Faithfulness in Trials: Insights from Job's Calamities

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk

about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Well, hey, welcome to

the Bible Guys. I'm Chris and this is Jeff. Yeah. Yeah,

all the way from Africa. Jeff, you've trimmed down a little bit,

moving on, moving on. Hey, this is obviously not Jeff Worrester.

This is Ryan Morril and we're asking him to step in. In fact,

we have different guests all this week. So last week we had Jeff was

here, I was out of town in Dominican Republic, and Wesley stepped in

for the full week. But for this week it's me and several different guests.

Here. You are the first of many, but actually the second,

the second, the second, because Quinn was yesterday. I finished second a

lot, especially in elementary school. I have all the red ribbons, second

place red ribbons. That was just my thing. That was good. So

I have known you for how long? Gosh are we going on twenty years?

Twenty years? Yeah, twenty years. That's amazing, It is amazing,

Yeah, amazing. We still look the same too, of course,

we both, Yeah, of course we do. You look more of the

same than I do. But I will say that that we used to work

at previous church together and then I came over to Heritage Church and then you

got hired here and so now we're at the same church again. It's amazing,

which is kind of cool, great great year of my life right now.

So it's all to be here and so good to be reunited with you.

Yeah, no doubt. Thanks man. Well, Ryan is our family

ministries director at Heritage Church, where we both work, and so he's in

charge of basically college all the way down, high school all the way down,

high school all the way down. Oh okay, so infants through all

the way through high school eighteen years old. Oh that's awesome. So so

listen to this. So Desi Rae put together this show sheet and she had

a question for Quinn yesterday that was okay, I like your question and way

better. So here it is. You ready, Ryan, If your life

were a musical, what would be the title of your big solo number and

what would it be about? And bonus points if you can give us a

snippet of the lyrics. Oh my gosh, okay, right, wow,

So I'm going to give you a minute to think and while you're thinking,

I'm going to tell the audience that Ryan purposely did not look at this question,

so he is hearing this question in real time. So Ryan, we're

gonna have to, unfortunately go back to you. And what is your big

solo number called? All Right? So, if my life was a musical,

I would say that the title of it would be something about running the

race. I love to run. Yeah, everything in my life seems to

have an analogy to that. You know, this season I'm in sprinting,

pacing, run and then uh, you know. But at the same time

too, I always feel like I finish in second place. So that's just

it's kind of and it's also part of the lyric. So sing it's a

snippet. Oh gosh, now this is where you put me on the spot.

Come on, come on, there's sweat on my face all over the

place. I'm running the race and I desperately want to get something other than

second place. Whoa that? Come on? That's it on the spot literally

making it up word by word right there, Christmas. So that is better

than I could have done. So maybe someday I will get first place,

but but second place is okay. I still get a red ribbon and that

so funny. Due, Wow, you got talent a poet, don't know,

I got lucky right there. That's all it was. If it was

good at all. Some of you may think that was horrible, but that's

true. That's true. My wife's at home saying that's horrible. No,

she's not. She's like, I love writing so much, that's what she

says. All right. So today we are diving into because yesterday we finished

up Genesis and we're moving into the story of Job. And Job is one

of these incredible characters of the Old Testament where it's it's sort of like lamentations,

right, it's just so sad, it's unbelievably sad and and and these

horrible things happens to Job. And not only is that the case here,

but on top of that, we have a bigger issue, which is why

we got to allow this. Right, So there's all these things surrounding Job

that's like massive tragedy and then what's the deal god kind of thing. And

honestly, you can't read this book without feeling both of those things. Yeah,

yeah, I actually when I read, especially what we're about to read,

there's a feeling of terror that comes over me, that this could happen

to one person, and that it could potentially happen again, and it could

potentially happen to me. Well, so yeah, very sad book for sure.

So you mean to read, yeah, okay, here we go Jobs

one through twenty, Right, here we go. There once was a man

named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless, a

man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil. He

had seven sons and three daughters. He owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand

camels, five hundred teams of oxen, and five hundred female donkeys. He

also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in

that entire area. Job's sons would take turns preparing feasts in their homes,

and they would also invite their three sisters to celebrate with them. When these

celebrations ended, sometimes after several days, Job would purify his children. He

would get up early in the morning and offer a burnt offering for each of

them. For Job said to himself, perhaps my children have sinned and have

cursed God in their hearts. This was Job's reg practice. One day,

the members of the heavenly court came to present themselves before the Lord and the

accuser. Satan came with them. Where have you come from, the Lord

asked Satan. Satan answered the Lord, I have been patrolling the earth,

watching everything that's going on. Then the Lord asked, Satan, have you

noticed my servant Job. He is the finest man in all the earth.

He is blameless, a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays

away from evil. Satan replied to the Lord, yes, but Job has

good reason to fear God. You have always put a wall of protection around

him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything

he does. Look how rich he is. But reach out and take away

everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face. All

right, you may test him, the Lord said to Satan. Do whatever

you want with everything he possesses, but don't harm him physically. So Satan

left the lord's presence. One day, when Job's sisters and daughters were feasting

at the oldest brother's house, a messenger arrived at Job's home with this news.

Your oxen were plowing with the donkeys feeding beside them. When the Sabians

raided us. They stole all the animals and killed all the farm hands.

I am the only one who escaped to tell you. While he was still

speaking, another messenger arrived with this news. The fire of God has fallen

from heaven and burned up your sheep and all the shepherds. I am the

only one who escaped to tell you. While he was still speaking, a

third messenger arrived with this news. Three bands of Chaldean raiders have stolen your

camels and killed your servants. I am the only one who escaped to tell

you. While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news.

Your sons and daughters were feasting in their old his brother's home. Suddenly a

powerful wind swept in from the wilderness and hit the house on all sides.

The house collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am the only

one who escaped to tell you. Job stood up, tore his robe in

grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship.

He said, I came naked from my mother's woom, and I will be

naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the

Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord and all of

this Job did not sin by blaming God? Okay, would you answer that

way? No? I read that, and I'm I'm pretty much one hundred

percent sure that I would not. Yeah, that is so listen. I

can't help but immediately go to the question that's on everybody's well, I'm assuming

it's on everybody's mind. But but it's like it was. It was God's

idea, Satan said. Satan said, yeah. First of all, God

brought up job. Have you considered my servant joke? Right? God mentioned

it first? And then and then uh. And then Satan says, yeah,

but take a take away everything he has wor curse you. And then

God says, all right, well you test him. So so it's God's

idea. So so God brings up the subject of job. God initiates,

and not only that, but obviously allows Satan to uh to uh, you

know, do whatever he wants with job and and and uh and so it

brings up the question, you know, why does good? Why would a

loving God allow good? Or excuse me, I'm sorry, why would a

loving God allow evil? I was trying to say, why would a good

God? Right, I would a good and loving God allow evil into this

world. And uh, and I know a lot of times in the Old

Testament things happen and they seem to serve as an example for those of us.

They're like word pictures, right, I mean, entire nations go through

struggles, you know, and it seems that Jesus and others point back to

them as examples on how to live and demonstrate faith and everything else. But

man, at the expense of what, like what the heck? Yeah?

Yeah yeah? And at the same time too, you know, Joe,

you asked the question, did Job do anything to deserve this? You know,

did Job sin before God? Yet if we read in the scriptures that

he was a man that was blameless, he was a man that had no

sin and full integrity and full integrity, right. And so because oftentimes when

bad things happen, or when we're going through a rough patch, when there's

pain and calamity in our life, we wonder naturally what are we doing wrong?

Right? And and we wonder that physically in the in the in our

physical world, but we also oftentimes look to God and we think that this

is some sort of I don't know if the word is punishment, but just

result of our behavior. And this is God kind of looking through the report

card and saying, well, gosh, you know D and C and F

and Okay, here's your just reward for what you did. And yet at

the same time, Job didn't do anything. Job was full of integrity,

right, And so it makes us realize just maybe how God operates a little

bit in this world, how God, you know, because so many of

us see God as this kind of dispensing kind of candy machine. If I'm

good and put the coin into the machine, then He's going to deliver the

goods to me, whether it's it's wealth, or it's health, or it's

happiness or great kids or great marriage or whatever it is. If I'm good

and I put it in, if I put my time into that, then

then I'll get that reward. But that's not the equation that God set up.

I can't say I know what the what that is that God has set

up, but I know it's not that based on this passage, right for

sure. Yeah. Yeah, And I've actually seen something here that I haven't

seen before ever. As I was thinking about this as you were reading through

it. And by the way, I appreciate the fact that you read slow,

you read slower. You know, Jeff reads really fast, So Jeff

needs to take a tip. Hey, Jeff, pay attention to Ryan because

when he read slow, I was able to digest more. But I can

tell you read the kids sometimes. Yeah right, yeah, Well it's also

for me so that I'm actually understanding what I'm reading and I'm not making mistakes

while I read. So anyway, as you were reading that, here's why

I thought. I thought, this, isn't it true that Satan often will

make you believe that God's that fault for some things, because I think that

I think that the the most intentional thing about this whole story is the four

phrases that says, wow, they were still speaking right so, so,

in other words, it happened in one fatal swoop right at the same time

that the that that the fire from heaven came down, which by the way,

is an act of God, right that killed everything. At the same

time the Sabeans came in and and and stole all the donkeys and killed everybody.

At the exact same time that was happening. Another act of God caused

the walls to come down from a big wind and kill the kids and then

and then and then the then the Chaldeans happened, So all four of those

things happened at the exact same time, and then only one servant and they

all come running, and they're only seconds behind each other. And as they're

finishing their sentence, another one runs up. As he's finishing his sentence,

another one, than another one, and so these four servants run up.

And so therefore Job has no other conclusion that this is a supernatural event,

right, which, by the way, uh, later on, as we're

going to discover, he actually does say God has caused, God has condemned

me, God has done these things. God has allowed these things, and

he does. And by the way, technically, theologically he's right, because

God did allow these things. Right, So Satan's not the one in control.

But at the same time, I believe that Satan has done this very

intentionally to make it seem as if God's the one orchestrating everything, because because

there's acts of God involved here in the same time, right, And it

just shows you how clever Satan is, and Satan Satan from the very beginning

in the Garden of Eden, as we read you know, several podcasts ago,

you know, what does he do. He twists Adam and Eves,

you know, thinking by using half truths, like there's a threat of truth

in there. He says, has God really said you're gonna die? Well,

you're not going to die? Well that was kind of half truth.

They bit the fruit and they didn't die right away, right, so it's

like God. Then he says, oh, he just knows that you'll be

more like God knows you'll be more like him. Well, that was also

a half truth because they did know that they were naked. They knew the

difference between good and evil, which was more like God. Right. So

Satan takes these have truths and he's so clever to twist them just enough.

He doesn't come right in your face and says, you know and say like,

hey, I'm Satan and this is a bad move. He just does

things so cleverly. And I view this as a clever way. He did

this in such a way to where job is going to receive it, you

know, and I have no choice but to blame God. But he doesn't.

Yeah, that interesting. Yeah, he has a remarkable ability to just

continue to stay and I'm you know, we hear this phrase stay in your

lane right, but Job continues to stay in the same lane that he's always

been in. Calamity is going on all around him, crashes are happening everywhere,

and yet he continues to stay in that lane. And you know,

Chris helped me with the passage as for me and my house, we will

serve the Lord, Joshua Joshua, right, yeah, And I think of

that passage just in my life, and I think of the ups and downs,

and I think of this for Job as well, Like I don't understand

why this is happening. I don't understand why we're going through this, but

I know I need to stay in my lane. And my lane is to

serve the Lord, you know, And so I just the example of faithfulness

in this is amazing to me, inspiring for me as well. Well.

It's almost hard to believe scenario. And one of the comments that I made

with Quinn yesterday on yesterday's podcast is that Joseph seems to have the perfect response.

Like it doesn't say. It doesn't say Joseph in prison was frustrated or

angry with God. It doesn't say anything like that. The only time we

hear from Joseph is when he speaks, and when he speaks, he says

the perfect thing, right, And it's almost like Joseph is like this man

who over if there's anybody who had a reason to be angry with God or

to give up on God, or to lose his faith or you know,

I mean years and years in the dungeon, you know, sold as a

slave, losing his freedom and all these kind of things, being betrayed by

his own family, and yet he's perfect in his responses. And I'm just

like, wow, you know, and I wish it would I wish I

would know, And I guess we'll know it one day in heaven, but

I wish I would know, like, did Joseph really feel the human things

or was he really just that strong of a guy. Well, with Job,

we're going to find out later that he does have lamenting. He does

process his thoughts out loud, he gives speeches left and right, But in

all of it though, he still doesn't show his anger. He still doesn't

blame God. But in this moment, we haven't gotten there yet, so

I'm sort of tipping my hand. But in this moment, the only thing

we hear from Job is the first time he speaks It is the most awesome

response to the greatest tragedy that I've ever heard of. I've never got worst

day ever, right, ever, either you have a bad day as bad

as this, it's not as bad as this. I mean, dude,

five hundred not five hundred oxen, five hundred teams of oxen, right right,

right? Five hundred and fifty female donkeys. Well. The other thing

that struck me too is it's not only the present, but it's his future

as well, because your retirement plan. I did catch this just with reading

into it just a little bit. Your retirement plan. There's no retirement plan,

right, there's no investing going on your retirement plan. Is your accumulated

Well, it's a community. It's your children, yes, it's it's it's

your offspring who are going to continue to work and continue to provide and continue

to build what you have built upon. It's not just the present, his

future as well was gone as well at this moment in times and not just

the worst ever, but the outlook is bleak. Yeah, and no only

is it all gone, but but it's everything. Imagine how many years it

would have taken for him to build all of that up. Yeah, right,

So it's multiple children, so you're talking and you know, you know,

it's been decades, probably, right, And it doesn't say that,

but we're assuming, right, And if they're all, if they're all,

you know, and old enough to meet each other's homes, they're I'm assuming

they're young adults, right. And So there's a note in the Life Application

Study Bible that we like to quote, and it talks about the sources of

suffering. I want to just read this to you. It says, when

suffering or troubles happen, do they always come from Satan? And Job's story

his series of tragedies didn't did come from Satan. But this is not always

the case. This chart shows four major causes of suffering. Any one of

these or a combination of them, may create suffering. If knowing why we

are suffering, we will teach. If knowing why we are suffering will teach

us to avoid the cause, then these causes are worth knowing. However,

it is most important to know how to respond during suffering. So here here's

what it's says. It says, when the source of suffering is my sin,

who is responsible? I am who's affected myself and others? And who

needs to respond. We do with repentance and confession. When it's other people's

sin the source of suffering, then who's responsible is the person who sinned?

Right, And then you know it talks about who's affected everything else. The

third source of suffering is avoidable physical or natural disaster, and then it says

who's responsible for that suffering? Persons who ignore the facts and refuse to take

precautions, like the person who refuses to leave during a hurricane. Yes,

correct, correct, And who's affected? Most of those exposed to the cause,

probably preventable, right. And then here's the fourth cause. It says,

if the source of suffering is unavoidable, physical or natural disaster, then

who's responsible? And what does it list? God and Satan? Who's affected?

Most of those present need a response, ongoing trust in God's faithfulness.

And that's pretty pretty awesome to say to say, hey, there's only four

sources of suffering and here they are, and if you think about it,

I think it's I think it's right. I don't think that there's another source

of suffering there. And so again that goes back to what I'm saying that

God that Satan orchestrated it to make it seem like it was from God.

And yet what is job Dewey praises the Lord. It's amazing. Yeah,

can I go back just one other kind of comment with this too, because

we're talking about the calamity and we're talking about the devastation and you know,

the horrible things that happened to Joe. But at the same time too,

if you go back to the very beginning, it talks about his prosperity,

right, his success, and so you know, I think maybe we've heard

of this whole title, like the Prosperity Gospel, you know, where if

I am good, then God blesses me. And how many times have we

heard that and maybe even said that, Gosh, I'm just just feeling so

blast right now I have all of these things. But at the same time,

too, you look at this and you think, okay, so got

uh. He was a man of integrity, He had all of this going

on in his life, and yet still the calamity came. And so in

the inverse way, it also says that, you know, because of his

integrity, it didn't necessarily mean that he had right. It didn't mean that

he was blessed because of integrity. So so it's you know, as we

look at the negative side of it, in the fallout of this, we

also can look at the other side of the positive side of what he had

before and realized, well, that isn't necessarily the case, right, It

flies in the it flies in the face against the prosperity gusts exactly because because

things were taken away, not because of his not because of his faithless or

unfaithful right right, right, yeah, yeah, that's good. And and

uh. And by the way, he lived in the town of us So,

and he was the most prosperous person in that region. So you could

say that his nickname was the Wizard of us Ah. But that's pretty bad.

But when I was a youth pastor, I used to sing, I

made up a song about the Wizard of us Wow, say it. Those

three kids youth group must have really loved that. And two of your kids,

two of your offspring, were part of the group. It wasn't as

good as your song. My song was not as good as your song.

All right, that's so funny. After twenty years, like my three kids,

Hey, I had a big youth group, all right, So hey

listen, that is our time and any any closing thoughts. If somebody's struggling,

if somebody's you know, questioning God, any any you know, how

should we respond? You know? I think, as I've been moved today,

I continue to just I continue to stay faithful, you know, in

times of trial with with close relationships, when when when even my wife and

I are just going through a tough, a tough week together, right and

there are moments where I step back and I think, Okay, I can't.

I can't control this situation. But I can't control her. I can't

I can't move her to feel differently right now. But what I can do

is I can and I can think about what I'm doing, and I can

continue to be faithful, I can continue to be a serve, and I

can continue to love her. And so no matter what you're going through,

good or bad, I think we continue to stay in the lane of faithfulness

to God, and we continue to love Him and we continue to be obedient

to Him, regardless of the craziness that just happened in our life or even

the blessings that happen in our life, because it really that's what He's calling

us to. That is first and foremost. Everything else is way down the

list from that awesome, that's a good word. Hey, well, that

is our time and so hopefully we will see you next time on the Bibble. Guys,