Afflictions Tested Job's Faith
Text: Job 1:6-22
6 Now it happened one day that the angels came to present themselves before the Lord. Then Satan also came among them.
7 And the Lord said to Satan, “Where are you coming from?” And Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming around on the earth and walking about in it.”
8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on earth—a blameless and righteous man, fearing God and shunning evil.”
9 Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing?
10 “Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has? You have blessed the work of his hands and his wealth has increased in the land.
11 “But stretch out your hand, I ask you, and touch all that he has. Surely, he will curse you to your face!”
12 So the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand, only do not stretch out your hand against him.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
13 Now it happened one day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine at the house of their oldest brother,
14 that a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the female donkeys were grazing near them,
15 and the Sabeans attacked and took them and struck the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone escaped to tell you.”
16 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone escaped to tell you.”
17 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Chaldeans set three raiding parties in formation and rushed upon the camels and took them and struck the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone escaped to tell you.”
18 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine at the house of their oldest brother,
19 and behold, a great wind came from the other side of the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house so that it collapsed upon the young people and they died, and I alone escaped to tell you.”
20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell to the ground and worshipped,
21 and said,
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked I shall return there.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away,
May the name of the Lord be praised.”
22 Through all this Job did not sin, nor did he blame God.
Sermon:
How many they are. Their number seems without limit. All around us are people who are bent over and laid flat by afflictions. I remember the nursing home in which I used to teach Bible classes years ago. I routinely saw fifteen to twenty men and women come to Bible class in their wheelchairs. I watched them come into the room with their deformed limbs, pain stricken bodies, and their deteriorating minds. I have also seen afflictions in the lives of members of my congregations. Some were afflicted with incurable diseases and ailments. I listened to them tell me about their afflictions and troubles while visiting them in their homes. They told me about everything from heart problems to lung cancer to pancreatic cancer to brain tumors to . . . and on and on the list went.
You are probably not a stranger to afflictions either. I indeed hope, then, that this sermon may be of help to you. The sermon informs you that "Afflictions Tested Job's Faith. God permitted them for good. Satan worked them for evil. Job endured them in faith."
Job 1:6-8 states: "Now it happened one day that the angels came to present themselves before the Lord. Then Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, 'Where are you coming from?' And Satan answered the Lord and said, 'From roaming around on the earth and walking about in it.' And the Lord said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on earth—a blameless and righteous man, fearing God and shunning evil.' "
God was pleased with Job, because Job was a believer who lived righteously. He honored God above all. He avoided whatever was evil. His righteous life was a fruit of his faith. Job is held up to us as an example of how we are to conduct ourselves. It is written in the Book of 1 John, "Everyone who has been begotten of God does not practice sin, because his seed remains in him; and he is not able to go on sinning, because he has been begotten of God."
But Satan has no appreciation for the fruits of faith and the believing heart that God awakens in those who believe in him. So Satan argued that Job was such a God-fearing man only because God continued to bless him richly. Satan told the Lord, "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has? You have blessed the work of his hands and his wealth has increased in the land. But stretch out your hand, I ask you, and touch all that he has. Surely, he will curse you to your face!" Satan challenged God to test Job's faith. Satan argued that if God withdrew his many blessings and afflicted Job, Job would show himself to be an unbeliever who cursed God instead of blessed God.
God knew Job better than Satan did. God also knew how much affliction Job could bear, and God would not permit Job to be tempted beyond what he could bear in faith. Accordingly, God was willing to permit Job's faith to be tested by afflictions up to that limit to give Job the opportunity to produce his fruits of faith even under affliction. "So the Lord said to Satan, 'Behold, all that he has is in your hand, only do not stretch out your hand against him.' "
God does permit afflictions to come upon his believers. As it is written in the Psalms, "Rapids follow rapids to the roar of your waterfalls; All your breakers and your waves have swept over me." And again, "You have put me in the lowest pit, In dark places, in the depths. Your wrath rests upon me, And you have afflicted me with all your waves. You have removed my friends far from me; You have made me detestable to them; I am shut in and cannot go out. My eye has melted away with grief because of my affliction."
For what reason does God permit afflictions to come into our lives? For our good. He permits afflictions to discipline us so we produce fruits of our faith, especially an increased trust in God and living a righteous life. The Book of Hebrews states, "For the one whom the Lord loves he disciplines. . . No discipline seems to be a cause for joy but for grief; later it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who have been trained by it."
If you are one of the many who have waves of affliction rolling over you and flooding your life with misery, remember God is permitting it because he loves you. He is using it for your good. Romans 8:28 says he works all things for good for those who love him, that includes afflictions as well.
Sometimes individuals have difficulty accepting this teaching that God permits affliction to come upon people. This may be due to a twofold misconception. First, it has been widely believed that God is love; therefore, he would not afflict anyone. Second, disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes are commonly believed to be due to the natural causes of "Mother Nature", not to God. But God is the one who controls nature and the weather. He is the one who brings on damaging rains and droughts. In the Book of Amos it is written, "If a disaster happens in a city, has the Lord not done it?"
While God permits such disasters and afflictions to come upon us for our good, Satan works them for evil, to harm us and to destroy our faith and trust in God.
After God gave his permission to Satan to afflict Job, Satan poured out his hatred and wickedness upon Job. Job 1 goes on to say, "Now it happened one day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine at the house of their oldest brother, that a messenger came to Job and said, 'The oxen were plowing and the female donkeys were grazing near them, and the Sabeans attacked and took them and struck the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone escaped to tell you.' " In that attack Job lost 500 head of oxen and 500 head of donkeys and all his servants were murdered.
Furthermore, "While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone escaped to tell you.” Job lost 7000 sheep plus his servants when that happened.
Then, "While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Chaldeans set three raiding parties in formation and rushed upon the camels and took them and struck the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone escaped to tell you." In that raid Job lost 3000 camels plus his servants.
But then, "While he was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine at the house of their oldest brother, and behold, a great wind came from the other side of the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house so that it collapsed upon the young people and they died, and I alone escaped to tell you.” So Job lost all his beloved children in one disastrous windstorm.
You can see what a despicable, venomous, hateful, wicked spirit Satan is. He will destroy body and life and property and possessions whenever he can. In one day he reduced Job from a millionaire to a pauper, from a proud father to a grieving parent. But Satan's chief aim through all his wicked deeds was to destroy Job's fear of God, to destroy Job's faith in God, and to rob Job of eternal life.
Satan wants to do the same things to us. He would love to murder our children in their sleep and burn the house down over our heads if he could. He would love to pillage, sack and destroy everything we have if he could. He would love to torment us with the worst kind of afflictions imaginable if he could. The only reason he has not done so is because our Lord has been preventing him from doing so. We greatly underestimate the blessing of God's divine protection and at the same time the wicked intentions of Satan. If it were not for God protecting us from Satan and his demons, we would not have one moment of peace. We would experience one disaster and torment on top of another, just as Job experienced.
As Peter said, Satan is a roaring lion prowling about, seeking whom he may devour. Satan's aim is to destroy our body and life, all that we have, and especially our trust in God. For that reason, we need to follow Peter's advice and resist Satan as Christians who are firm in faith.
When Job suddenly received those heartrending reports one on top of the other, he was deeply grieved and sorrow stricken. Job 1:20 says, "Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head." Those actions were demonstrations of the grief and sorrow that he felt. Surely he experienced as well the temptation to despair of the goodness of God. Satan was hoping Job would angrily shake his fist at heaven and curse God to his face
But what did Job do? "He fell to the ground and worshipped." Job did not curse God; he worshipped God! In faith he patiently endured the afflictions that God permitted and that Satan worked. Job did not doubt the goodness of God, even when he was devastated by those enormous disasters. Instead, he recognized by faith that all he possessed, even his children, were a gift of God that God could take back again if he chose to do so. In faith he worshiped God for what had happened, saying, "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, May the name of the Lord be praised."
"Through all this Job did not sin, nor did he blame God." Job is an outstanding example of how to keep the first commandment, which requires us to honor, love, and trust in God above all, at all times, and without ever doubting his goodness, even when we are being afflicted. God assures us in the Bible that if he afflicts us, he does so because he loves us and it is for our good.
We all need to be reminded of this, even me. I once received such a good reminder from a plumber. I was facing the prospect of having to tear out a wall to get at the water pipes if the plumber could not fix the problem I had. He said he would try once more to fix it. While he tried, I prayed. It worked! The plumber got it fixed! With a sigh of relief, I said, “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!” The plumber heard me. He turned out to be a Christian man. We talked for a few minutes, and before leaving he told me, “Now, remember! The Lord is good even when things are not going well.” How true! What a good reminder! What good advice!
The first sin occurred when Eve doubted the goodness of God and stopped trusting his word. As Satan first tempted Eve, and later Job, to stop trusting the goodness of God and his Word, so Satan also tempts us, especially when we are being afflicted.
Are you being afflicted? Are you confined to a wheelchair? Is your body wracked with pain? Are you suffering from an incurable disease or ailment like cancer or heart problems or failing kidneys or multiple sclerosis or something else? Are you a widow or widower who is struggling with loneliness and sorrow? If you are any one of these, or if you are afflicted in some other way, do you not have moments when you are tempted to doubt the goodness of God and to blame him for your troubles?
At such times, remember the Lord our God is good even when things are not going well. How good? So good that he loves us sinners in spite of our many sins like doubting his goodness and his Word. So good that in love for us he willingly sacrificed his own Son Jesus Christ on the cross to pay for our sins and to save us from Satan, sin, death, and hell. So good that he causes our afflictions to work for our good and to train us to live righteously as a fruit of our faith in him and in his gift of salvation through our Savior Jesus Christ.
The good news of God's goodness to us, the good news of God's love for us in Jesus Christ, the good news of God's gift of eternal life in heaven, are what will bolster our faith to confess as Job did even in the face of heartrending afflictions, "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, May the name of the Lord be praised.”
Amen.
6 Now it happened one day that the angels came to present themselves before the Lord. Then Satan also came among them.
7 And the Lord said to Satan, “Where are you coming from?” And Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming around on the earth and walking about in it.”
8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on earth—a blameless and righteous man, fearing God and shunning evil.”
9 Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing?
10 “Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has? You have blessed the work of his hands and his wealth has increased in the land.
11 “But stretch out your hand, I ask you, and touch all that he has. Surely, he will curse you to your face!”
12 So the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand, only do not stretch out your hand against him.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
13 Now it happened one day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine at the house of their oldest brother,
14 that a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the female donkeys were grazing near them,
15 and the Sabeans attacked and took them and struck the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone escaped to tell you.”
16 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone escaped to tell you.”
17 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Chaldeans set three raiding parties in formation and rushed upon the camels and took them and struck the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone escaped to tell you.”
18 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine at the house of their oldest brother,
19 and behold, a great wind came from the other side of the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house so that it collapsed upon the young people and they died, and I alone escaped to tell you.”
20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell to the ground and worshipped,
21 and said,
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked I shall return there.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away,
May the name of the Lord be praised.”
22 Through all this Job did not sin, nor did he blame God.
Sermon:
How many they are. Their number seems without limit. All around us are people who are bent over and laid flat by afflictions. I remember the nursing home in which I used to teach Bible classes years ago. I routinely saw fifteen to twenty men and women come to Bible class in their wheelchairs. I watched them come into the room with their deformed limbs, pain stricken bodies, and their deteriorating minds. I have also seen afflictions in the lives of members of my congregations. Some were afflicted with incurable diseases and ailments. I listened to them tell me about their afflictions and troubles while visiting them in their homes. They told me about everything from heart problems to lung cancer to pancreatic cancer to brain tumors to . . . and on and on the list went.
You are probably not a stranger to afflictions either. I indeed hope, then, that this sermon may be of help to you. The sermon informs you that "Afflictions Tested Job's Faith. God permitted them for good. Satan worked them for evil. Job endured them in faith."
Job 1:6-8 states: "Now it happened one day that the angels came to present themselves before the Lord. Then Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, 'Where are you coming from?' And Satan answered the Lord and said, 'From roaming around on the earth and walking about in it.' And the Lord said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on earth—a blameless and righteous man, fearing God and shunning evil.' "
God was pleased with Job, because Job was a believer who lived righteously. He honored God above all. He avoided whatever was evil. His righteous life was a fruit of his faith. Job is held up to us as an example of how we are to conduct ourselves. It is written in the Book of 1 John, "Everyone who has been begotten of God does not practice sin, because his seed remains in him; and he is not able to go on sinning, because he has been begotten of God."
But Satan has no appreciation for the fruits of faith and the believing heart that God awakens in those who believe in him. So Satan argued that Job was such a God-fearing man only because God continued to bless him richly. Satan told the Lord, "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has? You have blessed the work of his hands and his wealth has increased in the land. But stretch out your hand, I ask you, and touch all that he has. Surely, he will curse you to your face!" Satan challenged God to test Job's faith. Satan argued that if God withdrew his many blessings and afflicted Job, Job would show himself to be an unbeliever who cursed God instead of blessed God.
God knew Job better than Satan did. God also knew how much affliction Job could bear, and God would not permit Job to be tempted beyond what he could bear in faith. Accordingly, God was willing to permit Job's faith to be tested by afflictions up to that limit to give Job the opportunity to produce his fruits of faith even under affliction. "So the Lord said to Satan, 'Behold, all that he has is in your hand, only do not stretch out your hand against him.' "
God does permit afflictions to come upon his believers. As it is written in the Psalms, "Rapids follow rapids to the roar of your waterfalls; All your breakers and your waves have swept over me." And again, "You have put me in the lowest pit, In dark places, in the depths. Your wrath rests upon me, And you have afflicted me with all your waves. You have removed my friends far from me; You have made me detestable to them; I am shut in and cannot go out. My eye has melted away with grief because of my affliction."
For what reason does God permit afflictions to come into our lives? For our good. He permits afflictions to discipline us so we produce fruits of our faith, especially an increased trust in God and living a righteous life. The Book of Hebrews states, "For the one whom the Lord loves he disciplines. . . No discipline seems to be a cause for joy but for grief; later it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who have been trained by it."
If you are one of the many who have waves of affliction rolling over you and flooding your life with misery, remember God is permitting it because he loves you. He is using it for your good. Romans 8:28 says he works all things for good for those who love him, that includes afflictions as well.
Sometimes individuals have difficulty accepting this teaching that God permits affliction to come upon people. This may be due to a twofold misconception. First, it has been widely believed that God is love; therefore, he would not afflict anyone. Second, disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes are commonly believed to be due to the natural causes of "Mother Nature", not to God. But God is the one who controls nature and the weather. He is the one who brings on damaging rains and droughts. In the Book of Amos it is written, "If a disaster happens in a city, has the Lord not done it?"
While God permits such disasters and afflictions to come upon us for our good, Satan works them for evil, to harm us and to destroy our faith and trust in God.
After God gave his permission to Satan to afflict Job, Satan poured out his hatred and wickedness upon Job. Job 1 goes on to say, "Now it happened one day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine at the house of their oldest brother, that a messenger came to Job and said, 'The oxen were plowing and the female donkeys were grazing near them, and the Sabeans attacked and took them and struck the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone escaped to tell you.' " In that attack Job lost 500 head of oxen and 500 head of donkeys and all his servants were murdered.
Furthermore, "While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone escaped to tell you.” Job lost 7000 sheep plus his servants when that happened.
Then, "While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Chaldeans set three raiding parties in formation and rushed upon the camels and took them and struck the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone escaped to tell you." In that raid Job lost 3000 camels plus his servants.
But then, "While he was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine at the house of their oldest brother, and behold, a great wind came from the other side of the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house so that it collapsed upon the young people and they died, and I alone escaped to tell you.” So Job lost all his beloved children in one disastrous windstorm.
You can see what a despicable, venomous, hateful, wicked spirit Satan is. He will destroy body and life and property and possessions whenever he can. In one day he reduced Job from a millionaire to a pauper, from a proud father to a grieving parent. But Satan's chief aim through all his wicked deeds was to destroy Job's fear of God, to destroy Job's faith in God, and to rob Job of eternal life.
Satan wants to do the same things to us. He would love to murder our children in their sleep and burn the house down over our heads if he could. He would love to pillage, sack and destroy everything we have if he could. He would love to torment us with the worst kind of afflictions imaginable if he could. The only reason he has not done so is because our Lord has been preventing him from doing so. We greatly underestimate the blessing of God's divine protection and at the same time the wicked intentions of Satan. If it were not for God protecting us from Satan and his demons, we would not have one moment of peace. We would experience one disaster and torment on top of another, just as Job experienced.
As Peter said, Satan is a roaring lion prowling about, seeking whom he may devour. Satan's aim is to destroy our body and life, all that we have, and especially our trust in God. For that reason, we need to follow Peter's advice and resist Satan as Christians who are firm in faith.
When Job suddenly received those heartrending reports one on top of the other, he was deeply grieved and sorrow stricken. Job 1:20 says, "Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head." Those actions were demonstrations of the grief and sorrow that he felt. Surely he experienced as well the temptation to despair of the goodness of God. Satan was hoping Job would angrily shake his fist at heaven and curse God to his face
But what did Job do? "He fell to the ground and worshipped." Job did not curse God; he worshipped God! In faith he patiently endured the afflictions that God permitted and that Satan worked. Job did not doubt the goodness of God, even when he was devastated by those enormous disasters. Instead, he recognized by faith that all he possessed, even his children, were a gift of God that God could take back again if he chose to do so. In faith he worshiped God for what had happened, saying, "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, May the name of the Lord be praised."
"Through all this Job did not sin, nor did he blame God." Job is an outstanding example of how to keep the first commandment, which requires us to honor, love, and trust in God above all, at all times, and without ever doubting his goodness, even when we are being afflicted. God assures us in the Bible that if he afflicts us, he does so because he loves us and it is for our good.
We all need to be reminded of this, even me. I once received such a good reminder from a plumber. I was facing the prospect of having to tear out a wall to get at the water pipes if the plumber could not fix the problem I had. He said he would try once more to fix it. While he tried, I prayed. It worked! The plumber got it fixed! With a sigh of relief, I said, “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!” The plumber heard me. He turned out to be a Christian man. We talked for a few minutes, and before leaving he told me, “Now, remember! The Lord is good even when things are not going well.” How true! What a good reminder! What good advice!
The first sin occurred when Eve doubted the goodness of God and stopped trusting his word. As Satan first tempted Eve, and later Job, to stop trusting the goodness of God and his Word, so Satan also tempts us, especially when we are being afflicted.
Are you being afflicted? Are you confined to a wheelchair? Is your body wracked with pain? Are you suffering from an incurable disease or ailment like cancer or heart problems or failing kidneys or multiple sclerosis or something else? Are you a widow or widower who is struggling with loneliness and sorrow? If you are any one of these, or if you are afflicted in some other way, do you not have moments when you are tempted to doubt the goodness of God and to blame him for your troubles?
At such times, remember the Lord our God is good even when things are not going well. How good? So good that he loves us sinners in spite of our many sins like doubting his goodness and his Word. So good that in love for us he willingly sacrificed his own Son Jesus Christ on the cross to pay for our sins and to save us from Satan, sin, death, and hell. So good that he causes our afflictions to work for our good and to train us to live righteously as a fruit of our faith in him and in his gift of salvation through our Savior Jesus Christ.
The good news of God's goodness to us, the good news of God's love for us in Jesus Christ, the good news of God's gift of eternal life in heaven, are what will bolster our faith to confess as Job did even in the face of heartrending afflictions, "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, May the name of the Lord be praised.”
Amen.
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