JOB 1 - 1st March 2026

All right. Well, good morning. Uh,

please take your Bibles and open them up

to the book of Job. Please take your

Bibles and open them up, please, to the

book of Job. Um, it's just before the

Psalms in your Bible. Job chapter 1.

Job 1 · chapter mention

Let's pray before we look at this

amazing book together. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you that we can enter

into your presence uh this morning

giving you praise and worship that you,

Lord, deserve. And so I pray uh that

you'd speak to us in and through your

word. I thank you that we have it in

front of us. I thank you for the gift

that it is to us. And I pray you'd help

us not just to be hearers of the word,

but doers of it also. Help us, Lord, we

pray.

Amen.

I'm going to begin by asking you a few

questions, but I just want to remind us

um that the children are always more

than welcome in this service. What that

means is there's probably going to be

ups and downs. People might cry and be

loud and that's just the adults. The

children as well will be around as well

and that is absolutely fine. I am going

to keep preaching whether you listen or

not. So um let's go with that. Few

questions for us this morning as we

prepare our hearts for the book of Job.

And these are questions that I've

written down for us and questions that

I've written down for you to reflect on

and think about your own experience in

life. Here are the questions.

Have you ever questioned the meaning of

life?

Have you ever experienced physical pain?

Have you ever experienced

emotional anguish?

Have you ever lost a loved one?

Have you ever wondered whether God is

truly just?

Have you ever longed for death?

Have you ever felt lonely?

Have you ever heard such bad news that

you don't know what to do next?

Have you ever been blamed for something

that you have not done?

Have you ever experienced great

financial loss?

Have you ever not been able to sleep at

night because life is so difficult?

Have you ever been mocked?

Have you ever been humiliated?

The ultimate question is this. Have you

ever experienced

suffering?

And the answer for all of us in this

room is of course yes we have.

And as we look at this book over the

next while together, we are going to

hear of a man who has experienced all

those things that I've just said and

much more.

And while we won't be given all the

answers for our suffering through the

book of Job,

what we will know and understand is this

is that in and through our suffering,

we're still called to trust the Lord.

And this is what I ultimately believe

that Job teaches us.

And so how this book begins is it begins

with the man himself. And it's not going

to begin with the man's suffering. It's

actually going to begin with the man's

success.

Let's start by reading Job 1 verse one.

And look at this man.

There was a man in the land of Oz whose

name was Job. And that man was blameless

and upright, one who feared God and

turned away from evil.

There were born to him seven sons and

three daughters. He possessed 7,000

sheep, 3,000 camel, 500 yoke of oxen,

and 500 female donkeys,

and very many servants. So that this man

was the greatest of all the people of

the east.

His sons used to go and hold a feast in

the house of each one on his day. and

and they would send and invite their

three sisters and eat and drink with

them. And when the days of the feast had

run their course, Job would send and

consecrate them. And he would rise early

in the morning and offer burnt offerings

according to the number of them all. And

Job said, "It may be that my children

have sinned and cursed God in their

hearts.

Thus Job did continually.

As we begin this book, we hear about

this man. We don't begin with his

suffering. We actually begin with his

success. And it tells us at the very

beginning about this man. There once was

verse one, a man. And that man lived in

the land. And that man had a name. And

the land he lived in was the land of Oz.

And the thing about us is we don't

really know a whole lot about that land.

Some guess that it's an Edom, but we do

know it's not in the promised land. We

know it's not in God's land, but we

don't know much about the land. And then

we hear of his name, Job. And though the

names in the Old Testament, they are

usually significant and fraught with

meaning. This name, we can't really know

and understand what the name means. So

here we have this man from a land that

we do not really know and this man with

a name that we do not really know. But

that of course is not the point. The

point is indeed the character of the

man, who the man is. And we learn a

number of things in these first verses

about who this man Job is. Job is

firstly a blameless man.

The end of verse one. And that man was

blameless and upright. This is who Job

was, his his character. He is a a

blameless man. And when the Bible calls

him a blameless man, what that is doing

is setting him in the context of all

these great men that we see in the

Bible, blameless men. But when we look

at the word blameless,

it can be difficult sometimes for us to

really understand what that word means.

Because you hear that word said of Noah

in Genesis 6:9 that that Noah is a

Genesis 6:9

blameless man. And then soon after, what

does Noah do? He gets drunk and naked.

You kind of think, is this guy really a

blameless man? And on Friday night in in

the Bible study, we were looking at um 2

2 Samuel 22 · chapter mention

Samuel chapter 22 and we heard of David.

And David is actually called a blameless

man. And then you look at David's life

and you you see that he slept with a

man's wife, got her pregnant, and got

another man killed. And yet David is

called blameless.

You kind of think, how is he called

blameless? And then you look at Job and

Job's life and when you read later in

the book of Job, he's not really

described as what we would think is

blameless. In Job 13 26, he says this,

"For you write bitter things against me

and make me inherit the iniquities of my

youth." He was a man full of iniquities.

And he was also a man full of sin. Job

Job 14:1

14:1 16. For then you would number my

steps. You would not keep watch over my

sin.

So Noah, David, and Job are all sinners.

And yet they're called blameless.

So what does blameless mean? Well,

blameless cannot mean perfect. But what

blameless does mean is that when you

looked at the man Job, you would see him

as a man that we could not accuse

generally in his life of wrongdoing. We

couldn't blame him for much in his life.

You would you would look at Job, this

man, and you would say he's a man of

integrity. And so there are those people

that we see in our lives. They're people

generally when you look at them, we know

they're not perfect, but you look at

their lives and we say they're they're

blameless. They're upright. And that's

Job. When you look at him, he's a

blameless man. The second thing we learn

about Job is that he is a God-fearing

man. The end of verse one, it says this,

"And and that man was blameless, an

upright one who feared God and turned

away from evil." This is probably the

most important description that you will

get of Job in the Bible. Job was a man

who feared God. Meaning he was a man who

walked the ways of wisdom. If you want

to know the way of wisdom in this world

that is full of chaos, the answer is

this. Fear the Lord.

This is the message of the book of

Proverbs. The book of Proverbs is known

as a book of wisdom. And in this book of

wisdom, you are told you have in in your

daily living, you have a choice between

two paths. You can choose the path of of

of wisdom or you can choose the path of

foolishness. And choosing the path of

wisdom means this that you will fear the

Lord. And that's the key uh verse in

Proverbsap 1:7. It says this, "For the

fear of the Lord is the beginning of

knowledge and fools despise wisdom and

instruction."

That's what it is to live a wise life,

to fear the Lord. And this is also the

message of the book of Ecclesiastes,

another wisdom book in the book of of

the Bible. And when it looks about

living life under the sun and tells us

that life is just this this breath, this

vapor that we live, the conclusion, the

key conclusion of the book of

Ecclesiastes is this. Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 12:13

12:13. The end of the matter is this.

All has been heard. Fear God and keep

his commandments.

The way of wisdom

is the fear of the Lord. And so we come

to the book of Job and it is another

wisdom book in the Bible. And the call

on Job's life is to be a man who fears

the Lord. And that's who he is. And how

does he specifically fear the Lord?

Well, the one who fears the Lord does

what? He turns away from evil. You know

that you're one who truly fears the

Lord. When you see evil, when you might

even be tempted by evil, but you choose

to turn away from evil. That is what it

means to fear the Lord. I'm going to see

evil. I might be tempted by evil, but

here's what I'm going to do. I am going

to turn away from evil. That is Job. Job

is a blameless man. Job is a God-fearing

man.

And Job is a great man. In verse two, it

tells of his seven sons and three

daughters. It tells of all his animals.

It tells of all his servants.

When it describes his family, you look

at his family and you see that's the

family that he has is is described

almost as the perfect family. And we

know this by the numbers. Now, I say

numbers very cautiously because what I

don't want you to do when you see

numbers in the Bible, what I don't want

you to do is say, you know, 7 + 15 + 14

equals 27 and it's the magic number. I

don't want you to do that with the

Bible. Don't take out your calculators.

But what I do want you to do is

understand that there's certain numbers

in the Bible that do have significance.

So when it is said that Job has seven

sons, that is the perfect amount of

sons. In the in the book of Ruth, Naomi

describes Ruth as one like having seven

sons. Having you is like having the

perfect amount of sons, seven.

And then the rest of the family is three

daughters, which means it's it's a

family of 10, which which again is is a

perfect number in the scripture. It's

not the seven commandments. It's not the

nine commandments. It's it's the ten

commandments. It's it's the perfect law

of the Lord, the perfect word of the

Lord to us. And so this job, he is a a

blameless man. He is a god-fearing man

with with the perfect family with the

with the perfect farm as it were uh

animals with loads of servants according

to verse three. And he's the greatest

man in all of the east.

So Job is a blameless man. He's a

God-fearing man. He's a great man. And

we learn in verses four and five that

Job he is a family man.

His sons they used to hold this feast.

Verse four. And in the house each one on

his day, the feast each one used to have

this feast on his day which is probably

is something his their birthdays. They

would have these feasts. They would eat

and drink and then they would invite the

sisters to come and eat and drink and

have a a feast together. And so there's

perfect unity and joy in this family.

And then what Job did as the family man

was Job would seek almost like the

priest for the family. Job would give an

offering, a burnt offering for the

family because what Job said at the end

of verse five, it may be that my

children have sinned and cursed God. And

so this family man, what he does is he

takes the burnt offering, which is

essentially the most expensive offering

you could give before the Lord, and he

takes the whole animal, and he burns up

the whole animal. And what the burnt

offering was was to make atonement for

sin. And he does that for each one of

his family members. 10 burnt offerings

for each and every single one of them.

And he does that just in case. It may be

that during these parties, it may be

that my children have sinned. And what

I'm going to do as a family man is this.

I am going to offer up sacrifice for my

children to make sure that their sin is

atoned for. So Job is a blameless man, a

God-fearing man, a great man, a family

man. And finally, do you know who Job

is? He is a consistent man. He is a

consistent man. Look at the end of verse

five. It says this, "Thus Job did

continually."

Job did continually.

This is one of the great things about

this family, man. He was consistent.

He did it continually.

And as we look at the life of Job, as we

begin this book by looking at the man, I

think we can look at this man Job as an

example for us, as a godly example for

us all in life. And the reason I say we

can look at Job as an example is because

the scripture looks at Job as an

example. It's not wrong for us to look

at Old Testament characters as examples

of faith. Hebrews 11, it talks about Old

Testament characters as examples of

faith.

In James, the the wisdom book of the New

Testament, it talks about Job being this

great example. James 5:10 says this. As

James 5:10

an example of suffering and patience,

brothers, take the prophets who spoke in

the name of the Lord. Behold, we

consider those blessed who remain

steadfast. You have heard of the

steadfastness of Job, and you have seen

the purpose of the Lord and how the Lord

is compassionate and merciful. And so

what Job is held out for us in the Bible

is this. An example of one who is

patient. An example of one who suffers

well. An example of one who is

steadfast. An example of one who is

godly.

And so this man as we read about him, he

is an example to us all.

But most specifically, could I say, I

think he is an example to us men in this

church.

Wouldn't it be men our prayer

that we would by the power of the Holy

Spirit seek to be these kinds of men in

and for our family.

that we would seek to be blameless men,

not perfect men, but men of integrity

who stand before the Lord,

that we would seek to be God-fearing men

who choose the path of wisdom,

that we would seek to be consistent men.

That's what people want as they look at

us in our lives and in our family. men.

They want us to be consistent.

That's what I want for my own life.

These are things that I want to grow in

and these are things that I want men in

this church to grow in.

And that we might be family men.

And no, we cannot and we should not

offer sacrifices for our families. But

what we can do in our families is this.

Point them to the one who is the

allsufficient sacrifice. Who has atoned

for their sin. We need to be men in our

homes and in our workplaces and in our

communities that are ever consistently

pointing people to Jesus.

Here's what we're saying in our family.

We are acknowledging I'm not the perfect

man, but he is. So here's what I'm going

to consistently, imperfectly do in my

family day after day. I'm going to try

and attempt by the power of the spirit

to point them to Jesus,

to point them to the allsufficient

sacrifice. That when I mess up and sin

as a man, because I'm going to do that,

I am consistent in that. I know that I'm

going to consistently sin in my family,

in front of my children, to my wife, all

of these things, in my workplace. I will

consistently sin. But when I do, here's

what I want to do. Will you forgive me?

And I'm going to point them once again

to Jesus who forgives me, the great and

perfect and truly blameless man.

As I read of Job, it pushes me in my own

life by the power of the spirit to seek

to be this kind of man and to always

point to the great man, the man Christ

Jesus.

So this is the man Job and we have seen

this man. But what I also want you to

look at is not just a man but look at a

day. And as we think about this day that

we are going to look at, I want you to

understand and know that there are often

days in your life that absolutely change

your life forever.

Have you ever had a day in your life

that has absolutely changed your life

forever?

the marriage day,

the day the child was born,

the day you lost someone you loved,

those types of days,

the day that changes your life forever.

This man Job, he is a day that changes

his life forever.

And it is not actually a day

that is on earth. It is a day that is in

heaven that changes his life forever.

And it is the day that I call a

conversation day. Begins in verse six.

Now there was a day when the sons of God

came to present themselves before the

Lord and Satan also came among them. Do

you see how the verse begins? It begins

the same way verse one begins. There was

a man and now what happens? There was a

day

and in that day there was before the

conversation in that day there was a

meeting and the meeting was between God

and the sons of God. The sons of God we

know in scripture are the angelic

beings.

See this in Isaiah 6. We see this in in

two kings as well. this idea of these

angelic

beings

and God has a meeting. The Lord, he has

a meeting with these angelic beings. And

who comes into the meeting? Who comes

into the meeting with Yahweh?

It is Satan.

Satan comes along into this meeting. And

Satan, the title that is given for him

here is actually a title that has the

word 'the' in front of it. Meaning as

you read this, you should think of the

Satan. And that translates the Satan.

That translates as the adversary.

So what happens is God is having this

meeting in heaven. God rules. He's

sovereign over the whole world and he

rules over this whole world through a

means through the means of his angelic

beings. And then in comes the accuser

into this meeting.

And as the accuser comes into this

meeting, the conversation begins.

And the conversation first

begins

with the Lord saying something to Satan.

Verse seven. And the Lord said to Satan,

"From where have you come?" And Satan

answered the Lord and said, "From going

to and fro on the earth and from walking

up and down on it."

This conversation is almost like a a

question and answer session. You're

going to see that first the Lord is

questioning what Satan is doing. From

where have you come, Satan? And this is

the first conversation in the book of

Job. And the book of Job can almost be

described as a book of conversations.

That's what you're going to see

throughout this book. It is full of

conversations. And this is the first one

between Satan and the Lord. Where did

you come from and Satan answers from

going to and fro the earth? What was

this accuser doing when he was going to

and from the earth? What was this

adversary doing?

Well, I believe he was doing what he

always does. In 1 Peter 5:8, it says

1 Peter 5:8

this, "Your adversary, the devil, prowls

around like a roaring lion, seeking

someone to devour." "What was this

adversary doing? What what what were you

up to?" The Lord says to him, "Well, I

was going to and fro the earth." And

what was he going to and fro the earth

looking for? He was looking for someone

he would devour.

And then the conversation continues

but and continues with another question.

This time it is the Lord. The Lord said

to Satan, verse 8, "Have you considered

my servant Job that there is none like

him on the earth, a blameless and

upright man who fears God and turns away

from evil?"

The Lord says,

"Have you considered my servant?"

Which brings up a problem in our mind

that I do want us to address later.

The Lord brings up Job.

Satan's going to and fro looking for

people. He doesn't find Job. He doesn't

see Job. And the Lord says, "Hey, wait a

minute. Have you seen Job?"

That's a problem.

And when he brings up Job, he says,

"Have you seen him? Have have you

considered what?" He calls him, "My

servant." And when he calls him, "My

servant." Again, this is language that

puts Job in the line of of of the great

people of God from before. Abraham is

called my servant in Genesis 26:24.

Genesis 26:24

Moses is called my servant in Numbers

12:17. David is called my servant in 2

2 Samuel 7:5

Samuel 7:5.

And four times in this book, Job is

called my servant. Chapter 1:8, chapter

2:3, chapter 42:7 and 8. My servant,

Satan,

have you considered my servant?

He's blameless.

He's upright.

He's God-fearing.

He turns away from evil.

It seems like God is saying, "Have you

tried him?"

Satan then replies in the conversation

and he replies with more questions.

Verse N. Then Satan answered the Lord

and said, "Does Job fear God for no

reason? Have you not put a hedge around

him and and his house and all that he

has on every side? You have blessed the

work of his hands and his possessions

and have increased in the land. But

stretch out your hand and touch all that

he has, and he will curse you to your

face."

And the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, all

that he has is in your hand. Only

against him do not stretch out your

hand." So Satan went out from the

presence of the Lord.

What Satan does in this conversation is

he he questions he questions the the

genuiness of Job's faith. The only

reason, Lord, that he loves you is

because you've stacked it all up and set

it all up so that he would love you.

Everything is going well in his life. He

has the perfect family. He has the

perfect house. He is the perfect farm.

He is everything is going so well for

him. But if you take that stuff away

from him, let's see who he worships

then. Let's see if his faith will truly

be and prove to be genuine then.

And the Lord

instead of saying no, the Lord who

brought up Job in the first place says

in verse 12,

"Behold,

all that he has is in your hand.

And so through this conversation that we

see on that day in heaven, it's about to

change Job's life forever.

It forces us to ask a question

ourselves.

The question is why?

Why would God bring up Job?

Why would God say here take Job, you can

have him?

Why would he do that with Satan?

The answer I think that helps us in

relation to our suffering. And Job

doesn't, the book of Job doesn't

actually truly fully answer in the end

all the questions we have for suffering.

But when we think of possibly why the

Lord could do this, I think it's

helpful, and I'll ask you to keep your

fingers in Job. I think it's helpful to

turn to First Peter. Please turn to

First Peter.

1 Peter

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1.

First Peter chapter 1 verse 6. 1 Peter 1

1 Peter 1:6 1 Peter 1:6

verse 6. And Peter is writing to the

churches who are experiencing great

suffering and heartache and pain.

And Peter seeks to answer this question

for them. He says 1 Peter chapter 1

1 Peter 1:6

verse 6, "In this you rejoice, though

now for a little while, if necessary,

you have been grieved by various trials,

so that the tested genuiness of your

faith, more precious than gold, that

perishes, though it is tested by fire,

may be found to result in the praise and

glory and honor that is revealed

of Jesus Christ.

Peter gives two reasons for the trials

and sufferings they are experiencing.

Genuineess and glory.

The first reason is genuiness. If you go

through suffering in your life, extreme

suffering and pain and heartache, and

you still love Jesus at the end, guess

what? You're the real deal.

you genuinely truly really love Jesus.

If you've gone through all of that and

you still love him, it's genuine.

And what also happens when you go

through all of that and you still love

him, do you know what happens?

You and the people around you think,

"This is phenomenal that I'm still

loving him." And what happens? You and

the people around you see that

suffering. They say you're the real

deal. And what do they do? They give

praise and they give glory to God.

So our suffering works for our genuiness

and also works for his glory.

The last number of weeks I was visiting

many churches as you know speaking a lot

and all this and I met loads of

different people

and after I was preaching what tends to

happen is is people come up to you and

they they share with you their stories

and the theme of those couple of weeks

have been suffering.

After I've spoken and and preached,

this lady, she comes up to me and she

tells me,

"I lost my son.

I lost my son. He's gone.

I don't have him anymore.

But I love Jesus.

And one day, I'm going to see him

because he loved Jesus, too."

And as I'm talking with her and I'm

looking in her eyes and I'm tearing up,

I'm looking at her and I'm saying,

"You're the real deal.

You're genuine. You really love Jesus."

And we're both sharing in this moment

together.

And both of us, even though she's

experiencing real hard pain, both of us

are doing what? Giving glory to God.

Praising God. There was another man. He

came up to me and he said, "My wife, she

cheated on me. She left me."

And I asked him, "Do you still love

Jesus?" He said, "I still love Jesus."

He said, "My family still loves Jesus."

He's saying, "It hurts."

But I look at him and I'm saying,

"You're the real deal. You are genuine."

And guess what we were doing in that

tough hard conversation? Praising the

Lord. I was talking to another man

during the week. He was saying they were

driving on the road. He and his wife

were driving on the road and a truck

came in from the side and smashed the

car and his wife died immediately on the

spot,

leaving him with three of his daughters.

Do you love Jesus? I love Jesus.

You look at that guy and you're like,

that's genuine.

And what happens? We give praise and

glory to God. So my question for you

this morning is this. Is your love for

Jesus genuine?

Do you only love Jesus because things

are going well for you? You have the

house, you have the car, you have the

job, you have the children.

You're not guaranteed in life that

things will always go well for you.

There may be a time where the genuiness

of your faith is tested.

But I promise you this, it will

ultimately result in the glory of God.

And I don't know how and I don't know

all the answers for it, but I do know

that it will result in the glory and

praise of God.

And this was the conversation day that

changed Job's life forever because that

conversation day in heaven

resulted in his destruction day on

earth.

And that's where this passage finishes.

It says this in verse 13. And now there

was a day,

this is the day on earth, not the day on

heaven. Now, there was a day, another

day, the destruction day, when his sons

and daughters were eating and drinking

wine in their oldest brother's house.

And I'm just going to read to you what

happened to Job on that day.

There is a war, there is a fire, there

is another war, and there is a wind. the

war. Verse 14. And there came a

messenger to Job and said, "The oxmen

were plowing and and the donkeys were

feeding beside them, and the Sabians

fell upon them and took them and struck

down the servants with the edge of the

sword, and I alone have escaped to tell

you." The war of the Sabians destroyed

his oxmen and his donkeys and most of

his servants. In verse 16, while he was

still speaking, there came another and

said, "The fire of God fell from heaven

and burned up the sheep and the servants

and consumed them. And I alone have

escaped to tell you,

his sheep and his servants are gone."

Verse 17. While he was yet still

speaking, there came another and said,

"The Calaldanss formed three groups

and made a raid on on the camels and

took them and struck down the servants

with the edge of the sword, and I alone

have escaped to tell you." And Job, he

looks at his life and he says, "My oxen

are gone. My donkeys are gone. My

servants are gone.

My sheep are gone and those servants are

gone. My camels are gone and those

servants are gone. What is next?"

Verse 18, while he was yet still

speaking, there came another and said,

"Your sons and daughters were eating and

drinking wine in their oldest brother's

house. And behold, a great wind came

across the wilderness and struck the

four corners of the house, and it fell

upon the young people.

And they are dead, and I alone have

escaped to tell you

this is the day that Job lost absolutely

everything.

He lost his oxen. He lost his donkeys.

He lost his sheep. He lost his servants.

He lost his camels.

And he lost his seven perfect sons and

his three perfect daughters.

All of them died in that dreadful

destruction day.

The question is,

what did Job do?

Verse 20.

Then Job arose,

tore his robe,

shaved his head,

fell on the ground,

and worshiped.

And you look at Job in the eye in this

moment and you say, "Job, you've lost

everything. Your oxmen, your donkeys,

your sheep, your servants, your sons,

your daughters. You've lost everything."

And he says, "Yes, I've lost

everything."

And you say, "Do you still love the

Lord?" He says, "I still love the Lord.

That day I worshiped him."

And Job concludes

with these final great words in the

chapter, verse 21. And he said,

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and

naked I shall return. The Lord gave and

the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the

name of the Lord.

What Job says is the wisdom of the

frailty of humanity.

There is a reality for you in this

world.

You came into this world with nothing

and you will leave this world with

absolutely nothing.

You were born into this world with

nothing and believe you me, you will

take nothing with you. You are working

so hard for all this stuff, for your

provision, your house and all of this

stuff. Whatever you are working for, you

will not take it with you. And Job knew

that.

And Job still says, "The Lord gave the

Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name

of the Lord." And what you need to think

about is what Job is practically saying

here. We have heard this phrase and we

say this phrase loads of times. The Lord

gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed

be the name of the Lord. But when you

actually put practical life onto that,

are you still ready and willing to say,

"Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Here's what this means. When you when

you put that phrase on on the practical

things of our lives, here's what that

means.

We praise the Lord when we are promoted

and we praise the Lord when we are

fired. We praise the Lord when our bank

account is full and we praise the Lord

when our bank account is empty. We

praise the Lord when our car works and

we praise the Lord when the car is

broken. We praise the Lord when the

doctor brings good news. And we praise

the Lord when the doctor brings bad

news. We praise the Lord when the child

obeys. And we praise the Lord when the

child rebelss. We praise the Lord when

we win and we praise the Lord when we

lose. We praise the Lord at the wedding

and we praise the Lord at the funeral.

We praise the Lord on the bright days

and we praise the Lord on the dark days.

We praise the Lord in the beginning of

the year and we praise the Lord at the

end of the year. We praise the Lord when

we have many friends and we praise the

Lord when we have no friends. We praise

the Lord after a birth and we praise the

Lord after a death. The Lord he gives

and the Lord he takes away and the

Lord's people will always say blessed be

the name of the Lord. And all of it

results in our genuiness

that we would be the real deal and that

ultimately God will always get the glory

in our lives.

And at the end of this day, Job,

incredibly, it tells us in verse 22, in

all this, Job did not sin or charge God

with wrong.

It's incredible.

Job's life

does what all of our lives should do.

Job's life points beyond himself

to the true suffering servant

who when he was beaten and despised

and mocked,

he committed no sin.

He was crucified

on the cross for our sins and he rose

again on the third day

and we say blessed be the name of the

Lord. Let's pray together.

Lord, we thank you for this book of Job

that helps us not brush away our

suffering, not forget our suffering, but

know that you have a purpose in and

through our suffering for our genuiness

and for your glory.

Lord, help us to be a people who when we

experience these things may truly be

able to say, "The Lord gives, the Lord

takes away. Blessed be the name of the

Lord."

Let's stand and let's sing in response.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. Let's

stand and sing to him.