in mind that this is not a doctoral level survey of the Old Testament. It's a Crash Course. Think of it like that first punch to a bully's chin. He'll never be intimidating again.

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This week we start into section 3 of the Old Testament, the books of wisdom or poetry as some call them, and the first book up for discussion is the book of Job, and I would liken this to more of an epic story. Dating the book is pretty tough, so I'm going to throw out an incredibly large window and say it's after the flood and before the time of the kings. It's an absolute exercise in marble stacking, if you will, to figure out the dates of this book. All the usual suspects and I use that term loosely there are all over the timeline with it. That being said, it's an absolutely epic account of good versus evil, of surviving and thriving amid horrific tragedy, and it really does address the age-old stump the pastor question of why do bad things happen to good people?

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In the days and weeks and months and I guess even years after the May 22nd tornado of 2011 that ripped through Joplin, many people across the nation came to lend a hand in any way they could. I remember driving home one night after crawling around on several properties cleaning up debris and seeing this black truck in the parking lot of a Baptist church with a sign saying free food. I pulled up and they were die-hard Dallas Cowboy fans who made an art of tailgating at games, and they heard what was going on in Joplin. They drove all night, set up shop and just started to dole out food Cowboy chili, they called it and lending a listening ear at no cost. This is just one of thousands of stories from that absolutely chaotic event. The outpouring of generosity was incredible and the expressions of concern were always heartfelt.

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On the one-year anniversary of the EF5 tornado, word came that three actors from Hollywood were coming to Joplin to do what they do best, and I will admit I was about as big a cynic on this as anyone could have been. What are these guys going to do? Come here, pretend to work, take a few photos, bail out. But to their credit and my chagrin, paul Giamatti, david Strathearn and Arliss Howard came to my church and did a live dramatic reading of the whole book of Job. It's potentially ironic, I think. I wonder if this is the only time a whole book of the Bible was read from the pulpit in one setting, and it's by three Hollywood actors, go figure. Anyhow, in all honesty, though, I regret not going. I don't even remember what I was doing, but I didn't make it. But in my skeptical cynicism, I remembered thinking who are these guys to tell me about suffering? That being said, my friend Danny Mullins you might remember him from the last two episodes mentioned that he was left with the overwhelming sense that, when it comes to understanding what had happened with regard to the loss of life and property as a result of the tornado, these guys get it.

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And if ever there was a book in the Bible that speaks to the pain and suffering of life. It's certainly the book they chose, the book of Job. So as we get into the book of Job in his crash course, we break into section three of the Old Testament, the books of poetry, and as we look at the book of Job, we'll dive into a pretty tough book that addresses this issue of pain and suffering and keep in mind this classic question why do bad things happen to good people? At the same time, a good secondary theme to grab ahold of is this how do good people handle life when bad things happen? This is really the major theme of its 42 chapters.

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However, before we dive into the details of the book, I believe we need to cover some Bible study basics, some basic tools specifically necessary for this book to be digested properly. There are tools that I may have mentioned in past episodes but are absolutely necessary for reading through this book. First and foremost, I've used the phrase in the past Scripture interprets Scripture a few times. This book will raise some pretty tough questions about the pain and suffering of life. However, it's important to note that this book well, absolutely essential is not the final authority on pain and suffering in life.

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There are some highly simplistic reasons I want to mention for pain and suffering, or what I will refer to as the five sources for pain and suffering in life. Source one comes as a consequence of our own behavior. If you look at the New Testament, jesus affirms in one of the healings that a person's illness is related to his behavior. You can see that in John 5, 14. Also, in the series I did on handling conflict, king David style, we see King David reaping what he sowed. Source two comes as a consequence of somebody else's behavior. Every time in the Gospels we see Jesus healing a man and this same question comes up as to whether the man or his parents had sinned, and you can see that in John 9. And while neither ended up being the application in this situation, jesus acknowledges it as a possibility. Additionally, going back to the series on King David, you also see that the people of Israel reaped consequences in pain and suffering, if you will, for the sins of David.

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Source three comes as a mere consequence of living in a fallen world, and there's nothing good or bad about it, it's just living in a fallen world. Consider the verse it rains upon the just and the unjust alike. Sometimes that rain is hit and miss and other times it's a shroud hiding an F5 tornado that rips a 13 mile swath through the heart of your town, taking out your home and your place of employment in your church, and the destruction that is simply epic. And the sinner is hit just as hard as the saint. Source four Source four is that God is testing us. It's important to mention here that he's not tempting us, he's testing us. He's removed the training wheels. If you will, you might want to look at James one. There's an interesting account also in the history books that we just went through, where God withdrew his presence from King Hezekiah quote to see what was in his heart. You can find that in 2 Chronicles, 32, 31. In this case, as with others, these tests, which we sometimes view as pain and suffering, are simply God removing himself to some extent to see the heart of man.

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And lastly, source five is an outright blatant spiritual attack from the devil and the demonic world. For a quick study on this topic, you might check out episode 23. Open war is upon you At the same time. If you'd like a deeper dive into this, pastor John Lindell of James River Church did what I thought was a great series, a thorough series, called the Angels and Demons. Not only does it address more thoroughly what we see in the book of Job, but it does a great job highlighting spiritual warfare in a biblically balanced manner.

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For today, though, just keep in mind a couple of verses regarding spiritual attacks found in the New Testament. One Look at what Paul mentions in Ephesians we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against rulers and spiritual forces in high places. That's summarizing Ephesians 6. Also, in John 10.10, jesus himself says the thief, or Satan, comes to steal, kill and destroy. And John, in Revelation 12, says that Satan is referred to as a liar and an accuser set on destroying the world. And in verse 17 from the amplified version, quote so the dragon, which is Satan, was enraged with the woman and he went off to wage war on the rest of her children, those who keep and obey the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus, holding firmly to it and bearing witness to him.

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And this fifth source for pain and suffering is the launching pad for the events of the story of Job. Now, I mentioned in an earlier episode the idea of Scripture, interpreting Scripture. If you're only understanding of the source of pain and suffering comes from this book, you may miss the broader picture, which is why I highlighted the five sources a moment ago. A person might see every issue of pain and suffering as a demonic attack, when it might be an issue of consequence to personal behavior. So let me highlight the book for you now, but in short form.

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The book begins with a weird conversation between God and the devil, where God is bragging about Job. The devil alleges that Job's righteousness is only based upon the fact that God has blessed and protected him, and he challenges God to let him afflict Job with the goal of getting Job to curse God. God sets parameters but allows the devil to bring significant pain and suffering to Job and the devil goes to work and in a very short time Job loses it all except for his life, his wife and his integrity, and, unfortunately, his wife. Surviving the catastrophe is not a blessing in this particular case, but you'll have to read up on that in more detail on your own. All of this is covered in the first two chapters. In chapters 3 through 38, job's friends arrive to help him out, and I hope you can sense my sarcasm through the airwaves here. The problem here is that if you go back to the five sources of pain and suffering I mentioned earlier. These guys believe that Job is reaping the consequences of his own behavior.

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Source one and what follows for 35 chapters is a back-and-forth ping-pong match of accusation and defense. It's important to note here when considering the pain and suffering of life, you really need to know which source you're dealing with, and oftentimes it can be a few different sources at the same time. For Job there's a source five, a definite demonic spiritual attack. Also there's a source four in which God has backed away from the situation in a measured fashion to let this testing happen. And when his friends arrive and of course I use the phrase loosely you begin to see an emotional and mental pain and suffering, as Job has to deal with. Source two, the consequence of other people's behavior and being inaccurately accused and judged by friends. And the ultimate problem here is that his friends attempt to help him attack a spiritual problem with human and misdirected logic.

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I've mentioned before a statement from the late Jack Hayford that has stuck with me for years and it goes like this you can't discipline a demon and you can't cast out the flip. The point is simply that when you're dealing with something demonic, then the solution needs to be spiritual, it needs to be the Holy Spirit warring for us and us standing on truth and kneeling in prayer. The problem, the lack of freedom, the lack of victory, the lack of peace, comes when we attack the spiritual problem like Job's friends and try to discipline ourselves out of a spiritual battle. It's not going to work. It's never going to work. It's like using your car key to open your safe deposit box. It'll never happen and, as I'll read in a moment, this attitude or behavior angers God.

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The other half of Hayford's comment is that you cannot treat a personal behavior problem or a Source 1 problem by casting out a demon that does not exist in that particular situation. Again, it's a car key, safe deposit box key. Situation in reverse we're supposed to crucify the flesh, bring it into submission. Sometimes it's nice to blame our problems on Source 2 or 3 or 4 or 5, but when it's Source 1, the only thing that's going to solve the problem is a little confession, a little discipline, a little dying to the flesh. And if I may extrapolate a bit further and a bit more simplistically, the bottom line is that we need to identify the Source and attack it. Efforts are futile if you don't know which Source you're fighting against.

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Consider what James writes in the opening of his letter, quote when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy, for you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance has fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. If you need wisdom, as in now this me adding this in here but as in knowing what the Source the attack comes from if you need wisdom, ask our generous God and he will give it to you. But when you ask, be sure your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with a divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. This is James 1, 2-7,. Again, if you need wisdom, ask generously and he will give it to you. Ask Him and he will let you know. He will identify the Source of the attack. So, in short, if you're enduring pain and suffering a trial, a persecution, james is simply saying to both endure and boldly ask to know what the source is so you can have victory.

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To brutally summarize the ending of the book of Job. After the brutal accusations from his friends, god finally steps in and has quite a powerful conversation with Job. Ultimately, god restores Job's life, but before he does, a couple of key things happen. First, he addresses Job's friends and their focus on the wrong source of pain and suffering. Chapter 42, verse 7, quote my wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has done. End quote Job's friends misrepresented God severely and it's time to pay up. God's not happy about it.

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If ever there was a biblical story about someone being hurt by the church or hurt by the people who claim to be God's representatives, this is that story. Sure, there's Jesus parable about the man who was forgiven much and failed to forgive his brother, but this is a bit more visceral. I see two ways of handling this. One is to handle it like Job and let God go to bat for you, like we see here, and know that God does stand up for his own. Unfortunately, there are those who don't make it to this realization and, for whatever reason, they use these moments as an unfortunate crutch.

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With regard to using this, I've been hurt by the church card. I'm a bit torn by the use of this as a justification for failure to get to church or to follow God because of how people have treated them. On the one hand, I totally get that people get hurt at church. At the same time, try being a part of any non-church group and tell me if you don't get hurt at work or at school or professional groups, or the list goes on. I've seen it several times in the business world. The reality is, wherever you're at, we're human, we're sinners and we hurt others and others hurt us.

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The issue at church is that even though we are supposed to be Christ-like we aren't perfect, but that's the direction we're supposed to be moving in and people are going to be hurt by any of the five sources. But if you look closely at the guidebook for churches, there's a process or a protocol to bring forgiveness and restoration and healing and you won't find that in the world. At the same time, the idea that people play this card of offense, that it somehow justifies their refusal to continue to follow the Lord or to continue to attend a church, is absolutely mind-blowing to me. It's either completely ignorant of scriptural teaching on forgiveness and healing or totally demonic, maybe even both, but it's neither logical or biblical. If you ever want to see how you should respond when you're hurt by fellow Christians, then you need to read this last chapter of Job very carefully.

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One of the most peculiar parts of this story is just a couple of verses at the end. Many times through the books of history we read of God destroying the enemies of Israel, and it gets graphic and ugly without warning. It happens Without conversation. It happens. We even use the term biblical as an adjective to describe the massive impersonal judgment by God in these settings. But when it comes to dealing with Job's friends, as I read before, god's not happy with them. But the fact that God is talking to them is a good thing. I know it's not easy, but it's good. He's correcting them. There's hope for them. He's working on restoring the relationship.

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God gives them basic instruction to make things right with God and with Job. The instruction is simple, quote so take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. Why, of course it's me asking why. So they can be made right with God and with Job. My servant Job will pray for you and I will accept his prayer on your behalf. I will not treat you as you deserve, for you have not spoken accurately about me as my servant Job has. That's chapter 42, verse 8.

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This process that God walks them through is restorative. God goes to bat for Job and confronts his friends. The friends are essentially asking forgiveness and making a repentant effort, and Job is placed in an incredibly beautiful place where he now has the opportunity to forgive those three knuckleheads who have absolutely no spiritual discernment when it comes to pain and suffering in life, like a lot of people you and I know and go to church with. And this is where Job could have easily played the I've been hurt by the church card, the hold on to your hurt like it's a security blanket card. But keep reading verse 9 and look at the last line quote they did as the Lord commanded them and the Lord accepted Job's prayer. In short, and connecting the dots a little bit here, job forgave them and consequently, god forgave them.

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Jesus talked about this forgiveness process throughout the gospels. It's even in the Lord's prayer forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. It's in several other places as well, but what is key here is that it would have been easy for Job to carry a grudge and divert his angst to these three guys. God orchestrates an opportunity to bring forgiveness because he knows that a worldly wisdom or a demonic wisdom that would justify holding a grudge is not godly. And if you want to hold on to a grudge for eternity, well, the only place you can do that is in hell. I don't know who's listening today, but please grab ahold of this.

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The biblical truth is that we have to forgive others who hurt us, and I know this ain't easy, and I think that's one of the reasons that this story is in the Bible, because we live in a world at war, where the devil takes advantage of every opportunity to keep pain and suffering on our back, trying to get us to curse God and die, and he will take advantage of any of the five sources to do so. And what we see in Job's life at the end is that God's eye is on him, that he makes a way for Job to find restoration and forgiveness with his friends. But ultimately, job has to be the one to pull the trigger on forgiveness, and it's a gut level question we all have to come to terms with, and I'm sorry to be so blunt, but this is the raw biblical truth. Our forgiveness is tied to our forgiveness of others. And if you doubt me on this, here are a few of Jesus' own words in red in the Amplified in Matthew 6, quote For if you forgive others, their trespasses, their reckless and willful sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, nurturing your hurt and anger, with the result that interferes with your relationship with God, then your Father will not forgive your trespasses. It's a serious matter, and it's such a serious matter that God confronts the friends and drew up a plan for the forgiveness to happen between the friends as well as with God. When we get to the gates of heaven, there's no I was hurt by the church card that you can play to get your way through. You cannot carry a grudge past the pearly gates. You've got to deal with that stuff here and now. Famously, this story ends with God's blessing to Job. He restores his fortune, doubles his wealth and brings another ten kids into the world.

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A lot of times when this story gets told, the focus is on this part of the ending, which, don't get me wrong, is pretty cool. But let's not lose sight of the fact that this came immediately after the forgiveness between friends and God, not before, after and not before. Let that sink in. I want to close this episode a little differently this time and just bow my head, put my script aside and just say a prayer for everybody listening Heavenly Father, thank you for your Word, I thank you for your goodness, thank you for your justice.

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Lord, god, I thank you that you went to bat for Job. In the same way, lord, I know you can go to bat for everybody who's listening. Who's ever been hurt here, lord, and I pray that you would. I pray You'd open our eyes to see how it is that You're working. At the same time, god, I pray that you would work on our hearts like you did on Job's Lord, that we would utter that same phrase, lord, that Job said. Lord, that even though you slay me yet, I will trust you. Lord, your ways are so much higher above our ways and we will trust you, no matter how crazy it may get. Lord, we won't question you, we'll trust you.

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God, I pray for a peace about these situations to come across the wave, the airwaves here, so to speak. Lord, for every listener. Lord, that these situations that bring angst, lord, when people think about them, lord, those the byproducts of holding a grudge and not forgiving God, I pray that you would turn the light of your Spirit on in people's lives, to where they would see what it is that they need to address and forgive God. I pray that You'd give them boldness and courage, lord, to step up and forgive At the same time. God, when that happens, I pray that they would feel what happens in the spiritual world, lord, when they forgive. Lord, that they would feel a connectedness to you of that divine shift in the Spirit.

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Lord, when that happens, god, I praise you and I thank you that you honor your word. I thank you that you provide us with your word. God, I'm thankful that you are faithful and that you never change and that we can stand on your promises. Lord, god, and so God, for everybody who's listening today, god, I pray that you would give clarity to know what they're fighting, give them wisdom to understand how to fight. God, I pray that you would give them courage that it takes to stand up and forgive and to lay down the grudge. And, god, in the midst of this, I also pray peace, your perfect peace, on everyone in this process, and even more so Lord. May they notice a palpable difference in the disposition of their life after forgiving. Lord, may they sense that I pray in your holy and blessed name. Amen, everybody. I'll catch you next week, god bless.