Title: Reasons to Serve God
Contents
The introduction to the book of Job expresses some characteristics of Job. First of all, he was a man of perfect moral character and honesty. His faith was a man who feared God and turned away from evil. The living environment was economically rich (2~3). Job did not lack anything. Satan accuses God of this kind of Job. Will Job serve God without cause (verse 9). Satan is saying that it is because Job is doing well. If you hit him, knock him over and inflict pain, he insists that he will do nothing. But Job shows that the reason for serving God is not because of conditions. So the pain begins for him. Suffering can come to even the perfect person. Nevertheless, Job shows that God is God and deserves to be served.
Job's test is not a single misfortune, but it develops into more and more misfortunes, and it also suffers four misfortunes in a row. The word that leads to the misfortune in verses 16, 17, 18 is ‘while he was still speaking’. Cattle, donkeys, and servants are robbed and killed overnight. Lightning strikes from the sky, killing sheep and servants. The Chaldeans run in, steal the camels and kill the servants. While he was still speaking, all his children were killed. A typhoon struck this caring father who offered burnt offerings as many as the number of children in fear that they might have forgotten the fear of God during the feast, and the news that the house collapsed and his children were crushed to death. What do we do when these moments of suffering come? What kind of faith does Job show?
1. Job is sad (verse 10).
When the Israelites were most sad, they tore their outer garments and shaved their heads. Sadness comes from love. It is not a sin to be sad. Because Jesus loved Lazarus, he wept in front of his tomb (John 11:35). ‘I am sad’ So ‘weeping’ is different from hitting the ground and weeping. It is a compassion that cannot be suppressed because of love, an expression of pain. Job grieves when suffering comes. It is not a person who is numb and lives regardless of pain, but feels pain like any other person. A believer must be a person who can grieve for the suffering of other peoples, the suffering of the church, the suffering of neighbors, and the suffering of believers.
2. Job did not grumble or sin when suffering came (verse 22).
Job has the pain of mourning, but he does not complain. It is not easy to not feel resentment despite suffering and sorrow. How was Job possible? He knew the fundamentals of life and believed in the absolute sovereignty of God the Creator (21). Life comes naked from the womb and returns naked. It is God who gave and God who took. Therefore, it is natural. that it can be. This is what Job's faith looked like. There is no reason to serve God only in a good background, but it is natural to serve God even in hardships. So we do not blame or complain about God. The fear of God is to kneel before His absolute sovereignty. So there is a third attitude that Job takes.
3. Job worshiped and praised God (verses 20-21).
Wouldn't it be great if our lives had no pain? But what we see through Job is that people like Job suffer. Nevertheless, I tell you why I serve God. When pain comes to us, we can grieve. However, you must not sin and not grumble. We need to go one step further and worship and praise God more. Job fell to the ground and worshiped God. After hearing the 4 sad news, I bow down. We cannot worship God when we forget that we are creatures. The essence of our worship is to bow down before God. It is a confession and confession of our being created.
Job suffers to make it more clear that he is a creature before God. “Blessed be the name of the Lord” (v. 21b) A truly powerful Christian is not without suffering, but has the faith to praise God even in suffering, like Paul and Silas.
Fanny Crosby grew up blind from childhood. But his beautiful hymns did not yield to his suffering. Rather, we should use the times of suffering in our lives as an opportunity to glorify God and become more humble.