Sermon Title: How To Respond to God
Then Job replied to the LORD: “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.”
As we go through challenging times in our lives, how do we respond to what God is doing in the midst of our suffering? In the passage above, we find that Job responded by recognizing the greatness of God. He fully understood his own mortality and his inability to even know the right questions to ask. He lost his desire to be dependent on his abilities and saw clearly his need for God.
Suffering should produce the same response in our own lives. However, we are often tempted to move away from God through anger, depression, despair and/or indifference. Perhaps this story will help us to understand why:
One day a 6 year old girl was sitting in the classroom. The teacher was going to explain evolution to the children. The teacher asked a little boy: Tommy do you see the tree out side?
Tommy: Yes.
Teacher: Tommy, do you see the grass out side?
Tommy: Yes.
Teacher: Go out side and look up and see if you can see the sky.
Tommy: OK. (He returned a few minutes later) Yes, I saw the sky.
Teacher: Did you see God?
Tommy: No.
Teacher: That's my point. We can't see God because he isn't there. The little girl spoke up and wanted to ask the boy some questions. Teacher agreed and the little girl asked the boy: Tommy, do you see the tree outside?
Tommy: Yes.
Little girl: Tommy do you see the grass outside?
Tommy: Yessssss (getting tired of the questions by this time)
Little girl: Did you see the sky?
Tommy: Yessssss
Little Girl: Tommy, do you see the teacher?
Tommy: Yes
Little Girl: Do you see her brain?
Tommy: No
Little Girl: Does that mean she doesn't have one?
Maybe we don't see what Job saw in his suffering - the greatness of God - because we are not looking for it. It is there, even when we miss it. May we not miss it, but rather respond to it through repentance and dedicating our lives to Him. We will talk more about this on Sunday as we continue our sermon series, Lessons from Job. Hope to see you there!
