When God's People Suffer: God and Suffering

gets no answer. Instead, he has three friends, or so-called friends, who over the course of about

25 chapters give him all kinds of wrong advice. Mostly they say it's because of your sin that

you're suffering, which is absolutely wrong. Job was innocent, so they have no answer.

And in the section we're going to look at today, there's another friend by the name of Elihu,

who has some helpful things to say, but he's not entirely correct either. But they are helpful

nonetheless. So turn to Job 32, we'll pray, and then we'll get stuck in.

Father, our desire is that we would hear you speak to us through your word, through a very old book

such as Job. But yet it speaks with absolute relevance to us today, as we face suffering,

as we encounter it. We need your help. We need the power of your Holy Spirit to speak into our lives,

to bring your words to life, to bring your comfort, and to bring your hope. We ask it in Jesus' name.

Amen. Well, I'm going to start with a question. And it's simply this. If I were God, I would...

dot, dot, dot. You fill in the blank. If I were God, I would end all the pain? Get rid of world poverty?

If I were God, I would correct all injustice? Stop innocent people from suffering?

Stop the Titanic from sinking? What would you do? Well, here's Job's problem. He recognises that God

is God is God, that God is the creator and the sustainer of this entire universe. Job knows that

God has absolute power and supreme authority, but yet it seems that God is doing nothing to stop

all the suffering. In fact, Job has reached the conclusion that God is unfair and unjust.

Let me just read to you some of the comments he makes earlier on. He says,

As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty who has made me taste bitterness of soul,

I will never admit that you are in the right till I die. I will not deny my integrity.

In other words, God is on trial. If it were up to Job, Job would have God resign from his position,

and he would give the control of the world to somebody else who could run it much better.

And I don't think we're any different. We experience and we encounter suffering in all kinds of different ways,

and we say that if I were God, I would never do that. If I were God, I would not let innocent people suffer.

So is God guilty? Is it true that God is unjust and unfair?

Well, before God actually answers Job, and that's what we'll be looking at next week,

it's an exciting section of the book, another of Job's friends is introduced to us in chapter 32,

verse 2, verse 2, let's read there.

But Elihu, son of Barachel, the Buzite of the family of Ram, so he's a man of some standing,

became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God.

Now Elihu is angry with Job because in Job's claim to be innocent and blameless,

Job is accusing God of being guilty.

Job is not just putting God on trial, he is charging God with gross negligence and injustice.

Now that's a serious accusation against the Creator and the ruler of the world.

So is Job right in what he is saying?

Well, from chapters 33 through to 37, Elihu responds with wise counsel to Job's charges against God.

And although Elihu is angry, he's not like the other three friends because he speaks with love,

understanding and compassion.

But now, Job, listen to my words.

Pay attention to everything I say.

I'm about to open my mouth.

My words are on the tip of my tongue.

My words come from an upright heart.

My lips sincerely speak what I know.

So they are wise, they are comforting words.

So let's listen to what he has to say.

First, Job's first charge is this, that God does not listen.

Elihu summarizes Job's issue with God in chapter 33, verse 8.

So here's Elihu speaking to Job.

He says,

But you have said in my hearing,

I heard your very words, Job.

And he quotes Job, verse 9.

I am pure and without sin.

I am clean and free from guilt.

Yet God has found fault with me.

He considers me his enemy.

Now, Job is claiming his innocence.

He has proved his blameless life all the way through chapter 31.

But it seems that God has not listened.

Job is still being seen as an enemy.

Well, God does listen.

And in response, he does speak, verse 13.

Elihu says to Job,

Why do you complain to God that he answers none of man's words?

For God does speak,

Now one way and now another,

Though man may not perceive it.

The reality is God does hear all of our complaints,

And in response, he does speak to us.

He speaks, verse 15,

In a dream, in a vision of the night,

When deep sleep falls on men,

And they slumber in their beds.

Sometimes, though,

God speaks even through our suffering.

Verse 19,

Or a man may be chastened on a bed of pain

With constant distress in his bones.

Verse 21,

So his flesh wastes away to nothing,

And his bones once hidden,

Now stick out,

His soul draws near to the pit,

And his life to the messengers of death.

Sometimes, he's saying,

God speaks to us through our suffering.

And if that's how he chooses to speak,

How should we respond?

Verse 26,

The man who is suffering,

He says he prays to God,

And he finds favour with him.

He sees God's face,

And he shouts for joy.

He's restored by God to his righteous state.

Then he comes to men,

And he says,

You know what?

I have sinned,

And perverted what was right.

But I did not get what I deserved.

He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit,

And I shall live to enjoy the light.

C.S. Lewis,

Most famous for his series of Narnia,

Also wrote a book called The Problem of Pain.

And here he comments on God speaking to us through suffering.

This is what he says from his book.

He says,

We can rest contentedly in our sins,

But pain insists upon being attended to.

God whispers to us in our pleasures,

He speaks in our conscience,

But shouts in our pains.

It is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

Sometimes God speaks through our suffering

To bring about repentance and restoration.

Sometimes that is true.

Sometimes our pain is God speaking to us

To awaken us to our sinful behaviour

And to put things right.

So God does hear.

God does listen.

And God does speak.

But the problem with this is that

This is not an answer for Job,

Because Job is blameless and innocent.

Job is suffering because,

Well, we don't know,

It's not because of sin.

So God is still definitely on trial.

Job's second charge is this,

That God is unfair or unjust.

In chapter 34,

Elihu summarises again Job's problem with God,

Verse 5.

Job says,

I am innocent,

But God denies me justice.

Although I am right,

I am considered a liar.

Although I am guiltless,

His arrow inflicts an incurable wound.

Job has proven his innocence.

He has been just and fair with people.

But God, it seems,

Is unjust and unfair.

It reminded me of a little book I was reading

By Elie Wiesel.

Quoted it before.

A young teenager,

He endured the brutality of Auschwitz,

The concentration camps.

As a young boy of 14,

He watched his mother and sister

Being taken off to the crematorium

To be burned.

He stood by as his father

Was helplessly being beaten.

And as he looked out on all of this suffering,

As a devout Jewish boy,

This is what he said,

Some men spoke of God,

His mysterious ways,

The sins of the Jewish people,

The redemption to come.

As for me,

I had ceased to pray.

I concurred with Job.

I was not denying God's existence,

But I doubted his absolute justice.

We all think God is unfair and unjust at times.

But, says Elie Hugh,

God is fair.

God is just.

Chapter 34, verse 10.

So listen to me,

You people of understanding.

Far be it from God to do evil,

From the Almighty to do wrong.

He repays a man for what he has done.

He brings upon him what his conduct deserves.

It is unthinkable that God would do wrong,

That the Almighty would pervert justice.

And in case you think God is blind to how he deals with people,

Look at verse 18.

Is he not the one who says to kings,

You are worthless,

And to nobles,

You are wicked?

He shows no partiality to princes,

And does not favour the rich over the poor.

For they are all the work of his hands.

Verse 21,

His eyes are on the ways of men.

He sees their every step.

There is no dark place,

No deep shadow where evildoers can hide.

God is just and fair.

He sees everything that happens,

And it does not go unnoticed.

In fact, the truth is,

God is not only fair,

He treats us with grace and mercy.

Verse 31,

Suppose a man says to God,

I am guilty,

But will offend no more.

Teach me what I cannot see.

If I have done anything wrong,

I will not do so again.

Have you ever said anything like that?

I promise you God,

That I am never going to do that again.

This time,

I am going to change my attitude.

It won't happen.

I promise.

Verse 33,

Should God then reward you on your terms

When you refuse to repent?

You see,

Even though we make promises to be better people,

We all know that the next day

We'll fail and fall and mess up

In exactly the same place again.

But yet God does not give us what we deserve.

He does not give us the reward,

Verse 33,

Of our sin.

That's how just and fair God is.

Well, that is true,

But Job is still wondering,

And we're still wondering,

Why we can't see God's justice in action,

In the ways that we would expect.

So for Job,

That still isn't an answer.

God is still on trial.

Job's third charge is this.

He claims that God is a hypocrite.

Elihu again summarises Job's accusation against God

In chapter 35,

At the beginning, verse 1,

Then Elihu said,

Do you think this is just?

You say,

I shall be cleared by God.

Yet you ask him,

What profit is it to me?

And what do I gain by not sinning?

In effect, Job has been saying,

What's the point of following God?

What's the point in me living a good life

If all I do is suffer?

You don't seem to be very good at times,

So why should I?

It's like God is a hypocrite.

He expects us to be just and fair

In our dealings with people,

But it seems that God is absolutely free

To do what he likes.

That is not fair.

God, you're a hypocrite.

But, says Elihu,

God is right.

Look at verse 5.

Look up to the heavens and see.

Gaze at those clouds

That are so high above you.

In other words,

God is way beyond you.

If you were to sin,

How does that affect him?

Even if your sins are many,

What does that do to him?

Does it change him?

Or what if you're righteous?

What if you do good things?

What do you give him?

Or what does he receive from your hand

When you're a good person?

You see, God, who is so above us,

Does not respond to us

According to our performance.

God is not changed by how good

Or how bad we are.

No, we must never judge God

On the basis of what we do

Or do not receive from God.

God acts in our lives

Because God is right.

In fact, if anyone is hypocritical,

It's us.

Verse 9

People cry out under a load of oppression.

They plead for relief

From the arm of the powerful.

I think we can identify with that,

Can't we?

There's plenty of emergency prayers

That go off to God

When we're suffering.

Please, Lord, end this suffering.

Please heal this.

Please stop this.

Do this now.

Verse 35

Or sorry, verse 11

I'm sorry, back to verse 10

But no one says,

Where is God, my maker,

Who gives songs in the night,

Who teaches more to us

Than to the beasts of the earth,

And makes us wiser

Than the birds of the air?

In other words,

It's us who ask God for help.

We cry out those emergency prayers,

Come and do something.

But then we just quickly forget him.

We ignore him

With the rest of our lives.

So is it any wonder

That people feel hard done by God?

Verse 13

Indeed, God doesn't listen

To their empty plea.

The Almighty pays no attention to it.

So God is right

In how he acts and responds.

But, again, it's another big but,

Job is not like that.

And this is our problem.

Job does not ignore God.

He does cry out to God,

But he certainly doesn't ignore him.

He consistently maintains

His trust in God.

So he's still not satisfied

With the answer.

God is still on trial.

Job's fourth charge

Is perhaps the strongest of them all.

That God is not in control.

Now, although in chapters 36 to 37

There's no actual quote from Job,

Elihu's answer in these two chapters

Seem to suggest that

This is Job's claim against God.

Up to this point,

All the evidence is pointing to the fact

That God is not in control of this universe.

There's too many bad things that happen,

Too much that goes wrong

To say that God is in charge.

But Elihu will not let us go there.

Verse 22 of chapter 36

God is exalted in his power.

Who is a teacher like him?

Verse 26

How great is God beyond our understanding?

The number of his years is past finding out.

Just consider for a moment

How God controls the weather systems.

And we know all about this in this country,

Don't we?

Verse 27

He draws up the drops of water

Which distill as rain to the streams.

The clouds pour down their moisture

And abundant showers fall on mankind.

Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds?

How he thunders from his pavilion?

If you think that God is not in control of the world he made,

Look at verse 5 of 37.

Chapter 37, verse 5

God's voice thunders in marvellous ways.

He does great things beyond our understanding.

He says to the snow,

Fall on the earth.

And to the rain shower,

Be a mighty downpour.

So that all men he has made may know his work.

He stops every man from his labour.

The animals take cover.

They remain in their dens.

The tempest comes out from its chamber.

The cold from the driving winds.

The breath of God produces ice.

And icebergs.

And the broad waters become frozen.

He loads the clouds with moistures.

He scatters his lightning through them.

At his direction they swirl around over the face of the whole earth.

To do whatever he commands them.

He brings the clouds to punish men.

Or to water his earth.

And show his love.

We need to see that we do not hold the world together.

We do not make things happen.

God remains not only the creator of the world,

but also the one who is in control of this world.

We may discuss with each other over tea and coffee,

if I were God,

I would do this.

We might dream as we lay in our beds at night,

if I were God,

I would do that.

In the bad days,

we might even, like Job,

have God in trial

and put him in the dock

and throw our questions at him.

But the reality is,

we are not God.

His ways and his work is beyond us.

Chapter 37, verse 23.

The Almighty is beyond our reach

and exalted in power,

in his justice,

and great righteousness.

He does not oppress.

Therefore people revere him,

for does he not have regard

for all the wise in heart?

Understanding God is beyond our reach.

But thankfully,

we are not beyond his reach.

While we don't know God's ways,

he knows our ways.

He knows about our life intimately.

For God reached down to us.

God entered into our suffering world.

He came into a world

where he himself

experienced injustice.

God in Christ came into a world

where he encountered unfairness.

Have a look at 1 Peter, chapter 2.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

I've got a page number.

I don't know if it's there.

If you've got a page number, someone.

1 Peter, chapter 2.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

1, 2, 1, 8.

Page 1, 2, 1, 8.

1 Peter, chapter 2.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Here we are given a picture of the God

who came to experience injustice

and encountered unfairness.

1 Peter 2, verse 22.

1 Peter 2:22

Speaking of Christ,

He committed no sin.

He committed no sin.

He committed no sin.

And no deceit was found in his mouth.

Here is the ultimate innocent Job

found in Christ.

He committed no sin.

verse 23 but they hurled their insults at him but he didn't retaliate when he suffered he made

no threats instead he entrusted himself to him who judges justly

he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that's on the cross

so that we might die to our sin live for righteousness by his wounds we have been healed

god came down to deal with our sin he came to die for our sin through the unjust unfair suffering of

christ we find our true ultimate healing and while we're never going to understand god's ways or

why things happen the way they do the cross stands before us as the supreme piece of evidence

the proof that we need that we can trust him to do what is always right always fair and always just

we just need to look at the cross and see christ who suffered unfairly unjustly for us

and if god is going to take care of our salvation then he is going to take care of our suffering

here is the god that we can trust to always do what is right and fair and just

we're not going to sing this morning instead we're going to listen to a psalm you can turn it into your

bibles right now psalm number 13

psalm 13

somebody pointed this out to me earlier on in our studies of

of job and i think this psalm really pulls together a lot of the themes a lot of the

the questions that we have and the psalm starts out by asking in verse one how long oh lord will you

forget me forever so this is the cry that we have as we shout out to god why why the unjustness why the

unfairness are you hypocritical all of these questions get fired out to god

and the conclusion of the psalm in verse five and six

but i trust in your unfailing love my heart rejoices in your salvation i will sing to the lord

for he has been good to me

you can follow through the words it'll be sung they'll be on the screen just simply reflect and

meditate and allow the song as you kind of listen to it to speak afresh your trust

to our almighty god if you don't like some of the images well then just

look at the words in the bible but i think it'll be helpful um for us

with the歌 you can get musician you check out we can see that offer today

so

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Thank you.

My darkness

Before they see me

Fall

But I trust

In your unfailing love

Yes, my heart will rejoice

And still I see

Of your unfailing love

You have been good

You will be good

To me

To me

To me

To me

To me

To me

To me

To me

To me

To me

To me

To me

To me

My Father

Before they see me fall

Look on me and answer

Oh God my Father

Bring light to my God

Before they see me fall

But I trust

In your unfailing love

Yes my heart will rejoice

There are things

Of your unfailing love

Are good

You have been good

But I trust

In your unfailing love

Yes my heart will rejoice

If I trust

Oh you are unfailing love

You have been good

You will be good

To me

Just close in prayer

Father we would be foolish

To trust in anyone else

Or anything else

And so with all of our questions

With all of our

Our wonderings

We come afresh

And trust in you

For we know you have

Been good

You've shown your goodness

Through your son

Coming to die

And to rise again

For us

And we trust

That you will be good

In the future

For you will take us home

To be with you

Forever and forever

But we trust

That you will be good

To us this day

In all of our struggles

In all that we experience

And encounter

You are always just

Fair and right

We declare we love you

We declare you are

An awesome God

And we walk with you

This day

As you hold us

And carry us

We praise you

And thank you

In Jesus name

Amen

Let's pray

For you

Amen

Amen

Ephraim

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Amen

Thank you.

Thank you.