I. The Book of Job is one of the strangest in the Bible. We’re not sure when it was written or even who wrote it.
II. The book tells us a little about the man Job. He lived in Uz, he was wealthy, he had ten children and he was “blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1).
III. Let’s pick up the story of Job in Job 1:1-22. There are a number of difficult concepts in this chapter.
A. Verse 1: This verse is emphatic that Job was a righteous
man. What was to befall him wasn’t because he was in
outward rebellion against God. This disproves the belief
that only bad things happen to bad people.
B. Verses 5-6: Job was a religious man who understood the
need for a blood sacrifice for sin. (Some commentators
see this as an indication that Job lived during the
patriarchal period).
C. Verses 6-12: These verses present us with insight
into the interaction between God and Satan. Notice it is
God who brings Job to Satan’s attention.
1. Satan is not able to do more than what God allows.
2. Angels and demons must present themselves
before God to give account of their actions.
3. God hates evil but allows Satan, as the god of this
world, to perpetrate evil.
4. Satan can’t foresee the future.
IV. We continue the story in Job 2:1-13.
SPS: Why did God allow Satan to bring about these terrible happenings on Job? Why does God allow us, as His children, to suffer? We’ve been going through a series of sermons on the fruits of the Holy Spirit. The fruit we’re going to talk about today is “longsuffering.”
I. The reasons for suffering.
A. When we are faced with a terrible tragedy or trial
many times the first inclination is, “Why is God doing
this to me?”
B. There a number of reasons why we suffer.
1. We suffer because of our own sins.
2. We suffer because of the sins of others.
3. We suffer because of bad judgement.
4. We suffer because we live in Satan’s world.
5. We suffer because spiritual growth is sometimes
painful.
C. Suffering due to spiritual growth can be the most
diffcult. We lose a job because we refuse to sleep with
the boss or work on the Sabbath. We suffer financially
because we refuse to be dishonest. We suffer because
we refuse to repay a wrong done by a mate with
another wrong.
D. This kind of suffering can come from loving correction
from God. God doesn’t correct us because He wants
us to suffer. But just as we correct a child to keep him
or her from running into the street, God corrects us to
teach us how to stop participating in destructive
behavior, thoughts and emotions.
E. We can actually find encouragement in God’s correc-
tion because it reveals His love and involvement in our
lives (Heb. 12:1-17).
II. Human reasoning verses faith.
A. Dealing with human suffering without despair is
dependant upon a spiritual vision that comes from a
right relationship with God.
B. Chapters 3 through 37 of Job are comprised of human
reasoning about suffering. It’s not until chapter 42 that
Job understands the spiritual vision (Job 42:1-6).
C. “Longsuffering” means to suffer long. Just as God’s
Spirit develops in us the fruits of self-control, meek-
ness, faith, goodness, and gentleness, it also develops
in us the ability to deal with suffering.
D. Longsuffering doesn’t mean to give in to a constant
state of despondency. Longsuffering isn’t fatalism, it is
faith and hope in what God is doing in our lives. It
also encompasses the hope of the future—God’s plan
for us and all mankind (James 5:7-11).
E. A few years ago my family and I visited the John Deere
historical site between Dixon and Oregon, IL. There
are many displays and information about John Deere
and his creation of the first steel plow. They also have
a working blacksmith shop and we were able to watch
a blacksmith at work in t