Job was a blameless man from the
land of Uz. The scholars’ best guess is that Uz is in a land called Edom. Edom
was not, however, blameless. When the Israelites came to the border of Edom,
the Edomites refused to let them in, even though they were not planning to stay
– just passing through to safety, even though they said they would pay their
way, Edom would not have mercy on them and let them in. Edom was not blameless.
Our World’s in the same trouble today. The world is not blameless.
Our scripture reading begins with
a mystical experience around a blameless man from a world in trouble. It is
good to note that even in this world of trouble, heavenly beings appear in this
story. They come to God. Satan also comes to God in this mystical moment.
Nothing more is said about the heavenly beings. All seems good with God and the
heavenly beings. There is, however, a conversation with God and Satan, whom we
also know as the devil, the evil one, the destroyer, the liar, the father of
lies, the murderer, the thief, tempter, fallen star, ruler of darkness.
Satan presents himself to God and
God asks, “Where have you come from?” This is an important question for us to
ask of evil. Where do you come from? Inquiring minds want to know. Where does
this wickedness come from? How far will you go to hurt someone? What are your
values? Your culture? Where do you live? Who are your friends and allies? What
are you made of? Where have you traveled? How tough are you? How weak are you?
What can you do for me? Knowing enough about evil can help us make good
decisions in our journey of faith. When we know where a toxic person is coming
from, when we can identify the root of an ugly situation that is in us or
around us, we can take it into consideration and know what to pray for and what
decisions to make.
This week we heard from a
counselor from Safe Communities in Lancaster who was a victim of abuse. She did
a workshop for our Conference this week. She told us that there has been a
dramatic rise in abuse and use and trafficking of children in this country and
around the world. The abuse of children has skyrocketed during the pandemic.
Children have been calling 911 for help. There is big money in abusing people,
especially children, big money. There has been an increase in violent abusive
sites on the internet. One of the shocking points the Safe Communities counselor
Linda Crockett made was that the rush of abuse from certain images on the brain
is addictive. So people who abuse look for more and more – violence and harm to
get a thrill. Our world is in trouble. The church is in trouble. There was a
survey of 3,000 adult Christians who were asked if a pastor should be fired for
using the internet in an evil way. Forty percent said “yes.” When the pastors
were asked the same question, a mere 8 percent said they should be terminated.
The church does well to consider the source of our behavior, whether it be from
God or Satan.
I had a friend who would often say
when someone said something evil, “Remember, they don’t love you.” It is good
to consider the source. In considering Job it is quite clear that he could be
considered the best human being ever. God asks Satan, “Have you considered my
servant Job?” Of course, we quickly see that Satan considers Job to an
opportunity to do what Satan does - to
steal, kill, and destroy wherever there is
an opportunity. No matter who you
are – Satan is somewhere far or near in your life, looking as I Peter chapter 5
verse 8 says, Satan is like a roaring lion, looking for whoever he can devour.
I particularly like the Message version which says -
8-11 Keep a cool
head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better
than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged
into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep
a firm grip on the faith.
When we have an attitude or an action in our lives that belongs to
Satan, Satan will come after us to claim what is his. Still, no matter how bad a person is, no
matter how many mistakes and wrongs a person has committed, no matter how many
skeletons one has in one’s closet or the number of secret handshakes or dirty
deals one makes – no one is all bad. There is some good in each and every one
of us. God still loves us. We are precious in God’s sight. God can’t take God’s
eyes off of us – each and every one of us. God who put the good in us can make
it grow and grow and grow to the glory of God.
Bishop Schol tells the
story of a man he met on a Baltimore train. Bishop was looking for a quiet
place to work on his sermon, but he wound up in a conversation with this
passenger who used profanity with every other word. At one point the man asked
the Bishop what he did for a living. When he found out he was a preacher, he
still continued to cuss up a storm. Bishop reminded us in his testimony that if
he had condemned the man for using profanity, if he had rejected him, he would
have missed God’s opportunity to minister to a child of God.
In our passage from Job, it is
clear that Satan is the source of suffering. Verse 7 says he caused Job to
suffer terrible physical pain. God does not cause suffering. Some scriptural
passages show us how we cause our own suffering when we stray from God. Some
scripture tells us that God is greater than our biggest burden. If you believe
a certain scripture means that God is causing your suffering, pause and put a
pin in it. Think about it. Does the God you love and serve cause you suffering?
Think about it. Perhaps there is something lost in your translation. Perhaps
the passage calls for us to put it into the historical or poetic context.
Besides, dedicated translators and scholars have their own political and
theological perspectives and opinions. I lean in the direction that says, if
church tradition or translations say God chooses to hurt me, I don’t believe
it. God does not cause suffering and when God allows suffering, God remains
omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. God is always with us –carrying us
when necessary.
The Apostle Paul was a Christian
who suffered like an Olympic champion. Through it all, he was convinced that no
trouble or hardship could separate him from God in Romans 8 - neither death nor life, neither angels nor
demons, neither the present nor the
future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor
depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
He understood “If God brings you
to it, God will bring you through it. ”We might raise our fist at God and say –
“Take charge and stop all this suffering. Stop it, Stop it, Stop it.” Or we can
humble ourselves all the more confident of God’s love and care and renew our
commitment to our great and awesome God with John Wesley’s words: I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to
what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to
suffering; let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you, exalted for you,
or brought low for you; let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all
things, let me have nothing: I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to
your pleasure and disposal. And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, you are mine and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant now made
on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.
I know we come here
for the good news. Here it is. We are a Resurrection People in a messed up
world. Jesus suffered, Jesus wept, and Jesus died on a cross. Jesus rose from the dead. We are a
resurrection people. We bow below God and not above God. We rise above our
afflictions. Our troubles don’t tear us down, God uses our troubles to build us
up. God works miracles with our messes. Our stumbling stones become stepping
stones. We may, like Jesus, cry out “Why have you forsaken me?” We may decide
to take the advice of Job’s wife. “Just go ahead and curse God and die.” We can curse God, dismiss God, and ignore
God. It does no good.
We live in a troubled world that curses God,
dismisses God and ignores God. Someone asked, “What is the future of the church
in this troubled world?” I hear an answer in two things Jesus said. First, “Let
the dead, bury the dead.” Inasmuch as the church has no life in Christ, it is
ready to be buried. Second, ‘This is a time of grief, but I want you to have
peace…’ “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
You are here at this
table, God’s table, a very important table, among all the important people even
in this troubled world. There is an unforgettable story of a group of people
who were starving. They could be seen in a banquet hall loaded with an
abundance of delicious food. Everyone had a spoon. The spoon was two feet long.
They could reach the plate and fill the spoon, but they could not get the food
to their mouth so they were starving. Down the road in another banquet hall,
you could see the same scenario. Tables filled with wonderful food and spoons
that were two feet long, but these people were not starving. They were feeding
one another. In this troubled world God has prepared a banquet for all of us.
We will never leave hungry. Amen.
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